School Segregation
Corinthian Nutter Oral History
Interviewed by Joel Rhodes August 21, 2000
Legend:
- (C) Corinthian Nutter
- (J) Joel Rhodes
J: Back a little bit to South Park, um, you say there really wasn’t any hostility towards you; mean, nobody ever tried to...
C: No.
J: ..intimidate you or...
C: No.
J: ...any of the kids, did they ever approach any of your students?
C: They just love me to death; that’s the way they act. They just hug and kiss and carry on.
J: The people outside the school never tried to intimidate the students for doing what they were doing.
C: No. No, not that I know of. Uh, huh. You wouldn’t believe — when they have something down at the school, they invite me. They, one time, they borrowed a whole bulletin board of stuff from the — I guess they got at the Johnson County Community College and had big, uh, display on me the wall up there and had me sittin’ there so people could, uh, you know, they have these festivals up there at South Park. They invite me and I got up there to see it and they want me to read stories to the kids or whatever, you know. Uh, of course, now they had a colored teacher up there for years.
J: Uh, huh, at South Park?
C: And she, uh, she resigned — I mean, she retired last year. So anyway, they wanted some of my materials; I understand that! [Laughter]
J: Did you have any idea or any sense — may be a hard question — but did everybody that was involved with that — did you have any sense that this was something big that this — that you had really done something big?
C: Um, um. Never. Um, um. No, no, no.
J: Oh really, that this was part of a movement?
C: This was just a part of me. I help whenever I can. If I believe in it; then regardless of who or what, I’ll do what I can to help. And that’s what they wanted; and I thought that was the right thing to do and that’s what I did. And I went to the [Kansas] Supreme Court with them. And as I said, I was the only Certified Teacher that could be a witness for them; and, of course, I defied the County Superintendent, ‘cause it was a colored school and I was the whole show. And then when she would come to my school and, you know — just spasmatically — so I was running the show. So whomever said and did what, that’s what I did.
J: Who stands out the most in your mind about the walkout and the court case? Who do you think the real heroes were?
J: Who stood out the most?
J: Um, hum. To you. Who did you admire or think the most of in that whole deal?
C: Well, uh, you, it’s kinda hard to say because it was not, uh, not an individual affair. It was the parents who stuck together. And then did the suing; they stuck together and, uh, of course, as I said, they had the people behind them that, uh, knew how to help. And, of course, I guess you couldn’t get much more help than Thurgood Marshall.
J: That’s exactly right.
C: He was sure there. And Elisha Scott from Topeka; he was a lawyer. Of course...
J: What did you think about him?
C: I liked him very much, but he was already a friend of mine — because he was, uh, he used to be the boyfriend of one of my girlfriends — where he used to come down and see her every week. And of course, at that time, there were three of us living together — three single women. And one of the girls, who was, uh, I think she was a laboratory supervisor over to the hospital or something. But I knew him very well anyway because he was from Topeka.
J: So then you went back to Emporia after, uh, after South Park?
C: Yeah, I went immediately back to Emporia and my next job, I served in Kansas City a year after that; and then I went on back to start teaching.
J: I was wondering, ‘cause I went to — my undergraduate degree is in education from K.U. And I was wondering, when you were back in Emporia, did they ever talk about segregation in your education classes? How did they — when they train teachers and you have your teacher education classes — did they ever say anything about segregation?
C: Oh, yes! You know, from the beginning, you know, that’s been a long time ago. Uh, the instructors, you know, most of them were Doctors and they used to sit up on top of their desks and smoke cigarettes and throw them on the floor and, uh, they were real people. They would say whatever they want — needed to say about whomever it was, you know. And many times — way back there — uh I might have been the only, uh, person of color in the class, in a big class. Because at that time, uh, there was just — I think there was one person who housed — who housed colored, uh, students, you know. Uh hum, so uh, but no, I uh — they’d talk about everything.
J: Really?
C: Uh, huh.
J: And they supported that — I mean, the teacher said that this was the way that...
C: Uh, hum. They were uh huh — they always treated me well.
J: Oh, really?
C: Uh, hum.
J: How about the ah — your fellow students at the time? Did the people who were going to be teachers; what did they think about segregation? Were they...
C: Well the truth is — it was just kind of an open — I think I’ve always been kind of an open person. As long — you say what you choose, you know; if it’s you’re opinion even. And, uh, let’s talk about it. You know, and if you’re wrong or whatever or when you say what you though; and that’s how we learn.
J: Did you share, uh, your experiences with ah — when you were at Emporia in classes and stuff? Did you tell them what, uh, what you had done at Walker?
C: No. No. No. I don’t think anybody asked me now, so I, uh, I don’t think I ever shared anything.
J: After, uh, after the Brown decision, uh, the Supreme Court Case in 1954, did future education change a little bit? Did they start to talk more about desegregation; do you remember?
C: Who?
J: Oh, your teachers — I mean, when you, uh, were taking, uh, Graduate classes and things?
C: Well, let’s see now, uh, this, uh, Brown thing was open — and you are still talking about Park, aren’t you?
J: Actually, Brown versus Topeka.
C: Yeah.
J: Yeah, the bigger one.
C: Oh, okay! Brown versus — well, you see, that came up four years later. So you see, ours — the difference was ours was, uh, county-wise. See this opened up — what we were suing for to get our children — to take our children, uh, to let them go to school. Because they had to be uh — our kids had to be transported from here over to Kansas City, Kansas even to go to Junior High School. They were transported by bus to go to Junior High School even — in Kansas City, Kansas. They graduated from eighth grade under us. And after that, they had to pass a county test under us so they could go to school in Kansas City, Kansas to Junior High School; and that’s where they finished. But, now, this case opened up, okay, the only high school we knew about was North — was Shawnee Mission North. Which was probably the only one was had then.
J: That’s probably true, I think.
C: So, honey, they — they went on to school; they opened up the doors; and they went on to school just like they had been goin’ all the time.
J: So after, uh, after you came back from Emporia, then you started to teach at Lincoln? Was that your next
C: After I came back — after you mean this first year?
J: Right!
C: Well, let’s see, this first year I went on back to Emporia. That’s when I got my first degree. That first summer. Which was in ‘50. See, this case was open -uh closed in ‘50. ‘49 or ‘50. So in ‘50, as I said, I was going every summer anyway. So, you see, I started teaching at our Junior College here, see. Well, okay, see I had gone summers to earn my degree that summer; so I got my first degree in ‘50. Then I got a Master’s and I believe it was ‘56 when I got a Master’s so I just kept on going.
J: Well, did you keep in touch with the people from Walker and South Park after you taught at Lincoln? Did you still hear from those people?
C: Um, hum. I still hear from some of them. Some of them I see. Of course, I don’t know them, uh, you know.
