When schools opened on Sept. 11, local schools officials barred 90 Black students from the Tilden Houses from registering at Meyer Levin Junior High School (JHS 285), which is situated on the border between Canarsie and Flatbush.

The officials of District 18 claimed that the admission of these 90 students would cause overcrowding in the school and would "tip its racial balance," which is now 50 percent Black.

The Tilden parents, however, refused to accept this proposal on the grounds that Somers JHS is a segregated school with inferior conditions. "We're dealing with a racist board," said Joan Boatright, one of the Black parents. The Tilden parents rented a bus, and showed up at JHS 285 every morning, demanding that their children be admitted to the school.

November 10, 1947
NEW YORK, Nov. 5 - The powerful AFL Building Trades Council of Greater New York, representing several hundred thousand workers in 38 crafts, has unanimously restated its demand for a cost-of-living escalator wage clause in contracts now under negotiations with the Building Trades Employers Association.

At their last meeting, it was disclosed yesterday, the Council delegates also unanimously rejected the employers' counter-proposals for a 2 1/2-year wage freeze and imposition of a drastic speed-up.

The employers' demand for a wage freeze from Jan. 1948 to June 30, 1950, while prices are soaring and profits have hit a scandalous peak, has been backed by Democrat Mayor O'Dwyer.

Union negotiators stated that they had been discussing a wage stabilization agreement with the employers and not a wage freeze or a supplementary contract on working conditions.

They had proposed the cost-of-living escalator clause to stabilize real wages by providing automatic wage increases when living costs rise.  
 
 
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