Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-02-28
Letters to The Star
Charges inequalities Exist in
Dual School System
TO the EDITOR Of The star:

cent months, Negroes Of the District Of
Columbia have been pressing for Inn
provement in school facilities, both as
to physical plants and equipment used
In school buildings assigned to them.
There is pending in the United States
District Court at this moment q suit
to compel the Board OF Education to
provide adequate school facilities for
Negroes who live In the Brookland area.
What Is needed In the Brookland area
is needed In great many of the areas
where Negroes predominant.
In commenting on the pending case
in your issue Of February l., 1914, you
stated in that editorial. entitled "Our
Dual School System" that there Is no
doubt Of the moral as well as legal
responsibility implicit In a dual public
school system to provide school facilities
for Negro residents that are on the
whole strictly comparable with those for
white residents. II there were any
suggestion of arbitrary refusal to pro-
vide such facilities, because those need
ing them are Negroes, the Negro resi-
fled complaint and they would find
substantial support"
Suggests Unequal Treatment.
There are many instances which
cause the Negro residents to believe
the latter to be the case, and in re-
cent issue of the Washington Tribune,
Congress was asked in an editorial to
investigate the inequities in the admin
istration of our dual system.
The condition existing in Anacostia
is case in point.
There are only two schools for Negroes
in Anacostia. Both are elementary.
Garfield School is 12-room building,
constructed to accommodate $50 stu
dents. In 1871 there were 141 pupils
and teachers; in 1912, 200 pupils and
s teachers, with an average of 48 stu
dents per teacher. For the past three
years the enrolment has been more
than 500 students, with IA teachers.
Naturally such an enrolment In q L.
room building puts most Of the classes
on a part-time basis, creating 4 serious
delinquency problem.
School supplies are totally inadequate.
Pupils in the first grade read from
second-grade books because there are
only six readers Of the 1-B level Stu
dents in the fourth grade read from
third-grade books. One box of crayons
is divided among three and four pupils
and parents are constantly urged to
furnish supplies which the Board OF
Education is required by law to fur
nisn but does not.
Around the corner from GARFIELD is
the Staunton School for white chill
dren. When the Knox Hill dwellings
were built, an addition was made to that
school, as result Of which there are
no part-time classes there. When the
Douglass dwellings were built for Ne
groes, prior to the Knox Hill dwellings
for white, no addition to Garfield was
made and none to date.
Randall Junior Overcrowded.
There is only one junior high school
for Negroes serving both Southwest and
Southeast Washington. At the begin
ming of the present semester, the en-
tire enrolment at Randall Junior High
was placed on pArtstilne basis despite
the fact that law requires all children
above the second grade to 60 full time,
tTitle 81. Sec. ,llol, D. c. Code)
Regardless of where 4 Negro lives,
when he reaches high school he must
go to one of the three high schools set
apart for him In Northwest Washington,
passing numerous high scho OILS for white
residents.
This situation must be corrected, or
there will be case after case filed in court
to compel full facilities
I have three boys living in Anacostia
who are entitled to full-time instruction
at Garfield as long as the students at
Staunton are receiving it. Otherwise
educational opportunities are not equal.
If there Is no high school for them in
Anacostia, they should be admitted to
the Anacostia High School set aside for
white.
Personally, am opposed to the dual
system; among other reasons because
WAciCFCl ~ cA1Sto ~ 10 ucfcI LARRY Au-
ministered.
Your paper favors retention Of the
dual system. Why not then urge your
people and those of ours too, who sit
on the board and in administrative jobs,
to clean up these dilapidated Negro
schools and supply them with books and
other facilities just as is furnished
white children?
We have tried and have failed. If
your influential paper fails, too then in
that instance you may be willing to
join with the rest Of us who want the
dual system based on race in the Ma
tons Capital abolished, and one based
on democracy, justice and fair play sub
stituted. FREDERICK S. WEAVER.
Editors Note-Dr. Garnet c. Wilkin-
son, assistant superintendent in charge
of colored schools, tells The Star that
equipment and supplies are issued on q
per capita basis, and that he knows of
no inequitable division as between white
and colored children. The Anacostia
schools, both white and colored, are
overcrowded. The number of children
at the 12-room Garfield School, men,
toned by Mr.. Weaver, is Is over capacity
and 4 out Of Il classes are on double
shift. All Is of the classes at the Patter-
son School for white are on double shift.
At the Birney School for colored in Ana
costa there are ATS students with II
teachers in the 14-room main building
381 pupils with teachers in the 8-room
annex. Two Of the annex classes are on
double shift.