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Mamie ClarkMamie Clark
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Session:         Page of 100

I guess, which is what helped them to get over it. But it takes days after a thing like that, you know, before people even venture out.

Q:

Do you recall how you felt when you saw any white person for a while after that?

Clark:

Well, you were very wary of anybody white. But, again, the people that you knew who were white, you were safe, you felt safe with. I mean, it wasn't anybody that you knew, or that you could These people had come from out of town, and generally, even if they were living in the area, they were -- well, what do you call it? So to speak, renegades. They weren't acceptable people. They really weren't. And I think, one thing was protective, and that was the fact that the town in which I lived was a resort, and it depended very heavily on outside people to come to the hotels and come to the race track and take the baths. So they always had to be mindful of its livelihood. You know, it was an economic factor involved in the outrage of the whites, for instance, because it was bad business.

Q:

In other words, do you feel the editorial in the ARKANSAS GAZETTE was motivated more by economic reasons than humanitarian reasons?

Clark:

It turned out humanitarian, but it was really economic. They couldn't afford it.

Q:

Do you recall any other special incidents as you grew up that had this kind of chilling effect on you, or at any rate made it abundantly clear that you were living in a segregated society?





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