new orleans,LA. READ!

Buses/Streetcars: New Orleans, LA.
In the mid-50s public transportation in New Orleans was still segregated. BUSES
As a white 5-year-old I always tried to run to the back of the bus to sit on the long seat, but was prevented by my mother. Even though she was an ardent integrationist, presumably to avoid creating a scene, she told me I would "turn colored" if I sat in the back of the bus. STREETCARS
The streetcars that traveled on St. Charles Avenue had a two-sided removable placard affixed to the top of one of the seats on each side. One side of the sign read "colored" and the other side read "white". When the streetcar got too full in the back, a "colored" person would push the sign up a couple of seats to create more "colored" seating. Similarly, when it was too crowded in the front "white" section someone would move the sign back. The ironic thing about this is that the streetcars had no back or front -- they would travel forward or backward: when they got to the end of the line they didn't turn around on a u-turn in the track -- they just stopped, shifted the backs on the seats, turned the colored/white sign around and the back of the streetcar became the front. This confused me as a child; later I perceived it as deeply metaphorical. Ann JacobsPasadena, CA