Family, neighbors, friends, former students, and colleagues shared recollections, ranging from the 1940s to the weeks preceding Leon’s death on August 5 at the age of 91. In true COVID-era fashion, a few hundred more watched via Zoom. Black bus drivers at public universities were separated not physically, but by helping others earn degrees that were off limits to them.On August 15, 2021, a gathering in a small backyard in Berkeley, California, commemorated the remarkable life of Leon F.
Black drugstore employees cooked for and helped customers at white-only lunch counters – even though service was unavailable to them as paying customers. Black railroad workers helped white people with their belongings. Nor were domestic workers the only ones who lived segregation in close quarters. From 1880 to 1940, over 3,000 black men, mostly in the South, died during such torture. Nothing exemplifies this more than the constant threat of rape black women faced - and the worry that their husbands or sons might be targeted by lynch mobs. The division that did exist was instead one of opportunity and of respect. Such signs wouldn’t have been necessary in a society strictly separated by race. Step Into History: Learn how to experience the 1963 March on Washington in virtual reality (Exceptions didn’t extend to public swimming pools she was not allowed to enter the water with white children.) “ We Serve White’s Only – No Spanish or Mexicans” and “Colored Entrance” signs seen throughout the United States were temporarily irrelevant for her, except to further reinforce who was and wasn’t in control. On the bus to the park, she might have taken a white-only seat because she was on duty and holding white children.Īt airports and at restaurants, white-only entrances were hers, too. Because she was taking care of white children, requirements for separation were waived, again, even for children working as a maid. She might have taken the white children in her care to the white-only park on some days, regularly seeing the additional amenities available in public white spaces. She would also have been very aware of the contradictions in the together-and-unequal world she inhabited, including the dichotomy of white people both fearing her “ germs” and requiring her to breastfeed their children. Instead, she usually had to go home and come back or simply not use the restroom during the day. She would have cleaned the bathrooms but seldom was allowed to use the toilet herself. She would have welcomed white guests through the front door but would never enter through that door herself. But she would not have been invited to take the open chair. Throughout her day, she would have cooked for the white family and served them at the dinner table. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter
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