Another Era

I was born a small Black child in Mississippi...no that was a movie, leave the gun, take the canoli...nope another movie, life is like a box of chocolates...not me either!!

I was born in Bethesda Hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota on November 18, 1942...it was a different era then...I remember living on the lower East-side of Saint Paul where there were not police working as teams in cruisers but a neighborhood "beat cop" Larry. You didn't have to worry about him shooting you or "tasing" you, he knew you by your first name, knew where you lived and knew your parents...you had to worry about him telling your dad about any mischief that you had gotten into and the wrath that would follow. It was a time where when you did all of your chores for a week you got a quarter...this got you into the Saturday Matinee, which usually was a double feature with an episode of a thirteen chapter serial, and sometimes as many as 25 cartoons! It also left you with enough cash for a bag of popcorn, a soda and a 2 cent candy bar.

I remember going to grade school and "daydreaming" and listening to the buzzing of insects in the weeks just before summer vacation...I remember watching the Brooklyn Dodgers play the New York Giants on a summer afternoon for the huge price of fifty cents...I was thrilled to get my program (which was free) signed by all my Dodger heros...Duke Snyder, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and of course Jackie Robinson. For me this was a time of innocence that allowed hero worship without even recognising skin color. This was enhanced by the wonderful circumstance that allowed me to have my favorite teacher, Dr. James Phillips. I had rheumatic fever and was schooled by a "homebound program" and then attended class via the telephone and he was the ONLY teacher that took an interest in my welfare. It was only years later when I realised that my father was always absent during these visits. Dr. Phillips recounted to me that he was originally from Mississippi and that his parents (who were also both PhD's) couldn't pass the Mississippi literacy test and therefore couldn't vote...this seemed to violate everything we were being taught in school. Incidentally he had a brilliant career and late became Superintendent of Schools for Saint Paul. So while for many this time of innocence was a time of strife and trial. It was the very beginning of the Civil Rights struggle. I will continue these ramblings a little later!!