A black President
President Elect Barack Obama does not fit the profile of “descendant from slaves,” but the skin of color does.His wife is from slaves so their children are. I never thought I would see this in my lifetime and it is a moment of historical significance. It will be interesting to see how this changes our world as we know it.
Whitworths owned slaves in Virginia and Tennessee and they probably were good owners.Whitworths have always been very religious according to records but who knows what went on back then. Most slave owners thought of negroes as less than human beings.
Missouri fought bitterly over the Slave problem, often brother to brother.
The boothill of Missouri was formed because the owner of the land did not want to give up his slaves so attached himself to Missouri. Missouri at one time resigned from the union and declared itself a star on the Confederate flag. However the thousands of German immigrants who had settled near St. Louis Missouri were against slavery and fought for the union. Some of the first battles of the Civil War were fought in Missouri. One major battle was fought just outside Springfield Missouri.
In the 1920,s 3 negroes were hanged in the Springfield town square for supposedly molesting a white woman. There were riots and murders and most negroes moved quietly out of town.
In the 1930,s when I was a child we had segregated schools. We had one negro school and maybe 7-8 white schools. They could not drink out of the water fountains for whites. They were allowed to come to our school and play baseball with our 6th grade boys. They brought their own water and could not use our bathrooms. The favorite name for the black at that time was negro or worse “Nigger”. We could play with the black children in our neighborhoods, but couldn’t go to school with them.
You never saw negroes on the buses or on the town square which was where most of the stores were.
During the 1940,s Elmer and I were stationed at Camp Lee Virginia which was Petersburg, for a few months. Blacks could not walk on the sidewalk If there was a white person approaching they had to step off the curb into the street. There were water fountains and restrooms for whites and others for blacks. Blacks rode in the back of the bus and whites in the front.
I got a job working at the “ dime store” as we called them in those days. The first words of instruction I received was “Do not let those niggers get close to your counters, they will steal you blind”
If you protested their treatment, you were called a “Nigger Lover”
We rented a room from a Catholic family who had a niece living with them from France. She was sent over for her own safety during the war in France.
She disappeared one afternoon and the family was frantic as she didn’t speak English too well. They called the police and the first thing they did was haul the black gardener down to the Police station. Mercedes had run off to visit a friend without telling her aunt where she was going. They kept the gardener all afternoon and you can only imagine what happened to him. It was several days before he came back to work.
What is the quote “Mans inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.”
By Robert Burns.
There are places like the Northwest where people are more accepted for who and what they are, but there are areas in this country where racism still runs riot. Look at all the bad publicity the election brought out.
I thought it would be interesting to see what will change in another 20-30 years.
I know we don’t always belong to the same political party and we vote what is in our hearts. Some of us are disappointed but we need to be concerned citizens of this great nation and do all we can to make it work. I have always voted for the person rather than the party but President Franklin D Roosevelt was my president of choice. I saw him once on his way to Hot Springs Arkansas for his health treatment. He was on a train that came through Springfield and my dad took me down to see him.
My older brother was part of the Civilian Conservation Corps President Roosevelt started under his new deal. It gave him a chance to be successful in his life and I have always been grateful for those years.
Remember this:
Rosa Parks SAT - so Martin Luther King Jr. could STAND - so Barack Obama could RUN So all our children can FLY.
Truly now every child in America can dream of being president.
December 7 2008
Revised January 20 2009
Whitworths owned slaves in Virginia and Tennessee and they probably were good owners.Whitworths have always been very religious according to records but who knows what went on back then. Most slave owners thought of negroes as less than human beings.
Missouri fought bitterly over the Slave problem, often brother to brother.
The boothill of Missouri was formed because the owner of the land did not want to give up his slaves so attached himself to Missouri. Missouri at one time resigned from the union and declared itself a star on the Confederate flag. However the thousands of German immigrants who had settled near St. Louis Missouri were against slavery and fought for the union. Some of the first battles of the Civil War were fought in Missouri. One major battle was fought just outside Springfield Missouri.
In the 1920,s 3 negroes were hanged in the Springfield town square for supposedly molesting a white woman. There were riots and murders and most negroes moved quietly out of town.
In the 1930,s when I was a child we had segregated schools. We had one negro school and maybe 7-8 white schools. They could not drink out of the water fountains for whites. They were allowed to come to our school and play baseball with our 6th grade boys. They brought their own water and could not use our bathrooms. The favorite name for the black at that time was negro or worse “Nigger”. We could play with the black children in our neighborhoods, but couldn’t go to school with them.
You never saw negroes on the buses or on the town square which was where most of the stores were.
During the 1940,s Elmer and I were stationed at Camp Lee Virginia which was Petersburg, for a few months. Blacks could not walk on the sidewalk If there was a white person approaching they had to step off the curb into the street. There were water fountains and restrooms for whites and others for blacks. Blacks rode in the back of the bus and whites in the front.
I got a job working at the “ dime store” as we called them in those days. The first words of instruction I received was “Do not let those niggers get close to your counters, they will steal you blind”
If you protested their treatment, you were called a “Nigger Lover”
We rented a room from a Catholic family who had a niece living with them from France. She was sent over for her own safety during the war in France.
She disappeared one afternoon and the family was frantic as she didn’t speak English too well. They called the police and the first thing they did was haul the black gardener down to the Police station. Mercedes had run off to visit a friend without telling her aunt where she was going. They kept the gardener all afternoon and you can only imagine what happened to him. It was several days before he came back to work.
What is the quote “Mans inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.”
By Robert Burns.
There are places like the Northwest where people are more accepted for who and what they are, but there are areas in this country where racism still runs riot. Look at all the bad publicity the election brought out.
I thought it would be interesting to see what will change in another 20-30 years.
I know we don’t always belong to the same political party and we vote what is in our hearts. Some of us are disappointed but we need to be concerned citizens of this great nation and do all we can to make it work. I have always voted for the person rather than the party but President Franklin D Roosevelt was my president of choice. I saw him once on his way to Hot Springs Arkansas for his health treatment. He was on a train that came through Springfield and my dad took me down to see him.
My older brother was part of the Civilian Conservation Corps President Roosevelt started under his new deal. It gave him a chance to be successful in his life and I have always been grateful for those years.
Remember this:
Rosa Parks SAT - so Martin Luther King Jr. could STAND - so Barack Obama could RUN So all our children can FLY.
Truly now every child in America can dream of being president.
December 7 2008
Revised January 20 2009
posted by GrandmaBonnie at 9:57 PM
2 comments
