File #229: "Interview 2 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)"

Title

Interview 2 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)

Subject

Description

Allen Watson describes discriminatory practices towards African American patrons at his local theater in Madison, where African Americans had to sit in the balcony or in the back rows of the theater as the result of race-based discrimination against Black patrons.

***Transcript***

Allen Watson: You know, I was telling about the pool and the restaurants, but also, you know, our theater was that was also, you know, our theater was, you know, you could sit in the very back, you had to sit in the back three or four rows of the theater, and sometimes you had to sit in the balcony. If you sat downstairs, you had to sit there, but in the balcony, you could sit anywhere in the balcony, and even, you know, the drinking fountains, they had white and black. You know, I remember that, and I wasn’t very old, you know, I was probably ten years old, and I remember seeing stuff like that. You know, at ten years old, you can read, you know, white or black or whatever. “Colored” is what the word they used back then.