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Archiver > SW_VA > 2000-08 > 0966027300


From: "Robert Crabtree" <>
Subject: RE: Walter A.Plecker
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 13:55:00 -0700
In-Reply-To: <aa.917e241.26c59623@aol.com>


I think the biggest problem that "people of color" or "any other ethnic
group" just weren't accepted next door and life would have been too
miserable for these folks to own property or to live in an area where they
were mistreated by the general population. The law was one thing. The
real world was something else. We all can remember the years of school
segregation, especially if you were raised in SW VA. In some pockets, it
still exists in spite of the law.
I saw "Colored Schools" while growing up but was blind to what I had seen.
When I was a Navy Recruiter in Newport News VA in the early 60's I had an
awakening when I visited Newport News High School a "Colored" school and
compared the applicant test scores with those from PA. There was a 15 to 20
point difference on the average. When I visited the school, I saw the
reason why. It's where the money went. They did not have the classrooms
and teacher's that adjoining white schools had.
I can remember some kids in my school that were not liked. Their families
were not liked. They were dark and came from certain locations on the
ridges. They were considered as "trash". They were of dark color and had
some of the common Melungeon names. I never gave it any thought at the
time. When I saw Brent Kennedy's presentation on the Travel Channel's
"Appalachian Stories", it opened my eyes to a lot of things that had been
swept under the rug for so long.
In other words, the laws had been in effect but in real life, not enforced.
Attitudes, made the difference.
Robert Crabtree

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