Transcripts For CSPAN3 Little Rock Arkansas 1958-59 20171013

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 gifts persevered and succeeded. They lived productive lives, were 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. 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 shares 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 way 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 all i fwaensyearold, 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 inman. They had no were in mann. It had no auditorium and no 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 new 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 perform 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, mysterious. 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 ] were going to introduce one of the little rock nine, gloria ray, because she was a victim or survivor of the crisisier and she also was a victim crisis year and she was a victim of the last 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 we 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. And worked briefly as a public schoolteacher and Research Assistant at the chicago medical center. In 1966, she married khrisser call mark. 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 pronunciation 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 in lighting. She presently lives in amsterdam, is that correct . Stockholm. 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 award the naacp received. In 1999, president bill clinton awarded all of the little rock nine now, mr. Branton, i would like to say i can not get through this one without crying, i do it every time i do a tour. Feel just right. In 1999, bill clinton awarded all of the little rock nine the congressional gold medal the highest civilian award one condition receive. Not today because you dont have time, come back to the Clinton Center and walk down this floor north, and on the left, theres a complete exhibited about the little rock nine and a replica about that congressional medal. When i give a tour i do this every time. All right. So much for that. All right. What we want to hear from is who we want to hear from is gloria ray and i want her to tell us about her experiences in the lost year and crisis year and whatever else she would like to say. Thank you. [ applause ] im going to try and tell you my story sitting. It will be the first time ive done that in front of a large audience. I usually stand. Stand and cry or sit behind a big table and cry. Im gloria. Im honored to be here before you, to speak to you about the year 195758 and what happened to me also in the lost year. I began that year in 1957 full of excitement in virginia high school. Maybe i will stand up. It will be easier. I was in Dunbar Junior High school in the spring of 1957. Thats when the piece of paper was passed around in the room where carlotta and i sat. It said, who wants to go to little roczen tral high school in the fall . If you want to go, put your name sign the paper. The paper was passed around. When it came to me, i wrote my name and passed it on. Carlotta apparently wrote her name, too. That was so exciting. It was like all the opportunities that had been hidden from us really because i had never been in Central High School but i heard it was really a great school. I knew that the students from that school sometimes earn scholarships and done great things. That was the spring of 57. That joy lasted all summer and in august, carlotta came by, you signed theapu signed the paper to go to central. Shall we go up and register together, because when you change from Junior High School to a Different School you had to register at the new school. So we went up to Central High School one august day. I drove. I had a drivers license and drove at the tender age of 14. But thats the way it was in the south. My dad took my mothers drivers license and changed a few things and i renewed that. [ laughter ] i drove with her up to Central High School and got out and went up there to the building. There are a lot of steps a long way from the street actually. I remember that. We went up there, it was open. Opened the door to the room where it said registrar. We went in and registered at our new school. The ladies in the offices looked a bit surprised to see us. They didnt know us. I didnt notice any more than a natural reaction to the situation. We signed ourselves in and then we went off and did something. I dont really remember what we did after that. That was another step in getting into the forbidden object. It was finally ours. And so it kind of surprised me newspaper articles, they were saying, there really are blacks that intend to go to little roczen tral high school. The commotion that sort of was in the media and newspapers afterwards. Little rock Central High School. Like the previous speaker said in arkansas in 1957, we thought arkansas is not like mississippi, alabama and georgia, were different here, especially little rock, because we could already in 1957, sit wherever we wanted to on the bus. So i thought, well, there might be some opposition. I wasnt really worried about it. It wasnt really any more dangerous than going downtown. You just went about your own business. When it was decided that we would all go together and walk up to the school together, that surprised me, but, okay, i still had this dream. I walked up to that school with this dream, and sure enough, there were soldiers standing there. Soldiers to stop children from going to school. That was like the real awakening. Thats when 57 took on a different meaning in my life. Where i grew up. I started to notice the difference between what you saw in the movies and what really was happening around me. And i started to see myself as really someone other than mr. Rays daughter, i was someone who had a right 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. Some white girls would come up and they would move aside and let them walk past. When i tried to follow them, they closed ranks again. Shoulder to shoulder. So, i became very serious and realized, well, gloria ray is gone. Theres a principal standing here. What kind of future rests for me now, when white girls walked past and get my dreams but i cant. Im not allowed to. That was 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 others like me with the same rights to also be able to reach their dreams. It was something that needed to be done, that hadnt been done, something that with a little maturity and faith, i could make a contribution towards getting done. Something without which for my young life, there would be no future. I could not honestly imagine living, conscious of the fact i was considered a lesser person than the next person, just because of the way i looked. After that came three long weeks just waiting. But the mission and 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 and what not. I met some wonderful kids that are still in my life. Thats the members of the nine i didnt know. I didnt know mini jean before. I didnt know terrence before. Who else . Elizabeth. Thelma i knew because she was not too far away. I had this brother who knew all the pretty girls. Thelma is a really pretty sister. Ernie lived around the corner, too. I met some old friends and met a few new friends everyday practically for 21 days, waiting for permission to go to school. Okay. Thats the easy part. Not really easy but that was the part where not much action happened. 1957. 25th of september we hit the actually before the 25th. Was it the 23rd, we went to school for about two hours, we actually got into the school. Only to discover once in there, there was this huge mob outside the school. I became aware of it when it was my study period, according to the schedule. The windows were open. So the loud sound of what was outside was filled the room. Perhaps out of selfpreservation, i dont know what, i wanted to know what was happening out there. 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, i heard what they i had never seen a sight like that. Its a view that stays with me. I see it. I didnt know it could make your face look so tortured. I didnt know you could have such i had never seen hate like that right out there, right out through the window and knew it was aimed at me and my friends at school. That was a real happening. Then the people came until someone came to the door. You know, thats the story, they managed to get us out of the school. And the exit was horrendous, too, when i go around to schools in sweden and tell my story, this is the one where theyre totally silent. But the Police Officer came and to take me from the Principals Office down to a corridor, was supposed to get us out of the schools, going to smother us out. They took us down to one of the basement floors of the school. 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 guess this happened to nine of us, as i recall, i was the only one in my car, or that car. He said, you lay down there, under no circumstances are you to raise your head. When that car started, its trajectory up from the basement floor of the school. You know, like in parking garages that exit is a spiral thing. At the very bottom i got into the car it was very quiet, you couldnt hear the noise from outside. As that car went around that spiral up towards the surface and they exit onto the grounds, the noise of the mob got louder and louder. Then, it got really really really loud. That was when the car, i guess, was driving through the mob itself. I couldnt hear my heart beating anymore. Could barely hear the tires against the asphalt of the road driving out. I realized now, hes driving through the mob. After a while the sound got a little bit lighter and i could hear the wheels against the the tires against the ground again. I realized, okay, weve driven through. That sticks with me. Two memories very strongly from that year in 1957. Its an important thing. This policeman, a white policeman. Ive always looked back at that moment as he risked his life, too, to drive me through that mob into the safety of my home. I always had a special thing for policemen after that oddly enough. One white policeman risked his life and saved me. I felt myself safe there. After that, we got the really big guns out on our side when president eisenhower sent his 101st paratroopers to help us, and the work was turned over to us individually, each of the nine. Inside Central High School, friendships and hate. A lot of people who stared and didnt help, too many people who hindered. My experience inside Central High School is one of developing a very good peripheral visual for projectiles and one of selective hearing, to faze over the things that were meant to be hurtful. And to develop a sense of holding a mask for things that were done deliberately to hurt me. My thinking was i will not give them the pleasure of knowing that they have hurt me. I will remain focused and get my education. Id like to talk about the kids inside the school who saw us and the ones who both saw us and dared make a difference, a positive difference in our lives. I talk about a girl named becky, who was my friend in one class. She was a friend in the class of a teacher who told me the first day that i didnt belong in that school. She wanted me to know that she felt that way about it. I was a teacher who i did my very best for. I believe her course was english. I left feeling i could have been shakespeare and she would have never given me a higher grade than a c. My goal for her was she will never be able to give me les than a c. And sitting across the aisle, one day, i had seen her in the halls but i knew that friends of ours, like robin and others, there were about 10 kids in that School Friends openly towards us. They were treated like we were. They got the same things thrown at them, and their phones at home were harassed at night. I had seen becky but i didnt know if she wanted to get into all of that. She wanted me to say hello to her. Excuse me. Every now and then i get a swedish word right in this middle. Okay. Ill move on. I wrote her a note and i said, becky, i see you in the hallways, but i dont know if you want me to say hello or not. And i passed it to her. Becky wrote back, i see you in the hallways, but please dont say hello to me. She wrote the White Citizens Council has eyes everywhere and i dont want them to harass and put my family in danger. But i see you. She wrote more, she said, i know theyre just trash but i dont want them to harass my family. And put my family in danger. But i do see you in the hallways. I think i speak for most understanding people here, Something Like that. I have this letter, i do believe its true, it exists. I think she was right, there are a lot of people in that school that felt exactly the way she did. They were willing to be my friend and make a difference for the moment they were with me. But they didnt feel up to facing all the kwepss to their personal lives consequences to their personal lives and family when they were away. I appreciated becky and i look forward to when i came to her classroom. I became a 14yearold girl again. We could talk about or make comments to each other. She could befriend me there. I was not invisible to her. That meant a lot that year. There was so much hatred in the year and so much not showing your feelings, just negative. Things happening. It made a difference to be able to again return to 14 years old girl, talk about rockn roll music, talk about living the life of a developing young adult, being seen, not being invincible. I would maintain on the worst days, she gave me in fact, courage to despite everything, hang around with my dream of coming back the next day and making it that whole year. She was a good example of one person can make a big difference. Some action you think, im just one, i cant do so much about it, i cant get all those people outside the school to go away, yet, if you did do the very little that you can do and are able to do, it will make a difference. For me, it helped me to stay in that school the whole year as well as the people outside central not white or black, just people who thought we had the right to be there and encouraged us to make it to exercise the right weve been given. Ive talked too long now. When i saw the agenda and i saw there was nobody on the program at that point in the making of the program, i thought there should have been someone there to say what went on inside the school. There are lots of books about all the bad things inside the school and thought i would tell you about betty, one of the good things that went on inside the school. Thank you. [ applause ] all right. We have two more who are going to speak about the lost year. We have one special person thats real young, so we put her last. Judy green earned a Business Administration degree at flanders and and graduated at little rock. She is ceo of Pond Enterprises which began in the 80s, from what ive read, it does everything, from accounting and Public Relations to event planning, promotions and even printing. She has experience in both television and radio. The list of her professional and Civic Engagement is quite long and her awards and recognition even longer. We will also introduce the idea that she is an ordained minister. Her election and ongoing services, justice of the peace district 9 in Pulaski County. Call if you have a problem. She is Vice President of Pulaski County of Democratic Women on the board of arkansass womens action for a new direction. So, miss judy. [ applause ] good morning. Several years ago, there was a group that came into little rock called the voices of civil rights. And they interviewed a lot of students to get our story during the crisis. Unfortunately, i was out of the state when they did the interviews, so i didnt get in on the interviews. But i did write my civil rights memories. And i just bought a little bit i tweaked it a little bit to respect the time limit that they gave us. So i just did excerpts from it. I was one of the unfortunate students displaced from the 1957 to 1959 School Desegregation crisis. During that time there was grades 7 through 12 before they built horace mann. I attended dunnbar through 7 through 9 grade. My class was the first class to graduate from dunnbar when it was a senior high school. The next year we went to horace man. Government orville who ill never forget, ordered most schools to be closed to prevent blacks from attending central. The courts denied to delay the central integration crisis. Most of the black students parents during that time including mine did not have the courage to allow their children to attend to be 1 of the pioneers. And i do commend the parents of my classmates as well as my classmates for having the courage to take that leap and become students at little rock Central High School. During that year during the year the schools were closed all the students except little rock land scattered, went Different Directions in the world. Some of them stayed out of school the whole year the majority of them stayed out of school the whole year. Some went to Little Country town schools. There were six of us. During that time dr. T. J. Built a school for the high school seniors. And there were six of us, Philander Smith college offered an opportunity for us to complete their college there. And there were six of us who attended ilander smith college. The majority of students stayed at home. There were a few that went into the military, but the majority stayed at home. My family sent me to detroit to go to school at that time. They had sent out messages most states did not want to accept students from little rock or horace period because they knew what was going on in the state. So a lot of them passed legislation at that time you had to live two years in the state or a year to go to school there. That was to keep us out. After being screened and given the regular college and entrance exams, there was six of us from m mann who had attended including myself. We were required to take regular College Courses which applied to our high school units needed to graduate from high school. And all the hours that were leftover went towards our freshman year in college. This tells you about my loyalties to Philander Smith college. And when the panther journal came out, which was the annual yearbook, the heading was they had a picture of all of us in there, and the heading was an era of transition, dash, special students. Some of our classmates had gone to sweet home down there. Roger was a 12yearold student whose father was a math teacher. And he used to make up his daddies tests. He was a 12yearold genius. He went to philander with us. He used to throw spitballs across the classroom. And i remember ms. Torrance used to tell him to act youre age. Youre not a kid anymore. Well, i attended during the 58 and 59 school year and this is when philander had a Football Team and also when we integrated the lunch counters in the area. A group of us demonstrated at the lunch counters because they would not serve the blacks. In spring i interpreted my college to get married and raise a family. I returned to Philander Smith college in the fall of 1972 where i began employment there, and i attended every year until the summer of 1977 when i received my bachelors degree. During that time i took an hour for each semester and worked full time at philander. I will forever be grateful to Philander Smith college. There were 200 of us graduating year when the school closed. We were deprived of many such things as a normal college would have. And thats yearbooks, pictures, class rings and other amenities that seniors would enjoy. I was a cheerleader during my junior year and was to be a captain during my senior year. I remember when blacks had to board the city bus and had to go to back past the rear door. We had to exit from the rear always. If the rear was full and there were vacant seats in the front, they would not sit in the front of the bus. I remember when we had public bathrooms and water fountains that said blacks or whites. All restaurants were segregated, even black owned restaurants. I remember one particular black owned establishment where blacks wanted to eat, and we frequented a lot. But they had a small room in the back of the restaurant, and we had to go through the back door and go in there and eat. And the front entrance was for whites only. Of course we eventually boycotted that establishment along with many others, and they didnt stay in business too long. I also remember when we had only one black Police Officer who could only arrest blacks. Crime is not as high as it is in this decade because blacks were afraid to get arrested. They had no rights in jails and prisons. In order to be able to vote, citizens were required to have a poll tax receipt. In order to purchase a poll tax receipt, you had to be a property owner. So how many of us were Properties Owners back then . You know what im talking about, judge. They take it for granted now. We have come a long ways from when i was a youth, but weve still got a long ways to go. Through all of this through all of this i was determined, like they said dont ever get up like the lady said dont give up, i had a determination to succeed. I proceeded to get my college degree, got married and raised a family. I have two lovely daughters, son, grandson and granddaughter. My two daughters who proceed towards their doctors degrees. My grandson is premed student and my granddaughter is prepsychologist. So i raised a good family. Most of us are Business Owners or were in the business professions. In closing im going to say when we had our 20year class reunion, of the first reunion of the class as i said there were 200 of us in that graduating class that were deprived. And the first year we had a class reunion was our 20year class reunion. Our principle from 59 presented us with diplomas and signed them during that time when mr. Mason was our super intendant of schools. And i thank you all for this time to get a chance to tell my story. [ applause ] we are, of course, running out of time. But i definitely want to introduce you to two more people. Richard yata, ive invited him to speak. And each time ive called his presentation twice removed. While he is telling you a little bit about his life and being in the lost year and i do mean in a little bit i want to tell you after he served in vietnam, he earned a cpa, and Financial Planner and has written a best selling book on business and works as a retired consultant to small business. So come tell your story real fast. [ applause ] thank you. I think im here because i didnt do anything. In fact, i didnt get to go to central high. I was supposed to, but let me go back and give you some background. Back after pearl harbor was attacked back in 1941, my parents were farmers in california. So executive order 9066, which told all japanese, citizens or not, they had to leave california and move into camps or jail basically. They were incarcerated. My parents had two weeks to get rid of everything they had, and they could only bring what they could carry. So if you could put yourself in their shoes, what could i get rid of, some people had to sell their cars, people would offer them 5 or something. I know one family that was offered 5, and says i wont sell it for 5, he just threw gas on the car and burned it. So they had that to face. You couldnt take your dogs or cats or anything like that, your goldfish. Kids couldnt take their baseball bats because it was considered a weapon as it is today in some cases. So as i was sitting there listening to people talking, i was trying to compare and contrast what my parents went through. I took my mother excuse me to a movie called snowfallen on the cedars. It was about the japanese having to evacuate the west coast. And one of scenes where the tamally was carrying what they could carry, and they would report to an Assembly Center similar to the State Fair Grounds here on roosevelt. And they were assigned a barracks to live in for six months until the camps were ready. But my mother was telling me there was a scene in there where people were walking down the street and crowds on both sides. And she says i remember that scene, and they were being yelled at, shouted at, spit at. Just like elizabeth is depicted in a lot of the news reels that weve seen. So i said that sounds like a similar story. Then they were put into the camps or horse stable where they had to live for six months. And they didnt know where they were going, they didnt know how long. And they were sent to rural arkansas, which is southeast arkansas. Another family has anyone heard of george decay . He was mr. Sulu in the original star trek. Hes been here. His family was sent there. I think he said he was 5 years old, sitting in their house, and a car drives up in their driveway. And theres two soldiers with their rifles and bayonet attached with an fbi agent and knocking on their door, and his father answers and he says its time for you to love and go to the center. So if you had two soldiers with bayonets attached, they meant business. So there wasnt a whole lot they could do. I asked my father why do you let that happen . He said, couldnt help it, we had to do it. And george asked his father that, and his father just kind of looked at him, got up out of his chair, walked out of the room and shut the door, never said anything. They just didnt want to talk about it. And i was as my parents i was born in the camp in roor. So as a 2 or 3yearold you thought everybody lived that way. You had a lot of kids to play with, no chores to do, didnt have to take out the trash or anything. But the parents really had im sure it was traumatic. Talk about losing selfesteem. I mean they were actually imprisoned. And everybody felt like in order for you to be in prison, you had to do something wrong. So they had that to over come after they got out. So as time went on, when the camps were 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 were being shot at, the friends they cruised to have would 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. So they were going back to a very hostile place. George decays family and 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 an asian face on a rat to tell how bad the japanese were. I guess i have to ask the question, how many people know there were two camps in arkansas that decarcerated japanese during world war ii . About half. And thats more than usual. Not a lot of people i think its finally getting into the school curriculum, and people are learning about it. Anyway, my parents decided to stay there were about seven families that decided to stay in arkansas. We had a governor named homer atkins during world war ii. And in order for 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, and 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. Now, why my parents stayed, i dont know. Why father was from hawaii, so if hed gone to hawaii, i wouldnt be here. Id be on the beach. But they stayed and farmed. And i went to school in scots school, which is right outside of little rock. We lived out on the farm. We had to drive 5 miles towards town just to get to cottoms. Its a general store, turned into a restaurant and burned earlier this year. But they had the best hamburgers you could eat. Anyway, we lived out there. And being in the Scotts School district, i lived out there until seventh grade. And the attendance was getting low, so wanted to go to Forest Heights to play football, basketball. And he surprised me, it was 20 miles away, and he being a farmer he didnt have time to take me. But we did find somebody from ular that took me back and forth. But when i was at Forest Heights, 1957, i was in the ninth grade in 1957. And i was going to go to central the following year. And i had my schedule. I was looking forward to going. They had a great Football Team in 57. Then they closed the school. So thats why im here today because i didnt go to school. But i enjoyed going to school because my parents were vegetable farmers. So whenever i was out of school, i was out in the field. Now, someone was talking about incarceration or in the paper today about how the prison is getting over run, too many people. But i tell you if they grew an okra patch out of prison and made them pick that, the population of prison would go down to half. Okra grows from june to thats why i loved going to school. During a holiday i was out in the field working. Not being able to go to central high she tried to tell me hurry up. Well wrap it up. The scott school was closed, the high school was closed. To go back a little bit, going back to the school, when we moved to scott arkansas, in the plasy County School district, they had a Board Meeting to decide what school we were going to go to, whether it would be the black schools or the white schools. So i was kind of between. I didnt know which way to go. One of the ladies of the farm we lived on, she owned a lot of land, virginia alexander, that a lot of you may know that owned a lot of property in scott. She just stood up in the meeting and said theyre going to the white school, and the meeting was over. Back then the difference between education between the white and black schools, the white schools were getting most of the funding. The black schools were getting short changed on the amount of funds they were getting. So there is a little disparity between the quality of education. So for me it was a life changing event where i did get to go to school. Today i would say that the people of scott arkansas were probably very gracious. They invited to all the church activities, community activities. And even the old central arkansas, they were great to our family. But i was forced to go into well, i was not forced, but i was in the air force rotc at the university of arkansas. And there was an advanced rotc program where they paid you 50 a month to go to school, but you had to commit to go into the military afterwards. So 50 a month was a lot of money for me. So i was sitting there thinking 1963, we hadnt had a war in ten years, so ill just go ahead they had a draft. We had to go in somehow, somewhere. I wasnt married at the time, so i knew i was going to have to go in, so i might as well go in as an officer. Our senior year we had to go to champ. And when we were walking to our barracks somebody said, hey, did you hear about the gulf of tompkin . So i graduated just before the vietnam war. We were having a conversation the other day about fear. I said you know no fear unless youve been shot at by guns or missiles being shot at you, when your officer says ther a missile coming. A b52 is slow, so we have to see it have it miss. So im fortunate to have flown 59 combat missions and still be alive today. During that time, again, being in the military in an unpopular war, friends of ours are getting yelled at, spit at being in the United States air force. And some were having mob violence focused towards them. Then compare that to what my parents went through, what the little rock nine went through, and the pictures you see with elizabeth walking down the street. Its kind of heart breaking. Fortunately, ive had the privilege to meet elizabeth ecford. She went on a school tour sponsored last year. And 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. And elizabeth told me about one thing. Going down the halls of central high she said that once a day probably probably twice a day someone would body slam them right into the lockers. And one of the one of the guys figured out and said, hey, if we could walk closer to the lockers when they body slam us, we wont go too far. So hearing that story, it kind of breaks your heart the things they had to go through and what they had to do to get an education and just get through the day. And for that, for all they went through i admire them. I look to them as my hero, even though i wasnt really affected by it other than i couldnt go to school there. They were brave, and i appreciate what theyve done. I appreciated the way the state of arkansas treated myself, and i grew up. The state of arkansas was very gracious compared to what people went through in california. And i wake up every day with an attitude of gratitude. You know, when challenges hit, i remember my father saying i said hey, i want to quit doing this, and he said youre not going to quit today, you can quit tomorrow. And every day i think of that. Basically hes saying youre not going to quit, never give up. Just like the little rock nine went through, never give up, never quit. Ive got more to say, but i think ill quit right here. [ applause ] thank you. Phyllis brown is the sister of milly jean brown. Phyllis didnt follow in her sisters footsteps. She didnt attend central high. She graduated from horace mann. But she did follow her sister and attended college at southern university. Phyllis was a 15yearold volunteer at snick, do you know that southern nonviolent coordinating committee, that did work in arkansas. And shes going to speak for a little amount of time. Bless you all. Hello. I will be brief because you said hello. I bet that woke you up, huh . Stretch. We do need to stretch, folks. And i will be brief. Yes, i was the sister of milly jean brown. I was the tag along sister. I followed her like a little puppy. And because i was the tag along sister, that meant i got to sit at the feet of the little rock nine, at thelmas house, at elizabeths house, at melbournes house. And ill tell you a cute little story. I hope youll laugh. Is that melbur and milly jean wore those cute little slips. By the way, i didnt know you were an ordained minister. All right, and where do you preach . Sorry, i diverted. Online . Okay, anyway, so melbur would come to our house because we live one block away from melbur. And i was probably the worst little sister on earth. I know i was. I admit it. And i always had sore throats, and our mother was a nurse. And she would say, phyllis, gargle with warm, soft water. And i wanted to hear what is that elizabeth in the back . Stand up, elizabeth. Youre a great lady. Can you believe he took over my story . So because i wanted to hear everything milly jean and melbur were talking about, i did go make my warm salted water. And i sat right next to them and went right. Does that sound bratty . A little bad sister, well, thats okay. Well, i did want to follow in her footsteps, but aint no way i was going to go to central high because i wanted to go to the prom. And i knew the only way that i would go to the prom was that i had to get a colored boy to take me. And so i did follow in her footsteps somewhat. And that is i attended Southern Illinois university in carvendale, illinois. Probably a life changing event for me because i wasnt to being around just black people. I had a neighbor from bangladesh and another neighbor from jamaica and another neighbor from norway. And my life became enriched. Now, i could cry about my sister, but going to carvendale was really life altering for me. So when my sister was excelled from central high, she was taken away from me. Yeah, and so who was going to dance with me . Who was going to comb my hair . Who was going to tie the bow behind my dress . Who was to walk me to school . And i want all all those white segregationests, and i want tom cotton and allof you to know that all of you who participated in that vicious, vicious attack i will never forgive you. You can apologize and say im sorry, well, George Wallace apologized on his deathbed. All right . I will not accept your apology for what you did to me. All the rest of you, you can recover and move on, all right . But i had to play with two brothers. I wanted my sister. [ applause ] and so when i read this, the title of reflects in progress, i wanted to know where was the question mark behind the word progress, all right . And so when mayor shackleford talked about what a big deal it was to graduate from high school, well its because at one time it was a punishable crime to educate black children in this country. And here we are again, 2017 with the same policies, legal and judicial policies that are trapping black kids in segregated and unequal education. So took us back. Its the same thing thats happening. Were experiencing the same things. So now we have a School Administration thats taking our tax dollars to fund charter schools. How many schools have closed in little rock . Isnt what this is all about . The lost year, all right. And so do know that those white women that wore those white gloves and wore those coolly hats, that what they were called. They looked like little flying saucers, they were members of the Mothers League who created a campaign so that for voters to vote to shut the schools down. Yes, all of your and when gloria talked about she walked to the window and she saw all those contorted, vicious, violent faces, those were the mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers of the students who attended central. And so i guess when education will become as paramount as football because when the governor shutdown the schools, he said well at least we can still have football. Yay, team. All right, no education, but were still going to have football. So this country spends more on football and war than you do on education. And yet who was this saying yes oh, it was judge grant that said it. And when he said it, i cringed. I love this country. Well, i dont. And dr. Carolyn, yes, so everybody likes to say that little rock was progressive and moderate. And im trying to figure out is it because you had one less lynching than mississippi . Is that why youre 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 alchemize our sins into virtues, yes, here we are celebrating go central, go tigers. Remember that those same mechanisms are still working. They still deprive these children. Why, they even deprive me, and that was 60 years ago. You disrupted households, you bombed culottas house. But more importantly you took my sister away from me, and ill never forgive you for it. Thank you, phyllis. [ applause ] thank you all. And i appreciate each of the panelists for their remarks. Friday night on American History tv, a look at photojournalists who documented major historical events, from the kennedy assassination to the 9 11 terrorist attacks. Part of American History tv on prime time each night this week here on cspan 3. Everything was devastating for him at the end. He was really in some ways isolated and alone. Sunday night on q and a William Talman and his biography. He trusted them to follow him where they had never gone before, that is to democratize their country in a few short years, he trusted them to make peace with the ancient enemy in the United States. He trusted them too much it turned out. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q and a. Up next, little rock residents discuss changes to the city after Public Schools reopened in 1959 as integrated institutions. Speakers include two of the first africanamerican students to attend Central High School known as the little rock nine. This is 50 minutes. My name is rhonda stuart. Im the genealogist. What i