Oral History

Research: Bloody Sunday happened on March 7, 1965. It was blacks and protesters protesting. They only traveled six blocks before they were beaten with clubs and also tear gassed. This march was devastating. 600 marchers went east from Selma, Alabama and were going on U.S. route 80. They only made it to Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away.

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/al4.htm

Interview

Me: I’m Michael Parkinson and i’m going to be interviewing my mom mom Maryann Parkinson. What was your viewpoint on race growing up?

Mom mom: We didn’t really know too many black people. Some in high school. I had one friend in high school who actually didn’t live in Roxborough. So, they were just like everybody else like other people I met.

Me: Was your neighborhood predominantly white?

Mom mom: It was all white.

Me: It was all white? Do you remember anything about the civil rights movement?

Mom mom: Not really, I was just out of high school then and starting a family so I looked at it on the news. But other than that it did not really affect me.

Me: Do you remember any groups or anything during the civil rights movement?

Mom mom: No. Just some marches down south that we were basically… up north everything seemed fine. It was just down north that they were having a problem.

Me: Did the Civil Rights Movement affect any of your friends?

Mom mom: No, like I said I really didn’t have any black friends. And my friends were just more worried about the Vietnam war more than Civil Rights.

Me: Most of your friends were white since you lived in a predominantly white neighborhood?

Mom mom: They were all white except for one black girl that I became best friends with in high school.

Me: What was it like growing up in this time period?

Mom mom: Care-free, no problems, out every night, in cars. Basically we had no problems at all back then. I didn’t anyway. Or my friends.

Me: Were there any sections of your neighborhood that were all black?

Mom mom: Well there was one section about eight blocks wide that I didn’t even know about until my one son was in his teens and he had two black friends and they said that they came from this section that was all black. And it was only about six blocks away from me and I didn’t even know it existed.

Me: Has your viewpoint on race changed in any way since you grew up?

Mom mom: Well it hasn’t changed its broadened. I don’t see difference between black and white. Maybe I would not go into some of the badder neighborhoods if I were by myself and they were all black. Thats just the way I feel.

Me: Did you grow up with anybody that was racist or didn’t like a certain group of people?

Mom mom: I did not grow up with anybody that was racist. But, there was a definite dislike of some black people by the adults in my community.

Me: So they felt that they weren’t equal to whites?

Mom mom: I don’t think they did. No. I don’t think that kids felt it but I our parents and our grandparents felt it. They weren’t equal.

Me: Was your neighborhood affected in any way by black people? They just kept to themselves?

Mom mom: None. Not at all. Yup, kept to themselves. Basically in high school I didn’t realize it then but the blacks sat with themselves and the whites sat with themselves. We actually didn’t mingle. I did have one black friend and she did sit with the white kids.