My first consciousness about racial issues in America was when I was in high school. I was attending school in Boston in 1957 when the Little Rock 9 attempted to integrate Central High School. I was about the same age as these students and felt the injustice immediately.
My first act of protest was in 1960 while attending college. I participated in supportive pickets at Woolworth's in the north during the sit-ins in the south.
I volunteered in the New York SNCC office in 1963 and 1964 and then worked for SNCC in Pine Bluff and Little Rock, Arkansas in 1964 and 1965.
I returned to Boston in late 1965 and shortly hooked up with other white civil rights workers who were forming a group called People Against Racism (PAR), a group aimed at educating whites about racism and motivating them to participate in change in their communities. In 1968 I moved to Detroit to help run the newly formed national organization of this organization. I left PAR in late 1969.
Recently, I have been a member of the Race Relations Council of Northwest Indiana, one of the most segregated regions in the country.
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Last Modified: December 10, 2007.
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