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University Daily Kansan, November 18, 1983
'50s racial attitudes recalled
By LAURE JONES and ANA DEL CORRAL Staff Reporters
A white boy walked up to a black man in a grocery store and ran his finger down the man's arm. The boy turned toward his mother with a puzzled look and said, "Mom, it didn't come off like Daddy said."
Hobart Woody, KU nuclear reactor operator, can now look back to the 1950s when he was the subject of the boy's "experiment" and see the humor in the incident, he said recently.
"When you are subject to segregation, you have to look at it in a humorous way to get over it," he said.
Woody's experience was characteristic of the atmosphere in Lawrence during the 1950s when blacks often were segregated, he said.
BLACKS, FOR INSTANCE, were not served in most local restaurants and taverns, he said. Also, they were required to sit at the back or in the balconies of downtown theatres and entrance to the public swimming pool.
Aaron Shanon Bennett, a 1938 KU law graduate, in 1961 became the first black attorney to work for the Land and Natural Resources division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Lawrence's downtown theatres did not change their segregation policies until former Chancellor Franklin Murphy told theatre managers that he would show free movies for students every night on campus. Bennett said.
"You either went downtown and subjected yourself to the segregation, or you just didn't go at all." Bennett told me. "I went from interview from Washington D.C.
"He made a vow to change the situation and within one week all movie theatres dropped the policy." Bennett said.
ALTHOUGH BLACKS were the victims of segregation, whites often joined the battle for desegregation.
Harry Shaffer, professor of economics and Soviet and East European studies, was among those concerned
about racial discrimination in the 1950s.
Shaffer resigned from the University of Alabama in 1956 to take a position at the University of Kansas because he thought that the University of Alabama had been unfair to its first black student.
The university expelled Lucy Antherine after she had made "broad accusations" against the university. She said officials had not provided enough security to protect her from attack, and did not want her to attend the school.
About 3,000 students had demonstrated against her admittance after the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that school could not bar her enrollment.
Although desegregation was especially rife in the South, Lawrence also had discrimination problems, Shaffer said.
"I EXPECTED LAWRENCE, the "i capital of non-slavery during the Civil War, to be more integrated than it was when I arrived. It was disappointed when I arrived."
"A black student with a Ph.D. in chemistry could not even get a job selling chewing gum in a five-and-dime store."
In 1989, Shaffer was president of the Lawrence League for the Practice of Democracy, a group dedicated to racial integration.
"We conducted sit-ins at various restaurants," Shaffer said."
During the sit-ins black and whites sat together and refused to leave after being ignored by waiters. Usually, the owner approached the protesters and asked them to leave because it was not appropriate for a restaurant to serve blacks." he said.
"one owner told me that 15 to 20 percent of the people in town were prejudiced and that if he hired a black he would go broke," Shafer said.
Woody, the nuclear reactor operator, was born in Lawrence and has been affiliated with KU since the 1970s. He is the author of the monographs of being discriminated against.
"NOWADAYS PEOPLE USE more finesse, but they really don't mean what they say," he said.
For him, the memories of segregation are too recent to hope that prejudice will disappear during his children's lifetime.
But Woody said that he had perceived a decrease in prejudice since the 1950s.
"There has been a tremendous amount of change, but I don't think there is a black that is not frustrated some time during the day because of prejudice." Woody said. "People are too skin-color conscious."
Shaffer said that KU students had played an important role in the fight for change.
With student support, the Lawrence League for the Protection of Democracy picketed a local, privately funded pool that barred blacks, he said.
AFTER THE PICKET. Shafer received many threats, he said. One incident involved a cardboard effigy put on his front porch with a message painted in red that stated, "You shall never swim again."
Carol McMilliam, a 1962 graduate, said that during the time she had attended KU and was a member of the Kappa Gamma gamma sorority, discrimination on campus was still common.
"The fraternities and sororites were not integrated," she said. "It was progress to pledge a Jewish bride in a far-far back in the dark ages we were."
BENNETT, THE ATTORNEY, said that sports became one of the first activities to be desegregated after an arduous battle to lessen policies that discriminated against black students at the University.
"It was not uncommon for blacks and whites to stay in separate hotels while playing on the road," Bennett said. "We wanted the University to refuse to play any schools where the teams had to be segregated."
Shaffer said that the combined efforts of people to eradicate discrimination had been fruitful.
"It was a long and bitter struggle that to be had fought, but we have made great progress," he said. "It took a long time to get where we are today . . . even in the city of Lawrence."
By SUSAN WORTMAN Staff Reporter
Floats with circus themes to compete
Phineas T. Barnum and James A Bailey would be proud.
Staff Reporter
"Under the Big Top" is the theme for this afternoon's homecoming parade, and 13 floats with circus themes have entered to compete for prizes in the parade, which begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Chi Omega fountain.
Homecoming officials say this year's parade should be better than those in previous years because more floats have entered the competition.
Last year only eight or nine floats competed, Frank Buccero, parade coordinator and senior class president, said last week.
BUCCero, Overland Park senior, said that more groups outside of the Greek system entered the float competition this year. Oliver, Joseph R. Pearson will join residence halls have entered floats, as has KU's Sword and Shield club.
He attributed the increase to a change in the attitude of Homecoming.
Homecoming, he said, was advertised as something that everyone could be involved in. It was not aimed toward the fraternities and sororites.
"May'be they don't feel so much dissension; toward the Greeks." Bucero said. "I'm just happy that they entered."
KU'S FIRST HOMECOMING parade, in 1916, was dominated by schools and campus organizations — not by fraternities and sororities.
The first parade started on Massachusetts Street and moved north to the Eldridge House and back down Massachusetts Street to South Park. The Men's Student Council organized the parade, which included the KU marching band, the city band, the University of Missouri marching band, cheerleaders, alumni and the National Guard.
But in 1922, the campus started a new tradition to accompany the parade — scholarship halls and fraternity and sorority houses were decorated and, like floats, were judged and awarded prizes.
THE PHI BETA PI fraternity won the men's house decorating division that year, and the Alpha Chi Omega took first place in the women's division.
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House decorations became the homecoming competition during this period.
During the 1951 homecoming, living organizations did not decorate their houses. During the summer, north Lawrence was flooded. Living groups decided to donate their decorating money to rebuild the area.
In 1948, administrators decided to do away with the homecoming parade, and have a pep rally at Memorial Stadium instead, as was the custom of the 1920s. KU homecomings had no parades or floats for more than 30 years.
But house decorations remained popular until 1970, when the tradition
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The parade was revived four years ago.
The Delta Tau Delta fraternity and the Delta Tau Delta sorority are going to work this year's theme into their float by building a three-ring circus, said Bryan Shandy, Milford sophomore and float chairman for the Delts.
THIS YEAR, THE Gamma Phi Beta sorority team up with the Kappa Psifal fraternity to build a float that will show off their hawks riding on the Missouri Tigers.
SORORITIES AND fraternities traditionally team up because it is a good way for houses to mix. BUCCero said, "If you want to be involved when it is divided between two houses."
One ring, he said, would depict a tiger being tamed by a circus master. The second ring would show a tiger being shot out of a cannon and the third ring would show a Jayhawk doing a balancing act on a gold post, with a tiger underneath.
Mardie Harberts, Overland Park senior and float chairman for the Alpha Phi sorority, said the Alpha Phis had about $500 to spend on their float.
"This year we we're having a moving float. When mechanics are involved, it is amazing."
Five judges will watch the floats as they move down Jayhawk Boulevard in front of Strong Hall. They will judge both the moving and non-moving categories on theme, originality and color.
Working within the budget is easier if materials are recycled, said Shawn Driscoll. Russell sophomore and float for thephi Delta Theta fraternity.
"We have a lot of stuff left over, like the chicken wire. And divided between two types."
The Phi Kappa Psi's fish was built in its parking lot, and the Gamma Phis helped with the planning. They also helped stuff colored paper into the chicken wire frame — the traditional materials used in building floats.
MOST GROUPS BUILD parts of their floats indoors, Shandy said. Sections of the float usually are moved outdoors during homecoming week and assembled the Wednesday and Thursday before the parade.
"We've been planning on a late-nighter," Shandy said last week. "It is kind of a tradition to stay up and finish the float."
HOMECOMING OFFICIALS also have introduced a third category this year for two-dimensional floats , which are similar to billboards.
Bucero said the new division was added to help minimize the costs of the project.
"We heard through the grapevine that some people didn't enter because they couldn't afford to spend $500 to see it," he said. "This way they can enter too."
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