In the late "60's I lived in North Carolina in a small town called Monroe. A town split in two by a major highway. On one side there was the prison and blacks. On the other side were high-class whites, businesses and poor trailer trash as the poor white folk were called. On the Boulevard (chain gangs consisting of blacks were often seen here) as the road division was called there were a lot of businesses. One of them was The Bonfire Restaurant.
At this restaurant is where I was employed as a cook, dishwasher or a cashier if the circumstances required it. White girls were hired for the waitress position and blacks usually hired for the dishwasher and cook positions. The restaurant employed two young black boys, one, Jerry, as a night cook and the other one, Doug, as a night dishwasher.
These two young boys were excellent workers, did their jobs well and reported on time. They, in turn, were rewarded for their excellence in their work record. They were paid well, received meals while at work and sometimes were provided transportation to and from their job.
Both boys were easy to get along with and showed respect to their employer and fellow employees. They would get a little uneasy at times when the younger crowd would come in to eat (there were signs against NAACP at gas stations with shotguns sitting besides them). .
Sometimes the white students from Wingate College would visit the restaurant and give visual harassment to the boys. There was a pick-up window between the restaurant and the kitchen so visibility was available to the kitchen and to the customers. The student always wound up being asked to leave but alas most times not before they would do some sort of fool trickery not becoming of a college student (put catsup in the salt shaker or mustard in the sugar jar) in the restaurant. .
Doug's birthday was coming up on the weekend. He asked to have the week end off because there was a birthday bash for him on Saturday.
