Power of boycott: A conversation with a veteran who did keep peace mission at the Suez Canal in the fifties

I was working the 6-9PM Race Exhibit shift as an exhibit assistant, which consists of walking around the room, being pleasant and at the right moment talk to visitors.

Two older gentlemen were standing at the last set of stations near the exit and were about to leave. But they paused and wanted to write something in the guest book.

"How do you like the exhibit?" I asked.

"Very well. This is really great. You guys should be thankful for Mayo to put on such a show," one of the men said.  He told me his name was Jerry.  He is from a small town in Illinois.  He is going through Mayo for cancer treatment staying with his friend Roger in Rochester.

"The exhibit brought back a lot of memories for me," he said.

"When I was growing up in my town, I would play with all the kids. Didn't matter what color they were."

"I still remember one time me and my friends wanted to get into a local ice rink. The guy in charge didn't want to let my friends in. But we didn't want to go in without our friends. So, none of went in. We just sat at the curb outside the rink."

An hour later, seeing that we were really serious about this, the guy came over and said to us. "Okay, you can all come in."