Page 12 - The Crown 2015-2017

20. When they whipped us, “They told us I will whip the black off of you.”

21. When we bathed, we were reminded to wash behind our ears, around
our necks and between our legs.”

22. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

23. We entered buildings from the back door. You squatted behind a tree
while traveling at night and the boys urinated in a jar.

24. We drank from colored water fountains or waited until you got home.

25. I’m talking about 1969.

26. We sat in all black classrooms. Used textbooks that did not have a line
for our name because it had been used so many times by others before
they got to us. But we learned. We acted like somebody. We traveled
through time and space in books. We read current events. We watched
the news after dinner and at night whether you wanted to or not. Then
in class the next day, you answered questions about the world events
around us.

27. We sat at the table and ate breakfast before school. We did not go to
school to eat breakfast.

28. We took off our clothes when we got home and hung them up in the
closet because we might have to wear them again before the week
ended. No, our closets were not walk in closets with a Disney land of
clothes and shoes.

29. We sat at the table as a family. We prayed, said a scripture and ate what
was put in front of us. Meals were cooked and not micro-waved. And we
ate on real plates that you had to wash before you went to bed.

30. I’m talking about the best of times and the worst of times.

31. You walked to school in the rain, in the sleet and in the snow. Every
once in a while, we might have been blessed to go in a cab (not a taxi).
It became a taxi later in life.

32. The Top Ladies selected the best teens. Not because we had money or a
car or a fine house or our parents had titles.

33. We were selected for our character, our academics, our leadership skills.

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