Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1957-03-08
The Hidden Ones
(Fron TIAIEl

(F'rom TIME
During his FIRST year al Phillips
Exeter Academy. there were times
when Nathaniel LAMAR OF Atlanta.
Ca. thought he would never make
IL. The son of a widowed school
teacher. he had gone To n Negro
elementary school that left him
unprepared for the competition
al Exeter. Had II not been for an
organization called the National
Scholarship Service and Fund for
Negro Students. he would never
have bothered to apply for Exeter
at all. But young LAMAR gradually
found his bearings. Eventually he.
~ was elected senior class poet at
Exeter. - graduated summa cum
laude from Harvard, 81 won a fel.
lowship 10 Cambridge University.
~ published short stories In the
Atlantic Monthly, and Is now on
the way TO finishing a novel
In 194s when NsSFNS (pro-
nounced "Nessfeness' began fer
reting out hidden talents such as
LaMar's, Negroes accounted for
only one-tenth of icg uf the stu
dents In interracial colleges. To
three prominent New Workers. --
Dean Harry Carman OF Columbia
College, Mrs. FcliCe Schwartz, and
Pastor James H. Robinson of the
| Church Of the Mastcr-this seemed
not only an injustice. but a waste
90 brainpower Though too many
boys and girls Of all races were
missing their chance for full
education because OF poverty or
bad training. the largest group NJ.
tectcd was the Negroes,
Deciding TO go TO the rescue,
Dean Carman & Co. hired Richard
PlRut. a personnel expert, to be
Nessfeness' executive vice chair
man. Last week. in a small booklet
called Blueprint for Talent
Searching" reader could learn Just
how much Plaut has accomplish
ed
Nessfeness' chief tasks have
been not only to find hidden talent
but 90 interest promising studenti
in higher education.
Now supported largely by Col.
lege Campus Chests all over the
country. the service talks TO hun
dreds Of students and parents a
year, guides them In choosing a
college best suited 10 their needs.
arranges for the necessary tests,
provides them with money to sup
plement whatever scholarships
they win. Since 1913 Nessfeness
has PLACID 1000 boys and girls in
200 interracial colleges. In only
two years its Southern Project.
which concentrates on the Deep
South has placed $40.
At the same time. the service
has begun sending promising stu
dents 10 Eastern prep schools The
students have done astonish!ngly
well: Of the $50 Southern Project
students. only four had dropped
out for academic reasons by last
June.
Some Ncssfcness case histories
CHrole Waters. whose widowed
mother works as u s. Treasury
Department messenger in Wash
tngton u c. managed 10 earn
only a B-minus average at Illinois
Rockford College, but she made
such a hit with her schoolmatcs
that they elected her president Of
the Student Government AAsocIa-
tion.
Milton r Pharr was found by
Nessfeness in a segregated high
school in Castonia. ~. C.. where
his father u q janitor. his mother
cleaning woman After a poor
start at DePauw University lone
n, two Ds, and an - Milton rats
Cd his marks 10 four A., q u Q
G, made the varsity baseball team
and became president Of the liter.
airy magazine
Robert Earl Hood. son Of .
Louisville hotel maintenance man
and a laundress. has maintained q
B-plus 10 A-minua average At
Ohio Wesleyan, sings In the Riee
club. In q member Of the debat-
ing team, writes for the under.
graduate Transcript, IL president
II the Young Democrats, treasurer
-