My brother, Rod, and I left Milwaukee in early summer of 1958 with New Orleans as our destination. We drove through Wisconsin and mostly due south through southern Illinois and realized that the white fields in Cairo were actually cotton fields… a most memorable sight.
We decided to detour a bit and check out Memphis where the great Hank Aaron was raised. The town is picturesque, alongside the Mississippi River. Driving through mostly farm land we noticed many people sitting quietly on their old porches; probably, no TVs.
Our primary destination traveling through Arkansas was to visit and observe Little Rock Central High School. Without too much trouble we spotted the large prominent, building that became world famous [or notorious] in September 1957. The forced desegregation of this school by the federal government drew vociferous, vicious protests from bitter opponents of civil liberties for blacks throughout most of the South. It was very meaningful for us to actually see this historical site and how strikingly peaceful it was. Only 5 years later, in August 1963, the Reverend Martin Luther King led 200,000 people in a march for civil rights in Washington, DC and delivered his world famous, memorable speech, “I have a dream!”
We continued on driving across Lake Ponchartrain Causeway into the city of New Orleans. Of course, we visited all the famous sites along Bourbon Street and nearby. We decided to explore an outlying area of the city and noticed a boxing gym (not sure if it was the Freret St. gym). We parked and walked over to the gym and noticed as we entered a disgusting sign designating bleacher seating for “Whites Only!” and one for “Coloreds Only!” Being really turned off, we decided to break the disgusting segregation rules and sat down in the “Coloreds Only!” section. We encountered only a few stares from both sections. Two fighters were sparring in the ring: Kenny Lane and an unknown. We both remembered Lane as a good lightweight from watching fights on TV. As we later learned, Lane was tuning up for a lightweight title fight vs. champ, Joe Brown. We stayed for a couple rounds, walked over to the water fountains for a drink and saw two signs: “Whites Only!” and one “Coloreds Only!” Needless to say, we were grossly offended.
Thankfully, as a nation, we’ve come a long way since that memorable summer of 1958!
