In the early 1960s, what was the NAACP trying to do to bring about school desegregation?
Nothing, because there was nothing to do. We were just living in the love of Brown. Everybody could walk around and say Brown, say it’s illegal, but that was as far as it got. Nothing was happening throughout Virginia or the United States for all practical purposes in terms of integration. Question: Did you ever have any regrets? I was acquainted with the grief associated with being a civil rights leader. I was not seeking grief. I was seeking that somebody further down the road would have some better opportunities than we had. [Dr. Green said, “segregation was a way of life” for so long that he didn’t question it. An incident that occurred while he was in college opened his eyes. As a pre-med major at Virginia State College (VSC), Dr. Green, along with a group of students began pressuring the college to provide stats on how many alumni were accepted into medical school. In response, VSC threatened to suspend the students. Dr. Green responded by deciding to transfer.] In Dr. Green’s wo
