When Charles and Theresa Greenwood moved to Muncie, the only safe place for them to live was Anthony Apartments. Once they did find a home, they had people continually driving by their house and a cross burned in their front yard.
They were treated much differently in Muncie than they had been while living in Chicago, where levels of racial tension were relatively low.
Charles was moving to Muncie to become Ball State's first black faculty member during an especially racially charged time in the city's history. Black communities everywhere, including Muncie, were inspired by the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The Greenwoods adored King and his goal of equality.
On April 4, 1964, the Greenwoods received the news that Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed.
"It was a shock," Charles said. "I thought it was a mistake."
In May of 1980, they met Coretta Scott King when she visited Ball State. Theresa said she had the chance to spend hours with her and formed a friendship that lasted years.
"She was a very warm, soft-spoken woman," Charles said.
The Greenwoods said Muncie has become more integrated, but City Council's refusal to change the name of Broadway to Martin Luther King Boulevard shows there is still room for growth.
Theresa thought it was just an example of the undercurrent of racism in Muncie, she said.
"Muncie tends to be very provincial," she said. "There's a subtle hidden prejudice that goes underground sometimes and surfaces at other times."
The Greenwoods have had to deal with this racism since moving to Muncie in 1961.
Charles was offered a job as an academic advisor by President John Emens in an effort to integrate the Ball State faculty.
"This was a time of pioneering," Charles said.
The journey, however, was not easy and made some upset and angry.
"Some people told me that Ball State stopped existing when I came onto the faculty," Charles said. "To one person I was a little Jamaican professor. A lot of students had never been around minorities before."
Charles grew up in Anderson, where he attended an integrated high school and was class treasurer. Attending universities including Indiana University, Colorado College and Ball State, Charles moved to Chicago, where he met his wife.
When the family came to Ball State, Emens broke university policy and placed them in Anthony Apartments.
"That was the only place they could put us safely," Theresa said. "They said this was the best thing to do."
While living in the apartments, the Greenwoods looked for homes, but came up short every time.
Banks would not give them loans, and real estate brokers shied away from them. Theresa recalled a time when she and Charles were walking up to an open house she heard someone say, "Uh oh, look who's coming."
After four years in the university housing, the Greenwoods finally found a house with the help of friends.
The couple had to visit the home at night so neighbors wouldn't see them. When they did move in, a neighbor believed Theresa to be the maid of a white family moving in. When the neighbor discovered she was the woman of the house she stood in the street and "boo-hooed," Theresa said.
Street signs eventually had to be removed to keep the location of the Greenwoods' home secret, but unknown people burnt a cross in the Greenwoods' yard.
Through the years of separation with the Muncie community, the Greenwoods tried to keep their heads held high and their two children safe. Marc and Lisa attended a Muncie school and were the only black students enrolled.
"They dealt with a lot of racism, even from the teachers," Theresa said. "We always had to make sure there was no psychological harm from the things said to them. We asked them to forgive these people. We told them that they didn't know any better and were acting out of ignorance."
Charles said he was always concerned for his children, and while both of them often wanted to leave Muncie, they decided to stay.
"Even though sometimes we feel we've been passed up, God has allowed us to do so much with what we had," Theresa said. "We bought a home, we put two children through college, we've been to Europe four or five times, and we've done all of that with less. "
Lisa now lives in South America, and Marc works in fashion design in New York.
"We've enjoyed our lives despite all the bumps," Theresa, assistant professor emeritus of Burris Laboratory School, said.
Charles spent 13 years as an academic advisor and is currently assistant dean and assistant professor of the school of extended education.
"I enjoy what I do and I enjoy Ball State as long as I feel like I'm contributing," Charles said. "I'm having a good time."
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