Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1922-03-25
.COLORED STUDENT IS
CHAMPION De FACTO
SPELLER OF DETROIT
RANK IN SCHOOLS OF CITY
WITH EQUAL OPPORTUNITY.
(By Francis II, Warren.

o Are Southern methods of repression
creeping into the North to prevent Ne
groes in competition with white people
from securing even handed justice?
This question is thrust to the front
by the experiences OF George Nurse,
admitted champion speller of the sixth
+ grade In the Detroit Public Schools.
{, Tho Detroit News recently staged n
series Of spelling bees In the Detroit
Public Schools, Of which there are ono
hundred and fifty-eight and gave
copies OF Wcbster's new dict! onary to
each champion Of their respective
schools. Then these school champions
competed to see who were the best
grade spoilers in the city from the fifth
grade to the high schools Of the city
leaving four grade champions from
grades five to eight and one high
school champion.
George Nurse the sixth grade cham
pion Of which grade he Is member in
the Barstow School, with four other
grade and high school champions were
lett to contest for the honor Of being
champion Of the City of Detroit.
GREAT INTEREST SHOWN
IN CONTEST
The Majestic Theatre one of Dctroit'p
largest playhouses was the scene Of tho
& final struggle between these five stu.
dents to win the highest prize In tho
(sreat contest, and one by one the five
Rrade champions dropped out for mis-
/ spelling until there were left on tho
{ staga ltttts George Nurse, Negro cham
plon. OF the sixth grade, aged nine, and
Justine Pearsall, a bright child Of
caucasian race of the eighth grade.
aged twelve. Word after word was civ
II en- to these two children and each SMELL
ed them correctly until tho word
peace the opposite of war was g:vcn
10 Justine which is single syllable
word
But Justine spelled the word wrong
Twice and was given third opportuni
~ 10 spell 1t correctly, and while she
was given words from the grade spel-
ter,s George was given high school
words with several syllables yet he con
tinued to spell them correctly and tho
I eXcltement became most intense MS Il
! was feared that a Negro hoy of nino
i years would out spell all Of the other
students IN the city schools of our
great city.
II. DISCRIMINATION APPARENT
Finally George was given the word
Hawaii. He began with capital "H"
Z then he stopped and started over and
forgot to use the capital "H" when lie
z started the second time but spelled tile
word correctly" He was disqualified
for this without being given three op-
portunities or even two to spcR it cor
6rectly as had formerly been done with
Miss Pearsall, from all Of which ii ap.
pears that there was at least some dis
Il examination in favor OF little Miss Pear
sail and against the little Negro boy,
george Nurse, for had he been given
three opportunities to correctly spell
Hawaii" he probably would have been
spelling with her until yet as his prin
i clpal who was too i'll to attend the fin
NJ match was confident that he was the
best speller IN the City Of Detroit and
could not be spelled down.
NEGRO STUDENTS STAND HIGH
~ 1t Is for the above reason that VIC
denominate George Nurse champion
speller dc facto OF the City of Detroit
Wnlle MISS Justine Pearsall Is champ.
lon speller de jure, having been grant.
en the first prize as champion spellcr
or the city for the reasons above stat.
ca There is one thing. however, that
stands out prominently in this spelling
contest and that is that Negro stu.
dents take Their place along with stu
dents Of MI other races and attain the
nghest character Of mental develop.
ment where educated along with other
students in the same schools, for in De
troit all children in given district at
tend the same schools. There are no
such things as white schools or colored
schools in this city. Hence the chill
5dren OF the race secure the same bene-
fits from the curriculum and the teach
iEg staff as the children of all other
races.
There are as previously stated, one
hundred and fifty-eight champion spell.
lers Of their respective schools. Out Of
these champions one hundred and for
" contestants for the grade champion
ships. Eight Negro students won the
school championship prize the names