Post by Allen Wiener on Aug 21, 2010 13:28:46 GMT -5
Paul, I grew up in New Jersey and the situation was not very different. We had "defacto" segregation. One black child went to our elementary school and that was because her father forced the issue and insisted that she attend. I think the poor kid's life was hell. No one harassed her that I can recall, but she had no friends either and was totally isolated. Most blacks lived in one section of town and went to the school located there. Since the town had only one high school, everyone went to that, and it was the first time any of us had really interacted with black kids at all. Even there, there was a kind of self-imposed segregation, both by blacks and whites. Nonetheless, our senior class elected a black guy as class president.
I don't recall anyone trying to impose restrictions on what radio stations we listened to, but few tuned into black stations and none of the local jukeboxes featured the black hits of the day; only the sanitized white cover versions (Pat Boone's "Ain't That a Shame" was a big hit, played over and over; it was ages before I heard Fats's original and I was so clueless I thought THAT was a cover of Boone's recording!).
The mid-60s in Tennessee was another story; odd in its way. Segregation there was no "defacto," obviously, yet there was exposure to some black culture. "Night Train" was a very popular weekly TV show out of Nashville, hosted by Noble Blackwell, featuring such artists ad the ever-popular Ironingboard Sam, who played a keyboard that was altered to look like an ironing board. The show was a blast; ran Saturday nights and everyone watched it.
Allen
I don't recall anyone trying to impose restrictions on what radio stations we listened to, but few tuned into black stations and none of the local jukeboxes featured the black hits of the day; only the sanitized white cover versions (Pat Boone's "Ain't That a Shame" was a big hit, played over and over; it was ages before I heard Fats's original and I was so clueless I thought THAT was a cover of Boone's recording!).
The mid-60s in Tennessee was another story; odd in its way. Segregation there was no "defacto," obviously, yet there was exposure to some black culture. "Night Train" was a very popular weekly TV show out of Nashville, hosted by Noble Blackwell, featuring such artists ad the ever-popular Ironingboard Sam, who played a keyboard that was altered to look like an ironing board. The show was a blast; ran Saturday nights and everyone watched it.
Allen