Massachusetts Church Official Says City Has Poor Integration Record

"Boston has the poorest record of any major city in the integration of Negroes into the life of city," Olivia Stokes, an executive in the Massachusetts Council of Churches, asserted last night at the University Lutheran Church.

"In housing, Negroes in Houston are better off. And since the labor movement among Negroes in Boston is very poorly organized, most Negroes here find themselves with menial jobs with little upgrading.

Miss Stokes attributed the conditions in Boston primarily to the lack of the development of cohesive social institutions such as churches and clubs among the Negroes. Although early abolitionists opened up opportunities for Negroes, the information never reached the Negro community, since it lacked organizations through which the whites could talk to them. The same situation, she said, exists today.

The presence of two distinct Negro groups here, the American Negro and the West Indian immigrant, also contributes to the lack of a cohesive Negro community "They are as different as a white potato and a sweet potato and there is very little communication between the two groups. Any civil rights group working among Boston Negroes should be fully aware of this split."

Turning to the Negro situation more generally, Miss Stokes saw the "summary of the Negro attitude in this country as taking a leap forward in the last ten years." She pointed to the progress in government job opportunities, housing and education for Negroes.

Miss Stokes felt that basic changes in the personal attitude of the white American toward the Negro are taking place. "The legal machinery has created a feedback in personal attitudes, since Americans derive a sense of worth from being law-abiding citizens." The student movements have also made significant contributions to the over-all better climate, she added.