Hiring of a black secretary by federal contractor after president eisenhower ordered equal Employment Opportunities with government contracts. Thats the new girl is her first day some people say there will be trouble, some people saw trouble coming right from the start. Morning miss right careful on the turn. Good Office Management begins at home you are late. Guilty sir youd better hurry my copy is probably getting cold. No wonder i love to get up in the morning ive gets a nice boss did you see the urgent note i left on your . I tried to finesse information from his secretary and she is as informative as a quiz program. I had better get going. Have black coffee waiting for me. Good Office Management begins at home. Whatever they do, they are going to make health for that new negro girl you put on the payroll. New negro girl you put on the payroll. Are you going to sit behind every secretary with a gun on your back . It means we can put the new policy through without trouble. We will have to move slowly at first no matter how badly we need them. You said it now you said at. The need grow represents a labor force that hasnt even begun to be tapped. How about it, kurt . Your department has been crying for help. Think we can make it work . Maybe. Negro and white work sidebyside and we dont have any trouble. There was talk about trouble but the union was on our side. By the time they were through with the meeting, there wasnt any opposition. Those were men. They work with their hands. How about women . What is it we are afraid of . Bad publicity . Maybe we are raising problems to hide our prejudices. I am not a bigot. Im not a man of prejudices. At least not ones i could let interfere with profits. I am a man who sells a product to doesnt care what color the girl is who types up the bill, but because i am on the outside, i get around. I hear stories. What kind of stories . Trouble. Morale. White girls dont want to work next to a negro girl, whether you like it or not. Now i will tell you something. Im not running for election and i am not going to run scared. No 20yearold stenographer is going to tell me how to run my business. I have just come back from washington. I met with the president s committee on government contracts. It was no tea party. They were talking business. Since when does the president s committee running dennis industries . We are not just talking dennis industries, we are talking national policy. Under the president s directive, no company can deal with the government, can get a contract, unless its policies are clearly nondiscriminatory. We employ are clearly nondiscriminatory. That is not enough. Unless we have black employees in the front line, we are discriminating. We are responsible to stockholders. We cant afford we can afford anything our competitors can. From now on we will be hiring strictly by ability. If you want to set an example, put the first negro secretary in my office. And have the white girls quit . That would be discrimination. I feel sorry for the first girl you hire. She has got to be strong. Any white girl will think twice before she starts any and so efficient any man she works for will consider himself lucky. We want every Single Person in this office to know you are behind her, to the last typist in the pool. Every girl working here should be made to feel she is involved in putting through this new policy. What are you going to do . They have got to live too. Take it easy, you too. It hasnt even happened yet. I know it is a fact. I got it on the best authority. Maybe you wont think it is so funny when one of them is sitting at the desk next to yours or your desk that i wouldnt wish on anybody. Voice of doom spreading the usual morning cheer. Yes, and this morning she is colorblind. Very funny. She has got confidential information. I tell you it is going to happen. It is. Then we all are going to lose our jobs. Me, i will quit first. What would we do without you . Probably invite my replacement, down here. What are you talking about . She claims they are going to hire some negro office girls here. You dont mean that. I do. You have to understand, i havent got anything against them. The one who guards the door, we are good friends, but that doesnt mean i want him or his sister working in the office with me i dont bother them, and they dont bother me. Where are you working now, mary . Lanes. At least i was this morning. I may not be if i dont get back there this afternoon. Did he tell you what he wants to talk to you about . How would i really like to go to work, and could i drop down to the urban league on my lunch hour. Have you any idea . Put these books away please, ms. Thompson. I am sorry i kept you waiting. Would you come inside . It will only take a few minutes. Good luck. Thanks. Has miss thompson been filling your head full of tall tales . Would you have a seat, please . You have been working at lanes since high school, and now you have graduated from secretarial school. Working during the day and going to school at night. I think it was a little harder on my family than on me. They had to listen to my complaining. Well, it looks like it might have been worthwhile. How would you like to go to work as a secretary at dennis industries . You want the truth, dont you mr. Graham . I would give an eye tooth to work as a secretary, but at dennis industries, im not so sure. Afraid you are not quite good enough yet . No. That isnt the reason. Im more afraid they wouldnt want me at dennis. Someone does. They called me. I didnt call them. We are not talking about anything that is secret. They have never hired a negro girl. Everyone knows that. It is not that they discriminate, it is just that they dont hire us. Maybe things are changing. Dont misunderstand. I would love to work at dennis. I could do the job of secretary. I could handle it. You could. I checked your records. You have every qualification that you need. Now, let me bring you up to date. Last week, the Personnel Department of dennis got in touch with every Employment Agency in town. They told them that, beginning immediately, negroes would be hired for the office force at dennis. They also called the urban league and asked us to help them over the hurdle. Sounds as though they are serious. They are serious. They have started a longterm educational plans so the schools here will know exactly what kind of help they need. They have approached every organization in town and asked for their assistance. This could be a tremendous step forward. But what about me . Suppose i do go up for the job . The Personnel Department cant make the people like me. They cant tell the other girls that that you are as good as they are . No, they cant. But they can give you every chance to show you are. Mary, right now they need us and we certainly need them. If we dont take the chance when it comes along, it may not come along again. We have everything to gain. You have everything to gain. And nothing to lose except a job. And about 10 feet of pride. It is a funny thing, mary. Once someone offers you a choice, you cant ever go back to the way it was before. If you dont try, when you go out of here you will find that your pride has shrunk to 10 inches. If you do try, well, if you do try, you may have something to be really proud of. What do you say . All right, i will try. Good girl. music how is the crusade for freedom at dennis industries coming . There is a girl coming over from the urban league tomorrow morning. When she is through with personnel, i would like you to have a talk with her. Sure. I would be glad to have a talk. You know, talk isnt enough in this situation. You mean you people upstairs are serious about this . Let me point out one thing to you. Dennis industries does a lot of business with the government. And we turned out a good product. And the law says fair employment practice. It never fails. Up on cloud 19, the vips decide to work a miracle in the little wheels downstairs have to start grinding. Are you against hiring negroes . Thats not what i said. Im only an office manager. I cant make a hero out of todd dennis. Nobody asked you to do that. Follow company policy. And lose half of the girls in doing it. I heard one of the girls say she will quit as soon as we hire a negro. Higher a hire a this she could start and exodus. The girls wont stand for it. Dont be naive. You know the reasons as well as i do. Like what . The washrooms, for instance. You know what i mean. What do these same girls do when the movies and have to go to the restroom . Suffer . Every Department Head has made it official, all the way down the line. There is a memo in black and white so everybody can see it. The best ways to make a you would think we are living in the dark ages. When are people going to realize this is the 20th century in the United States for all freedom and it doesnt say working where you dont want to. Are you saying youre going to quit . I wont have to. My problem my job will probably just disappear into thin air. Most wonder what all the fuss is about. Few admit they dont like the idea of a negro, but are willing to go along with the idea. Go ahead and try it. You keep saying it wont work. You know those signs you put in the plant, equal opportunity, you can wallpaper the whole building but you cant change the facts of life. Ive got to get home. What time is it . If this girl tomorrow morning passes all those tests, it is your job to place her in one of those openings you have been complaining about for so long. See you later. music we are very lucky to find someone with your qualifications, miss newton. You passed those tests with flying colors. I thought i would be too nervous to hold a pencil. All that is left is a physical, just routine. I will have my secretary fix an appointment with the medical office. Would you alert the medical office miss newton will be down in about half an hour . You had better meet the man you will probably be working for. Would it be possible to have an assignment in the Accounting Department . Why . There is a girl in there from my class at high school. We are not friends exactly, but i thought it might make things as a new employee at dennis, you should know the rules, we dont give favors, we dont give preferential treatment. We stick to our word. Every employee is treated solely on their merits for better or worse. I see. Now i will take you down and introduce you to mr. Haydn. You have to wait. That is all i can say. Are you the gentleman complaining about the lack of office help . If you dont get someone at that desk soon, you will have to dig me out of all this paperwork. I have someone for you. 22, graduate of secretarial. School, honor student, conscientious, loyal, eager to work. She is outside. Would you like to meet her . Bring her in and tell her to have her pencil sharpened so we can get started. Miss mary newton, mr. Kurt harden. I think you will find your work cut out for you. How do you do . You should have seen his face. He looked at me like he couldnt believe it, like he couldnt believe it. What did he say . He said, how do you do . He said it twice and then turned around and went back to his desk, said he would see me tomorrow. What did the other guy do . Mr. Nelson . He smiled, like it was some sort of joke and then took me down to the medical office. Did anybody say anything about you being the first colored girl in the office . They didnt have to. You could see it in their faces. The way the girl and mr. Me. Me. Maybe you just imagine doll of this. Imagined all of this. Thats a crazy thing to say, mama. Its the truth. You just dont understand. I understand. You may not think i understand, but i do. You think i cant understand because i am your mother and i am older, but i do. What you are going through isnt new. When i was a young girl, i had to leave high school to get a job. I would have given everything to work in a shop, but this wasnt done where i lived. Nobody ever heard of a working in a shop where white girls and white women came in to buy things, so i got a job cleaning house, and i cleaned house and cried at nights until i got married. Maybe my mother had something she wanted very bad and couldnt have, and cried about all night. I dont know. But now i have you children, and i have watched you grow up and finish school, and now mary is working in a shop and crying her eyes out because she cant work in an office. Well, maybe she can work in an office, and if she can, i dont want to see her throwing away the chance because she is afraid. Maybe those people hate her, maybe some of them do, and maybe she is imagining a lot of it, dreaming up trouble to hide her fears. And if this is the way it is, than she has got to find out, and the only way to find out is to go to work tomorrow. Or else, when she has her own kids, she is going to have to watch them get hurt and cry and be afraid. And she will always wonder if she couldnt have suffered it for them, and may be made their lives a little easier and maybe made now. The way i sometimes wonder now. music mr. Nelson. Yes . Im resigning. Seriously . Seriously. Ok. I appreciate your getting here on time to tell me. You know exactly why i am quitting. I think you may receive a personal invitation from mr. Todd dennis of dennis industries to present your case to him personally. Tell him i would like to see her right away. Lets squash this. And get lyle ross on the phone. Beth, may i ask a personal question of course. Where do you stand on all this . You have heard the policy discussion. How do you feel . Honestly, mr. Dennis, i wonder where everybody has been. Doesnt anybody in this company read the newspapers or go to the movies . I think it is about time i think it is about time we woke up you can be a great help to us right now. How . By giving the new girl a chance. By making sure that she gets a chance. You mean by being especially nice to her . Not especially nice, just plain, ordinary nice, gardenvariety nice. You have a certain amount of prestige here. Use it. I didnt want the other girls to think i was doing it just because dont you start being frightened too. Think about it. It is not an order, just a random comment on humanity. I am sorry you want to leave, miss wright. Up until now you have been an asset to the company. Up until now i have enjoyed working here. I suppose you will be looking for a job in a plant that doesnt hire negroes. I think you understand my position. I know your position. I dont understand it. It is not difficult to explain it is not difficult to explain. I have heard it before. You dont expect us to adjust our policies to meet your approval . I would rather not work than work under your policy. Rather not work . Well, you are lucky. How do you mean . Lucky you can afford that alternative. I cant afford it. Neither can most of the people working here. I dont understand why my leaving has suddenly taken on such importance. I wish i felt flattered by the attention, but i am afraid i dont. Well, the fact is, youre leaving the company is much more important than a personal matter for me or for you. I am not going to even attempt to argue with your prejudices. I know that in a few minutes here, i cant change whatever has made you think what you are thinking for a lifetime but if you dont mind, i would like to put the shoe on the other foot. You are a popular girl here, probably with good reason. What you do, quitting, may set an example for a lot of other girls who cant afford your independence. I am responsible for this company. That means i am responsible to the stockholders, the people working here, to myself, even to the whole country indirectly. It is too late to crawl back into a shell. Im afraid i dont understand, mr. Dennis. Miss wright, i am going to ask you to stay on here in spite of how you feel. To give us, to give this girl, to give yourself even, a chance to find out you are putting me in a pretty tough spot, mr. Dennis. It may not be as tough as you think. You are making it awfully difficult to refuse. It would have been so much easier just to bawl me out. Will you give it a try . It is only fair to warn you, i may do all the wrong things. You may be sorry if i stay. Every day i am in business, i am taking chances. I am willing to take this one. I will think about it, mr. Dennis. I will say this, though. It is the first time i have stopped to think about it at all. Thank you. [indiscernible conversations] hi, i am miss merrill. Mary newton. Hello, mary. Would you join us . What department are you in . [indiscernible conversations] there was no mass walkout. No one quit. A few girls even tried to help out. music resentment turned to curiosity. Then curiosity became interest. [typewriter keys clicking] in time mary was no longer the new girl, and new girls no longer meant trouble. So we all settled down again to the difficult business of making a living. music music i want to start with a little story. In 1963, this woman sherry, which is a pseudonym, was featured in a life magazine article. The story was about a choice that her family was facing. She was pregnant. Her husband had recently traveled to europe where he acquired