Ty Cooper
Arlington, VA
I was born (1950) into a family of sharecroppers in eastern NC. We lived one mile from the nearest road. I was starting school soon, so my mom paid a friend to take us to town to get my preschool health check. Sitting in the waiting room, I noticed people walking up to a device, pressing a button, and leaning over to drink water. (We did not have indoor plumbing at home; nor did we have TV, so I had never seen people drink water this way.) Curious, I decided to check it out for myself. My mother was preoccupied with my infant sibling in her arms. I slid out of my chair and raced over to the fountain to get a drink of water. Moments after I began to drink, there was a commotion. I looked around and observed disapproving frowns. My mom raced over to the fountain to pull me away. “He’s just a kid. He doesn’t know any better.” That’s the day I became aware of the concept of segregation.
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