50 years ago: High school students organize

The Capitol East Gazette was a local Washington paper, serving neighborhoods east of the Capitol, that preceded the DC Gazette and the Progressive Review, This was published two months before major riots hit Washingto

Capitol East Gazette, Febuary 1968 - A group of Eastern High School students, calling themselves the Modern Strivers, have begun a drive for in- creased academic and personal freedom at the school. Following a successful boycott of the Eastern cafeteria, the Strivers won an agreement from principal Madison Tignor to hold a referendum on a proposed student bill of rights drawn up by the group.

Among the rights demanded were: freedom of dress, freedom to wear political buttons and to publish papers without censorship, freedom to organize groups, freedom to protest grievances, and freedom to listen to classroom speakers free of any prior censorship. The bill of rights also sought freedom for students to choose all their non-required courses. At a news conference last month, leaders of Strivers expressed dissatifaction with the quality of education at Eastern and were particularly critical of the lack of a Negro history course at the school.