TRANSCRIPT

WM - Wilma (Miller) Morrison, interviewee / NP - Natalie Przybyl, interviewer

WM: 'Cause at that time I was working for the Navy - 1 of the nicest jobs I ever had. And, uh... It was really interesting because, back in that day you didn't think of blacks working in offices and things like that. Uh, for the most part there was just, there was an area, um, and it was understood. Now, whether it was open or not we often didn't, we didn't investigate; but it was sort of set up, rules and regulations that, uh, 'Well, you'll never get a job there.' But, anyway, I went and applied and, of course, you have to write a civil service exam. And I, I wrote a number of them and I always finished in the top 3. But, anyway, I asked the, the guy in charge, after he had hired me of course, if he thought that the people in the office would object to working with me, to me working in the office and he said, 'Well why should they?' I said, 'I'm black you know.' He said, 'Oh, I hadn't noticed!' [laughs] So anyway, he said if you have any problems, well then, he said, you know, get back to me and I never did; it was, it was the greatest place in the world to work. They were always spoiling me; they were always bringin' you stuff; um, 'cause it was sort of the Navy Office, you know? The Navy Headquarters for this...

NP: [indecipherable in the background]

WM: ...Yeah; it was a good size office. But it was the Navy Headquarters for this area [located under the Burlington Skyway in Hamilton, Ontario]. Like there was one in Halifax, one in Montreal, one in, on the West Coast, and us. And so, yeah, it was great; they were wonderful.