It's strange how pieces of my life float into my mind.
In 1960, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges walked into William Frantz School as the first black child to attend a public, all-white elementary school in the South. You'll have to look up the data to realize what a shock this was to many people. Desegregation was happening all over the country.
A neighbor of ours, learning that I was going off to college soon, asked me, "What would you do if they put a hulking black boy in your dorm room?"
I told her that I'd complain.
She nodded.
I said, "I'd complain to the administration that they'd made a mistake putting a boy in the Girl's dorm. He'd complain, too."
Somehow I had completely missed her horror at blacks sharing rooms with whites and had instead been shocked that she'd even suggest they'd put a Boy in the girl's dorm.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Memories of the 1960s
Labels:
1960s,
boys in the girl's dorm,
college,
Desegregation,
memories,
Ruby Bridges
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