Interviewer: So, your high school was integrated, I’m imagining. Was your elementary and middle school also integrated because it was such a small town? Littleton: It was, mmm-hmm. Interviewer: But the swimming pools weren’t integrated? Littleton: The swimming pools—mmm-hmm. My mom was the first African-American student to graduate from Crane High School. My mom was the first African-American baby to be born in Crane. I’m from a family of firsts. Breaking barriers, being first, making history. Interviewer: What did you do after you graduated from high school? Littleton: This is going to sound so stupid, but you know— Interviewer: You were eighteen. (laughs) Littleton: I was eighteen--Oh, yeah. I know. I know. I never forget. I graduated that Saturday from high school and that Monday, I had to report to Angelo State. I got a four-year volleyball scholarship to Angelo State and I cried because I didn’t want to leave my parents and my family. Crane, you know? But, got a four-year volleyball scholarship. Cried all the way to San Angelo, and college is very different from high school. I tell young people nowadays, you think you want a scholarship to college? You got to understand, when you get a scholarship, they literally own you. They own you. The coaches own you. The school owns you because they’re paying for your education. I went to Angelo State and the coach is like we’re practicing this time, this time, this time, this time, and on Sunday morning, I want y’all at the gym so you can exercise and get some conditioning in. I said, “Oh, no. Sunday is the Lord’s day.” I was brought up—my parents brought us up—all week long you can bounce the ball, kick the ball, or whatever, but on Sunday morning if it hadn’t been—it was because the Lord, he allows you—he’s the reason why you’re living. So, Sunday morning when you get up, you don’t put nothing before God. You go to church. The coaches were like “No. You’re going to play volleyball.” You’re going to do this. You’re going to do this. I loved volleyball. I called my mom. I was crying, I said, “Mom I don’t like this because it’s Sunday and I’m supposed to be in church and they were telling me I got to do this, this, this.” She said, “Well, understand that they’re paying for your education. You got to do what they say do.” I toughed out that summer and then that fall, we started playing ball. I called my mom, I was crying. I said, “I’m not happy. I’m not happy at all because they tell you when to lay down, when to get up, when to go eat and that’s fine, Mama, but on Sundays, I’m not happy.” She said, “Well, it’s your decision.” I said, “Can I come home?” She said yeah. So, I packed all my bags up in my little black and white Maverick and I came home. Everybody was like, “Are you crazy? You had a four-year volleyball scholarship and you walked away from it?” I said yeah. Volleyball doesn’t make or break me. I know who I am and if playing volleyball will not allow me to go to church on Sundays, I can’t play volleyball. She told me, she said, “Well, you’re home, but you’re going to get an education.” So, I came to—I started going to class in OC. I told my mom, I said, “Mom, you know what, I’m sorry. I’m going to school and I’m used to working and providing and helping with my brothers and sisters. School’s just not for me.” She said, “Joann, you are the strangest child that I have.” I said it’s just not for me. So, I dropped out of OC and got in the workforce.