Talk to discuss past, future

A librarian and a historian will reflect on their lives as African-Americans during segregation.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 10, 2002

LARGO -- When Sandra Rooks and her group of friends were growing up in Tallahassee, they used to sneak up to the whites-only fountain at a five-and-dime store and steal drinks of water. Sometimes they were caught, and furious whites chased them off.

"We ran away laughing," Rooks said. "Whites had the cold water, the colored had the warm water. That's why we wanted the whites' water."

Rooks and Christine Morris, Clearwater's first black librarian at what was then called the Negro Library, will talk about what life was like before integration at a Largo Historical Society meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Largo Feed Store in Largo Central Park.

They will also discuss the future, particularly the upcoming African-American Heritage Celebration and the creation of an African-American museum, which is nearing completion at Robinson Challenge school in Clearwater.

The program is being held in honor of Black History Month.

Shirley Donnelly, a Largo native who grew up in the 1930s and 1940s in St. Petersburg, organized the talk. Donnelly is the first vice president and program chairwoman for the Largo Area Historical Society.

Unlike Rooks, Donnelly -- who is white -- said she could drink from a water fountain or purchase a hamburger anywhere she wanted. She rode in the front of street cars during World War II while blacks took seats in the back. She attended the then all-white St. Petersburg High School, home of the Green Devils.

"We just accepted (segregation)," Donnelly said. "But I was happy when they decided to end it. They were not given the opportunity to learn like we were."

But Rooks said she didn't have it so bad. She grew up in an integrated neighborhood -- unusual during the 1950s -- close to the Florida State University campus.

Black and white children played together. But when she was about 8 years old, she ventured out of her neighborhood's safe embrace and got an emotional slap in the face.

"I didn't know what discrimination was until one summer when I worked cleaning a neighbor's house," she said. "I took the money and went to a Burger Queen. I wanted to buy a hamburger. I walked up to the counter and the clerk said, "We don't serve n------ here' and slammed the door in my face. I went home crying."

Now Rooks, a retired teacher who taught classes at Countryside High School for 10 years, is the historian for the African-American museum. For more than two years she has been collecting photos, newspaper clippings and other items of historical value to put on display.

"Our prize possession is a midwifery bag (owned by) Miss Della Jackson. It had birth records of babies born in the 1940s and 1950s," said Rooks. "You see, there was a time when African-Americans were not allowed in the hospital. Most of the babies were born at home."

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