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However, not all of the attempts by the Baltimore branch to act as tribune
for the community involved litigation. In 1937, the branch participated in another
round of the long-running battle to get Black representation on the Baltimore
School Board, it agitated around better schooling for handicapped children, and it
joined with other forces, including the Afro, to demand state take over of the
Cheltenham School, a reformatory for Black boys. The local NAACP also raised
protests over the discriminatory treatment of Black passengers by white cab drivers
at the Pennsylvania trains station, and in early 1938 the Pennsylvania railroad
promised to punish any drivers who continued to discriminate; this however was
only part of a much longer struggle to integrate taxi driving itself in the city/*"
In a number of the these protest campaigns in Baltimore the local NAACP
worked in close cooperation with other community forces. The best example of this
type of coalition work was the fight for Black police officers. This demand was one
of the cornerstones of the traditional agenda of the Baltimore Black freedom
movement, and it was raised almost continuously by the Afro from 1900 on. In the
early 1930s, the Afro was joined by the City-Wide Young People Forum and the
Baltimore Urban League in this campaign. The Forum brought Black police
officers and fire fighters from Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Atlantic City to
its Friday night meetings to convince African Americans in Baltimore that demands
for Blacks in such positions was attainable. The NAACP joined the others in de
facto coalition soon after its reorganization. Activity picked up when, in April 1936,
a retiring grand jury recommended that Black police officers be appointed in
Baltimore to handle Black crime. In fall 1936, Governor Harry Nice announced in
a speech at a Forum meeting that, after the retirement of the then-current
Baltimore police commissioner, he would appoint one that would be willing to hire
Black police. The movement heightened the pressure, and, in 1937, the Forum led
a petition drive for Black police and collected 5,000 signatures. Governor Nice
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