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page 14 —Sept. 3, 1954 — SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Tennessee NASHVILLE, Tenn. HEN the Supreme Court rendered its May 17 decision, public and official reaction in Tennessee was temperate and reserved. The reaction was notable for the lack of inflam matory statements and for the sudden genesis of a “let’s wait and see” atti tude. The problem facing Tennessee is one of the most complex in the nation —not from a purely technical point of view—but because of its geographical situation and history the state lends itself to two well defined regions of tradition. It is a state, for instance, where there are counties in which the Civil War dead are memorialized by monu ments to both Confederate and Union soldiers; and where there are coun ties in which that cataclysmic event —which did so much to set the mores of the region — is memorialized by monuments to the Confederate soldier alone. It is a state, in simplification, both southern and eastern. This variation expresses itself not only in the individual’s approach to problems such as the one now facing Tennessee, but also in real and im portant differences, such as the un even distribution of the Negro school population between East and Middle and West Tennessee. This disparity is illustrated by the following figures— the most recent released by the Ten nessee State Department of Educa tion (scholastic year 1952-53) based on the total daily average attendance in county, city and special public school systems: East Tennessee White Negro County Students Students Anderson 6,660 116 Bledsoe 1,182 28 Carter 9,064 96 Knox (Knoxville). .34,983 3,566 Sullivan (Kingsport) 19,740 443 West Tennessee Haywood 1,834 3,875 Fayette 1,639 4,006 Shelby (Memphis) .43,659 32,841 Crockett 2,966 1,081 As a footnote to the above statis tics, the department of education figures also include the information that, based on total average daily at tendance, there are nine counties—all in East Tennessee—with no Negro CHARLESTON, W.VA. gnoring crystal balls and prophets of doom, most West Virginians waited patiently for the Supreme Court’s May 17 decision outlawing segregated schools. Educators adopted an attitude of: “Let’s cross the segregation bridge when we come to it.” And most citizens awaited the rul ing with an attitude the president of the State Board of Education de scribed as “a wise calmness.” On Sept. 20, 1953, several leading state educators told The Charletston Gazette that a gradual integration of white and Negro students could be worked out peacefully in West Vir ginia. The state’s public school are or ganized on a county-unit basis, with 55 non-partisan boards of education (elected by the people) directing the schools. Under the county-unit sys tem, actual control of the schools lies on the local level. The state superintendent of free schools, who acts as a supervisor, is elected for a four-year term. The West Virginia Board of Education, of which the superintendent is an ex officio member, determines the educa tional policies of the state. The board, appointed by the gover nor, also makes rules for carrying into effect laws and policies of the state relating to education. It controls all state colleges, except West Virginia University and Potomac State Col lege, which are run by a separate WVU Board of Governors. In 1950, West Virginia’s per capita income was $1,050. Total income was children in county, city or special school systems, and nine counties in which there are no Negro children in the scholastic population between 6 and 18 years. The statistics cited above are simply for the purpose of illustrating the imbalance in the distribution of the total state school population of 595,640 white children and 113,794 Negro children. CONTROL OF SCHOOLS Control of the state’s public schools rests with the school boards of 95 county school systems and 57 munic ipal and special school systems. Each system is financially supported by in come received from county, city, fed eral and state governments, the bulk of the funds being received from the state. There are more than 3,000 white schools and approximately 800 Negro schools, although there are 31 coun ties in the state without Negro high schools. Teaching in the systems are 20,827 white men and women and 3,725 Negro teachers. Their pay scales are equal. LEGAL PROVISIONS As a final point for background, segregation in the public schools is based on Tennessee’s constitution and statutes. The constitution of 1870 con tains a provision which states, “No school established or aided under this section shall allow white and Negro children to be received together in the same school.” This provision was bolstered by a statute passed by the legislature in 1925 which provided school boards with the authority to designate schools that students should attend, but expressly prohibited school boards from allowing white and Negro children to attend the same school. The same language was used again in 1931 in another legislative act when the legislature authorized the establishment of junior and senior high schools. Since the high court delivered its decision on public school segregation, few weeks have passed in Tennessee without action bearing on the sub ject taking place. The tone of official comment was established shortly after the decision $2,115,000,000, with $69.7 million ear marked for schools. In other words, 3.3 per cent of the West Virginia’s in come was spent on schools. There were 420,577 white and 26,- 133 Negro pupils (5.85 per cent) en rolled in state schools in 1952-53. And there has been little change since 1949-50 when 5.82 per cent of the school population was Negro. Figures on current expenditures per pupil, broken down for white and Negro children, aren’t available. But on a net enrollment basis, $154.72 was spent per pupil (white and Negro) in 1951-52. For the same year, $171.87 was spent per pupil on an average daily attendance basis. Immediately after the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public schools, Gov. William C. Marland and W. W. Trent, state superintendent of free schools, said West Virginia in tended to abide by the court’s deci sion. On June 1, Supt. Trent wrote a letter to county school superintend ents, which in part said: As segregation is unconstitutional boards should, in my opinion, begin im mediately to reorganize and readjust their schools to comply with the Supreme Court decision. . . . As both races are indicating a willing ness to cooperate, to prove their patience by giving time for readjustment, and to respect school authorities, neither force nor legal action should be necessary to effect compliance with the decision of the Supreme Court. Trent stressed that integration must be worked out on the county level, with each school system adopting de segregation techniques to cope with local problems. when Gov. Frank Clement said: ... I must point out it is a decision handed down by a judicial body which we, the American people, under our con stitution and law recognize as supreme in matters of interpreting the law of the land . _ . Inasmuch as no final decree has been entered, and in view of the fact that the court has invited participation by the states in further deliberation, no change is anticipated in our school sys tem in the near future. From mid-June until August 5, the subject was thrashed out in the poli tical arena as the three candidates for governor and two for the United States Senate in the Democratic pri mary made clear their stand on the issue. School boards have been peti tioned to open public schools on a non-segregated basis this fall. At least one county school board has ordered the creation of a special committee to study its own system with a view to drafting a plan for desegregation to be considered at a later date. Here is a chronology of events: POLITICS On June 5, Gov. Frank Clement, the incumbent, reiterated in his opening campaign address at Lebanon, the stand he had taken with regard to the court decision as noted above. Gordon Browning, a former gover nor, stated early in the campaign his opposition to desegregation of the state’s public schools. The clearest ex pression of his stand on the issue on July 31, when he said, “There will be no mixing of the races in the public schools of this state while I am gov ernor . . . and I shall use the full in fluence and power of my office as governor to keep separate schools for the white children and equally good but separate schools for Negro chil dren.” The third candidate, Criminal Court Judge Raulston Schoolfield—credited with injecting the race issue into the political race—campaigned solely on the basis of maintaining segregation in the state’s public schools. On June 22, announcing his candidacy, School- field said: Either we are in favor of the terms con tained in the opinion of the Supreme Court or we are against the conditions set out therein ... If we are against it, there must be legal steps taken to avoid and circumvent that opinion . . . The opinion of the Supreme Court is both arbitrary and oppressive, to say nothing of being unlawful, and I will resist it so long as I shall live . . . Only by bringing this issue out so that the light of day may be shed upon it can we fairly and honestly decide the question. The unofficial results of the gov ernor’s race (the final vote canvass On June 9, the State Board of Ed ucation threw open the doors of nine state colleges to Negroes. A day later, West Liberty State College near Wheeling admitted a Negro student for the first time in its 116-year his tory. The state board acted upon a June 1 opinion from West Virginia’s at torney general, which said in part: It is our considered opinion that West Virginia University must now admit any person who applies for admission, re gardless of race; provided, however, that such applicant shall fulfill all of the re quirements then prescribed by entry. No prospective student may be refused ad mission because of his race. When school superintendents met for their annual conference at the end of July, Supt. Trent said: In spite of prejudices, desegregation is moving forward in West Virginia. In the majority of counties, some action has been taken. . . . Complete desegregation will come to West Virginia’s public schools in a reasonable time without force and in the absence of legal action. FOUR INTEGRATION PATTERNS He outlined four patterns of in tegration under way in West Virginia. 1. In counties where no Negro teachers were employed last year, Negro pupils have been or will be assigned to local schools along with whites. 2. Negro schools have been abolished in ‘a few counties.’ 3. Negro students, who have been transported to other counties to attend segregated schools, will be absorbed in their local schools. 4. Counties in which schools will be resumed as they were last year will make voluntary adjustments during the school year as conditions permit. . . . Kanawha County, West Virginia’s largest county where Charleston, the capital city, is located, will follow path No. 4. Separated buses and a few isolated, one-room schools probably will be eliminated in September, with com plete integration scheduled for the fall of 1955-56. has not been made): Clement 436,994 Browning 177,480 Schoolfield 26,918 The issue was not so paramount in the Senate race. Sen. Estes Kefauver, the incumbent, said the public school question was not properly an issue in the Senate race. “The only thing the Senate can do is to resolve that an amendment to the Constitution ordering segregation be made,” Sen. Kefauver said, “but since at least 31 of the 48 states have statutes pro hibiting segregation, it is obvious that the amendment could not pass. It is a local question to be decided on a local level by the people of both races. Sen. Kefauver’s opponent, Rep. Pat Sutton, said he was for separate but equal schools, and added “I am a Jef fersonian Democrat believing that the Federal government should take a back seat to states rights and the rights of individual Americans. . . . I am opposed to the Supreme Court ruling on segregation.” Unofficial returns of the Senate race were: Kefauver 389,878 Sutton 165,165 EDUCATIONAL On June 10, the Nashville city school board was petitioned by pa rents of three white children to admit their children to a Negro elementary school this fall. The fathers of the children involved are professors in the mathematics department at Fisk university, a Negro institution. The families live in a Negro residential area near the university. The Negro elementary school is the public school closest to their home. One child at tended Fisk children’s school last year. She has completed the third grade. The children’s school does not include a fourth grade. The other two children, fifth and sixth graders, attended Peabody Demonstration School on the campus of George Peabody College for Teach ers. Admittance to the school was denied by the school board. W. A. Bass, city school superintendent, said the city system would not change un til there had been an overall state wide change. The father of the fourth grade child, Dr. Lee Lorch, is head of the mathe matics department at Fisk, and also vice president of the Tennessee chap ter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He Supt. Trent also told The Gazette that “by and large, the reception has been favorable to de-segregation in West Virginia.” NAACP leaders applauded Kana wha County’s plan for complete in tegration by the fall of 1955-56. “I am highly pleased with the way Mr. Flynn has proceeded,” said T. G. Nutter, president of the NAACP’s West Virginia Conference (Virgil L. Flynn is superintendent of Kanawha County Schools.) “Mr. Flynn is to be complimented upon thus far taking the right steps toward de-segregating the schools,” said Willard L. Broan, president of the Charleston branch. Nutter urged “everybody to co operate in helping Mr. Flynn to put over his integration program.” “There is a general feeling that de segregation should be carried out in spirit as well as in letter in West Vir ginia,” he added. A survey of school officials discloses that approximately 25 county boards of education have at least discussed integrating pupils this fall. Some counties are awaiting a “clarification” of the U.S. Supreme Court decision while others have delayed any defi nite action. Best estimates are that 30,000 white and Negro pupils will step over West Virginia’s 91-year-old color line to sit side by side. The first real test will come in Monongalia county were 274 Negro pupils will be integrated Sept. 1. It also is the site of West Virginia University in Morgantown which will officially accept undergraduate stu dents, although the practice was quietly started several years ago after Negroes were permitted to do grad uate work. Only storm center to date was Philippi in Barbour County where a group of parents protested the action West Virginia has threatened suit this fall if his child is refused admittance. On June 29, the Rev. Charles M. Williams, chancellor of the Catholic diocese of Nashville, announced that parochial schools in Nashville would open this fall on a non-segregation basis. On July 23, a committee represent ing the NAACP petitioned the David son county school board to open its schools on a non-segregated basis this fall. On Aug. 19, the request was re fused, but the board decided to estab lish a special committee to study a plan for desegregation for the board’s consideration at a later date. The sub ject will be studied first by a commit tee of professional educators — both white and Negro—and later in con junction with a committee of white and Negro parents whose children at tend the county schools. On August 18, it was announced the state would file a brief at the Su preme Court’s hearing in October, and that the brief would include a concrete plan for gradual desegrega tion. The plan, according to the re port, was that desegregation would begin in the first grade, and then each successive year, be extended to a higher grade. LEGAL Four days after the high court ruled on segregation, Tennessee’s state attorney general, Roy H. Beeler, said: “It looks as though the court got over into the field of legislation instead of acting on judicial matters.” In the field of higher education, petitions have been received from Negroes at Murfreesboro State Teachers College by two recent high school graduates, and at Memphis State College from five Negroes. Both are state-supported colleges. The State Board of Education denied ad mittance of the Negroes to Memphis State. There has been no action on the applications to MTSC, but pre sumably they will be denied on the same basis as those to the Memphis institution. The basis: Tennessee con stitutional and statutory provisions, and the absence of any decrees from the Supreme Court implementing the May decision. Negroes have been attending grad uate school at the University of Ten nessee for two years, and one of the state’s private colleges, the Univer sity of the South, admitted a Negro to its seminary for the 1953 summer ses sion. by the board of education to integrate all schools. The latest word is that a more gradual changeover is planned. Some of the complainants now say their objection was more toward the board’s dictatorial policies than to ward integration, but this may be taken with a grain of salt. Wood County, with a total 13,914 pupil registration last year, has de cided on a partial integration plan under which Negro and white schools will be mixed in the first and ninth grades. Randolph County, which is report ed to have 90 Negro pupils, is re ported moving ahead with a new one- school system this fall. Other coun ties, with even fewer Negroes, plan ning to do the same include Pendle ton, Hardy, Monroe and Brooke. All told, the last four have less than 250 Negroes attending public schools. SEVERAL UNDECIDED Counties reported still undecided include Cabell, Morgan, Marion, Mc Dowell, Jefferson, Hancock, Ohio, Logan, Minoo and Raleigh, with a total enrollment of 108,000 with no division available. Taylor County is toying with a “right of choice” policy for the time being, while Mercer, Berkely and Mineral Counties have suspended any action until the high court hands down a decree. Kanawha and Fayette Counties, total enrollment 69,524 and 5,678 Ne groes last term, have delayed integra tion until 1955-56, although Charles ton, in Kanawha County, accepted Negroes during the summer school term. St. Albans High, also in Kana wha, has had four Negroes apply for admittance but County Supt. Flynn is delaying a decision until an opinion is given by the attorney gen eral.