I interviewed Joe Smith, who is my step grandfather on my father’s side. The interview took place on the phone. He was never a wealthy man. He grew up on a farm, in a part of the country, which at the time, was filled with poor colored folk.
Beyond Schools
This category contains stories about the desegregation of public life in America.
She Saw Everybody as One Color
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It was about 7:30 at night on 2207 Singleton Cove. It was a nice night. This interview took place at my house. We were in my mom’s room and on her bed.
Grandpa, The Fighter
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I interviewed my grandfather. His name is Grady Moore. My grandfather is retired now, but he is a troop leader during his story. He was actually a leader of his cabin in the Korean War.
Her Parents Taught Her About People Being Different But Equal
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This interwiew was at Ms. Presley’s house in her living room. The living room was a fairly casual space; there were two armchairs and a sofa in the room.
Not Having Rights and Later on Gaining Them
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The person I interviewed was my dad Andrew Brown. He told me a story that his dad told him along time ago when he was young.
Wounds From the Past
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I always tried to make my children feel good about themselves no matter what someone else was doing or saying because if you have all this low self-esteem about yourself your like a magnet, your picking up bad attitudes and feelings.
You Accept People As People, For Who They Are
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I sat on the floor of your basic living room, facing an older, white-hair woman. She was born, raised, and still lives in Arkansas. During the desegregation of Little Rock Central High, she was twenty years old and had just recently moved to Little Rock to work down town. Here, this woman and I sat and discussed the issue of various civil rights events that she may have experienced through out her past. One of the stories she best remembered about the civil rights era happened in 1957 during the first year that Arkansas Public Schools began to desegregate. She remembered it all starting with sit-ins at the Woolworth’s 5-10 Cent Store lunch counters. African Americans were not allowed to eat at the Woolworth’s lunch counters. In protest, they all gathered there and refused to leave. They used these sit-ins to test the rules. They wanted to find out just how far they could go. After this event took place, desegregation began to spread all across the U.S.
Black People Were the Lowest Life on the Planet
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After deciding to interview my granny, I had to call her over the phone since she stays in my home state, Missouri, and I now live in Arkansas. Alice Henry grew up in Bell City, Missouri, but as a child, she lived in Indianapolis for a short while. When Alice was a young adult, she encountered first hand the labor of picking cotton and working in a field, but was paid for her labor. This mother of six knew what it was like to grow up in a time where people of her race weren’t respected. Currently residing in Sikeston, MO, Alice has worked at Hunter Acres Nursing Home for many years. Now she is content with being a nanny for toddlers and taking care of her mother (my great grandma), Mama Dear.
The K.K.K are Deadly
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When civil rights started happening, Ms. Williams was about 5 years old and older. She lived in Los Angeles, California. Ms. Williams was in elementary school in California. All her friends were black. Most African-American people didn’t like white people but Ms. Williams never had a problem accepting them.
Separation of Stores
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Interviewer: Kimesha Jones Interviewee: Norma Watson Norma Watson was around eight or nine years old when her incidents took place. She came a long way since she is now 55 years of age. When Norma was growing up she worked…