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Medrano / Segregation and Discrimination in Dallas

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Interviewer-"And I wanted to ask you about that, the youth coucil, were you, did you, were you a part of the state fair picketing? The Dallas, The Texas State Fair?' Mr. Medrano-Yes, because he said, "We know we have, cover day or Negro Achievement Day. Interviewer-"Yea, Negro Achievement Day, [?] Fridays, so they could stay over late, sleep late Saturday, [?] Mondays, so they could skip school Tuesdays, cause ya'll tired, running around the fair park [?] NAAACP in Fair Park, [?] Did they get hurt, Lets try it for 30 minutes, we don't want you to get hurt, For a while, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, its just to show you, [?] we do it Saturday's and Sundays too. Interviewer-"Right" Mr. Medrano-Because on Negro Day, Thursday, they are going to be in support for black, we will have to miss school to join the picket, we would have to decide [?] for our money, we want to participate, we'll lets picket Saturdays and Sundays, where there's no crowd on Saturdays, Sundays, show these out of towners [?]. Interviewer-"Right, so do you remember Juanita [?] she would train the kids, right." Mr. Medrano-Right, right [?] simultaneously, simultaneousliy, [?] Sir, you can't bring water in here. I said why, cause you drink out of the color water. The faucets are there, they took the faucets and you can go down to the register building, right now, and its an archive [?] its still there, it says, "Color white" [?] they wanna hide it, not going to hide it, [?] pull that faucet out and put the [?] and throw it away, don't come [?], its an archive, walk downtown, stop by, get them some root beer, cold water, whatever [?] Now, my brother went to Majestic Threater, third floor-color, movie, [?] they say we can't go to the front row, you'll mad, you'll can't go, go up the third floor. [?] experience that I personally experienced. The bus , same thing, colors in the back, the [?] says color, white, color white. The bus driver say, "I'm going to fill it up with whites, ok so [?] stop this bus, change it to white, white, white, white, all these are white ect, pick up and all of them are all racist [?] I know I'm guanteed to see, I pay my money, bop, you'll fill up and then the black folks stand up, go way back in the back [?]. And, you're talking about, you know, you're saying, when is this all going to stop? When is change coming? [?] LBJ and then Civil Rights [?].....

Interview Interview with Robert Medrano
Subjects Community Organizations › Civil Rights Organizations › National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Discrimination or Segregation
Discrimination or Segregation › Discrimination or Segregation of Public Accommodations
Law and Public Policy › Civil Rights Act of 1964
Law and Public Policy › Voting Rights Act of 1965
Historic Events › Texas State Fair Demonstrations
Direct Action › Picket lines
Discrimination or Segregation › Discrimination or Segregation of Public Accommodations › Movie Theaters
People › Craft, Juanita
Discrimination or Segregation › Discrimination or Segregation of Public Accommodations › Water fountains
Tags Dallas NAACP Youth Chapter
State Fair of Texas
Majestic Theatre (Dallas)
H.L. Green's
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Interview date 2015-06-10
Interview source CRBB Summer 2015
Interviewees Medrano, Robert
Interviewers Acuña-Gurrola, Moisés
Duration 00:05:28
Citation "Segregation and Discrimination in Dallas," from Robert Medrano oral history interview with Moisés Acuña-Gurrola,  June 10, 2015, Dallas, TX, Civil Rights in Black and Brown Interview Database, https://crbb.tcu.edu/clips/882/segregation-and-discrimination-in-dallas, accessed November 05, 2025