Holy Angels: Pocket of Excellence
1989; Howard University; Volume: 58; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2295593
ISSN2167-6437
Autores Tópico(s)Homelessness and Social Issues
ResumoWelcome to Holy Angels School in Chicago, the largest all-Black Roman Catholic school in the nation, attended by thirteen-hundred children-from preschoolers and kindergartners to high schoolaged students. Upon initial examination, Holy Angels appears a throwback to the 1940s and early 1950s, where schools for Blacks embraced the children of working-class, upwardly mobile families whose values of education mirrored those of their teachers. The children at Holy Angels demonstrate respect for adults and schoolmates, neither swearing nor fighting is allowed, and responses to adults of yes and no are accompanied by ma'am or sir. The Reeboks, miniskirts, affected walks, and hip talk of the street are left behind for the duration of the school day. School rules are rigorously adhered to and the students-alert, proud, responsive, and happy to be part of the Holy Angels family-strive to complete their assignments first, fast, and best. Approximately one hundred years old and fully accredited by the state of Illinois, Holy Angels was founded by Irish immigrants just before the turn of the century. The south-side neighborhood and parish surrounding the school grew to such affluence in the late 1920s that the church had a bishop as its leader. With the Great Depression came massive Black migration from the South and White flight from the inner city. By the end of World War II, the transition from White to Black in the Holy Angels neighborhood was complete. The neighborhood has declined steadily since then. In its present depressed condition, it contains the greatest number of Chicago families in federally supported dwellings. The main sustenance of most of these families, two-thirds of which are headed by single parents, is welfare. The incidence of crime in this community is the highest in the city, largely due to drugs and gangs. The astoundingly successful Holy Angels program, which runs
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