Oral History Interview with Thomas L. Platt

SHERI SMITH: This is Sheri Smith. It's the 21st of October, the year 2000, and I will be interviewing Thomas Platt for the Kentucky Civil Rights Commisssion study on civil rights in Kentucky.

SMITH: Mr. Platt, first off will you spell your first and last name so I can get it correct?

THOMAS PLATT: Okay, first name, Thomas , T-h-o-m-a-s. Last name is Platt, P-l-a-t-t.

SMITH: And what year were you born and what day were you born?

PLATT: Way back, [Laughing] 1929.

SMITH: Okay, what's your birthdate?

PLATT: August 29, 1929.

SMITH: And where were you born?

PLATT: Baltimore, Maryland.

SMITH: You Yankee . . .

PLATT: Yeah. [Laughter]

SMITH: What brought you to Kentucky, to Henderson?

PLATT: Well, long story. Lot of time when you're in the military, you know, they move you around, overseas or around the country. And I was overseas thirteen different times, I guess.

SMITH: So you were in the army?

PLATT: Aw, yeah. Uh-hum. And one of my basic duties, tour, was in Korea. I was already in Japan during the occupation dates after World War II; of course I stayed before I went in 1947. And so I spent three years in Japan during the occupation, and then when the Korean War started in 1950, I was one of the first ones to go so I caught some of the heavy stuff over there. And I was slightly wounded, they send be back to the states and they sent me to San Francisco. I was in the hospital there for a couple of months. And then from there, they transferred me to ( ) Summit Hospital which is in Denver, Colorado. And as I got better, they said, "Well, we'll send you to another camp and put you on light duty for about six months. And so we're going to send you to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky." I said, "Where is Camp Breckinridge?” I said, “The only place I know in Kentucky is Louisville." [Laughter] And so they sent me to Breckinridge and that's how I ended up in Kentucky. This was in 1951. And then I met my wife here and the fifth of June we got married in fifty-three. Working on forty-eight years of marriage now . . .

SMITH: Wow!

PLATT: As I said before, once you, you know, the military moving you around and a lot of time you retire--and most of time you will retire where you've spent most of your time, you know; during the time you was in service. I couldn't see taking my kid back to Baltimore, trying to raise him in a large city; and at the time Baltimore was the eighth largest city in the country in 1968. So I couldn't see taking him back, and I decided on a small town. Got to know a lot of people here during that time. I was, you know, in and out with my family. Built a home here in sixty-eight. Went to work for Job Corp and I worked for them for twenty-three years.

SMITH: What's your wife’s name?

PLATT: Willie, W-i-l-l-i-e.

SMITH: What year did you all get married?

PLATT: 1953.

SMITH: Do you just have three girls?

PLATT: Three daughters, uh-huh.

SMITH: Now when you got your orders to come to Kentucky, what was the first thing that popped into your head about coming to the state?

PLATT: To Kentucky? Well, the only thing. . . .the first thing I thought about was the racehorses here. [Laughter] And the distilleries and--[laughing, Smith] and, you know, some of the famous things, you know. I remember going through here back before I went overseas on the train and that was in Louisville. So, really I didn't know too terribly much about Kentucky, no more that some of the things that I had read, you know. I didn't have no opportunity to visit the state.

SMITH: How about as far as race relations were handled, because Kentucky is considered the South? Did that ever pop into your head?

PLATT: Uh, well, you know. . . .during that time? No, really it didn't because, well you know, you didn't think too much about, you know, segregation and integration. Yeah, I don't think it was on my mind ‘cause I had the military on my mind. But I can say one thing, back in 1948--I don't know whether you all remember or not--but Truman integrated the military. He passed out, you know, orders to integrate the military and at that time I was already in Japan so I was a guinea pig. They used me and an all white unit, they picked some of the best soldiers they thought would make it in a, you know, an all-white unit. And vice versa, they did the same thing; they put, you know, whites in black units. So I was the only black person in 1940 in an all-white unit for about nine or ten months. So that was my first experience with, you know, being involved in integration.

SMITH: Was it difficult? Did they play pranks on you?

PLATT: It wasn't--I was always--it didn't take me long to get used to things. I mean, I thought about it, I started to say,”No”, at one time, you know, when they first asked me. So I say, “No, I go ahead and try it.” Maybe it will help some of my people, you know. And so I really enjoyed it. In fact, I received a promotion while I was in there.

SMITH: And this was while you were in Japan, right?

PLATT: In Japan, during the occupation.

SMITH: Now I'm going to ask you some things about your education. Now, you're from Baltimore, Maryland . . .

PLATT: Right.

SMITH: So you're a city boy?

PLATT: Yeah. [laughing}.

SMITH: So how were the city schools set up?

PLATT: Well, city schools back in those days, you know, they were all segregated schools. And most, you know, were in larger cities. And like I was say, ( ) for what I learned after I got here. Now they had some blacks going to white schools in smaller areas like, you know, in Callas in Maryland but definitely I didn't ( ). It was all white school, all black.

SMITH: What was the difference between the white schools and the black schools that you saw as a student?

PLATT: Well, one of the things was--we received a lot of hand-me-down material, like books and things. And I don't know, Ms. Johnson probably knows about this. And that's one of the things that I disliked. And I usually voiced my opinion on that, you know, back during . . . .that was many years ago when I was in school. Of course, I graduated in 1947, over fifty years ago. And so I understand some of these things went on in other schools, too. Now, we did have top-rate teachers. You know, the black teachers were great back during those days. And I think blacks learn more under black teachers, than they do--right now too I think—than they do under white teachers. Because they made sure you got it. They didn't turn you loose until they thought you had it. Even if they had to work overtime.

SMITH: Well, when you graduated high school, you went right into the military?

PLATT: Not for a while. I went to the junior college in Baltimore for about a year and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do because my mind was still mixed up. My father died when I was fourteen years old. And he was only thirty-four, ( ) forty-four.

SMITH: How did he die?

PLATT: Well, he had a tumor on the brain. And he had seven kids and I was the oldest one. The baby was thirteen months old, and I had to help my mother raise those kids. I'm not bragging but I thought I did the best that I could for them at that time. I worked a full-time job while I was still going to school. And for two years I never received over six hours of sleep at night, because I had to come in and study. I wouldn't let this working interfere with my schooling at that time. My mother begged me not to. She didn't want me to work but I said, “Well, I'm going to have to help you, I promised Dad I would.” He talked to me about three hours before he passed and he asked me to help raise the kids, you know. He said, “Keep the family together,” and it stuck with me. I think about often now. And at that time, my mother was young, she was only thirty-two. So at today's standards, she'd still be known as a young girl at thirteen years old. So she almost lost her mind during that time but she bounced back out it. But with the help of my two grandmothers, we made it. Then my mother, she finally, you know, came out of it. You know, it was an emotional thing for her, lose her, you know, lose her husband with seven kids like that.

SMITH: How did you mother make a living, what did she do, what was her job?

PLATT: Well, she couldn't work at that time. Uh-huh, so it was. . . .you know, with social security back during that time for my father ‘cause he had worked at the post office for several years. So he left her some, you know, fairly good shape, and with me working a full-time job and everything. My brother that was next to me, he finally found him a good job so we survived.

SMITH: What was your job?

PLATT: Well, once I--one of my jobs I worked at the post office part time. First at the post office, at that time they were hiring at sixteen-year-olds, but now you have to be twenty-one. And once I worked at a naval base, which was Bainbridge Naval Base in Baltimore, and I worked in their commissary down there.

SMITH: So why did you decide to go into the military?

PLATT: Well, a lot of my friends were going in during that time. And like I said, I couldn't decide what I wanted to do, what degree area I wanted to go into when I was at junior college, so I said, “Well, I'd just go ahead and try the military.” But at time we hear a lot about the military, that they would help get education and everything, and they did. I received, uh, during the twenty years that I was in service--twenty-one years I was in service--every chance I had I picked up what education I could, you know, in the local colleges.

SMITH: Now what's your occupation today?

PLATT: My occupation now? I'm retired. [Laughter] In 1968 when I retired, they asked me to come to work down at Job Corps, if you all are familiar with Job Corps. And they used to, you know, try to hire as many ex-military people as possible because they felt that we were able to, you know, to hound the young kids, you know, from the experience in the military. So I went to work for them, and I worked for twenty-three and a half. My last fifteen years, I was a manager of the--they called it the Disciplinary Department--but actually it was the Standards Department that housed the Court System of Job Corps up here. And out of a hundred and twelve centers during that time, the Earl C. Clemons was the largest; so we were the flagship of all the Job Corps. And at one time I was on loan to the regional office, going around, you know, investigating the justice department--I mean the Justice Section, of the Job Corps because we were the flagship. During the time I was in the military, I received a lot of experience in the justice portion of life, because I was studying the courts in the military. I was working for the Provost Marshall's Office at one time in the military, and I was a Military Police for a while so I had a lot of experience in this. So I didn't have a problem, you know, getting into the area that I did at Job Corps. Then when I retired in 1968, I could have gone into corporate offices. It was an all-black corporation that at that time handled all the day-to-day operation of Job Corps and that was ( ) in Jackson, Mississippi. They wanted me to come but I didn't want to pull up stakes and move to another state.

SMITH: People kind of come here to Henderson and stay here, they don't ever go away. [Laughter.}

PLATT: I'd met a lot of people here, and had Ms. Johnson back during that time. I was still in the military; she knew my family, my wife; her sisters and their families and everything. And then I got involved in church activities in the military over at North Chapel, and I think you've been to the church over there and I said, "Well, I might as well just stay. Why go back to Baltimore?" During that time, a lot of my friends, they'd left town, and some of them was dead. I graduated, I guess, with something like about one hundred and fifteen; and I think half of that. . . .the last reunion, it was the fortieth reunion, I think that was in eighty-seven and, you know, we were looking at the list of deceased people we know and I said, [laughing} “And I'm still here.” [Laughter]

SMITH: Now when you went to school in Baltimore, how did you get there? Did you walk or ride the bus?

PLATT: Bus, walked. Most of your schools were pretty close but at that time I think there were six black high schools in Baltimore, uh-huh.

SMITH: So how many people were in your school altogether, can you remember?

PLATT: Not right off hand, no. That's one of those things that my carotid arteries ( ), [laughter] but they were large high schools, I don't remember the totals now.

SMITH: Now when you were in Henderson, when did you move to Henderson permanently?

PLATT: After I retired.

SMITH: Okay, so in 1968?

PLATT: Uh-huh. Built a home and . . .

SMITH: Where did you build your home?

PLATT: On the corner of South ( ).

SMITH: Now how did you decide on that lot to build your home?

PLATT: Well, see I had already owned a piece of property on that corner anyway when I was in the service. But once I was overseas, I couldn't take my wife me so we bought a house right on that corner where I am now. And then after I came back from overseas, she traveled with me to Fort Knox where I spent about three years . . .

SMITH: I'm from Radcliff . . . [laughing]

PLATT: I'm remembering you tell me about that [laughter]. I rented my house out for seven years. And then when I got out I couldn't find a piece of property like I wanted. I went out to some of the segregated. . . .and after they found out that I was black, well they wanted to jack up the prices and everything on property, you know. And I could have built there but I didn't want to, you know, just give away money because money came too hard, you know. So I decided to build right on the house, the lot that I owned now. I had the house torn down, I hated to because I had a lot of money in it. So I built that home and we've been there for thirty-two years now. It's a tri-level, looks almost as good as this one right here. [Laughing]

SMITH: Now when you came to Henderson, it was during the sixties, the end of the sixties, so that was a hot spot time as far as civil rights goes so how do you think this town accepted integration and the new legislation that was coming out?

PLATT: I think they did pretty well on their self, because of your small towns, you just don't have a lot of problems like big cities, you know. And I think it went quietly, but again in Henderson has got a lot of this underlying stuff, you know. People got underlying segregationism but they are just not loud with it or anything. And I think over the years, things have improved in Henderson quite a bit. In fact, I see a lot of improvement here but the only thing that is slow is the blacks moving up into positions, I think. But this is beginning to happen now you know. We have a black postmistress here, and she's been here just a few--just a couple of months. Ms. Johnson was the first one that ran for the School Board and she’s spent several years on that Board, And I think she Chairs it; for two terms I believe. Four terms? Four years on the Board and Chair? Eight years on the Board and four years as Chair, okay there we go. All I know if that I supported her during that time, you know, actually Chaired meetings. And I don't know if anybody else attempted to run for that Board, Ms. Johnson? I know Ms. . . .and I think ( ) has run, and whoever won is running this right now.

SMITH: You say things are improving, how do you see race relations in Henderson in the future?

PLATT: In the future? I think race relations in. . . . I think Henderson would eventually be a model for race relations . . .

SMITH: Oh, really! Why do you think it is going to be a model?

PLATT: Because, like I said, it is beginning to. . . .you begin to see blacks, you know, move into position now. And the other lady that has ran for the school now, she is doing well. We have had a black on the City Commission here. Now he went off because of some fray that was going on during that time between the City Commission. He got tied in with that thing as a supporter to some of the people that were already on the Commission. But our biggest problem here right now is that blacks are not proud or something; blacks not wanting to move up. You know, a lot of black folks, I guess--crisis-oriented people. And a lot of time they don't want to do anything unless something is happening, something big is going on, you know. But I think we will eventually be, like I said, become a model city, you know, for integration.

SMITH: What do you say to people who--a lot of young people I hear talking like this, that segregation is okay because we're just too different to be around each other? What do you say to people who think that?

PLATT: I don't know. I think we were all put on earth to live together for one thing, and I can see, you know, it will become a problem if we continue to be separated.

SMITH: What kind of problems do you think can arise if we live separately?

PLATT: If we live separately? For one thing, it would be no advancement for ( ).

SMITH: Now, we will get to your religion, if you please. Do you go to church regularly? Where do you go to church?

PLATT: Noah's Chapel.

SMITH: That's right and how long have you been a member?

PLATT: Well, I became a full-time member when I was retired in 1968, but I started there when I first came to Henderson. In fact, me and my wife got married in the church in 1953.

SMITH: That's a long time to be married! How important is church in you life?

PLATT: It is very important. My mother was a hard-core Baptist . . .

SMITH: A hard core Baptist! [Laughing]

PLATT: My father was Methodist but I guess she was stronger than he was so we all ended up, you know, as Methodists also.

SMITH: So it was something you grew up with?

PLATT: I'm strong about, you know, the Methodist denomination.

SMITH: Aren't you a Deacon, too?

PLATT: No.

SMITH: Oh, I thought you were a Deacon . . .

PLATT: I probably could have been but, you know, I just feel that everyone 's just not cut out to be a Deacon. I had my ideas about Deacon in that particular church, I've been asked by every pastor that's been there since they married us I guess. But I've been on the Trustee Board for many years now. In fact, I've been Chairing the Board for the last six years and I work very closely with the deacons.

SMITH: Now, let's talk about the NAACP. When did you become a member here at Henderson?

PLATT: When I retired in 1968.

SMITH: Okay, and eventually what offices did you hold in the group?

PLATT: Well, when I first became a member of the group, ( ) I worked for Dr. Burke, he was President. And he was involved in a lot of things, teaching school, pastoring two churches at that time; one in Henderson and one in Eddyville. And so right after. . . . immediately after I joined, I became Vice President and this was in 1971. And eventually, I guess in. . . . no, I became Vice President in sixty-nine, let me take that back. And I took over the branch in 1971.

SMITH: How long were you President?

PLATT: Still is.

SMITH: What?

PLATT: Longest one in the office in the state of Kentucky.

SMITH: Why do you participate in that group? Why is it a good experience for you?

PLATT: Well, I feel . . .

SMITH: You must like it . . .

PLATT: Well, one thing is I think the NAACP is needed across the country and around the world to help a lot of people. And so I felt. . . .I was having a hard time to run a branch, so I'm going to hold on until somebody else take over; because if the group goes down they will take the charter away. And it is a hard time to receive, you know, to receive charters now. It's hard to get a charter back once they take it away from you.

SMITH: How many members are there?

PLATT: Well, I think we got about sixty now, I think. At one time we had well over one hundred and we had something like twelve or thirteen life members and we only had one golden ( ).

SMITH: That's Johnson. [Laughter]

PLATT: Only one. I've been trying to get others, you know, and I think eventually I'll get. . . . I'm a life member; I've been a life member for I guess about twenty-five years. And I had better hurry up and start up on my golden ( ) before I get called home. [Laughter]

SMITH: Now tell me about what happened at the pool.

PLATT: At the pool? Okay, the pool deal.

SMITH: When was that?

PLATT: They tore out the all-black pool, and they didn't want to put it any money out on it. And so we decided to. . . . and then at the same time they were slowing accepting blacks at the all-white pool at the North end of town. And they had another white pool here at that time, too, which was the ( ) Pool, and I think they was in the process of tearing that one down because it wasn't in real good shape, so that was just going to leave the ( ) pool. So a bunch got together one time, I think it was the last date of swimming for that particular year—I already forgot what year it was now--so they decided to walk. And I had been out of town, and when I came back and I heard they were getting ready to march, you know. And somebody called me, I think it was the. . . .the police chief called me and asked me if I would go march it. No, just drive by and make sure they stay in, you know, peaceful, you know. So I said, “Okay.” So after I drove down there--I parked my car because they were meeting in town--I parked my car and said, “I might as well go walk with them.” And they went down and they jumped in the pool, and I think we haven't had any problem since. And there was a police car riding along beside us, you know, and I kept hearing my name over the radio, you know; so I guess they were discussing me at the time, you know. But we did it peacefully, and I'm glad that I got back in town, you know, in time before it started; because we had some kids here that didn't take too much.

SMITH: Now how were the police in Henderson? They were pretty cooperative and nice about it in calling you and letting you know what was going on?

PLATT: I have a pretty good rapport with my present police chief. And some of the past ones, too, that I had a few problems with but they understood me and I understood them. And we've had black policemen here, too, over the years but they don't stay because they go where the money is. We only have one black policeman on the force right now, and at one time we had four on at one time; but they would leave and go where the money is. And one to even make sergeant on the force, then he quit and went somewhere else.

SMITH: Now, I can't imagine not being able to swim in the pool with somebody else because of just color. Do you think that young people, even younger than me today, in schools are being taught what happened and how things were? Or do you think history is just, kind of, the civil rights movement is just a paragraph and then they keep on going and study Roman history? What do you think?

PLATT: Well, I think if they leave the kids alone, if the grown-ups would leave the kids alone, these die-hards, I think eventually they would ( ). I notice now how black and white kids, you know, they know to socialize and get along in school, and everything. I see them getting along much better than they did during my days when I was young. But I think if the old die-hards would leave, if the segregationists would leave the young people alone, I think things will just mellow in place, you know.

SMITH: What about other demonstrations that went on in Henderson, were there sit-ins and different things here, too?

PLATT: I think at one time, I marched when I first join the NAACP. The young people walked down on city hall once, they were asking something. I don't even recall what is was now. And so they marched on city hall and at that time Reverend Burch was still the President, I was Vice-President. And I come in from work that evening, I just joined them and we walked from the inner-black, you know, neighborhood down to the city building. And whatever they was asking for they was successful in it.

SMITH: So it seems like the Henderson government was pretty much okay, they see you all coming, and it's all right, it's okay. So what did you think about your all's experience compared to things that you saw on TV that were going on in, you know, Alabama and Mississippi where people were getting pretty much beating and bombed and . . .

PLATT: At that time I was just. . . .I didn't know too much about the activities in Henderson at that time because that was during the turbulent sixties, like the mid-sixties . . .

SMITH: And you were in Japan in the hospital?

PLATT: No, that was in the sixties, I was here in the states then.

SMITH: Oh, were you?

PLATT: In fact, we were on, they put us on alert. I was stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia, at one time and they put on alert for some of the things that were going on in the state of Georgia and also in Alabama. In fact, we flew to Alabama once, and they had us on alert and they had us out at one of the hangers at one of the Air Force, at one of the Air Force bases in Alabama.

END OF TAPE ONE SIDE ONE

BEGIN SIDE TWO TAPE ONE

SMITH: He was saying something about how he was on call in Georgia and Alabama during the turbulent sixties. So, you all were all on call waiting in a hanger just in case something happened?

PLATT: That's right, right, uh-huh. That was only one of the incidences in Alabama.

SMITH: Now, what did the military teach you as far as integration goes because you were the first black in your, in an all-white unit . . .

PLATT: Uh-huh, yeah.

SMITH: Now were you scared?

PLATT: No, I never was afraid of the military. It didn't, it didn't bother me. Too, I mean it wasn't that easy for--you know, when we first got started--no, but I never was afraid. I've always been--always been strong about things, you know; I've always hoped for the best in everything.

SMITH: Now when you walked in, when you brought your stuff in to wherever the unit was staying, the barracks, or however you were all were set up, what did people say to you or did anybody speak to you?

PLATT: Yeah, I had. . . . they treated me like a king.

SMITH: So they thought were pretty cool, huh? [Laughing]

PLATT: I don't know, I guess so if you called it cool back then.

SMITH: What would be the word back then, groovy? No, that was ( ).

PLATT: Another thing that went on in Henderson, too, back when they integrated schools, yeah. This was 1975, we were down to one teacher in the classroom --and Ms. Johnson will remember that--down to one teacher. One of my trips to Baltimore to, you know, visit my family in seventy-five; I drove over to Washington to--I'm trying to think what office I went to, and they reported what was going on here at Henderson. But anyway, I'll think about it eventually--anyway, they sent investigators here from the regional office out of Atlanta, and they sent a black guy, an investigator. He stayed here three days and during this time, he interviews teachers, interviews kids, and when he left he made his report out and everything. And during the next term, we ended up with twelve teachers in the classroom, and the term after that, I think, was up to about twenty I believe it was.

SMITH: Twenty black teachers?

PLATT: Uh-huh. Teachers, yeah.

SMITH: And this was in 1975?

PLATT: In seventy-five.

SMITH: What made you go to Washington?

PLATT: Because I got tired of what was going on here. It wasn't far from it anyway, from home you know, Baltimore, about thirty-eight miles. I just drove on over to--well, I'm trying to think, where I went, what office I went to . . .

SMITH: It those arteries!

PLATT: What did you say?

SMITH: It's your arteries! [Laughter] Now, that took guts, it really did! And so, by three or four years later, you had twenty black teachers in the school system?

PLATT: Uh-huh.

SMITH: Okay, and this is in Henderson County?

PLATT: In Henderson, well Henderson County, yes where the school was at.

SMITH: Why do you think it is important for the school system to have black teachers?

PLATT: I think there should be a mixture that way the kids use to seeing black and white and I think it is just the right thing to do.

SMITH: What do you think about today's education system? Do you think that we need more minority teachers?

PLATT: Yeah, I think that we need more because I think a lot of our minority teachers are going to where the money is, I guess. {laughing} And we just don't have that many in the classroom, you know, in the education field that we did several years ago. More things now are in industry, young people when they going to school now, rather than just teaching, most of them go where the money is now.

SMITH: Now when you daughters ask you about the civil right movement and the things that you did, what kind of stories do you tell them?

PLATT: [Laughing] Well, I just tell them, you know, what actually happened and everything.

SMITH: Do you think young people know what happened?

PLATT: Yeah, I think most comes from history, history books and from stories. I think they're pretty well educated on what, you know, went on. They may not understand the full force of it, though, but I think they understand what went on.

SMITH: How do you think the role of the NAACP has changed from then until today in Henderson?

PLATT: Well, uh, I think the role from the earlier days to the present days, I think we have a different role now, you know, in the NAACP. And, there's not like, you know, during the turbulent days when the NAACP was out there, you know, fighting along with everybody else. There's more of an educational point now. I wish I had brought, I had a paper that I had that I could have explained everything exactly what the NAACP is doing right now.

SMITH: So it's more of an educational emphasis now?

PLATT: Uh-huh.

SMITH: Do you . . .

PLATT: In fact, we don't have as many complaints like we use to. I know I just finished up one out at Arcade where the blacks, the black employees out there had a problem, you know, with the leadership out at their plant. We worked with them for about four or five months and got things ironed out and everything along with their attorney which was based in Ohio. And we did that without a whole lot of publicity. You know, a lot of people didn't even know it. We had some of the big officials, the plant manager, the people over the personnel, I mean just a big wheel. And they put us at Seventh Street Baptist Church one Saturday, I mean, they just took off and came. And we had all the blacks there, the one that in position of at Arcade, and we handled that under the table, you know, without a whole lot of publicity. But the black employees, they, they were really satisfied on how the thing came out. And they really did have a lot of complaints about the way they were treated.

SMITH: So you're advocate for people, too, in the NAACP?

PLATT: I try to be. [Laughing]

SMITH: Okay. And how long do you plan on remaining president?

PLATT: As soon as somebody takes over. I'm going to stop working real soon because I'm not as young as I used to be and once you get that three scores and ten, I think it's time to slow down. I've been retired for ten years but I've stayed busy with these organizations. I'm on the Regional Area Development which have things for the seven-county area. I'm on the Executive Board for the ( ) and I'm also on the Executive Board for the Audubon area.

SMITH: Of the Audubon area . . .

PLATT: I've just come off the Chamber. I was on the Chamber, I guess, for five years I think it was.

SMITH: Why are you so involved?

PLATT: Well, anything I can do to help somebody. And another thing, it keeps me from, you know, becoming relaxed. And I think that's one of the problems, people retire and then sit down. I have very few medical problems right now, and I think that's a big help to--by being involved and I do, I exercise a lot, too. But I guess I just got accustomed of helping people, and not only just I would say a civil rights figure and other areas; I do a lot of personal things for people, too, you know, to help them out. I don't like to sit down. [Laughter - Smith] I get up early every morning . . .

SMITH: Me, neither. I'm nervous, that's why . . .

PLATT: Out of the bed at 5:30, no later than 5:30 every morning.

SMITH: Now have you ever faced any kind of racism as far as stores in Henderson or police officers in Henderson throughout your years here?

PLATT: Well, when I first took over the NAACP, I had a lot of policemen used to follow me all the time. And so I got mad one day [laughter--Smith] and I stopped and I asked one policeman why was he following me. And he said, "Well, I wasn't following you, I was following the car in front of you." I said, "Well, you wasn't behind him, you wasn't in front of me, you was behind me." I said, "You followed me for about six or eight blocks." And I got mad then. I left and went straight to the police office. The police, I forgot who was the chief during that time, and so his receptionist, I went in and asked for him. She said, “Well, he's not in.” And I could look right, the way he was sitting, his door was cracked, and she didn't know it. So I just went around her desk and went on, went straight on in. He said, "Oh, how are you Mr. Platt?" I said, “Fine.” I said, "I want to tell you something, Chief, I'm not doing anything that, you know, not breaking no laws or anything and I want your policeman to stay off my tail. If he don't you all going to hear from me." So I never did have no more trouble. And once up at Wal-Mart—several years ago I was on Habitat for a long time, too--they had me in charge of a car that we were raffling off at the time, you know, so I pulled my car up to take some paint in the private car--to take some paint out to put in the raffle car, I forgot what it was now. And so the policeman drove by where I was parked, it was a no parking zone but I was right there in the car, you know. So they had this little young policeman on and he come out and he said, "Well you're in a, you know, a no parking zone.” I said, "I can see that. I said this raffle car is, too." I said, "What are you going to do with that?" But we had gotten permission from Wal-Mart to park it there, you know. He said, "I'm going to have to write you up." I said, "Go ahead." He said, "Well, suppose the fire trucks or something, you know, come up, emergency ambulance or something." I said, "If I see them coming, I'll just move my car." [Laughing - Smith] And so he wrote me up anyway. They say he had a history of writing up people, you know. So the next day I took it, took the ticket down to them and explained to Ed, you know Ed ( ) our present Chief who is on now; and I explained to him and he just took the ticket and tore it up, you know. So they do little things like that something to try to aggravate, you know.

SMITH: What do you think about all of this, right now because it is an election year everybody is talking about racial profiling, what do you think about that?

PLATT: I think we have a little of it here but it's not that big. I get a lot of reports on it but once I get a report on somebody, you know, who think they are being involved in racial profiling. What I do, I direct this person directly to the police chief. Like I said , we have a pretty good rapport and sit them with the ( ). And I've gone with them, you know, to sit with the police chief, you know. And I think they pretty well get on it. We haven't have a big problem here in Henderson with profiling. One thing, everybody in Henderson know everybody. Most of the people know the policemen. I see policemen stopping all up and down the street, guys talking to them and some of the young people; I think some of the young people here they've got pretty good rapport with them, too. We do get some complaints but ( ).

SMITH: If there is anything you can change about Henderson, what would it be?

PLATT: I tell you what I'd like to see, more black businesses. That's one of the problems we've had over the years. Just about all the black businesses are gone, that’s one of the problems-- white families--and I guess I would like to see more black businesses.

SMITH: How did it get like that? Did families just move?

PLATT: They just moved and people not interested in business, I guess. Other than a barbershop or a beauty shop here and there, we do have a young man here that has an insurance agency and he's doing really well.

SMITH: There's a funeral home, too, isn't there?

PLATT: Well, it was . . . [Laughing]

SMITH: Oh, oops!

PLATT: They went by the wayside, I think, uh-huh. Rita, the lady, died that owned the funeral home. Another one try to take over from Evansville but business wasn't that good. It's been closed for some time. But we do have a funeral home in Evansville which is Mason, and they take care of most of the black, you know. [Interruption - Ms. Johnson speaking.] Oh, yes, they have one I guess they call that—they don’t do business here, they just use the Chapel usually.

SMITH: Do you think you made the right decision to raise your children here?

PLATT: I think I did. Rather than go to Baltimore, I know I did. [Laughter]

SMITH: See my father is from Chicago and he made the same decision.

PLATT: So you know about big city life, too, huh?

SMITH: Well, I was at . . . he raised us in Radcliff after he retired. He was in for thirty years.

PLATT: Is that right?

SMITH: Uh-huh . . .

PLATT: Do you still in the Radcliff area?

SMITH: Well, I'm in Bowling Green now going to school but . . .

PLATT: Oh, oh, yeah. I think he was telling me. They came here during that time, too. I think I met them, yeah, uh-uh.

SMITH: Yeah, uh-huh. That little crazy man, always eating, that's my father. [Laughter] Now is there anything else that you would like to add that you don't think I covered?

PLATT: I don't think so. Any other questions you want to ask me?

SMITH: No, I think we got it all. Oh, wait, what are your parents' names?

PLATT: My parents?

SMITH: Uh-huh.

PLATT: My father was Robert, Robert Lee Platt.

SMITH: And your mother?

PLATT: My mother was Mary Elizabeth.

SMITH: Mary Elizabeth? Okay. I want to make sure I got, August 29, 1929, is your birthday? All right, good to go. Thank you so much.

PLATT: That was a long time ago wasn't it.. [Laughter]

END OF INTERVIEW