Evening star., 1954-09-19
Effects of Chance

At the end of Washington's first
week Of unsegregated education,
about IS per cent of the city's schools
had biracial student bodies, and
about Is per cent of the faculties
had both white and Negro members.
But the effects of integration were
not so broad as this general state
nlent might indicate. .
Roughly four-f1ft of the schools
either continued to cater exclusively
to one race or had absorbed only
small numbers of the minority race
(white or Negro. as the case might
be). Out of 122 schools of all levels
in the city. % had no race minority, !,
II remaining exclusively Negro and
II exclusively white. Forty-six other
schools with students of both races
had preponderance of over 80 per
cent Negro students, and % student
bodies were more than 80 per cent
white.
The only school with an almost
evenly divided student body was
Emery Elementary, at Lincoln road
and S street NE. This school, for
merly in the white Division /, re-
ported 49.2 per cent Negro enroll
ment.
Nineteen of the city's onetime
white schools had substantial Negro
enrollments this year GO per cent
or more). Of these, one junior high
and four elementary schools had
Negro majorities.
In no case did a former Division 2
(Negro) school report a majority
or even substantial percentage-of
white students this year. Ambush
Elementary, at Sixth and L streets
S.W., reported white enrolment
of 8.4 per cent, the heaviest in this
category in the city.
Although integratlon was proceed
ing without incident, it could not be
said that dissatisfaction was entirely
absent. At Randall Junior High
School, First and streets S.W.,
the only three white children due to
attend that school did not report
for classes last week. CRandall has
1921 Negro students) The school
board was studying steps to be
taken to require school attendance
by the three children.
Some $50 parents already have
appealed to school authorities for
transfers for their children. No
decisions have been handed down,
but it is the boards policy that
race will not be judged a valid
reason for transfer. Some students
have been, and probably will be,
transferred to other schools on
hardship" grounds, such as excess
sive distance to travel. And school
authorities, believe some parents may
decide to move to other areas of
town, or even outside the District.
as a strategem to avoid what they
regard as undesirable conditions.
One consequence that flowed, al
most inevitably, from the integra-
ton of races in the schools was the
decision last week to merge white
and Negro parent-teacher groups.
Two organizations. the District Con-
gress (White) and the Washington
Congress (coloreO revealed the for
uldIlOn IA o JO4AAV NOAAA@AAASVS~ W.
plan the merger. The white organ
ization already has withdrawn from
the all-white Federation Of Citizens
Associations.
The Federation, which tried unsuc-
cessfully to halt integration, con-
tinued meanwhile to plan further
moves to bring back segregation.
Other Areas
Nowhere in the District was there
evidence of widely organized opposi-
ton such as caused school board
retreat in West Virginia last week
At White Sulphur Springs last Mon
day night, 600 parents OF white
high school students demanded an
end to integration in Greenbrier