Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-08
BY JAMES G. DEANE

a p
4 Last October. widespread pub
Lefty was given to brief DEM
onstration against indignation by
some Of the students in nine
Washington Junior and senior
high schools.
School authorities at the time
reported about a third Of the
This is the third Of five articles on
| Washington public school intesrotion.
-------~->~
white students at the nine
schools stayed out of classes
briefly during the three " four
days before the demonstration
ENDED. Nine other former white
secondary schools with some
Negro pupils were unaffected.
| Since that time there have
been no organized student pro-
TESTS against Washington school
Indignation. School officials be-
Ilieve many of the participants in
last October's demonstration had
no serious intent, and that the
demonstration had little real sig
nificance.
Report On High Schools
All the city's white high
schools except Woodrow Wilson
opened last fall with some Negro
pupils Three had stable num-
lbers. Mckinley Technical High
School had ~ per cent. Eastern
La per cent and Roosevelt 10 per
lcent.
Dunbar, which had one white
pupil. was the only Negro high
school at all biracial for the full
year, but white students made
Iup about a fourth of the enroll
lment of the recent summer ses-
sion at Spingarn High School
formerly all colored.
Eleven white junior high
schools were integrated. with
Eastern enrolling IS per cent
Negro pupils in its junior high
unit. Four Negro Junior highs
had small numbers of white
pupils.
Octoher's indignation walkouts
seem to have been mostly a spur.
of -the-moment imitation Of dis.
Iturbances elsewhere. Almos
nothing happened except absen'
teeisn and hubbub, and Thu
ended quickly.
At Mckinley. the most inte'
grated of the strictly senior high
schools, the walkout lasted from
monday morning to Wednesda.
morning and involved a third O
the white students. some O
whom may have been norma
Iabsentees. It collapsed after al
assembly which turned into
football pep rally.
A Negro player afterward
helped win the game.
Mckinley strikers submittet
some complaints, but most o
them in retrospect seemed triv
Iial, and even some of the mos
Ivociferous strike leaders late
changed their minds.
Mckinley is a good Illustration
of the rapid adjustment tn
city's secondary schools mad
once the October difficulty wa
over with.
Seen as Challenge
Last year, four weeks after tn,
Supreme Courts decision. DR.
Charles e. Bish, Mckinley prin'
cipal, told undergraduates {
challenge was ahead but urgee
them to accept it with gooc
spirit. He said the year aheac
would require mutual faith, I'm.
derstanding and confidence, ano
added:
II wouldn't be any place elst
but at Mckinley next year fol
all the money in the world"
Through the past year re-
sponsible student leaders helped
ito smooth out adjustment diff
culties, and in most respects
school life was little different
from normal.
Gym classes and athletic
teams, the cadet battalion
student council and other schoo
organizations were integratec
: along with classrooms and with
Inc more difficulty. A colorec
captain led the schools prize
company in the annual city
competitive drill. and severa
Negro players were outstanding
in sports. Another colored boy
5 became feature editor of the
? school paper.
A dance held sometimes al
midwinter was not scheduled
mainly because students didn't
TASK for one. according to DR.
) Bish. But 10 colored couples at.
, tended the senior prom in June
, without incident.
. The. situation at the prom was
simplified, DR.. Bish said, because
the youngsters attended with
, their own dates and couples die
not exchange dances, and there
was no stag line or cutting in
This Is the custom at proms
nowadays, he said. But all the
couples participated in the grand
march.
At Mckinley five Negro teach
ers and the schools new Negro
assistant principal apparently
fitted in well. White students
said the assistant principal was
we'll liked. ...
Most of the schools early diff
Guilty revolved around some
minor behavior matters, together
with the general impact of the
sudden increase in enrolment.
A year ago the enrolment
was 750. and in some ways the
school, although built for many
more, was not prepared for the
big September increase. A
planned 81 million revamping is
mot getting under way until this
wear.