Oral History:Ellen and Neal Janoff(Robbie Janoff)

R:Hi my name is Robert Janoff and I am interviewing my grandfather Neal Janoff and my grandmother Ellen Janoff.

First up will be my grandfather Neal

R: What was your experience with the civil rights movement?

N: Well I was in the service

E: National Guard

N: National Guard and I was called up on active duty during when they Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. They called up the national guard to go to Harrisburg and other places to stand guard on stores and patrol the street.

E: And the Capital building.

N: Of course I was of course I was a cook so I mainly cooked. But I cooked for the troops.

E: Who were out there all day.

N: Who were out patrolling the streets all day.

R:Okay that sounds interesting. My next question is did you ever meet Martin Luther King Jr.?

N: No I did not.

E: I think he was more down South then he was up in the North.

R:Okay that is all the questions I have for you. Now I am going to interview my grandmother Ellen Janoff

R: What was your experience in the civil rights movement?

E: Well at that time I was a senior  at Olney high school.

R: Okay let me rephrase the question. What was your experience in school like during the civil rights movement?

E: At my school during my senior year, we were just friends with everyone in school black or white it did not matter. I had one friend he was a young man and for some reason his name was peanut and he was definitely not a peanut and when it came out about Martin Luther King being killed, he sorta directed me where to go in school,how to get out of school because they were concerned that the idea there was going to be some riots in the school. And it was olney high school and we were okay, it was quiet. But there was a lot of uneasy feelings about what was going to happen or could happen. But school tried to remain as cool as possible with what was going on.

R: How did you react to Martin Luther King Jr. being assassinated?

E: Well it was a shock, we had seen him on the news but we did not have as much news coverage of Martin Luther King up in Philadelphia as opposed to the southern states. I think more of it was covered down there but we knew about what was happening.

R: Yeah he was assassinated in Tennessee.

E: Right and news was not as quick as the news is now. It took a little time to get up to us with what was going on. But we reacted in shock when you hear about an important figure being assassinated. You're in shock and it's a little scarey as too what can happen or you know a little bit of the unrest that happen in the building.

R: Did you ever consider participating in one of the civil rights protest?

E: I was not brave enough to do that and I don’t think my parents would of allowed it, especially a young woman as opposed to a young man. My brother Howard when he graduated from high school in January of 65, he and his friend Norman went cross country in a car and my mother at the time was very concerned  because of the unrest in the south and she knew that Norman would want to go and participate in some of the protest and be there, and she was very concerned at the time of him dragging uncle howard there to. But they maybe did a little bit of the protest but not too much. Their goal was to get out towards California, but it was a little at the time and they kept on telling them to stay more north than south to  get out there.

R: How diverse was your school during this and what was the diversity population?

E: I don't know figures at the time but I would say it was primarily white, I would say 60 to 75 percent white and the rest was black at the school. But we were friends, there was not a lot of division among us.

R: Was anyone in your school sceptical about all the different diversities?

E: Well im sure people were but not my friends. My group of friends we did not feel that way. But i'm sure there was other fractions that felt that way.But it never occurred to us to feel that way.

R: Well that is all the questions I have to ask you and thank you both for doing this interview with me.

E and N: You're welcome