Journal of A Black African 1957 Entry 1
January 12th 1957
Journal Entry 1
Hello, this is my first journal entry. I suppose I should introduce myself; my name is Thelma Jean Mothershed-Wair, I am 17 years old and I was born on November 29, 1940, in Bloomberg, Texas. My parents are called Arlevis Leander Mothershed and Hosanna Claire Moore Mothershed. My father is a psychiatric aid at the Veterans Hospital, and my mother is a homemaker. I also have three sisters and two brothers. We all live together in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America in a little house in the predominantly Black side of town, as we are a Black family and are not integrated with the Whites that much. I believe it is unfair but what can I do about it? I currently go to Horace Mann High School but I want to go to Little Rock Central High School because the academic programme is much more advanced. I'm not allowed though, because it's a Whites school.
There is a term used a lot in present times; segregation. This is where a Black person and a White person are separated in everything; can't drink from the same water fountains, can't eat in the same diners, can't go to the same libraries. There is another term but only Blacks use it and I've never heard anyone actually say it. I've only read about it in books in school. The term is "discrimination" and it means that we are treated differently because we are Black/different. In 1955, there was a young Black boy in Mississippi -I can't remember his name- was killed viciously by two White men because he had showed some form of attraction towards a White woman. He had come down South from the North where talking to White women is completely acceptable and didn't know about the segregation in the South. This was also taken to court and the men were charged with murder but, because the jury was all-White and all-male, they were "acquitted", meaning "left free of charge". The men then went on to later show off and gloat about the murder of the boy and the lack of punishment
Journal Entry 1
Hello, this is my first journal entry. I suppose I should introduce myself; my name is Thelma Jean Mothershed-Wair, I am 17 years old and I was born on November 29, 1940, in Bloomberg, Texas. My parents are called Arlevis Leander Mothershed and Hosanna Claire Moore Mothershed. My father is a psychiatric aid at the Veterans Hospital, and my mother is a homemaker. I also have three sisters and two brothers. We all live together in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America in a little house in the predominantly Black side of town, as we are a Black family and are not integrated with the Whites that much. I believe it is unfair but what can I do about it? I currently go to Horace Mann High School but I want to go to Little Rock Central High School because the academic programme is much more advanced. I'm not allowed though, because it's a Whites school.
There is a term used a lot in present times; segregation. This is where a Black person and a White person are separated in everything; can't drink from the same water fountains, can't eat in the same diners, can't go to the same libraries. There is another term but only Blacks use it and I've never heard anyone actually say it. I've only read about it in books in school. The term is "discrimination" and it means that we are treated differently because we are Black/different. In 1955, there was a young Black boy in Mississippi -I can't remember his name- was killed viciously by two White men because he had showed some form of attraction towards a White woman. He had come down South from the North where talking to White women is completely acceptable and didn't know about the segregation in the South. This was also taken to court and the men were charged with murder but, because the jury was all-White and all-male, they were "acquitted", meaning "left free of charge". The men then went on to later show off and gloat about the murder of the boy and the lack of punishment