STLToday.com

Home > Buy historic photos & newspaper pages
Look Back: Catholic school integration
Date: 9/18/2011 Album ID: 1322605
Photos by Post-Dispatch staff photographers
Slideshow icon View Slideshow
Angry white parents, opposed St. Louis Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter instructions to allow black students into the Catholic schools, scheduled a rally for Sept. 21, 1947, threatening to take the archbishop to court. Ritter responded with his own threat ---- excommunication for anyone who participated in the lawsuit. Organized opposition collapsed two weeks later, and about 140 black children were enrolled in previously all-white Catholic schools.
St. Louis Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter relaxing in his study on Oct. 8, 1946, the day of his installation at the St. Louis Cathedral, 4431 Lindell Boulevard. Ritter, a native of New Albany, Ind., had been bishop and archbishop of Indianapolis for 12 years when he became archbishop of St. Louis at age 54. He had integrated the Catholic schools in Indianapolis several years before, and met little opposition there. In summer 1947, he instructed St. Louis-area Catholic schools to admit black students. Until then, black Catholic children had gone to a few parochial grade schools on the edge of downtown and to St. Joseph's High school, 4123 Page Avenue. When schools opened in September, several hundred angry white parents held public meetings and announced plans to oppose Ritter in court. On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 21, 1947, parish priests read an open letter from Ritter during all Masses. He wrote that opponents of integration were being gravely misled and threatened excommunication to anyone who took part in such a lawsuit. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
One of the scenes outside the St. Louis Cathedral, 4431 Lindell Boulevard, on Oct. 8, 1946, the day of Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter's installation. Among those kneeling in prayer on the front steps are three young black women. When Ritter was installed, blacks could attend only a few of the area Catholic schools. Ritter would change that the following summer, and mince no words when opposition erupted among white parents. (Arthur Witman/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
White Catholics who opposed Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter's instructions to integrate Catholic schools leave a meeting attended by 700 at the St. Louis House, 2345 Lafayette Avenue, on the evening of Sept. 21, 1947. It was the third such large gathering of angry parents, who threatened to remove their children from schools and planned a lawsuit to block Ritter. At the time, segregation of schools was Missouri law. But the morning of the big meeting -- a Sunday -- Ritter had all priests read a letter during all Masses. It threatened excommunication to anyone to took part in such a lawsuit. The letter threw the meeting into turmoil, and the new segregationist organization, the Catholic Parents Association, disbanded two weeks later. (Buell White/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Another view of parents after the big meeting on Sept. 21, 1947. Reporters and photographers were not allowed inside, and a few parents threatened the press gathered on the sidewalk on Lafayette Street. (Buell White/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
John P. Barrett, a painting contractor and, briefly, leader of the Catholic Parents Association. Barrett, of 5717 Labadie Avenue, was a member of St. Edward's Church, Clara and Maffitt avenues, where he heard Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter's open letter on the morning of Sept. 21, 1947. I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize my religion, he said later that night. He already had removed his two children from St. Edward's School, which had accepted a few black students. Two weeks later, Barrett was shouted down during another meeting at the St. Louis House, where he called for a motion to disband the association. But a majority agreed, dissolving the Catholic Parents Association. Barrett ran unsuccessfully for St. Louis School Board, but in 1954 won a special election as a Democrat to the Missouri Senate, where he served until 1965. This photograph was taken for his 1958 re-election campaign. He later served as St. Louis jury commissioner and died in 2000. (David Gulick/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The steeple of old St. Malachy's Church, 2904 Clark Avenue, tumbles on Dec. 7, 1959, during the massive demolition of the Mill Creek Valley area west of downtown. St. Malachy's served black Catholics in the decades before its closing and, for a time, had a school. In September 1947, when the short-lived Catholic Parents Association was protesting integration of area Catholic schools, the organization offered a $25 donation to St. Malachy's as a gesture of friendliness to the Catholic negro. The pastor of St. Malachy's refused the money. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Daniel Nickelberry, 14, works off part of his tuition as a freshman at Cardinal Ritter College Prep high school in August 1991. The archdiocese established the school in 1979 in the former Laboure High School, 5421 Thekla Avenue in north St. Louis. Ritter had become a cardinal in 1961 and died on June 10, 1967. (Larry Williams/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Members of the Cardinal Ritter Prep football team practice in October 2002 at their new field in midtown, part of the new $30 million campus that still was under construction at the time. The view is looking south into midtown St. Louis. (Andy Cutraro/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The front of the new Cardinal Ritter College Prep, 701 North Spring Avenue in midtown St. Louis, shortly before classes began there in August 2003. (Sam Leone/Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution
© MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution All rights reserved.

FAQ | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Order Status