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North Carolina
RALEIGH, N. C.
P ublic schools still were segregated
as the new school year began in
North Carolina without any direct
challenges to the segregation policy
adopted earlier for the 1954-55 ses
sion by the State Board of Educa
tion.
Two incidents accompanied school
openings, but neither one apparently
was designed to test the validity of
the state’s present segregation rule.
In Greensboro, two teen-age girls
who last year attended a Negro high
school there applied for admission to
the white rural high school of Colfax
in the same county. The girls con
tended they are not Negroes, but are
of mixed Scotch - Irish - English -
Indian extraction.
Colfax Principal W. H. Dewar told
the girls, when they applied, that they
was not allowed to accept transfer
students from Dudley High School, a
Negro school. They appealed to Guil
ford County Supt. E. D. Idol, who
told them they could go to Colfax
if they proved their claim of descent.
“If the question is a question of
their race,” said Idol, “that puts a
different face on the matter. If they
are Indians, and I see no reason why
they cannot prove such if it is so, then
they probably belong in a white
school.
“But if they should be Negroes and
desire to enter Colfax only on the
basis of the recent Supreme Court
ruling that segregation is not lawful,
then we would have to say, ‘No’.”
North Carolina, he said, is continu
ing segregation in the schools until
the court decree is spelled out.
Incident at Stanley
The other incident occurred in
Stanley, a small community in Gas
ton County. Because of the condition
of the three-room Negro school in
Stanley, the State Board of Education
condemned the building and ordered
the students to attend school in Dal
las, six miles away. On the first of
September, school buses stopped in
Stanley to pick up the approximately
100 Negro children. They waved to
the bus drivers, but declined to get
aboard.
The boycott climaxed efforts of Ne
gro parents in Stanley to get a new
school building, rather than to yield
to a school consolidation policy which
has been in effect in the state for sev
eral years. Parents of the elementary
grade children asked for a building
as good as that of the whites in Stan
ley.
School authorities contended it was
not feasible to spend about $125,000
for a Negro school building for 100
students after two rooms had already
been added to the Dallas school to
care for Stanley students. A lawsuit
seeking the structure was filed for
the parents last year by Negro At
torney Charles Bell of Charlotte.
Gaston County School Supt. Hunter
Huss said he thought Stanley Negroes
actually were seeking to have their
children integrated in the 22-teacher
white elementary school in Stanley.
None of the Negro parents—or At
torney Bell—said publicly this was
their purpose. None of the children
have sought admittance to the white
school.
Most of the expressed sentiment
formed a familiar pattern in North
Carolina of opposition to the removal
°t a school from a community by
consolidation. A correspondent for
he Charlotte News talked to some of
he Negro parents. Typical comments:
ome folks have the wrong idea. T1
eheve that we’re striking and not lett
ers get on the bus because
Thai *” em t° go to school with the whii
i * ® n °t so. We don’t want that.
lI?5 0I V t want them going out of <
thL? lu l uty to school. We’d rather hi
sphiTi , m our condemned three-ro
oi here than send them away. . .
inaa„“ U !' se ’ ’*■ (the school building) \
We - <1U 1 a i e ’ hut it was something tl
the : .? U < ca U our own. We had one
no trongeijt PTAs in the county, e
0 one can deny that.
]au UPt -i^ USS Sa ^ that state truancy
th S iTi no ^ hufoked now to force
ne children to goto the Dallas school,
e indicated he believes the boycott
w=° U ?P se its own weight. Three
still - S a ' ter boycott began, it was
bui m Pr0gress ' Each school day, the
s continue to go into Stanley, a
textile community, although the chil
dren do not board them.
In addition to the 100 elementary
children, 50 high school students in
Stanley are refusing transfer to a
high school at Kings Mountain, in
Cleveland County, until a new school
for them is completed in Bessemer
City, Gaston County. They had been
attending Highland School in Gas
tonia but the transfer was ordered
by school authorities who said the
move was due to overcrowding at
Highland.
Parochial School Plan
Meanwhile, all Catholic high
schools in the state have ended seg
regation. The Most Rev. Vincent S.
Waters, bishop of the Diocese of Ra
leigh (which includes all of North
Carolina except Gaston County), sent
a letter on segregation to Catholic
high schools: St. Joseph’s at New
Bern, St. Patrick’s at Charlotte,
Mother of Mercy at Washington,
Cathedral at Raleigh, and St. John’s
at Waynesville. Said the letter:
Beginning with the fall semester of
1954 our Catholic parochial high schools
of the Diocese of Raleigh will register
and accept for class work all Catholic
high school students no matter to what
race they belong, provided that they are
Catholics and qualified for high school
work.
At this time the mandate does not apply
to the elementary schools or colleges but
may be followed by any who wish to do
so by special arrangement. Each parish
is to provide its own elementary school
as soon as possible, however. The stu
dents of the different races accepted
under this regulation are to be limited
to Catholics only.
The Rev. Bernard L. Rosswig, rec
tor and headmaster of Belmont Ab
bey College and Sacred Heart Acad
emy in Belmont, Gaston County, also
said those institutions have ended
segregation. The new policy applies
only to Negroes who are residents of
Gaston County and are Catholics.
Three Negro girls enrolled in Ca
thedral, Raleigh, in the ninth grade.
Three enrolled in high school and 12
in elementary grades of the Catholic
schools in Charlotte. Church officials
said the students in all instances were
absorbed readily into the classes.
Mixed Teacher Meeting
In the eastern county of Harnett
(Negroes comprise 25.41 per cent of
the total population) white and Negro
primary grade teachers held the first
unsegregated meeting in county his
tory. Bessie Massengill, a primary
supervisor, said the meeting was one
of “perfect harmony” and had better-
than-average attendance. It was so
successful, she said, “chances are
good combined meetings will be held
in the future.” Two white teachers
and one Negro teacher were program
speakers.
In Raleigh, the City Planning De
partment is making a survey “to pro
vide documentation of the educa
tional and sociological problems
which may be expected to follow
implementation of the court’s non
segregation decision.” City School
Supt. James O. Sanderson said the
survey is for the guiadance of the
Raleigh School Board.
Three studies are planned: a sur
vey and forecast of school member
ship, the distribution of school pop
ulation and the location of new
schools and districts. School mem
bership is the only survey which has
been started.
The survey reports Raleigh’s white
and Negro population in 1950 was 73,—
398 and estimates the population in
1960 will be 98,900. Of the 1950 pop
ulation, 54,807 are whites and 19,301
(26%) are Negroes. Migration of Ne
groes from the city, it is forecast, will
reduce the Negro percentage in 1960
to 22 per cent.
City Planning Director H. W. Ste
vens said the additional studies will
show the residential districts occu
pied primarily for Negroes. He said
they also will show the way white
school districts overlap the Negro
districts, and vice versa. He said, “We
can show what the school districts
could be . . . and what the official
policy could be in regard to school
in borderline areas.”
The Institute of Government in
Chapel Hill, in the statewide report
made at the request of Gov. William
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS —Oct. I, 1954—PAGE II
N.C. LEADERS PONDER PROBLEM—The U.S. Supreme
Court order outlawing school segregation was the subject
of study by of this North Carolina group, shown with Gov.
William B. Umstead, seated. Left to right: Victor Bryant,
Durham, chairman of the Commission on Higher Educa
tion; Thomas J. Pearsall of Rocky Mount, former Speaker
of the State House and chairman of a segregation advisory
committee appointed by the governor to help him for
mulate state policy; J. A. Pritchett, Windsor, chairman of
a State Board of Education committee looking into seg
regation matters; Lt. Gov. Luther Hodges, chairman of
the State Board of Education; Fred Folger, Mount Airy,
chairman of a commission studying school laws; W. Frank
Taylor of Goldsboro. Gov. XJmstead’s legislative aide, and
Atty-Gen. Harry McMullan. North Carolina plans to file
a brief with the Supreme Court.
B. Umstead, has advised that such
local studies may be useful to state
authorities attempting to chart pol
icies under the court decision.
“Realistic local appraisal of these
problems and ways of meeting them,”
said the Institute,” . . . might inform
and illuminate the deliberations of
our leaders, and strengthen the arm
of the attorney general in giving the
court the sources of light it needs and
wants and ought to have before for
mulating decrees affecting North
Carolina.”
State to File Brief
The State of North Carolina fol
lowed the Institute’s advice in an
other area, too. Gov. Umstead and
Atty. Gen. Harry McMullan conferred
with members of a special advisory
committee named by the Governor to
help him formulate policy, and then
announced that the state would file a
brief with the Supreme Court this
fall. Committee members who helped
reach the decision were Attorneys
Fred B. Helms of Charlotte, L. R.
Varsar (former member of the State
Supreme Court) and Col. W. T. Joy
ner of Raleigh.
Later, Atty. Gen. McMullan said
North Carolina also will present oral
arguments in addition to the brief,
although the state is not a party to
any of the segregation suits on which
the court ruled. The attorney general
said the briefs—outlining the state’s
views on how the decision should be
implemented—will be prepared by
him and his staff.
The Governor’s Advisory Commit
tee, with Thomas J. Pearsall of Rocky
Mount as chairman, postponed its
scheduled September meeting. Pear
sall said the postponement of the sec
ond planned meeting came because
the committee is “still doing some
studying” and has not reached the
stage where it had anything to dis
cuss. The next meeting of the group,
formed to help the governor draft a
legislative program for the 1955 Gen
eral Assembly, will be held in Octo
ber. (A special appropriation of $2,500
was given the committee for secre
tarial help.)
In the latter part of August, Meth
odist youth from Eastern North Car
olina recorded their belief that “seg
regation is un-Christian” at a meet
ing at Duke University. They voted
to present resolution urging support
of the decision on school segregation.
The occasion was the annual con
ference of the N. C. Methodist Youth
Fellowship. By a vote of 191 to 89
(some of the 400 delegates abstained)
the group voted to present identical
resolutions on the subject to the
North Carolina Methodist Conference
and the Governor’s Advisory Com
mittee. The resolutions say that seg
regation “is un-Christian” and urge
the recipients to “uphold the Su
preme Court decision of May 17,
1954, in the school segregation cases.”
The Rev. W. T. Thompson of Rich
mond, Va., was appointed chairman
of an interim committee of the Pres
byterian Synod of North Carolina to
study segregation policy at synod-
supported schools. Other members in
addition to the Rev. Mr. Thompson,
a professor at Union Theological
Seminary, are: the Rev. R. Murphey
Williams, Wilson; E. H. Evans, Lau-
rinburg; the Rev. Kelsey Regen, Dur
ham; W. E. Price, Charlotte; J. H.
Clark Sr., Elizabethtown, and the
Rev. Julian Lake, Winston-Salem.
The committee will study action to
be taken by the synod following the
recommendation of the Presbyterian
General Assembly that synods and
presbyteries follow its decision in
eliminating segregation at church-
supported schools.
On Sept. 22, a 19-member delega
tion from Pender County, an east
ern county in which Negroes com
prise 48.29 per cent of the total pop
ulation, called on Gov. Umstead and
presented him with a petition urging
that segregated schools be continued
in the state. Heading the delegation
were State Sen. J. V. Whitfield and
State Rep. Ashley Murphy, both of
Burgaw.
The petition was presented by
Lynn Corbett of Burgaw, attorney
for the Pender County Association
for the Continuation of Segregation.
It said that segregation “should be
continued at ail costs” and asked
that the state “take a definite stand
for the preservation of segregation in
our public schools and that our peo
ple be given assurance of this fact by
our state officials.”
The Supreme Court decision, said
the petition, is a violation of “the
doctrine of states’ rights.” It added:
“North Carolina should take its place
along beside the other Southern
States in resisting this movement to
the uttermost even if it means the
abolition of our public school sys
tem.”
The governor was told the petition
contained 4,537 signatures, 3,716
those of whites, 299 those of Negroes,
and 522 those of non-residents.
Rep. Murphy said the association
was formed this summer “to help
ease the tension” resulting from the
decision. “We do want to maintain
segregation, and we understand the
colored people in our county do, to a
certain extent.”
Sen. Whitfield, farmer and attor
ney who presented the speakers, said,
“We know that Pender County can
not stand alone successfully against
the law. However, Governor, there
comes a time when a people must de
clare themselves on decisions that
affect their destiny.”
Sen. Whitfield said the May 17 de
cision was “just as wrong as the Dred
Scott decision of 1847 compounding
slavery, so to speak, in any state” and
“is more devastating because it can
and will destroy both the Negro and
white races. To deliberately take the
path everyone knows will lead to a
mongrel race is a sorry heritage to
leave to the future generations of
this land.” He said he hoped “a legal
formula” can be found “by which the
racial integrity of the Negro and
white race will be protected.”
The Rev. K. D. Brown of Burgaw,
a free Will Baptist minister, predict
ed during the conference with the
Governor that integration in the
schools would “eventually work into
intermarriage.”
Umstead’s Reply
In reply, Gov. Umstead chose his
words carefully. “We all know,” he
said, that the ultimate action (de
termining what the state will do) is
up the General Assembly. I can tell
you that the State Board of Educa
tion, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the attorney general and
the special Governor’s Advisory
Committee are all studying this
question. What the recommendations
of this group will be, I cannot tell.
. . . The problems are many, and not
of easy solution, as I think all of you
recognize.”
The governor then posed for pic
tures with the group. He said two
other delegations, one from Duplin
County, had called on him but the
Pender Group was the largest. After
ward, the governor told reporters
that he would not pose for any more
pictures with protesting groups, and
that subsequent meetings along a
similar vein will be closed to the
press. Any publicity will have to
come from the delegations, and not
from him, Gov. Umstead said. His
position is that anything that is said
on the subject will serve only to agi
tate people.
In Durham, meanwhile, a non
stock corporation has been formed
called “The North Carolina Associa
tion for Preservation of the White
Race, Inc.” R. T. Pitts, a loom fixer
in a textile mill and one of the in
corporators, said, “We feel that if
schools, dances and social gatherings
are thrown open to both races, it will
eventually lead to very serious trou
ble and possibly bloodshed. ... I
would like to make it very plain
that this is not intended to be harm
ful to anyone. We want harmony.”
District
Continued from Page 5
according to a survey of 25 private
institutions in the Washington area.
This survey did not include Wash
ington’s Catholic parochial schools
which have had integrated classes
for several years.
Some of the school administrators
interviewed reported a “flurry of in
quiries” which they attributed to the
Supreme Court segregation ruling.
Said one official: “When you are
faced with $500 tuition, plus trans
portation, you find your prejudice
isn’t so great.”
In the field of higher education,
George Washington University will
drop all restrictions on Negro admis
sions when the new term opens. Last
July, the University announced it
would drop race bars “to meet the
changing needs of the American com
munity.”
George Washington already had
accepted Negro students in its Col
lege of General Studies (night
classes), its Graduate Council pro
gram and in the medical school’s
post-graduate course.