Education: In Common Pursuits

To those in charge of screening the annual 9,000 applicants for teaching jobs in Cincinnati's public schools, the papers of the clean-cut, 38-year-old Negro seemed in perfect order. True enough, Henry Fordham seemed nervous when interviewed. He was, reported the board of interviewers, "not too coherent," and he used "big words, often incorrectly." But he did have a document to prove that he had a degree from Westminster College in Cochranville, Pa. He had—or so his papers indicated—taught in Newark, Del., and he had testimonials from a John Wagner at Pennsylvania's Lincoln University and from Professor Robert Hillyer of the University...