A PLACE CALLED MILLER

The story of a literate community need not be erased by some single act of negligence or vandalism. So when the names of Miller’s graduates were stripped from the walls, the Miller Alumni Association decided to restore them and in theprocess give life to the names of the people who attended Miller High School. We wanted to share some of the experiences of growing up in Black Bottom and the surrounding neighborhoods that make up what we have called the MillerVillage. We have not covered the entire mix that made up the neighborhoods of the thirties, forties, and fi fties. The Polish kids, the Italian kids, the Greeks, and the Germans were also a part of that experience. How did we get along? Pretty well, I think. People generally observed the rules of pejorative language. Groups defi ned themselves, in part, in the use of pejorative language that those outside the group knew was something that they could not use. It was a way of showing respect. Every group had a way of calling one another out. If you were not in that group, then there were certain insults that you didn’t use no matter how heatedan exchange might become.