My Milky childhood...

Annie and I have today off, too. I am currently reading a book entitled The Help. It's about 3 Black women who are maids living in Jackson, Mississippi and one white girl (who is an "old maid" at age 24). It is set in the early 1960s. It's a fabulous thought-provoking book.

You may not know that I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. I was pretty sheltered. I had a maid named "Adele" (emphasis on the A) and another named Mary (MAY-ree). Both were kind to me. I remember watching soap operas with Adele as she ironed the clothes. She used a big Coca-Cola bottle with a cork-spritzy think on the top to sprinkle water on the all cotton clothes.

When I was in elementary school, there was ONE black girl in the whole school. Where did she come from? She was not in my class. In Junior High, I went to a great school, played in the band, and loved the school. If I remember correctly, there were probably 25% Black kids in the school, but I don't remember ONE Black teacher. In the middle of my 8th grade year it was announced that "integration" would happen. I remember the last day before Christmas break, people were crying as we dispersed...I had no idea why they were crying. In January I would have to take a bus across town to the Black school if I was to continue in the Jackson Public Schools. The ironic thing was that our street was the dividing line. My friends across the street stayed in the same school and would go to the High School that I had looked forward to attending. My world was rocked. My parents YANKED me out of school and sent me to one of the few private schools....Council Manhattan. Why can't I just go to the school I want to go? After many years, I found out the "Council" was the White Citizen's Council (funded by the KKK). Once again, I had no idea.

Yes, I do remember going to the Zoo as a child seeing the "White ONLY" water fountains and bathrooms. I never understood. All the public swimming pools were closed because the whites and blacks didn't want to swim together...or so they told me. I still did not understand. Why can't I swim where I want to swim?

I lived in Jackson in 1962 when a Black man named James Meredith was allowed to go to Ole Miss. Another Black man named Medgar Evers was instrumental in getting him into the school. I lived not far from where Medgar Evers was shot dead in his front yard with his family watching, killed by a White man who was a member of the white citizens council. I still did not know what that meant.

5 years later Dr. King was murdered. Once again I did not understand, and probably did not really care as a 12 year old.

Now I do. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

I will NEVER EVER forget, I promise.