Having the opportunity to camp with girls of all ages, backgrounds and religions helped to develop Kathy Krohn’s (1965-68) sense of self at a very young age. “It was very freeing to be around so many types of people. I felt no prejudices, despite being Jewish. I just felt a great group dynamic and it was a very valuable experience for me.”
The earliest mention of any minoritiy was from 1942 camper Dorothy Bonnen who had this memory; “There were eight cabins and they all had screened windows all around. My younger sister Muriel went, but she was down the trail. There were some colored girls from Saginaw and they picked Muriel, Louanne Young and Pearl Majeski to bunk in with them. I guess they thought they had the personalities to handle the situation. It was not the greatest cabin to be in and they expected trouble, but these girls were exceptionally good at handling it all.”
“There were always little contests being set up, to see who could learn to set a table and the colored girls, I don’t think, had ever done anything like this before. Well, my sister’s cabin set the table and the colored girls stood at the end of the table with towels over their arms. They stood like they were waiters and went one past us to out-do us. I think they got an honorable award.”
“I formed nice childhood friendships while I was there and was never aware if there were differences in our backgrounds, “said Tally Orange (1960-65)” We had Chapel Hill for our services and I remember climbing up and down that hill singing. I was from Birmingham and there were many Jewish families there, but I was never aware of foreign or black girls that I can remember. I just never paid any attention to their differences.”
“My rite of passage included meeting so many different girls,” said Valerie Monto (1964-68). “I was from the west side of Bay City and went to the Zion Lutheran School. Bangor Township was still Bay City, but we had no black girls. The first year I was at camp there was a little black girl and I realized I had never even spoken to one before! The only black people were on the other side of town. Then, another girl brought her guitar, which I thought was so cool and I asked her where she got it and she said for Hannukah and she had to explain it was a Jewish holiday and I had never known a Jewish girl before.”
Sue Robson (1970-71) never saw any bias or prejudice, but it was the first time she had met any Jewish girls. “Bay City was such a small town and very vanilla. It was great for me to have the exposure to people from Detroit and other school systems. I do recall two girls who were good friends in one of my cabins who got into an argument, so they tried to be best friends with other girls to make each other jealous. But, I loved the camaraderie in the cabins and seeing friends from year to year helped me have a good childhood.”
Minette Imerman camped 1938-41 and never saw any bias, but she does not every remember any girls of color, citing it was rare to see African American girls in Bay City during her growing up years. Julie Richardson camped during the sixties and did not recall any minorities, but said, “I do remember I went to camp to have fun and I had a great childhood and camp was just part of it. I was oblivious to a lot in the world.”
Ellen Hydorn (1954) and Jane McKinley (1956-59) both recalled one of the girls named Carolyn Clark, who always wore a sailor hat. “I remember making friends with the African American girl who called herself “Slugger”, “said Jane. “She was a baseball player, but taught us to dance to the fifties song “Searching” (by The Coasters) in our cabin and I still have that record.”
The Baker sisters also camped while Kerry Weber was there in 1952 and she believed them to be the first African American girls to camp there, but Dorothy Bonnen had earlier mentions.Were you in camp with any minorities during your years?
