Betty King - on her first encounters with segregation as she began schooling (clip)
Interviewed by Bob Gilgor on January 18, 2001
BK: Yeah. And see then, I knew what, got my first taste of segregation mainly was when I started school.
RG: Which school?
BK: It was Orange County Training School at that time. And that's over there where Northside is now. Same building. OK. The white school was where the Town Hall of Carrboro is. And that was right, no place where I lived. But I could go to that school. That's when I first, our friendships, the kids we played with, I guess because we didn't have that much in common any more, goin' to different schools, and so, that was when I got my first, because I couldn't understand why I couldn't go to school with the other people. I didn't understand it but, so I guess when I was six years old was when it happened.
RG: What was it like in Orange County Training School, what are your memories of the school there?
BK: I just enjoyed it. It was just a plan that was from the 1st to the 12th grade - I think it was, when I first started, I think it was 1st to 11th grade. See I didn't know much about the high school because the high school part was on the other end. But I think it was from the 1st to the 11th grade. I think it was like in - I don't know when it was that they added the 12' grade to the school. And I think that was one reason we knew everybody because everybody went to the same school. You knew everybody.
RG: Did you know the teachers?
BK: Oh yeah. RG: Where did the teachers live?
BK: The teachers lived, they had, most of the men had boarding houses. There were boarding houses around, people that kept the teachers, different places. And at that time, you had to live where you taught.
RG: Did they go to the same church?
BK: They went to church, but on the weekends they could go home, wherever home was. Yeah, they could go to the same church.
RG: Did they socialize with the parents in the community?
BK: Not really, no.
RG: Did teachers make visits to your home?
BK: Yes, even when I started teaching, we used to. RG: What was the purpose of that? BK: To see what the family was like, to get close to the family, just to make a connection. To let - this is a child and we both share it. And they would talk about the needs of the child and all. Just to get a closeness I guess, to the child, so the child would feel that he was cared for. I'll tell you one thing, I think that when the teachers stopped having to live in the town, and stopped visiting, I think that started to become a strain, you know, it wasn't the closeness any more. Because you didn't know each other. When you have the teacher visiting, the parents begin to get a little idea what that person's all about. I think when they stopped doing that, I think that started - they weren't as close. But then there got to be so many people it was impossible to visit all your students. And that was done mostly in elementary school anyway, not high school. RG: Can you tell me more about Orange County Training School? BK: Orange County Training School, you would not know it now, which is Northside - we had a pile of rocks, I don't know where the rocks came from, I never understood that. But on one side one of the kids had fallen.. .?..there was just rocks everyplace, and we played on those rocks. And we, I don't know, I just enjoyed school. I didn't miss days out of school.