True Stories of Everyday People
True Stories of Everyday People
1968 was a definitive time for Rodney Reid. He started high school at the beginning of the mandate for desegregation. Rodney helped to found the Human Relations Council which brought a better balance to student government.
Carolyn Mosby tells about her start in public relations and politics at the age of 11 giving speeches for a new State Representative, her mother!
In the Summer of 1966 Sherril Adkins got a job as a waitress at Catfish King in Birmingham, Alabama. Having grown up on integrated military bases she had not yet experienced the racism of ordinary white folks of the South. When the restaurant would not serve an African American couple, Sherril took action.
JoEllen reflects on the home of her early childhood where her Italian Grandparents created a beautiful, safe garden close to the heart of Chicago.
Stephanie Edwards felt Isolated and controlled while attending a minimally integrated school in Irvington. After leaving Indianapolis for college, she discovered a new view of the world and other African Americans who were active in the civil rights movement.
Indiana Historical Society Archivist Wilma Moore talks about growing up as an “observer of history.” From going to segregated Crispus Attucks High School to watching news coverage of historic events on tv with her family, her love of history prepared her for her life’s work.
Professional storyteller Sandra Harris tells Bob Sander about an ill-fated concert on April 11, 1956 in which white men attacked the performer, Nat King Cole, in Birmingham, Alabama. This shocking event furthered Sandra and Ed Harris’s involvement as early civil rights activists and changed their lives.
Phyllis Adair-Ward tells the story of discovering two truths: discrimination at Riverside Park and the loving acceptance of her life-long friend, Mr. Quiggles. (A written version of this story appears in her book, “Wind-chimes and Promises.”)
From Jackie Nytes account of learning about the issues facing inner city families though her neighbor Dorothy’s family in a newly integrated Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood South of 38th Street.
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