Integration

My parents were young parents with 4 children under the age of nine. My mother was 27 years old, and my father was 31 year old. We had just moved from Indiana, because my father got stationed at Warner Robins Air Force Base. We did not get base housing and moved to the projects in Macon. Otis Redding's parents lived behind us in the projects, and we would attend Vocation Bible School with Mr. Redding. We also played with Otis' children, but I always thought they were his brothers and sisters, because they were always at their grandparent's apartment.

I remember my mother asking us what school did we want to attend. I did not know...I was only 6. We walked to the school that was designated the Black School. En route, dogs barked and snarled at us as we walked by the yards. My mother took out her fingernail file. I don't know what she was going to do with that, I guess cut the dog if it attacked us. We finally made it to the school, and my mother did not like what she saw. She said we would be attending the White School.