Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 10 —Oct. I, 1954 —SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Missouri
ST. LOUIS, Mo.
ROM every level of public educa
tion at which segregation ended
in Missouri this September, the re
port is the same: no trouble, a smooth
change-over, complete pupil, teacher
and community acceptance. Few
school systems have integrated from
top to bottom at one stroke. Some
have unified elementary schools, some
high schools, some junior colleges.
There are Negroes in public schools
in 69 of the Missouri’s 115 counties
and in 216, or 5% of the state’s 4,000
school districts.
St. Louis and Kansas City between
them account for 43,000 of the 63,000
Negro pupils in the state. Both cities
have integration plans now in opera
tion. As to the rest of the state, preli
minary data from a survey being
made by the state commissioner of
education show that 100 districts with
a total pupil enrollment of about
40,000 and a Negro pupil enrollment
of about 1,000 have put some form
of integration into effect. Of these, 54
districts have integrated high schools,
but no elementary; 9 have integrated
elementary but no high school; and
28 have integration both in high
school and elementary grades.
The St. Louis Story
In St. Louis, which has half of the
state’s 60,000 Negro pupils, integra
tion of high schools is scheduled for
January and of grade schools for Sep
tember, 1955. The big event at the
start of the September term this year
was the opening of an unsegregated
Harris Teachers College to supplant
the Harris (white) and Stowe (Negro)
teachers colleges of last year. Presi
dent Charles A. Naylor pronounces
integration in this junior college an
unqualified success. There have been
no incidents of any kind. The transi
tion has been fully accepted by stu
dents and faculty with no discernible
friction at any point.
Last year, Harris closed with 492
white students and Stowe with 300
Negroes. This year enrollment at
Harris stands at 1,032. The ratio of
whites and Negroes is presumed to be
about the same as in the separate col
leges last year, but no racial distinc
tions are noted on registration records
and there are therefore no statistics.
So far as is known, no white students
declined to return because of integra
tion.
The faculty of 63 is divided about
two white to one Negro, all Negro
faculty members from Stowe having
been taken over except two or three
who became elementary school su
pervisors. Faculty integration is com
plete. Some departments have a Negro
majority of teachers (e. g., English)
and some a white majority. There will
be a Negro basketball coach, white
baseball and track coaches. The fac
ulty attended a two-day in-service
training program before the start of
the school term, to prepare itself for
the problems of integration.
But so far there have been no
problems. Even in the lunch room,
staffed by both white and Negro em
ployes, the students exhibit little self
segregation, but generally eat to
gether without distinction as to race.
No attempt is made to maintain a cer
tain ratio between races in classes;
students are assigned indiscriminately
as they come. A Negro registrar and
a white dean meet and advise new
students without regard to their
races. “If integration goes as smooth
ly at other levels as it has done here,”
says Dr. Naylor, “there is nothing to
worry about.”
Plan for High Schools
St. Louis meanwhile is preparing
for the transition at the high school
level in midyear. New districts are
to be announced in November, well in
advance of the change-over date. Ad
dressing the high school faculties at
the opening of the September term,
Superintendent of Instruction Philip
J. Hickey said that preliminary steps
already taken toward integration will
be of great value in aiding the transi
tion.
For some years faculties have been
integrated on curriculum and book
selection committees, high school
councils and other administrative
bodies. Since 1945 a teachers’ com
mittee has been studying intergroup
relations and their improvement. A
city-wide student council has brought
Negro and white high school pupils
together. Some Negro and white
schools have exchanged classes for a
day. Musical organizations have been
exchanging auditorium sessions be
tween white and Negro high schools.
An all-city high school symphony
orchestra has been organized. In June
of last year over 5,000 pupils from
both white and Negro schools per
formed together at the Central High
School centennial pageant. There
have been interracial track meets and
practice games in other sports.
Supt. Hickey told the teachers:
There are two attitudes on integration,
both of which are wrong, that some of
our citizens have embraced: first, that we
can avoid or circumvent the clear direc
tive given to us by our highest judicial
body, and secondly, that integration will
not present any difficulties whatsoever.
These attitudes cannot fail to cause great
harm. We must be willing to accept the
problem of integration and face it real
istically, without bigotry or prejudice,
but well aware of our individual respon
sibilities in assuming the proper attitudes.
This problem is different from any
which we have faced in that failure
cannot be thought possible. Integration
is a fact. The time has come when we
must submerge all of our personal feel
ings if we are to maintain our high
standards of conduct and achievement.
Prejudice is a two-way street; it is found
in both races. It is necessary for all of
us to engage in a self-examination and
not even whisper to ourselves these in
sidious prejudices which we have openly
nurtured for so long.
That integration be made to work
smoothly and fairly is more than an
obligation; it is a directive from your
employer, the Board of Education. We
also believe that it is an implied direc
tive from your indirect employers, the
people of the city of St. Louis. The people
of this city, for the most part, have ac
cepted the fact that segregation is at an
end with a wise calmness and a sincere
intent to accept it gracefully. Our local
people have always had a deep respect
for the laws of our land and rabble-
rousers and hatred-vendors have had little
success. We believe the moral fibre of our
citizens is strong enough to meet any
situation.
We know that you, the classroom
teachers, represent the important part of
the educative process. You will determine
the degree of success which we obtain by
your attitudes and efforts. If you assume
an apprehensive, defeatist attitude in your
home or among your closest friends, that
attitude will reflect itself, perhaps un
consciously, in your classroom teaching.
The attitude of you, the teachers in the
classrooms, will determine the general
trend of conduct in the entire school sys
tem. We should not minimize the problem
of integration or build it into a monster.
Reports from other Missouri com
munities follow.
KANSAS CITY (pop. 457,000. Negro
pupils: 10,400 or 16% of total of
64,000.)
Integration began with the summer
classes in high schools and the junior
college. Supt. Mark W. Bills reports
the summer session “went off per
fectly.” The next step was the perm
anent integration of the junior college
and of teachers and pupils in the
vocational high school, academic
courses included. This took place at
the start of the fall term in Septem
ber.
For the first two weeks, Supt
Bills reports: “The change was made
smoothly and without incident; no
evidence of friction, no significant
protest by parents or students.” The
board of Education’s policy for
smoothing the transition includes:
“good, orderly, planning, full infor
mation, fair and honorable approach
to all decisions, with especial atten
tion to the school aspects of the
problem.” Integration of all elemen
tary and high schools is to be com
pleted by September, 1955; new dis
trict boundaries are now being pre
pared.
ST. JOSEPH (pop. 79,000. Negro
pupils: 440, or 3% of total of 12,000.)
Having desegregated its summer
school classes soon after the Supreme
Court decision, St. Joseph took the
second step by integrating all high
school and junior college students at
the start of the September term.
A l-to-12 grade school for Negroes
has been converted to an elementary
school, and Negro pupils who former
ly attended its upper grades have
been transferred to the three white
high schools according to residence.
Says Supt. George L. Blackwell:
“We have not attempted in any way
to establish a pattern for the nation.
We have merely attempted to meet
our own problems in our own way
and provide a satisfactory plan to the
best of our ability.” During the first
two weeks, according to Blackwell,
“we have gone along very well with
out any friction, without any inci
dents, and without any apparent re
sentment. Only one minor protest
was made by a parent. Our teachers
have accepted the Negro youth and
will give them the same attention that
they give other students.” At present,
Negro teachers are confined to the
three Negro elementary schools.
There was no football at the old
Negro high school, but Negroes are
out for the team at all the three inte
grated high schools. Central High,
second oldest school west of the Mis
sissippi, steeped in tradition and
largely attended by children of pro
fessional and business men, played
its first Negro in the opening game of
the season. At this school, Negro stu
dents were treated simply as part of
the annual group of new students. No
special recognition was given them
and no special restrictions imposed.
Says Principal Marion E. Gibbins:
“The returning students accepted this
procedure as a normal one. No special
problems have occurred to date.”
Principal W. L. Daffron of Benton
High School, which enrolled 27
Negroes, reports no complaints and
no difficulties. White students showed
a “very fine” attitude in helping
Negroes adjust to the school regula
tions, and Negroes “assumed an atti
tude of respect for the entire school
program and exerted effort to fit into
the program.”
Principal Charles W. Thomas of
Lafayette High School says integra
tion “has been readily accepted by all
students and teachers; the attitude of
all groups is especially fine.”
Elementary School Plan
St. Joseph has also made a begin
ning toward integration at the elem
entary level. There are three Negro
elementary schools, two of them cov
ering only grades 1 to 6. This year
Negro children in the kindergarten
and grades 7 and 8 are permitted to
go to the nearest (white) school if
the Negro school they would normally
attend does not offer these grades.
Complete integration is planned when
new classroom space has been built.
In preparation for this step a com
mittee of Negro and white principals
is working on recommendations to be
given the Board of Education. A
statement of this committee said:
An integrated school program may
seem strange at first. However, we feel
confident that our St. Joseph students will
do their utmost to see that fair play is
accorded all. Problems may seem grave
to some laymen, but in the past decade
or two school administrators and teachers
have become accustomed to meeting
problems arising out of changes whether
due to depression, war, increase in
population or other factors. All pupils
may expect a helping hand from any of
their teachers with whatever kind of
problem may be facing them.
SPRINGFIELD (pop. 72,000. Negro
pupils: 342, or 2% of total of 12,800.)
This Ozark capital of southwestern
Missouri, 60 miles from the Arkansas
border, has had one Negro school for
grades 1 through 12. The Board of
Education decided to operate the
school this year but to permit any
Negro who so desired to attend the
(white) school nearest his home. At
the opening of the September term,
165 Negro pupils exercised this op
tion, leaving 154 at Lincoln School.
According to Superintendent Wil
lard J. Graff, the Negro pupils have
been absorbed in other schools with
out difficulty: “Integration seems to
be generally well accepted in this
community.” At the high school,
Principal Homer Hesterson made a
speech welcoming new students.
When he mentioned specifically the
new students transfering from Lin
coln High School, the white students
burst into spontaneous applause.
MEXICO (pop. 12,000. Negro pu
pils: 320 or 16% of total of 2,000.)
As a first step, Mexico has inte
grated grades 10, 11, and 12 of the
senior high school, which means ab
sorbing 40 Negro pupils in a white
student body of 575. Some classrooms
have no Negroes at all, most have
from one to three. Several Negroes
are playing on the football team and
report the white boys have been
“very nice” to them. Says Supt. An
thony Marinaccio: “There has been
no friction or resentment so far as I
can see. There has been no significant
protest by parents or children, and the
transition has been very smooth.”
A student editor wrote in the
school paper:
A process known as integration has be
gun. About all it amounts to is some 40
new students going to Mexico High
School. We don’t think it should be a
strange adventure or an exciting experi
ment or a big production. We just hope
the townspeople don’t show too much
concern, because we feel that, generally,
we high school students will take the
change in stride.
ST. CHARLES (pop. 15,000. Negro
pupils: 130 or 6% of total of 1,908.)
Forty miles northwest of St. Louis
on the Missouri river, this community
integrated elementary pupils from
kindergarten to grade 6 at the start
of the September term, and will com
plete the process with high school pu
pils in 1955.
So far, says Supt. Stephen Black-
hurst, the change has been quiet.
“No one is making a great ado; we feel
that more is lost than gained in making
a great palaver. As far as the pupils are
concerned, the change-over did not make
a riffle. So far the Negroes are received
as graciously as though they were white,
and they are included without discrimi
nation in all games and activities.”
There has been some citizen criti
cism of the school system for pro
ceeding with integration befort it had
become compulsory, but Supt. Black-
hurst says “the majority of citizens
took the Supreme Court decision in
stride, and perhaps a majority ap
proved the decision in itself.” Mr.
Blackhurst believes that integration
of high school pupils may prove more
difficult, and will have to be ap
proached more cautiously. Another
problem may be the future of Negro
teachers. There is a feeling that the
community would not support the
employment of Negro teachers in
either white or mixed schools.
KIRKWOOD (Pop. 19,000. Negro
pupils: 507, or 10% of total of 5,000.)
This suburb of St. Louis had begun
integration at the grade school level
by absorbing 82 Negroes in four
previously white schools according to
residence. Seventy-three of the Ne
groes are in one school with a total
registration of 464. No incidents of
any kind occurred in the opening
weeks of school, says Supt. Floyd W.
Hendricks.
Under the original plan, 63 white
students living on the edge of the dis
trict in a new subdivision would have
been required to attend a predomin
antly Negro school which happened
to be nearest their home. Parents ob
jected and filed a petition seeking
separation from the school district. A
special election was called at which
the separation was defeated, 599 to
449. Two days before the election, the
Board of Education voted to allow
any child an application to attend the
same school he had attended last year.
All white children who would have
been assigned to the Negro school on
a residence basis have exercised the
option. Many are attending the
white school which has successfully
absorbed a Negro minority.
Owing to residential distribution,
240 Negro elementary pupils and 125
Negro junior high pupils are still at
tending the all-Negro school.
The Board of Education voted to
postpone integration of high school
students until a new building now
under construction is completed in
1955. Meanwhile, as in previous years,
it is transporting 60 Negro students
to a Negro high school in adjoining
Webster Groves (which has taken no
action for integration.) Eight of the
60 students have formally requested
the Board to admit them to Kirkwood
High School immediately, intimating
that they would go to court if re
jected. The Board has rejected their
applications.
CLARKSVILLE (Negro pupils: 70,
or 14% of a total of 507.)
This rural consolidated district,
which operates three grade schools
and a high school in Pike and Lin
coln counties, north of St. Louis, has
integrated grades one through 12 this
year.
Supt. Joe Henry reports: “We have
not had any show of resentment from
students, parents, or teachers. I be
lieve that in our situation it is going
to work remarkably well.”
Soon after the Supreme Court opin
ion, Clarksville school officials visited
an integrated school in a nearby state
to gather information. Then they dis
cussed the question with parents of
both white and Negro youngsters
through the press, in meetings, and
“on the street.” Lower costs of opera
tion were an important factor cited
in favor of integration, since Negroes
would not have to be sent out of the
district to a segregated school.
NEOSHO (pop. 6,000. Negro pupils:
23, or 1% of a total of 1,900.)
This southwestern Missouri com
munity, the state’s Confederate capi
tal for a time during the Civil War, is
15 miles from Oklahoma and 30 miles
from Arkansas. It has integrated com
pletely this year, which means ab
sorbing 23 Negroes in the 12 grades.
Supt. R. W. Anderson, reporting on
the opening days of the term, said:
I have not had any protests or calls
from either white or colored parents. All
of our teachers have accepted the colored
pupils just as if they had always been
in our school. The pupils also accepted
them without incident. We do not anti
cipate any problems. We took no special
steps to prepare for integration, but
merely accepted it as a matter of course.
In our faculty meeting the teachers were
advised not to make an issue in case
some white students objected to sitting
by the colored pupils, but fortunately we
have had no incident whatever arise.
MACON (pop. 4,200. Negro pupils:
43 or 6% of a total of 690.)
School opened Sept. 7 with 16 Ne
gro pupils in high school, the Macon
school board having voted to inte
grate at the level while continuing
segregation in the elementary grades
for at least one more year. Negro
boys reported alongside others for
football practice in August. Supt.
Laurence E. Phelps reports that on
the practice field “in no case did I
observe any inclination on the part
of any boys to embarrass another.
Without exception, the boys are
proud of their team mates’ success
without regard to color.” At school
“it is not at all uncommon to see
mixed groups discussing their mutual
problems in the corridors and walk
ing together to and from classes.
There is no evidence of resentment
or friction, but every evidence of
understanding.”
This acceptance of the change
Supt. Phelps attributes to the com
munity’s self-preparation, beginning
in 1948. In that year the Macon Ro
tary Club, giving its annual dinner in
honor of the public school faculty, for
the first time included the Negro
teachers as guests. Since 1948, Neg
roes have participated in adult edu
cation classes sponsored by the Board
of Education.
When the Supreme Court opinion
was announced, the Lay Citizens
Educational Advisory Committee,
composed of Negroes and whites, met
to discuss means of compliance. The
committee adopted the two-stage
plan of integration beginning at the
high school level, and the Board of
Education unanimously approved its
recommendation. Says Supt. Phelps:
“We in Macon have taken the posi
tion that racial integration is a quite
natural process in a democratic so
ciety and feel that we have made a
sincere attempt to accept this chal
lenge.”
MADISON (pop. 600. Negro pu
pils: 8, or 4% of a total of 200).
This community formerly trans
ported its Negro children to Moberly,
which meant that they had to leave
home an hour and a half earlier than
they do now. Beginning in September
all Negro children were absorbed in
elementary and high school grades.
Says Superintendent Lloyd L. Smith:
The attitude of the community as a
whole has been favorable. The transition
has been easier for the grade pupils than
in the high school, but we have had no
friction or any incident so far. The teach
ers have accepted the colored pupils
whole-heartedly.
Notice
“Southern School News,” official
publication of the Southern Educa
tion Reporting Service, is distributed
free to interested individuals and
organizations. Inquiries should be
addressed to SERS at 1109 19th Ave.
South, Nashville, Tenn., or to P.O.
Box 6156, Acklen Station, Nashville
5, Tenn.
The Reporting Service is financed
by a grant from the Fund for the
Advancement of Education, an inde
pendent agency established by the
Ford Foundation.