Oral+History

__ Za’Novia McKinley__ __Interviewee: Betty Thompson Topic: The Civil Rights Movement__ __How old were you when the murder and trial of Emmett Till?__ Well I was 13 when he was murdered. Emmett was murdered the summer of 1955. August 29 1955. I remember that because my birthday is August 30th but it didn’t feel like my birthday because there was no attention on me the whole nation’s attention was on Emmett and his murder. Now I wasn’t thirteen by the trial, by then I had turned 14. I’m not sure if they even knew that he was dead on my birthday. All I know is that a lot of the attention was focused on him. And it was fine with me because we didn’t do very much for my birthday back then. Heck, I was worried about him too. I couldn’t have a good time on my own birthday. __How do you remember all of this?__ Honey, I remember a lot of things that happened back that time ago. We were fighting. Fightin’ for equality. FIghitn’ for something the government already said we had. I remember one time my mama sent me to the store with my little brother. We were walkin’ on the side of the road then all of a sudden a big rusty pick-up drove past us and yelled out “you Niggers!” Now, I knew better than to say anything but he was young naïve and stupid. “You hunkies!” he yelled after them. They went a ways then they backed up just as fast as they had went by. “what’d you say? Huh niggers? What’d you say?” I tried to convince them that we didn’t say anything but I knew they knew better. I guessed we did something cuz they hopped back in the trucks and rode away just as fast as they had came. We though it was over but then they threw a glass bottle our way I protected my little government but there was no one to protect me. Not my mama not the government- the one people who should have been protecting us. SO to answer your questions there’s just some things you don’t forget. __What was you social status at that time?__ We were very poor. All of us was. __How did your family feel about The murder of Emmett Till?__ Well we were like everyone else. We were in tears. We were outraged. We actually went to church with Emmett’s family down in Money. We didn’t see them very often but we saw them a couple times. We couldn’t give them much because we didn’t have much, but we gave them what we could. We gave them our condolences and we told them that Emmett and their family was in our hearts and prayers. __Were there anymore uncivil acts you encountered?__ My family as a whole encountered many uncivil acts, I didn’t encounter as many. __Being targeted by a race how did you survive all of the racism?__ I did all I could do. I allowed it to happen. I couldn’t stand up for myself. I didn’t think I should’ve to. That was the governments job… aren’t they suppose to protect minorities? That’s what I thought and still think. __What did you think about the Civil Rights movement in general?__ I thought it was a horrible time all together. There are lots of memorable events and most of them weren’t happy times. __Finally, what do you think about Barrack Obama becoming president?__ I think it’s fantastic. I didn’t ever imagine that we would ever have something so wonderful. I went out to the ballots on Election Day and voted for him. It was just the greatest feeling in the world to know the civil rights movement has come to and end. I always thought that the civil right movement was still going on because I didn’t think Martin Luther Kings Dream has fully been recognized. I think that if a black man can become president… that’s all we can ask for, right?

I learned that things have changed dramatically from the 1950's. I think that everyone, especially people who think that african Americans aren't treated fairly, should be thankful that African Americans are treated how they are. I believe that everyone should learn about Civil Rights and everyone should make sure that none of their civil rights are violated. I had a lot of fun interviewing Betty Thompson because she was an interesting person and i learned a lot from her. I was inspired by her story (she is mentioned in my graduation speech) and liked listening to her struggles and how she got through them. I am glad this was an assignment because if it wasn't i wouldn't have met such a phenomenal person or learned the things i did. I might not have done too great on the project overall but i learned things from her and that was my goal from the beginning. I went into this assignment thinking that the grade was the only thing that mattered, and came out learning more about a topic I love to study.