Black students in Asheville did not display skin color or class bias
Discrimination between black students with different skin tones or different economic levels did not seem to be a problem at Bowman's high school. Students seemed to accept the existence of segregation and accept that people could be beautiful in a variety of shades.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Richard Bowman, July 8, 1998. Interview K-0513. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- KELLY ELAINE NAVIES:
-
So, tell me um-I'm curious-were there any issues in
terms of color, skin color at Stephens-Lee? And class, and
that type of thing-did those things ever come up?
- RICHARD BOWMAN:
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I never recall any of those things coming up. We just didn't think of it.
We accepted segregation and we just didn't think about it.
- KELLY ELAINE NAVIES:
-
I mean skin color between blacks-like light skin/dark skin.
- RICHARD BOWMAN:
-
No, no
- KELLY ELAINE NAVIES:
-
None of that ever came up?
- RICHARD BOWMAN:
-
Never with me-you could see evidence of it in the neighborhood
[unclear]
-but, even the majorettes-If you look at
pictures of our majorettes, we had some beautiful dark skin black girls
and we had some light complexioned black girls. We just didn't think of
it-
