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Story
December 12, 1955
The Augusta Courier
Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia
What is this article about?
In 1955, Harlem residents, led by Borough President Hulan E. Jack, protested unequal school facilities for Negro and Puerto Rican children at a New York City hearing. Officials highlighted dire conditions in schools like P.S. 5, demanding repairs and new builds. The article contrasts this with Southern calls for integration, blaming Negro influx for urban slums.
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Negroes In New York's Harlem Want Equal School Facilities
In The Southland,
Social Equality With White People Is The Theme Song
The Negroes in the Harlem section of New York City are yelling for equal facilities with the whites in the New York City school system.
At a public hearing held in the City Hall in New York City on November 18, 1955, the Negro President Hulan E. Jack of the Borough of Manhattan charged the Board of Education with "negligence" in failing to provide equal facilities for the Negro and Puerto Rican children.
Mayor Robert Wagner of New York City sat in on the meeting and Senator Joseph Zaretzki of Manhattan told of the "indescribable filth and grime" at the Public School No. 46 and P. S. No. 169, and at P. S. No. 5 at 140th Street and Edgecombe Avenue.
Menace To Health
He said that the plaster was falling from the walls in big chunks and he labeled the structure "a menace to the health" of its 1,500 students.
He also talked of similar conditions existing at Public School No. 46 and in the Harlem Negro district of New York City as deplorable.
The Senator said:
"Build new schools to replace these monstrosities; give the Negro and Puerto Rican children a fifty-fifty break."
Working On Budget
At this time, Mayor Robert Wagner broke in to state that the members of the Board of Estimates who were figuring on a new capital investment budget were deeply concerned with the lack of equal facilities for Negro and Puerto Rican children and he called on the Board of Education to give to the Board of Estimates a recommendation not later than January 1, 1956.
The object of the hearing was to fix the city's budget for next year's school construction.
Senator Zaretzki in addition claimed that the refrigeration in P. S. No. 5 was not working and that the milk for the school children had been allowed to sour.
Rose Risikoff, Principal of P. S. No. 5, warned that "children's lives may be involved should there be a collapse of the windows or the roof structure of the building."
Negro President Mad
Then the Negro President of the Borough of Manhattan angrily said:
"Someone is responsible in the Board of Education for this type of negligence."
At the conclusion of the controversy the superintendent of plant operation and maintenance for the board of education, stepped to the microphone and stated that contracts had been let for the repair and the painting of the building at P. S. No. 1 and that the terrible situation would soon be relieved.
Yankees Mistreat Negroes
This complaint on the part of the Negroes in Harlem is a strange cry from that we hear from the Negroes about the South.
In Harlem, they ask for equal facilities and a 50-50 break with the whites.
In the South where they have equal facilities in most instances they holler for integration.
The Negroes complain in Harlem of discrimination because they have not been given equal facilities.
Want To Go With Whites
In the South they complain not for the lack of equal facilities, but because they have been discriminated against by not being permitted to associate with the whites.
A white child in P. S. No. 5 in the midst of the Harlem area where it is patronized by Negroes and Puerto Ricans wouldn't last as long in that school as the proverbial snowball in hades.
Nobody in New York City wants to force a white child to attend P. S. No. 5.
The Negroes in Harlem aren't shouting for integration. They shout for equal facilities.
Negroes Make Slums
But in the South and many other sections of the country there is a different cry. They are not satisfied with equal facilities.
The Negroes made a slum area out of Harlem. They produce a slum area wherever they go in large quantities and, if left to themselves, they will make a slum of the school buildings.
The Harlem area in New York City is a typical example of what the Negroes do to any city.
Wants-More In South
When they move in in numbers, the whites move out and then you see nothing but slums and the crime rate increases rapidly.
The same process is now going on in the nation's capital.
The Negroes are moving in and taking over and the white people are moving out.
But it is strange that the Harlem Negro shouts for integration in the South and for equal facilities in Harlem.
In The Southland,
Social Equality With White People Is The Theme Song
The Negroes in the Harlem section of New York City are yelling for equal facilities with the whites in the New York City school system.
At a public hearing held in the City Hall in New York City on November 18, 1955, the Negro President Hulan E. Jack of the Borough of Manhattan charged the Board of Education with "negligence" in failing to provide equal facilities for the Negro and Puerto Rican children.
Mayor Robert Wagner of New York City sat in on the meeting and Senator Joseph Zaretzki of Manhattan told of the "indescribable filth and grime" at the Public School No. 46 and P. S. No. 169, and at P. S. No. 5 at 140th Street and Edgecombe Avenue.
Menace To Health
He said that the plaster was falling from the walls in big chunks and he labeled the structure "a menace to the health" of its 1,500 students.
He also talked of similar conditions existing at Public School No. 46 and in the Harlem Negro district of New York City as deplorable.
The Senator said:
"Build new schools to replace these monstrosities; give the Negro and Puerto Rican children a fifty-fifty break."
Working On Budget
At this time, Mayor Robert Wagner broke in to state that the members of the Board of Estimates who were figuring on a new capital investment budget were deeply concerned with the lack of equal facilities for Negro and Puerto Rican children and he called on the Board of Education to give to the Board of Estimates a recommendation not later than January 1, 1956.
The object of the hearing was to fix the city's budget for next year's school construction.
Senator Zaretzki in addition claimed that the refrigeration in P. S. No. 5 was not working and that the milk for the school children had been allowed to sour.
Rose Risikoff, Principal of P. S. No. 5, warned that "children's lives may be involved should there be a collapse of the windows or the roof structure of the building."
Negro President Mad
Then the Negro President of the Borough of Manhattan angrily said:
"Someone is responsible in the Board of Education for this type of negligence."
At the conclusion of the controversy the superintendent of plant operation and maintenance for the board of education, stepped to the microphone and stated that contracts had been let for the repair and the painting of the building at P. S. No. 1 and that the terrible situation would soon be relieved.
Yankees Mistreat Negroes
This complaint on the part of the Negroes in Harlem is a strange cry from that we hear from the Negroes about the South.
In Harlem, they ask for equal facilities and a 50-50 break with the whites.
In the South where they have equal facilities in most instances they holler for integration.
The Negroes complain in Harlem of discrimination because they have not been given equal facilities.
Want To Go With Whites
In the South they complain not for the lack of equal facilities, but because they have been discriminated against by not being permitted to associate with the whites.
A white child in P. S. No. 5 in the midst of the Harlem area where it is patronized by Negroes and Puerto Ricans wouldn't last as long in that school as the proverbial snowball in hades.
Nobody in New York City wants to force a white child to attend P. S. No. 5.
The Negroes in Harlem aren't shouting for integration. They shout for equal facilities.
Negroes Make Slums
But in the South and many other sections of the country there is a different cry. They are not satisfied with equal facilities.
The Negroes made a slum area out of Harlem. They produce a slum area wherever they go in large quantities and, if left to themselves, they will make a slum of the school buildings.
The Harlem area in New York City is a typical example of what the Negroes do to any city.
Wants-More In South
When they move in in numbers, the whites move out and then you see nothing but slums and the crime rate increases rapidly.
The same process is now going on in the nation's capital.
The Negroes are moving in and taking over and the white people are moving out.
But it is strange that the Harlem Negro shouts for integration in the South and for equal facilities in Harlem.
What sub-type of article is it?
Historical Event
What themes does it cover?
Justice
Social Manners
What keywords are associated?
Equal School Facilities
Harlem Protest
School Conditions
Racial Integration
Urban Slums
New York Hearing
What entities or persons were involved?
Hulan E. Jack
Robert Wagner
Joseph Zaretzki
Rose Risikoff
Where did it happen?
Harlem, New York City
Story Details
Key Persons
Hulan E. Jack
Robert Wagner
Joseph Zaretzki
Rose Risikoff
Location
Harlem, New York City
Event Date
November 18, 1955
Story Details
At a 1955 hearing, Harlem's Negro and Puerto Rican communities protest unequal and hazardous school facilities; officials decry conditions and demand action; article contrasts Northern demands for equality with Southern calls for integration, attributing urban decay to Negro populations.