And Howard University. So, by being social workers and sharing with
us—we even socialized together, my parents and our generation. I have
three siblings. As a result, I think it gave us a step up in
understanding society in general, people in general. It was a very
interesting life, because we moved from community to community. By my
father being a minister, you were welcomed in the community, you didn't
have to forge your way through. At the same time, you met so many
diverse people. The church in Oakland and Berkeley that my father had
was integrated way back in the '30s and '40s. It had a small minority of
other races, but they were there. There was an on-going exchange of
rabbis and ministers within the ministerial alliances in Oregon,
California, and Colorado. So we were really exposed to lots of different
types of people. My older sister graduated from
U.C.-Berkeley also, and as you might know, the international house there
had a reputation of being quite an active, interesting and diverse
community. My mother and father used to welcome young people to our
home, because they wanted us to know people from all over they world,
and they wanted them to be exposed to families in the area. We lived in
Berkeley, right near the campus. So that armed me, so to speak, with a
feeling that there are other venues, other aspects to life besides that
that I had lived. When I came here [to Weldon], at first I had the
feeling that there would be a very strong, almost militant group of
people that were ready for anything that might come on the horizon. The
military had been integrated, and I said, well, things might begin to
fall after that. This was in my mind. So coming here, I had that
feeling, not realizing that there had been generations of that slave
mentality that was still here. I came to understand that the security
people needed to go from one day to the next was in that slave
mentality. That was a rude awakening for me. I didn't think that that
would be the situation when I first came here. I remember that the older
physician that was here—we'd met him before, his name was Dr. Tinsley—
approached us one time, and said that he didn't believe that there was
much hope. I think that he had just given up on the prospect of our
races ever getting together, or people having understanding. So he was
sort of negative in his whole aspect. I told him, I remember quite
clearly, that if we could help just one person, maybe that would be
progress. And he looked at me like I was sort of crazy. I guess he
thought, here's this young kid that doesn't know what she's talking
about. But still, I sort of hung on to that, because, I guess, my family
had been so positive, and had instilled in me a positivity that I felt
quite strongly about. But little by little, it was revealed to me that
it would take a lot to overcome what had preceded us generations back.
In the churches, which were the foundation of the black communities,
there was a resignation about ever bursting out, ever becoming a part of
the community in general. I remember quite a few experiences. One of
them had to do with the fact that the minister of the church that my
husband's family belonged to was in graduate school at Harvard
University with one of my father's brothers. I was enthused about
meeting him, and thought, "Oh, boy, this is really going to be
something, because I'm sure that this man is going to be a very
progressive man." And the very first time I went to see him, and went up
to meet him at church, I said, "I have some exciting news. My father's
brother and you were at Harvard together in the master's program. He
said, "Oh, yes, what was his name?" I said, "Richard Hill." And he said,
"Oh, I knew him, I knew him." I said, "Great. Since you've been in this
community, what have you been doing to help with the leadership and so
on?" And he told me, "I'm giving the people what they want." I almost
fainted right there in the church! I couldn't believe—because when I
heard him speak, it was so lacking in any perspective, any inspiration,
it was so lacking in giving people the wherewithal to fight the battle.
I just couldn't believe it, and that's why I was pressed to go to him
and ask him what this had done to equip him for helping these people in
his community that so desperately needed it? When he
said he was giving them what they wanted, I felt like my heart just went
absolutely to the floor!