Evening star., 1954-05-23
By james 6. Deens

Racial integration Is q Ave-
year-old story for Catholic
schools in Washington and near
by Maryland.
Msgr. John s. Spence. director
of education for Ithe Washing
ton archdiocese. calls it a success
story-a label echoed by numer-
Gus pastors and parents.
When Archbishop Patrick A.
O'Boyle took Office as the Capt.
tails first resident archbishop in
1913, the city's Catholic schools.
like the public school system to-
day, were either exclusively white
or exclusively colored.
In the fall of 1949. quietly and
in modest numbers, the first Ne
gro children were enrolled in
archdiocesan classes. Ever since,
colored pupils have, been taking
classroom seats next to their
white schoolmates in gradually
I11CI CdS111S IlUkuUCIc.
Little Trouble Noted.
There have been no mass pupil
Withdrawals. Children, light and
dark, have been studying. eating.
playing and engaging in sports
and numerous other activities to-
gether peaceably and with in
creasing confidence. Parents have
responded, for the most part. CO.
operatively.
Parochial integration has taken
the gradual approach. Lowest
grades got Negro pupils first and
year by year colored children
have been admitted to higher
grades. Now. all grades are open
to them.
Several archdiocesan high
schools are graduating their first
Negro seniors this spring. On the
elementary level, several schools
now have as many as one-third
Negro pupils.
Next fall, one of these elemen-
tary schools is expected to be al
most half colored, half white.
Nowhere, according to Msgr.
Spence, has any serious. trouble
occurred. In the high schools.
the most important remaining
problem is the social one, which
only continued good will and
time. can solve. Where there are
sizeable groups Of colored, the
colored and white children on
social occasions, or in the lunch
room, sometimes tend to stay
apart.
But in the classroom, and in
most organized school activities,
all participate without discrim-
ination. And the newcomers in
most cases hold their own as
students. Some have proved out
standing.
1OLal NOL DlSCIOScO.
Msgr. Spence does not make
available the total of Negro pu-
pills. This is because, he said,
tallying Negroes separately would
violate the principle of non-seg-
regation.
From statistics published by
the District public school sys-
tenn on private school enroll
ments, it appears that Negro
Catholic pupils living within
the District now number between
1,500 and 1,700, compared to a
Catholic grand total of about
$4,000. (The archdiocese as a
whole, including five Maryland
counties. has over 34.0000
Many of the Negro children
still attend exclusively Negro
schools, of which there are four.
This is because the basic rule
Of the integration plan has been
that children attend the school
in their own parish. The four
Negro parochial schools are in
predominantly colored parishes.
The parochial school which,
according to its pastor, the Rev.
Louis E. Miltenberger, has the
biggest proportion Of colored pu-
pills is st. Martins, at 81 T street
NE.
Just across the street from
two public schools, Mckinley
High and Langley Junior High,
st. Martins is in a neighborhood
which has acquired a number
of Negro residents in the last
several years. langley was
transferred to Negro use in 1851,
although Mckinley is still white.)
Over a third of st. Martins
480 pupils currently are colored.
with colored students in seven
of its eight grades.
Started With Three.
To start with, there were only
three hand-picked pupils. This
was in the 1949-50 school year,
and all were in the first grade.
The next year eight more col
ored youngsters entered. and the
range was extended to include