Kathy, I was raised in small town USA North Carolina. My sister and I were the only Jews in school. My parents ran a clothing store which was very typical for immigrants to do, especially in the 40’s and 50’s. My mother came from Berlin and my father, from Poland. They each lost close relatives plus a boyfriend and a wife. My dad came to…
Kathy, I was raised in small town USA North Carolina. My sister and I were the only Jews in school. My parents ran a clothing store which was very typical for immigrants to do, especially in the 40’s and 50’s. My mother came from Berlin and my father, from Poland. They each lost close relatives plus a boyfriend and a wife. My dad came to America in 1938. He had a sponsor, his uncle, who lived in NC. My father did not speak a word of English but he quickly caught on. He joined the Army so they would send him to Europe but they sent him to the Pacific Theater instead. My mother came over on the USS Cunard which left out of Liverpool in December of 1939. She knew broken English as she was taught it as a second language. The two met in 1946 through my father’s cousin who ended up being my mom’s girlfriend. Six weeks later they married in the Catskill Mountains and then left for NC to start a business. Can’t say they married for love. They married for companionship and had the same goals…survival.
Oddly enough, our public school, which was heavily funded by the furniture factories of Broyhill and Bernhardt, provided great teachers who informed us the best way they could, about history and civics. What we didn’t learn was the horrible aspects of slavery and the atrocities that happened to African Americans and the role that NC played. That was completely covered up, even when our schools finally integrated in 1964, my freshman year of high school. I sincerely doubt that the teachers even knew about all of what happened. If our African American teachers did know, they were very careful not to “make waves”. I believe my parents succumbed to this, as well. Look, on every corner was a Baptist Church! If it wasn’t the 1st Baptist, it was the 2nd and so on.
We always knew we were different but I can honestly say people never called me a “kike”. So many stories to tell…
I am a bit older but from furniture city (big chair) NC. I don’t remember my parents denigrating Jews but occasionally disparaged blacks. Of course, blacks were kept on the “other side of town.” We had a school janitor loved by all. He and his family lived on school grounds but his kids could not attend my school. Seemed ok at the time since we were poor as dirt but later these things ate at me. I grew up. Left NC. Some never did either. So true about the churches, but the Christian’s I knew then seemed a cut above the Pharisees of today. Also true that not all cult nuts are evil. But people I once respected, I can not look at today. The ignorance seems deliberate and calculated. Who can respect that.
Kathy, I was raised in small town USA North Carolina. My sister and I were the only Jews in school. My parents ran a clothing store which was very typical for immigrants to do, especially in the 40’s and 50’s. My mother came from Berlin and my father, from Poland. They each lost close relatives plus a boyfriend and a wife. My dad came to America in 1938. He had a sponsor, his uncle, who lived in NC. My father did not speak a word of English but he quickly caught on. He joined the Army so they would send him to Europe but they sent him to the Pacific Theater instead. My mother came over on the USS Cunard which left out of Liverpool in December of 1939. She knew broken English as she was taught it as a second language. The two met in 1946 through my father’s cousin who ended up being my mom’s girlfriend. Six weeks later they married in the Catskill Mountains and then left for NC to start a business. Can’t say they married for love. They married for companionship and had the same goals…survival.
Oddly enough, our public school, which was heavily funded by the furniture factories of Broyhill and Bernhardt, provided great teachers who informed us the best way they could, about history and civics. What we didn’t learn was the horrible aspects of slavery and the atrocities that happened to African Americans and the role that NC played. That was completely covered up, even when our schools finally integrated in 1964, my freshman year of high school. I sincerely doubt that the teachers even knew about all of what happened. If our African American teachers did know, they were very careful not to “make waves”. I believe my parents succumbed to this, as well. Look, on every corner was a Baptist Church! If it wasn’t the 1st Baptist, it was the 2nd and so on.
We always knew we were different but I can honestly say people never called me a “kike”. So many stories to tell…
Thank you for sharing. An emotional journey thru memories has a place here...a place meaningful to us who watch and wonder.
And I am just one of many…
I am a bit older but from furniture city (big chair) NC. I don’t remember my parents denigrating Jews but occasionally disparaged blacks. Of course, blacks were kept on the “other side of town.” We had a school janitor loved by all. He and his family lived on school grounds but his kids could not attend my school. Seemed ok at the time since we were poor as dirt but later these things ate at me. I grew up. Left NC. Some never did either. So true about the churches, but the Christian’s I knew then seemed a cut above the Pharisees of today. Also true that not all cult nuts are evil. But people I once respected, I can not look at today. The ignorance seems deliberate and calculated. Who can respect that.