Integration Memories

The rest of my high school days went pretty much as one would expect. The schools did not integrate until after I had graduated. The SCLC moved on to other Southern cities, and Birmingham settled down a bit.

Many things did change, though. The White Only and Colored Only water fountains in the department stores were replaced by unmarked fountains with cup dispensers, so White people didn't have to be concerned about putting their mouths where Colored people had used the fountain. Well, that's the way White people felt around here back then - as if we were going to catch some horrible disease. That's the way I was raised, too, except for Sadie.

The bathrooms in the department stores no longer were separated, either. So, they put in pay toilets for some of the stalls, thinking that only the White customers would pay the dime to use the pay ones. Well, of course, the Colored ladies paid their dimes, too! The lunch counters and restaurants opened up to serve both Black and White customers, although uneasily at first.

And people began to gradually discover that nothing horrible happened if the person at the next table, or in the next bathroom stall, was of a different race.

The one place that integration really didn't work very well was on the buses. Once the Colored signs were taken down, and the Colored people began to sit up front, most of the White people just stopped riding the buses. The bus company in Birmingham is still struggling financially, as the White riders never did come back in large numbers.

nostalgia, childhood memories, segregation, integration