Evening star., 1948-05-28
Schools Policy
|0n Race Mixiinq
P!ayDeferred
Boord Plans Another
Hearing Before Acting
On Playground Issue
By Colt HendIey. Jr.

AAC oOkAAo "a EsQuSdtAOA WILL 2IOlu
another public hearing before it
decides whether to tell the Recre-
alton Department not to segregate
colored and white children on
school property used for recreation
programs.
The board yesterday heard state
ments from representatives of more
than Is groups. The majority asked,
the school board to order the Board
of Recreation to stop segregation.
Playground facilities are denied to
colored children-and often white
children-because of segregation.
opponents of the present play
ground policy maintained. The
overall result is unequal recreation
facilities for colored people. they
said.
Federation Opposes Change.
The Federation of Citizens Asso-
Citations. represented by Ernest r.
Henry, filed long statement voic-
ing its objection to any change in
the present setup. Mr.. Henry said
the theory and practice of segre-
cation is as old as civilization it
self and has nothing to do with
the civil rights of any particular
group of people"
Other groups opposing change in
policy were the Grant Elementary
School PTA, the West End Citizens
Association, the Lincoln Park Citi-
zens' Association and the Brentwood
Terrace Citizens Association.
The reason the School Board Is
holding hearings on the question is
this:
Each fall and each spring, the
Recreation Board requests the
School Board to give permission for
the Recreation Department to use
certain school buildings and grounds
for a recreation program. Earlier
this month, approval was held up
when George E. C. Hayes, colored
School Board member, asked that
the hearing be held. Last fall such
a hearing was promised by other
board members but never material
lied.
Wants to Know Policy.
Mr.. Hayes said he wanted to know
just what the policy of the Recrea-
ton Board was before he gave per-
for the use of the schools.
supporting him has been
Mrs. James w. Williams, another
colored School Board member. Both
desire the. end of segregation.
The policy of the Recreation
Board was defined pretty we'll yes
terday during testimony by William
Allyn Hill, executive secretary Of
the District branch Of the National
Association for the Advancement OF
Colored People.
Mr.. Hill read a letter from Milo
F. christensen, recreation .superin-.
tendent, to the Rev. Stephen c..
Spottswood, of the NAACP, which
outlined the policy this way: -
White and colored people may
not mix in any manner in play
ground areas controlled by the Rec.
reation Department. White and col-
ored artist may not appear together
or separately before an audience
not their own color
Mr.. Hill said The Recreation
Board has overstepped it's authority
by imposing an arbitrary policy Of
upon the use of areas
and buildings conveyed to them ny
the Board of Education" ;.
1942 Act Cited. :
Paul Cooke, representing tic
Council for Civil Rights in the
Nations Capital, pointed out that,
when Congress setup the Recreation
Board in 1912, it specifically elimin-
ated from the act a clause which
provided for separate facilities for
white and colored people. This was
done by Supreme Court Justice Bur-
ton then Senator Burton on
motion from the floor, Mr.. Cooke
said, and read the Congressional
Record of March 80, 1912 to prove
his point.
Mr. Henry, speaking for the 10
citizens associations of the District,
said the existing pattern of segre-
cation in public education and rec
reation in the District is the
foundation of harmonious relations
between the whites and Negroes"
1T is not at all certain that
Negroes would or should continue
to enjoy such preferred status in
the event of the elimination of the
segregation policy, as this favorable
treatment has been based largely
upon the proposition that whites are
morally OBLIGATED to the Negroes In
some degree" he declared.
Sees Harmony Promoted.
Segregation, he said, is method
of bringing harmony out of what
would otherwise be chaos in earthly
relationships.
Mrs. Ethel Wiser, representing the
Women,s Auxiliary. United Public
Workers (CIO), put in plea for
the children.
She named the Parkview. Happy
Hollow, Rosedale and Hillcrest
Fairgrounds as places where hum
dreds of colored children are forced
to play in the street while a hand
full of white children play on the
grounds.
AT Rosedale in the hot summer
it is pitiful to see colored children
hanging on the outside OF the fence
while inside white children splash
in the pool" she exclaimed.
Harry Wender. chairman of the
Recreation Board, and other MEM
bers of that board were present at
the meeting but had nothing to
say. Albert E. Steinem, school board
presided.
Other groups opposing the segre-
cation included:
The Association of Oldest Inhah-
itants, Inc; the Washington Chapter
Of the Americans for Democratic
Action, the Washington Indus
trial Union Council, the Midway
Civic Association, the East Central
Civic Association, the Baptist Min
Isters' Conference of Washington
and Vicinity. the Unitarian Fellow
ship for Social Justice.
Also the Federation of Civic
Associations, Local q Of the Ameri-
,an Federation of Teachers tAFL),