00:00:02.609 - 00:00:23.170

Yeah. So what, what brought you out to today's event? What brought you to the today's event? I was invited by one of my senior members at the WD Hill Center. She invited me to come down here. Hm. This is the paper she gave me to read

00:00:25.860 - 00:00:53.180

and she told me that you all be discussing the heritage and everything. Can you talk a little bit about what uh is important to you about this day was important? Well, during that time of the struggle, we weren't able to ride the buses, you know, and

00:00:53.189 - 00:01:15.319

different things. And um like most mo most of the places we had to go, there was a black place, this the bathrooms with blacks and, and the fat water fountains were fertilized. And well, like when I was work during that time, I was working at Duke

00:01:15.330 - 00:01:34.730

Hospital and we had to go in the empathy for all the activities and everything. During that time, most of everything was integrated first for black and white, black and black. There's a lot of changes now. Are they good changes? The changes now got a lot of

00:01:34.739 - 00:01:56.029

changes. But I think it's better. Why do you think it's better? Well, because we have equal rights now supposed to have equal rights. Hm. Um, were you involved in the mo civil rights movement in the sixties? And Durham when they had the demonstration here in Durham?

00:01:56.059 - 00:02:11.899

I was because at that time we, uh, we, when we went to Walgreens, you know, we had to stand at the windows. I think it was Walgreens that's still on the corner there and were served at the windows. We couldn't go in and sit down at

00:02:11.910 - 00:02:30.520

that time. There's a lot of changes to make and we can ride the best if we can sit where we want to now and how we can accept. A lot of changes has been made. And, um, when, uh I used to go from Durham to Newark

00:02:30.820 - 00:02:47.550

by train traveling and we had to sit in the back on that train and the flights were in the front, you know, but now it's different. You can, how, how did you feel having to go through those experiences like that? Like, you know, getting on the

00:02:47.559 - 00:03:02.080

back of the bus or getting on the back of the train? Well, it didn't bother me because that's the way it was in that day. That's what we, that was the way like the uh life of everything was during that day. We, they know it didn't

00:03:02.089 - 00:03:19.160

have any other choice. Uh Did you, did you dream about or envision a time when that would change when integration would happen. Did you believe that it would happen? Did I believe that there would come a time when you wouldn't have to sit on the back

00:03:19.169 - 00:03:36.199

of the bus? And you'd have, I didn't, I didn't know if I would live to see that in that day. But I have, I'm, at that time I was about, I was in my twenties, I'm 70 fi 78 now and I've seen a lot of changes

00:03:36.210 - 00:03:55.289

being made and the um birthplaces, you know, and whatnot. Um Can you, you said you were, um you were, you participated in some of the marches uh during the civil rights in when they had the marches? I was at the, on the street marching too. We

00:03:55.300 - 00:04:11.169

were pushed, some of us were pushed, you know, and yank, but we, we made it all right, jumped in some cars and came on back home. Um who were some of the people during that time that were uh uh important leaders to you in the community

00:04:11.179 - 00:04:31.089

of people that you looked up to. Mm So in my community, the much like the civil rights movement in Durham, most of them are dead. Now, I tell you that most of them are gone. But the, the Hayes is, were in our community, Elton Hayes and

00:04:31.559 - 00:05:01.519

the bridges people. And they uh I see the leaves, they were around when they all participated in it too. And what, what kind of things did they do for you uh to make, why were they important to you? I was so young, scared. Um, well, they

00:05:01.529 - 00:05:19.970

taught us to do what was right? Because I remember one old man, I was sitting on the bus, he says he came all the way from the back up there because I took a seat up past the cross my and he said, Gail get on back

00:05:19.980 - 00:05:35.609

here and sit down where you belong. I said, Mr Hayes, I'm sitting where I belong right here. So he went on back then and I didn't move, but they didn't bother us at that time. It was making a, they were making a change and Martin Luther

00:05:35.619 - 00:05:55.899

King was and Jesse Jackson, a lot of them, they came through here and let me see who else was that it came through here during that time. I can't, I can't think of everybody's name. It was doing that much at the time, but changes were being

00:05:55.910 - 00:06:13.670

made at the time during the time. So you just relate a story about a time where you uh were you getting on the bus? And you sat down, someone asked you to one of the older man in the community, came up to the front and asked

00:06:13.679 - 00:06:32.339

me to come back there. I'm sitting right here. Ain't nobody about that make us sitting there. And this was before integration actually had happened before it really happened. Uh huh but they were talking about it and demonstrating about it at that time. And so the person

00:06:32.350 - 00:06:45.309

who was driving the bus, I presume was white, he was white and he didn't, he didn't bother me. I had not called him about if I stayed right there until it was time for me to get off and then I got off. So what, that's a

00:06:45.320 - 00:07:03.079

pretty amazing story. What uh what, what happened on that particular day that caused you to take that stand or what? Well, I have heard so much about some, the speeches and what now you heard so much about what was going on and, and what he was

00:07:03.089 - 00:07:19.799

trying to do for us. You know, at that time, there were a lot of, of uh fights in the streets during that time up on main street. I know we had to go to Henderson to do some shopping over there because of those demonstrations and whatnot.

00:07:21.470 - 00:07:37.510

So we were afraid to go in the sewage, you know, we would be beaten up. Do you remember um, anything specific about that day? Um, prior to getting on the bus, did you know that you were gonna do that? Um I didn't know I was gonna,

00:07:37.519 - 00:07:50.420

I didn't know I was gonna be approached by him like that, you know, because we, everybody was getting on sitting down where they wanted to, you know, I said, I, we have a special line that we had to go behind that line, you know, on that

00:07:50.429 - 00:08:15.429

bus. So I said in front of that line and from that day forward, did you continue to do? Nothing happened to me? Mhm. Do you remember? Do you remember what the date? What year that was? Thanks. He was doing that demonstration. I don't remember that day.

00:08:15.579 - 00:08:31.519

I sure don't remember. They, they did, did, did the words, uh spread around the community about. Well, a lot of people were all there and uh, and some of them making different remarks but you gonna get beat up, you gonna get beat up because nobody bothered

00:08:31.529 - 00:08:48.270

me. Nothing happened during the time that you were sitting there. What can you, can you remember what was going through? Your mind? Must have been, well, it wasn't too long ago. It was time for me to get off and I knew nothing was gonna happen to

00:08:48.280 - 00:09:09.359

me. But, um, I do remember the crowds in the street as we were being pushed down the street and right now going into those stores and some people started in the stores. Uh, and uh, they were yanked back by the coat. So I can remember one

00:09:09.369 - 00:09:19.760

of the lady had on this brown coat and pulled her because she was pulled back out of there because we couldn't go in there. We weren't allowed to go in there, but we were just trying different things anyway because it was my little thing in the.

00:09:21.510 - 00:09:42.510

Mhm This, um, it's, it sounds like, uh, one of the probably um most memorable times is when you decided to sit in front of the bus. Are there other, is there any other moment or memories that kinda stand out in your mind about that time? I

00:09:43.010 - 00:10:04.010

can't remember too much then because I moved to New Jersey. During that time after that, I left and went to New Jersey to live. And so, and you eventually, you moved back here. I, I came back, I came back in 19, I got married here. I

00:10:04.020 - 00:10:26.119

came back and then, but this was in, um, let me see, that was in it. I'm getting mixed up now before this was in the sixties, I believe when this happened in the six, I was already back here. I was already back in. Oh, so, um,

00:10:26.570 - 00:10:51.419

let me see. Is it 60 at 63 I was working at the VA hospital. I went to the VA hospital in 61. He was between the time leading up to his death. I worked out there. I worked 23 years at the VA and perhaps that might

00:10:51.429 - 00:11:07.059

have been where you were headache when you were sitting on the, I was going downtown. Yeah, we were a lot of us were on the bus and had to come away from East Durham downtown and I was sitting out there. So that was a good ride

00:11:08.169 - 00:11:35.640

from Easter at a town. It's called Hayes Town. What? So how has Durham changed since then since the sixties, during that time, how, how has Durham changed in your opinion, since the sixties? Well, black and white have been able to go to school together and, um,

00:11:35.679 - 00:11:53.130

we have been able to just go in different places where we couldn't go where the whites participate and we can use the same foun water fountains and things that we couldn't use every time we can use them. Now, things are different. Now, everything's changed now, since

00:11:53.140 - 00:12:15.450

then are all the changes for the better? I think it's in some way for the better. Some, but things have gotten out of hand too, you know, but I don't know if it's because of that or what it's just, and time changes, you know, brain changes

00:12:17.099 - 00:12:37.299

some things that the morals and the different things are different from what they were a long time ago, the way that people dress and the way they talk and everything and now things are different. They, younger people don't have respect for each other like we had

00:12:37.309 - 00:13:00.359

long back in those days. You know, we have respect, respect and loved each other. We think of killing people like they are doing today and things are just out of hand. What, what do, what do you think? Uh, what are, what are some changes that need

00:13:00.369 - 00:13:24.969

to be made to improve things? There are some changes that need to be done. Oh, I don't know. We remove God in our lives. I tell you. But you know, some changes have taken place now, you can't even talk about God in different places. Now. I

00:13:25.039 - 00:13:44.890

don't think I'll ever see that day. You can't, they've taken the God out of school. You said no, you can't pray. You can't do this. You can't do that in schools if it relates to God, I'm a bad guy myself. I believe in him and I

00:13:44.900 - 00:14:03.140

believe that you can't do anything without God if you don't put him in. So do you think that that was a kind of a big driving force for uh people during the movement to have uh to be kind of rooted in uh their faith, kind of

00:14:03.150 - 00:14:26.619

help them through those difficult times? I think so because that's what he was about. You know, what, what is your uh what church did you grow up in, in Durham? What church, what church did I grow up in? Zion Temple, Christian church. At least there are,

00:14:27.840 - 00:14:45.989

I grew up in that church and I believed in what they told us my grandfather and the people in the church, you know, and everybody just about, everybody had the same beliefs and whatnot, you know. So was the church really active uh during the civil rights,

00:14:46.309 - 00:15:05.080

was the church was uh the church that you attended as a child? Was it uh active during the civil rights movement that were there, meetings held there or what kind of role did it play? Well, um, let me see, I tell you during that time, everybody

00:15:05.090 - 00:15:30.989

was so afraid of what was gonna be happening, you know, because of that. Um, but we would have prayer meetings like on Wednesdays and Sundays, Sunday afternoons and whatnot. We have meetings about what was going on but our concern them and the menaces were very much,

00:15:31.260 - 00:15:52.979

you know, in favor of what he was, what Doctor Martin Luther King was talking about for making changes and whatnot. But we didn't know what was gonna happen during that time. Do you have um any other thoughts or, or memories you like to share just for

00:15:52.989 - 00:16:12.650

the record? Anything um uh that you think about that's important, um that you wanna state for the record uh from my church or just from anything from your experiences in the sixties or from your church or the only thing I have was the speeches that, you

00:16:12.659 - 00:16:38.119

know, collected about him. I had those this out. So I, I'm not busy, you know him, but I can remember why are those speeches important to you? I thought he was a brave man. Oh my God man. And uh I was just really proud of him

00:16:38.700 - 00:17:00.719

because he was trying to make a change for us for the black people. That's why I thought he was so important and I, I wish we had more people like him, you know, I wish everybody could get along and that's what he wondered, everybody would be

00:17:00.729 - 00:17:25.399

lovely and just believing God and, and not be killing people and do, do, do the right thing, you know, and that was, I enjoyed the speeches and what not to, uh, were you able to s, to see him when he came through during? So? Yes. Mhm.

00:17:25.828 - 00:17:45.599

I was very young when that happened. But I can remember some of the things that, uh, went on back then in those days, the demonstrations and whatnot and how we would run and well in Hayes Town, they didn't come down there too much and bother us.

00:17:45.609 - 00:18:00.719

We did pretty much what our parents told us to do and the older people in the churches and the communities. And so were your parents uh during that time, were they really active with? I lost my mother when I was eight years old. So I live

00:18:00.729 - 00:18:24.050

with my daddy and I had a stepmother and uh I left home when I was 16 and to live with my aunt in New Jersey. So, um but when I came back home after staying up there for a while and got married in 1946 and then

00:18:24.060 - 00:18:42.750

I started listening to what the people had to say. I grew up under some good people and uh and I believed in their teachings and whatnot. So what, what kind of a stuff did you pass on to your Children from your experience during the sixties? Uh

00:18:43.369 - 00:19:03.209

put, put God first in your life and do the right thing. And, um, if you believe in the Lord, you know, and put him first in your life, you'll make it and just have faith and trust in him and you'll make it. And I believe that

00:19:03.219 - 00:19:22.339

today I was being tested when I was 12 years old. I haven't been perfect but I, I tried to let him guide me and take me through in his work. I think it's a good, I've been working 50 some years in nursing home. I'm still working.

00:19:23.719 - 00:19:42.400

Where do you, where do you work now? Uh, I'm doing private care in the homes. I'm in a full license out here and I was the first one to go to the VA in 1961. 1 of the first blacks. Hm. Yeah. So, what was that? Like

00:19:44.550 - 00:20:03.969

one of the first here? And I was one of the first. So, how did that happen? How did you end up in service? And, uh, you had to be related to the military somewhere? I know my husband was killed in service. So that's how I got

00:20:03.979 - 00:20:25.979

here. He was killed in 1951 in the Korean War. And that's how I got up up here. So, um, what was it like when you first started working there with people? A lot of the men was in it and he said that they would tell me

00:20:25.989 - 00:20:43.160

that there was no place for a woman to come and we're taking care of men. I said, well, I'll give it a try. I was working at Duke at that time and uh I ran across the street and got the job over there. So, uh I

00:20:43.170 - 00:20:55.800

said, if I can take care, if, if the man can take care of women, I can take care of the man. And so I went there and I didn't have any problems, some things I didn't like doing, but I had to do it, you know, in

00:20:55.810 - 00:21:21.109

order to keep the child, but they didn't. But in terms of, uh, there was no racial issues. You didn't have any trouble with racial, racial. No, no, but I enjoyed it now. I work for 2 to 3 years. Three years. Um, well, thank you. Ok. And

00:21:21.119 - 00:21:37.449

maybe I've been, that will hurt you. Oh, no, no, that was perfect. That was perfect. Thank you. I wish I had been. No. No. You know, I didn't know I was gonna be interviewed like this. I would have tried to have something that I think it's

00:21:37.719 - 00:22:00.699

really useful. It came up in the days when you could buy us sodas for five and 10 cent. And I like that. You don't believe that a Pepsi and a Coke. Mm. Yeah. Um, at the end of the tape, what I wanna do is just get

00:22:00.709 - 00:22:24.109

you to state your name because I didn't do it at the beginning and then I'll just, uh, what you want me to say, tell us who you are. I am Naomi Goston uh live and I live 1312 Willowdale Drive, Durham, North Carolina. Ok, thank you. Uh

00:22:24.119 - 00:22:54.619

Will Atwater. Uh It is January 19th, uh 2004, Saint Joseph's and am E Church just interviewed. Uh MS Naomi Goldston uh Will Atwater. Uh It is January 19th 2004 Saint Joseph's and AM E Church just interviewed. Uh MS Naomi Goldston.