During the days of segregation, Clarence Herndon was bused from Maryland to the District for swimming lessons with other black kids. They weren’t allowed in Montgomery County pools.
Herndon drank from hoses while white kids sipped from drinking fountains. And when he watched Hopalong Cassidy or Captain Midnight movies with friends, they entered the theater through the fire escape because they weren’t allowed in the seats downstairs.
But when it came to education, Herndon said, he didn’t think he was getting anything less than what white students experienced.
“We had the best doggone teachers,” said Herndon, who started his education at a segregated school and graduated from an integrated high school. “The only difference was we always got the hand-me-down books.”
Read more at The Washington Post
