So, I was talking to grandmother the other day and she happened to ask me about school and asked what classes I was taking and I mentioned this class and was telling her about the two films we had seen, Color Adjustment and Eyes on the Prize. Well, this started a conversation on her memories of segregation and the distinct divisions between races when she was growing up in the Midwest, which normally would have been shocking to me, but after seeing both of the documentaries assigned for class, just seemed like more sad reminders of a dark chapter in our country's history.
One of the things she mentioned was that when she attended high school in the 1940's, there was one black man who worked as a janitor at the school and she told me that the teachers had a separate mug just for him in the faculty lounge because nobody wanted to use the one that had been used by a black man beforehand. As if that weren't bad enough, she had said that when she and her friends used to take the late bus home from school, they would see people run from the bus to their homes if there were black men around because they were so afraid of them. This seems crazy to me! Why were people so afraid of anyone who had a different appearance than them? It is so incredibly disheartening hearing about the ways that black people were treated in this country simply because of the color of their skin. I just can't understand what was going through people's heads at the time that made them feel as though they were better than others just because of their race.
Anyway, some of the things that she was talking about really left an impression on me, so I just thought it was worth mentioning briefly...
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It's always really interesting to me to hear things like that too. Doesn't it make you wonder how you would have handled these situations if you lived when your grandmother did? But, as a young child, your views really have to do with what your parents tell you. If your parents tell you to be afraid of a black man then you have no reason not to believe there is something to actually be afraid of. Once those children become young adults it becomes their own responsibility to form their own views. Unfortunatly some people don't want to change.
ReplyDeleteWow!! It's mind bottling to hear stories that reinforce these notions of racism. It's one thing to read about them and watch documentaries, but theres always so much more impact hearing them from a primary source.
ReplyDeleteYour grandmother was really generous with her memories--I can't imagine it's remotely pleasant to recall these particular snippets of memory. But I agree with Lauren--hearing first-hand memories brings it on home in a powerful way...
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