Change In My Lifetime
Dear editor:
A number of years ago a story in the news told of a lady, for her 100th birthday, celebrated her special day by flying on a large, commercial jet liner from Los Angeles to New York. What made this everyday flight so special? As a very young child this lady had travelled out West with her family on a Conestoga wagon. Wagon one way, and jet plane on return. Just think of the changes this centenarian had seen during her lifetime. There is no way to count all the changes of the 20th century that were witnessed by her.
And now, at the age of 71, I am observing what I consider to be a similar experience.
In 1954 (I was just 17) I migrated from the Northeast to Atlanta, GA to start my college education at Georgia Tech. Arriving at tiny Atlanta airport, not the behemoth it is today, I entered the terminal building and a world I heard about but had never experienced….segregation. Staring me in the face were separate bathrooms, “colored men” and “white men,” water fountains separated by race, a waiting room for “coloreds” and one for “whites.” To make a point of being part of the old South, there was a bale of cotton in the center of the terminal. Of course it didn’t end there.
I had no idea, and didn’t even think about it in advance, but Georgia Tech, one of the finest and world renowned technical universities in the United States, did not have any black students, as specified by state law. Movie theaters were segregated even to the point that the Fox Theater on Peachtree Street, the second largest movie house in America, had separate entrances for white and “colored” patrons. Blacks were only allowed to sit in the top balcony, commonly called the “nose-bleed” section. Schools, public pools, restaurants, buses, stores were all separate. Black police officers, of which there were only a few, could only patrol and arrest black citizens. Even the governor of the State of Georgia tried to stop Georgia Tech from playing the University of Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl because the other school had a “colored” player on the team. My school and the Board of Regents opposed the governor and Tech went on to New Orleans and won the game.
Atlanta became my home for many years after school and I was proud in the way it approached desegregation and became known as “the city too busy to hate.” Georgia Tech integrated on its own, without court orders. Of course Lester Maddox and his ax handles didn’t help, but that’s another story.
And now, as that 100 year old woman who went West on a wagon and East on a jet plane, we have come full circle. An African-American has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. What a change for me and all America. I never thought I would live to see it. What a great time for America. It’s bigger than John Kennedy being the first Catholic president, which in its time was a huge event. With all its faults and problems America has reason to be proud and I am glad that I’ve been around during these years to see this change. Hope I’ll see a few more.
A number of years ago a story in the news told of a lady, for her 100th birthday, celebrated her special day by flying on a large, commercial jet liner from Los Angeles to New York. What made this everyday flight so special? As a very young child this lady had travelled out West with her family on a Conestoga wagon. Wagon one way, and jet plane on return. Just think of the changes this centenarian had seen during her lifetime. There is no way to count all the changes of the 20th century that were witnessed by her.
And now, at the age of 71, I am observing what I consider to be a similar experience.
In 1954 (I was just 17) I migrated from the Northeast to Atlanta, GA to start my college education at Georgia Tech. Arriving at tiny Atlanta airport, not the behemoth it is today, I entered the terminal building and a world I heard about but had never experienced….segregation. Staring me in the face were separate bathrooms, “colored men” and “white men,” water fountains separated by race, a waiting room for “coloreds” and one for “whites.” To make a point of being part of the old South, there was a bale of cotton in the center of the terminal. Of course it didn’t end there.
I had no idea, and didn’t even think about it in advance, but Georgia Tech, one of the finest and world renowned technical universities in the United States, did not have any black students, as specified by state law. Movie theaters were segregated even to the point that the Fox Theater on Peachtree Street, the second largest movie house in America, had separate entrances for white and “colored” patrons. Blacks were only allowed to sit in the top balcony, commonly called the “nose-bleed” section. Schools, public pools, restaurants, buses, stores were all separate. Black police officers, of which there were only a few, could only patrol and arrest black citizens. Even the governor of the State of Georgia tried to stop Georgia Tech from playing the University of Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl because the other school had a “colored” player on the team. My school and the Board of Regents opposed the governor and Tech went on to New Orleans and won the game.
Atlanta became my home for many years after school and I was proud in the way it approached desegregation and became known as “the city too busy to hate.” Georgia Tech integrated on its own, without court orders. Of course Lester Maddox and his ax handles didn’t help, but that’s another story.
And now, as that 100 year old woman who went West on a wagon and East on a jet plane, we have come full circle. An African-American has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. What a change for me and all America. I never thought I would live to see it. What a great time for America. It’s bigger than John Kennedy being the first Catholic president, which in its time was a huge event. With all its faults and problems America has reason to be proud and I am glad that I’ve been around during these years to see this change. Hope I’ll see a few more.
posted by Sam Schoolsky | 8:37 AM
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