Interview with C. T. Vivian


C. T. Vivian:

All right, now, and of course the main thing to move on was that where the greatest indignities were felt, and that was in public accommodations, and there is no greater indignity beyond the buses themselves you see, where you had to go to the back and people would drive away without you, take your money, or you could be arrested or et cetera – having to get up, all those things. But the next thing was the matter of the lunch counters, because you couldn't eat downtown, your wife, your children, you, all right? Um, uh, you were always watching other people be able to appreciate the natural consequences of a Democratic society, and you were not able to participate. Your money meant nothing. So even though you earned it, what could you do? All right? Uh, you were always behind. Uh, uh, the matter of the bathroom you could not go to. Uh, all these public accommodations [ was ] in the face of everyone, as the thing that, that represented the indignities uh, the deterioration of any sense of- of self-esteem, and self- and it was deteriorating the self-concept. Now…