Ending Segregation in Mississippi

Ending Segregation in Mississippi

My town, Clarksdale, Mississippi was divided by color and, being Black, like me, you could only go across town if you are working in a white home.  Even little children knew to be afraid and stay in their place in every facet of their life, if they did not want to get hurt.

This meant using the right fountain, door, bathroom and side of the street.

Tired of the lousy books, with their awful words and torn pages, coming from the white school each year, I persuaded my mother and the school district to allow me to go to the all-white school across town.  It was a hard fight which had to be won in court by my mother and the NAACP.

Get up, dress my best and wait for my taxicab to arrive because I decided to go to an all-white school in Mississippi in 1964 is my normal routine.  The taxi contains four black maids and Mr. Johnny, the cab driver, and following the cab is the car containing 2 marshals.

Because the cab contains four other Black females, no one can tell which one is me and, therefore, I am safer from revenge and hatred.  My family is so poor that the cab is paid by members of the community and the NAACP each week.

 Arriving at the school, I am met by jeers, slurs, and other horrible words, along with spit and spitballs from most of the white children.  This is only the beginning of the story of Elnora Fondren Palmtag.