Slow Poke and Governor Bob Scott

[donbosco]

Possums are pretty North Carolinian I guess. They’re always there — in the road — most often squashed. I’ve never eaten one and don’t plan to even if it means I’ll never be one of former Governor Kerr Scott’s ‘Country Squires.’ Deddy and I would come up on possum trees sometimes when we were walking the pasture counting cows (something that I’ve always thought was one of his favorite things in life) and he would always say, “I’ll tell Old Claude Davis about that nest. He’s a possum-eater.” I don’t know if he did or not. I knew that we weren’t possum-eaters, though I did suspect that my Grandpa Dunn was, and I was fine with that.

The first Governor I really remember was Bob Scott. He was from Alamance County and billed as “the farmer’s friend.” His father was the previously mentioned Kerr Scott (pronounced Car) who had been a New Dealer and served in that office from ‘49 to ‘53. I knew from dinner table lore that my father had liked him. Son Bob was kind of a natural for the job it seemed to many. This was the tale-end days of NC being a one-party state with the ideological stretch mainly all taking place within the bounds of the Democratic Party. Example being liberal Frank Porter Graham on one end and Jesse Helms on the other throughout most of the 1960s (Helms flew that coop to the GOP in 1970 and never looked back) Bob Scott was youngish, country-seeming, and safely not-radical, the status quo being clearly dear to him. Still, his father had rocked the boat at times with his allegiance to the slow progressivism of FDR.

In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when Son Bob was Governor the Vietnam War was hot button but even bigger locally was school desegregation and across the state conflict over race was in the air. In 1969 Scott had ordered the National Guard to ransack dorms at HBCU North Carolina A&T University and Greensboro police had done worse, opening fire on AFAM students there. (Read here: The Day the National Guard Raided a Dorm in North Carolina ) Scott didn’t want to deal with integration — most white people in power in North Carolina wanted to slide it to the back, look away, foot-drag, and otherwise hem ‘n haw.

Throughout The South individual school systems as well as the State had used the courts to obfuscate and had done a good job dating back to Brown v BOE Topeka KS 1954, but by 1970 things were drawing to a head all around. Schools would desegregate.

Into the midst of that political turmoil skittered “Slow Poke the Prettiest Possum in the State.” At the Spivey’s Corner Hollerin’ Contest, then only in its second year, Slow Poke had won the crown. Bob Scott, obviously in homage to his Deddy, proclaimed he would dine on Slow Poke in the Governor’s Mansion. It was the kind of stunt that Kerr Scott pulled nigh every week but the son was not the father and it back-fired. The outcry was strong — ‘Spare Slow Poke!’ Newspapers made a big deal of it. And the possum was pardoned. Maybe it was a slight indicator of both demographic change in The Old North State over the lifetimes of the Scotts — A little less rural, less farm-family, less hunt and gather?

For a few days it was a distraction for some from the weighty realities of inequality. And it is likely that even folks that sat at the far ends of the gamut politically got at least a smile. Bob Scott also got a great quote out of the kerfluffle: “I shall not be thwarted in my appetite for opossum.” And in honor of his father he did just that a few years later in a black-tie affair at the Governor’s Mansion where opossum did indeed appear on the menu.

~ Don Bosco

#OTD (July 31) in 1970 Gov. Bob Scott pardoned Slow Poke, The Winner of Prettiest Possum at Hollerin’ Contest. Slated as The main course at an Executive Banquet, Tar Heels rose up in protest. Scott relented & Slow Poke was freed. A Possum Is Pardoned By Gov. Scott

 

[mpaer]

When Meg was gonna go to college in Chapel Hill-suddenly Highway 54 from Alamanace got widened a bit

 

[grimes70]

Possums are pretty North Carolinian I guess. They’re always there — in the road — most often squashed. I’ve never eaten one and don’t plan to even if it means I’ll never be one of former Governor Kerr Scott’s ‘Country Squires.’ Deddy and I would come up on possum trees sometimes when we were walking the pasture counting cows (something that I’ve always thought was one of his favorite things in life) and he would always say, “I’ll tell Old Claude Davis about that nest. He’s a possum-eater.” I don’t know if he did or not. I knew that we weren’t possum-eaters, though I did suspect that my Grandpa Dunn was, and I was fine with that.

The first Governor I really remember was Bob Scott. He was from Alamance County and billed as “the farmer’s friend.” His father was the previously mentioned Kerr Scott (pronounced Car) who had been a New Dealer and served in that office from ‘49 to ‘53. I knew from dinner table lore that my father had liked him. Son Bob was kind of a natural for the job it seemed to many. This was the tale-end days of NC being a one-party state with the ideological stretch mainly all taking place within the bounds of the Democratic Party. Example being liberal Frank Porter Graham on one end and Jesse Helms on the other throughout most of the 1960s (Helms flew that coop to the GOP in 1970 and never looked back) Bob Scott was youngish, country-seeming, and safely not-radical, the status quo being clearly dear to him. Still, his father had rocked the boat at times with his allegiance to the slow progressivism of FDR.

In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when Son Bob was Governor the Vietnam War was hot button but even bigger locally was school desegregation and across the state conflict over race was in the air. In 1969 Scott had ordered the National Guard to ransack dorms at HBCU North Carolina A&T University and Greensboro police had done worse, opening fire on AFAM students there. (Read here: The Day the National Guard Raided a Dorm in North Carolina ) Scott didn’t want to deal with integration — most white people in power in North Carolina wanted to slide it to the back, look away, foot-drag, and otherwise hem ‘n haw.

Throughout The South individual school systems as well as the State had used the courts to obfuscate and had done a good job dating back to Brown v BOE Topeka KS 1954, but by 1970 things were drawing to a head all around. Schools would desegregate.

Into the midst of that political turmoil skittered “Slow Poke the Prettiest Possum in the State.” At the Spivey’s Corner Hollerin’ Contest, then only in its second year, Slow Poke had won the crown. Bob Scott, obviously in homage to his Deddy, proclaimed he would dine on Slow Poke in the Governor’s Mansion. It was the kind of stunt that Kerr Scott pulled nigh every week but the son was not the father and it back-fired. The outcry was strong — ‘Spare Slow Poke!’ Newspapers made a big deal of it. And the possum was pardoned. Maybe it was a slight indicator of both demographic change in The Old North State over the lifetimes of the Scotts — A little less rural, less farm-family, less hunt and gather?

For a few days it was a distraction for some from the weighty realities of inequality. And it is likely that even folks that sat at the far ends of the gamut politically got at least a smile. Bob Scott also got a great quote out of the kerfluffle: “I shall not be thwarted in my appetite for opossum.” And in honor of his father he did just that a few years later in a black-tie affair at the Governor’s Mansion where opossum did indeed appear on the menu.

~ Don Bosco

#OTD (July 31) in 1970 Gov. Bob Scott pardoned Slow Poke, The Winner of Prettiest Possum at Hollerin’ Contest. Slated as The main course at an Executive Banquet, Tar Heels rose up in protest. Scott relented & Slow Poke was freed. A Possum Is Pardoned By Gov. Scott

My sister is good friends with one of Bob's daughters. I could recount stories but best to leave them be.

 

[donbosco]

My now-deceased aunt and young Bob dated in high school.

 

[05C40]

In re "Integration" of NC Public Schools, my recollection is as follows. In the 1963-4 school year, 4th grade for me, the "Freedom of Choice" plan was instituted. One black family, with three daughters, "chose" to send their daughters to the white public school. During recess a new game arose. A white student would touch one of the three black girls and would then "wipe" that touch off on someone else. This second person would then wipe the "colored" touch off themselves and chase someone else until they had wiped the touch on them. And on it would go until recess was over and the last white student having "the touch" would go to the bathroom and wash it off. The teachers supervising recess did nothing. Also, within a month of these three black girls being enrolled in the white school, their exercise of "Freedom of Choice" resulted in all three of them being placed in "Special Education" classes.

Next in the 1966-7 school year, the 7th grade for me, the entire 7th grade of the black school was transferred to the white school. And it was announced that this process would be repeated for the next six years until complete integration was achieved. The Superintendent of Public Schools in my county was fired and the next year "Freedom of Choice" was reinstated, except for my year which, oddly enough, remained integrated.

Next, in the 1969-70 school year (my sophomore year in high school) it was announced that the black and white high schools would be completely integrated for the next year (1970-71), the white high school would shift from a four year high school (freshman to senior) to a three year high (sophomore to senior), and the black high school would be closed. All sorts of committees, made up of students from both high schools were formed to address everything from what courses would be taught, to what clubs would remain, to the school's new colors, to the sports teams' mascot. I signed up to advise on what the new curriculum would look like. My committee never met. Only two committes met: school colors and school mascot. After the committees met and made their recommendations, the white high coaches said that the school colors couldn't be changed because that cost too much money. The student committee had recommended that the white school mascot of Vikings and the black school mascot of Tigers both be discarded and the new mascot should be the Panthers. The biggest of the old white schools that had existed before consolidation (1966) into one big white school had the Panthers mascot. And the students of the black high school liked Panthers also. The principal of the white high school summarily dismissed the students' recommendation and pronounced the new mascot would be the "Saints."

I cannot even imagine how awful of a time that must have been for the black students. I cannot imagine how this "integration" could have been handled any worse. It's almost as if the white people running things believed that if they made it a big enough cluster$#%&, then people would think that integration was a mistake. Integration of public schools in the South was deliberately sabotaged and strangled in the crib.

 

[mpaer]

In re "Integration" of NC Public Schools, my recollection is as follows. In the 1963-4 school year, 4th grade for me, the "Freedom of Choice" plan was instituted. One black family, with three daughters, "chose" to send their daughters to the white public school. During recess a new game arose. A white student would touch one of the three black girls and would then "wipe" that touch off on someone else. This second person would then wipe the "colored" touch off themselves and chase someone else until they had wiped the touch on them. And on it would go until recess was over and the last white student having "the touch" would go to the bathroom and wash it off. The teachers supervising recess did nothing. Also, within a month of these three black girls being enrolled in the white school, their exercise of "Freedom of Choice" resulted in all three of them being placed in "Special Education" classes.

Next in the 1966-7 school year, the 7th grade for me, the entire 7th grade of the black school was transferred to the white school. And it was announced that this process would be repeated for the next six years until complete integration was achieved. The Superintendent of Public Schools in my county was fired and the next year "Freedom of Choice" was reinstated, except for my year which, oddly enough, remained integrated.

Next, in the 1969-70 school year (my sophomore year in high school) it was announced that the black and white high schools would be completely integrated for the next year (1970-71), the white high school would shift from a four year high school (freshman to senior) to a three year high (sophomore to senior), and the black high school would be closed. All sorts of committees, made up of students from both high schools were formed to address everything from what courses would be taught, to what clubs would remain, to the school's new colors, to the sports teams' mascot. I signed up to advise on what the new curriculum would look like. My committee never met. Only two committes met: school colors and school mascot. After the committees met and made their recommendations, the white high coaches said that the school colors couldn't be changed because that cost too much money. The student committee had recommended that the white school mascot of Vikings and the black school mascot of Tigers both be discarded and the new mascot should be the Panthers. The biggest of the old white schools that had existed before consolidation (1966) into one big white school had the Panthers mascot. And the students of the black high school liked Panthers also. The principal of the white high school summarily dismissed the students' recommendation and pronounced the new mascot would be the "Saints."

I cannot even imagine how awful of a time that must have been for the black students. I cannot imagine how this "integration" could have been handled any worse. It's almost as if the white people running things believed that if they made it a big enough cluster$#%&, then people would think that integration was a mistake. Integration of public schools in the South was deliberately sabotaged and strangled in the crib.

I was in second grade At my school -Estes Hills Elementary -there were a few families that chose to come there. Two "goups" One was a few families whose parents were the absolute Civil rights leaders in town . Children were smart , confident , some of them very tall. Then there were a few kids who lived in a couple of Historically Black neighborhoods within walking distance of the school. In some cases they had wood stove heating etc-some never had lunch.......
But there were no such games as you mentioned at my school-because the group A above kids (boys , all boys)-would have crushed every creep that dared to do it Nice kids , funny kids -but they would not take one ounce of sh&t.
donbosco-sorry I know I am off topic-yes it was Terry Sanford who instituted freedom of choice

 

[Zoo_View]

I was in second grade At my school -Estes Hills Elementary -there were a few families that chose to come there. Two "goups" One was a few families whose parents were the absolute Civil rights leaders in town . Children were smart , confident , some of them very tall. Then there were a few kids who lived in a couple of Historically Black neighborhoods within walking distance of the school. In some cases they had wood stove heating etc-some never had lunch.......
But there were no such games as you mentioned at my school-because the group A above kids (boys , all boys)-would have crushed every creep that dared to do it Nice kids , funny kids -but they would not take one ounce of sh&t.
donbosco-sorry I know I am off topic-yes it was Terry Sanford who instituted freedom of choice

If I have this correct, I was in the 2nd class in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools to be integrated from the first day of 1st grade. This was Fall 1968.

Integrating meant Northside Elementary and Lincoln High School (which was the black junior high as well, IIRC) closed.

Blacks at Estes Hills came from part of Northside and the Eubanks Road neighborhood north of town (you know, by the town dump; gotta put the dump by the blacks).

When I was in about 3rd grade, the school system proposed sending my neighborhood to Carrboro Elementary (which was country as hell/white working class and blacker than Estes Hills)….that caused an uproar.

Chapel Hill in the late ‘60’s was definitely “town and gown;” or, “town v. gown.” Many townies were reactionary bigots (see the family that owned Brady’s); not all gownies were liberal.

 

[donbosco]

I was in the 3rd grade (1967) at Bonlee Elementary School in Chatham County, NC when the first steps, ostensibly voluntary, were taken toward desegregating public schools. I know I have both friends that experienced this as well as some that may have tried to chronicle it. I’m wondering about the thoughts and memories that any of y’all may have. Feel welcome to write me via personal message/messenger if you’d rather not comment publicly. I would love to hear your stories.

A friend from Siler City wrote this to me:

“What I remember is that there was a letter that was sent to every family that went to Chatham High School (AFAM school). This letter was before the year of school term 67-68. Asking would they like for their kids to attend the “white” schools a year earlier to be comfortable with the new schools. Parents were asked to send the letters back yes/no and the necessary information if the child was going on earlier. My parents decided to let us stay on at CHS. My sister was a senior, and I was in the eighth grade. I asked my sister and we counted about 10 students who went to JM (Jordan-Matthews) for that early year. One I do know hated it…felt the resentment from the the students. Those that played sports had it a bit easier. Riding the bus was terrible too I heard them say, the N word was used daily. I hope this little bit helps.”

A friend who was a teacher at the time wrote: “That ‘freedom of choice’ plan did not result in many transfers…There was a lot of turmoil and bitterness. We managed to have co-ed square dancing the first year of integration (that got me a call from Perry Harrison the night before we were to begin!), (there was) the riot at the high school, (and) the Chatham Central students who were going to march from Bear Creek to Pittsboro, and numerous other aspects.”

Also: “At Bonlee elementary there were about 30 kids in my grade that year — there were 4 African American kids that ‘came over.’ I think one more came into my class the following year. I can count the photos in the school yearbooks for proof. It appears from looking at the annual that it was in 6th grade, 1969-70, when the wholesale "change over" occurred at Bonlee school. I remember agitation...there was a lot of it surrounding the buses...which were segregated at Bonlee. Bus #82, which carried all of the African American kids had rocks thrown at it by some white kids and the taunt, "82 -- jigaboo" was chanted over and over in the afternoon at load up time.”

At the link immediately below are the findings and stories gathered in a study begun in 2008 by Dr. Millicent E. Brown titled “Somebody Had To Do It.” It brings a solid focus on that similar process in South Carolina with some spill-over into other states it appears. Many other parts of the country need these kind of projects to capture the narrative before it is too late. We’re not getting younger and those stories need to be told.

Somebody Had To Do It: First Children in School Desegregation · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative

ldhi.library.cofc.edu

The newspaper clipping below is from the July 20, 1967 ‘Chatham Record,’ a weekly published in Pittsboro, the county seat of Chatham.

 

[Zoo_View]

I was in the 3rd grade (1967) at Bonlee Elementary School in Chatham County, NC when the first steps, ostensibly voluntary, were taken toward desegregating public schools. I know I have both friends that experienced this as well as some that may have tried to chronicle it. I’m wondering about the thoughts and memories that any of y’all may have. Feel welcome to write me via personal message/messenger if you’d rather not comment publicly. I would love to hear your stories.

A friend from Siler City wrote this to me:

“What I remember is that there was a letter that was sent to every family that went to Chatham High School (AFAM school). This letter was before the year of school term 67-68. Asking would they like for their kids to attend the “white” schools a year earlier to be comfortable with the new schools. Parents were asked to send the letters back yes/no and the necessary information if the child was going on earlier. My parents decided to let us stay on at CHS. My sister was a senior, and I was in the eighth grade. I asked my sister and we counted about 10 students who went to JM (Jordan-Matthews) for that early year. One I do know hated it…felt the resentment from the the students. Those that played sports had it a bit easier. Riding the bus was terrible too I heard them say, the N word was used daily. I hope this little bit helps.”

A friend who was a teacher at the time wrote: “That ‘freedom of choice’ plan did not result in many transfers…There was a lot of turmoil and bitterness. We managed to have co-ed square dancing the first year of integration (that got me a call from Perry Harrison the night before we were to begin!), (there was) the riot at the high school, (and) the Chatham Central students who were going to march from Bear Creek to Pittsboro, and numerous other aspects.”

Also: “At Bonlee elementary there were about 30 kids in my grade that year — there were 4 African American kids that ‘came over.’ I think one more came into my class the following year. I can count the photos in the school yearbooks for proof. It appears from looking at the annual that it was in 6th grade, 1969-70, when the wholesale "change over" occurred at Bonlee school. I remember agitation...there was a lot of it surrounding the buses...which were segregated at Bonlee. Bus #82, which carried all of the African American kids had rocks thrown at it by some white kids and the taunt, "82 -- jigaboo" was chanted over and over in the afternoon at load up time.”

At the link immediately below are the findings and stories gathered in a study begun in 2008 by Dr. Millicent E. Brown titled “Somebody Had To Do It.” It brings a solid focus on that similar process in South Carolina with some spill-over into other states it appears. Many other parts of the country need these kind of projects to capture the narrative before it is too late. We’re not getting younger and those stories need to be told.

Somebody Had To Do It: First Children in School Desegregation · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative

ldhi.library.cofc.edu

The newspaper clipping below is from the July 20, 1967 ‘Chatham Record,’ a weekly published in Pittsboro, the county seat of Chatham.

At Estes Hills and Phillips Junior High (and on into high school), the relations between a subset of black guys and a subset of white guys was much better than the relationships of the whole student body.

Why? The Chapel Hill Parks & Recreation department was fully integrated when I was six. Pee Wee Football was fully integrated at age six. Six year-olds don’t see color (unless taught by an adult). Six year-olds see…..he’s good…..he sucks…..I want the good guy on my team.

We grew up playing sports together. All that mattered was were you any good.

Girls in Chapel Hill/Carrboro had few sports opportunities in the late ‘60’s and early-mid ‘70’s.

Lots more positive interactions between black and white guys my age than black and white girls.

 

[grimes70]

A neighbor was on the Raleigh board initiating integration. Other than being a d00kie he was a wonderful human being. There were 3 houses on my dead end street at the time. I don't remember the year but for a while we'd hear and see cars with people honking their horns and yelling obscenities at his house. A few in the neighborhood shunned him. He just blew it off and contnued to fight the good fight.

 

[05C40]

Upon re-reading my post, I want to clear up something. That game of "touch" I described, I never participated in it. What I did was much worse. I knew what the other white kids were doing was wrong, and I did nothing.