[laughter] And I never will forget the. . . . I went to meet Mrs. King at a
meeting one Sunday in Chattanooga, and a lady told me that she'd like
for me to be in the receiving line, coming from the mountains there,
from Monteagle. She traveled twelve miles that night up to where I was
living on top of that. . . . What kind of rock is that? No, it isn't
Blowing Rock; another rock. But anyway, she traveled up that mountain to
see what kind of dress I was going to wear that Sunday afternoon. She
wanted to see it. I had a black dress [unknown] . I guess
she said, "She looks so tacky around that. . . ." We didn't bother about
dressing at Highlander
[laughter], and I never did bother too much about dressing. [unknown] the only thing I [unknown] . So she
wanted to see what I can wear to stand in line with Mrs. King.
[laughter] I've had some very interesting experiences. Went down into
Bradenton, Florida, and that lady didn't know that Highlander had a
black woman coming, you know, for fundraising. And so I got off the bus
at the station and got a taxi to go to her house, and I had her address.
And the taxi man said, "Lady, there are no black people down there in
that part." "No negroes," he said. And I said, "They don't?" I said,
"But you just take me there." He stopped that taxi another time, and he
said,
Page 108 "Usually no black people don't go over
there." And I said, "But you just take me there," so he took me. And
when I got to the door, this lady said, "Oh, I didn't know Highlander
had a black woman coming around. Anyway," she said, "come in." And she
pulled her shades down to the door; didn't want anybody else to see. And
the taxi went on. So she said, "We're going to have to pray over this."
A good woman, but just afraid. She said, "You know, they could tar and
feather me." That's what she said. I said, "Well! Really?" So she gave
me something, and she asked me to pray. And I prayed that the Lord would
not hold her responsible, because I [unknown] . I hoped
that she would be forgiven. So, anyway, we sat down and ate supper. And
I knew an undertaker there, so I went to his house that night and spent
the night. We didn't have the meeting.
[laughter]