Ralph Bunche, United Nations Undersecretary, said today he had been informed by the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, that the club bars Negroes and Jews.
He said he had been told by Wilfred Burglund, club president, that the club, site of many championship tennis matches, excludes Jews and Negroes from membership. Mr. Burglund was quoted by Dr. Bunche as saying that the club was a private one, the same as a person’s home, where “you can invite whom you want to.”
The disclosure followed a decision of Ralph Bunche, Jr, to apply for membership after taking lessons from the club’s pro, George Agutter, who suggested that the younger Bunche become a junior member. The father then telephoned the club president and thus learned of the club’s exclusionist policies.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
