Look closely at the double vaulted entry to the Edinburg Depot where 100 years of history is about to be celebrated. Why are their two ticket entries into the train depot? It is a question I always asked myself growing up as a young child in Edinburg. I played basketball in the empty abandoned building in the 1960's but never new the answer until fairly recently.
Because of segregation one entry way was for whites and the other was for blacks. Eight years or so ago I learned this troubling history that forced another class of Americans in my town to be treated in a disrespectful and degrading manner. When the Edinburg train depot was undergoing remodeling I donated funds for crafting a duplicate of the ticket door where "coloreds" were forced to buy their train tickets. Rather than let the original door be thrown away I saved the door in my attic until an organization or individual came along who appreciated the historic and symbolic power of the door.
In a casual conversation with the executive director of the Museum of South Texas History she learned that I had the original door and asked if I would donate it to the museum. This past weekend I turned the door over to the museum so that this part of our history could be told. An appropriate gift for the city's centennial I think. The greater power however is the lesson of history that I hope will be communicated in our community for years to come, that we must guard against the inhumanity of man towards others.
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