the three R's

The first thing that I did for [the three R’s] project was take my one mile trip on the Greensboro Public Transportation Bus, which by the why I was terrified about doing. It is difficult when you are from the small town of Boone and you are not use to riding public transportation throughout a large city. After all was said and done I realized that it wasn’t as bad as I had dreamed it would be. Things that stuck out to me along the way to my destination were several bridges, whether they were for trains or cars, lots of tall city buildings, and old signs or fancy street adornments. By this I don’t mean any harm to anybody, but I feel that through the participant observation that I concluded a large majority of the people riding the bus were not Caucasian and most appeared to be in the working middle or lower class.

I don’t know if riding the bus first had any influence on my reading but I do know that I would have done things differently if I had of known more about the project. I would like to admit that after completing the reading assignment I wished I had read first and then gone on my bus ride along. I was actually somewhat disappointed in the decision I had made. I felt that if I had completed the reading first I would have been looking for completely different things throughout Greensboro. Since I did the riding assignment first I found myself looking more at bridges, roads, and signs. If I had of completed the reading first then I feel that people, and historical buildings would have caught my attention. In an overall sense I was quite disappointed in my decision and thought process.

Before reading this article I had heard of the sit-in at the Woolworth’s Drug Store, but I had no earthly idea how big of deal it had become. In a sense this has made Greensboro quite famous for fathering the beginnings of a long journey to equal rights for all people no matter their skin color. Several aspects that caught my attention in the reading were the instances were blacks were having trouble transferring to different schools because they were in closer proximity to their homes. The local school board was not allowing them to change to an all white school solely because of the color of their skin. This was the beginning of many things to come. Something that also caught my attention was the way the African American teachers of these students never let them give up. They were always trying to teach them their rights and the issues at hand. I found this to be brave and admiring. I feel that these very teachings had something to do with the incentive to conduct the well-known sit-ins.

I have learned from these experiences that Greensboro, the Gate City, has a most important past that still relates to those of us today. One must truly know about the history of a place to learn about its people and their thoughts. The idea of having public transportation today is almost astonishing because during the 1960’s this most likely did not exist. Public Transportation would have only referred to the local white people. Today is a completely different world in the fact that things are no longer segregated and something just as simple as the city wide public transportation is free to the use of all people, all colors.