Chapter 1 My High school experience My early school experience was normal with few outstanding memories; but my high-school period was very memorable. All of my elementary and high school education was in the public schools of that small Indiana town. The City was highly segregated which meant that I did not attend a racially-mixed school until junior high school. One day while walking from class through the parking lot of the high school which I was attending, the choral director of the school choir heard me singing. This was nothing unusual since I always would sing as I walked. The music teacher introduced herself as the director of the high school choir, and invited me to come to her office for a voice test. After that test, I was invited to join the high school choir and that was the beginning of a whole new experience in high school. At that point, high school began to take on a new meaning and relevance. The neighborhood in which our family lived was racially mixed, and my best childhood friend was a white boy about my age who lived a few doors down the street from our house. We played together; but when we would go the the drug store for ice-cream and other treats, my white friend was allowed to eat his ice-cream cone in the store; but I would have to eat mine outside of the store. This made a very negative impression on me, so when the high school music teacher invited me to join a very close-knit musical group, it opened up a whole new world of acceptance and positive friendships across racial lines. |
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