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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS —Oct. I, 1954—PAGE 7
Kentucky
LOUISVILLE, Ky.
entucky’s public schools began
the 1954-55 school year as they
had since enactment of the Day Law
in 1904, with complete segregation
still in effect. This was in compliance
with the June 17 advice of the state
board of education that such a course
be followed pending a final decree
on segregation by the Supreme
Court.
Nowhere in the state did Negro stu
dents apply for admission to white
public schools below the college level.
There was a notable lack of public
discussion of desegregation during the
month of September. State officials
made it plain that they welcomed this
“simmering-down period,” that Ken
tucky plans no news-making changes
at this time, and, save for research
and discussion of the problems in
volved, probably not until after the
Supreme Court gives its what-how-
and-when ruling next spring or la
ter.
Kentucky will not be represented
at the Court hearing in December,
Gov. Lawrence Wetherby said on
Sept. 24. It will simply await the
Court’s ruling. It will then, he said,
recalling his May 17 statement, “do
whatever is necessary to comply with
the law.”
“We are taking this whole thing in
our stride,” he told Southern School
News, “and we can do it best with a
minimum of fanfare.
“I have asked members of the
seven-man Citizens Advisory Com
mittee on Desegregation”—appointed
by the Governor last July—“to keep
abreast of all developments in this
field and be prepared to discuss pos
itive recommendations at a joint
meeting with the State Board of Ed
ucation at some future date,” he
added.
The committee has yet to hold its
own first meeting.
On the keep-abreast front, Ken
tucky was represented at two confer
ences by Sam Taylor, head of the
State Department of Education’s Di
vision of School Supervision. In Sep
tember he attended the Second Re
gional Conference of State Boards
of Education and Chief State School
Officers in Atlanta where “the bi-
racial picture in southern education
and related problems” was the theme.
Earlier he attended the University
of New Jersey Workshop on Com
munity Leadership where New Jer
sey’s experience in desegregation was
detailed at length.
Some Criticism Heard
Kentucky’s apparent go-slow pat
tern has met with some quiet crit
icism from Negro leaders, who be
lieve that at least two local districts
might have begun an integration
program this fall had it not been for
the state board’s advice, and who de
sire “faster spadework” on prepara
tions for change.
In this vein Dr. R. B. Atwood, pres
ident of Kentucky State College at
Frankfort (Kentucky’s land-grant
Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS, La.
OUISIANA’S students have re-
J turned to their studies amid a
growing confusion of ideas, opinions
and views on the segregation-inte
gration problem.
But, despite a discernable trend in
some portions of the state to talk over
the problem, there has been no offi
cial action by the government since
the last Legislature closed its doors
July 9.
Thus Louisiana remains in the
Deep South bloc that, presently at
least, will not consider integration on
a state level.
Louisiana is one of five states that
have announced they will boycott the
next round of arguments scheduled
by the Supreme Court on the segre
gation issue. State attorney general
Fred LeBlanc explained:
We are not parties to any of the segre
gation suits now before the Supreme
Court.
The thought among attorneys general
(of the five states) is that if we did file
briefs, we possibly would be bound by the
decree rendered in the case; whereas if
we do not file, we would not be bound
directly by decree.
It may be that if any integration decree
is to be enforced in Louisiana, additional
suits would have to be filed against the
State Department of Education and
school boards around the state.
Louisiana’s school system is ad
ministered mostly at the local level,
with the state department supplying
additional financing (almost one-half
in every instance) and controlling
teacher certification.
Legislature’s Position
LeBlanc pointed out that the offi
cial position of the state is the same
as taken by the legislature at its last
session.
The 1954 legislature approved two
acts, one calling for Louisiana to use
police power under the constitu
tion to continue separate schools for
the races, and the other authorizing
ocal superintendents of schools to as-
Sl gn children to specific schools in ad-
v ance of the school term.
The legislature also approved and
sent to the state’s voters a proposed
constitutional amendment, dealing
W *th the same right as passed by act
which would allow the state to use its
Po i,'ce power to continue segregation.
This “police power” constitutional
amendment, which will be voted No-
ember 2, is the heart of Louisiana’s
a empt to maintain its present edu-
ca tional system.
It declares segregation a matter of
“health and morals,” and subject to
control by the state’s inherent police
power.
The same amendment also pro
posed that the legislature have the
flexible power to call special elec
tions at any time on educational ques
tions. The latter provision makes it
possible to pass additional legislation
in the event the “police power” pro
posal is declared unconstitutional.
Committee at Work
A 10-man legislative committee,
aided by a number of volunteer at
torneys, has been making a study of
segregation-integration since the leg
islature closed. However, no report
has been made as yet.
State Sen. William M. Rainach of
Summerfield, chairman of the group,
said that his committee is considering
a new tack in its resistance to the Su
preme Court ruling. The new plan
will involve court action. Rainach
would not, however, reveal details of
the new plan.
“We don’t want the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Col
ored People to get set,” he said.
We hope to take an entirely new route,
if necessary, but I can’t say what that
route will be. Our plans are not developed.
We want to remain on a peaceful, calm
and sensible course . . . We’ve got a pret
ty good idea what we can do and we’re
not going out and attempt something sen
sational that we know won’t work.
Meanwhile, the state’s students
went back to school early in Septem
ber almost without incident.
In Baton Rouge, 40 children at
tempted to register at an all-white
school, originally constructed for Ne
gro use in Dixie, a predominately
Negro-occupied suburb of the city.
They were told by the school prin
cipal that they could not be admitted
because he had received no instruc
tion from the State Department of
Education to admit them.
The same thing happened in Gret
na, directly across the Mississippi
River from New Orleans, when seven
Negro children attempted to register
in a school.
There were no other incidents.
No Court Suits Planned
A. P. Tureaud, attorney for the
NAACP, said his organization
planned no immediate court suits
since “we’ve got grammar and high
school suits filed over a year ago in
Orleans and St. Helena parishes
(counties).”
college for Negroes), proposed to
Gov. Wetherby that (1) the super
intendent of public instruction be
named to ex officio membership on
the advisory committee, an extra-
legal body composed of laymen, and
that (2) the state board of education,
on recommendation of the superin
tendent and the advisory committee,
establish a new “Division on Deseg
regation.” The division’s mission
would be to assist (“when invited”)
local school boards in developing and
carrying forward plans to desegre
gate the public schools.
Praising the governor’s past steps
as “a good beginning,” Dr. Atwood
urged creation of the new division to
meet the need of local committees
for “expert counseling and guidance.”
He suggested that the educational-
sociologist director of the proposed
division be white, the assistant direc
tor a Negro, and that the governor’s
emergency fund supply $25,000 an
nually for the division’s operations
“as long as necessary.”
Gov. Wetherby discussed the mem
orandum-proposal with Dr. Atwood
and has since referred it to State Su
perintendent of Public Instruction
Wendell P. Butler for further consid
eration.
College Doors Opened
While September saw no basic
change in the public school system
of the state, there was an apprecia
ble widening of college doors to Ne
gro students.
Several institutions of higher
learning have admitted Negroes since
1949. But until this year the Univer
sity of Kentucky has limited them,
in general, to its graduate and pro-*
“And since these suits were filed
before the legislature passed its acts,
they have no bearing on these cases.
We’re just going to sit and wait,” he
added.
Both suits are still pending in low
er courts.
However, Tureaud said that suits
had been filed against McNeese State
College in Lake Charles and South
eastern Louisiana College in Ham
mond, two small state colleges. Both
have refused to admit Negroes as
undergraduates.
Negroes have been admitted as un
dergraduates in only one state col
lege—Southwestern Louisiana Insti
tute in Lafayette.
Pre-registration reports had it that
some 40 Negroes were preparing to
register, but that number has report
edly increased since registration has
taken place.
SLI President Joel Fletcher said
that he has no idea how many Negroes
are enrolled in the college since stu
dents are not required to classify
themselves by race when they regis
ter. There have been no further an
nouncements by the colleges as to
Negro students.
Tureaud Case Pending
Louisiana State University grad
uate school is open to Negroes, but
Negro undergraduates have been re
fused admission pending the outcome
of a case involving A. P. Tureaud,
Jr., son of the NAACP attorney in
New Orleans.
Young Tureaud attended LSU for
a short time, living in a university
dormitory, before his registration
was revoked on the grounds that
there were equal facilities at South
ern University, an all-Negro college,
also located in Baton Rouge.
A ruling of the U. S. Circuit Court
of Appeals fh the Tureaud case, which
upheld segregation, has been remand
ed by the Supreme Court on a ques
tion of procedure. The case was orig
inally heard before the U. S. Circuit
Court of Appeals by only one judge,
rather than the full three.
Attorneys for both sides are still
confused as to whether or not the
case should be reconsidered on merit
or procedure, according to Tureaud.
In other portions of the state, Ne
groes have been admitted into the
College of the Sacred Heart at Grand
Coteau, La., a small, very old Cath
olic college for girls.
Negroes have also been admitted
this semester to the Baptist Seminary
in New Orleans, and the graduate
faculty of Tulane University has pe
titioned the Board of Administrators
to admit Negroes on a graduate level.
The Tulane board is still consider
fessional schools. Last summer sev
eral Negroes were admitted to sum
mer session undergraduate courses,
and in September some 15 to 20 Ne
gro undergraduates were enrolled
for the regular session. The number
included, for the first time, several
freshmen. And at Murray State Col
lege, for the first time, a Negro part-
time student was enrolled.
Other Kentucky institutions which
have been enrolling Negro under
graduates for some time include the
University of Louisville, Berea Col
lege, Paducah Junior College, and
three Catholic colleges. Three Prot
estant theological seminaries in the
state — Baptist, Presbyterian, and
Christian—also accepted students of
both races.
And at the University of Louisville,
for the first time, two Negro athletes
won berths on the varsity football
team and played in the season’s open
er for the Cardinals against an all-
white Murray State team. Louisville
lost, 3-13. There have been no reper
cussions.
Faculty Integration
On the other side of the coin,
there was a small beginning of de
segregation at Frankfort’s Kentucky
State College for Negroes. New fac
ulty members include two white
men: Dr. William S. Snyder, who
holds degrees from William and
Mary, Chicago, and Pennsylvania,
became school physician (the second
white man to hold this post at the
college), and Paul Patrick Sullivan,
a University of Kentucky graduate
employed by a Frankfort bank, be
came a part-time instructor in busi
ness administration.
ing the petition, and no action had
been taken.
Loyola University of the South in
New Orleans, a Jesuit institution, has
admitted Negroes as undergraduates
for the past 5 years.
No Catholic Plan
The Catholic Church, a potent
voice in predominantly Catholic
South Louisiana, has continued its
battle for integration, but seems to
have bogged down on any suggested
plan for widespread integration of
parochial elementary and high
schools.
Prime stumbling block is the fact
that Catholic schools are already
overcrowded on a segregated basis,
with the church being forced to set
up a system of non-academic admis
sion requirements to take care of
applicants.
In almost every instance, a paro
chial school will admit no student if
he (or she) is not from that church’s
parish. Extra priority is given if
members of the child’s family have
previously attended that school.
In New Orleans alone, parochial
school attendance—almost one-half
Florida
(Continued from Page 6)
mission was denied, and that all
other remedies are exhausted.
The courts could take testimony
and determine the merits of each
case. Consideration might well be
that the legislature has had reason
able time to reorganize the school
system, that the school authorities
have shown good faith in attempt
ing to abide by the spirit of the
Supreme Court’s integration ruling.
Other valid evidence, the brief
suggests, might be the progress of
the local community toward solving
the problem, whether such admis
sion might jeopardize a gradual so
lution, and the degree of basic op
position and hostility which might
provide reasonable grounds for be
lief that granting the application
might lead to disruption of the
school system or create psychological
feelings among the children as to
interfere seriously with their edu
cation.
The attorney general suggests that
the courts of first instance, where
the original cases were heard, might
be given wide latitude in their de
grees, based on careful consideration
of local conditions.
The problem is one of the most
difficult, the attorney general points
out, because it involves the collec-
And the student body, for the first
time, included a white woman stu
dent, who after earlier studies at
the University of Kentucky, is now
working in Frankfort and taking
part-time instruction in physical ed
ucation at Kentucky State.
The Kentucky State campus is no
stranger to integrated classes, how
ever. It was host last summer to a
two-week University of Kentucky
Extension Department seminar in Art
Education, participated in by 25 lo
cal-area students of both races.
Coleman’s Statement
One clearly - defined attitude
toward impending change was voiced
on Sept. 14 by Dr. A. Lee Coleman,
University of Kentucky sociologist,
to a group of the state’s community
leaders attending the university’s an
nual School-for-a-Day program. Of
eight “classes” offered, one was en
titled “How to Approach the Prob
lem of School Integration.” Said Dr.
Coleman:
I feel strongly that the Supreme Court
made the right decision . . . and really
the only possible decision under the
circumstances, and that the long-run con
sequences will be good.
You can’t get around it—the ideas of
compulsory racial segregation and democ
racy are incompatible and one or the
other must go. "Separate but equal” is
manifestly impossible when enforced by
a majority group on a minority group
determined solely by race.
We have gone to great lengths in argu
ing the pros and cons of "separate but
equal” . . . the test is simply for each
one of us to ask himself whether I per
sonally would feel that I had equal oppor
tunity if I were told by a majority group
that I could use only certain facilities and
no others—simply on the grounds of what
kind of parents X was bom to, or the
color of my skin. I am certain there is
not a person anywhere who could give
an honest “Yes.”
of the city’s total—was up more than
2,000 students in the school year 1953-
54, as compared with the previous
year. Public school attendance, based
on figures by the Orleans Parish
School Board, was up 1,000 during
the same period.
State Superintendent of Education
Shelby M. Jackson, an elective offi
cial, has made no public statement
on the issue, and has said that he
will not make any statement at this
time.
Orleans Parish Superintendent of
Schools James Redmond has said
that neither the Orleans parish school
board nor his staff had discussed the
question.
“I’ve given thought to it, myself,
of course, but the parish’s school sys
tem is under the control of the state
and we have received no instructions
to prepare any plans,” Dr. Redmond
said.
Dr. Redmond pointed out that, in
his opinion, no local school board
could take any action at this time
since the state legislature had estab
lished the state’s policy along segre
gated lines.
tive conscience and mores of the
white citizens. That conscience, as
revealed by the detailed preparatory
studies for the brief, is that citizens
generally are not ready for immedi
ate desegregation.
The opposition is deep-seated and
is based on ingrained fears, racial
differences, history, traditions and
customs, and this opposition cannot
be changed over night, the brief
contends.
Free men cannot be molded and
transformed by a drastic judicial de
cree which does not square with
their conscience, Ervin’s brief says.
The problem is so enormous that it
involves reconciliation of the ma
jority to a decree to which it is
opposed.
There must be a plan, the brief
argues, and that plan must be adapt
able to each local situation. The only
factor which these varied aspects
must have in common, to be suc
cessful, is sufficient time to make
the adjustment.
The brief poses these alternative
views which history may take of
this Supreme Court decision imple
menting integration:
It may go down as a seismic shock
which creates hate and emotional im
pacts that carry away the school system
that took a half century and billions of
dollars to build.
Or it may be looked upon as the ex
pression of the high goal of democracy
toward which men of good will strive
slowly but steadily to attain.