Oral History Interview with James Howard

HOWARD: Well, I can't say it was necessarily that I wanted to attend the all-white school here in Sturgis. I wanted to attend the school here in Sturgis. There was a school approximately six blocks from my house. And I really saw no need to have to get up early in the morning each day, to catch a bus to ride to Morganfield, Kentucky to go to school. So that was my primary reason for wanting to go to school there was a school close by. Was more of a learning opportunity here in Sturgis than there was in Morganfield. There was a school in Dunbar, and that was the name of the school, Dunbar High School in Morganfield. It was really about a four room building with two restrooms and one office. Ah, where, and there wasn't that many classes that were offered. There was no chemistry, no lab, nothing like that. Which all of those things were available here in Sturgis. So clearly the children who were going to school here in Sturgis had far more of an opportunity for learning, and a far more expansive learning experience than there was available there at Dunbar.

HOWARD: If you are speaking of the first day in 1956, ah, it was really uneventful. The first day that I went, when I went out there I saw some kids that I had played with as a young kid ah, growing up. And quite honestly they welcomed me to the school when I first went in, they said, "Oh are you coming out here?" The answer was, "Yes." And it was a pretty decent response from the children, I can't say that was the general attitude of some of the teachers. But as far as the children, it really wasn't a problem on the first day in 1956

BRINSON: And at what point did things begin to escalate?

HOWARD: On the second day. On the second day when I went there, there was a crowd of people there that had, oh, shovels, pitch forks that were outside of the school name-calling, and, ah, then it began to increase.

BRINSON: What kinds of names?

HOWARD: Oh, nigger. Go home nigger. Who wants you niggers here? Burr-head go home. Why are you coming here, can't you go to your own school; stick with your own kind. Those are some of the things that were being said during that period of time.

HOWARD: The State Police and the National Guard were called in, I believe it was on the third day that we went in; because over the week end-I-if I--if my memory serves me correctly we had gone in the middle of the week. It was either a Wednesday or Thursday. And then it was over during the week-end that people came from all around. Not only individuals from Sturgis, and not only individuals who had children in Sturgis, but people from all around the county ah, that had come in to voice their disagreement about ah, about our attending the school there at Sturgis. So it was after that, that ah, that they, they were called in. That they being the Guard. I guess my initial recollection of them were seeing the tanks and seeing the soldiers and walking around town; and quite frankly it was somewhat comforting to see them present, because given the attitude of the people who were here, it was close to a riot. Ah, there were many statements being made of what would be done for those of us who were going to school and certainly what would happen with our parents and anyone else who participated in our attending school there.

BRINSON: Do you remember any of the specific statements that were being made, what kinds of threats?

HOWARD: Oh there were threats about, "Oh, you niggers won't live to see another day if you come back to school here. Any niggers that have any--ah, have any kids out here won't have a job if you continue to go." Those were some of the kinds of threats that were made. Ah, and in this--in--in this close society, and it was a close society back in 1956. This area of the city was called Boxtown, which was all black. And it was called Boxtown because many of the houses, back in those days in the black community, were originally made out of old crates, and so therefore, it was called Boxtown. And, but most of the blacks, in fact all of the blacks lived in this area, and they spoke to--about burning the entire Boxtown down. So those were some of the comments that were being made.

HOWARD: Well, I don't know, ah, how you can explain this. Ah, after school I went into the military and I had an opportunity to serve in southeast Asia. And I know it is difficult to imagine that you might be able to associate that experience with war. But the emotion and the anxiety level that would be in something such as that. But I, I've--I sort of associate that with the anxiety level of being that high; of not knowing because we were threatened to be killed at any point in time. With someone hollering out, "We will kill you damn niggers. If you niggers show back up today you won't live the night." With the expectation that that may really be real. That we may not live through this. So yes, it was an extremely emotional time with a great deal of anxiety, I think from every one. Certainly from all of us children.

HOWARD: It wasn't just a case of my feeling that I was in physical danger: I was spit on, I had rock--ah, eggs thrown on me, tomatoes thrown on me, I was hit with rocks, I was kicked, I was pushed, I was shoved. So it wasn't just whether I felt that I was in danger, it was real. Clearly there were two sets of rules, ah, from the outset; there were one for black children; there was one for white children. Any black child who put up any resistance at any time was expelled. And that was made very clear to us: if you do anything that will violate--if there were any infractions of any rules, for anything, you would be expelled. That's the reason that I did not ...

BRINSON: And what about the white children? What were the rules for them?

HOWARD: There were a different set of rules for them. They participated in the name-calling, they participated in the spitting, the hitting, the shoving, the kicking. Ah, they were not expelled.

HOWARD: Ah, the Boxtown, the area is really comprised of approximately two and one-half blocks. Once you were outside of Boxtown then there were people all alongside the road. It was very comforting to have a Highway Patrolman, knowing that they were there, and that they were there to protect us from serious physical harm on our way to school. And that did happen. Had they not been there, there is little question in my mind that more would have happened to us, other than being--having rocks or eggs or tomatoes thrown at us. And we would have clearly been seriously harmed. there is not question in my mind that would have happened.

BRINSON: I am interested in knowing the level of the crowd as you walked down.

HOWARD: Well, it's, it's really hard to--for me to comment on what the noise level would have been at that point in time. To me it was horrendous. Ah, ah, you would hear the name calling, you would see the jeers, you would--it was--it was deafening. It was, what you might imagine--at least to me at the time-what you might imagine at a--at a Kentucky--at a University of Kentucky basketball game: When the University of Kentucky is alive with one point down and the last few seconds and someone is up making a basket--if you can possibly vision that, that's about what it was like.

HOWARD: Well, I don't recall that there was a conscious decision of inclusion or exclusion in terms of who was going to attend. It was just a clear case if, of if you want to attend Sturgis, you could. So all the black kids who lived in this area, not only in Boxtown; but there's a little community outside of Box--out of Sturgis, and it is referred to as Number One. Number One being, that the coal mines used to be labeled number--coal mine number one; and there would be a community that was, ah, ah, a community of people that lived close to that coal mine. So there were a lot of black people who lived out close to the number one coal mine. So there were kids who lived there who also attended during that period of time--who attended, who wanted to attend Sturgis. So it wasn't a case of a selection of students, for example only those who were academically, more likely to be more successful. There were no exclusions. It was the black kids who wanted to attend Sturgis, just chose to attend. And that was in the first year in 1956. There were no exclusions or inclusions based on any particular criteria that I recall.

HOWARD: Oh there, there were some repercussions for their display of friendliness toward the Black kids. Ah, for example if we were assaulted then individuals may be arrested by the State Police. That wasn't the case when the other white children beat up the white kids who were friendly towards the blacks. They may be beaten, spit on, cursed and certainly they were ostracized in their own community, for no other reason than they didn't participate in name calling, or cursing or any agitation towards us. And because that, they, they were simply ostracized in their own community. So in many, in many ways they paid as big a price as many of the black students that they befriended.