Battle, Moses interview

Permanent Link:: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI14103444/00001

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: Oral histories -- Miami Beach (Fla.)
North and Central America -- United States -- Florida -- Miami-Dade -- Miami Beach
Ali, Muhammad, 1942-2016 ( fast )
Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant ( fast )
Genre:: Video Recordings
Spatial Coverage:: United States -- Florida -- Miami Beach

Scope and Content:: Moses Battle has been a Joe’s employee for 41 years. He talks about the discrimination that persisted in South Florida into the 70’s. He lived in Overtown and recalls seeing Cassius Clay (later to become Muhammed Ali, world heavyweight boxing champion) riding the same jitney that Mr. Battle took to get to Miami Beach. Ali was headed to the 5th Street Gym to train for the championship title. He recalls seeing him in the restaurant in later life, signing autographs for fans. The staff offered to keep autograph seekers at bay but Ali insisted that his fans were important and carried on signing. Mr. Battle recalls many times when the kitchen staff, which was primarily black, would be driven by Jesse Weiss over the causeway to downtown Miami to catch their buses if they had worked after the curfew. He also talks about Jesse Weiss’ gambling habit and how he would have the staff run next door to the dog track to place bets. ( en )