Word: hamilton
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Education in Georgia, Calvin Trillin describes a sequence of events which has a prominent place in civil rights lore, the desegregation of a state university. And the expected drama is not missing from his account of the integration of Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes into the University of Georgia in January, 1961. Students stone Charlayne's dormitory her first night on campus, they deface her car, and insults and abuse greet both Negroes throughout the university. But Trillin, a Yale graduate who writes for the New Yorker, does not dwell on these incidents. Instead he chooses to report the disillusionment...
...Cause had very little to do with their decision. Aided by a flat, straightforward style, Trillin makes clear that Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were neither prodded by the NAACP nor initially moved by a deep personal commitment to civil rights activity. From the insular atmosphere of Turner High, Atlanta, they had simply not thought de-segregation possible...
Trillin contrasts their relative innocence with the experience of James Meredith, for by some Negroes, Hamilton and Charlayne would be considered almost white. Unlike Meredith, they did not have to overcome the disadvantages of a sharecropper background; coming from a middle class community in Atlanta, they were more concerned with a normal education than with simply breaking down the system. Almost casually, both Negroes responded to the suggestion of a local leader that they become intergrationists...
...Hamilton's desire to go to medical school could be served best by attending Georgia. Therefore his personal battle, his wish to "make those crackers sit up and take notice," was fought in the classroom. Charlayne was not so singleminded. She wanted to observe people observing her. More gregarious than Hamilton and lacking his drive, Charlayne chose to live on campus instead of with a Negro family...
Ultimately both were to fail as integrationists. And this is one lesson to be inferred from Trillins' Education. As a student, Hamilton was successful, graduating with honors and a Phi Beta Kappa key. But he had drawn more and more into himself, falling back on the Negroes he had known in Atlanta. Although his example of excellence encouraged a few others to come to Georgia, his contact with whites at Georgia...