It was something that I didn't think about, but I was aware of it. It
must have been 1962 or '63, my grandmother moved to California. And, my
mother and I and one of her friends took the bus to California. It took
us four days and five nights, a very memorable trip. We got off the bus
in Jackson, Mississippi. A lady at the lunch counter didn't want to
serve us. To really appreciate this story you'd have to get a sense of
what a strong willed person my mother is. She's very strong willed and
very outspoken and she would not tolerate not being served. She stood
there with the bus driver's support until the lady at the lunch counter
cooked us a hot meal. She didn't want to—. She wanted to have us eat
cold sandwiches. My mother raised quite a ruckus in Jackson,
Mississippi. [Laughter] So, when we got to
California my grandmother almost had a fit. She said, "Oh no. Anything
could have happen to you all." I remember my father and my neighbor's
husband cautioning us, "Don't y'all get off the bus in Mississippi."
They just might as well have told my mother to get off the bus and raise
a ruckus because that's exactly what she did. So, that was my first
sense ever of the difference of the polarization.
But, also, growing up my father had worked at a country club. He worked
at Charlotte Country Club. He was a server and he talked to me about
some of his experiences. My mother had worked at the Hotel Charlotte
early in their marriage. So
Page 12they would share with
me some of their experiences. However, because I grew up in a very rich
community. Not rich in terms of dollars, but rich in terms of being the
type of community that nurtures its children. It really—.
I know that it takes a whole village to raise a child is an African
proverb, it could have been one that very well that was true of my
community. I attended church. I attended school in predominantly black
institutions. There was just a sense of nurturing. A sense of care and
concern that, as a child, I just never grew up with a fear for, first of
all, what might happen to me because of some racial issues. Nor did I
ever suffer in terms of educational experiences or cultural experiences
or those types of things that I feel really have enriched me. Part of
that may have been due to my parents and their education, their
orientation and their desire to have something better for me. But, I
never had that.
My mother and I were at a teachers' convention when Martin Luther King
was assassinated. As a matter of fact, my mother was playing pinochle
with the superintendent. We were in his hotel room. The state
superintendent—. I think it was E. Craig Phillips. I was sleeping in his
bed and they were playing pinochle. We left his room and got on the
elevator and someone told us that Dr. King had been assassinated. I
remember my father calling and asking us not to come home because all
the kids in the street—. You know there's North Carolina Central and
Shaw and Livingstone. So just a number of historically black colleges
and universities, not to mention Smith [Johnson C.] in that corridor
between Charlotte and Raleigh. So, he said, "Kids are laying in the
street protesting." And even there in Raleigh outside the hotel people
were turning cars over, setting cars on fire. A lot was going on there.
Page 13
But, again, I was sleeping in a white man's bed. My mother was playing
cards with a white man and they were using me as, I guess, as a
demonstration as to how early intervention would help children to read.
I was there reading for teachers from all over the state, a mixed group.
Even in what you would consider to be the most severe circumstances, I
didn't feel threatened, nor did I feel frightened. But, again, like I
said, I realize that I was fortunate in terms of my experiences growing
up and they may have been different from others.