Princeton was socially like the South. It had a caste system that restricted Blacks to low paying menial jobs. The Blacks had no political rights or bargaining power. They could hope for charity, but not justice. The rich white folks had Blacks to do the work. My father’s relatives fell into this category.

The schools were segregated. My oldest brother Bill, had to travel to Trenton to go to high school. Even though my father had been a bridge between the Black and white communities at that time, and had access to the president of Princeton’s door, he could not get Bill admitted. Woodrow Wilson, the pious university president who would later become president of the United States, told him: “No, that is quite impossible.”

No matter what Pop was subjected to, he always carried himself with no hint of servility. From him we learned that no matter what station in life a man is in, he could always assert his full human dignity.