The Southern Oral History Program at the university of north carolina, chapel hill. I think i know that your parents drove you to the college in the fall of 57. Yes they did. What did you discover here at Bennett College . It was a big day for me, but for the whole community. I came from someplace. I didnt just show up. I came being supported by the whole community. They prayed for me a church. They gave me a few pennies here and there since we did not have a lot of money. I had a little scholarship. I had taken the sats there. I had done well enough to get a scholarship money and i was going to work a little bit. There was always that, let me give you a few pennies. It was by the good wishes of the community. I had never been to Bennett College before. I had never been to greensboro before. I arrived here to have ourselves just sort of swallowed up. My parents and me and everyone. A lot of parents and a lot of students all being deposited by parents. It was a lonely feeling when they
In the semester where were talking about the Civil Rights Movement. Weve been looking at that for a couple of sessions now. The interesting thing about teaching the Civil Rights Movement is that its perhaps the era that most americans think they know the most about. Weve talked a little bit about this and we will talk some more about this. Just because folks think they can quote a few sentences from Martin Luther kings speech in washington or know a little bit about rosa parks is civil disobedience on the bus. Even having some visual images in our mind of people being brutalized by fire hoses and dogs. Theres a real kind of visual narrative that comes to all of this. We often think that we know a lot about this movement. One of the challenges for those of us who are learning the movement and connecting it to this much longer history of a black activism was, is theres a point where we almost have to unlearn some stuff before we can learn some stuff. Thats what i our reading is for today