Parks Paul Q: [00:00] And I realize that -- wasn’t Obama going to -- where was he going this weekend? M: Yeah, to -- M: He was (inaudible). Omaha. Q: -- to -- yeah, Omaha. Normandy. F: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm A: Normandy! I was on that beach. Yeah, I was on Omaha, (inaudible) and I went to four of the five camps (inaudible). Q: Let’s see. Where can we put this? Maybe rest it on here? F: (inaudible) I’d like to you offer you something cold to drink, but we only drink juice. And I have Diet Dr. Pepper. F: You know, can I have a Dr. Pepper? Could I just have a little bit to see what it tastes like, please? F: OK. F: And then I may get a -- A: Now let me see what that is. F: OK. A: When President Johnson -- the Civil Rights Act in the Congress, sort of lolling around. And President Johnson 1 invited 32 black folk and the so-called [01:00] leadership types from across the country. Q: Could I ask you what year this was? A: Let’s see. It would have to be -- Kennedy died -- Kennedy was killed in sixty-- ’63? Or six-- M: I think six-- A: And the Civil Rights Act was in the Congress in ’64. And what he did, he invited a group of us, day’s debates a whole bunch of folk down, a whole bunch of folks down to -- to the White House. F: (whispered) I’ll have some water. (laughter) A: And we went to the White House, and he said -- first, we went in the Rose Garden, and he said he had invited us down [02:00] because the Civil Rights Act was over lolling in the Congress and not going anywhere. And he said to us that, “I’ve invited you down here to support in the Civil Rights Act.” And he says, “What I’m looking for from you is that you will be prepared to support me as the President of the United States in the coming election.” Now, he says, “If you decide not to, then that has an impact on the Civil Rights Act.” He says, “You go up to my room, you go up to the quarters of the President, [03:00] you guys loll around, go downstairs, and go in the pool, and you’re going to be here -- we’ll expect you to be --” 2 F: He is in the White House swimming pool. (laughter) You know? So they don’t even think about what they said. Oh! A: He said -- and he says they don’t -- “I’m going to -- I’d expect you to be here for the day. You’ll have lunch with us, and...” And so Daisy Bates said, “I’m not a whore, don’t...” And I said, “I’m a prostitute.” And she says, “What does this mean?” I said, “Look, the Civil Rights Act means an awful lot to my children and the rest of us as black folk in America. I am tired of seeing signs saying ‘White only,’ I’m tired [04:00] of seeing -- having to ride on the back of buses, I’m tired of being treated as a --” And I said, “Not only that, I was in the United States Army, and it’s a segregated army. And I can tell you, all of you, that there is something very embarrassing about fighting for this nation as a second-class citizen. And so as far as I’m concerned, I’m ready to pass, because it is so important, as I see it.” I says, “I will tell you, I took my children, and we would have --” Q: Can I just close this window because of the traffic, and because of the construction noise?” A: Oh yeah. I think that -- OK. Q: Is that OK? I just can -- F: Is it the fan? Q: No, it’s -- it’s just the -- 3 M: I think there’s a little noises too, actually, but that’s - - that’ll be fine for a little longer. A: [05:00] Can you get it down? Q: Mm-hmm. F: I know, it’s hard. Q: I have heavy hands, so I have to just be careful. A: And I just had to (inaudible) -- I remember us going on a white road trip in the service screening, and kind of tell them then they (inaudible) feed us. We had to eat on the ground behind the restaurant, (inaudible) President. Q: (inaudible) hear that. A: We had to eat on the ground behind -- behind the restaurant while the other persons ate in the restaurant. I remember Saturday we rode on the train when we were first going to basic training. And [06:00] when we got to -- from Indiana, when we got to Cincinnati, we had to move up to the front of the train, and the white soldiers moved back. So we were segregated at that point. And the train went up to the hills of Kentucky on the way to Virginia. And at some point, the MPs pulled the shades on the windows. And I said, “Why are we pulling the shades?” He said, “You’ll see in a moment.” And I said -- he says, “You’ll see in a moment. It’s our orders.” And what he told us was -- when I peeked out behind the sheet, there were all these white 4 guys on a platform. The train stopped for water, and these guys, white guys on the platform, had rifles and pistols, and all kinds of weapons. He said, “We’ve had many black folk, black soldiers, negro soldiers, killed by these guys.” [07:00] And I said, “Well, the army (inaudible)?” And he says, “Not very much we can do about it. This is just the world we live in.” And so I said, “Now you ask me why I want to stand and support the Civil Rights Act? Sure do. Because I don’t want my children to go through what I’ve gone through.” Now that picture is just one part of this. You -- you’re looking at -- first, you’re looking at being, and what’s -- just looking back here. She was a person who -- she was a part of the -- of the -- Fannie Lou Hamer. That was Fannie Lou back then. And this is me. And this [08:00] young man was pres-- was chairman of the - - of -- of the -- every year in Massachusetts, they used to have one black guy appointed -- each time there was a governor elected, there was a black guy appointed to be the secretary to the governor’s council. And this was Jim [Purdy?], who was secretary to the governor’s council. Obviously, that’s President Johnson. And let’s see. Oh, this was [Roy A Boling?], who was [Senator Boling?]. It’s a very dear friend of mine, which is lost now, but -- 5 Q: You’re standing in the back between -- so if we went from left, there’s -- just to clarify. [09:00] Paul Parks -- A: Jim [Purdy?], President Johnson, [Roy A Boling?]. F: Senior. A: Senior. And this fellow was -- I groomed him. He was Johnson’s special guy. He came up from Texas. And I can’t remember his name, but there was the one black guy who was that -- it’s that black guy in his administration, in the White House. And let’s see. And so the reason why -- this was just the end, the Boston delegation. In each, there were other delegations who also had pictures made. Q: [10:00] OK. So about how many people were invited altogether? So, like, a few from each state? Or a few from certain states? A: A few from certain states. We figured it had -- it had clout, and could help him get elected. About 38 of us. Q: And what were you involved in at this time? A: I was -- well -- Q: What weren’t you involved in? (laughter) A: I -- we had just elected the pre-- the Governor of Massachusetts. Literally, had -- Governor Peabody. And it’s the most amazing thing. Governor Peabody had lost every election for about three or four terms. And Frank [Poitras?] and I [11:00] had been campaign managers for 6 him. And we -- we just enjoyed working the election, because we ne-- we figured he may never win. So we went down, and we -- when the election was over, we’d go down, and see the little bar downstairs from the hotel, laugh about it. And this day, we were laughing about it, and [Poitras?] had... (inaudible) [Poitras?] said, (laughter) “Well, we lost another one.” And the guy came in and said, “You know, we just won the election.” (laughter) And we both said, “That’s not an asset.” (laughter) Just -- but anyway, [12:00] he did win. And we became a part of this. F: He wasn’t a bad governor, though. A: No, he wasn’t a bad governor. F: [Too much?] (inaudible) Windex. M: So... Q: Were you -- where were you working at the time? A: Oh, I had a business that I owned. I was a partner in an architectural firm. Q: So were you involved, you know, with what local organizations -- A: Oh, I -- it was the Chairman of the NAACP, the Education Committee, at that point. Because Ruth Batson had moved up, so -- to another position, and I was -- and we were fighting Louise Day Hicks.