![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() "You could have heard a pin drop." She got out of that car, faced that mass of hatred and fear and palpable menace, and she walked through. That morning, there was no name calling, no spitting, no rocks. Betty Rice would be the first black teacher at Petersburg, and one of many black teachers finally integrating the faculties of Southern high schools. What my Aunt Betty and Uncle Richard saw that day was a sea of white people blocking the front steps and entrance of the school. "And Richard was with me, and when we got close to the school he said, 'Well, Betty, looks like you've got a welcoming committee,' and I said, 'What?' But then we turned the corner and I saw them." ![]() "I remember driving there in my red Volkswagen," she told me when I called to ask about it. In the spring of 1968, my aunt Elizabeth Rice was about to start her first term as a teacher at Virginia's Petersburg High School. The word is key to understanding the point the author is making. How?Įditor's Note: This book review includes a passage in which a racial slur is used. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Lies We Tell Ourselves Author Robin Talley ![]()
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