Drive-ins, theaters, and skating rinks all refused access to the state's blacks. Jefferson City, Missouri, maintained two public swimming pools, one for its white citizens and one for its blacks.
Black community leaders of the mid-twentieth century served as catalysts for rallying their people to challenge these racist policies. In the novel, Betsey's father insists on taking his children on a protest march at a local hotel that refuses access to blacks. Although her mother objects to putting the children into this potentially hostile environment, Dr. Brown, the father, demands that they "participate in the struggle of their people" (Shange, Betsey Brown, p. 158). He wants every family member to shoulder the responsibility of fighting racial hatred. Without the fervor of such active civil rights participants as Dr. Brown, segregationist policies at public facilities would not have ended when they did. The courts played a large role too. Pressure from lawsuits and court decisions resulted in the opening of public swimming pools to blacks in St. Louis in 1950 and in Kansas City in 1953. Long negotiations with civil rights leaders forced the board members of St. Louis's Jefferson Hotel to open its doors to black patrons in 1952.
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