Gardner Bishop facts for kids

Gardner L. Bishop was a barber and a civil rights leader in Washington, D.C.. He worked hard for equal schools for black and white children in the 1940s and 1950s. He helped organize a student strike at Browne Junior High School. He also played a part in the important Bolling v. Sharpe court case. This case made school segregation illegal in Washington, D.C. Bishop was from North Carolina. He was known for speaking his mind and wanting to end unfairness within the black community itself.

About Gardner Bishop

His Life Story

Gardner LaClede Bishop was a barber and a leader who fought for fairness. He is remembered for his work to end segregation in schools in Washington, D.C. during the 1940s and 1950s. He was born on January 20, 1909, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Even when he was young, he learned to speak up. He won awards for debating in high school. He went to Shaw University for a year but did not finish college. In 1930, he moved to Washington, D.C. He lived near the Anacostia River. Like his father, he became a barber.

Bishop was fired from jobs because he spoke out against racist comments from customers. But he didn't give up. In 1940, he opened his own shop, B&D Barber Shop, on U Street NW. He ran this shop until he retired in 1985. His black customers could get a haircut and hear his strong opinions. He was known as the "barber of U Street."

He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. He was married for 58 years to Ethel Crutchfield Bishop, who passed away in 1989. They had three children: Dr. Judine Bishop Johnson, Anita Harley, and Gardner L. Bishop Jr. Bishop died on November 25, 1992, at age 82.

Fighting All Kinds of Unfairness

Bishop didn't just focus on the differences between black and white schools. He also saw unfairness within the black community itself. He disliked the snobbish attitudes of some wealthy black people in Washington.

One reason he organized a strike at Browne Junior High School was because his request to move his daughter to Banneker Junior High was turned down. Middle-class black officials told him his daughter couldn't go to Banneker because he was "only a barber." This school was meant for middle-class families.

This made Bishop very angry. It also made him distrust some activist groups, like the NAACP. He felt these groups sometimes focused on the goals of the upper classes. Bishop explained his frustration, saying, "We were on the bottom shelf. I’m black and I’m poor, so I’m segregated twice." This meant he felt left out both because he was black and because he was poor.

The Fight for Equal Schools

Overcrowded Black Schools

When Bishop came to Washington, D.C., public schools were separated by race. Schools for black children and white children were very unequal. After World War II, the city's population grew. Black schools became very crowded.

Between 1930 and 1950, the number of African Americans in D.C. doubled. They made up about 35% of the city's population. White families were moving to the suburbs. This meant black schools had many more students than white schools. But tax money for schools was based on old population numbers. So, black schools received much less money than they needed.

Browne Junior High School showed how bad the school system was. By the late 1940s, Browne had twice as many students as it was built for. To fit everyone, the school used a shift system. Students only got 4 and a half hours of school each day. This was a problem because the law said students needed at least six hours of school.

To fix this, the school tried using two empty white elementary schools, Blow and Webb. Some students would move between Browne, Blow, and Webb to get a full day of school. But 680 other students still had a shortened day. To make things worse, nearby white schools had plenty of empty classrooms.

The Consolidated Parents Group

Gardner Bishop refused to accept a poor education for his children. His oldest daughter, Judine, went to Browne in 1947. Bishop was very upset about using old, abandoned schools. He also disliked that students had to walk long distances between buildings during the school day.

Bishop and other upset parents started meeting at Jones Memorial Church. They wanted to tell the school board their complaints. They became known as the Consolidated Parents Group. Bishop became the main leader and speaker for the group. The group grew to hundreds of members.

With Bishop as president, they had two vice presidents, Marie W. Smith and Burma Whitted. Unity T. Macklin was the secretary, and James Haley Sr. was the treasurer. At one of their first meetings, they voted to have a student "sit-out." This was a boycott to protest the situation at Browne Junior High.

The boycott began on December 3, 1947. For two months, parents refused to send their children to Browne. They protested outside the school and the Board of Education offices. They wanted more resources for their children. Eventually, the boycott partly ended. Students returned to Browne, but the boycott of Blow and Webb schools continued.

When the boycott fully ended on February 3, 1948, the Board of Education started using five school buildings. This meant students didn't have to switch buildings. They could also attend a full day of school.

Bolling v. Sharpe

Bishop's efforts didn't stop at Browne. In 1949, he took a group of black students to the new Sousa Junior High School. This was a school for white students with many nice facilities. The students were given a tour, but they were not allowed to enroll.

This event led to a lawsuit. Spotswood Bolling, one of the students on the tour, was a plaintiff in the case. This case was later argued in front of the Supreme Court. It was heard along with four other cases as part of the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision.

The Bolling v. Sharpe case was special. It argued that segregation itself was against the law. Also, the NAACP was not involved in the Bolling case. This was because Bishop still didn't fully trust middle-class black organizations.

His Lasting Impact

Bishop's work made a big difference because he fought on many levels. He targeted specific problems in the school system. The student strike showed the problem to everyone. The court case attacked segregation through the law, aiming to change the rules themselves.

Bishop also wrote letters to the editor of Washington Post. He wrote about school buildings and how many students high schools could hold. This put his arguments in print for many to read. He wanted to make sure white people didn't get too comfortable with small changes. He worked for the people who were often ignored.

Even though Gardner Bishop wasn't the most famous civil rights leader of his time, he reminds us of something important. No matter where people come from, if they speak their minds and fight for what they believe in, they can make a lasting impact.