Sunday, March 23, 2008

Susan Elijah Remembers Plant City During the Civil Rights Era


Last week we finished reading A Dream of Freedom, the focus title for our Civil Rights thematic unit of study. Through our study of the Civil Rights Movement we learned about the Jim Crow laws and segregation in cities such as Birmingham, Montgomery, and Atlanta, but I wanted my students to know what it was like right here in Plant City, Florida, during that era. As I have for the past three years, I invited my dear friend and retired Tomlin media specialist Susan Elijah to speak to both of my reading classes about what it was like to grow up as a black child in Plant City during the 1950s and 1960s.


Mrs. Elijah shared her life story from birth through college and career with us. She was born in Tampa because Plant City only had hospital facilities for white people. Her grammar and high school education here in Plant City was segregated while she attended Simmons Elementary and Marshall High School. She explained how Plant City itself was segregated with the color lines being the railroad tracks that divided it running north and south and east and west. She recalled how blacks could work at the lunch counter in McCrory's dime store and in the kitchen at Snellgroves, but they couldn't sit at the lunch counter or in the dining room. If they wanted to buy food they had to go to the back door. Mrs. Elijah played trumpet in the Marshall High School band, and when it came time for the Strawberry Festival parade one of Plant City's two high schools led the parade and one was at the end. Of course Plant City High School was always at the front of the parade, and Marshall brought up the rear behind the horses. Mrs. Elijah summed everything up by saying that looking back she can see how unfair segregation was in our town during the civil rights era, but all things considered she said she still had a happy childhood growing up in Plant City.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought it was too bad that we did not get to finish but i liked hearing about the 1950's to the 1960's from a person who was there, and is still alive and actually remember's what happened in that time.

Nathan's Uncle said...

We did finish, Sydney. I guess you thought because the bell rang that it cut us off, but it didn't. We were done. Mr. B.

Anonymous said...

oh

Anonymous said...

Mr.Blount it was really cool how a person from back then could come and tell us about plant city.So many things that i know about how life was back then and how much things changed.I was realy cool.

Andrea T.

Anonymous said...

Hannah Was here

Anonymous said...

hey mr.blount sorry i havent been on to check the blog lately so now i am on now.

your best favorite student ever georgette

Anonymous said...

I was glad Ms.Elijah came to our class and tould us the stories of her younger years in Plant City during the civil rights movment.

Anonymous said...

this is hannah and it was interesting

Anonymous said...

Mr.B,
Holly here,I was so excited to know that there was someone coming to our class to talk about plant city during segregation.It's hard to believe that it happened in our hometown.And the K.K.K was here too!We went downtown that weekend and I was telling my mom about what it used to be like here during segregation and you should have seen her face!
Holly

Anonymous said...

Mr. Blount
When are you going to put up a new post?!Because it's getting boring just to look at the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Mr.Blount I loved that ms.elijah came because it was very interesting learning about what had happened during the civil rights movement and its even better learning about how it was here in plant city.

Thank you mr blount and ms.elijah

Anonymous said...

Since you showed us some clips from the movie Life Is Beautiful I went to blockbuster and rented the movie!I think I will like it a lot.I'm going to go watch it.Bye!


-Holly A. Turcich

Anonymous said...

That movie is so sad!I barely ever cry in movies,but that one made me cry!I wanted the little boy to live so bad that it was so sad for his dad to die.Since learning about the Holocaust,the movie makes a lot more since than it would have.



-Holly A. Turcich

Anonymous said...

Hannah - that was fun and interesting and i thought that it was really cool that she lived to tell her story!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Holly for telling what happened in the movie.