Opinion: I grew up in Jim Crow Texas, and we must stay vigilant on voter suppression
Houston Chronicle: Gary L. Bledsoe | Published on 5/26/2021
Growing up in Odessa, my family had to eat in restaurant kitchens when we ate out because African Americans were banned from main dining areas.
Like other Black children, I was forced to attend a separate, but unequal public school. Movie theaters also had designated “Colored” sections. Golf courses, bowling alleys and country clubs were for whites only, unless Black people like me worked as waiters, bus boys or janitors. Among the most humiliating experiences Black people endured were on the road as families traveled to visit relatives in other cities. Public restrooms at gas stations were off limits to Black families, so men and boys carried jars for road trips, while women had no alternative but to relieve themselves in bushes on the side of the road. I’ll never forget my family scouring the countrysides on road trips looking for “the right place.”
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