Oral History Report- Moesha Grant

Abstract:

In this interview, Barbara Grant reflects on her experience growing up as a young, female African American in Philadelphia, PA. She discusses how she suffered with racial discrimination all her childhood years living in a predominantly white neighborhood, like high school and going to public places with her parents. Barbara Grant speaks on protest and sit ins she participated in during the 1960s in Philadelphia.  She talks about famous Civil Rights Leaders and their impact on the black community. Grant also expresses her fear as a child of White Supremacy. Lastly, she presents the concept of how racism is still present in today’s time, but is just concealed.  

Research:

During the Civil Rights Movement, the White Supremacy was very present. The White Supremacy, were groups that believed they were superior to other racial backgrounds and went to violent measures to keep themselves superior. White Supremacy was also known as white power. When the Civil Rights Movement was taking place civil rights activist and segregationist were head to head like never before. Many whites thought the City Councils weren’t doing enough to keep segregation, so they took it into their own hands. In the beginning of 1963, a group by the name of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) came into play. Their goal was to keep whites in charge and to terrorize black people with violence.  The KKK harmed anyone who was black or was trying to stop segregation. The KKK used all methods of violence to enforce their authority in the South like lynchings, tar-and- feathering, and rapes. One example, of their violent acts was the bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham,  Alabama where four young girls were killed.

Sources:

<http://soaw.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=482> <http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-civil-rights.html>

<http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/mississippi/e1.html.

<http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/ideology/ku-klux-klan>

Transcript

Interview with BARBARA GRANT 14 MAY 2014 5:00 p.m.

Place: At Barbara Grant’s Home

Interviewer: Moesha Grant (MG)

Interviewee: Barbara Grant Age (BG), 56

MG: Today is May 14, 2014 and it is 5:00 p.m. I am interviewing Barbara Grant. So, Barbara. . . . What do you remember from your childhood between the time period of when you were born till’ 1965? What was going on during that time?

BG: Umm…. I was born in 1958 in the City of Philadelphia. Umm.. when I was born the Civil Rights Movement was going on equal rights. Umm.. when  I really could understand was in the period of 1964. In the period of 1964,my parents were telling me different places we couldn’t go why there were so much hatred. And I remember seeing marches from to Washington on the TV why they were protesting because we deserved equal rights. I remember umm.. Rosa Park umm.. sitting.

MG: What do you remember about Rosa Parks and the other leaders that were in the Civil Rights Movement?

BG: I remember when they said told Rosa Parks that she couldn’t sit in front of the bus and I asked my parents that’s not fair. Somebody is tired they should be able to sit where they want to sit, but they said because of the separation between white and black. Umm.. there were places  umm. What I remember about her when she came on the bus and protest. And I thought that wasn’t fair that she should have been able to sit where she want to sit, but understanding that…. white people had to sit in front. They came first and blacks in the back. And it’s just like they didn’t want us to umm.. eat in the same restaurants as white people. Umm.. we had to take the back entrance going places. Umm.. I also, remember umm...  Martin Luther King when he started going, walking to Washington and when they were fighting for equal rights. And when he was talking about you know that we should all be equal as one and the dream he had of one day umm.. we would all be equal. Umm…..Rosa

MG: Did you think whites considered themselves better than blacks during that time?

BG: Yes I do, umm….. yes they did. They considered they were better than us. More educated, had more job opportunities than we had. We were always the last the way at everything. You know getting jobs umm… where everybody like wasn’t equal and ways. The way they thought, they thought they were better than any other race. And as we go into 1965, it started to go from, Martin Luther King umm.. marched for peace. They were violent. They became violent people. Umm.. putting hoses on us, umm..  where they didn’t want us. The  Ku Klux Klan showing the hanging of us. The different umm.. things they would do to us if we came into their neighborhoods and the burning down of the houses and stuff. That frightened me because I thought maybe that would… I didn’t know if it was going on in Philadelphia or not. I know it was going on in the South because my parents both come from the South. My mother especially and especially it was going on near South Carolina. Umm..

MG: Did you think that, that era needed to happen in order for blacks to come up in society of how they are now?

BG: Yes, because that made us umm… better people we strived for more things. Umm.. to prove our point that we were not ignorant people because whites always said that we were ignorant people and we needed to go back to Africa. We didn’t.. all of us didn’t come from Africa. Africa maybe our heritage, but I was not born in Africa, so a white person telling me to go to Africa. Go back to Africa is not where I was born. Umm... I was born in the United States, so I didn’t think that... that was right. But as of now seeing where things have gone we have come a long ways. In which, that movement happened to push us. Even though, today in society we still have prejudice. We still have White American Corporation, but there we are still striving. We still need our young people to strive more to head off where we started a path, so Martin Luther King’s Dream has not died it’s still going forward.

MG: Have you had any experiences like you may not remember the Civil Rights Era, but in general of racism with discrimination or anything like that?

BG: Yes, umm.. I have umm.. We moved to a predominantly  white neighborhood in 1969, which my father wanted me to have a better education.  We moved to Montgomery County and which it was like 10% Black and 90% White. So umm... we had sit ins because they wanted to keep us separated from each other. They really didn’t want us in their schools or to ride their school buses, so even though it was now 1969 and I was going to high school it was... still hard during racial.. And I have experienced with sit ins, where we protested.  You know against that we should be treated. You know it was even in the lunchrooms. Umm… they didn’t like umm.. going, you know getting the same trays. You know calling us “niggers.” At one time, we did get into a fight, which we didn’t like the “n- word.”  Even to society today, they still use the “n-word” and umm... without the protest and Martin Luther King and all the other great ones that walked. That did the march and protested and fought for our rights. I don’t think black people would be where they’re at today, so were still continue on fighting.        

MG: So, do you remember… the Black Panthers during that time?

BG: Yes, I do.

MG: What do you know about them?

BG: Umm... they were umm.. motivated. Like they as I can remember they were a group of people that had they own set of rules. Umm... they wanted to take over and they became the Islamic umm… Movement. So, the Black Panthers were like a group of people that were against a lot of things that Martin Luther King was saying. They figured that we could get things better done with violence and still Martin Luther King was walking  for nonviolence. So, they fought against that you know. They figured that they can do things a lot better.

MG: So, do you think racism is still present in today’s era and time?

BG: Yes, I do(2x), They still have places in the South where  umm..black people can’t drink from water fountains or black people can’t sit. It’s more umm… in today’s society. They try to hide it, but it’s still there. It’s even in our basketball courts umm... You know it’s still here in America… still racial going on. Even  predominant whites are now mixed with blacks, but they still say that they should be with their own race and black women still say that you know that black men should be with their race. But it seems to have a change.

MG: Do you think that change was for the better?

BG: Somewhat, umm… I still think that it puts a gap between blacks and whites, where I think that umm.. As a society today, that when the basketball players, football players, etc. start making money they think that they should have a white woman in their life, instead of a black woman. I don’t think that’s fair because… we are equal. There’s no because you're making money now doesn’t mean that oh.. you can’t have a black wife you know. So, society.. they think that society looks at them better by them making money and have a white woman, instead of a black woman. You know, so that’s I don’t think that that’s right.   

MG: Thank you I’ve appreciated interviewing you.

BG: Thank you very much!

MG: I love your input!