Norman B. Wooding Jr., 2007 Oral History
Title
Norman B. Wooding Jr., 2007 Oral History
Description
Norman Bennett “NB” Wooding, Jr. (b. Nov. 28, 1923, d. Oct. 31, 2015), Interviewed at his home in Mason City, Birmingham by Bob Friedman. In 2012, NB Wooding, Jr. celebrated 80 years singing gospel quartet in Jefferson County and over 60 years involved in gospel broadcasting. His life also spanned a stint working with Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. A father of seven, NB retired as President of the Pillars of Birmingham gospel quartet. Wooding’s life history is captured in the Four Octave Production video, “Salute to a Soldier” (2013).
Creator
Norman B. Wooding Jr.
Bob Friedman
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
May 25, 2007
Contributor
Lindsey Reynolds
Emily Bibb
Format
JPG
MP3
PDF
Language
English
Identifier
WoodingOH
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Interviewee
Norman B. Wooding Jr.
Location
Mason City, Birmingham Alabama
Transcription
Transcript from audio snippet:
Bob Friedman: Before the MacMillans, there was the Kelley Choral Singers...
Norman Wooding: Before then I sang with uh, I sang with the MacMillan Juniors.
BF: The MacMillan Juniors? What year is this?
NW: It was in the late 30s. I’d say around ’38 to ’40.
BF: The MacMillan Juniors. Now tell us about that group. How many people were in it?
NW: Well we had 4 people in there.
BF: Remember there names?
NW: Yeah, gee…Floyd King, . was one of them.
BF: Yeah, we heard about Floyd King
NW: I can’t think of the others, we had a bunch of them.
BF: How old were you?
NW: How old? I was in my teenage years, 15 years old.
BF: You decided to form a group, so you sang harmony?
NW: We listened to them and wanted to pattern after them.
BF: You listened to the MacMillans?
NW: Yeah, right. …after them….
BF: What did the MacMillan Juniors do? When the MacMillans showed up they showed up?
NW: Yeah, they let us sing, they let us sing at the program.. That was 10 cent, admission was 10 cent.
BF: To get where?
NW: To get into to the program.
BF: You had a program?
NW: Yeah, it was 10 cents. We would go, little boys, knee pants and barefooted most of the time,
BF: That’s how you would dress when you sang?
NW: Yeah. Economics was kind of bad back then. But they let us sing, and eventually we got pretty good, we just you know...drifted…
BF: And you graduated into the seniors?
NW: No, no
BF: What happened after that?
NW: They dispersed, you know went different places. Left school and went different places. The group broke up. Abraham Smiley was in there, he was one of them, He sang bass, yeah he sang bass.
BF: and what part did Floyd King sing?
NW: Floyd sung all voices.
BF: All voices, all voices, wow
Bob Friedman: Before the MacMillans, there was the Kelley Choral Singers...
Norman Wooding: Before then I sang with uh, I sang with the MacMillan Juniors.
BF: The MacMillan Juniors? What year is this?
NW: It was in the late 30s. I’d say around ’38 to ’40.
BF: The MacMillan Juniors. Now tell us about that group. How many people were in it?
NW: Well we had 4 people in there.
BF: Remember there names?
NW: Yeah, gee…Floyd King, . was one of them.
BF: Yeah, we heard about Floyd King
NW: I can’t think of the others, we had a bunch of them.
BF: How old were you?
NW: How old? I was in my teenage years, 15 years old.
BF: You decided to form a group, so you sang harmony?
NW: We listened to them and wanted to pattern after them.
BF: You listened to the MacMillans?
NW: Yeah, right. …after them….
BF: What did the MacMillan Juniors do? When the MacMillans showed up they showed up?
NW: Yeah, they let us sing, they let us sing at the program.. That was 10 cent, admission was 10 cent.
BF: To get where?
NW: To get into to the program.
BF: You had a program?
NW: Yeah, it was 10 cents. We would go, little boys, knee pants and barefooted most of the time,
BF: That’s how you would dress when you sang?
NW: Yeah. Economics was kind of bad back then. But they let us sing, and eventually we got pretty good, we just you know...drifted…
BF: And you graduated into the seniors?
NW: No, no
BF: What happened after that?
NW: They dispersed, you know went different places. Left school and went different places. The group broke up. Abraham Smiley was in there, he was one of them, He sang bass, yeah he sang bass.
BF: and what part did Floyd King sing?
NW: Floyd sung all voices.
BF: All voices, all voices, wow
Files
Collection
Citation
Norman B. Wooding Jr. and Bob Friedman, “Norman B. Wooding Jr., 2007 Oral History,” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed September 7, 2026, https://www.thebbrm.org/item/82.
Item Relations
| Item: Norman B. Wooding Jr., 2013 Oral History | dcterms:relation | This Item |
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