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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS —Oct. I, 1954—PAGE 15
Arizona
PHOENIX, Ariz.
he United States Supreme Court
decision on segregation in May,
1954, found a permissive segregation
law in the Arizona statutes. However,
the Arizona law had been held un
constitutional by two superior court
judges, and it was generally felt that
it could not survive a state supreme
court test, if one were made. There
was no noticeable demand to make
one.
In 1953, Maricopa County Superior
Court Judge Fred S. Sturckeyer
Jr. held that college and high school
students could not be segregated.
Early in 1954, Maricopa County Su
perior Court Judge Charles C. Bern
stein held the same way in regard
to grade schools. Both judges, who
hold court in the state capital of
Phoenix, ruled that separation itself
was a form of inequality, and hence
denied the “separate but equal” doc
trine.
On May 7, 1954, the superior court
judges’ ruling was given teeth by
Maricopa County Attorney William
P. Mahoney, who warned school
boards that they could not legally
appropriate public funds for purposes
of segregation.
“During the past year,” said Ma
honey in a letter to the county’s vari
ous school boards, “superior court
judges have held that segregation of
pupils in our schools by reason of
color is not authorized by our consti
tution or by our statutes, and as a
result school boards do not have the
power to segregate pupils because of
racial differences.” He added:
It is a familiar principle of law that a
school district may engage only in those
activities which are authorized by law
and that they hold school funds in a trust
capacity for legally authorized purposes.
The two decisions, in effect, hold that
expenditures for racially segregated fa
cilities are for a purpose no longer au
thorized by the law of Arizona, and we
feel that this pertains not only to ex
penditures for construction, but to those
for maintenance of existing facilities.
As your attorneys, we feel that it is in
cumbent upon this office to bring this sit
uation to your attention as you begin the
SANTA FE, New Mex.
acial integration in New Mexico’s
public schools has been accom
plished “in a quiet, orderly manner,”
according to State Superintendent
of Public Instruction Tom Wiley. The
last three New Mexico communities
practicing segregation in the school
systems have consolidated their Ne
gro schools into the regular organi
zations. The transfers have been vir
tually without incident.
New Mexico is one of the four
states where segregation has been
permitted by law on the local level,
provided the “separate but equal”
doctrine is applied to the facilities
and curricula of the Negro schools.
Only a small handful of communities,
however, had ever required segrega
tion in the schools.
Integration of Negro students into
previously all-white schools has been
& continuing process in New Mexico
for the past several years. Problems
have not been too great; the state’s
Negro population, about 9,000,
founts to only 1.2 per cent of the
entire state population. The com
munities requiring segregation in the
Past all are located on New Mexico’s
East Side, the so-called “little Texas,”
where population centers have
sprung up about New Mexico’s boom-
mg oil and livestock industries.
Alamogordo, a southern New Mex-
fco community of some 8,500 persons,
a °nfhed segregation several years
?g° f° r the twin reasons of socio-
gical advancement and economic
necessity. Supt. Barney Caton ex-
messed his opposition to the princi-
6 of segregation, and school board
embers also agreed that the Negro
^opulation was not sufficient to war-
iti ® aintena nce of separate facil-
es The transfer was made without
'ncident.
^.^bad was the next major New
mco community to abolish segre-
business of preparing budgets for the
coming financial year.
The federal Supreme Court decis
ion came as an anticlimax four days
later. Segregation of races in Ari
zona’s schools was on its way out
quite independently of the high trib
unal’s decision.
Arizona’s School Set-Up
In 1952-53, the last year for which
complete figures are available, the
enrollment figures of Arizona public
schools were: elementary, 151,605;
high school, 36,528. These figures are
somewhat deceptive, however, be
cause Arizona has a large migrant
farm labor population.
State aid is given to school districts
on a basis of average daily attend
ance, and the state superintendent of
public instruction reported average
daily attendance, also for 1952-53, as:
elementary schools, 117,905; high
schools, 29,796. The per capita cost of
operating the schools excluding con
struction costs was $235.72 for ele
mentary pupils, and $412.50 for high
school students in 1952-53. State
school officials have no way of break
ing down the difference, if any, be
tween per capita costs for white and
Negro pupils.
The expense of education is bom
by the state, which apportions $95 per
year per pupil to each school on the
basis of average daily attendance; by
the county, which apportions $20 per
year per student on the basis of aver
age daily attendance; and by the
school districts which levy on real
property within the district.
In the Greater Phoenix area, school
district rates in 1953 ranged from $1.15
per $100 of taxable property in the
Riverside district to $4.69 per $100 in
the Roosevelt district. The discrep
ancy results from a large total of tax
able property and a small enrollment
in Riverside compared with little tax
able property and a large enrollment
in Roosevelt. All efforts to equalize
school taxes, although pushed by Gov.
Howard Pyle, have failed in the state
legislature.
gation, with white high school stu
dents petitioning School Supt. Irwin
P. (Pat) Murphy for the absorption
of Negro students into the municipal
school system. The integration plan
has been continued under Supt. Tom
Hansen, who said the program this
year is “about three-quarters com
plete.” The high school and junior
high schools have been completely
integrated, and the movement is ex
tending this year into the elementary
schools. The Carlsbad school board,
Hansen stated, “is dedicated to the
nonsegregation policy.”
Two of the five remaining segrega
tion areas adopted integration plans
during the 1953-54 terms. The Las
Cruces city and county schools were
consolidated, and in the redistricting
program Negro students were as
signed to the schools nearest their
homes. The Roswell school board this
September closed the Carver elemen
tary school, the last segregated school
in the system. Enrollment this year
had dropped from 154 Negro students
in the spring quarter to 13 at the
opening of the current school year.
These 13 attended the Carver school
voluntarily. Wendell Sweatt, who had
been principal at Carver, was reas
signed as counselor for Negro stu
dents in the city system, and other
Negro teachers have been designated
to give remedial teaching assistance,
upon student request, in other Ros
well schools.
Following the May 17 opinion of
the Supreme Court, Hobbs School
Supt. Charles Mills said the Hobbs
system “would comply as fast as we
can learn the requirements of the
ruling.” In July the Hobbs school
board issued an order barring segre
gation in the public schools, and in
tegrating Negro students and teach
ers into the regular system.
The Hobbs decision aroused strong
protests from a group headed by
In Arizona, as a whole, property
taxes raised by school districts have
increased from $4,159,960 in 1943-44
to $31,150,000 in 1953-54. During the
same 10-year period, the state’s levy
on property has risen from $4,860,026
to $8,996,210. In that decade average
daily attendance in the state’s high
schools rose from 16,313 to 33,050. In
the elementary schools average daily
attendance rose from 69,056 to 126,473
A break-down of the 1953-54 fig
ures shows the source of school funds
for the entire state was as follows:
State, $14,031,595; counties, $4,689,146;
school districts, $31,150,000; federal
and miscellaneous, $6,686,086.
Half of the state’s population is
located in Maricopa County. Propor
tionately more Negroes live in Mari
copa than elsewhere in the state. The
largest elementary school district in
the state is the Phoenix Elementary
School district, which in places ex
tends beyond the city limits. There
are 12,500 pupils in the district’s
schools, of whom, 1,700 are Negroes.
That is roughly 15 per cent. Although
state-wide figures are not available,
best guesses are that less than 10 per
cent of all enrolled pupils in Arizona
are Negroes. In the Phoenix Elemen
tary School District there are 477
teachers, of whom 65 are Negroes.
Before integration, there were three
all-Negro schools in the Phoenix Ele
mentary District, namely the Booker
T. Washington, the Paul Lawrence
Dunbar, and the Mary E. Bethune
Schools. They were located in pre
dominantly Negro districts. The few
white children living in those dis
tricts went to other schools. The few
Negro children living out of the dis
tricts were forced to attend the all-
Negro schools although they might
pass other district schools en route.
The first step toward desegregation
was taken in 1953. All students were
allowed to go to the school closest to
their homes, regardless of color. The
result was that a few Negroes went
to former all-white schools, and a
very few white children went to for
mer all-Negro schools. However, no
effort was made to force white chil
dren into former all-Negro schools.
Baptist minister Bill Carter, who
claimed he represented some 8,000
residents of the Hobbs area who had
signed petitions opposing the integra
tion plan. Carter predicted violence
in the event the plan was put into
effect, and called upon Gov. Edwin
L. Mechem to invoke martial law to
prevent any incidents.
Carter’s protests notwithstanding,
the program was put into operation
in late August, and Negro and white
students stood side-by-side in reg
istration lines throughout the city.
There was no violence, nor were any
threats reported by either Negroes or
whites. Hobbs school board member
G. W. Mansure was quoted as saying
there had been “no rough spots
whatsoever” in the changeover.
Hobbs today has 13 Negro teachers in
its staff of 225 teachers and admin
istrators, and reportedly several of
the Negro teachers are teaching all-
white classes. The Hobbs student en
rollment of about 6,000 includes some
400 Negro pupils.
Artesia has integrated its Negro
children into the formerly all-white
schools without incident as has Clo
vis. In the latter community, almost
astride the Texas border, some Negro
parents had complained of “gerry
mandering” in the redistricting pro
gram which in effect was alleged to
have retained the essential idea of
segregation. Hubert LaGrove, state
president of the NAACP investigated
the charge and reported, “There is a
sincere effort by the Clovis school
board to bring about integration.. ..”
Citizens Group Active
One of the most effective programs
for integration of the races was put
across in Lovington, county seat of
oil-rich Lea County in the south
eastern comer of New Mexico. There
Supt. H. C. Pannell had an active
citizens’ group which took the initia
tive in staging a quiet talking cam
paign among friends and neighbors.
The group reasoned that desegrega
tion was an issue that must be faced;
that the younger child knew no prej-
Nor was any attempt made to put Ne
gro teachers in white schools.
This year it was made mandatory
for all kindergarten pupils to go to
the school in their own district. Dr.
Lauron Vaughan, Superintendent, re
ports no resistance to the program.
The next step will be to require all
children to attend the school in their
own zone. That probably will await
the opening of the 1955 school year.
Phoenix high schools are under the
jurisdiction of the Phoenix Union
High School and College District. It
also maintains Phoenix College, a
two-year junior college, and the
Phoenix Technical School, a trade
school at the high school age level.
Phoenix College and Phoenix Tech
were never segregated. However,
throughout the 1952-53 academic
year, all Negro students were re
quired to attend Carver High School.
At the beginning of the 1953-54
academic year, the Phoenix high
schools were desegregated. All pupils
were allowed to go to the high school
in their own zone, although no Negro
was forced to attend a former white
school and no white child was re
quired to go to Carver. The Carver
faculty was kept intact.
Negro pupils left Carver at such a
rate that authorities saw its days were
numbered. Even at its peak enroll
ment, it had never had more than 600
students, compared with 2,000 in
North Phoenix, West High, and Phoe
nix Union. It was estimated that Car
ver’s per capita cost was anywhere
from $150 to $250 more than the other
schools.
Rather than run an uneconomical
high school, the school board voted
this spring to close Carver at the be
ginning of the 1954-55 year. Begin
ning in September the high school
district was zoned, and pupils were
required to go to the high school in
their zone. The bulk of the former
Carver students went to Phoenix Un
ion and South Mountain. Since the
students’ color is not shown on school
records, there is no way of knowing
how many of the 11,750 high school
students in the Phoenix school are
Negroes. However, it is estimated
that South High School has about 10
per cent Negro students. So far no
udice; and that it was up to the adults
of the community to set an exam
ple for the remainder of the state
in working out a program of integra
tion. By the time the change in pol
icy was adopted by the school board,
it had the backing of a great propor
tion of the town’s residents. The
transfer went off without incident.
There is no accurate figure on the
number of Negro teachers in New
Mexico schools. State law prohibits
designation of race on accreditation
forms. It is estimated, however, that
there now are about 60 Negro teach
ers in eight New Mexico communi
ties, and that all but a few are teach
ing mixed classes. These few excep
tions, it was pointed out by the State
Education Department, are due to
geography, rather than a segregation
policy.
The state board of education on
August 2 issued a policy pronounce
ment which recommended disband
ing of segregation in the public
schools. Adoption of the policy, how
ever, remained within the discretion
of the local boards. The statement
reads:
The state board of education feels
bound by the decision of the U. S. Su
preme Court regarding the unconstitu
tionality of segregation in the public
schools and requests the public schools in
New Mexico to follow the Supreme Court
decision. The state board approves the
action of our local school systems which
have attempted to comply with the U. S.
Supreme Court decision.
And Supt. Wiley noted:
Segregation in New Mexico schools has
been on the wane for many years; there
has been marked progress in a quiet and
orderly manner at the local level, and I
am proud of the foresightedness of the
local school boards and the cooperation
they have received from their communi
ties. I can say today that there no longer
is segregation in the New Mexico school
system.
During the period in which segre
gation existed in New Mexico schools,
Negro teachers were paid at the same
rate as their white counterparts who
had similar educational backgrounds.
New Mexico teaching positions as a
Negroes have applied for admission to
North, West, or Camelback High.
When and if they do, they will be ad
mitted, if their residence qualifica
tions are in order, according to Supt.
Harold Gear.
Faculty Integrated
The Carver faculty was fully inte
grated this year. At least two Negro
teachers were assigned to each of the
other high schools. Principal William
A. Robinson, a Negro, was made ad
ministrative counsel to the superin
tendent.
Some parents of white children ob
jected to Negro teachers. No record
was kept, but the best unofficial guess
seems to be that from 10 to 12 persons
registered objections. Principals were
advised to meet each situation as it
arose. In most cases they simply
changed the student over to a white
teacher. In three or four instances,
however, they were able to persuade
parents that the Negro teacher was
well qualified to instruct their chil
dren. As a matter of fact, before it
was abolished Carver had higher av
erage teachers’ qualifications than any
other high school in the district.
So far as the public is aware, there
was not a single incident in the de
segregation of the high schools or the
integration of the Carver faculty.
On the university level, Arizona
supports the University of Arizona at
Tucson, Arizona State College at
Tempe, and Arizona State College at
Flagstaff. None of them has ever prac
ticed segregation.
Outside of Phoenix and Maricopa
County, the segregation map was a
spotty one. Tucson, second largest
city in the state, never had segrega
tion in its high schools. Tucson pri
mary schools were integrated sever
al years before the court decisions.
At the time of the Supreme Court
decision, a survey showed school seg
regation in varying extent in Flag
staff, McNary, Coolidge, Casa Grande,
Stanfield, Eloy, Yuma, and Marana.
None of them has reported any inci
dents in connection with desegrega
tion.
(This special Arizona report was writ
ten by Frederick S. Marquardt, editorial
page editor, The Phoenix Arizona Re
public.)
matter of fact have proved attractive
to both Negro and white teachers.
The average annual salary for a New
Mexico teacher is $4,059, placing the
state in seventh place nationally in
the rate of teacher pay. This compares
with the 1933-34 low mark of $951.
(This special New Mexico report was
written by Joe Lawler, managing editor,
The Santa Fe New Mexican.)
West Virginia
Continued from Page 14
per cent of the school population
(350 of 4,401) is colored. There are
29 colored students at Philippi High
School with 70 more scattered in 16
different elementary schools.
Colleges Integrated
Full-scale integration got under
way, meanwhile, on the higher edu
cation level.
Officials at each integrated state-
supported college or West Virginia
University expressed satisfaction with
the progress realized. Approximately
40 Negroes were understood to be
registered at the university in Mor
gantown. On the other side of the in
tegration picture, white students
were being accepted at the normally
all-Negro Bluefield and West Vir
ginia State colleges. New enrollment
reported by Dean Harrison Ferrell of
West Virginia State shows 64 white
day students and 102 white night stu
dents with figure “still going up.” To
tal enrollment for both day and night
classes is now 955.
Here are other figures:
Concord College at Athens—16 Ne
groes out of 800 enrolled.
Fairmont State at Fairmont—16 out
of 800.
Potomac State at Keyser—4 out of
453.
Shepherd College at Shepherds-
town—4 out of 550.
West Virginia Tech at Montgom
ery—5 out of 640.
West Liberty State at Wheeling—
6 out of 615.
New Mexico