The first time I was alone late at night trying to make it (walking) to the train station in Chicago. I had to walk several blocks down Michigan Avenue, and most everything was closed where I was walking. My boyfriend (future husband and is black) and I secretly met at a theatre to watch a movie together on our way back to college via train. I was going to see the movie w/him, get to the train station, and just spend the night at the train station until in the morning when it would leave for Carbondale (school). He was staying overnight w/relatives and would be given a ride to the train station in the morning. He was too afraid to let them know he and I were dating, so when they picked them up, he didn't ask them to give me a ride to the train station. Thus, I was left to walk there by myself.

At one point I had 2 men coming toward me on the sidewalk and one coming from behind. They weren't together. The man behind me got to me first and forced me into an alley. The other two men instead then just went around us and kept walking. So I consider myself lucky that it was only one and not 2 or even 3. And I blamed myself for being out in that area that late at night by myself...thought it was my fault for being so stupid.

I never told my boyfriend because I was afraid he wouldn't want me anymore; he was still a member of a very fundamental church at that time. And I never reported it because I figured that I would just be branded a slut because my boyfriend was black...kind of a..well, what do you expect from that kind? type reaction.

This was at the very end of 1967. I was 19. The only time it haunts me is when I am very stressed and feel I don't have any control of my situation; then I relive it in nightmares. Once I feel back in control, they go away.

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Communication is the key.