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R: No, no, no! They had no basis. They were based on the
sewing machine, They were what the Indians gave the sewing
machine. There's an art and a creativity that goes on from
a sewing machine, right?
K: Yes. I would like to know how the first sewing machine ever
got to the Indians, but I believe I....
R: So would I. But I'll tell you--it was Mary Brickell, probably.
K: I think I have also read something about the salesman from
the sewing machine companies going out and soliciting business,
but it must have been an interesting thing, and I...,
R: No, the interesting thing to me, or my justification is
Indians off in there, in the Big Cypress and whatnot, don't
wear this stuff.
K: What do they wear?
R: Blue shirts and dungarees.
K: And the women?
R: Oh, blouses and skirts of some description, But actually,
the young women wear blouses and dungarees, I remember in
the 1920s when we would see them in town--and I think we saw
them more in town then when we first came--they said in
effect by the costumes and those beautiful blouses the
Indian women wore, and the skirts and the shirts of the men,
"We are Indians!" And nobody put 'em down, or made 'em sit
in the back of the bus, or gave 'em any trouble,
K: That's interesting, because I remember as a child seeing 'em
on Flagler Street in downtown Miami, but I never really
thought at the time what their general acceptance was, and
what they came to town for, and how the people acted toward
them.
R: They probably came to town to work in a parking lot. There
were more of them working in the parking lots then than there
are now,
K: Let's go back to that a minute. You know we talked about the
Indians that did come to town, and what they did or do, and