Fifty Years On - A Momentous Year

As we are all aware, today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John Kennedy. Oh, we all know now of his sexual exploits but back then, he was truly the Golden Boy and his death devastated more than just a nation. He was the hero of the Civil Rights Movement, especially in his speech to the American people on 11th June 1963, just a few months before his death. He said, 'One hundred years ... have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves yet their heirs ... are not yet freed from the bonds of injustive ...' Largely as a result of his support, on 2nd July, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law.

Me holding baby Lisa, summer 1964

But what of my own memories? How do I remember that event? I had spent the latter part of the 1962 and the early part of 1963 working as a Mother's Helper in the United States.

As the girlfriend of an African-American, I experienced racial abuse first hand. In November 1963, I was in a Mother and Baby Home awaiting the birth of an illegitimate child, very much a disgrace then. The baby was the end result of my relationship with said African-American. I remember sitting silently with the other residents of the Home, glued to the black and white television in the lounge, more than one of us crying. At that time, it was the most tragic thing we had seen or heard. So young, so handsome, he was. And those poor fatherless children, together with the beautiful young widow. None of us knew of the Kennedy family secrets then. We continued to watch the drama unfold as the alleged killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself shot by a small-time gangster, Jack Ruby. The controversy and conspiring theories abound still.

In December, 1963, I gave birth to my darling daughter, Lisa, and, of course, she celebrates her 50th birthday this coming December. I can honestly say that I've never regretted the decision I made to keep her. I later learned that, as a child of mixed race, she would probably have had to go into a children's home. There, she would, in all probability, have been bullied because of her colour, something she did experience as a schoolgirl. She hasn't had an easy life but I'm so proud of the way she's turned out despite all her problems.