Bielefeld 2007
“We came to New Orleans in 1957. We were waiting for an apartment. Wilma had an event that evening at Tullane University (the white university) on the other side of town. We drove there in our VW with the small children, and I left the car with Wilma, and we then took the streetcar back home. We sat on the streetcar, which wasn’t a problem. Then we had to get off downtown on Canal Street, Main Street, and transfer to a bus. In Little Rock, I was already used to being able to sit in the front or back of the bus without any problem. I got on the bus with the three children, and there was a bench in the back, so we sat down. Then the conductor came over and said, “You’re not allowed to sit here. It’s for Black people!” I hadn’t even thought about it, because things were different in Little Rock. I then said, “The federal courts have ruled that racial segregation on buses is unconstitutional.” He said, “No. I’m calling the police.” The bus stopped in the middle of downtown traffic, and the conductor waited for the police to arrive. Two policewomen then came and took me away, took me off the bus along with the children, but didn’t arrest me. I was afraid that if they arrested me, I would file a lawsuit against the city, and they would lose the case. But the policewomen said, “Why don’t they feel better about their own people?””