International House Berkeley

3 THE 1930S & EARLY 1940S I n the '30s, I-House was one of the very few places in the Bay Area where Black people could gather comfortably in an integrated setting. When the barbers on campus refused to cut Black students' hair, Allen Blaisdell protested and got the practice changed. Many of today's popular International House programs had their beginnings in the early years: "Sunday Suppers," discussion groups, and speakers, for example. In the mid 1930s, a folk dance program began, and an elaborate yearly festival attracted people from all over the Bay Area. For decades, I-House alumni spoke with deep affection and respect for staff member Eugenie Carneiro, who was responsible for the festivals. This time also witnessed the beginnings of I-House ties with Rotary Clubs and other community organizations. An "Understanding Through Hospitality" program was started by Estelle Carlson in the early 1940s to introduce foreign students to American life. Students visited families at home for the holidays and went on excursions to farms, factories, schools, and city council meetings. Local clubs were instrumental in helping organize such activities and in developing the first I-House resident scholarships for international students. WORLD WAR II A s World War II approached, the House took on special meaning. University President Sproul, who was also President of the I-House Board, noted, . . . All the forces of darkness, not even those led by Hitler. . . could prevail against I-House principles: There are no inferior people, there is no master race set apart from common humanity. Friendship still has a truer, juster speech than that which rings in the clash of arms or the clink of traders' coins. Sproul's words to an I-House audience in the fall of 1941 were later echoed in the House itself after war broke out. Harold Gilliam, former resident and later feature writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, writes: I remember watching the lights go out all over the Bay Area during air-raid blackouts. There we were, Americans, Japanese, Germans, Europeans, Asians, Africans, students whose homelands were on both sides of the war – literally and figuratively holding hands in friendship as the candles flickered and the news flashes of fighting came in from Honolulu, Manila, Singapore, and London. This period was particularly difficult for students who were Japanese citizens. Because the U.S. Government froze funds and travel for Japanese nationals, they were unable to return home or provide for themselves here. Rising above national conflicts, I-House set up a bureau to help these young people reach their homes as soon as government regulations permitted. The bureau also helped them with their finances by locating employment opportunities. In 1943, International House was rented to the U.S. Navy and renamed "Callaghan Hall." It was occupied by 800-900 Navy students (nearly double the pre-war occupancy), most of whom were not allowed to use the elevators so that they could stay in shape! I-House, in turn, rented for its traditional students four or five fraternity houses, and organized customary programs and a central eating facility. Sunday Supper in the Chevron Auditorium, 1935 U.S. Naval students on the steps of "Callaghan Hall" 1944 Robert Sproul, I-House Board President

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