Transcripts For CSPAN3 Little Rock Arkansas 1958-59 20171015

Sondra i consider the theme of this particular panel Something Like triumph over adversity. Each of the panelists experienced segregated schools education. Some were directly involved in the crisis year and others were victims of the lost year when all little rock high schools were closed for an entire academic year. Some experienced all three. Despite being used remember, teenagers, like some of you in the audience, they were teenagers during the little rocks chaotic events. All of these guests persevered and succeeded. They lived productive lives, are still living productive lives. They had a remarkable careers and they have given service with distinction. So they obviously all have long resumes. For that reason what i will do is shorten their resume so they have more time to speak. Because there are five speakers up here, we are going to have to move it along pretty quickly. Lottie shackleford has made history throughout her life in politics appointed to the little rock board in the 70s, elected the first female mayor of little rock in the 80s and she has served long with the National Democratic party. Here, she had the longest tenure, 20 years, as vice chair of the dnc, where she worked internationally in political forums all over africa, Eastern Europe and in taiwan. She is currently honored as vice chair emeritus of the party and is chair of the dnc womens caucus, so, miss shackleford, she wants to speak here. They have microphones they can use if they prefer to sit. So, if you would like to do it your way, come ahead. Lottie good morning. Thank you, miss gordy. She has been a wonderful moderator facilitator all in the sense of keeping us informed and challenging us how we should think. Realizing that time is not always our friend and my understanding is we are already over time, i will dispense of some of the acknowledgements i would have wanted to do. Id like to sort of share my own personal feeling about how i fit into what we are now commemorating as the 60th anniversary of the little rock nine for the desegregation of Central High School. I was a senior in high school for the 5758 school year. I am a native of little rock, arkansas, and have had the opportunity of attending what was then gibbs school that was on the same property as Dunbar High School. That building is now torn down and the gibbs school is about a block away. At that time, Gibbs Elementary School shared the cafeteria with Dunbar High School. So those students who went to gibbs, you also thought you were going to dunbar, which was the black high school at the time, because we saw everything that was going on. We ate in that cafeteria, we saw the band practice, we saw the football teams practice. We had the opportunity to go into the gym. So we just thought we were a part of that school. Fast forward, i started there in second grade. Ernie green and i were classmates from that point until he went to central during our senior year. When the brown decision came down, a lot of planning was being done, a lot of chatter was being held and there were many scenarios as to how Little Rock School district was going to be desegregated or integrated. There was a plan it would start with the Elementary Schools and then junior high schools. Then, finally, the plan came about that it would be the high school. I say this because there were many of us at that time told, 250, 300 kids in 10th grade that this was going to happen in the Little Rock School district. And black students were going to be able go to Central High School. By the time it became apparent that that was going to happen, some of the students who had been talked with earlier, and whose parents had said, yes, you may be able to go, they were now going to be seniors. I think thats in part one of the reasons why there was only one senior who actually went. I for one, not really knowing what i know today because after i was a 15yearold or 16yearold student. I felt my senior year, i had looked forward to that senior year all my life. High school at that time was such a momentous occasion in the black community, and when you finished high school, people gave you gifts like they give at weddings nowadays. You would get so many gifts just for that accomplishment, which kids dont even think about anymore, of finishing high school. High school in the black community finishing high school in the black community was truly important. You build up to that year after year after year. In the Little Rock School district, in 19 after the 54 decision, another high school was built. The first school to first of us to graduate were students of the 1956 school year. That meant those of us in the 10th grade, we then saw that change from having been in this Master School Dunbar Junior High and senior high, now, we were going over to a new school that we went with ambivalence because this was a school with an open courtyard. Every time you stepped out of a classroom door you stepped out into the elements of the weather. Whether it was cold, raining, hot. This was a whole new concept for us. So having had that kind of experience from starting at dunbar in 7th grade, thinking im going to graduate there, thinking im going walk down the aisle of robinson auditorium, because thats where the graduations for dunbar were being held, now, fast forward, its our senior year and were in mann. It had no auditorium and no gymnasium. And just a gymnasium. The question, where will we march to graduate from . That question was there because that year, once the little rock nine finally entered school, all kinds of edicts started to come out for the Little Rock School district. You cant do this, you cant do that, you cant do that. One thing was that all School Activities would have to be held on school premises. Well, here at the High School Im now going to, doesnt have an auditorium. So where will we get our diploma . But our teachers and the community were very creative. It was at a time you didnt have news 24 7. The tvs actually went off and everybody heard the star spangled banner at 12 00 midnight. Tvs didnt come on again until early morning. You didnt hear people opinionating about what will or wont happen. We got the news three times a day. And you rushed home at the end of the school day to find out what happened at central high. We knew that change was occurring, but because just think about that time when everybody was so protective of youngsters, they were trying to protect us and make certain our school year still had all of the pomp and circumstances that we had lived all our lives for. So my experience as a senior that year was still being able to wonder about what was going on at central, rushing in the afternoon to watch the news. We had friendships, particularly with ernie, because we were a small group and communicated all along. We would find out from them some of the things that were going on, and then we tried to be supportive as much as possible in the sense of inviting the students, little rock nine to our activities at mann. We ended up having a good year, a lot of new things were happening. That was sort of the tone the city was undergoing at that time. And we knew of people losing jobs and all. We didnt understand, as seniors in high school i did not understand the impact that was going on until during the end of the school year and we went to a journalism workshop in jefferson city, missouri. It was from students across the south. We stood up and said we were from little rock, arkansas, all of the press and media came. They were asking questions about how did you get out . You have our shoes. It was those kinds of things that started us to understand the impact of what was going on, bearing in mind that was a mild understanding then, fast forward 60 years, we have a much deeper understanding and a much deeper appreciation for all of the things that the little rock nine endured and persevered. We owe them a debt of gratitude because they stuck it out. We are always grateful. Thank you. [ applause ] sondra were going to introduce one of the little rock nine, gloria ray, because she was a victim or survivor of the crisis year and she was a victim of the lost year so she got a double whammy there as did mr. Yada we will learn about later. As a member of the little rock nine she will tell you what she did there and what she did during the lost year. She attended the university of Technology Earning a b. A. In chemistry and mathematics. Good for you. She worked briefly as a public schoolteacher and Research Assistant at the chicago medical center. In 1966, she married khrisser kalmark. In 1970 she joined ibm, international at Business Machines for you people who dont know what that is, machines, in stockholm, sweden. She graduated, youll love this as a patent attorney and worked for ibm patent operations until 81. Then she founded and edited computers in the industry an international journal. Then, she worked again in the netherlands for phillips telecommunications and lighting. She presently lives in amsterdam, is that correct . Gloria stockholm. Sondra stockholm, shes back to stockholm. As a member of the little rock nine, she and all the others and police baits were awarded the medal that is the most prestigious the naacp received. 99, president bill clinton awarded all of the little rock nine. Get through this one without crying. I do it every time i give a tour. It feels just right. 1999, a bill clinton awarded all of the little rock nine the congressional gold medal which is the highest civilian award one can receive. Not today, because you do not have time, but come back to the Clinton Center and walked down thereloor and on the left is a complete exhibit about the little rock nine and a leprechaun and up replica of that congressional medal when i give it to her i do this every time. So much for that. Who we want to hear from is Gloria Ray Karlmark and i want her to tell us about her experiences in the lost year and the crisis year and whatever else you would like to say. [applause] i am going to try to tell you my story sitting, it is the first time i have done that in front of a large audience. I usually stand. Or sit behind a big table and cry. And i am honored to aboute to speak to you the year, 1957 and 1958 and what happened to me and the lost year. I began that year, 1957, full of excitement. Maybe i will stand up. I was in Dunbar Junior High 1957 and the spring of that is when the piece of paper s passed around and it said, who wants to go to Little Rock Central High School in the fall . If you want to go, put your name, sign the paper. The paper was passed around and when it came to me i wrote my name and passed it on. Exciting, it was like all the opportunities that had been hidden from us, because i never been in Central High School but i heard that it was a great school and i knew the students from that school were in scholarships and had done great things. That was the spring of 1957. That joy lasted all through , myer and then august friend came by and she said should we go up and register together read when you shall we go up and register together. When you change to a Different School you had to go up and register. We went up to central high i added drivers license and drove at the tender age of 14. That was the way it was in the south. Dad took my mothers drivers license and changed a few things and i renewed that. [laughter] we drove a car up to Central High School and got out andwent up to the building there are a lot of steps along way. We went up and opened the door and saw the room where it said register and went in and register at the new school. The ladies in the officers the ladies in the offices looked surprised to see us but they did not know us. It was a natural reaction to the situation. We signed ourselves in and then we went off and did something, i do not remember what we did after that. That was a step in getting into a forbidden object. It was finally hours. It was finally ours. It surprised me, the newspaper articles that were saying there really are blacks that intend to go to Little Rock Central High School. The promotion was in the media and newspaper afterwards the commotion was in the media and newspaper afterwards. Previous just like the speaker said about arkansas in arkansassught that not like mississippi, alabama, and georgia. We are different, especially little rock. We could sit wherever we wanted to on the bus in 1957. I thought, there might be some opposition, but i was not worried about it. It was not more dangerous than going downtown. You just went about your business. When it was decided that we would all go together and walk up to the school together, that surprised me, but ok, i still had this dream. I walked up to that school with this dream, and sure enough there were soldiers standing soldiers to stop children from going to school. That was an awakening. That was when 1957 took on a different meaning in my life. It is when i grew up. I started to notice the difference between what you saw in the movies and what really was happening around me. Astarted to see myself rayse other than mr. Daughter. I was someone who had rights and i was someone who had a dream and for me that became a problem because in front of me are these men saying you cannot take a step forward. White girls would come up and they would move aside and let them pass, and when i tried to follow them, they closed ranks again, shoulder to shoulder. I became very serious and gone. Ed, gloria ray is what kind of future rests for me when white girls walked past and get my dreams, but i cannot. I am not allowed to. That framed the rest of 1957 for me. It was to do everything in my power to make it possible for me to reach my dream and for all , with the same rights, to reach their dream. It was something that needed to ,e done, that had not been done and something that was a little maturity and faith i could make a contribution toward getting done. Something without which, in my young life, there would be no future. Livingt imagine conscious of the fact that i was considered a lesser person than the next person just because of the way i look. After that came three long weeks of waiting for permission or the opportunity to go to school. Totally new for me. Every year the first day of school you went to school, you saw the new kids. New kids, some wonderful kids that are still in my life, that is the members of the nine i did not know. I did not know many gene before. Know Minnijean Brown before. I had a brother who knew all the pretty girls. Earnie lives around the corner. Friends and i met a few new friends. Days, waiting21 for permission to go to school. Ok. That is the easy part. Not really easy, but that was the part where not much action happened, 1957. September, a little bit before the 25th. That we went to school for about two hours, we actually got in the school . Theiro discover once in there was a huge only to discover once in their bank that there was a huge mob outside the school. I became aware when it was my study period according to the schedule. The windows were open and the loud sound of what was outside filled the room. Perhaps out of selfpreservation, i wanted to know what was happening out there so i pretended my pencil needed to be sharpened and i went to the pencil sharpener at the window and i saw them, i saw the mob out there. I saw the faces and i heard what they had to say. I never seen a site like that. It is a view that stays with me. I see it now. I did not know you could make your face looks so tortured. I did not know you could have such i had never seen hate like that and it was live, right out through the window. I knew it was aimed at me and the kids at school. That was a real happening. Someone came to the door and you know the rest of the story. They managed to get us out of the school. I experienced the exit as one horrendous thing. I go around the schools in , this and tell my story is the moment where they are totally silent, everyone. The Police Officer came to take me from the Principals Office down to a car that was supposed to get us out of the school. They were going to smuggle us out. They took us down to one of the basement floors of the school and there was this car there, and the Police Officer told me to get into the back seat of the car and lay on the floor. Under no circumstances to lift my head. , i was the only one in my car. He said you lay down there and under no circumstances are you to raise your head. Trajectoryarted its up from the basement floor. You know the parking garages, the exit is a spiral thing. It was very quiet when i got into the car. As that car went around that spiral up towards the surface and the exit onto the grounds, the noise of the mob got louder and louder and louder and bank and then itoud got really loud. That is when the car was driving through the mob itself. I could barely hear the tires against the asphalt. I realized now he is driving through the mob. Then after a while the sound got a little bit lighter and i could hear the wheels against the ground again and i realized, we have driven through it. Those are the two memories i have, very strongly from 1957. This policeman, he was a white policeman, i have always looked back at that moment as he risked to drive meo, to through that mob and to my home. I have always had a thing for policeman after that, oddly enough. Policeman risked his life and saved me. , we got the big guns out on our side. Over to uss turned individually, each of the nine. I experienced inside Central High School, friendship and hate , and a lot of people who stared my experiencelp, inside Central High School was one of developing a good peripheral vision for projectiles, and one of phase overearing to the things that were meant to be , and tothat were said develop a sense of holding a mask for things that would hurt me. My thinking was i would not give them the pleasure of knowing they have hurt me. I will remain focused and get my education. I would like to talk about the kids inside the school who saw and the ones who saw us and dared make a positive difference in our lives. To the kids in sweden, i talk about a girl named becky who was my friend in one class. The teacheriend of who told me the first day that i did not belong and that school, and she wanted me to know she felt that way about me. That was the teacher who i did my best for. I believe the course was english. I left feeling that i could have been shakespeare and she would never of given me a higher grade than a c. Was she will never be what give me less than a c. Becky sat across the aisle and , i had seen her in the halls, so i knew that friends of there were about 10 kids who are friends openly towards us and they were treated like we were. They got the same things thrown at them. Their phones at home were harassed. I had seen becky but did not know if she wanted to get into all of that. If she wanted me to say hello to her or smile. Every now and then i get a swedish word right the middle of this. I will move on. I wrote her a note and i said, i havend i said, becky, seen you in the hallways but i do not know of your me to say hello or not. I passed it to her. You inrote back, i see the hallways but please do not say hello to me. The White Citizens Council has eyes everywhere and i do not want them to harass my family and put my family in danger. I see you. She wrote more, she said i know they are just trash but i do not want them to harass my family and put my family in danger. I do see you in the hallways. I think i speak for most understanding people here, Something Like that. I have this letter and i believe parents has it in his book and i believe terrance has it in his book. There were a lot of people in the school that felt the way she did. Werewere billing they willing to be my friend and make a difference when they were there with me but they do not feel up to facing the consequences to their personal lives and their families. I appreciated becky. I look forward when i got to her classroom, i became a 14yearold girl again there. We could make comments about things there to each other, she could befriend me there, i was not invisible to her. That meant a lot, becky. There was so much hatred in the air and there was so much not and justour feelings negative things happening. It made a difference to be able , talkurn to 14 years old talk rock n roll music, about living the life of the developing young adult. Being seen, not being invisible. I would maintain that on the , she gave me courage despite everything. Hang onto my dream of coming back the next day and making it that whole year. What i a good example of say that one person can make a big difference. Some action that you think i am just one, i cannot at all those people outside to go way. If you do do the very little that you can do and are able to. O, it will make a difference it helped me to stay in that school the whole year, as well as people outside of central who were not white or were not black or were people who thought we had the right to be there and encouraged us to make it, to exercise the right weve been given. Long, perhaps talked too but when i saw the agenda and saw there was no one on the program, i thought there should have been someone there to say what went on inside the school. There are a lot of books about all the bad things that went on inside the school, i thought i would like to tell you about becky. One of the good things. Thank you. [applause] sondra we have two more will speak about the lost year and one special one more who is really young. We will speak to her last. Judy green did graduate work at the university of arkansas at little rock trade she is the pondident and ceo of enterprises which began in the 80s. It doest i have read, everything, from accounting and Public Relations two Event Planning and promotions. She has experience in television and radio. List of our professional the list of her professional engagement is long. We will also introduce the idea that she is an ordained minister. Her election and Ongoing Service caller if you have a problem. She is Vice President of them are crack women. And on the board of arkansass women action for new direction. Miss judy . [applause] judy good morning. Several years ago there was a group that came into little rock called voices of civil rights. They interviewed a lot of the students from horace mann to get our story during the crisis. I was out of the state when they did the interviews, i did not get in on the interviews. I did write my civil rights memories and i just brought a little bit in, i tweaked it a little bit to respect the time limit they gave us. I did excerpts from it. I was one of the unfortunate students who were displaced in the 1957 to 59 School Crisis when the schools were closed. Horace mann was the black high school and central was the white high school. During that time it was grade seven through 12, before they built horace mann. I attended Dunbar High School through the seventh through the ninth grade and when we were in the ninth grade, they built horace mann, which was the senior high school. My class was the first class to graduate from dunbar when it became a junior high school. The next year we went to horace mann. Classmates attempted to attend the allwhite Central High School. Governor ordered both schools to be closed to prevent the black students from attending central. The courts denied the governor and the School Boards request to delay the integration process. Thus beginning the Central High School crisis and what is now known as the little rock nine. Most of the black students parentss, including mine, did not have the courage to allow their children to be one of the pioneers. I do commend the parents of my classmates, as well as my classmates for having the andage to take that leap become students at Little Rock Central High School. , during theyear year the schools were closed, all of the students except the little rock nine scattered and went in Different Directions in the world. Some of them stayed out of school the whole year, the majority stayed out the whole year, some went to smalltown schools and there were six of us. A doctor builde a school for the central high students. There were six of us. Anth college offered opportunity for horace mann seniors to complete their high school units there. There were six of us who attended that school. Some stayed at home. The majority of the students stated home. My family sent me to detroit to go to school during that time. They sent out messages that most of the states did not want to accept students from horace mann, from little rock, period, because they knew what was going on. A lot of them passed legislation that you had to live in the state a year or two years before you could go to school there. That was to keep us out. Smith college offered us an opportunity in january of 1959, they offered an opportunity to horace mann seniors to finish their high school units there. After being screened and given the College Entrance exams, there were six of us from horse man who had attended, including myself. We went under unusual circumstances, were we were required to take regular college courses. That were lefts over went toward our freshman year in college. This tells you about my loyalties to the college. When the annual yearbook came out, the heading was, then a picture of all of us in their. The headline was an era of transition. The six of us had our picture in there, along with the young man whose name was roger allen. Goneof our classmates had down to sweet home to a school down there. I went down one day but did not go back. Some of our classmates graduated down there. Roger was a student whose father was a math teacher. He used to make up his dads he went to atlanta with us. He would throw spitballs across the classroom. He was always told to act his age. I attended Smith College during the 58 during the 1958 and 1959 and 1960 school years. I became a majorette with the march are betting with the marching band. It was the era when we integrated lunch counters in the downtown area. Your next panelist with what was one of my classmates so he knows what he is talking about. A group of us went to the woolworths and demonstrated at the lunch counter because they would not serve the blacks. In the spring of 1960i interrupted my college to get married and raise a family. I returned to college in the fall of 1972 and began employment there in the Business Office and i attended every year until the summer of 1957 when i received my bachelors degree from Smith College. During that time i took anywhere from six to 11 hours every semester. I was fortunate for this opportunity and i will never be more grateful. I will forever be grateful to the college. There were 200 of us graduating seniors during the year that schools were closed. We were deprived of many things, such things as a normal teenager would automatically have. ,hat is a High School Diploma senior prom, your book pictures, class rings and many other amenities that seniors enjoy. I was a cheerleader during my junior year and i was captain during my senior year, which i never had the opportunity to experience. The though we have opportunity of practice a few weeks before high school was closed. We can thank the governor for all of that. To go back in time, i remember when blacks had to abort the city bus at the front and moved to the rear of the bus. We had exit from the rear, always. If the rear was full and there were vacant seats in the front, we dare not sit in the front of the bus. I remember when we had public bathrooms and water fountains that said blacks or whites. Our restaurants were segregated, even black owned restaurants. I remember one particular black owned establishment where blacks wanted to eat and we frequented it a lot. They had a small room in the back of the restaurant and we had to go through the back door to go in there and eat. The front entrance was for whites only. We eventually boycotted that establishment, along with many others and they cannot stay in business long. Had oneer when we only black Police Officer who can only arrest blacks. Blacks were afraid to get arrested, they had no rights in the jails and prisons. I remember when blacks do not have the liberty to vote. To vote, citizens were required to have a poll tax receipt grade to purchase a poll tax receipt, you had to be a property owner. How many of us were Property Owners back then . You know what im talking about. Takesk our youth of today the freedom we suffered and granted. R then for they take it for granted now. We have come a long way from when i was a youth, we stop a long way to go. We still have a long way to go. Through all of this, i was said, dontlike i give up. I have a determination to succeed. I proceeded to get my college degree, got married and raised a family, i have two lovely daughters and a son, grandson and a granddaughter. My two daughters received their doctors degrees, my grandson is a premed student and my granddaughter is prepsychology. I raised a good family. I succeeded. None of us did that. Most of us are in the business professions. Closing, i am going to say that when we had our 20 year class reunion, the first reunion , there were 200 of us in that graduating class that were deprived. The first year we had a class reunion was our 20 year class reunion. Our principal in 1959 presented us with diplomas and he signed them. Paul mason was our superintendent of schools. You all for this time to get a chance to tell my story. [applause] we are running out of time but i definitely want to introduce you to two more richard yada, i have known them for several years and asked him to speak at historical presentations regarding japanese experience in arkansas. You abouts telling his life and being in the lost year, and i do mean a little bit come i will try you that after he served in vietnam, he is a Financial Planner and he has written a bestselling book on worked as a retired consultant to small business. , come tell them your story fast. Thank you. I think i am here because i did not do anything. I did knock it go to central high. I was supposed to. Let me give you some background. After pearl harbor was attacked in 1941, my parents were farmers in california. Order 9066 which told all japanese, citizen or not, they had to leave california and move into the interior, into camps or jail basically. Parents had two weeks to get rid of everything they had and only they can only bring what they could carry. If you can put yourself in their shoes, what can i get rid of, some people had to sell their cars, people would offer five dollars or something and one offered five dollars and so i will not sell it for five dollars. He threw gas on the car and burned it. They had that to face. You cannot take your dog or cat or a goldfish. Could kids cannot take their baseball bat because it is considered a weapon, as it is today, in some cases. As i was listening to people talking, i was trying to compare and contrast what my parents went through. I took my mother to a movie called snowfall i on the cedars about the japanese having to evacuate the west coast. One of the scenes where the families were carrying what they could carry and they were to ,eport to an Assembly Center similar to the state fairgrounds wereon roosevelt, and they assigned a barracks to live in for six months until the camps were ready. My mother was telling me the scene where people were walking down the street and there were crowds on both sides and she. Ays i remember that scene they were being yelled at, at, just likeit elizabeth is depicted in a lot of the newsreels we have seen. I said that sounds like a similar story. Then they were put into the had to livee they for six months and they did not know where theyre going or for how long. Arkansas sent to rural , which is Southeast Arkansas i mcgee. By has anyone heard of george tak ai . He was mr. Sulu in the original star trek. He has been here. His family was sent here. His family was about four he was about four or five years old. He was sitting in his house and a car drives up and there are two soldiers. There was a bayonet attached with an fbi agent knocking on their door. His father answers and he says it is time for you to leave and go to the civic center. If you get two soldiers with bayonets attached, they mean business. There is not a lot they can do. I asked my father why do you let he said i couldnt help it, we had to do it. George asked his father that and his father just looked at him and got out of his chair and walked out of the room and shut the door. Never said anything. They did not want to talk about it. Parents, i was born in the camp. As a two or threeyearold you thought everybody lived that way. Were kids to play with, you had no chores to do, you do not have to take out the trash or anything. I am sure it was traumatic. Talk about losing selfesteem. They were imprisoned. Everybody felt like in order to be imprisoned you had to do something wrong. They had backed over, after they got out. , when the camps are closed after the war in 1945 , a lot of the people were allowed to go back to california, where they came from and there were reports that their homes are being shot at, the friends they used to have what cross the street to keep from talking to them as they went about their business. A lot of the things they used to have were stolen or ransacked. They were going back to a very hostile place. No one would hire them. The japanese were depicted as evil people through the media. The editorials would have an asian face on a snake or on a and tell of how bad the japanese were. How many people know that there thattwo camps in arkansas incarcerated japanese during world war ii . About half. Thats more than usual. That a lot of people i think it is finally getting into the School Curriculum and people are learning about it. Toway, my parents decided stay in arkansas. In worldgovernor back , and he said he would allow the camps in arkansas, but as soon as the war was over the people had to leave. They could not go to school here, they could not buy property. They just had to leave. There were a lot of doctors, lawyers, college professors, schoolteachers, nurses that arkansas could have used, but they were ordered to leave. Why not parents stayed, i dont know. My father was in hawaii. If he had gone to hawaii, i wouldnt be here. I would be on the beach. [laughter] farmed. Yed and i went to school right outside of north little rock. We lived out on the farm. We had to drive five miles to ads town just to get general store. It turned into a restaurant and burned earlier this year. They had the best hamburgers you could eat. Anyway, we lived out there. Being in the scott School District, i went there until the seventh grade. The High School Attendance was , so i had to go to Forest Heights to play football or basketball. It is 20 miles away and there were no freeways back then. Somebody that took me back and forth. Heights,s at forest thats when i was in the ninth grade in 1957. I was going to go to central the following year. I had my schedule. I was ready to go. I was looking forward to going. They had a great football team. Then they closed the school. Thats why i am here today because i didnt go to school. I enjoyed going to school. My parents were vegetable farmers, so whenever i was out of school i was out in the field. Someone was talking about incarceration or about how the prisons are getting overrun with too many people, but i can tell you if they grew an okra patch at all the prisons and made them pick that, the population of prisons would go down to half. [laughter] okra goes from june until the first frost. It is a hard job. That is how i grew up. That is why i love school. On the holiday i was out in the field working. Not being able to go to central disappointing. He tried to tell me to hurry up. [laughter] we will wrap it up. The Scott School System was closed, the high school was closed, and i was in the school system. To go back a little bit, when we thed to scott, arkansas, School District had a Board Meeting to decide what school we were going to go to, whether it be the black schools or the white schools. Tweener. Nd of a i didnt know which way to go. One of the ladies at the farm we were living on, she owned a lot and a lot of property and scott. She stood up in the meeting and said, they are going to the white school, and the meeting was over. Ask then, the difference in education between a white and black school, the white schools were getting most of the funding. The black schools were getting shortchanged on the amount of funds they were given to run a school. There was little disparity as was a littlere disparity as far as quality of education. I would say the people of scott, arkansas were very gracious, invited us to all the church and community activities. All of Central Arkansas was great to our family. I was forced not forced, but i was in the rotc at the university of arkansas. They pay you 50 a month just go to school, but you had to commit to go into the military afterwards. 50 a month was a lot of money for me. I was sitting there thinking, it is 1963. We hadnt had a war in 10 years. I will just go in. They had a draft. We had to go in somehow, somewhere. I wasnt married, so i knew i was going to have to go in, so i might as well go in as officer. Our senior year we had to go to camp. I graduated just in time for the vietnam war. I got assigned to flight school, b52s. 2s flew we were having a conversation the other day about fear. You know no fear unless you have been shot at by guns or missiles and your electronic officer says there is a missile coming. Copilot looks out your right window. A b52 is slow. We had to see it and have it miss. Ifortunate to have flown am fortunate to have flown 59 combat missions and still be alive today. , being in theme military in an unpopular war, friends of ours are getting yelled at, spit at in the United States air force. Somewhere having mob violence focused towards them. Then you compare that to what my parents went through with the what thenine little rock nine went through. The pictures you see was Elizabeth Beckford walking down the street with Elizabeth Eckford walking down the street, it is heartbreaking. She went on a school tour sponsored by the National Park service to aurora last year. She and i had good conversation and i very much admire her and the other little rock nine members for their courage and some of the things they had to go through. Going down the halls of central once a day,id that probably twice a day, someone would body slam them right into the lockers. Out ifthe guys figured we could walk closer to the walkers when they body slam us, we wont go too far. Hearing that story just kind of breaks your heart to think they had to go through and what they had to do to get an education and just get through the day. For that, for all they would through, i admire them. Evenk to them as my hero know i wasnt really affected by it, other than i couldnt go to school there. They were brave, and i appreciate what they have done. I appreciate the way the state of arkansas treated my family and myself as i grew up. Were not finished yet, but the state of arkansas was very gracious compared to what people went through in california. I wake up every day with an attitude of gratitude. When challenges hit, i remember my father, i would say, i want to create doing it i want to quit doing this. He would say, youre not going to quit today. I think of that. Basically, youre not going to quit. Never give up. Just like the little rock nine went through. Never give up, never quit. And i think i will quit right here. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. Phyllis brown is the baby sister minnie gene brown of jean brown. She did not follow in her sisters footsteps. She did not attend the central high. In she did follow her sister sr attending college at Southern Illinois university. Phyllis was a 15yearold volunteer at the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who did great work in arkansas. She remains a community activist. She is going to speak for a short amount of time. Bless you all. Hello. Because rief [inaudible] hello. I bet that look you up. Stretch. We do need to stretch, folks. I will be brief. Yes, i am the baby sister of minnie jean brown. I was the tagalong sister. I followed her like a little puppy. Because i was the tagalong sister, that meant that i got to sit at the feet of the little rock nine. , atelmas house elizabeths house. I will tell you a cute little story. I hope you will laugh. Melba and minnijean wore those crinoline slips. Anyway, melba would come to our house because we lived one block from melba. Worst littley the sister on earth. I knew i was. I admitted it. Our mother was a nurse. She would say, phyllis, gargle with warm salt water. I wanted to hear what melba and minnijean were talking about. Pulled this for me hold this for me. Is that elizabeth in the back . Stand up elizabeth. You are a great lady. [applause] because i wanted to hear everything they were talking about, i did go make my warm salted water and sat there right t to them and went [laughter] right. Does that sound bratty . A little bad sister . That is ok. I did want to follow in her footsteps, but i didnt know that i wouldnt go to central high. Because i wanted to go to prom. I did follow in her footsteps somewhat, and that is i attended Southern Illinois university in carbondale, illinois. Probably a lifechanging event i wasntcause relegated to just being around black people. I had a neighbor from bangladesh and another neighbor from jamaica and another neighbor from norway, and my life became in rich became enriched. I could cry about my sister, but going to carbondale was really life altering for me. Expelledy sister was from central high, she was taken away from me. Who was going to dance with me . Who was going to comb my hair . Bowwas going to tie the behind my dress . Who was going to walk me to school . I want all of those white cottontionists and tom and you all to know, all of you who have participated in that vicious attack, i will never forgive you. Apologize and say im sorry. Well, George Wallace apologized on his deathbed. I will not accept your apology. For what you did to me. Never. All the rest of you, you can recover and move on, but i had to play with two brothers. I wanted my sister. [applause] so when i read the title reflections in progress, i wanted to know where was the question mark behind the word progress . When the mayor talked about what a big deal it was to graduate from high school, well it is because at one time it was a punishable crime to educate black children in this country. In 2017 with the same policies, legal and judicial policies, that are trapping black kids in the segregated and unequal education. They took us back. The same thing was happening. We are experiencing the same thing. Now we have a School Administration that is taking our tax dollars to fund charter schools. How many schools have closed in little rock . Is that what this is all about . Know that those white women and wore those white gloves those hats that looks like little flying saucers, they were members of the Mothers League who created a campaign so that voters could vote to shut the schools down. Yes. And when gloria talked about she walked to the window and saw those contorted, vicious, violent faces, those were the mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers of the students who attended central. So i guess when education will become as paramount as football because when the governor shut down the schools, he said at least we can still have foot all have football. Yay team. No education, but we are still going to have football. This country spends more on football and war then you do on education, but yet, who was it and when he said it i cringed i love this country. While i dont. Well i dont. Say that likes to little rock was progressive and moderate. I am trying to figure out, is it because you had one less lynching than mississippi . Is that why you are progressive and moderate . You only had 365, and mississippi had 366 . All right. So on Tuesday Morning when we go back to work, and we begin to optimize to alchemize our , yes, here weues go central, go tigers. Remember that those same mechanisms are still working. They still deprive these children. They even deprived me, and that was 60 years ago. You disrupted households. The house. Most importantly, you took my sister away from me, and i will never forgive you arent forgive you for it. Thank you, phyllis. [applause] thank you all, and i appreciate each of the panelists for their remarks. Announcer interested in American History tv . Visit cspan. Org history. You can view our tv schedule, preview upcoming programs, and view lectures, museum tours, archival films, and more at cspan. Org history. Announcer tonight on historian on a Newt Gingrich with his book citizen newt. Before cable era television. Well, cable news wasnt there. It was just Little Pockets of cable here and there. Mostly reruns of i love lucy and andy griffith. There is no talk radio to speak of. And cspan. Potencyly realizes the of giving special orders every afternoon because it was then being carried over cable into 100,000 homes around the country. Former congressman digg army used to say, would you go give a speech to 100,000 people . Of course you would. That is what you are doing with cspan, with special orders every afternoon. He quickly becomes a cold political leader a cult political leader getting letters from people around the country, this backbench Junior Member from georgia of the minority party. Announcer tonight at 9 00 p. M. On cspan2s book tv. Announcer our cspan cities tour takes American History tv on the road to feature the history of cities across america. Here is a recent program. Concord, wehile in toured the city with former representative charles douglas. Thank you for showing us around concord. For people who havent been here, what do they need to know about concord, New Hampshire . Is the state capital of little New Hampshire, in the southern central part of the state, about 60,000 people. Right on the banks of the merrimack river. It is usually the headquarters for president ial campaigns every four years