Ms. Evangeline Green

    

  

‘I graduated from Lincoln High School in 1961 and the summer of 1961 I enrolled in Lamar College at that time. My major was elementary education with an area of specialization in English. I received all of my advanced education from Lamar University. I liked Lamar so much that I received my Master’s from Lamar. I encouraged my sons to go to Lamar as well. They lived in the dorms. I was a classroom teacher, parent involvement coordinator, director of Title IA, instructional leader, classroom supervision. We managed to have fun at Lamar. Inspite of the barriers, I did not feel the racial thing that much because of our strong parental background. My father was a principal. We were very much strong enough to take the torch and go in 1961to 1964. When I graduated in three years with a B average. Some friends of mine were in engineering and they had some difficulties. I did not experience major problems with the professors. I took Geology, Sociology, and Psychology courses. Even though I was taking 400 and 500 level courses, the way they would deliver them back then was very positive on the whole. I can never say that I had any regrets. I have wondered if I had gone to one of the all-Black colleges, how that would have been. The experience at Lamar was positive and it served me well. I worked for 33 years and then I retired by choice at age 54 and I went on to work for the city of Port Arthur. The city manager had me as his administrative assistant. I worked there for 3 or 4 years. Then I became a secretary for the city. I had a total of about 43 years of work experience. I liked school. I tried to make straight As in my master’s but I got a B in Statistics, my only B. I must commend my parents for exposing us children to that experience. I benefited from that. We probably would not have selected it if we would have made that choice by ourselves. There were very few African American students back then.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say it was racist, but maybe biased. I remember one time in a story-telling class, I told stories like Cinderella and Rapunzel. I was asked by the professor to stay after class. After class, my professor asked me why did I not tell stories like Brer Rabbit and Cabbage Patch. It took me off guard. I told her that in our schools we have been exposed to all kinds of things, not just those with language that stands out as ethnic. In my speech class, the instructor asked for us to deliver speeches and I was asked again to stay after class. I was asked why …the way I did with the final consonants … pronounced correctly, the Ts, the Ds, and all that. I explained that that was the way we were taught. It was a little stereotyping that is still prevalent. As a teacher I made sure my students felt good about themselves. I had a culture of diverse groups and we did a lot of fun things. Lamar was my school and I proudly wear my T-shirts whenever I get a chance. I conclude that I really did have a good experience. My brother graduated in 1969. He was actually in the Lamar band.’