Ted Lala

I am Andy’s father-in-law. I was born in New Orleans1 (Map 3-1) and raised in Carrollton (Wards 16 and 17 of New Orleans). Andy wants my memories for his book. I’m fine with that, but I don’t know I liked baseball and girls better than academics when I was young. The army took me two days after high school graduation in 1945, then sent me to Germany for a year in 1946. I married Lois (pronounced “Loyce” in New Orleans) in 1947, about the same time I started with South Central Bell. We moved to Metairie in Jefferson Parish a year after we had Peggy in 1949. I became a foreman in 1967 and retired as a first-level supervisor in 1982. I was one of the first in my family to finish high school and among the first to move out of New Orleans. A few years after retirement, Lois and I moved to a real estate development near Lumberton, Mississippi (see Map 3-1), where we lived until 1999, when we moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, to be near Peggy and Andy.

Chapter 3 · p. 77

Our part of Carrollton had two White public grammar schools but no school buses. I walked two blocks to Walter C. Flower School. I don’t remember the name of the Black school near us, but there was only one, so some Black kids must have walked farther than we did. Their school was much smaller than ours, even though it included a high school. More Blacks moved into Carrollton during the 1960s after Lois and I moved out. I resent those who came in and let so many houses go downhill, and I resent the Blacks who gave Black names to my school and to other formerly White schools in New Orleans.

Chapter 3 · Carrollton · p. 84

Blacks and Whites stood in separate ticket lines but bought snacks at the same refreshment counter. Blacks stood at the end of the counter nearest the stairs, then walked up to the balcony. They must have had restrooms upstairs because they couldn’t use ours. I never saw the balcony or imagined a Black sitting downstairs. The only times I thought about Blacks at the Roxy were when I had to sit below the front edge of the balcony and felt the popcorn and paper they dropped over the edge. I thought of this as kids being kids, not as anything racial. Lois went to the Roxy before I knew her. She said she looked for seats covered by the balcony so nothing could fall on her.

Chapter 3 · Growing Up · p. 88

Tickets for streetcars and buses cost seven cents. Blacks and Whites waited in the same lines but seldom spoke to each other. Blacks sat in the rear in seats with removable wooden signs that read “Colored.” When Blacks outnumbered Whites, Blacks were supposed to move the signs forward, and vice versa. The only racial trouble I ever saw was on streetcars. Sometimes, when there were many more Blacks than Whites, a few Whites would get horsey and refuse to move forward. The Blacks didn’t act that way; only the Whites did.

Chapter 3 · Growing Up · p. 93

Carrollton didn’t have separate churches for people from different countries, but most Blacks who went to church belonged to Black churches. The only exceptions I knew of were the few who belonged to mostly White Catholic churches, where Blacks sat in the back. I don’t think every White church was intentionally segregated, but many probably were. For example, I never saw Blacks in our Evangelical church, but I don’t know whether they were allowed. Everyone knew that Blacks with close connections to a White family could come to the White family’s weddings and funerals, and vice versa. However, I never heard about a White going to a Black church for any reason, so I don’t know where any who did might have sat.

Chapter 3 · Growing Up · p. 101

Foremen were able to observe new hires’ performance from the beginning of installer training because the climbing school was in the yard behind the office. New hires could repeat the climbing school if necessary, but were eventually terminated if they couldn’t finish. Most Whites passed on their first try. Most Blacks repeated several times; about half eventually passed. Three training foremen ran the climbing school. I heard each one say repeatedly that many of the Black new hires had never held full-time jobs and didn’t know how to use basic tools. One foreman said, “These SOBs don’t know which way to turn a screwdriver (clockwise to tighten) or how to drill a hole with a brace and bit (use the brace to turn the bit clockwise).” I think he said “SOB” because he was frustrated by how hard it was to train the new hires, not because he meant anything racial.

Chapter 3 · Telephone Company · p. 123

Because two Black crew members were assigned to each crew as they completed climbing school, my crew already had two when I took over. New crew members were required to complete a one-week installation school. If necessary, foremen could send crew members back to a remedial, part-time installation school that I taught two or three times. Although the Blacks and Whites in my classes were at about the same ability level, a disproportionate number (about half) were Black. I had to send my two Blacks to the first remedial class I taught, and had to send one of them back at least twice. Although it took most Blacks several tries, those who finally completed installation school and stayed with the company became pretty good employees only after several months on the job, appreciably longer than it took most Whites.

Chapter 3 · Telephone Company · p. 123

While we were eating lunch in our kitchen during a break, he told me that part of the telephone company’s initial problems with Blacks had resulted from hiring the wrong Blacks. He explained how Blacks separated themselves into classes based on degrees of White ancestry and told me the Black name for each class. He said many of the new hires were dark-skinned, lower-class Blacks who tended to be less reliable and less intelligent than Blacks with lighter skin. (The color of his skin was between Black and high yellow.) Our conversation was unusual because Blacks and Whites didn’t discuss these distinctions in the late 1970s. He caught himself after a few minutes and said, “You realize I’m not supposed to be talking to a White person about these things.” The conversation ended when I told him to stop if that was the case.

Chapter 3 · Telephone Company · p. 129