June 24, 2025

“And That’s The Way It Was”

Heat wave. What would I do without the AC? Reminds me of our first days in town when air conditioning was for rich people only, and we, on an instructor’s salary with five kids, sat sweltering in excesssive heat and humidity.. I would sit immobilized in front of the fan, getting up only to fix meals, clean up, and then back to the couch. Our saving grace was the municipal pool. “Get your suits, grab a towel,” and off we’d go!” I learned much later, that the pool was built in l935, and the deed to the property sold to the village with the stipulation that the pool would be for whites only. In 1943 the NAACP filed a lawsuit asking that blacks be allowed to use it two days a week. Petition denied.

Meanwhile the black population, living together north of town, continually asked for equality and were intermittently promised a school, and also their own swimming pool. Nothing happened. Finally in 1950 the town pool was integrated.

When we arrived, all hot and sweaty in the early 60’s, and for all the times we enjoyed swimming there, I never saw a black person.

Not cool.