So whenever you're ready.

Okay.

My name is Yvonne Somerville. I've been. I'm born and raised in Milwaukee. A fun fact about me is that I consider myself to be an active listener and try to be a good provider of information when I can get some.

Hi, my name is Olivet Crowder. I'm. I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. No, well, I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but I was raised in east St. Louis, Illinois. I moved to Brooklyn, got married at the age of 16, been married for 60 to 52 years, have four children, 14 grandchildren, and 14 great grandchildren.

And I love to bake. That's why I love to read.

Wow.

Okay. Wow. So it sounds like practically almost everyone right at some point has migrated to Milwaukee. So I kind of open up the question, and whoever wants to go at it first, but what was the reason and what was that experience like, kind of coming into Milwaukee and then growing up in Milwaukee at whatever state that was.

All right. It was a culture shock for me because I was in Gary, Indiana, it was predominantly black. So when I came to Wisconsin, it was an adjustment for me. And the reason I moved to Milwaukee is because I met my husband. We had three children.

I wouldn't say it was a shock or anything for me. I came. I was in 12th grade, so I came, went into school. So it was not. I didn't have a lot of other things going on. You go from one school to another school, and you just continue where you left off.

I graduated from Cahokia Senior High school and got married. My husband and I moved to Brooklyn, New York. We had two children there. And a culture shock was, I grew up in a rural area. Going to New York was total, was just crazy, because there was different nationalities that was centered in one spot, you know, the neighborhood that we lived in was Italians and Germans, West Indians, Africans, and Puerto Ricans, all in one block. And it was such a eye opening experience. I really learned a lot from all of those national. This one italian lady, she taught me how to make homemade italian spaghetti sauce and lasagna.

Mmm.

It was really good. But, yeah, it was interesting. I had a lot of fun.

My husband, we from Georgia. My husband came over looking for work, because in the south, we was coming out of the, picking up cotton and all that kind of stuff. So he want, at that time, he said he's not going to stay down here and do that. So he left and came up here. And I was in college down there, because I attended one of the black college of Forbel estate. So after that, I came up here with him. So I got a job here. And I think I came about the time when they start was hiring blacks.

They started hiring black teachers. So I was able to get a job here. So I worked here.

Well, okay, I'll add my two cent, too. So my mom relocated here. I was in the 11th grade, and she came here for a better job also, because she worked in the white people homes to care, cook, clean, took care of their children.

And I'm sure Milwaukee has changed over the years, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of positive and negative. Any reflections, reflections that you all have about the current state of our community. And in thinking about the black community in Milwaukee in particular, in the reflections.