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Title
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Interview Clip: Experiences of segregation and integration in Ann Arbor vs. in the army
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Description
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Recorded in Studio 2 (The Berg) in the Dance Building at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.
[00:00:00] TOPPIN:
I undergrew and underwent an initial experience and impact from being a subject of uh, very undeniably impressive and interactive persons with segregation—in the southern version of it, And integration, the lack of it—
[00:00:37] TOPPIN:
Mmkay.
PATTERSON:
—the limited amount which I'd been exposed to in Ann Arbor, which at that time I was exposed to it; I thought it was maximal.
TOPPIN:
I see.
[00:00:49] PATTERSON:
Ann Arbor was a part of the, uh, subtle Midwestern version of the ills of integration, so I thought Ann Arbor was indeed a very ideal place to live. And I told everyone who would ask, “have you experienced integration?” and I would say “I was born in it!” I experienced no segregation, I thought. But uh, experiences, subsequent experiences taught me that I, uh, was fooling myself—and a willing fool. I became acquainted with services, with, uh, segregation in the service, which I experienced immediately after high school.
[00:01:59] TOPPIN:
I see.
PATTERSON:
Ann Arbor High School. Uh, my initial training was—military training—was at San Antonio, Texas.
TOPPIN:
Okay.
PATTERSON:
Where I was assigned to, in spite of President Truman's dictum, that the services would be immediately integrated. It was three years after I was enrolled in the Air Force that I experienced integration, and that was because the services were very slow to follow the dictates of Truman. So, uh, I, uh, experienced integration only after—complete integration— only after I was assigned overseas in Europe. And it was there that, my living quarters were integrated by eating and sleeping and whatever. It was all integrated. Yeah. So, and I appreciated that very much. And I appreciated the difference between the integration that I thought I was experiencing in Ann Arbor and what was real integration at the time. We could call it real integration. It was not real integration per se.
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Identifier
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PattersonToppininterviewclip1
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Creator
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Louise Toppin; Willis Patterson
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Date
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07/25/24
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Subject
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activism
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Type
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moving image
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Format
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mp4
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Relation
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—
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Source
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, & Dance
