Personal weekend, any commentary will be later today or Tuesday.
Meanwhile so that you know I am still kicking, some more AMA Journal covers.
Woman by a Riverbank (1910)Augustus John (1879-1961) British
A Ride for Liberty- The Fugitive Slave (1863)Eastman Johnson (1824-1906)
Although not clear I believe the wife is holding a baby in her arms. Note no reins. There is something very powerful in this painting accentuated by the colors.
In 1955 Woolworth was a large chain although items were no longer 5 &10 cents but even a $1.00 the stores still had a lunch counter.
In 1955 Woolworth was a large chain although items were no longer 5 &10 cents but even a $1.00 the stores still had a lunch counter.
Although meals were cheap in 1955 it was in 1960 (Feb. 1) that a Woolworth Lunch Counter in Greensboro NC became a land mark in the Civil Rights Movement. These four college students refused service at the counter initiated a sit in that had a permanent impact on the "separate but equal" bigotry that was prevalent not only in the South but even in the Northeast.
Doc, in 1961 I went to Carbondale, Illinois to work on my Master's degree in College Student Personnel Administration at Southern Illinois University. While first-year students in that program were assigned to dorms as "resident assistants" I was a good bit older and wouldn't do it--so they appointed me as the "housemother" of the first integrated off-campus housing in town. And what an interesting experience that was! Carbondale was still segregated except for the SIU campus (officially),and the process of integrating campus activities wasn't always easy. And promoting integration not only in Carbondale but in the surrounding communities as well--lunch counters, community pools, etc.--was challenging. Thanks for publishing that lunch-counter photo--it brought back a lot of memories!
ReplyDeleteCarbondale is 400 miles south of Chicago and when I was there had occasional spurts of relatively low-key KKK activity. When Joe and I married in 1964 we got some flak from those who didn't like the idea that we invited black friends to our house. Oh, the stories we could tell!
Dottie, Since Carbondale is in the midst of "Red Neck Country" I would n ot be surprised,but may have changed in the years.Perhaps the presence of SIU has had an impact. According to Wikipedia it is an ethnic and religious divers town half the size of Plainfield "Spirituality finds expression in Carbondale in churches of a variety of Christian denominations, a Unitarian Universalist fellowship, two mosques, a Jewish congregation, a Sufi community, a Hindu community, and two Buddhist organizations — the Shawnee Dharma Group and the Sunyata Center. The Interfaith Center provides space for intercultural exchange and personal growth. It is also an education center to help the community become more ecologically conscious, understand how to incorporate better practices into daily life, and set goals for the future." The Women's Center, in continuous service since its founding in 1972, was one of the first domestic violence shelters in the United States."
ReplyDeleteThere is hope anywhere if the population is willing.
Doc, it's the University that has made the difference. Carbondale is now much more a "college town" than it was when I went there nearly 50 years ago, and the population has obviously changed a great deal. There was no such diversity back then, but from what you quoted, it appears to be more of a "middle-class" community now. The student population has grown considerably since I was there--and the faculty population too. An institution such as SIU can have a significant impact, and obviously it has.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you followed college basketball back in the 60s, but Walt Frazier (later known as Clyde) was one of my students in 1964...