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But Hilton wanted to, and I kept postponing it, until I got word that he had died.

Well, Hilton was pretty angry with me, when I told him that his grandfather had died.

I really don't think I feel guilty about it. And my mother never pressured me, on this. The only pressure I've had, oddly enough, was from my wife and my son, that I should have, about 10, 12, 15 years ago, taken the trip to Panama, and made peace with my father.

But I didn't. And I didn't. That's that.

I suppose you may have felt that, had you tried that, you would have been rebuffed in the effort?

No, I don't think so, because the signs were coming, not only from my mother, but from friends who visited Panama, and who would come back and tell me how proud my father was of me. No, I don't think he would have rebuffed me. In fact, I would have been shocked and surprised if he had. I was the one who resisted. And he was too proud to make the overture, you know, direct.

That tells you something about me, I guess. It's a part of me that is as much a part of me, I guess, as my height or my color or anything else. It's a curious sort of rigidity.

Now, when you came to the United States, Dr. Clark, you say there were only a handful of black children in the school when you started?

Right. Three or four.

Can you recall when you became aware of the color problem and the