Perceptions
I've lived in Alabama my entire life
you always have this this perception of what Alabama is
in fourth grade you take Alabama history and you're like yeah, this state was freaking racist for a long time and it still is
I came from Georgia and I was like one of five white kids in my kindergarten class. So that was always my idea of the South
I thought it was going to be like super racist and like mostly white
“you're going to come to Alabama right?” And I was like “no! I'm never going to Alabama!”
my Grandma always used to talk about the president’s mansion and like the president’s wife back in the Civil War
she was like, “you don't want to sound like you're from Alabama”
I know there were comments made asking why I would go here, knowing the history of Alabama
When I started high school we had to write a letter to ourselves for when we graduated.
I said, “never go to a school that puts athletics above academics” and then I put: “cough cough Alabama cough cough”
I just got the vibe all it was, was football and sorority life and fraternity life.
the summer before I came to college was when they had the sorority with their video.
I knew the story of Rosa Parks and the bus and things like that
My freshman year was also the year right before the sororities got in major trouble
I was like looking at the University of Alabama that was all I saw
I think it was my sophomore or junior year they like had this big deal about integrating the sororities
My grandfather used to refer to Alabama as “The University"
Its Alabama, you know everybody thinks the same. It's just like this small little state or whatever
I just thought I thought it was going to be like real Southern. Just like you know, Alabama small town. That's like all I had experienced of Alabama
I could obviously assume… [but] I didn't know specifically what happened here until I started going to school here
I really did not know much about this place at all. I did know it was predominately white institution, so I did know I was getting myself into that.