The Omaha guide., 1943-08-14
Pearl S. Bucks
what America Means
To Mei-


waited for her mother.
Mother is talking 10 my grand
mother" she said GRANDMOTHER
mas just had a long distance cal
from my father because it j.
Mothers Day, you know. Ny "a
Their is a major in the army, a doc
tor, with the new flying corps OF
She was proud Of her father. ]
Tuskegee."
could see that. But ! could i'm
agine any father being proud. too,
of this daughter. so graceful SC
full OF ease and poise even with a
stranger
This child" / thought, watching
her and listening as she answeed
my uestions about her school life,
is a happy child"
She told me that she went to a
public school where colored and
white girls mingled together with
out sf-consciousness. she liked
her frie1ah, she sa u and had 4
good lime and she was not often
treated differently because she
wa, not white But az she said
this I saw a little shadow in the
r"aly beautiful eyes. I put a ques-
tIor to that shadow.
Don't your colored zchoolmates
ever feel any disadvantage in not
being whittier"
Yes. it seemed they did. espec-
tally when they wcre seniors.
There had long been a pleasant
custom in the school that the SEN
lcr class went before it was grad
uated on a trip to Washington. the
caFital of their country. It was
meant as a sort Of climax to their
years of education in the excel
ent public school. Actually it was
anti-c.imax and contradiction to
what they had been taught. For
the colored girls could not go be-
cause they would not be admitted
to the hotels with their schoolmat-
es. There was no hotel in Wash
ington which would take the girls
if some Of them were color4d-
so the white girls go and we
DON'T" this child said quietly. She
added hastily. "Of course we wan.
them to Cove wouldn't want
them to miss the fun just because
we must"
I should like you to know" I
said, that if I were a white girl
in your school 1 wouldn't 60 if you
Could not. I am ashamed Of those
white girls who go without you to
visit Washington of all places"
She did not answer this, but she
smiled a painful little smile.
1T won't be a problem this year,
anyway" she said. we can't any
Of US go because Of the war"
Her mother came in then, a wo-
man graceful and pretty enough to
explain her daughter She was a
quiet woman, gentle with long
breeding.
How long have you been in Phil
adelphia, ?" I asked when we began
to talk
She had been born in Philadel-
phia, and her family had been here
for three generations. That is. she
was of an old American family.
The generation earlier had been in
the South. Awhile ancestor had
brought them here.
I suspected several white ances-
tors in this beautiful roman Her
skin was golden brown, and her
hair was smooth and her features
fine.
Tell me-" I said. you are &C
very mixed bIood?"
She told me frankly then Of the
story of those generations. Ex-
cept for the mixed blood it might
have been the story 0 fanny old and
honorable American family whose
ancestors had come here early and
had lived in dignity and even some
luxury. Obviously this oma had
never known want or insecurity.
Her husband. too, had a mixture,
white blood from lancaster county
in Pennsylvania, where the Penn
syIvania Dutch have no race pre-
JUDGES.
Here is his picture" she said
I looked into the face Of a hand
some and strong man. He wore a
uniform
He fought in the last war, too"
she said proudly. and he didI-t
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