Joan Ganz Cooney | 09/20/2009 12:00 am

Joan Ganz Cooney Looks Back at Age 5: 'Civil Rights Was to Become the Great Cause of My Life'

In response to: What is your first memory – if any – of the presence of class difference in our society?

When I was five, I entered first grade in a public school, having never been to any school of any kind before. There was one clearly poor girl in the class. She was the first child I’d ever seen who was not middle class, and in my child’s mind it was as if she were from another planet. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t like her and did everything I could to avoid her.

It’s interesting to note that in the segregated state I grew up in (Arizona), I knew and was in awe of several black children whose mothers were off and on our housekeepers. While the families were working class, the children were so beautifully groomed that I was in awe of them and I envied them their mothers’ uninhibited love and the pride their mothers openly showed in their children. Civil rights was to become the great cause of my life and I trace it back to affection I had for those mothers and their families.

Read more about: Culture, Money, Segregation, Society

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When I was 6 years old and very poor I would notice how none of the other children around the lunchroom table had pinto bean sandwiches (on a homemade biscuit) for lunch. I always wished I could have a pj&b or better yet a ham and cheese sandwich. My teacher picked up on this and made a big deal on how she just loved bean sandwiches but it wasn’t until later in life that I understood how she was trying to make me feel better and I loved her for that. This type of life has made me very humble and most of my close friends say this is one of my best qualities.

By Kay White on 09/24/2009 12:52 pm

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Kay- what a wise and beautiful teacher you had!!!!

I, too, was what was considered an underpriviledged child- din’t really know it ubtil I was in my tweens. My parents sent all 7 of us to a Catholic school- we were the largest family. And most of the kids I went to school with were VERY snobbish. But, my parents taught all of us to be strong and stubborn, so while I knew we were "different", I figured it was their problem, not mine.

By Mickey Marsh on 09/24/2009 1:38 pm

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Joan, I hope you can appreciated how special you are and not dismiss how you feel about those less fortunate than you. Too many people "poo-poo" an upbringing and understanding of those different than themselves as "doesn’t everyone feel this way?" But they don’t, which makes you so special and makes people like me appreciate people like you, all the more.

By Belinda Joy on 09/24/2009 2:41 pm

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I was born and raised in California. I also had parents that had close friends in all racial and ethnic groups. Dad had a best friend in High School that was Japanese. Mom’s best friend and my Godmother is Mexican. In College I met and became friends with the son of a Nigerian Chief. I was also friends with American Indians, Arabs, etc. It took alot of reading and talking to others for me to begin to realize that people had negative ideas about other based on color and culture. I was raised differently and only judged others on their attitudes and behavior. If it was possible I would always go deeper in making a final judgement. Basically I tend not to judge others because that gives them the right to judge me.

By Mary E. Sayler on 09/24/2009 7:53 pm

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They say to live life as a child. And I can honestly say even though those "Rose Colored" glasses slipped and toppled from my face, I was quick to pick them up and put them back on. It saddens me, that I feel this question was posted in response to classes, of money, not classes of race, but my first response was my memories of race. My best friend throughout grade school was a colored girl. In upstate NY, there should not have been any segregation issues, but there was. She was everything a best friend should be. When it was first whispered that my best friend was something less, I honestly wondered why. I remember the hurt that I felt that everyone didn’t think she was as great as I thought. She was awesome. Those whispers eventually made it out of the school and into the ears of my parents. I remember with pride my mothers response, that I can not repeat here. Needless to say she put the small minded people in their place. But the race issue was there. I had to face it along with her in everything we did and everywhere we went. It amazed me how much harder she had to work to gain any sort of acceptance and recognition in our own school system and the taunts and slurs from our peers. I am thankful today, that I can still proudly say that I continue to wear these glasses. Just call me a child.

By Rene' Niquette on 09/26/2009 8:43 am