In the summer of 1965 I was teaching in a summer program at Miles College in Birmingham, AL. This was just two years after Joan Baez released her second album featuring a recording made in the Miles College auditorium (with audience participation) of Joan singing "We Shall Overcome."
MAY 5, 1963 -- More than a month after the start of the Birmingham Campaign, the city marked its 1,500th demonstration arrest. Folk singer Joan Baez performed at Miles College, briefly stopping her set after noticing a girl in the audience wearing a bandage. "I'm so sorry. I hope that doesn't hurt too bad," Baez told the girl. Baez recorded "We Shall Overcome" during the performance. A mass rally was held at New Pilgrim Baptist Church. The rally ended with march and protest at the park across the street from the Birmingham City Jail. -- Jeremy Gray (jgray@al.com)
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| My class at Miles College in Upward Bound Program (Summer 1965) |
That virtually all black campus community was one of the most open and loving communities I've ever been a part of. Never once during that summer did I feel out of place or unaccepted. Following a bizarre arrest and jailing that I experienced one day in the suburb of Midfield (described below), I returned to class and shared the incident with my classroom full of students. They laughed hilariously to hear their (white) teacher recounting an incident similar to what they experienced routinely. I never saw these students exhibit anger.
But two trips to local movie theaters illustrate the uncertainties of moving about off campus.
A small group including Dave Schweickart, Patsy Schweickart, and me (Dave being white, and Patsy being Filipino) along with Connie Parsons (middle-aged black year round teacher at Miles College) decided to go see the movie "The Sound of Music" which was playing in an affluent neighborhood in Birmingham. As we were entering the theater, the manager of the theater appeared with a warm smile and said, "Welcome to the theater, hope you enjoy the movie." We did enjoy the movie. It was a low key, uneventful evening.
On another occasion that same summer, pretty much the same group of folks decided to go to see "Cat Ballou" which was playing in the suburb of Fairfield. While we were purchasing our tickets, the manager emerged and said, "If you go into that theater, I can't guarantee your safety." We sort of looked at each other and decided everything looked perfectly calm, so we finished our purchase of tickets, went into the theater, and found seats near the center. Shortly thereafter, ushers with flashlights started moving up and down the aisles whispering to the folks near the aisles, "There's a nigger in here." (The whispering was loud enough we heard it clearly from the center of the crowd, so they were in effect announcing the presence of "a nigger" to the entire movie audience.) Immediately the audience began rustling about as everyone looked for a black intruder in their midst. Rather soon one of the flashlight beams fell on Patsy, and someone blurted out, "Naw, it's not a nigger. It's a China woman." So everybody sort of settled back down to watch the movie. No further threats, but we beat a hasty escape when the movie ended.
Two movies at two different locations, but same city, same summer, same Gov. Wallace. But worlds apart.
The best education about racism to be had that summer took place as an incident that took place in the Birmingham suburb of Midfield. The best recounting of the incident is in the form of an audio recording I made 11 years ago to ensure that this story doesn't disappear as my memory fades. This story begins with the incident I recounted to my students at Miles College on July 19, 1965. The 18-minute story ends with my trial for the crime of driving in Alabama, and some afterthoughts and conclusions.
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| Receipt for bond money paid to get out of jail |
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| Return of cash bond following acquital |
