ABSTRACT
Mrs. Staples and her five-year-old daughter YJean proudly entered the office of Longfellow/Roosevelt school principal J. W. Standley, near Twenty-fifth and Jackson in September 1927, anxious to get his permission for YJean to enter the first grade, rather than kindergarten. Her mother mentioned that she could already read and write, which little YJean readily demonstrated. Surprised and pleased, Standley admitted that she certainly qualified for the first grade and directed them across the sand dune to the all-black Roosevelt Annex school. YJean could not attend the mostly white Longfellow school, her mother was informed, because it would soon be closed. According to Standley, who was white, "your leaders have requested their own schools. This entire center will be for Negro children." Mrs. Staples was astonished, declaring that she had left the south because of segregation and was not about to accept it now. But she had no choice. 1
