The Years Have Changed

by James A. McRae

Long gone are the days of old — the events that happened in the 1960s have paved the way to the future. My mother, Joyce McRae, has painted a picture of the years that she lived and how life have changed.

In 1953, Joyce was born a fourth child of seven of Isabella and Alexander Armstrong. She endured the life of a cotton-picking child, and she had chores that had to be done before any type of recess activities. Washing dishes and washing clothes were among the chores that she had to complete -- washing clothes was a chore in itself.

“You had to scrub the clothes on the washboard to remove any stains and then put them in the washing machine which was located outside. For the spin cycle, the clothes were picked out of the washing machine, one by one and fed through a feeder and then hung out to dry on a clothes line,” she said. “The times have changed a lot because we are used to indoor machine technology and the washing machines and dryers are indoor and everything is done by the machine.”

The schools were integrated when she was in the ninth grade. “People used to look at you weird because you were on their property. Cliques were formed. I was in a class of about one or two blacks. Racism was still prevalent all around,” she said. There was very strict rules for the dress code, and we are still debating the effect of dressing inappropriately in this century. “Boys had to wear undershirts, no hair hanging below the collars, shirts had to be tucked in -- girls had to wear skirts at least three inches below the knee, no exposed skin, no pants, which meant girls froze in the winter,” she said. Times have really changed.

My mother explained how some stores made black people wait in line, and prejudice was prevalent. Signs were put up for “no public restrooms.”  Racism was not as bad here as it was deeper in the South.  “Restaurant waiters and waitresses seemed to overlook a black patron, or it took a long time to be served,” she said. Quotas came into play, and the job market had to be somewhat fair in the hiring process. They had to hire so many blacks to meet a quota.  The service draft was also enacted during this time, and many blacks were called to duty. She said that the black workforce was majorly made up of military personnel, custodians, maids, and service personnel. They did not have access to high paying jobs such as managers or others with high responsibility.

According to my mother, the biggest effect from the March on Washington was that a lot more hate was exposed. The blacks became more outspoken, and they felt like they had the right to many freedoms and values. When James Brown came out with the song, “I’m Black and I’m Proud,” the song was played all of the time by many blacks.  It gave blacks more courage to stand up for themselves, even though they got the evil eye from white people.

This year we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington. Many blacks say that we have made many advancements over the years, but some black people say that we have not overcome. My mother said, “I think that we have made great strides as I never thought that I would see a black president in my lifetime. But I think progress is trending!”

Work Cited

McRae, Joyce A. Personal interview. 14 Sep. 2013.



Note: James A. McRae of Aberdeen, NC, is a culinary student at Sandhills Community College.

The Southern Experiences of Papa

by Auriel Jeffries

To extend information to my generation about growing up in the South, an amazing man who grew up right here in Southern Pines shared his experiences with me. Thomas Braxton Ray, my papa, is now seventy-four years old. Although the experiences were not positive, Papa was still willing to share them and relate his journey as a half Black, half Cherokee in the South. From movie theaters to restaurants and schools, he was wrongly treated — not because of his character but because of the color of his skin.

When he was in school, he experienced much more prejudice people than someone today. The schools that he went to were segregated. When he was in the eleventh grade, Papa had to use old ninth grade books, which were from the school across town that had only white students. The books were so old that the white students no longer used or needed them.

When my grandpa was young, his family was very poor. It was hard for a black family to have a decent paying job. His household contained of four other siblings. With his mom and dad, there were seven people in all. His dad, a Baptist minister, also worked other jobs. Both his mother and his father worked in food service (much like restaurant jobs today). His mother also did domestic housework. There weren’t any good jobs available for people of his status. The saying that they used back then was, “If you’re white, you’re alright. If you’re brown, stick around. If you’re black, get back” (Ray).

Restaurants in Southern Pines were also prejudiced when my grandpa was growing up. Black people were treated differently from the white people at some restaurants. At one restaurant, Papa had to go to a back window to get food. He referred to this behavior as feeling like he was treated like a dog getting food out of a doggy window, though it was common and expected then for this behavior to take place. The restaurants and schools were not the only places my grandpa was mistreated.

A lot of locals are familiar with the Sunrise Theater in downtown Southern Pines. I discovered from my grandpa that the theater was not always as it is now. Because my grandpa was black, he was not allowed to watch the movies like we can now. He as well as other black people who wanted to watch a movie had to sit at the top of the theater where he said they could barely see anything instead of being able to sit in the main floor area where there was a better view.

My grandpa unfortunately experienced the prejudice in the South not only in Southern Pines but in the military, which he also joined. He said that the military was prejudiced and segregated. I would not expect this to be in the military of all places, but apparently it was. The military would do things like rotate the black guys to another company, and this happened to him.

Though my grandpa had a hard time growing up in the South, he let me know that he is glad that he was able to live through the transformation of the South. He experienced not only the bad but the good change that has come today. He feels happier than ever to see that his grandchildren are able to have a better life growing up then he did and can have better opportunities.

Work Cited

Ray, Thomas. Personal interview. 29 June 2011.


Note: Auriel Jeffries, who is from Southern Pines, NC, is majoring in criminal justice and psychology at Sandhills Community College.