Emily Puckett Rodgers
Ann Arbor, MI
Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
I was asked if there was a story behind this. Of course there is. I grew up in Northwest Arkansas and almost all of my family comes from the state, going back several generations. Most of my family is well educated (college or advanced degrees). I grew up with a story about how my grandparents (regional college professors) took in a young black man who was a guest speaker on their campus, when no one else would give him a place to stay. That young black man became a sociology professor at the University of Arkansas and I got to take a class from him (on ‘whiteness’). Years later, when visiting this my family in their small Southern town in Arkansas, I was told “if you go into those gas stations where the blacks work, just don’t look at them. They’re mean.” I was surprised and disappointed. When I went into those gas stations and smiled at the man working at the cash register, guess what? He smiled back. And he was as friendly as I was.
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