Same Rights, Same Privileges

When wartime brought an influx of Negroes and Southern whites to Los Angeles' Fremont High School, Principal Herbert Wood knew he was in for trouble. He did what he could by instructing his faculty to teach race tolerance. He also braced himself for an explosion. Last week it came.

On a sunny morning a little knot of white students gathered at the gas station across San Pedro Street from the school. Waving placards lettered "No Nigger Wanted," they hoisted two effigies to a lamppost, urged students to cut classes and join the picket line. Soon 600 of Fremont's 2,900 students were out on strike, 200 of them milling through San Pedro Street.

Principal Wood moved fast. Wading through the picket line, he yanked down one effigy. Then, on the spot, he suspended all student strikers until they appeared before him with their parents. For two days he interviewed students and parents, made each sign a pledge agreeing "that all Fremont students are entitled to the same rights and privileges."

To make the pledges stick, all strikers were placed on probation for the rest of the year, seniors were barred from extracurricular activities. Although Principal Wood knew that the roots of trouble were still there, Fremont breathed somewhat easier.

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