It looked as though we were up against a problem, but the night when the wrestling came the colored contestants didn't show up, so that the problem was solved for that time. Of course we couldn't say that any white man must wrestle with a colored man. It presented a problem that had to be settled in some way. I think the reason they didn't show up was because I told my investigator to say to these colored men, "Next season if you have a sufficiently large group you can have a contest of your own. We'll award the same prizes to colored wrestlers as we do to the white."
The representative of the Municipal Bureau also spoke of occasional difficulty in wrestling, though there may be no objection to Negro participation in other events. He said:
We have athletic meets in which a Negro team has competed and for five years has won the championship in athletics. In baseball there is no trouble. The difficulty comes in some of the activities, particularly wrestling, because of the nature of the activity. It is a closer contact. We make no distinction, however, and when a Negro boy gets up to face a white boy and the white boy doesn't face him, the bout is forfeited to the Negro. I think more meet than fail to.
At Fiske Playground, where there are few Negroes, as they do not live near, the investigator witnessed a baseball game with a team from Colman Playground composed entirely of Negro boys except the pitcher. They played as any teams would, with no evidence of racial antipathy. The Negro team seemed to be the better, and according to the director had won every game so far that season.
At McCosh, Robey, Carter, Oakland, Colman, Doolittle, and Beutner playgrounds the children mingled without friction, according to the directors. Negroes were in a minority at the first three and in a majority at the last four. At Carter Playground the investigator witnessed the presentation of a medal for athletics to one of the white boys while the Negro boys looked on in admiration and, after it was over, invited the white boys to "come on out and play ball." The only trouble that has been experienced at this playground was a few days before the 1919 riot, when a fight between a white boy and a Negro started on the playground and the spectators divided along racial lines, especially after the fight was transferred to the street. A riot call was sent in, and the police put a stop to the fight. No trouble has occurred since and the director believed it could not happen again. "The boys have learned better," he said.
Free mingling of Negro and white children was observed at Oakland and Robey playgrounds and was encouraged by the directors. Italian and Negro boys were playing ball together when the investigator visited Robey Playground, and Negro and white girls were playing on the same slides. The director said that in the evening the ball games were watched by both Negroes and whites, and that frequently the Negroes had a game themselves, which white onlookers enjoyed watching. The only incident of importance at Robey Playground had occurred a few days before, when a dispute over a baseball game arose between a white boy of fourteen and two Negro boys of eleven, resulting in a fight in which the director had to interfere. The director said there was not the slightest chance that such a fight would divide the playground along racial lines, as there had never been any disorders there, and that animosity between the Negro and white groups was entirely lacking.
At Oakland Playground, where neither race predominated strongly, the assistant director said there had never been any difficulty. The investigator witnessed a ball game in which Negro and white girls participated and saw groups of Negro and white boys talking outside the playground in a friendly manner.
At Colman, Beutner, and Doolittle playgrounds, where the Negroes come in the majority, no difficulties were reported. The Negro director of Doolittle Playground encourages comradeship between Negro and white children and allows no discrimination against white children. "If a white boy can make a team, he makes it," this director says to a Negro team which objects to a white boy being allowed to play on it. When this director was assigned to Doolittle Playground he was told that 60 per cent of those who made use of the playground were Negro and 40 per cent white. When he got there he found that 70 per cent were white and 30 per cent were Negroes. He said:
I had to look around to find a colored child, but I never had any trouble. Of course the white people gradually moved out and the colored people moved in. We never had any trouble with colored boys or white boys—they played on the same teams. In fact, I think we won the district championship for four years. Then they moved me over to the Beutner and the majority of the white children got up a petition to bring me back to Doolittle Playground. That shows there was no distinction there. They wanted me because we carried on activities.
White ball teams often use the field at Beutner Playground in spite of the fact that Armour Square is only two blocks away. "Last year [1919] there were several games between white and colored teams," said the assistant director, "but there have been none so far in 1920."