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EDITORAL [sic] STAFF [centered in column; bold large print]
FACULTY OF BIRNEY SCHOOL [centered under above line; smaller print]
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- CONTENTS - [centered in column; bold large print]
[following in smaller print]
1. Introduction .............. Mrs. A.B. Finlayson,
Principal, Birney School
2. Anacostia - Past and Present....Miss L.M. Head
Mrs. G.N. Ford
Mrs. P.E. Johnson
Mrs. E.H. Polk
3. History of Birney School........Mrs. F.S. McLendon
4. Civic Organizations in Anacostia
Hillsdale Civic Association......Mr. W.A. Patterson
Barry Farm Civic Association.....Mrs. H.D. Norville
Barry Farm Residents' Council........Mrs. E.H. Polk
Erie Civic Association...........Mr. W.A. Patterson
Coordinating Committee...........Mrs. F.S. McLendon
5. Churches in Anacotia
Macedonia Baptist..................Miss G.N. Murray
Campbell A.M.E. .....................Mrs. E.H. Polk
St. John's........................Miss M.E. Freeman
Bethlehem Baptist...................Miss A.C. Jones
St. Philips'....................Miss A.C. Robinson,
Mrs. F.S. McLendon
Our Lady of Perpetual Help...........Mrs. A. Roberts
Matthews Memorial Baptist...........Miss O. Hughston
6. Outstanding Citizens of
Anacostia...........................Mrs. H.O. Atkins
7. Special Activities
Birney School P.T.A. ............Mrs. C.H. Mitchell,
Mrs. S.E. White
Health Program .....................Miss M.E. Freeman
Music at Birney School..................Mr. J.A. Hall
Boy Scout Movement.....................Mr. A.E. Gross
Junior Police and
Citizenship Corp.................Miss A.C. Robinson
Recreation..........................Miss T. Booth
Miss L.M. Head
Mrs. M.P. Harshaw
Miss L.M. Mundy
Negro Business.......................Miss D.M. Johnson
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Introduction [centered in column, bold, italic large print]
[following in smaller print]
Nine years ago, I came to the Birney School as principal succeeding the late Mr. John Syphax. I cannot forget how I felt upon entering the Old Birney Building. Its drab appearance struck me forceably. At that time, I missed the pupils from the school where I had previously taught, and the teachers at this school missed their late principal. Later, I got used to and came to love the old Birney School, and the teachers got used to me. The pupils I remember vividly. And when the time came for graduation of the upper classes, Birney School carried the eight grades then, I was very sorrowful. This was the class which gradu-
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aged from the Dunbar High Schoo [tear in page]
torians, all from the Birney Scho [tear in page]
eight grades were incorporated int [tear in page]
High School and this change in organ [tear in page]
up another emotional as well as organiza [tear in page]
problem the adjustment to which indicated its [tear in page]
in new interests, and changing activities which
gradually weaned us all from the older and fixed
way of doing things.
Later, the growing population in Anacostia ex-
tended the faculty of the school to the point where new faces were everywhere. Teachers were new,parents were new and the children were new, all trying desperately to understand one another, each trying to fit into the pattern of the community which because of the changing population gave every impetus to changing more. The adjusting was difficult because the patterns of culture, undergoing a change in conformance with the population, had little of a fixed nature because new inhabitants being greater in number, bringing with them their varied and newer ways of doing things began to reshape the customs and habits of a once old community with its fewer old inhabitants whose children in the main had long since gone to other parts of the city and country.
It was during this tie that the school population became so great that an Annex was necessary, and its erection inspired the first dedication which I experienced here. Some eight of the teachers went into the new Annex one day, and that night we had the dedication of the building.
Thoughts are pleasant about the teachers who
prepared the Annex and the old building for an
AT HOME type of dedication marred only by the
rain, the likes of which I had never witnessed before. Superintendent Haycock, who attended other exercises here, came in all the storm.
There are so many times when we have been
very happy here in this area. Graduation times
brought our folk out from far and near. Then too,
we would get together in crowds for May Day
festivals on the playground, the Barry Farms Re-
creation center under Mrs. Florence Matthews al-
ways giving us such splendid help. Later, our
P.T.A. meetings seemed a joy to the many parents
who seemed to prefer their meetings in the form
of musicals under Mr. John Hall as teacher, with
smaller business groups. Probably at no time have
the parents of Anacostia shown their support more
than during the initiation of our BIRNEY HEALTH
PROGRAM which to this day has never lost its
spontaneity. Parents have been strayed away
from their jobs to take groups of children for
treatments to doctors, hospitals and clinics
throughout the city. I truly believe that this
health program has been the greatest means which Birney School and all other agencies in this area have worked together in unity for a single goal.
Now we have passed another milestone. We
are situated in our new school. Sometimes when
I am in this building at night, I go to the top
floor and look over this community of Anacostia.
The changes are marvelous, with the new bridge
linking this southeast section which previously
had been so isolated with the city proper, with
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