Joseph Holloway grew up in Los Angeles and was 9 years old in 1961, and was not even aware of the Jim Crow affect until he had to travel to Louisiana in order to meet his 106 yr old great grandmother who was dying of cancer. Joe’s Aunt and Uncle sat in the front seat, while Joseph sat with his three cousins in the backseat to visit relatives he never met in the segregated South. After traveling for some time Joseph was under the impression they were going to stop to sleep, until Uncle Gus informed Joe that they cannot stay at any hotels owned or operated by whites. This is only the beginning of the Jim Crow affect on his life, there is so much more that Joe would experience. Everyone was going to sleep in their seats in the car and there would be no stopping for food because sometimes the stores in the south would not sell food to blacks, or if they did they would have to go to the back of the store where white customers wouldn’t see them, because white owners were afraid of losing business. When getting gas his Uncle would keep the engine running because he was afraid the white people wouldn’t sell to him, as several gas stations had already refused service.
Later Joe and his family decided to stop and eat at a diner at the Texaco gas station in Texas. The Jim Crow affect is reflected in the treatment of the family by the manager when he informed them that they don’t serve their kind at the table and they would have to go to the rear of the station to be served. The uncle inquired if he would sell him gas and was informed that yes he would take his money. The family made their way toward the rear entrance and noticed a restroom but the owner chastised the family and said “Can’t you read the sign? Whites Only.” Instead of being permitted to use a clean and fully equipped restroom, they were directed to the restroom for colored in the middle of the wilderness, in an old rickety outhouse that was so decrepit it offered no privacy. It stank and they had to be on the lookout for snakes but this was segregation in its truest form. After paying for the gas, the owner warned Joe’s uncle stating “You need to be out of this town by nightfall” and of course it was nearly dark.
Joe’s Uncle had been driving for days without sleep because they couldn’t get hotel and he was exhausted and couldn’t read causing him to get lost a couple of times thus prolonging their exit from the town before dark. The last signs they remembered seeing was in or near Waco, Texas and Joe remembered this because it was there that they almost became the innocent victims of a lynching. Uncle Gus had made a wrong turn and ended up in town where they saw a mob of about 500 white people and that was when they heard them shouting, ‘Kill the n*****.’ They could see a live person tied up and on fire screaming. Joe’s family smelled the burning human flesh. Jim Crow now bears the reapers clothing.
The mob spotted Joe and his family and he heard them shout, ‘There’s some more n*****s, let’s get them.’ People started running for their cars and trucks. Uncle Gus sped away and turned off the car headlights and drove in darkness until he was able to hide the car in a pathway in the woods. A convoy of killers drove right pass their hiding place, with police cars trailing behind, police cars that are to serve and protect. Everyone remained silent out of fear of betraying their hiding place. They waited for four long excruciating hours. This was the first time Joe had seen his uncle afraid of anything. Uncle Gus continued on driving slowly with the lights off but once on the other side of town he tore out of there with the conviction that he would learn to read. Joe never returned to Waco, Texas and never forgot Jim Crow.
