Mary Wilson on "CBS News Sunday Morning" [[1/13/19)

**reese** · 01-13-2019, 10:54 AM

Mary was shown briefly during the show's profile on "The Green Book," a book that assisted blacks with traveling. There was some footage of Mary on stage at the Caryle, as well as some comments from her about the Motortown Revue performers being shot at while on tour.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/travels...st-green-book/

**marv2** · 01-13-2019, 04:07 PM

Oh yeah it was a very different situation for Black people traveling back then. As a black person, I can remember traveling by car to Mississippi as a kid to visit my grandparents. We had to carry food my mother made with us in the car on the way down there, because we were not allowed to stop and eat at restaurants. My father had to drive for hours [[12-14 hours each way) with only stops for gasoline. We had to strategically look for places to use the restrooms. For the trip back, my grandmother would get up extra early to prepare food [[chicken, sandwiches,cake etc....) for us to take in the care for the trip home.

This was not a hundred years ago. This was in the 1960s!

**Circa 1824** · 01-13-2019, 05:54 PM

Generally, I don't believe much of what Mary says in interviews about anything related to the Supremes. So I did not listen to this interview.

**blackguy69** · 01-13-2019, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by Circa 1824

Generally, I don't believe much of what Mary says in interviews about anything related to the Supremes. So I did not listen to this interview.

so why even bother commenting on this thread. Had you listened you would know it was about traveling in the south while black before and during the civil rights movement

**luke** · 01-13-2019, 06:43 PM

Sorry you had to go through all that Marv. And it’s hard to believe Motown stars got shot at. We must never forget!

**TheMotownManiac** · 01-13-2019, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by marv2

Oh yeah it was a very different situation for Black people traveling back then. As a black person, I can remember traveling by car to Mississippi as a kid to visit my grandparents. We had to carry food my mother made with us in the car on the way down there, because we were not allowed to stop and eat at restaurants. My father had to drive for hours [[12-14 hours each way) with only stops for gasoline. We had to strategically look for places to use the restrooms. For the trip back, my grandmother would get up extra early to prepare food [[chicken, sandwiches,cake etc....) for us to take in the care for the trip home.

This was not a hundred years ago. This was in the 1960s!

Marv - Tell this story and any others all over the place. You’d be surprised how little younger people know of what went on - it’s like a fairy tale to many. Very little us taught in schools about civil rights, the halocaust, slavery, mass murder of native Americans and other unspeakable horrors of our recent past. I cannot tell you how little many college grads know about these topics. It’s shocking

**marv2** · 01-13-2019, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by TheMotownManiac

Marv - Tell this story and any others all over the place. You’d be surprised how little younger people know of what went on - it’s like a fairy tale to many. Very little us taught in schools about civil rights, the halocaust, slavery, mass murder of native Americans and other unspeakable horrors of our recent past. I cannot tell you how little many college grads know about these topics. It’s shocking

Yeah, well I also remember riding around in the front seat of my Grandpa's car as a kid. As most kids, I was always curious. One time I opened the glove compartment and saw a roll of tissue. I asked my Grandpa why he had "toilet paper" in his car. He didn't answer me. That was an example of how our parents protected us from the harsh realities of being Black in America. I distinctively remember going South after school was out in June 1968. It was 2 months after Martin Luther King had been assassinated. We stopped at a service station in Memphis, TN and my Mom made us kids get down on the floor of the car until we pulled away. I never understood why she did that and she did not offer an explanation. They just seemed to inherently know "the rules" and did not want us kids to be affected by them during those times.

**marv2** · 01-13-2019, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by luke

Sorry you had to go through all that Marv. And it’s hard to believe Motown stars got shot at. We must never forget!

Thanks Luke. I know there were people that had it much worse depending on where they lived. For instance, the kids we would meet in the South and played with, some didn't even have shoes! At least not everyday shoes to play in. I had cousins, Jody and Sam that lived in Chicago in the 60s and they lived in one of those tenament apartment buildings that had the outside stairs that ran down the length of the building like what I now see in old documentaries [[think the Love Child album cover as an example).

**George Solomon** · 01-13-2019, 08:32 PM

When I was old enough to understand the terrible race injustices, I was shocked and to this day can't fathom that people were capable of such inhumanity. When I was a kid, because of The Supremes and other Motown stars, if I saw a black person in my predominantly white neighborhood I was in awe and thought I was seeing royalty. I always thought they were superior. I remember my mother having to apologize to a black sales clerk because I wouldn't stop following her and staring. I thought she looked like Mary Wilson and she was so flattered when I told her... She put her hand on my face and said, "you just made my day!"

**TheMotownManiac** · 01-13-2019, 11:45 PM

There were no non-whites in my area at all. My parents weren’t at all bigots in that there were no anti - anyone comments - yet, we all were raised thinking many stereotypes to be true. It was part of the culture of Southern Illinois. I had friends whose parents were horrible rascists, and I never connected with their fervent hatred. Really, non of my friends did. But we were surprised to see blacks acting just like everyone else at concerts in St Louis and it was there I began to see even my parents were ignorant - that there were many ways rascism reared its ugly head without even thinking about it. I got teased fir liking The Supremes so much as my buds thought I was sexually attracted to them and it was unthinkable in 1965 for races to mix. For me, it was cool for races to mix, but not sexes��! When I think of all the energy wasted on fighting rascism, it breaks my heart. So much good could be done instead.

**Bluebrock** · 01-14-2019, 04:15 AM

Originally Posted by marv2

Oh yeah it was a very different situation for Black people traveling back then. As a black person, I can remember traveling by car to Mississippi as a kid to visit my grandparents. We had to carry food my mother made with us in the car on the way down there, because we were not allowed to stop and eat at restaurants. My father had to drive for hours [[12-14 hours each way) with only stops for gasoline. We had to strategically look for places to use the restrooms. For the trip back, my grandmother would get up extra early to prepare food [[chicken, sandwiches,cake etc....) for us to take in the care for the trip home.

This was not a hundred years ago. This was in the 1960s!

That was a disgraceful state of affairs. We were far from perfect here in the UK but i like to think we were more civilised than that. I recall back in the 60's when a black boy joined my middle class school. There was one black girl who already attended whom i did not know personally. but i became best friends with Leo and remain so to this very day. His family had relocated from Philly and i recall his parents telling my parents how they were able to walk into any restaurant or club over here with barely a second glance, unlike back in the States. I had trouble believing that people were treated in this way. This was my first experience of racism. Such dark days, and the frightening thing is it was so recent in our History.