ABSTRACT
Hi. My name is Jill. I grew up in a rural community in the South and I attend Southern Heritage University. SHU is a large state school, and is the place where most of the politicians and business leaders in our state went to get their college degrees. Our state has strong racial divisions. SHU was all White until 1971 when Black students, the only other racial group in the state with more than 2% of the population, were first admitted. Even though we've been integrated for awhile, there are still racial divisions here. There are "White" organizations and "Black" organizations. There are "White" parties and "Black" parties. About the only place there is racial mixing is in the classroom and in the residence halls. I have to admit, having a racially mixed floor was an adjustment for me. For whatever reason, during my first year of college I didn't interact much with the few Black students in my building; and they were the first Black students with whom I had ever even gone to school.
