Pittsburgh we moved here because of my husband’s job. We talked about when she was running for the school board. She had put up four signs in Pitcairn and knew they would be taken down. Her picture wasn’t on them and nobody knew she was black. One person campaigning for her was Italian, and everyone thought “Boyer” sounded like a white last name! After the signs had been torn down a friend whom she had helped had a friend near Pitcairn who put Mrs. Boyer’s sign in his yard. He sat on the porch with a gun he legally owned, just to make sure the sign stayed up! Michelle: Do you think that the fact nobody knew you were black helped you get elected? Mrs. Boyer: Absolutely!! (We both had a good laugh) Michelle: In the 60s, did you get the chance to meet anyone influential? Mrs. Boyer: Oh yes. Dan Torisky. He used to live in Garden City and we would see him walking around with his Autistic son and we became friends. When I met Dan, I saw how much I could learn from someone who has a son with Autism. You could read about Autism but to see a family involved with an Autistic child… Dan is such a credible, honest gentleman. So anything he is involved in I always respect it. He is recognized all across the country. I was fortunate enough to meet Dan Torisky, the President of the American Autism Society (1990-
1992). I interviewed him for the Fall 2015 (Issue 3, Volume 1) PITTVERSE magazine. Please read it online. Michelle: Let’s go back to your childhood when you grew up in the South in Charlotte, North Carolina. What memories do you have? Mrs. Boyer: Segr egation was one of the strongest things around. We were blessed that my father had a car and we didn’t have to ride a bus. Back then, blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. Most of the time my father could drive us places unless he was out of town. There were the three of us; myself, my sister and brother. We had to take turns sitting in the middle. My sister never wanted to sit in the middle and always made up excuses so she didn’t have to. Probably when I was 14 years old I decided that I only wanted to have two children. In my husband’s family those who had girls seemed to have four boys before a girl. His sister thought my only wanting two children was terrible. Soon as my husband and I became serious I told him “I love you very much; but I have your ring and this is my body.” He would have to choose between me and his sister. So since he chose me, he had to love me more than his sister! Michelle: In our histor y books we learned mainly that the terrible burnings that took place in Mississippi in the Segregation era, so I guess the KKK was most active there?
Mrs. Boyer: The KKK was active everywhere, not just Mississippi. Back in those days “The dummy KKK and segregated white boys had no clue.” We had educated black leaders and luckily in the southern schools black parents were secure in what the educated black leaders’ attitude was for our children; we had black doctors with PHDs. (Pointing to her head) “What’s in there nobody can take away.” Michelle: I thought that any blacks with ideas of getting ahead were put down, like with the Jim Crow Laws? (These were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in public facilities in the South until 1965) Mrs. Boyer: Dur ing segr egation you still had to do what you had to do. But having educated parents helped me a lot. Growing up I was told “It’s what’s in your head what counts. Nobody can take that away.” We never went shopping in the city. Back then when it came to drinking water, there were white water fountains and there were separate black fountains that you had to use. My mother was a teacher and a seamstress. My sister and I had 15 to 20 dresses. We had enough to have a different dress each day. We were blest to have relatives in Washington DC and every summer we’d make a trip there to shop. Michelle: Thank you for talking about this because I don’t think that people remember important things like this.
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