Oral+History+Questions

(Forgive my use of the "black" and "white" labels. It's how things were in my day and the way I think about races.) I'm a septagenarian now so you have to forgive me.
 * 1) Do you remember what you were doing when you heard that MLK had been shot? Can you tell me about it?

Neither Pep nor I remember what we were doing that day. We could both answer very specifically if you were asking about JFK however. You see, Rhode Island has always been a pretty liberal state and even though we were living in Massachusetts at that time, we were not apt to see much prejudice or segregation nor had we growing up in Little Rhody.

I taught in Providence in a high school where the student population was at least 50% black. In my two years there, I never witnessed discrimination or racial tension except perhaps on the basketball court where the black boys were much better athletes than their white counterparts. The same is true about my teaching days in Schenectady in a school that was mostly black. True the white kids hung around with their white friends, but the same was true about the blacks. Did you take part in any civil rights protests? No from both of us. What do you remember about race relationships in your town back "in the day." There were very few blacks in our lives. No problems. No memories of bad incidents. Do you remember any interracial socializing or marriages at that time?

My good friend who was in nursing school in the early 60s dated a black student. She loved him very much. Her parents did not. She did break up with him but it was his doing--not hers.

Did you ever see MLK in person? No from both of us

What do remember hearing about the civil rights movement in the news? Was there something on about it every night?

Virtually every night. There were peaceful marches and not so peaceful protests--but these were in the South. I don't remember anything locally--neither does Pep.

How did life change in your town throughout the civil rights movement?

Can't say that it did change. Anything you would add about that time or your experience of the CRM?

Pep says: Racial jokes were commonplace before the CRM. Afterwards, white folks became more sensitive to that sort of thing--even here. Mem says: I was brought up to judge people for who they were--not for what color they were. As a teacher (and that's about the only time I dealt with blacks) I rarely thought about whether the kids in front of me were black, white, yellow, or purple. In fact, I could more easily have told you if a student wore glasses than what the color of his skin was.