"Well, separation of the races, I guess." from Judith Diggs Potter '64
Title
"Well, separation of the races, I guess." from Judith Diggs Potter '64
Creator
Lesley University
Source
From 1:48:30 of Judith Diggs Potter's oral history.
Publisher
Lesley University
Rights
Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright.
Language
English
Type
Sound
Identifier
3.001 Lesley University Archives Oral History Collection, 2008-2010
Interviewer
Alyssa Pacy
Interviewee
Judith Diggs Potter
Transcription
AP: "But at least in the first year, the seemed to put you in a single [dorm room]. Do you think there was this...what do you think was going on?"
JDP: "Well...separation of the races, I guess."
AP: "So you think it was really that prevalent...I mean obviously it was really that prevalent, but I'm just trying to get the feel for what it was like for you and how you sought change...if you sought change at all at your time at Lesley."
JDP: "I didn't see a change at all my time at Lesley until after I left when I saw them bringing in more, and that was after Don Orton left, when Margaret came."
"LaCaro, Dean LaCaro [from the Virgin Islands]...She was like a breath of fresh air after Clara Thurber..and Dorothy Sharples."
AP: "And you had mentioned something about they put you in Carol Haas school?"
JDP: "Yeah, I didn't...until my third time, I didn't go out into the public schools."
AP: "And you think that had to do...because you were black?"
JDP: "Yeah I think so, and the same thing happened with Stephanie."
AP: "And did you recognize what was going on at the time?"
JDP: "No...yes, but no."
AP: "How did you feel?"
JDP: "Um...well, after having a class--and it was, it was called...retarded, it was called retarded....I just, you know, I think my mother, she reiterated that too, she said it smelled of racism, that I was the only one that they didn't turn me into a public school, because by that time Boston was excepting interns from Lesley College too...Yeah they went to all of these kind of elitist public schools...We didn't go begging for a job, the communities came to the college."
"You had to play the piano...you had to know how to play the piano [at Lesley]."
1:46:40
JDP: "Well...separation of the races, I guess."
AP: "So you think it was really that prevalent...I mean obviously it was really that prevalent, but I'm just trying to get the feel for what it was like for you and how you sought change...if you sought change at all at your time at Lesley."
JDP: "I didn't see a change at all my time at Lesley until after I left when I saw them bringing in more, and that was after Don Orton left, when Margaret came."
"LaCaro, Dean LaCaro [from the Virgin Islands]...She was like a breath of fresh air after Clara Thurber..and Dorothy Sharples."
AP: "And you had mentioned something about they put you in Carol Haas school?"
JDP: "Yeah, I didn't...until my third time, I didn't go out into the public schools."
AP: "And you think that had to do...because you were black?"
JDP: "Yeah I think so, and the same thing happened with Stephanie."
AP: "And did you recognize what was going on at the time?"
JDP: "No...yes, but no."
AP: "How did you feel?"
JDP: "Um...well, after having a class--and it was, it was called...retarded, it was called retarded....I just, you know, I think my mother, she reiterated that too, she said it smelled of racism, that I was the only one that they didn't turn me into a public school, because by that time Boston was excepting interns from Lesley College too...Yeah they went to all of these kind of elitist public schools...We didn't go begging for a job, the communities came to the college."
"You had to play the piano...you had to know how to play the piano [at Lesley]."
1:46:40
URL
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/oral_histories/15/
Citation
Lesley University, “"Well, separation of the races, I guess." from Judith Diggs Potter '64,” Digital Exhibits | Lesley University Archives, accessed May 14, 2024, https://lesleyarchives.omeka.net/items/show/94.