Tiera Campbell: Background information. Can you state your full
name?
Kathleen Slates: Kathleen Slates
Tiera Campbell: what do you do for a living?
Kathleen Slates: secretary for the city of Champaign
neighborhood services department.
Tiera Campbell: how long have you been doing it?
Kathleen Slates: been there for four years
Tiera Campbell: is it what you wanted to do with your career?
Kathleen Slates: actually I was on that track from high school.
At the time that I graduated there wasn't much money for college
and there weren't very many scholarships that were available for
minority students at that time. most of the people that I
graduated with were preparing themselves for work, and so when I
was in high school I took short hand and typing, office machines
everything that would prepare me for that type of work and
everything on that path ever since.
Tiera Campbell: how did your education help prepare you what you
do for a living?
Kathleen Slates: that's how it prepared me is just taking
everything that I could take at that time level to prepare me
and taking some additional courses that were available at
Parkland College and several different directions. I've worked
at the University as a secretary there, at Burnham Hospital when
that was open. So there's just been a variety of different kinds
of office work. So you learn as you go.
Tiera Campbell: how long as you lived in Champaign Urbana?
Kathleen Slates: I was born in Urbana.
Tiera Campbell: what year were you born?
Kathleen Slates: 1940
Tiera Campbell: Did you live in a mixed or segregated
neighborhood or did you choose where you lived?
Kathleen Slates: I lived, in a segregated area, northeast
Champaign at that time was predominately black, probably 95% of
the blacks that lived in this area lived in that area. There
were a few people that were west of the Illinois central
railroad tracks. And I think a couple of families that might
have been south of University Avenue, but for the most part the
majority of African-American people lived in that area. We were
bound on the west by the Illinois Central railroad tracks by the
south by University Avenue, and on the east 6th Street so it was
a small community.
Tiera Campbell: did you attend church while growing up.
Kathleen Slates: Yyes I actually grew up, my family was a member
of Salem Baptist church. And that's where I was baptized. I grew
up in that church attending Sunday school as a youngster and
then as an adult, attended there when I had small children kind
of got away from going every Sunday because they were so
disruptive, so probably attended there pretty regularly 'til the
early 70s.
Tiera Campbell: what was the church saying about racism and
prejudice?
Kathleen Slates: not a whole lot as I was growing up there. A
lot of people took it for granted, of course it was an all black
church and there wasn't a whole lot of discussion or a whole lot
of political direction in black churches at that time. You just
kind of knew your place and people just didn't rock the boat a
whole lot. Then the Martin Luther King movement started in the
south. And we kind of jumped on the bandwagon at that point. The
JC Penney store locally was located in downtown Champaign. And
although there were a lot of other department stores down there,
most of them had one African American working there. Now, don't
get me wrong, it was not a glamorous position by any means, they
were operating elevators running vacuum cleaners and that kind
of thing, but at least they had some on the payroll. JC Penney
had none. So, the very first church organized political movement
that I remember was a boycott of JC Penney in downtown Champaign.
We actually marched and picketed that store.
Tiera Campbell: which schools did you go to and were they
integrated or segregated?
Kathleen Slates: my early years, elementary school were
segregated schools and that was not because if was locally
mandated segregation it was because housing was segregated and
we attended local schools. I lived on east Vine Street between
Fifth and Fourth and the school I attended was one block north on
the corner of Grove and Fifth. And very easily within walking
distance, so we all attended local schools. Because the
neighborhood was predominately black, the schools were too.
Tiera Campbell: we're going to be moving on to questions about
school experiences now. What kinds of grades did you get when
you went to an all black school?
Kathleen Slates: for the most part, very good grades, I mean, in
all black schools we knew the teachers, teachers knew the
parents, parents communicated on a regular basis with teachers,
if you didn't get good grades they wanted to know why. We were
nurtured a good deal. The teachers cared, they communicated on a
regular basis with parents and it just made you feel ashamed if
you didn't get good grades. We had a lot of pride about what
happened at that time. I remember crying when I got my first
"D".
Tiera Campbell: did your grades change when you went to an
integrated school?
Kathleen Slates: yes. Yes they did. Not drastically, I was used
to receiving A's and B's. and when I got to middle school which
was my first experience was caucasian teachers. It was more B's
and C's I remember receiving a D or two. Most math classes
because I was never really good at mathematics I think out of
more fear than anything else because I look now and think you
can do that.. . was a problem. Yes it was a culture shock, and the
nurturing that we had been used to in elementary school was not
there.
Tiera Campbell: why do you think that is?
Kathleen Slates: I just think classes were bigger, school
population was a lot bigger. At that time, there was only one
junior high school in the city of Champaign. Everybody at that
age was in that school. I think a lot of it was unfamiliarity
with African American culture in many cases. A lot of the
experiences we had were not positive ones. The nurturing wasn't
there because they really had too many people to try and teach
to care a whole lot about what happened to you. So if you didn't
get it on your own and all of the emphasis and the direction was
highlighted on the students who were A students. Most of those,
unfortunately were white.
Tiera Campbell: do you feel that you got a good education, why
or why not?
Kathleen Slates: I do feel I got a good education, yeah because
I had a strong family support system. Without that, I probably
would have been lost in the shuffle. There were some things that
I remember my school years that were not positive. One of them
was the decision by school administrators and senior class
officers to make our senior year trip to Miami Florida. Miami
Florida was segregated and so that automatically meant that
black students could not go because we couldn't stay in the
hotels, couldn't eat in the restaurants, couldn't go to the
beaches. That was a decision that was major. One other time an
experience I had was in junior high school. As a ninth grader I
participated in a what was considered to be an elite vocal
group, called vocalettes. It was for freshmen. There had never
been black students in vocalettes until our class got there. And
the volcaette instructor chose myself and two other black
students to join that group because I guess of hearing us in
other choirs. They took a trip that was to I believe Atlanta
Georgia, I can't remember now. I got sick and couldn't go, but
the other two girls did go. They had some terrible experiences.
They were not allowed to enter the hotel through the front door.
They were not allowed to eat at the same restaurant as the other
the rest of the people, they had to take their food around
through the back. They had some definite bad experiences that.
Tiera Campbell: which schools were life changing or life
altering?
Kathleen Slates: pretty much, just going to school with people
who lived in the same area I mean we took public transportation
everyday. So we rode the bus together everyday and we went to
school together everyday we came home from school together
everyday and just having a support system of friends and
neighbors and to go to school with and that's what made it
tolerable.
Tiera Campbell: were there classes where you felt discriminated
against in your school, on the bus in the class room were you
allowed to take...etc.
Kathleen Slates: give me that again.
Tiera Campbell: were there classes you felt discriminated
against in your school on the bus in the class room by teachers?
By what classes you were allowed to take?
Kathleen Slates: not no. not really not directly. Just those
experiences that I spoke about earlier. There were some
counseling issues, let me say that. In that we were sort of
directed at that time, and it probably was suggestive of the
times then a segregation/integration issue, or prejudicing
issue. They were telling us to take home economics and the
sewing classes the cooking classes the child development
classes. And again, I think that was more of a sign of the
times. At that point people got married a lot earlier.. I'll
tell you three or four of my girlfriends upon graduation were
engaged all ready and got married the summer after graduation. I
mean that was just kind of the way things were. I don't believe
I ever felt that an individual teacher for whatever reason
discriminated against me because I was African American. That
experience I don't think I had. I think it was more the entire,
the collective decisions that were made collectively is kind of
overlook the fact that we were there.
Tiera Campbell: I'm going to have you get to some stories now.
Were there ways in which you were treated differently from the
other students in your school.
Kathleen Slates: oh, probably. We all took it for granted we
knew who we were, we knew what was expected. We didn't think a
whole lot about it. I'm sure there must have been issues and
times when probably we were but I don't think we realized it a
whole lot. We were more cognizant with competing with Caucasian
students in the way that we spoke and the was that we dressed,
the way we carried ourselves because that was hammered home by
parents and supporters that lived in the community. I don't
think that we paid a whole lot of attention to whether things
were black or white issues. We probably took for granted. I mean
we were pretty happy go lucky kids.
Tiera Campbell: were there things that happened to you in school
that shaped how you viewed other people of different races?
Kathleen Slates: we didn't have a whole lot of diversity in our
schools at that time. there might have been a few Asian people
in school at that time, but there was not a whole lot of
diversity. There were pretty much black or white. There might
have been probably less than 10 in the entire school of
categories that you would say were other.
Tiera Campbell: what school experiences shape your
interpretation of segregation and integration?
Kathleen Slates: I'm not sure that any school experience did
that. I think I became more aware... now please understand that
being born and reared here in Urbana sheltered me from a lot of
experiences that a lot of other African Americans had endured
that were reared in the south. We jus did not have the
experiences here that some of them had when they were growing up
in the south. So, I really don't think that it was a school
experience that taught me anything. I think I became more
cognizant of anything watching television during the civil
rights movement that took place in the south with Dr. King and
all of the marches and the jailing and the dogs and fire hoses,
and all of that. It was horrible to watch.
Tiera Campbell: this next question is about which schools she
had these experiences in but she never had these experiences....
How did you get to school by bus or car or walking. What was
that experience and was it typical?
Kathleen Slates: yes it was typical. We took public
transportation. Bus service... school sponsored bus service was
only provided to students who lived in the rural community.
Again, there was only one high school. In Champaign and you got
there either by public transportation or by parents dropping you
off. Well in the black community we had very few cars. So the
majority of us took public transportation on a daily basis. And
when the weather was good we walked. I mean the majority of us
lived north of University avenue, and so it was quite a walk.
Now I will, you probably didn't know this, and I should probably
tell you this. The Champaign junior high school was located
where central high school is now that's the same building that
was Champaign junior high. The Champaign high school was were
Edison is now. That was Champaign high school. So you can see
that a walk from our community to high school was quite a jaunt.
But we did it when the weather was nice. We just left earlier
and walked to school and really didn't think a whole lot of it.
Tiera Campbell: what did your teachers treat.. how did you your
teachers treat you?
Kathleen Slates: I think I had pretty good teachers. I mean the
teachers particularly at the high school level, when I was
taking the classes that were gearing me to go to work, the
teachers that I had wanted to see you excel. So I don't think I
had any bad experiences there. I remember when I got out of
school and applied for my first job, I used one of those
teachers as a reference. I don't think I had any real feelings
about not getting what I needed from teachers.
Tiera Campbell: how did your classmates treat you?
Kathleen Slates: oh.. that's a whole another story. The people
you were friends with treated you fine. But there were those
that there was a lot of peer differences.. ok? And you just had
to fight your battles. That's not something that just started
when you got to high school either... you had to fight your
battles all the way through school. So you learned that at an
early age to defend yourself.
Tiera Campbell: did you have white friends as well as black
friends?
Kathleen Slates: once we got to school yes we did... once we got
to high school. More in high school than in junior high school.
In junior high school you're pretty still pretty shy and you
tend to stay with those you now a whole lot more and once you
get to high school you are a little more outgoing and a little
more adventurous. People who you are taking classes with and
sitting next to on a daily basis you get to know pretty well. So
yes when I got to high school I did have some white friends that
not any that I visited on a regular basis or that visited me but
when we were at school we were cool.
Tiera Campbell: did you pay any sports if so which ones if not
why not?
Kathleen Slates: not in school they weren't offered. At the time
that we went to school girls sports just weren't there. There
was no girls basketball I think about the only thing that was
open to girls at that time was track. And so, the sports that I
participated in were neighborhood sports. And it was at Douglas
Center.
Tiera Campbell: do you have any favorite memories and most
difficult memories about when you played sports?
Kathleen Slates: no because playing sports at Douglass center
was playing with friends and with people I rubbed shoulders with
everyday. I mean there were neighborhood people. We had softball
teams that we played all summer long. We had basketball teams...
girl basketball games they were sports where we played
communities like Danville and Decatur, and so we got to know
girls from there. It was very competitive... so don't get me
wrong. So we didn't like each other very much. Even down to
playing at Douglas center the kids that went to Urbana high
school had one at that time, the kids went to Champaign went to
Champaign school fought... so when there was a Champaign/Urbana
school fought. It was just that was just the way it was... I'm
sorry but see us on another night, when we went there for little
sock hops and dances community dances.. we were friends again...
but on Champaign Urbana nights are nights where our team played
at the Douglas center and we fought... that's just the way it
was.
Tiera Campbell: what kind of clubs were you in... where there
white and black kids in the clubs and did you get along... if
your club was racially mixed and why do you think that was?
Kathleen Slates: um, everything was open to everybody,
particularly in high school. There were no clubs at that time
that were exclusive to one population or another. The clubs that
I belonged to at one point was geared to being a journalist. I
was with the journalism club for awhile. I was with the office
careers club and every vocal club there was because I liked to
sing.
Tiera Campbell: ok we are going to go into some questions about
family towards education. What did your parents talk to you
about when you were going to school were there expectations for
you did they help you achieve in school?
Kathleen Slates: absolutely. You were taught that grades below a
certain level were just not acceptable. Almost to the point were
you felt really bad or ashamed when you got poor grades. They
expected you to perform on a certain level certain parents
expect that but your schools your school administrators... and
now I'm going back to elementary school you know with that but,
you were just expected to perform and achieve at a certain
level... and it wasn't acceptable not to. This was during a time
during a time when in my case I lived the majority of my young
life with my grandmother. My mother lived in a different
community. My grandmother had an eighth grade education. Her
sister had a sixth grade education. These were people who didn't
have an opportunity to go to school. And so, their feeling was
you have this opportunity, you take advantage of it. And you're
there to achieve.. that's what we expect you to do. It was
unacceptable for anything less.
Tiera Campbell: did your experiences in any way put up road
blocks to your goals/
Kathleen Slates: no, not at all. I can honestly say I don't feel
that at any point during my education in this community that
there were any road blocks that kept me from doing what I wanted
to do. The only thing that kept me from what I really want to do
was the finances.. they were just not available.
Tiera Campbell: what people helped shape the person you are.
Kathleen Slates: my family. My family. My grandmother my aunt my
mother. Please understand you don't hear me naming any men.
Cause I was raised in a house full of women. My husband and I
were discussing that this morning because my children were never
grew up with out their father there. I was just the opposite...
there was never their father without. But I grew up with some
strong female family members... they were very instrumental in
the guidance in their growth and development. I had my first
child when I was still in high school. But it was never a
question of whether or not I would finish high school... that
was just a given. They did everything they possibly could to be
certain that I went back to school and that I went back to
school the same way I had done before.. I didn't have to go to
night school I didn't have to go to a different school. I went
right back to the same situation I was in prior to. I 'm happy
to report to you that my son is very grown now, he's in his
forties. He's very successful...he's finished college. He's
raising a family in Oklahoma city. But he had to back door his
education as well. But it suited him for what he's doing now.
Tiera Campbell: what were their expectations around school.
Kathleen Slates: again.. they just didn't play. If you didn't
achieve a certain grade average.. you were probably going to be
grounded for the rest of the semester... and you knew that from
the get go. Of course were kids we wanted to go out Friday and
Saturday night...we wanted to do school activities, or at
Douglas center... or at other places. If you didn't achieve
those grades you didn't go. If you didn't go to church on
Sunday... you didn't go. That's how we grew up. There were just
certain values in place that you didn't question.
Tiera Campbell: what was your attitude toward learning and where
do you think you got this perspective.
Kathleen Slates: I was always an enthusiastic student and I
liked to learn. I was always very timid when I hit road blocks
at learning process where either I didn't understand something I
felt like something was difficult that challenged e a whole lot.
But I was always pushed to get over that hump. I guess some of
that started out when I was a young child. I was read to at a
young child. Before I went to bed at night I was read to every
night. Almost to the point where I memorized the stories that
they were read to me. I was introduced to the public library at
a very early age. I got my first library card when I was in
elementary school. So I learned to go get books and read books.
I think that started me out to be an achiever. And then students
that those of us who grew up in the fifties you hear people
refer to us... particularly African American people who grew up
in the fifties as over achievers because the one thing that we
wanted to do was to do well. We wanted to succeed. We wanted to
get jobs we wanted to make money we wanted to buy homes we
wanted to raise families. And to do well. The majority of us you
can count the people on one hand that went to school with that
didn't meet that challenge.
Tiera Campbell: What do you expect school could do for you what
did you expect school could do for you and what was your ability
to succeed in life.
Kathleen Slates: I think it you know you kind of prepare
yourself with the help of school counselors. But even more than
that you prepared yourself with the help of family. It was just
a combination of the two and the desire for success. It was
implanted as a young person and it stayed there. You wanted to
do well.
Tiera Campbell: what academic expectations did you have for
yourself.
Kathleen Slates: I wanted to do well because I was expected to
do well. I think when students don't have somebody behind them
that is pushing them to do well. They have a tendency to slack
off... that's like any other child or any other individual. If
you aren't expected to achieve, achievement is not important to
you. If you are expected to achieve you hate to see the
disappointment and the responses of those that expect you to do
well.
Tiera Campbell: ok we are moving on to some questions about your
experiences with racism civil rights...where there other times
when you expected racism in what ways.
Kathleen Slates: you know it was so subtle in this community.
Unlike communities in the south where it was legislated and
carried out to the letter of the law. In this community racism
was very subtle. I mean if you had asked me as a young person if
I had ever been discriminated against, I would have told you
know because I didn't realize that's what it was. When we went
to the movies we sat in a certain area but I though that was
because that's were all my friends were. That's where we wanted
to sit. I had no idea we couldn't sit anywhere else. So it was
subtleties like that that were in this community that your
parents didn't really explain or talk about. Because again they
were at that don't rock the boat keep your place kind of
acceptable because the civil rights movement had not started
yet. So there were experiences where there were racism . there
was segregation but I just didn't understand that.
Tiera Campbell: how were you treated about other racist teachers
in the neighborhood or community?
Kathleen Slates: My community was pretty much black. There were
a few white communities but left in north east Champaign at that
time but they lived a few blocks north... if you can imagine
this.. Eureka street north that's the street north of Douglas
center that street was predominately light. All of Beardsley
street was white and south of Bradley avenue was white. The
north of Bradley street now was cornfield. Where Birch village
now is was cornfield. They had sub-standardized housing at that
time. and again, this is the subtle of the segregation of what
was in this community. Everybody around me lived in
sub-standardized housing. So you took for granted that your
house was ok. I mean I took fro granted that I lived in a house
that was set right on the ground. It set on an alley. We had
rats, I don't mean mice... I mean rats. I didn't have any
brothers or sisters, but I grew up in a house with my aunt's
children. And they were bitten by rats. These were things
sub-standardized housing in north east Champaign was a given.
Nothing was done about it. Thank god we had a fire... and that
rat infested place and it burned down and none of us was hurt.
It allowed us to move us to a different house. Not one by any
means that was a whole lot better, but it was some better. The
biggest thing that ever happened as far as housing was concerned
and when I grew up was Birch village. That was the blessing of
all time. When we moved in Birch housing that was the first time
we had indoor plumbing. And running water that was the first
experience for us . we thought we were in heaven... we really
did. We thought it was a blessing to get in there. At that time
Birch village, they took it by a case-by-case basis. And the
people who had the most inferior housing was the first to move
in. We were the third family there. So that just goes to show
you what our situation was. That's what we took so much pride in
our place when we got there...because that was the first decent
place we were at. They planted grass, they planted flowers they
cut their grass. They had all kinds of activities for the
children... it was wonderful... and now to see where it has come
to now it hurts.
Tiera Campbell: how do your family and friends talk about
racism.
Kathleen Slates: We realize it's there. We realize it was not as
blatant as it was. We're thankful for where we are but we know
that we have a lot of work to do. I'm really upset with the
media right now with the job that they're doing I think they're
hindering a lot of progress racially because the images they are
putting out there for young people are horrible. There is not
enough emphasis on pride in the black community. These are all
things that has led us to the point where we are right now. And
I just think as an African American community at some point we
have to come together we have to involve parents, we have to
install pride in our youth and we have to get back to where we
were as far as achievement is concerned.
Tiera Campbell: do they talk about anyone any of the ongoing
civil rights battle to end segregation?
Kathleen Slates: you don't hear a lot of talk about it locally.
There are group after group after group locally that is trying
to take that challenge right now. A lot of it is being discussed
but there's also a lot of duplicate effort in this community
where I think they could probably do a better job if they
combine their efforts whether than having this little group over
here working on strengthening youth and this little group over
here working on strengthening youth. And I think those efforts
need to be combined and a better job being done.
Tiera Campbell: what did you know about the struggle to
integrate the schools that culminated in Brown v. Board?
Kathleen Slates: yeah again, not experiencing that locally but
being witness to it on television when Governor Fabus, I believe
the governor of Arkansas and the governor of Alabama, when they
blocked the doors of schools to keep black students from
entering. When they vowed that there would never be black
students attending those high schools. Just witnessing those
kinds of occasions and knowing that they existed. I wanted so
badly to go participate in some of the marches that were in the
south but we didn't have a car that would make it there. And we
didn't have a whole lot of money. But those experiences watching
it just killed you.
Tiera Campbell: at what point in your life did you first have
realization about brown v. board of education?
Kathleen Slates: again during Martin Luther King's marches and
watching those experiences that black students went through in
the south and watching them on television... that was the first
real realization because the media painted a picture of everyone
in the south being happy with their situations. Black students
were happy in black schools. Black folks that weren't allowed to
go to white rest rooms were happy in their own restrooms. Black
folks didn't want to eat with white folks. That's the picture
the media painted for you. It wasn't until you witnessed their
efforts toward integration that you realized that you were not
being told the truth and that people were very unhappy with
their situations and that they were determined to change things.
Tiera Campbell: were there other people around you talking about
issues surrounding Brown v. Board of education? Desegregation?
Kathleen Slates: oh I'm sure there must have been. At the time
that brown v board of education was passed I was a freshmen in
junior high. And that didn't mean a whole lot to me at that
time. now please understand this was not a time in history when
things like this were discussed in your high school or junior
high school classes. It just wasn't done. In our history books
we learned about George Washington carver. Booker T. Washington
and Eli Whitney. Aside from that you would have thought an
African American person had never done an earthly thing in his
life. Those were the only three people that they featured in our
history books, realizing now that you've had the opportunity now
to be exposed to African American history realizing now that
things were much different and contributing majorly to the
growth of this country, but you were not taught that at the
school level. So they did not discuss anything about Brown v.
Board for education in our schools and at that time churches
were not politically acclimated either. They just didn't do it.
Tiera Campbell: did any of your goals change in any way during
the time you were in school?
Kathleen Slates: No, no pretty much things were the same when I
left when I got there. The only difference is there were more
black students coming in than there were when we were there. The
population growth was happening. There were more people moving
north from the south, so the black community was getting larger,
but no no major changes.
Tiera Campbell: I want to know did you want to be a journalist?
Kathleen Slates: I did. I liked writing and at that time even
for the high school paper there was not such a thing as writing
about the stuff that you were most knowledgeable about because
most of that was the black community and there was no outlet for
that. You could write stories if they gave you an assignment and
told you to go out and investigate the things that were
happening there in the school. I think had I been allowed to
explore the things that I was interested in rather the things I
was writing about I think I would have taken a different view of
journalism. I left that particular focus and after that I really
wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to get into the medical
profession, but the finances were not available. There were no
scholarships available and if your family couldn't afford to
come up with that money, it just didn't happen. At that time,
nursing schools were affiliated with the hospitals. The hospital
that is now Covenant was called Mercy at that time and they had
Mercy school of nursing. Burnham hospital which is all boarded
up and sitting on the corner of fourth and Springfield has been
there forever. The city is now trying to get a contractor to
demolish it. But it was a thriving hospital at that time and a
school of nursing. But there weren't any African Americans for
the most part at either of those schools because the money
wasn't available.
Tiera Campbell: But were you still encouraged to pursue your
interests in both nursing or journalism?
Kathleen Slates: No. no there was no real encouragement to
because it involved money. Once you realized the money wasn't
there no there wasn't any encouragement.
Tiera Campbell: What age were you when you demonstrated against
outside of JC Pennies?
Kathleen Slates : that happened in the sixties, so probably I
was in my twenties.
Tiera Campbell: Did any of your teachers demonstrate with you?
Or did any family members demonstrate with you.
Kathleen Slates: Family members I don't remember, I think I had
a family member that demonstrated with me. And teachers, not
necessarily, but other Caucasians... yes. I mean there were
white people in the community that were right there with us.
Tiera Campbell: what kind of feeling did you get after you
demonstrated this?
Kathleen Slates: you felt very positive because you felt like
you contributed to a cause that was very necessary. Again, there
were a few department stores downtown Champaign the majority of
them had at least one African American. Most of them were
elevator operators, window washers, I think there might have
been one that had a sales clerk. And all of the African American
girls went there to buy their clothes. Really we did. We
supported that store for one thing, we were happy that she was
there and the other thing, she was awful good with helping us
coordinate our wardrobe. We were very happy about that. But JC
Penny was die hard at that time. We were determined to break it
down and we did.
Tiera Campbell: was fashion really important to you?
Kathleen Slates: Oh, wee. Girl you had to go to school looking
just so now please understand I went to school at a time when we
had slack day once a year. Never a blue jean.. never. We were
allowed to wear slacks one time per year. So your skirts and
your sweaters and your shoes and stuff had to be on. We had to
look the part.
Tiera Campbell: and I have a few questions about when you moved
away from your first house I'm guessing. What age were you when
you had indoor plumbing at Birch village.
Kathleen Slates: when we moved into Birch village I was 11. and
that was a mile stone really. That was a mile stone in my life.
To get to housing that was decent and to live in a community
with other blacks that valued where they lived. It took a lot of
pride in taking care of it.
Tiera Campbell: did your black friends have the same
circumstances.
Kathleen Slates: oh yeah, almost all of them. Yeah almost all of
them we were living in sub-standardizing housing, but now I want
to also talk about the fact that the sub-standardizing housing
that I talked about had the rats next door now we're talking
about a time in this community next door to me I had pigs and
chickens in the yard, ok so you were allowed to have farm
animals in town at that time. but I also on the positive side of
that within a quarter mile of where I lived, there were probably
12 black owned businesses. Which is something that you don't see
now. We could walk to restaurants grocery stores, barbershops,
beauty shops, night spots. They were all within a quarter mile
of where we lived.
Tiera Campbell: One more... was there a direct relation between
good housing and good education?
Kathleen Slates: no. no, even though you lived in
sub-standardized housing your family and your support system
expected you to achieve. There was never a time because the
majority of the time that the years prior to my eleventh year
when we moved into Birch village... no it was still not
acceptable not to come home without A's or B's. it didn't not
matter.
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