Jim Blackburn

It wasn’t much of an issue.  I’ve tried since we’ve been talking over these last months — tried to recall if there were any racial incidents during my time at Albemarle.  And I can’t recall any.  I’ve talked with my brother about it and I’ve talked with buddies who were in my high school class.  There were so few African Americans.  Myrtle White was the most visible of all of them, and mainly because she was a great athlete.  Everybody knew Myrtle from her exploits on the track and on the field.  The other African Americans were guys, I think.  I don’t know if there were any other girls.  And they were not athletes.  They were very meek and mild, and I don’t recall any really interactions, either positive or negative, in a regard to the rest of them.  So, I don’t know what my expectations were as far as whether there would be ranker in the halls of Albemarle High School when I came to Albemarle from Cincinnati.  But there was never any.  I never experienced that.  There may have been.  I didn’t see it.