| Introduction
This interview was with Mrs. Ruby Hunt. Mrs. Hunt is the mother of three
grown children. When her children were younger, they were bused when
Champaign’s public schools were desegregated in 1968.
Brooke Harris, a 7th grader at Franklin Middle School, conducted the
interview. Yakera Barbee, an 8th grader at Franklin Middle School, was the
sound engineer. Brooke and Yakera are two of 13 Franklin Middle School
students working with WILL-AM 580 on an oral history project documenting the
actual desegregation of Champaign’s public elementary schools in 1968. The
students used parts of this interview for their 60-minute radio documentary,
More Than a Bus Ride: Desegregating Champaign Public Schools.
Brooke conducted the interview on January 20, 2005, at the WILL-AM 580
studio, 300 N. Goodwin Ave. in Urbana.
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BROOKE: Ok my name is Brooke and I’m just going to start off with a few
basic background questions for you. First question: What is your full name?
MRS. HUNT: My name is Ruby Hunt.
BROOKE: What do you do for a living?
MRS. HUNT: I’m a retired RN from Carle Hospital.
BROOKE: How long have you been doing it?
MRS. HUNT: I was a nurse for 29 years at Carle Hospital. I did raise my
family mainly before I started working so I was at home most of the time
with my children.
BROOKE: Where were you born?
MRS. HUNT: I was born in Tennessee.
BROOKE: When were you – wait excuse me. Where did you grow up?
MRS. HUNT: I grew up in Tennessee – in Carroll County Tennessee.
BROOKE: What part of – wait – was your neighborhood predominantly black or
white?
MRS. HUNT: Predominantly black.
BROOKE: How did people relate to one another?
MRS. HUNT: What do you mean? In the south or north or what?
BROOKE: Wherever you lived.
MRS. HUNT: In the south mainly we related fine to each other because we knew
where we stood and in the north we related ok but you didn’t really know
where you stood. You thought that maybe you know, you had a few more
privileges than you did in the south but you kinda knew where you stood.
BROOKE: Ok. Which schools did you go to in grade school, junior high, high
school and college?
MRS. HUNT: Did I go to?
BROOKE: Mhm.
MRS. HUNT: I went to school in Tennessee in an all black grade school, which
was Clay School in Trezevant, Tennesseee and then I later went to Dombar(?)
School in Macklimoorseville(?), Tenneseee. I was bussed to high school in
McKenzie, Tennessee which was <inaudible> high school. We was bussed – we
was bussed all the way past the white schools to a all black high school in
McKenzie, Tennessee.
BROOKE: Do you have brothers and sisters and did they go to the same school
as you?
MRS. HUNT: No, they didn’t go to the same schools as me. I didn’t grow up
with my brothers and sisters. They’re mainly a lot younger than me.
BROOKE: Which of your schools were segregated and which were integrated?
MRS. HUNT: None of my schools was ever integrated. All of my schools were
segregated.
BROOKE: Did that bother – excuse me – did that bother you any?
MRS. HUNT: No it really didn’t bother me. The only thing that bothered me
was that the whites got to ride the big yellow school bus and I had to walk
to school. They passed by us on the school bus and we was walking so that’s
what bothered me. If we had a bus then that would have been fine. And when I
went to high school we had to get on the bus at – well it wasn’t even
daylight. If you had a determination to go to school that’s what you had to
do. You had to get on the bus – it wasn’t even daylight – and then go to the
little town, transfer to another bus, and then go to school and when you got
back you got on the bus and then you didn’t get off again until night. So it
was sun up to sun down if you wanted to go to school and that’s what we had
to do. As a young person I was determined that I was going to school. So
that’s what I had to do so that’s what I did.
BROOKE: Ok. What was life like in Tennessee when you were going to school?
MRS. HUNT: Well I didn’t know any different at that time so I made life the
best that I could make it. So it was fine for me cause I didn’t have
problems with too many people. I just took life as it was and just rolled
with the flow.
BROOKE: Ok lets move on to your own children. How many do you have.
MRS. HUNT: I have four children.
BROOKE: And what are their names?
MRS. HUNT: My oldest son is Ricky Hunt. Then I have Cynthia Hunt, Tony -
Anthony Hunt and then Angela Hunt-LaFlor.
BROOKE: Where do they live now?
MRS. HUNT: Angela is in Whittier, California and she and her husband has a
business. And Cynthia is in Northville Michigan. Tony – Anthony Hunt is in
Michigan also – Detroit. And then Ricky Hunt lives in Urbana, Illinois.
BROOKE: What would you – excuse me – what would you like to tell me about
them?
MRS. HUNT: What would I like to tell you about them? Well, they went -
mainly what they did is they went to the Champaign schools for a while. They
went to Washington School and then they later transferred – Tony – Anthony
Hunt went to – he was transferred from Washington school to Columbia school.
That was before they integr – fully integrated the school. And after they
integrated the schools they went to Garden Hills schools, which one of my
sons had quite a bit of trouble at Garden Hills schools and he was
transferred to Dr. Howard schools. But the teacher Mrs. Black at Dr. Howard
school could not understand why he had a problem cause she didn’t have no
problem with him at all. So anyway we later moved to Urbana so they went to
Prairie School and then they went to Brookens Jr. High and onto Urbana High
School. That’s where they graduated from – Urbana High School.
BROOKE: Thank you. I understand that you were bussed? How old were you when
they were bussed?
MRS. HUNT: When they were bused? How old was I?
BROOKE: Yeah.
MRS. HUNT: Oh I don’t really remember…probably in my late 30s or 40s.
BROOKE: Ok. What was it like for them and you for them to be bussed?
MRS. HUNT: I had no problem with them being bussed. The reason I had no
problem with them being bussed – I wanted my children to have the same
opportunities as any other child had. My child didn’t really have to sit in
the same classroom with the white child but I wanted them to have the same
material, the same books - not have outdated, worn out books, the same
books. I had no problems with the teachers at Washington School – they was
very good teachers – very good teachers but they was at a handicap because
they didn’t have the materials that they needed to work with. So they was at
a handicap but they cared about the children. They really cared and they was
very good teachers so I had no problem with that. They only thing I had a
problem with was that they did not have the same materials. They did not
have the same books, uh the same things to work with so that’s what I had a
problem with. I figured if they were sitting in the same classroom with
other children that they would have the same things that they had but a lot
of the teachers there just really did not care about the kids. They did not
want the black kids there. My older son that had the problem – he said “Well
mommy, they really don’t want us there.” And he said that he heard somebody
say - a teacher say they didn’t want them there. Now whether he did or not I
don’t know cause I was not there. I don’t know about that. But anyway I was
the kind of mom that was at the school at the time so when they did
integrate I was over at the school every day at lunchtime – every day. I was
taking care of my kids and everybody else’s kids that I knew. So that is
just – I’ve always gone to the schools and always taken an active interest
in what my children was doing in school.
BROOKE: How were – excuse me – why did it bother your son to be bussed to
Garden Hills?
MRS. HUNT: It didn’t really bother him to be bussed but it bothered him that
he was not – he felt like he was not wanted there.
BROOKE: Did that make you feel upset or anything?
MRS. HUNT: Well it upset me to a point but me knowing how people felt and
knowing the situation it didn’t really bother me that much because I was
going to move on.
BROOKE: How were the rest of your children treated that first day they got
off the bus?
MRS. HUNT: They was all treated about the same.
BROOKE: So there was no hatred with the white people against your children?
MRS. HUNT: Well there probably was but – there probably was but they didn’t
ever say anything about it. My youngest child – she was not bothered by it
at all in any way cause she made friends with anybody and everybody. And
then the two girls ran track all the time so if they’re athletic they’re
going to be accepted and plus they was athletic but plus they was also
academically – they excelled academically so they was going to be accepted
so they didn’t have as hard a time as some of the other children did.
BROOKE: Did they ride the bus with whites?
MRS. HUNT: No. It was all blacks that left from what we call the north end.
It was all blacks that was on the bus at that time.
BROOKE: Did you know why your children were bussed or did it just happen?
MRS. HUNT: They were bussed to integrate the schools because it was a bill
passed that all the schools had to be integrated at a certain time – by a
certain time. And that’s the only way they could segregate the schools
because it wasn’t enough blacks living in the other neighborhoods to
actually integrate the schools on an even kill.
BROOKE: Bussing caused a lot of problems back then. Do you remember this day
in 1967 when they showed you a newspaper article?
MRS. HUNT: When they showed me a newspaper article on what?
BROOKE: Um, how your children were bussed and what you had to say about it.
MRS. HUNT: Well not really cause I was always speaking up about something so
you never can tell what I said cause I was always speaking up about
something. Cause where my children was concerned I was concerned.
BROOKE: What did you mean when you said the bussing was not going well?
MRS. HUNT: I thought that it wasn’t going well because of the problems that
they had getting on the bus. It was kinda like a little turmoil. We would
have to go down to the bus stop and get them on the bus and that kinda thing
so…I really don’t remember the statement that I made. As I say, you never
can tell what I said cause I was always speaking up about something.
BROOKE: Yeah this was the newspaper article that involved you and your
children being bussed.
MRS. HUNT: Oh ok. Let’s see is that the highlighted part here.
BROOKE: Yes ma’am.
MRS. HUNT: Ok this might have been before they even – before all of them was
bussed. Because it might have been when the youngest boy was bussed to
Columbia and I did make a statement I think that was at Champaign Central
High – I think it was at Champaign Central High. I did make a statement
about that at that point but I don’t know exactly what I said cause I was a
little bit excited.
BROOKE: Ok. How did your experiences with desegregation in Tennessee affect
your life?
MRS. HUNT: Well it really didn’t affect my life too much because – you mean
desegregation in Tennessee?
BROOKE: Yes ma’am.
MRS. HUNT: I was not there when they desegregated in Tennessee. When I was
there it was all segregated. It wasn’t desegregated at all. None of the
schools was desegregated. Cause I was bussed to – I was bussed like about
almost 20 miles each way.
BROOKE: Were there any incidents with you and any other parents involving
your children being bussed?
MRS. HUNT: Uh no, no.
BROOKE: Ok. How did what happened in Tennessee affect the way you dealt with
bussing with regard to your own children?
MRS. HUNT: I had no problem with bussing because I was bussed so far to
school so I had no problem with bussing. Some of the people had a problem
with children being bussed out of the neighborhood due to – you know they
wanted them to go to school in their own neighborhood. But I had no problem
with bussing cause that is what I was used to. I knew nothing else but being
bussed in order to go to school.
BROOKE: Why did you say that some teachers at Garden Hills still resent
black children today?
MRS. HUNT: : I said it because of an incident that happened with a little
boy. I am a volunteer nurse for the Champaign schools right now. I go into
the schools now on a daily basis and a little boy that was transferred from
Garden Hills schools to West View(?) schools. They said “He’s going to be
your biggest nightmare,” but the little boy has not been a problem for them.
BROOKE: Do you recall any race riots when you were at school in Tennessee?
MRS. HUNT: No, no race riots. Not when I was in school in Tennessee. We had
no integration so nothing really happened there.
BROOKE: How about any race riots when your children were going to school in
Champaign?
MRS. HUNT: We had no race riots for the schools or anything – it really
wasn’t a race riot. We did have some incidents where we picketed a place
downtown but it really didn’t concern the schools, it was concerning a
department store that would not hire black people.
BROOKE: Were any of the people that you are working with today involved in
desegregation back then?
MRS. HUNT: That I’m working with today…
BROOKE: Yes ma’am.
MRS. HUNT: No, no most of the people that was involved in the integration
process back then has moved on to other places. I work with people like Vern
Barkstall, Mary Alexander, Mrs. Willy Campbell, Mrs. Blackwell, Dr.
Churchwell, Rev. Ofit(?) and people like that. John Lee Johnson and Roy
Williams – all of these people we work with but I’m not really working with
them today. The young ladies that I’m working with today in a lot of things
they was not – they was just little kids then themselves if they was even
born.
BROOKE: How did you feel about segregation?
MRS. HUNT: I wanted to be treated fairly and equally. I don’t have to live
next door to you but I want an opportunity to get anything that you can get.
I wanted that opportunity. I wanted an opportunity to go to school just like
everybody else and I wanted an opportunity to make the kind of money that
everybody else made. I didn’t want to be looked upon, as you know, just – I
wanted to be looked upon as a person, as a human being. Not as being black
or whatever but looked upon as a human being, looked upon as you know – I
can do what everybody else can do. If you can do it I can do it you know?
And that’s the way I feel about myself.
BROOKE: How do you think your children feel about segregation?
MRS. HUNT: My children…I don’t think they really had a problem with it now
because right now where both of my girls live they’re living in integrated
neighborhoods – they don’t – I mean, so I don’t think they really have that
much of a problem with it. They know that it is – is a – has been a problem
and is still a problem so but…they’re just able to deal with it.
BROOKE: Now what about your parents? Did they respond to any racial contact?
MRS. HUNT: My parents…well not really. My father just – he would just talk
about it to some extent and he didn’t really really really really respond to
it too much. He knew what was going on, what was happening but he didn’t let
it affect him that much.
BROOKE: If the schools were segregated did blacks have the same textbooks as
whites?
MRS. HUNT: No they didn’t, that’s what bothered me. They didn’t have the
same textbooks, they had the outdated textbooks, the torn up textbooks, the
pages out textbooks, all of that. That’s what bothered me. They did not have
the same textbooks, no.
BROOKE: So the textbooks that the blacks had didn’t have the true
information that the whites did?
MRS. HUNT: : They had the true information in it but it was a textbook that
the white people wore out and gave it to the blacks. It was transferred to
the black schools when they wore it out and got through with it they brought
it to the black schools.
BROOKE: And the whites got brand new ones?
MRS. HUNT: And they got brand new ones, right. That’s what bothered me.
BROOKE: Did your children have torn up – torn textbooks.
MRS. HUNT: Well, yes they did but it wasn’t quite as bad but it was bad…and
that’s what bothered me.
BROOKE: How did white teachers treat your children?
MRS. HUNT: Well I think most of them treated my children pretty good because
they knew that I was going to be at the schools, they knew that I was going
to know what was happening, what was going on…so if you want your children
treated fair you have to get involved. That’s the key. You have to get
involved and I stayed involved.
BROOKE: Ok. Did you have black or white teachers when you were in school?
MRS. HUNT: I had black teachers. All black.
BROOKE: And how were you treated by them?
MRS. HUNT: I was treated well.
BROOKE: Ok back to the textbooks…did the one textbooks interfere with their
knowledge like, did the whites get updated knowledge?
MRS. HUNT: I don’t know they probably did get updated knowledge but one
thing that happened when I was in school, like now we only get black history
in February but when I was in school we were taught black history. We was
taught that. So we got more of that then they get today. Yes I would say
that the whites got updated information before the black kids got it. I
would say that because their books was newer, their books was um – because
you have to move with the times because if the textbooks are updated then
your textbooks need to be updated also.
BROOKE: When your children were going to school in – were you allowed to go
to school with them and sit in the back of the classroom to see what was
going on?
MRS. HUNT: Oh yes - I don’t know if I was allowed to or not but I did.
BROOKE: Did that bother their teachers any?
MRS. HUNT: They didn’t act like it did, no. I went to school I – as I say I
went every day at lunch time when they was first being bussed and then I
would go and check on them in their classroom, I would go to the playground
and also I went to the PTA meetings…all of that.
BROOKE: Did the school put your children in particular classes vs. people of
a different race in other classes?
MRS. HUNT: I really don’t know if they did that or not but I know in high
school that you would need to check and see what class your child was
taking, if they was going to get in college because they did steer them to
classes that would not get them in college. So they steered them to those
classes but you had to be on top of it and know what was goin on. But we was
very lucky at Urbana High School because we had Ms. Jackie Matthews(?) and
Ms. Jackie stayed on top of it so we was very lucky there but also you know
I knew – I kept up on what classes they needed to get into college.
BROOKE: Did you or your children feel discriminated against between anything
that happened while they were going to school?
MRS. HUNT: Well to some extent one of my sons did but then we got it
straight so it was fine.
BROOKE: Did your children have any racial conflicts in school?
MRS. HUNT: No they really didn’t.
BROOKE: Did you when you were going to school?
MRS. HUNT: I didn’t have any racial conflicts so there wasn’t anybody to
conflict with cause we were all black.
BROOKE: How did parents of children from other races treat you?
MRS. HUNT: Treat me in school you mean? <Yes.> Oh I had no problem with that
because I didn’t really go to school with any white people at all.
BROOKE: Did your children?
MRS. HUNT: Yeah my children went to school with white children.
BROOKE: Did their parents have any racial…
MRS. HUNT: Well I had once incident where one of the children – it happened
but then I didn’t pay any more attention to it. But I did have one incident.
BROOKE: Ok. If you can could you tell me a story about it?
MRS. HUNT: Yes. What happened is one of the – it was my daughter – it was
Cindy. The girl was in the class with Cindy I guess so she went home and
told her mom that Cindy cursed the teacher. So then the lady – I was talking
to the lady on the phone so the lady was telling me about “Cindy – she
cursed that teacher and…” so I immediately got on the phone to call the
teacher to find out “Why didn’t you call me and tell me about this
incident?” “Mrs. Hund I didn’t call you cause I don’t know anything about
what you’re talking about. Cindy did not curse me or curse in front of me so
I don’t know what you’re talking about so I couldn’t call you about
something I don’t know about.” So that happened – I don’t know why the girl
would just go home and lie but that’s what happened.
BROOKE: Ok. How did desegregation affect your neighborhood?
MRS. HUNT: It didn’t really affect my neighborhood. I moved to a different
neighborhood so…I moved kinda into an all white neighborhood…mainly all
white people, mostly. But I had no problems with them cause I you know,
stayed to myself and they stayed to theirself. I had a few friends but not
that many.
BROOKE: What role did the church play in your life and in your childrens’
life?
MRS. HUNT: The church played a great part in my life and in my childrens’
life cause we went to church all the time and I still go to church all the
time – very active in church and to a lot of organizations into my church –
a great part.
BROOKE: If you don’t mind me asking, are you and your children Christians?
MRS. HUNT: Yes we are.
BROOKE: Are there other people we should talk to about their experiences?
MRS. HUNT: Let me see I need to try to think…right off hand I cant really
think of anyone unless you would talk to Mrs. Evelyn Underwood – now she was
a person that we were active together in a lot of the struggles so Mrs.
Underwood…and so she could probably put you onto a lot of things. It was a
lot of things that at that time it was jobs, it was all of this stuff so…it
was people being able to be admitted to colleges – certain colleges cause as
we know the University of Illinois was not admitting that many blacks at
that time.
BROOKE: Ok…um lets see…how did you feel about this interview?
MRS. HUNT: Oh I feel good about it. I have no problems with it.
BROOKE: To back up like, a question…do you still see Ms. Evelyn Underwood?
MRS. HUNT: Yes I do. I see her quite a bit.
BROOKE: Do you have any ways to contact her?
MRS. HUNT: Yes. Yes I just seen Mrs. Underwood at the Martin Luther King
celebration Friday night.
BROOKE: At Krannert?
MRS. HUNT: Mhm.
BROOKE: I was there. Ok last question: how do you ever feel – did you feel
that any of the questions I asked you was too hard?
MRS. HUNT: No.
BROOKE: Ok. Thank you for allowing me to interview you and for giving me
your time.
MRS. HUNT: You’re so welcome.
BROOKE: Alright, we’re done. Ok. What trouble did your son have at Garden
Hills?
MRS. HUNT: What happened at Garden Hills with my son is one day he was not
singing so they sent him to the office for that. So they made a real big
thing outta him not singing. So I went to the school and we talked about and
he said well the reason why he wasn’t singing was because he didn’t know the
song, which was reasonable. The other trouble he had is – one of the
teachers – the youngest son – she grabbed him in the collar and shook him
and threw him in the chair. And so then Ricky kinda pushed her because she
threw Tony in the chair. So Ricky said “Well Mommy, he really was being bad,
he really was being bad but she didn’t have to do him like she did him and
that’s why I did what I did.”
BROOKE: So did that problem just happen that day or did happen-
MRS. HUNT: It happened that day but then after that day every little thing
just got to be such a problem. Everything got to be a problem. It was a big
thing made out of everything so I figured that they just had it in for him
and so I talked to Mr. Straton at that time I talked to him he was working
out of the Melon building so I talked to him and told him that I really
wanted him transferred out of that school because it was never going to be
any peace. Once he was transferred out of that school he did fine – no other
problems at all in school.
BROOKE: So that was the only problem that he had?
MRS. HUNT: Mhm.
BROOKE: Ok. How do you know the teachers at Washington cared and if you do
know can you please tell me a story?
MRS. HUNT: Because I knew that they cared cause you could tell by the way
they acted, you could tell by the things they said, by the things they
did…you could tell that they cared you didn’t have – they didn’t have to
tell you they cared but you could just tell that they cared. At that time
Mrs. Wesly(?) was the principal at the school and we have a lot of the
teachers that I still know today was teachin at that school at that
particular time – Helstein Session(?) was one of those teachers that was
still – that was teachin at that school and Ms. Cecilia Jones was teachin at
that school so a lot of the teachers that I still know was teachin there.
BROOKE: Was there open hatred when the schools were desegregated?
MRS. HUNT: Yes. I think some of the children had – some of the children had
been taught to hate. They had been taught to hate. It wasn’t anything that
they knew themselves but they was taught to hate. We had a group that was
called – we had a group that we called the fireside group and it was a group
of interracial people that met together in someone’s home and we actually
talked to each other to try to iron out our problems, to see what we thought
about this, this, this and that – it was not only white but it was Asian, it
was Mexicans it was all kind of people that we met together. And one of the
girls told us in the session – she was a U of I student – that her mom had
taught her, “Don’t look at those blacks, they’ll cut you up. Don’t look at
them, they’ll cut you up,” so that’s what the girl grew up thinking. So a
lot of prejudice – a lot of hatred had been taught to these kids and that’s
why they hated - cause they didn’t know.
BROOKE: Does the girl still think that today?
MRS. HUNT: She – I think she had gotten out of it but this has been years
ago and because – she would meet with our group so I think that maybe she
got out of that because she said that that’s what she had been taught.
BROOKE: Ok. The newspaper here says that “Black Folks Were Booed and Jeered
at the School Board Meeting,” can you tell me a story about that?
MRS. HUNT: Oh yes. I remember that – I remember that night very well because
they thought that we really shouldn’t speak up and say anything. At that
point I don’t think – I mean now I would be used to speaking in front of a
crowd but at that point I wasn’t really used to speaking in front of a crowd
but I did get up and say what I had to say. I did go to the mic so that they
could hear me say what I had to say. So yes they did do that and that was at
Central High School because we didn’t have Centennial at that time.
BROOKE: Did anyone besides you step up and say anything?
MRS. HUNT: Yes, Rev. Offord(?) talked, Dr. Churchwell talked…it was several
people I can’t remember everybody now.
BROOKE: Ok. What are the problems in schools today? Are we fully integrated?
MRS. HUNT: Well…not fully, not fully. We still have a lot of problems in
school today; we have a long way to go. And we have a lady in Urbana that’s
really trying to work on that and that is Mrs. Janice Mitchell.
BROOKE: That’s my dance teacher.
MRS. HUNT: And then her and then Ms. Cheranda(?) Williams. They are working
hard and its more ladies that work with them and I’m also one of the people
that works with them in an advisory capacity.
BROOKE: Ok. Were things written in textbooks that destracted blacks?
MRS. HUNT: That distracted blacks? What do you mean by distracted blacks?
BROOKE: Like graffiti or like, stuff that white people may have written in
them before?
MRS. HUNT: : Well to some extent probably because there was remarks made
concerning blacks being from the ape family and monkeys and a lot of that
kind of stuff and then a lot of people said the n word and that kind of
thing so it was a lot of things being discussed and like, in the south like
a black man couldn’t even look at a white woman. They couldn’t even look at
them so they had to look down at the ground or something like that. So and –
it was just a lot of stuff being done to blacks that really has never been
written.
BROOKE: Do you know any stories from when a black person looked at a white
person?
MRS. HUNT: : The only you know real one that I really know about and can
relate about is the Emmet Till story. And that, you know, we know about
that.
BROOKE: Ok. Was black history taught at black schools?
MRS. HUNT: Yes it was. Mhm.
BROOKE: Was it taught to white schools as well?
MRS. HUNT: No. I doubt that.
BROOKE: Why do you think that black history wasn’t taught at the white
schools?
MRS. HUNT: Because that would have been against everything that they
believed because they didn’t really believe that blacks should be given
credit for doing anything and a lot of the things that blacks actually did –
white people got credit for it.
BROOKE: Do you think that all blacks feel this way?
MRS. HUNT: Well if they want to be true to themselves they do.
BROOKE: Ok last question: Did your children go to college or did some of
them not go to college?
MRS. HUNT: Two of them went to college and two didn’t.
BROOKE: Did that bother you any?
MRS. HUNT: Yeah I wanted all of them to go to college but they chose not to
go. They could have gone but they chose not to. They had the opportunity.
BROOKE: So all of your children have a good life today even though they
didn’t go to college?
MRS. HUNT: Yes, mhm.
BROOKE: Ok thank you…and that’s it.
MRS. HUNT: Thank you.
KIMBERLIE: (Project CO-Director) I was thinking you had said that you had
not at that time weren’t – didn’t – this was one of the first times you
spoke in public and there was a lot of booing and I know there was a lot of
hatred because of the ignorance and
MRS. HUNT: Right.> some of it was taught so, I wonder if you could describe
a little more detailed to Brooke just what it was like - what it took – what
it took for black parents to make sure their children had the same
opportunities as white folks.
BROOKE: Ok you can answer her question if youd like.
MRS. HUNT: : Ok it took – you gonna ask the question?
BROOKE: Ok excuse me. Did it take a lot of bravery to go up there and say
something after all the blacks being booed and jeered off the stage? Can you
tell me if so can you tell me a story please?
MRS. HUNT: Yes it took a lot of courage, especially after a person like Dr.
Churchwell spoke and Dr. Churchwell was a professor at the university at
that time and so after he spoke and I’m saying “Well what can I say?” but
anyway, something that was said struck a nerve and when it comes to my
children I could get some courage from some place so it did take a lot of
courage for most of us because the place was full – it was completely packed
and it was a lot of white people in there. It was a lot more whites than it
was blacks so it did take a lot of courage for us that did speak up – speak
– although some of the ministers I guess it didn’t take as much courage for
them. But at that time I was young, I didn’t really know what to say but
somehow someway I think that actually God gave me the courage because I know
I couldn’t do it by myself so it had to be God. It had to be God. I know I’m
not supposed to be saying anything about God but it had to be God. It
couldn’t have been anything else but God and that’s where I got the courage
and that’s how I got the courage is through God.
BROOKE: Ok, one more question that I had: what did the blacks do after they
were booed off the stage?
MRS. HUNT: : We weren’t really booed off the stage. We stayed for the rest
of the meeting, we talked in the meeting and we let our voices be heard
whether they wanted to be heard or not – they wanted us to let them be heard
or not. We did let our voices be heard.
BROOKE: Thank you.
END
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