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MEMPHIS, TN. - There are a couple of stories in this issue that I want each of you to read with an open mind. Please try to understand the purpose behind each story and please accept them for what they are. I will not let this thread get out of hand, but expect each of you to play nice. If you don't I'll put the toys away.Please include your class year with your e-mails.In the separate but equal Huntsville of the Fifties, there were at least four known taxicab companies. Can you name the two white cab companies and the two African-American cab companies? Class year with answers please.
(I wanted to throw in my two-bits on the subject of "Council High", et al. If you think it's too long to publish, I'll understand. But if you do decide there's room, please don't edit. - Jim)The subject of Council High is one item on a long list of reasons why I and many of my old friends (most of whom ya'll-ain't-likely-ta-see-own-these-here- paggezz) find it..."difficult" I suppose is the right word...to wax nostalgic over the "General's" banner. For us damn yankees, displaced at "Lee High" through no fault of our own, it was bad enough having to deal with the Southern accent ("Ya'll shur do tawlk funnee...") and of course, the bizarre (no better word for it) graphic admonitions, "colored", "no colored" or "colored only" in grocery stores, restaurants, etc. proliferating a poisoned, sad culture. It was indeed, one of America's Dark Ages. (When I was about the age of nine, during the time of my family's first displacement, I was a chipper 3rd grader at East Clinton, and one day I spied a "colored" drinking fountain in a local yokel grocery store...decided to see for myself if there's "a difference"...in the middle of my experiment, my father caught me and cautioned me away...more out of fear of my getting caught, I suspect, than his own internal racist demons).As adults (some of us, anyway) in 2009, we pride ourselves of "see 'in the bigger pitcher...this side 'o papaw's farm...", with little tidbit ironies like : The Southern "accent" is closer to the mother language (true; but more specifically, the Appalachian people are closer than anybody); or that General Lee was a great man (true; misguided allegiances notwithstanding). My own family has had many ironies to grapple with : ALL our American ancestor's were "Southern", beginning in 16th century Virginia. Into that mix came not only the proud Cherokee and Choctaw Nations, but none other than Booker T. Washington himself, a not so distant blood cousin; a genetic heritage one could only be proud of. (sorry, Miss Faulkner, I like sentences ending in prepoozichens.) And, into the mix most Americans, if not all, are saddled with the darker forces as well; a genetic template most would prefer to be in denial about ("about" ain't alwayz a prepozition, Miss Faulkner.)On the Darker Forces, I'll speak for myself, see 'in as ta how et'll maake ya'll mo settled. One of my ancestors, Sir William Crichton, in November of 1440, invited his ardent rivals to dinner, at Edinburgh Castle, on the pretext of a reconciliation. Legend has it that the hideous black boar's head was served at the end of the entre, signifying, as per a noble and very righteous custom, that none of the principle guests would leave the Castle alive. It was dubbed the infamous "Black Dinner". Hey, don't ya'll call me no liiyere...google it !!I've grown to love "the South"; always loved Miss Faulkner, who was a great and compassionate teacher. I love the rich cultural heritage; James Dickey, Shelby Foote, Harper Lee, Hank Williams, "Johnnie Lee" Hooker, Mississippi Fred MacDowell, even Elvis (well, only when I sing like him...)But I love Neil Young too, and Joni Mitchell, Poe, Shakespeare (thank you, Miss Faulkner) & Emily Dickinson. And if ya'll ever catch me in one of my moods, say around November, and I invite any ya'll ta dinner fer 'tatters-matters-beans-an'-kornbread...Be smart. Tell me to "Shut up!!" (Thank you, Woody Beck !) and turn me and my special dinner away...next time you eat ham, jest try not ta think 'o me or my kin. Sir James Ballard/Edinburgh.Many of us see the New Year as a time of not only looking forward to our future, but with an equal opportunity to reflect upon our past. As we continue down the path started by J.R. Brooks on the existence (and ignoring) of Council High School by many Huntsvillians, I was surprised by the number of my own classmates who seemed to not even know that Council existed back then. Before I start this story, I want to draw your attention to the fact that this week I have included a part of the “Traveller’s Mission Statement” that I have been providing to staff writers for the last several years. The thing I want to emphasize is that I will not let this website become a battleground for political purposes. That being said, I have thought long and hard and concluded that the current thread of content is not being presented as an effort of being political as much as it is as a reflection on the cultural aspect of our early years. Therefore, as long as we can continue on this topic as a cultural memory and not as a platform for a political stand, then I think we can all get something positive from remembering this part of our past. We will do so with the understanding that any emails that attempt to make current political statements will not be printed.For those that have never stopped to think about it, the Lee High School graduating Class of 1964 was not only the first class to graduate from Lee, it was also the first and last class to graduate from a totally segregated Lee High School. We were a school that gave a hero’s welcome to Alabama's Governor George C. Wallace - a welcome led by our principal and faculty. Lee did not integrate it’s student body until 1965, so the Class of ’65 was the first class to graduate from an integrated Lee High School. Perhaps some of you readers moved to Huntsville after all this happened and were not really aware of the significance of these changes to many people.We, the members of the Class of ’64, grew up in a different Huntsville than many could conceive in today’s society. I remember the days of “White” and “Colored” drinking fountains in the McLellan’s, F.W. Woolworth’s, Kress and the other “Five and Ten Cent” stores on Washington Street and even in the Madison County court house. There were also "White" and "Colored" restrooms, and I'm not talking about the decor. Outside the court house stood a statue of a proud Confederate Soldier. I remember when only white people could swim in the municipal swimming pool at Big Springs Park. I rode enough buses as a kid to remember that only white people could ride in the front of the city buses. I remember a bus driver refusing to start the bus up one day until an elderly African-American lady moved to the back of the bus. If she had not moved he was going to call the police to have her thrown off – any they would have done it. It was an odd experience for a young kid. It was a time of what we were told were “separate but equal” rights, which meant that we had white theaters and there were “separate” and we were told there were “equal” theaters for non-whites. There were not as many because non-whites were a minority. The same goes for hospital rooms, schools, and even taxi cabs. In an almost weird recognition of the status quo, there were many places that had signs in their windows that said “Colored Only” and I could no more get served there than a non-white could be served in a place that stated “Whites Only.”We grew up in a world where adults around us used the N-word without thought or hesitation and heard it more often than in Blazing Saddles. It was a time when it was considered okay to call people colored and you were being a polite little kid when you used the word “Negro.” I remember the start of the “sit-ins” at the eating establishments in Huntsville. I was sitting at a counter at the Twickenham-Rexall Drug Store one day, visiting with Dianne Hughey, when a commotion started behind us. The restaurant there was in the basement, and a group of African-Americans were coming down the steps, when the manager jumped up and pulled a chain across the steps that had a sign attached stating “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone!” printed on it.We went to church segregated, to skate segregated, to dances, and Boy Scout meetings segregated. We were brought up to believe the “separate but equal” system was fair and honest. We were kids and most of us did not know any better. I did not attend an integrated class until I got to college. It was the military that made the major attitude change in my personal life.No…I’m not saying it was right. I am only saying that was how we were raised and it took a lot of growing and maturing before we learned that we had the right to feel differently than our parents and grandparents had been taught to believe.What?Council High SchoolCouncil High SchoolHuntsville City SchoolsDrummer?Cheer
Above is the list of the Classmates that we know for sure that we lost last year. There may be others that we did not hear about. Altough one of them was really lost back in 2000, we didn't hear about it to this year, so the loss is just as great. We will miss all of them.You can see the information we have on their passings by clicking on the Info button below each name. Make sure you use the BACK button on your browser to return to this page. 
