Evening star., 1949-08-31
Two P|ayAre
Will BeLeft on
|nterracia| Basis
Garfield, Rose Park
To Continue Program
Tried Out by Friends

Garfield Park and Rose Park
Fairgrounds will be operated on
permanent interracial basis by the
District Recreation Board. starting
tomorrow after the American
Friends Service Committee winds
up it's summer-long experiment at
the two recreation areas.
A team of IA workers from the
Friends is concluding its expert
mental operation of the play
grounds today.
Milo christensen. District Re-
creation superintendent. said he
had assigned two full time recrea-
ton specialists to each playground
to continue on a permanent basis
the interracial program sponsored
by the Friends. Garfield Park
playground is located at Third and
G streets Sc. Rose Park is at
Twenty seventh and o streets
NV.
Land Controlled by Interior.
Mr.. Christensen pointed out
that the two Fairgrounds are on
park land controlled by the In
terror Department. They were
among the areas covered by the
basic agreement signed by the In
terror Department and the Recrea-
tional Board last week.
Under the agreement, the Rec
reation Board was given permis-
sion to operate recreation pro-
grams on the Interiors park lands
in the city. One of the terms was
that any such programs would be
on an interracial basis. Before this
summer. the programs at Garfield
and Rose Park had been on a seq
regated basis.
AS the Recreation Department
moved to take over the two play
grounds, a report on accomplish
ments there during the summer
was made by Daniel Peacock, 90.
who headed the Friends commit
tee in charge.
More Difficulty at Garfield.
Mr.. Peacock said that Garfield
presented the more difficult prob
lem. White participation there
rose from less than 8 per cent
during the first week to more than
13 per cent last week. The neigh
borhood has an estimated Is per
cent white population.
Rose Park presented less of a
problem because there are fewer
white children in the area and
many spend their summers at pri-
vate camps. Mr.. Peacock said.
Tennis courts at Rose PaTk,,h have
been used interracially for some
time.
Mr.. Peacock said no violence
occurred during the summer and
that initial ueighborhood hostility
TO the project was overcomefto a
great extent as evidenced by the
fact that children of white par
ents who originally signed petit
tions against it were subsequently
playing on the Fairgrounds. Some
white parents offered supervisory
help, he said.
Wading Pool Program Dropped.
On the negative side, Mr.. Pea
cock said. attempts to develop an
interracial program in the wading
pool at Garfield we're unsuccess-
full. Baseball games between
white and colored players grew
too bitter and had to be discon-
tinued, he added. At Garfield. a
group of teen-age white boys tried
to monopolize the facilities and
drunks occasionally interfered
with the programs, he reported.
Mr.. Peacock said one difficulty
was that the workers were ap-
preached repeatedly by white
groups who urged abandoning
the project. Some resentment arose
because only four of the IA work.
ers we're from Washington, he
added.
He summed up the experiment
by saying that it was proved def
finitely that the younger the chill
dren are and the more supervis-
ion they receive. the easier it is
to achieve interracial recreation.