Catholic Church Racism

Catholic Church RacismNow in my 90s, (b. 2 08 1929) I'm passing through my final passage of a long life in which racism was and continues to be alive and well. I graduated from St. Benedict the Moor Elementary and High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; schools that were built specifically for Negroes who were denied enrollment in White schools. I boarded in one of its residential cottages, returning to my home in Chicago, Illinois during vacations and summers. I was born at

Now in my 90s, (b. 2/08/1929) I'm passing through my final passage of a long life in which racism was and continues to be alive and well. I graduated from St. Benedict the Moor Elementary and High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; schools that were built specifically for Negroes who were denied enrollment in White schools. I boarded in one of its residential cottages, returning to my home in Chicago, Illinois during vacations and summers. I was born at St. Luke Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, a hospital with a White's Only sign on its marquee. Blacks and other minorities entered through its back door and were serviced in a segregated section.
After earning my Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree from St. Xavier College for Women, now St. Xavier University, I worked for a short time, as a Case worker at the Catholic Charity Bureau of Chicago where single females were employed. Along with racism, gender discrimination was practiced as women were dismissed after they marriedÑthe expectation being that they would be homemakers, bearing and raising children. Husbands were expected to financially support their families.
At the time Catholics considered it a sin to take birth control medication. One of my co-workers who left the Bureau before her scheduled marriage, stated "...and I won't have to work no more."
After my marriage and consequent dismissal from the Bureau, I worked as a Case Worker at the Juvenile Court of Cook County. Perusing records of families as-signed to me, I read racist comments by a case workerÑone such comment, "Bad Nigger." Also, I noted a disparity between how White and Black juveniles were treated.
After an arrest juveniles immediately went before a referee who made the decision to either retain them in the Audy, a detention center, or release them to a parent or guardian. White juveniles were regularly released to their parents or guardians while Blacks and minorities were systematically detained in the detention center.
My Black supervisor, who had been in her position for several years, expressed her disagreement regarding a White referee's decision to detain a teenager in the detention center. She was fired outright; her appeal, during which I spoke on her behalf, was denied. Suspecting that I would be the administration's next target, I resigned.