Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-10-19
Recreation

There are two categories Of play
areas in Washington: Those which
are Federally owned are operated by
the Interior Department; those which
. are owned by the District are oper-
ated by the local Recreation Board.
Since 1941 there has been no Segre-
CATION in the use of Federal recrea-
ton facilities-picnic areas, golf
courses, tennis courts, baseball dia-
monds and the like. And in 1949,
after seven years of controversy, the
District Recreation Board announced
a new policy aimed at progressive
abandonment of segregation in the
Fairgrounds it controlled. The
change-over, the board promised,
would be carried out as quickly "as
may be consistent with the public
interest, public order and effective
administration"
In the past three years, the Dis
trict has opened to both white and
coiored II Fairgrounds on land it
controls. 1t also operates 18 inte-
grated Fairgrounds on Interior De-
partment property. 1t operates seven
unsegregated day camps. In addi-
ton. the city-wide Cardozo Recrea-
ton Center, District institution at
the old Central High School, is inter-
racial.
The indignation of these facilities
has been carried on amid complaints
that it is going too slowly Zone group
OF critics has estimated it will take
40 years to eliminate segregation
throughout the playground system,
at the present rate of progreSs) and
against resistance which might be
taken to indicate that in some cases
indignation may have been pushed
too fast. Recent violence at the
Rosedale Playground is an example
OF the sort of difficulty encountered.
Yet the program is being pushed
forward. Last week, the Recreation
Board announced that four more
to both white and colored-including
Rosedale, which re-opens on an I'M
segregated basis tomorrow.
In the movement away from segre-
gated recreation, swimming pools
have proved a difficult hurdle to cross.
Six public swimming pools on Fed
eral property are run by Government
Services, Inc. for the Interior De-
partment. They are unsegregated,
though in practice five have been
taken over almost exclusively by COL
ored batherS while the sixth remains
predominately white. In 1949, a Sc
ries of disturbances ended in a near
riot at the AnacoStia swimming pool,
which was temporarily closed as a
result. The District has not yet at
tempted to integrate it's four public
pools, two Of which are operated for
whites and two for colored.
In other areas Of recreation, how
ever, progress has been both rapid
and uneventful. The District Recre-
alton Department, for instance, SUI
perviseS team sports involving both
white and colored amateur groups.
Mixed racial teams now are engaging
in many sports in Washington-espe-
cially in softball, where participation
by Federal employees is high. A re-
cent horseshoe tournament at the
Ellipse drew both white and colored
players. And a recent tennis tourna-
ment at Sixteenth and Kennedy
streets NV. had a lone Negro con-
testant. blazing a sporting trail for
other members Of his race to follow.
The Washington Civic Orchestra.
which is sponsored by the Recreation
Department, is nom segregated. Folk
dancing at the Cardozo Center is in
tegrated, just as basketball is. The
barriers are going down.
Medicine
The Medical Society Of the District
Of Columbia was founded in 1917.