1 jan 1940 ano - Eugenia Holmes

Descrição:

During the 1940s, Quindaro was a beautiful, thriving African American community. Houses and lawns were well maintained. There were black-owned businesses and plenty of places to
entertain young people. However, problems with segregation systematically posed issues for many students and their families.

Eugenia Holmes shared this account of growing up.

"Our elementary schools went from kindergarten to the eighth grade. You spent one year at Northeast Junior High School and three years at Sumner High School. A standardized test sent from Topeka was administered yearly for students in the sixth through eighth grade. You had to pass the test to proceed to the next grade level. Students had to wait for the grading results from Topeka.

At this time, segregation was happening. White people had schools built in closer proximity to where they lived. Washington High School had buses available for their students. We couldn't attend that school. Mr. McCullen was the black owner of a small bus service that transported students from the Rosedale and Argentine areas to Northeast and Sumner.

In Quindaro, we were provided with tokens to pay for public transportation because most black families didn't have automobiles. We would have to walk blocks to the bus stops.

On one occasion, it was early morning, with temperatures near zero. My classmate and I had missed the first bus and needed to walk five more blocks to catch the next. Unfortunately, we missed that bus. Females were not allowed to wear pants back then. We were freezing and had to walk a long way back home. My legs were severely frozen and numb. I couldn't feel anything. When I arrived at the house, my dad immediately packed my legs in ice until I had some circulation. The pain was excruciating. The doctor stated that had my dad not packed my legs in the ice, they would have had to amputate.

Over several months, dad would lift me from the couch to the bed regularly to keep the circulation going. Dr. J.R. Thompson would come by daily to administer shots into my hip. It was a long time before I could walk again.

Eventually, I was able to attend school. I continued to study hard. As an adult, I ended up assisting doctors at St. Luke's Hospital on the Plaza as an ob-gyn technician. I retired from there after over 40 years of service."

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