Dayton Stories Project
Story Circle Session #102095
Dunbar House
Dayton, Ohio
October 20, 1995
Going to School
Facilitator: Margaret Peters Recorder: Marilyn Shannon Transcriber: NeAnni Ife Transcriber Typist: Sue Broadstock
Participants: James Bernard Carter, Molly Conrecode, Rowena Gillespie, Johnny Grady, Louise Oliver, Jerrie Prim
This session lasts approximately 1 hour 12 minutes.
Due to its length the interview has been split into two parts. The interview has some background static that fades in and out.
PART ONE
PART TWO
The following transcription of the session has been edited, with repeated phrases or interruptions deleted to make the text flow more smoothly. It is suggested that visitors who find the text interesting take the time to listen to the audio portion of this session. A more detailed text will eventually be added.
J.B. Carter
I went to Dunbar beginning in the 7th grade. We were all in the same building, Dunbar Junior and Dunbar High school were all in the same building. Professor W.C. MacFarlane headed us. He was apparently educated in a very admirable way. Thinking of him he impressed on us that getting through life was easier when you made yourself more presentable. And also useful and at the same time, one who would reach out to help wherever you could and to the best of your abilities. I went to Edison Elementary school through the 6th grade. And from the 7th grade it was the rest of the time in the same building on Summit Street at Dunbar.
One [teacher] I respect was Jessie Hathcock. But I want to say that Frederick C. MacFarlane was, himself, and educator in the sense that he pointed you in a direction in which there would be area for you out here in the social area. Because of that, a lot of us still meet. My class still meets together with the class that was two years before us. Dunbar has left its mark upon us, or given us a means of coming together and enjoying the company of each other.
Margaret Peters
I went to Roosevelt primarily because my mother had gone to Roosevelt. And it was a tradition that you were suppose to go to that school. So every morning we would walk from Edgemont up Homestead across Burkham right past Dunbar and go to Roosevelt. My older brother went there, my two younger brothers, and my sister-all of us went to Roosevelt. And the big rivalry of course was the Teddies vs the Wolverines. (...) Constantly(...) As to which track team, football team, and basketball team was the best. It was really a very god....My cousins all went to Dunbar. and they lived with Grandma Peters then, but now they live on Broadway. And there was kind of like a family rivalry there also. They were very good years.
Rowena Gillispie
I came from Lima in ‘72 to go to Wright State. Always swore that I was going to leave, but haven’t left yet. This is my last year. I’ll graduate with my Anthropology degree this quarter. I just live here.
Molly Conrecode
I’ll have to pass too, because I just moved here. I’d be interested, though, in hearing about the type of activities you participated in in your schools. Because for me, I went to school in PA, but the coaches, and activity leaders were the most important people to me, and even today, I still hold them, and my cross country coach, in such high regard.
J.B. Carter
Coaches, instructors, were in the sense of the old Dunbar, were assigned to an area by reason of their education. The academic area was headed by Frederick C. MacFarlane and Mr. Braxton who later became a principal at Willard. And we were guided by people like Jessie Hathcock, Lula Jones, W. E. B Dubois and we heard about the background of people who were just good. I come to respect them because of my father, who went to Wilberforce, Ohio. He was employed in the business office there. That’s where I was born. And that’s where all of the children in my family were born. There were three families as part of the faculty over that assisted in the delivery of the children. My family never saw the inside of a hospital. I didn’t have evidence of my birth until I came to Dayton. And then they gave me the wrong name-Bernhardt Carter. I had been named after my grandfathers. I never saw either one of them. I knew both of my grandmothers. All the way from Louisiana, down below New Orleans up to North Carolina and Virginia-that’s the way my family was spread out. My grandfather on my mother’s side was an AME minister, who met his wife in Louisiana. They later became established in California. At the Presidio in San Francisco, on up to -My grandfather met Leland Standford and out of that came some type of mutual ( ) because Grandpa, when he rode back and forth with his wife in the restricted areas...
Leland Standford became instrumental in getting grandpa placed in Sacramento. Anyway, here I am back in Wilberforce which is out in the country and with the midwives-we’re still friends to this day. Bruce (?) Green family, the Carl Jenkins family...
I went to college at Virginia State College. I was the fourth child. The older three went to Wilberforce. I had a younger sister who went to Dunbar, and she went to Wilberforce. My older sister went to Wilberforce, and my brother went to Wilberforce. I said, “I’m going down to where Pop stated, down in the sticks in Virginia.” At that time you could only go as far as 7th grade. He went to Virginia State College to finish his undergrad work. And left Virginia State to go to Howard. Virginia State College in his days was like boarding school. If you went to Howard was government territory. They had the money and the ways and means of providing a more broad education. So he came to Ohio and after having 4 children, he came to Dayton and stared law0 at night and took care of the children in the day time. He graduated from the old Dayton Law School. Started practicing back in the depression. People would come and bring him a sack of meal-they didn’t have any money. That was different.
I lived on Second Street and went to Edison. Edison had a faculty that was 100% female. There was Laura Rosa, the principal, and Bess Thomas, who we called the “hit person”. I got stroked a few times and sent out to be my myself. I remember at the beginning of the fourth grade, my mother was vigilant in her time, and her children were encouraged to be active but at the same time and whoever was involved in the school was (...). One of the incidents that came about was there was a program being held at the school. I joyfully bounded home to my mama and said, “Mama, I’m going to be in a play at the school.” She said, “Oh, very nice. What are you going to do?” I said, “I need a bandanna to put on my head because I’m going to be (...).” About this time it was a grab of the hand and off to school we went. “Not my son, do you understand me?” I ended up on the back row.
Harry Sheafer sat with me. He just died. His pi’ture was in the paper a week or so ago. We sat on the last row of each of the classes we went to and were told to be quiet and do your work and we’d pass. One of my favorite recollections was that you were suppose to do something original so Bud and I combined to put on a play called the Fox and the Wolf. And what happened? We enacted that one out and they looked at us a little strange. But, we got by with that.
I lived in the Roosevelt area, but my brother and sister said you’re not going to go there. And that was the beginning of what I thought was my education. Frederick C. MacFarlane was in charge. The strong division between athletics and failures.(?) Between what was social and what was academics. And academics were encouraged. I participate in the state examinations as well as school. I ended up as one of the students selected from Dunbar to receive scholarships to attend college.
Seriousness on one side, athletics on the other. But athletics team is a great support for me. I always liked to play. My whole time at Dunbar we never got to play any of the City school during the regular play. The first time was in 1934. I still have the ticket. Dunbar played Stivers and didn’t play again until 1950 something. I didn’t go to Dunbar then, but I went to see the big guys play. I still kept that ticket.
Some people might think that w were severely handicapped by that, but (...) Became our relationships when we played. The nearest team we played was in Lockland Wayne (?). We played over in Kentucky-we played Louisville, Ashland, Charleston West Virginia. This was a high school team playing that far east, and west as far as St. Louis. We traveled more than most colleges. And enjoyed. Going to Chicago to play Wendell Phillips(?) and Dunbar,. Indianapolis, I developed friendships during those years. I still see some of those guys. We look at each other-“Don’t I know you?”
But all the time, I think I was fortunate in having a mother and father who insisted that here is your academics over here and here is your ball over here. And if you play well, then you also study well. It was different. I wouldn’t have played anybody else. Indianapolis, Gary, Indiana. It was an education in itself.
Coming out of it, Dunbar in those days, the young ladies count out test. Most of the students who were in the state tests were women. I was one of the males. (.....) Was my instructor. He taught the science class. He taught how to approach the test. You prepare yourself for the test. “Who’s the instructor?” “So and So.” “Oh, yes,. She likes to give this type of questions.” I ended up in my senior year getting a scholarship from the Dayton Chamber of Commerce. There were four of us in the City. And I was chosen from Dunbar. The state test, you chose the area. My area was chemistry. Though I should have chosen Literature. I did get an award. You zeroed in on your chosen area, not that you were going to be a complete student. But we were attracted to, or liked some things more than other. We were prepped a little bit.
Louse Oliver
I went to Washington School. Very few Black were at that school. We were treated very nice. I remember one time, I was in a speech contest and I did very well. My teacher thought that I should win, but some of the other teachers said no. We had some very prejudiced teachers there, but it was a pretty ice school. I went back in after I grew up, and it was so small. I used to think the halls were so wide.
Then I went to Wilbur Wright in junior high., and to Steele in high school. Archie Lewis, Bing Davis, grew up in Est Dayton too. Yes, I went to school with archie. I was older than Archie. Bing said my sister was the teacher that taught him the awareness of life. She would take 10 5o 15 kids to a festival or someplace, and she never lost a child. They all had partners and they all had to hold hands. She had them under control. When they misbehaved at home, their mother told them, “I’ll call Aunt Bessie.” Bing has a picture of Aunt Bessie. It belongs to me. He thinks he’s going to keep it.
The Willoughby’s. They were sisters. I was in her English class. She couldn’t understand why people lettered in Latin, but couldn’t do it in English. She was a wonderful teacher. She was different from the other teachers. She took interest in me, in all her students. She was the older of the two. She urged me to enter the speech contest. I’ll never forget the poem: “I shot an arrow into the air. It fell to the earth, I know not where.”
Then I went on to Wilbur Wright and on to Steele. I missed school a lot. I was sick quite a bit. I had asthma very bad at that time. We had field day. I excelled in high jump. I could run.
J.B. Carter
Incidentally, my sister Mildred taught at Garfield. She coached the boys basketball team. I see a couple of those scoundrels. I call them scoundrels because they’re out there just doing whatever, but they always stop me and say, “How’s Miss Simmons?” I have the trophy that they won for the City.
Margaret Peters
I don’t’ think the difference between teachers then and now is related to the education of the teachers. I think that what has happened is that society has changed. When we were in school, the parents supported the teachers. Children were expected to do their homework. People generally lived in the neighborhood near the school. And so the parents knew the teachers. And there was more respect for education. Partly because we believed that if we stayed in school, got our diploma, went to college, we would get a good job. Today’s children don’t see that. And partly that’s because with the City being torn down and Black people being able to move outside the city, what you have is the majority of the Black professional people don’t live anywhere near the children going to school. They don’t see those models and they don’t see that education is something important. I taught for 30 years and the teachers are working and trying but the community support is not there. I think that’s the big difference.
J.B. Carter
You don’t have a Julie B. Green anymore. I worked with Mrs. Green. Coming out of law school, I was an assistant prosecutor. Part of this was Juvenile Court. Matt Heck Sr. took me upstairs. This was a first-this black guy in charge up there. Matt took me up there and said, “This is Bernard Carter. He’s in charge.” Well, the occasion came about, of course, when somebody complained about it and they went to him and he told them, “I told you to leave me along. He is in charge.”
Now, Mrs. Green, this woman was a community asset, as well as a worker. She really worked with you. She would say to you-A woman would come in on Monday to complain. Mrs. Green would say-and I’d be standing this close to her, and she’d say, “Mr. Carter is busy. He can’t talk to you now. But I’m going to put you down for Wednesday.” And if she came back on Wednesday, Mrs. Green would say, “Mr. Carter, we might have problem.” She would talk to the lady and work things out. Then here comes her husband the next time around. The word went out Mrs. Green sent for you, and you’d better go. She was a legend. Social worker at the Juvenile Court. If she said to Judge Nicholas, “I think he needs to go to jail.” That was it! It was in the street. They understood that. “Don’t go up there and let Mrs. Green get on your case.”
Margaret Peters
Some of the older people I talked with said they’d be out on 5th Street when they weren’t suppose to be there and Mrs. Green would say, “What are you doing out here? I expect you to be home by such and such time.” And you’d better be there. And she knew all their names.
J.B. Carter
She’s go and check you house. And I’ve seen all sorts of things. She would help Judge Nicholas. There is something called the Cincinnati Workhouse. You can see this old building. That was the place where you ended up if your record was bad. Well, Mrs. Green sent a couple of young women down there. She’s say, “I can’t work with her anymore, Judge. I think she needs to go to the workhouse.” Those girls would go down on their knees. “Mrs. Green, ...” She’d tell them to get up.
A man named George Wheeler and George Clark they were the same way. They would come to your house and knock on the door. Mama say, “She skipped school yesterday.” They say, “You better see to it she’s in there tomorrow.” And that took care of that. Because you did. Because if she didn’t show, then you were in trouble. East, West, or wherever it was-all over town. Mrs. Green was in charge of the County.
Margaret Peters
Joe Shaw sais the same thing about George Wheeler.
Louise Oliver
Oh yes. “You got your hat on wrong? Fix that hat right, boy.” And they would do it.
Margaret Peters
One time a bunch of them in front of the Y and Mr. Wheeler came by. He was the third Black policeman. One of the boys had his hat on backward. Wheeler said, “You need to fix that hot, son.” And he went on up the street. The boy didn’t fix his hat. And another boy said, “Boy, you better fix that hat. You know he’s going to come back.” Wheeler came back and said, “I though I told you to put that hat on right.” Then WHACK upside the head. And the boy fixed that hat.
J.B. Carter
He would unload. He save the County a lot of money, because the County didn’t have to hold them. He meant business. And Mrs. Green and her girls. My wife talks about being down at the Palace Theatre and the music just be playing away, and someone would say, “Mrs. Green. Mrs. Green.” They would jump down, lower their heads, and head for the door. Now a child will stand up and say, “You can’t tell me what to do.” Did they have people like that in every town? I don’t think they had anybody like these people in every community.
Marilyn Shannon
What’s really interesting is that in going to the Story Circles I keep hearing about some of the same people. I keep hearing about Mr. Wheeler. he was legendary. I think I’ve heard about Mrs. Green too, but I think more the policeMEN are the one people were really afraid of.
J.B. Carter
George Clark was (...) Among other things, there was respect.
Johnny Grady
I wasn’t born in Dayton, but I was brought up from 6 months old here. I went to (...) And Wilbur Wright. Fooled around and worked. Joined the Army. Did a tour overseas. Did a little bit of everything. Mostly good. All I can remember is that 5th Street was a jumping street. Don’t be caught standing on the corner. That was it. And the way they wear their caps now, no way. They’d walk up and slap you. It was something. Of course, kids were better then than they are today.
J.B. Carter
We thought we were doing something when we came out to the East end to play Benny Rollins(?) It was a big event. They had their own softball field, they had basketball court and everything else.
Louise Oliver
But we believed that if you wanted to go some place, we’d come to the West side.
Johnny Grady
We played ball at the Urban Center. Tom Taylor was one of the guys we played. My sister was the same as his assistant. When they found out she wasn’t a college girl, they got rid of her. She could take 20 kids to the fair by herself and not lose one of them. she had that much power over kids. When she got sick, she was transferred to Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, the kids had to go see her. They wouldn’t let them in. They moved her to the ground level and let the kids stand out there-the kids loved her so much. Bessie Grady. That was her name.
J.B. Carter
I think your sister-in-law was on the Board of OIC. Opportunities Industrialization Center. Leon Sullivan.
Johnny Grady
One lady that went there teaches at Sinclair now.
J.B. Carter
OIC originated in Philadelphia under the auspices of Rev. Leon Sullivan. It extended east to west. Africa, Dominican Republic had OIC programs. That was about 30 years ago. Some still exist, but none in this area. There is one in Springfield, Ohio. It’s a combination of business, because we looked forward to having business involved. If you’re going to train someone, they have to have some place to go once they are trained. (End of Side A)
Margaret Peters
I’m not sure whether Art-I think Art (Thomas) was there for a while. Then I also taught at OIC for a time, Curtis Hicks was there for a time. He’s now at the University of Dayton. It was at the corner Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and James McGee Blvd. It was then West Third and Western. It was really a good experience being there. We had all types of subjects. And the people who came were interested in learning something that would help them improve. I taught at night. It was a very good experience.
Jerrie Prim
I’m originally from Cleveland. I went to Catholic school for 12 years. That was very much an experience. The teacher who pops up quickly was when I was in the first grade. I’m kind of a passive person. I like to think that I’m a good Indian in that I follow very well and try to be part of the team. Anyway, I thought I was doing well. I put my head on my desk and Sister Electa looked at me and said, “What are you doing?” And slapped me. I saw stars. And somehow in Catholic schools, I though that it was going to be Mecca. I though I wouldn’t have do endure prejudice, I wouldn’t have to be bother with anything but learning. It seemed at that point, I was involved in everything but learning. It seems at that point, I was involved in everything but learning. That really demoralized me. It was-as you can tell-it really bothered me. I still remember. it. Then another nun about the 11th grade told me I had to be a credit for my race. That bothered me a lot. All girl Catholic school.
Marilyn Shannon
I grew up in New Mexico. But I think the teacher that I liked the most were the ones who taught what I was interested in. It just happened to be English and history. And my gym teacher was important to me. I liked sports. I think gym teachers in general, and coaches really have a great effect on people in the types of people they are. I remember one thing the history teacher taught us, and that was in high school, and that was about the federal reserve system and explained the numbers on the dollar bills. And the different reserve cities and it was something I never forgot. I always look at dollar bills and wonder where they came from. I guess its like leaning other things. I took a class in architecture in college and before you take a course, you never see different things in buildings. And I guess I feel the same way about money. After I learned about the federal reserve system, and that they all had numbers on them, it was just a revelation. Certainly not important, but I remember it.
Margaret Peters
Your comment about the impact of gym teachers was very true for me. When I was going to Roosevelt, my gym teacher was Jean Booker, who is now on the School Board. She was then Jean Daly. She was right out of college and she was not much older than we were. She was the kind of gym teacher who was very outgoing and took a real interest in the students. When she got married, when her little boy was born, we went over to her home. Saw the little boy grow up. She was one of the teachers that I though was like an ideal of what a good teacher ought to be like. She really had a strong influence. She belongs to our African American history Study Group and we keep in real close contact. I graduated in 1954 but we still have that real close friendship.
Rowena Gillispie
All through my school, I never had anyone that ever impacted me. My main objective was to get out. I never had any stimulation. I have to say that going to college the second time has been my greatest learning experience in terms of academics. Its been wonderful. Its different.
Molly Conrecode
One of my most humbling experiences happened in my senior year in high school. I certainly never thought I could be humbled because I was a senior in high school. Who else was there in the world? I ran cross country. I was real active in school. I’d always been a good student. It was my senior year. I was running cross country and I had this health class I had to take. It was a first aid class and I didn’t care about it. I had to take it to graduate. Since I was a good student and an athlete I could get away with murder in this school. I would skip class all the time. And I would tell the teacher, “Oh, I have a yearbook meeting. Oh, I have cross country meeting.” Often, I would come to class and there would be a quiz that we had been warned about the previous class. But I hadn’t been there and I hadn’t been studying. I was failing this class. I wasn’t worried because I was a senior.
And I remember one time during cross country, I had a meeting with my coach, Mr. Shonbacher (?), who was just the nicest guy-very quiet, very serious, but really was a great coach. My mother used to tell everyone who had children entering the school, “Have them go out for track or cross country, if only so they could have mr. Shonbacher.” Everyone was going out and he said, “Molly, hold on a second. I just talked to Mr. Shade, the health teacher, and he said you’re failing health.” I said, “Oh, well, I don’t really think I’m failing health. I think...
Mr. Shonbacher said, “What do you think you’re doing? Health should be your easiest class?” I was so embarrassed. I thought, “Mr. Shonbacher is disappointed in me.” It was awful. The next day, I went to the health teacher and asked him what kind of extra credit I could do. It was pretty late, but I ended up getting an A in the course because I had become sort of an ambassador for the school doing drinking and driving and alcohol prevention and all that kind of stuff. I was so embarrassed about that. I mean, he just sort of said, “You need to do something about that right away.” And, of course, I just turned around and did it.
Margaret Peters
He sound like the way people have talked to me about Dave Albritton at Dunbar as that kind of coach-who would have that kind of an impact on young people. I know when Mr. Albritton passed and Mal Whitfield?) came in for the funeral. and people like Mayor Dixon and some of the other young men who studies with Coach Albritton said the same kinds of things about him. It was really very moving.
Molly Conrecode
Mr. Shonbacher could do the greatest practical jokes too. It was a small, rural town. We’d go running, and sometimes on the run we’d pass an apple tree. Sometimes, we’d take apples off the tree. We knew the people and it wasn’t a problem that we’d take apples. They were our neighbors. But sometimes it would get back to Mr. Shonbacher and he’s say, “Oh, no. You didn’t steal apples.” He’d drag it out and stuff, and he was really funny.
Johnny Grady
It hit me that being from the North, here at Dunbar I get smacked for being a Northerner rather than a Southerner. It seems like in the South there are more teachers who are African American than here in the North. And having gone to Catholic schools all my live, I only remember two Black women who taught us. The third grade teacher really, I didn’t really have her. My sister did. She was so serious about her students acquiring the information. There is a story where she grabbed a young man, I think he’d gotten smart with her, and she knocked him over a whole row of desks. But she got the point across. I don’t think mother came up or father came up. It was something he well deserved and she was going to make sure that he got this information. I think that was Gregory Todd. And I think that was very, very neat. She was making sure that he got the information.
The other one was the gym teacher. She was the only Black teacher in our high school. We had 350 girls, 50 were Black and she was the only Black teacher. I think it was kind of interesting to go through 12 years and only have two Black teachers.
Margaret Peters
You did better than I did. I went through the Dayton school, Irving and Roosevelt, and had absolutely no Black teacher. Absolutely none.
Rowena Gillispie
None either.
Marilyn Shannon
None in Mexico.
Molly Conrecode
None.
J.B. Carter
Looks like I’m the one who had them all then.
Margaret Peters
When we had the desegregation suite here in the 70's, that’s one of the things that was pointed out. That they very deliberately segregated the schools here in Dayton. So we went all the way through. I came out in 1954 and never had a Black teacher at Irving or Roosevelt. But there were Black teachers at Garfield, Willard, Dunbar. It was very deliberately done.
Molly Conrecode
Margaret, was your school not of predominately Black students?
Margaret Peters
No. It was a mixed school, predominately white. I’m talking about Irving. It was within walking distance. It was about six blocks from where we lived. It was a mixed neighborhood. There were two stores at either corner. Both owned by Whites. The school was mixed, but all of the teachers were White. When we went to Roosevelt, teacher were white. All the Black teachers were at Dunbar, which was built after Roosevelt was. My mother was at Roosevelt and she came out in 1930. They had, of course, the separate swimming pools, Blacks on the athletic teams had to dress in rooms that were separate from the Whites. You would have students like Phyllis Blackburn who were at Roosevelt initially, but because of the treatment she got there, she left and went to Dunbar. And Mrs. Francis (Lela) she sent her children to Dunbar. She would not send them to Roosevelt because of the prejudice and discrimination the students met there.
Molly Conrecode
Did you those at Roosevelt, wish that you could have gone to Dunbar?
Margaret Peters
No. By the time it was in the 50s and the prejudice was much less that it had been at that time. Nettie Lee Roth was gone. And she is probably turning over in her grave now because Nettie Lee Roth School was totally Black. It really was not s severe then as it had been. Blacks had their own separate prom at the Classic Theatre. It had changed radically by the time I got there.
Marilyn Shannon
Did they pretty much have a choice?
Margaret Peters
You could choose. People will tell you that the reason Dunbar was built was because Black teachers were not being hired in the Dayton system and that Black students were being mistreated at Roosevelt. By placing Dunbar High School where they did, it was from the beginning, a school for Black students and Black teachers. It opened in 1933 I believe. The first class graduated in 1936.
Louise Oliver
I remember when Dunbar opened. Some of the students from Steele transferred to Dunbar. And you talk the separate proms, we would have a play day, we’d go to Roosevelt. Our prom was separate too. There weren’t many Blacks at Steele. When we left Wilbur Wright, some went to Stivers. Some went to Steele. Not very many. Everything was separate.
Jerrie Prim
Last year this time, we had two young ladies come to the house. they wanted verification-70 years plus-they had just been to a town meeting. They came because they wanted verification to recite Dunbar in Black face. That was an interesting encounter. I won’t go through the entire discussion. One of the ladies who left said, “I didn’t know prejudice. I had gone to Roosevelt and I didn’t know prejudice.” She was trying to figure out why it was a problem doing Dunbar in Black face. Not being from Dayton, I was not up to speed. I didn’t know about Roosevelt. Two weeks later, I had the opportunity to go to Roosevelt and talked to some people who had gone to school there,-didn’t realize there were two separate school there for all purposes. Had I known, I would have had a different conversation for that lady.
Molly Conrecode
It could be a perspective issue. Prejudice against her.
Jerrie Prim
She probably didn’t know prejudice. She didn’t have to deal with Black people.
Marilyn Shannon
If there were separate dressing rooms and swimming pools that was one thing.
Margaret Peters
She didn’t know prejudice - Remember when Northmont had all the problems between the Black students and the White students? I went out there to speak with them. What I found is that many of ht White students of what the Black students were going through. One of the young Black girls told me, with tears in her eyes, told me of having Klan printed on her locker. But she shared that among the other Black students. They don’t associate with each other that much. If you are isolated in your own little group, you see things the way the people in your group see things the way the people in your group see them. Remember when Reagan was our President and he said he didn’t know anything about discrimination in this country? He never faced it. People are very isolated and they see what they want to see. This is a country that is very god about deceiving itself about what kind of country we live in. There was a report in the paper the other day where they had polled Blacks and Whites. White people said they through Black people were 25% of the population. Black people earned as much as White people do.
J.B. Carter
They know better than that.
Molly Conrecode
I used to teach at a Quaker boarding school. The school underwent a multi-cultural examination to look at its faculty and student body, staff, curriculum, food and social events and extracurricular activities and field trips and everything. I was on the committee to do that evaluation. My responsibility was to talk to student body to find out their views on racism on campus. Did they feel that the students were racists, were teachers racist, were there open lines of communication to talk about racial issues. I did this. Overwhelmingly, all of the students felt they could not openly talk about racial issues. They were afraid they were going to be attacked. They wanted to but they were uncomfortable. I brought that to the committee, the head of which was the head of the school. I said, “I spoke with 100 out of 500 students representing this, that.” Statistically, it was all nice and even and tight. I said, “80% of the students feel uncomfortable talking about race and 95% of the Black students feel as though there is racism on campus.” The headmaster said, “I don’t believe that.” I said, “Let me explain to you.” He said, “I’m sorry. I simply refuse to believe that.” I thought, “Why are we doing this?”
Margaret Peters
There was an interview with Minister Farrahkan on Good Morning America. The guy was saying, “You’re being divisive.” Farrahkan’s response was, “We didn’t bring people here as slaves. We didn’t pass the laws segregating people. So how can you say we’re causing the racial division?” He brought up the Kerner report. Some people just have a blind spot and they just don’t want to hear. The refuse to listen.
J.B. Carter
I’m married to a graduate of Roosevelt. Pauline has attended one meeting. The only reason she went was because some of her friends had come in from out of town and she wanted to see them. She was back home in about 2 hours. She hasn’t missed a Dunbar reunion with me yet. We (ex Dunbar students) enjoy being together. Quite a few from Roosevelt come to our reunions. We’re planning to meet with Little Rock Dunbar and Lexington Dunbar. What I’m saying is that we still have those feelings about each other. I get invitations to Steele reunions every year. There are only about 3 Blacks that go. I have been to several. I’m treated very nice. Stanley Donenfeld was in my class. He is the nicest person. He always wants me to sit at his table. Most of the big shot Jewish people graduated from Steele. They treat you very nice at the reunions, I mean, they were very nice. It was a nice school to go to. I had a few White friends at Steele. Not friendly friends, but they were very nice.
J.B. Carter
My wife will name the prominent people in this area that graduated from Roosevelt the same time she did. She will not attend the meetings. I know some of them.
Johnny Grady
Tuffy Brooks was well known here as a football pirate(?) He was a gifted football player. There was a Black guy who would run down the field with the ball, get to the one or two yard line, and give the ball to Tuffy Brooks who would score. Tuffy got the credit for being the hero. He was a good player, don’t get me wrong. But its like somebody carrying the mail to the door, and somebody else take it in.
J.B. Carter
Things have changed somewhat. Associations of the students and so forth. My son got a full scholarship to Stanford. When I say that, its come on in.
