Agnes Anderson Duncombe 2021 Oral History
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Biographical Note
Agnes Anderson Duncombe (born 1934) is a lifelong resident of Port Salerno, Florida, and a former student of the Salerno Colored Schoolhouse. Born into a working-class African American family with Bahamian and North Florida roots, Duncombe grew up in New Monrovia during segregation. She attended the one-room Salerno Colored Schoolhouse and later Stuart Training School, where she completed her secondary education. As a young person, she participated in migrant agricultural labor alongside her family, traveling seasonally to the Everglades and to Fishkill, New York. Duncombe later trained as a cosmetologist in Miami and remained deeply connected to her community, church, and family history. Her father was an active advocate for education and school integration in Martin County.
Content Description
In this oral history interview, Agnes Anderson Duncombe reflects on her childhood, education, and work experiences as an African American woman growing up in Port Salerno, Florida, during segregation. She provides a detailed account of attending the Salerno Colored Schoolhouse, describing the physical layout of the one-room school, daily routines, curriculum, discipline, and the central role of Black teachers in nurturing students academically and morally. Duncombe emphasizes the importance of community support, church-based early education, and the values instilled by educators who prepared students to navigate a racially segregated society.
The interview also explores Duncombe’s family history, including her father’s migration from the Bahamas, her parents’ involvement in community life, and her father’s advocacy for school integration. She recounts experiences of seasonal and migrant labor, including agricultural work in the Everglades and extended summer work trips to Fishkill, New York, undertaken to support her family financially. Beginning later in the interview, Duncombe offers a powerful firsthand account of local resistance to school integration and the broader impacts of Jim Crow policies on Black education and opportunity in Martin County.
Interview conducted 2021-09-22 by Lloyd Jones with Philip Harvey. Transcription and consent form available. Format: mp3; length: 1:30:54