Page 135 - From the Outhouse 4 -21

135 | P A T R I C I A R A E M E R R I T T W H A T L E Y

CHAPTER 6

OFF TO COLLEGE!

For the eyes of the LORD are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers.

1 Peter 3:12 (KJV)
I

headed for the Sanford Train Station amid flooded streets, fallen trees, heavy winds, power lines down, and power outages. My

parents had a rough time trying to get me to the station on schedule. They prayed that our car would make it through the terrible

hurricane-battered streets. I was on my way to Talladega College, a private Liberal Arts institution established in 1865 by two
former slaves, William Savery and Thomas Tarrant, who were from Talladega, Alabama.

Talladega is the oldest private historically black college in Alabama. I was excited and fearful at the same time as I prayed, “Lord, don’t
let me miss this train.” I knew some of my high school friends from Orlando would also be on the train. We had been debutantes

together, and that made my pre-arranged travel to Talladega very enjoyable. Pre-arrangements had also been made with the college to

pick us up in Anniston, Alabama (about twenty miles away) because the train didn’t stop in Talladega.

Settling in college was easy socially for me, but not academically, for the first two years. I finished college in five years instead of four

because my Music major curriculum required five years of study to complete. I started out as a Music major in voice, but later I
discovered that I was not competent in Music Theory. Nevertheless, I remained in the program just to study voice, but I later changed

my major to Education.