14 Black Students in Israel for 17 Days to Study Life Styles, Social Institutions

Fourteen local Negro students are spending 17 days in Israel studying its kibbutzim and its educational and political systems. Their tour was organized and sponsored by Howard B. Woods, editor and publisher of the Negro-oriented newspaper, the St. Louis Sentinel, who last year spent 10 days in Israel conferring with government leaders, speaking to “plain” Israelis and interviewing Arab citizens. The tour is co-sponsored by the Urban League of St. Louis and the St. Louis World Affairs Council. The 14 students were selected from a group of more than 60 who had been recommended by school counselors and deans after being interviewed by a special committee of educators and community leaders. Dr. John Ervin, dean of the Washington University School of Continuing Education here, is the tour escort.

The purpose of the tour, according to Mr. Woods, is to focus on the young people’s “seeing, experiencing and learning from this important area in world culture, and hopefully to share what they learn with their fellow students.” They will live in Israeli homes, meet with Arab and Jewish youths, visit the various programs involving African students and observe the social development of the country. Student reactions to the tour were expressed by Barbara Stewart, a graduate student in library science at the University of Missouri: “I feel Israel’s system is the best of all possible systems. It’s eclectic and exists now, incessantly striving to improve.” Seventeen-year-old Monica McKinnie of Nerinx Hall said, “According to what I’ve read and heard, there is a certain unity between the Israelis, something I wish blacks could have. In going there, I hope to find the key to unity in 17 short days and bring back the answer.” Parents seem as excited about the tour as their children. One parent, Kenneth Billups, said he believed the tour could help eliminate what anti-Semitism exists among blacks.