FOLLOW THE TREND

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Contents

Preface............................................................................ixChapter 1 – Growing Up in Leesville..........................................1Chapter 2 – My Dad...........................................................11Chapter 3 – Serving in the Air Force.........................................17Part 1 – Stateside Duty......................................................17Part 2 – My Tour of Duty in Japan............................................31Chapter 4 – Florida A & M University.........................................55Chapter 5 – Life in Philadelphia.............................................65Chapter 6 – A Previous Marriage..............................................79Chapter 7 – My Marriage to Anne..............................................89Chapter 8 – Graduate School..................................................133Chapter 9 – Special Programs.................................................143Part 1 – Running an Alternative School.......................................143Part 2 – Extra-Curricular Activities.........................................157Chapter 10 – A New Era in Politics/My Political Opinions.....................159Chapter 11 – Trends in the Media.............................................193Chapter 12 – On Th inking for Yourself2......................................31Chapter 13 – An Evening with Gordon Parks....................................265Conclusion.........................................................................273

Chapter One

I was born and raised in a small town in South Carolina, Leesville, population approximately 10,000, about 30 miles south of Columbia. At the time I was born, 1931, America had sunk into the Great Depression. While the conditions created by this severe economic downturn affected my hometown as they did the entire country, years passed before I was aware of any of this. As a child, I did not know how poor we were, because we lived on a farm and always had a plentiful supply of food-chickens, hogs, a cow, and gardens where we grew a large variety of vegetables. Later, when I was about ten years old, Dad gave up farming and got a regular job.

By the time I was twelve years old, I had experienced many aspects of farming, such as picking cotton, feeding the animals, growing and shucking corn, planting and harvesting peanuts, and dealing with fruit trees. By age fourteen, I had probably shaken and collected pecans from almost every pecan tree in Leesville. Also, when I was fourteen, I learned a trade which has kept me secure forever. I learned how to press clothes in the local dry cleaners in Leesville. I really became a very good presser because I took the work as a form of art. Later, I worked as a presser in several cities– Miami, Washington, D C, and Philadelphia. Because of that training, gained when I was a teenager, I was never afraid to go into any city and look for employment.

Growing up in Leesville was a beautiful experience. There were 9 children in my family–6 girls and 3 boys. We were a tightly-knit family. Dad and Mom were very close, hard-working, and in church every Sunday. They would occasionally visit a church other than our own. Everyone within a twenty-five mile radius knew of Dad's ability to lead a church choir. Whenever he walked into a church, the minister or the deacon would call him up front and ask him to lead the choir. I was always so proud to listen and to watch him operate. Mom was always at his side.

As a young teenager, I did some things that most people would not believe today. I learned to swim with water moccasins in a place we called Bar's Pond. At times, I would dive into the water and see a snake slithering in from the other side of the pond. I've always been fascinated by snakes, but I became somewhat afraid of them as I grew older. Most of the older people told me that snakes could not strike in water. Dad and Mom never said that to me, but they did not know the many dangerous things I did. I was a typically stupid country kid who had no sense of the danger of the many activities in which I became involved. Two examples: riding a bicycle backwards and skating on roller skates backwards just for the hell of it.

As a student, I was sometimes devilish and a little sneaky in class. I would make strange faces at my buddy who did not have a lot of self-control. He would laugh and get in trouble.

When the teacher asked, "What's the matter?" I would turn and look at him with a slight frown, as if to say, "What's wrong with you?" I really was not trying to get my buddy in trouble, but I was aware that I was basically responsible for the situation.

I had to maintain a certain amount of coolness, though, because I had two sisters who were teachers in other schools and we know that in small towns everybody knows everything. Also, my grandmother lived only two blocks from the school; she knew exactly what was going on there. If anything had happened, if I had gotten into any kind of trouble, my mother would have known about it before I got home from school.

Taking part in the athletic programs was fun for me. I played baseball, basketball, and football. At different times, as a member of the baseball team, I played each of the bases, all field positions, and pitched. I was the center on our basketball team, partially because by then I was six feet tall, but also because I could maneuver with the best of them. We had a football team only after our new school was built in the nearby town of Batesburg. I was a senior that year, and played right tackle on the team. I remember that we used some second-hand uniforms given to us by a nearby school and our games were played on a field that belonged to a white school. Our homecoming game that year was played on a field without grass, so we ended up with muddy uniforms that day. It had rained a few hours before the game. That was a terrible homecoming day for all of us. In addition to being covered with mud, we also lost the game.

One thing that amazes me today is that even back in the 40's and 50's when I was attending and graduating from high school, my subjects included physics, geometry, biology, French, algebra, trigonometry, and economics. This was a typical curriculum in many southern high schools during the 40's and 50's. I became a teacher of science and math in 1963. Of the school curricula I have personally observed, I have yet to see a public high school curriculum in any school system comparable to what I had in my little country hometown so many years ago. This is an amazing tragedy for the graduates of these schools. This tragedy will continue as long as we allow people in powerful positions to control educational systems when their only concern is political.

When I was a 9th grade student, my principal was also my math teacher. He would sit at his desk and ask me to go to the blackboard and work math problems and explain the work to the class. I suppose at the time I considered that to be an honor. But when I think about those days, I realize I was really performing the teacher's duties and was not being paid anything. Maybe my teacher foresaw that I was to become a math teacher. Anyway, I enjoyed those days. The principal was a great guy and...