Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12 —Oct. 1, 1954 —SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.
klahoma public schools enrolled
white and Negro students sepa
rately and uneventfully this autumn,
with no break in the “wait a year”
desegregation plan. But race bar
riers grew shakier in higher educa
tion institutions and fell entirely in
the Catholic school system.
Two weeks before the Sept. 7 open
ing date for both public and paro
chial classes, desegregation was de
creed in all Catholic schools. Mon
signor Gavan P. Monaghan, Chick -
asha, state Catholic education super
intendent, said the decision was made
in deference to the U. S. Supreme
Court stand and to President Eisen
hower’s desire to, see all southern
schools follow the speedy action ex
ample set by Washington, D. C.
Both Monsignor Monaghan and
state legal authorities expressed be
lief the combined schools would not
run afoul of Oklahoma laws forbid
ding mixed classes, since the system
is independently financed and does
not share in state aid funds.
As enrollment began, the monsign
or reported initial reaction reaching
his office was “very, very favorable.”
He led a general effort to effect the
integration matter-of-factly.
Routine enrollment reports did not
tabulate white and Negro students
separately. Monsignor Monaghan said
he himself would not know the extent
of Negro registration unless or until
he made informal inquiry at the
Catholic teachers’ annual state meet
ing in October.
Many Student Affected
The change nominally affects ap
proximately 80 parochial schools
serving between 13,000 and 14,000
students. In past years, less than 1,-
000 have been Negroes.
Oklahoma City noted immediate
results. Thirteen Negro youths en
rolled at Central Catholic High
School and four others entered
Mount St. Mary’s high school. The
COLUMBIA, S. C.
outh Carolina public schools are
doing business as usual as the
1954-55 school year opens. Racial
separation of public school students
still is the order of the day despite
the May 17 Supreme Court decision
which ruled that such separation
was unconstitutional. South Caro
linians are deeply concerned over
that decision and are well aware of
its possible effect upon the entire
public school establishment in the
state, but up until now, there has
been no change in the traditional
pattern of public school segrega
tion.
That lack of change can be at
tributed, at this point, to the absence
of any Supreme Court decree de
tailing the manner in which the
anti-segregation decision is to be
put into effect. * Governmental and
educational officials have indicated
that the schools will continue to be
operated as before pending the is
suance of further Supreme Court di
rectives. What will follow then
still is unknown, at least insofar
as any public disclosure of future
plans is concerned.
Gov. James F. Byrnes and all
other public officials who have spok
en out on the matter have declared
their intention of seeking to pre
serve separate schools. Meanwhile,
the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People (which
initiated and supported the “Claren
don County Case” in its long but
successful journey through the fed
eral courts) is not rushing matters.
The state NAACP president, James
M. Hinton, has declared, “we don’t
see any reason to rush” while await
ing the Supreme Court’s further or
ders in the matter.
The NAACP will hold its annual
state meeting in Spartanburg in Oc
tober and may evolve further plans
at that gathering.
list included two students transfer
ring from Douglass Negro) High
School, one girl new to the city and
14 students advancing from the eight
grade Negro parochial elementary
school. Catholic grade schools ex
pected few, if any, Negro students be
cause of population and parish
boundaries, and received none.
Tulsa Catholic schools reported no
Negro applicants. Negro students
were admitted at St. Mary’s High
School in Lawton. In at least one
town, Okmulgee, Negro students
were turned away. Father E. J. Com
er announced he was obliged to turn
down nine applicants because St. An
thony’s High School was overcrowd
ed and understaffed.
Catholic school officials interviewed
spoke freely and enthusiastically of
the new policy and its results, but
discouraged special attention for
their new Negro students. A pro
posed feature story for the weekly
“Teen Page” in an Oklahoma City
newspaper was vetoed at Central
Catholic High with the explanation
that Bishop Eugene McGuinnes of
the Oklahoma City and Tulsa Diocese
did not desire publicity.
University Policy
News of mixed Catholic schools
shared headlines with situations de
veloping at state and denomination
al colleges and universities.
State regents for higher education
stood pat on their previous policy:
approving admittance for undergrad
uates only in cases where desired
courses could not be taken at Lang
ston (Negro) University. Tom Sex
ton, the board’s administrative as
sistant, explained, “No one has told
the board to change its policy—only
the attorney general or the courts
can do it.”
Technically, this meant the state
schools would hold off until methods
of following the Supreme Court edict
are clarified and implemented by new
Oklahoma laws. Actually, it means
The enrollment of public school
students was not attended by any
racial incidents in South Carolina.
State Superintendent of Education
Jesse T. Anderson reports that no
efforts were made by Negroes to
gain admittance to white schools.
School enrollment is at an all-time
high with approximately 555,000 stu
dents on public school rolls. Ne
groes comprise an estimated 43 per
cent of the total enrollment.
The major change in the South
Carolina school establishment relates
to the physical facilities in use. Nu
merous new schools were occupied
this year for the first time, most of
them accommodating Negro students.
Since the state initiated its school
equalization and expansion program
in 1951, more than 100 million dol
lars has been allocated for public
school construction or improvement.
Two-thirds of that money is ear
marked for Negro schools. Up to the
present, the State Educational Fin
ance Commission has authorized
construction of approximately 210
new Negro schools and 70 new white
schools.
Dr. E. R. Crow, director of the
commission, estimates that the state
is about two-thirds of the way to
ward full equalization of physical
school facilities as between the races.
At the rate of construction prevail
ing six months ago, complete equali
zation was expected within two
years from that time. The Supreme
Court decision outlawing segrega
tion, however, brought the program
to a temporary halt (with regard
to new allotments) and the mam
moth undertaking is only now be
ginning to pick up momentum again.
Members of the Educational Fi
nance Commission are moving slow
er in the approval of new projects,
and are giving more consideration
to factors of location and size. Con
sequently, it cannot be determined
at what pace the building program
a growing number of Negro students
are filtering into student bodies
through the “special field” loophole.
Oklahoma A. & M. College an
nounced acceptance of three first-
year students—its first Negro fresh
men—in technical courses not offered
at Langston. The three were assigned
college dormitory rooms.
The University of Oklahoma re
ported dormitory assignments for a
dozen Negro male students and at
least two Negro coeds, and acknowl
edged admittance of other Negro un
dergraduates who are communting
from Oklahoma City, 20 miles away.
Detailed summaries are not avail
able at either institution. Adminis
trators say they have no wish to
withhold facts, but cannot single out
the Negroes because their records
are swallowed up into alphabetical
files on the entire student bodies.
Oklahoma University at least, does
not use a race listing in its IBM card
sequence.
The University, which has admitted
some 20 Negro freshmen in the past
three autumn terms, does not re
strict a Negro student after his initial
entrance under a clearance letter
from the state regents. This means a
student entering pharmacy or engi
neering schools may switch after the
first year to more general courses.
Student directories show more than
one has done so.
Tulsa University (endowed) is fol
lowing the state policy and admitted
only graduate Negro applicants this
fall.
Others Await New Laws
President C. Q. Smith of Oklahoma
City University (Methodist) an
nounced he had refused admittance
to 25 or 30 Negro inquirers. His trus
tees will take no action “until the
legislature changes the law,” he said.
Dr. John W. Raley, president of
Oklahoma Baptist University, said
the question had not been raised at
his institution, but indicated OBU
would observe segregation until state
laws are revised. “We will face the
issue when we get around to it,” he
said.
Trustees of Phillips University
(Christian) at Enid voted to follow
will proceed in the months ahead.
The latest commission approvals
came on August 31 and authorized
the expenditure of $3,750,000 on new
Negro schools.
Committee at Work
A 15-man committee, comprising
five state senators, five state repre
sentatives and five non-legislators, is
continuing its studies into possible
courses of action to be followed
when the Supreme Court makes its
detailed decree or decrees known. At
present, the committee has divided
into two sub-committees. One is
compiling all the state laws and
constitutional provisions relating to
public schooling in South Carolina.
The other is sifting the mass of data
and suggestions accumulated by the
committee in the course of public
hearings conducted in the wake of
the Supreme Court’s decision.
As a state, South Carolina will
not take part in the Supreme Court’s
proceedings aimed at formulating a
plan for implementing the May 17
decision. Atty. Gen. T. C. Callison
has this to say on that subject:
It is my opinion that no action should
be taken by this office which would
indicate that we consider the State of
South Carolina, as such, a party to the
controversy. The pending action is pure
ly a local matter so far as the parties to
the suit are concerned.
The two attorneys who have rep
resented Clarendon County, how
ever, will appear before the court
when it meets in October and calls
for arguments on procedural mat
ters. Robert McC. Figg Jr., of Char
leston, says that he and S. E. Rogers
of Summerton, will be present in
Washington at such time the Court
may fix for discussing the five seg
regation cases.
The Clarendon County defense at
torneys do not plan to file a new
brief in the matter, but instead will
rely on positions taken in their 1953
brief. Their views of the pending
issues have not been altered, Mr. Figg
says, and are clearly set forth in
answers to the specific questions
posed by the Court last year.
the state policy, too. Six graduate stu
dents were accepted for advanced ed
ucation and Bible courses but about
12 undergraduates were turned away.
On Sept. 15, 11 Christian church
ministers of the Oklahoma City area
took a public stand against this pol
icy, signing a resolution asking trus
tees to open all classes and activities
to all races immediately. The resolu
tion was presented to Dr. Eugene
Briggs, Phillips president, in a con
ference Sept. 23. He told the minis
ters no action could be taken in any
case until his trustees’ next meeting,
October 8.
The Rev. Leon Pigg, pastor of the
suburban Midwest City Christian
Church and chairman of the informal
local council, said neither the min
isters nor the Phillips faculty con
curred in the ban. “We deplore the
trustees’ action,” he said.
Four ministers drew and intro
duced the resolution, after consult
ing with Atty. Gen. Mac Q. William
son. The Rev. Bob Fudge, one of the
framers, said Williamson had been
quoted diversely as leaving the ad
mission decision up to the university
or warning that such admission might
create legal difficulties. After asking
Williamson for clarification, the Rev.
Mr. Fudge said: “We came away as
sured that there was no danger of
having the university’s charter re
voked.”
The resolution is drawn specifically
“In full recognition of the fact that
the laws of Oklahoma would still
deny rights guaranteed to all persons
by the Constitution of the United
States of America as interpreted by
the Supreme Court.”
Other Provisions
Citing anti-segregation positions of
both the World Council of Churches
and the International Convention of
Disciples of Christ, the resolution
continues:
We affirm our conviction:
That Phillips university should be a
leader for the Christian churches of Okla
homa and for all institutions of educa
tion in Oklahoma in opening its classes
and activities to people of every race;
That it do so immediately in the first
semester of 1954-55, as we have previously
been assured would be done;
That the moral importance and im
They take the position that the
case should be referred back to the
federal district court in South Caro
lina for such further proceedings as
may be warranted by the Supreme
Court’s decision. They contend fur
ther that the Supreme Court has no
authority to prescribe any given
educational plan to be followed by
the South Carolina legislature or
public school system in the opera
tion of the state’s schools.
Private Groups Active
But while the segregation issue is
relatively quiet in governmental and
educational circles at the moment,
several private individuals and or
ganizations are continuing to mani
fest deep concern over the problem.
The most active center of such in
terest is Sumter County, predom
inantly agricultural except for fur
niture and other small industries in
the county seat. The county’s 57,600
population is 57 per cent Negro.
A newly-formed States Rights
League of Sumter County has been
organized with the avowed purpose
of preserving racial separation in
the schools. At a joint meeting with
the Sumter County Farm Bureau
on August 24, the two groups adopt
ed a resolution condemning the Su
preme Court’s anti-segregation de
cision, and calling for preservation
of separate schools.
In mid-September, approximately
700 persons attended a subsequent
meeting of the States Rights League
and launched an expansion program
aimed at spreading the group’s atti
tude and organization into other
counties and other states.
The South Carolina Farm Bureau
Federation has not adopted an offi
cial policy with respect to the seg
regation decision, but its president,
E. H. Agnew, has suggested that lo
cal Farm Bureaus hold meetings of
their membership to determine local
views and thereafter advise their
state legislators of those views.
In a memorandum to local Farm
Bureau officials, Mr. Agnew had this
to say, however:
South Carolina
mediate necessity of such an action far
outweights any sacrifice, financial or
otherwise, that would have to be made;
That we pledge our personal support
and leadership to such a course of action;
That this matter is of such crucial im.
portance and the issues so clearly drawn
that we believe this to be the major deci-
sion to be made by Phillips University
and the churches that support it this
year.
One public dissent was voiced. The
Rev. Bill Alexander, pastor of the
downtown First Christian Church,
who was not in the city at the time
of the council meeting, announced
he does not oppose the intent of the
petition but would ask his colleagues
not “to force Dr. Briggs’ hand on
something that in the long run might
hurt the very cause we’re trying to
help.”
The resolution was released first to
The Black Dispatch, Negro weekly
newspaper published in Oklahoma
City, because, the Rev. Mr. Pigg
said, the Christian ministers were
stung by the paper’s outspoken crit
icism of the trustees’ policy—a policy
which did not reflect convictions of
the clergy and faculty.
Meanwhile, the state legislative
council began hearing proposals for
1955 action implementing school in
tegration. Dr. Oliver Hodge, state su
perintendent of public instruction,
formally presented a four-point gen
eral school financing plan.
His requests, all requiring consti
tutional changes, included the new
5-mill combined school levy already
endorsed by white and Negro teach
ers’ organizations. The levy is sought
to replace the 4-mill countywide tax
supporting Negro schools under pres
ent state law.
Dr. Hodge also told the council’s
education committee that the legisla
ture will have the responsibility for
setting up a school desegregation
timetable as well as expediting a
statewide election to effect the neces
sary constitutional changes. It has
been suggested the legislature could
recess during its session to submit
the amendment, and then reconvene
to vitalize whatever changes are ap
proved by the electorate. The legis
lature will open its biennial session
next January 4.
Since South Carolina owns its public
school system and pays the costs of op
eration, it is the right and the respon
sibility of our General Assembly to say
how public schools shall be operated. If
the federal government has a right to
say how the South Carolina public schools
shall be operated, then the federal gov
ernment has the right and responsibility
to pay the bill.
Neither the federal government nor the
Supreme Court of the United States can
force our General Assembly to ap
propriate funds for any purpose.
Two developments in the field of
private education in South Carolina
during September are directly linked
with the question of racial separa
tion in schools.
In the textile city of Rock Hill
(population 25,000 with 20 per cent
Negroes), a Catholic grade school
opened its doors this fall to Negro
students for the first time. The city
has a small Catholic contingent, and
the school’s enrollment is less than
35. Opening day enrollment was 29
white students and five Negroes.
There have been no reports of
overt reactions against the develop
ment at Rock Hill, but the parents
of some of the children have been
remonstrated with by neighbors and
fellow workers.
On the college level, the Presby
terian Synod of Couth Carolina has
voted to continue race segregation
in its institutions. The motion to that
effect was adopted at a synod meet
ing held Sept. 1 at Presbyterian Col
lege, at Clinton, S. C. The motion
stated:
It is the sense of the Synod of Sou®
Carolina that it is in the best interests o>
harmonious relations between the whit®
and Negro races in this section at this
time that the present enrollment policies
in the institutions under the control ah“
support of the synod be continued.
The synod supports in whole or h 1
part Presbyterian College; Thorn-
well Orphanage, also at Clinton
Columbia Theological Seminary at
Decatur, Ga., and Queens College a 1
Charlotte, N. C.