Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-03-30
ParentsAdyiised
ToMing|eto
Aid Integration
Foce-to-Foce 1uIks
Urged by Speaker
At PTA Workshop
BY JAMES G. DEANE

would be eased If white ant
Negro parents were brought to
gether to talk things over, ;
Washington parent group ha
been told.
Mrs. Jean Grambs, a human
relations expert, gave this ad
vice yesterday at a workshop dis
cussion sponsored by the Distric
Congress of Parents and Teach
erS.
Mrs. Grambs, who has writer
booklets for the National Con
ference of Christians and Jew
and is a former teacher. told TIT
session face to face contact" il
the most important aid to ere,
ating understanding between
white and Negro parents. The
contact. she added, should in
clude visits in each others homes
The reason, she said, is tina
such interchange dispels igno
rance, which the session agreed il
the greatest cause of prejudices
More workshops Urged
Mrs. Grambs, who was a con.
sultant to the workshop group
complimented the session anc
urged the PTA organization tt
sponsor more Of them. Similar
meetings are being held today
and tomorrow at Wilson Teach
ers' College.
Mrs. Theodore o. Wedel, dis
cussion leader, explained the
purpose of the workshops is tc
open up the problems of human
relations under school face int
grafton and find ways PTAs can
help solve them.
About two dozen persons at
tended yesterdays biracial ses-
sion, organized by Mrs. Helen B
Lyman, principal of Bunker Hill
School, and attended by Mrs
Frank F. Strope, PTA Congress
president, and other PTA lead
erS.
Mrs. Wedel said it was felt the
meetings. first of the sort spon-
sored by the PTA Organization
would accomplish more if they
were small.
Both white and colored par
ents have worries about inte-
grafton, the session was told.
Three Main Worries
The group appeared agreed
that there are three main ones:
/. That in influx of Negro
pupils will lower academic
standards prevailing in the for
merly white schools.
2. That indignation will spread
disease.
3. That social contact will lead
to intermarriaga.
Mrs Wedel told the session
she felt the question of social
intermingling was the most basic
fear with many people. and that
in this fear intermarriage was
"the ultimate"
She minimized its significance
however, asserting that pub
lished study showed fewer inter-
marriages in non-segregated
schools than in those strictly
segregated.
Regarding the general problem
of social mingling, she declared
MY own experience is that
almost always the people who
are most afraid are the people
who've never done it,"
Diseases Discussed
On the health question, a
white principal said there were
reports that veneral disease and
tuberculosis we're more prevalent
in the Negro population.
Another white principal said
Children are not going to get
a social disease through using
the same drinking fountains or
toilets"
A colored principal told the
group that ut may be Negroes
do have more VD than whites. "
but he suggested that people in
higher economic groups often
might not be reported as VD
cases because they did not get
Health Department treatment.
He also noted a recent report
that no Negroes evacuated from
the Southwest slum- clearance
area and tested for TB actually
proved to have it.
On the question Of standards
a white elementary principal
told the group she and a COL
ored principal had agreed there
was a threat because so many
Negro children here come from
an inferior environment where
they had perhaps not the same
well-trained teachers" as in the
District. She referred to the
large influx of Negro youngsters
from the South.
Suggestion of Sacrifice.
The colored principal also adj
concern about standards,
but added:
II wonder if it isn't more inn
portant to American cultural
progress to sacrifice standards
to a reasonable limit for the adj
ditional value of both groups
sharing the experience of living
together"
The group also discussed the
problem facing teachers with
small racial minority groups in
their classes.
1t was suggested the best way
to handle this situation is to
call upon a teacher of the OPP
posite race for help.