Dickey, Velma

This is an oral history interview with Velma Dickey conducted as part of the Houston History Project. Velma Dickey was born in Shereveport, Louisiana in 1948. She migrated to Houston after finishing high school. She graduated third of her class. Velma's mother died two weeks before the end of the school year. Velma moved to Houston to live with her half sister and her husband. She attended college in Grambling, Louisiana, a college for African Americans. Sometimes during the summer and school holidays she will come to Houston, but preferred to stay in Louisiana. After graduating from college in 1970, she came back to live in Houston permanently. Velma remembers seating on the back of the bus, and going to demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement. I want her to share her personal experiences of the Civil Rights Movement and her feelings and insights about moving from an African American community in Louisiana to a racely mix community in Housto