Claim Teachers Used Pupils as Shoe Shine Boys: DA Calls Charges “Serious”
Date: Dec 7, 1963
Caption: An Amsterdam News article about one of the “600” schools detailed abusive behavior by teachers and lack of educational programming at the school.
In late 1963, The Amsterdam News reported on allegations that teachers and administrators at P.S. 614 in Brooklyn, one of the city’s “600” schools. The teachers being investigated allegedly pocketed over 40,000 subway tokens meant for students. Instead of handing the tokens out, students were forced to perform menial tasks like washing cars or shining shoes to earn the tokens back. Not only were students being mistreated, they were being denied education. The school’s principal and administrators didn’t offer any information at the time but were later reassigned to a different school.
Paul Zuber, an attorney who helped bring segregation and poor conditions at the “600” schools to light, also represented Mae Mallory and other parents in the Harlem Nine boycott.
Categories: K-12 organizing, special education, Brooklyn
Tags: racist segregation, student achievement, curriculum, teacher quality, newspapers and the media, Black people, Latinx people, disability labels
This item is part of "The Less-Known 1965 Boycott" in "Boycotting New York’s Segregated Schools"
Item Details
Date: Dec 7, 1963
Creator: Sara Slack
Source: New York Amsterdam News
Copyright: Under copyright. Used with permission.
How to cite: “Claim Teachers Used Pupils As Shoe Shine Boys: DA Calls Charges ‘Serious,’” Sara Slack, in New York City Civil Rights History Project, Accessed: [Month Day, Year], https://nyccivilrightshistory.org/gallery/shoe-shine-boys.
Questions to Consider
- What adjectives does the newspaper article use to describe students at P.S. 614? How do you think students at the school would have felt about that language?
- What are the consequences, for students, of having their time in school used on tasks like cleaning the school and washing cars?
- How did information about what was happening at P.S. 614 come to light?
References
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