Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 14 —Nov. 4, 1954 — SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C.
OUTH CAROLINA’S continuing
concern over the school segrega
tion problem is manifested more in
words than in deeds, since public
schools are being maintained on the
traditional separate basis in the ab
sence of any Supreme Court direc
tive specifying otherwise.
Most of the words on the subject
stem from white political and educa
tional leaders who fear that efforts at
enforced commingling of the races in
South Carolina schools will make for
trouble, and will impede the educa
tional progress of both races. Con
versely, spokesmen for the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People are maintaining that
integration will be, and should be,
accepted by South Carolinians at an
early date.
Against the background of these
conflicting statements, there has been
an extension of the membership and
influence of organizations formed
with the primary aim of preserving
racial separation, particularly in the
public schools. Several such organ
izations already are in existence and
others are springing up under vari
ous names. Most of them are in the
eastern portion of the state where
the Negro population is heavy.
Both the incoming and outgoing
governors of South Carolina have ex
pressed concern over incidents of
racial strife in northern and border
states, and cite such incidents as
proof of public unwillingness to ac
cept enforced integration. South
Carolina Methodists have counseled
against mandatory mixing of the
races. The South Carolina Education
Association (white) has called for
preservation of separate schools in
the best interests of both races.
BYRNES SEES TROUBLE
Gov. James F. Byrnes, in a public
statement prepared for delivery at an
industrial ceremony in Dillon, re
newed his contention that mixing the
races would retard the education of
both white and Negro pupils. He
documented the state’s progress to
ward full equalization of school
facilities, saying “those Negroes who
seek admission to white schools will
do so only because they do not want
to attend Negro schools with Negro
teachers.”
Citing developments in more
northern states, he added:
The racial disturbances that have oc
curred during the past week in West
Virginia, Delaware, and Ohio where
there are relatively few Negroes presents
a powerful argument in favor of the con
tinuance of segregated schools.
Thoughtful people should realize that
if there is such feeling in communities in
the border states and in a northern state
where the percentage of Negro popula
tion is relatively small, far more serious
situations will arise in such counties as
Clarendon in this state when an effort is
made to mix the races.
In the case of the Clarendon County
school district now pending in the Su
preme Court, the records show that in
the schools of that district there are 2,900
Negro students and only 290 white stu
dents. The writers on social problems
whose views were quoted with approval
by the Supreme Court know nothing of
the seriousness of the problem involved
in such a district.
I congratulate the people of South Caro
lina on their restraint since the decision
of the Supreme Court. . . I believe the
vast majority of Negroes in South Caro
lina would prefer to send their children
to the splendid schools now being con
structed for them. My hope is that the
final decision of the Court will be such
that our people will be able to find a way
to live within the law of the land and
still preserve our separate school system.
REPLY FROM HINTON
Those statements by Gov. Byrnes
drew this reply from James M. Hin
ton, Negro insurance executive and
head of the South Carolina Confer
ence of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored pupils:
Negroes foresee no trouble ahead (in
mixing races in schools) unless it is sug
gested by those entrusted with the admin
istration of the law. The number of chil
dren and parents involved where friction
came was very small in comparison to
the large number of children and parents
involved where no friction came from
integration.
Clarendon County whites and Negroes
are law-abiding citizens, and will follow
the course of law and order when the
occasion arises. There should be no feeling
on any person’s part that whites and
Negroes would be other than good cit
izens, following any decision or decree
from the United States Supreme Court.
Lt. Gov. George Bell Timmerman,
Jr., Democratic nominee for gover
nor and unopposed in the November
general election, has publicly re
newed his position that parents and
children should be allowed a “free
choice” of schools to be attended. Ex
pressing concern over the welfare of
Negroes as well as of whites, Mr.
Timmerman said this:
The attempt to force integration upon
people who are not willing to accept it is
engendering racial hatreds which will
take years to wipe out. The real problem
is the establishment and maintenance of
working relationships between white and
Negro citizens. Here in South Carolina we
have steadily improved those relation
ships while rapidly improving Negro
school facilities. Now, equality goes hand
in hand with separation. Disrupting those
relationships by force will set back the
cause of education for both races and will
make for social discord beyond the con
ception of the Northerners who tell us
how to conduct our own affairs.
The unfortunate thing is that the inno
cent Negroes are the losers whenever
such turmoil is stirred up. I am hopeful
that the people of South Carolina will
guard against blaming the innocent for
what the guilty have done. That will be
difficult, for it is only natural to resent
bitterly the attacks against southern
leaders and the South generally, but we
must place the blame where the blame
belongs.
CHARGES ‘CONFUSION’
The incoming governor is critical
of the tendency of the Supreme
Court and of northern writers and
politicians “to confuse ‘discrimina
tion’ with ‘segregation.’ ”
The two terms are not interchangeable.
I am opposed to discrimination on any
grounds, racial or otherwise, but it does
not necessarily follow that racial dis
crimination results from racial separation.
If anything, separation makes for less dis
crimination, for it does not provide a
basis for the inevitable discrimination
which will follow if white and Negro
children are mingled in the same schools
and the same classrooms.
In years past, there has been discrim
ination against the Negro in education.
That is now being wiped out with public
support and public approval, so that our
"separate but equal” laws are becoming
ttruly meaningful. The "separate but
equal” policy provides a fair and practica
ble basis for race relations in South Caro
lina. If the administration of the law in
years past has been faulty, the need is for
improved administration such as we are
now giving, not abandonment of the prin
ciple itself.
The public is convinced that equal fa
cilities are both desirable and necessary.
The real test now is whether the Negroes
of the state are willing to take advantage
of their opportunity to advance the cause
of education, or whether they will seek
to upset the entire pattern of public
schooling as we know it. This much is
certain—whatever progress we make will
depend wholly on the willingness of the
public to support the program.
Meanwhile, the South Carolina
Education Association, comprising
COLUMBIA, S. C.
HE South Carolina Farm Bureau
Federation has announced a plan
to stimulate “constructive thinking”
aimed at meeting the Supreme Court
threat to racial separation in public
schools.
E. Hugh Agnew said that the board
of directors had decided that the
Farm Bureau could render a useful
public service by promoting a realis
tic approach to the problem pres
ented by the Supreme Court decision.
At the same time he emphasized that
the Farm Bureau was not seeking to
interfere with any governmental or
legislative offices concerned with the
crisis and was hopeful of cooperating
fully with all such agencies. Farm
Bureau officials, he said, are basing
their educational and informational
approach to the problem on these two
conclusions:
1. That under the Supreme Court
decision of May 17 there is no legal
way by which persons desiring to at
tend mixed schools can be denied
such schools, but
2. That if the right of free choice
of racial association is granted to
Negroes, the same right can be
claimed by each state for its white
citizens, thereby permitting volun
tary attendance at separate schools.
some 10,000 white teachers of the
state, decided against formulating
any definite course of action pending
the Supreme Court’s final decree on
school segregation. The association,
however, through its authoritative
Council of Delegates, on Oct. 9, did
adopt this statement, drafted by a
special committee headed by Guy L.
Vam, superintendent of the Colum
bia city schools:
“1. An adequate system of free
public schools in South Carolina
should be maintained.
2. Of necessity we rely upon so
cial custom and the good judgment
of the citizens of each local district
for the maintenance of the system of
schools best suited to the needs of all
children.
3. It is more important now than
ever before to expedite the building
program in order to rush to comple
tion the provision of adequate edu
cational facilities and to maintain the
system of schools best suited to the
needs of all children.
4. We believe that the present pat
tern of public education in South
Carolina is the best form of organiza
tion for meeting the needs of chil
dren of both races.”
The annual conference of South
Carolina Methodists, held in Spar
tanburg on Oct. 21-24, adopted a re
port saying “we fear the Negro would
suffer most” if races are integrated
in public schools “without regard to
their relative numbers.” The report
was drafted by a committee of eight
ministers and eight laymen appoint
ed last year to study and report on
the segregation situation. It survived
a motion to table by a vote of 289-148.
Embraced in the report were these
statements:
The question of racial integration in the
public schools can best be resolved on the
state or local level. It is apparent to us
that an attempt to integrate the races in
our public schools without regard to their
relative numbers would work grave in
justice to many innocent persons, and in
the present instance we fear the Negro
would suffer most, as he has often when
those far removed from his everyday
problems have undertaken to speak in his
name.
Consideration must also be given to the
large number of Negro teachers and ad
ministrators in our public schools, lest
they be denied leadership among their
people.
To compel a parent, whether white or
Negro, to send his child to school and at
the same time to compel the child to live
under conditions which the parent re
gards to be detrimental to the highest
interest, would, in our judgment, intro
duce problems of serious import.
EX-BISHOP SPEAKS OUT
A prominent Episcopal church
man of the state spoke out strongly
on the subject in The Living Church,
national weekly publication of Prot
estant Episcopalians. The Right Rev.
Albert S. Thomas, of Wadmalaw Is
land, retired bishop of South Caro
lina, defended the Southern view-
In documenting these conclusions,
the Farm Bureau has enlisted the
services of the Management Research
Institute, a Charleston research firm
headed by Frederick McDonald. Over
a period of months the Institute has
studied educational establishments,
attitudes and circumstances in seven
southern states. Out of that study has
come a report which the Farm Bu
reau will distribute in booklet form
to its 20,000 members and will make
available to the public.
In citing the findings of the In
stitute, Mr. Agnew raises the possib
ility of turning disaster into triumph
by remodeling public education so as
to provide still better schooling while
retaining “the greatest possible de
gree of racial segregation.”
“The Supreme Court,” he said,
“has no authority, and we believe no
intention, of ruling out the right of
free citizens to their free choice of
association, but since segregation by
law in public schools must end, we
must seek a new system which will
operate within the law, one that will
operate successfully and is not pro
hibitive in cost. We think such a sys
tem can be established on the twin
foundations of ‘free choice of associa
tion’ and ‘equal and better educa
tion’
point on segregation in an article
containing these assertions:
It may well be that, when we plan to
facilitate and expedite the amalgamation
of the Negro race with other races, we
are verily frustrating a great purpose of
God. Where segregation is un-Christian,
this is due to man’s fallen nature, not to
segregation itself.
When the Supreme Court of the United
States, departing from its proper consti
tutional function of interpreting the law
of the land, ventures into the field of
some fancied results of educational psy
chology without any reference to the
principles of human conduct and man’s
ultimate destiny as given us in revealed
religion, it may haply be found to be fight
ing against God. A steadily increasing
recognition of the rights and privileges of
the Negro race is now, by all indications,
receiving a severe blow by those in au
thority in both church and state. An as
sumption of wisdom beyond God’s word
is rather a thing which must be “abhor
rent to God.”
I believe that this view of segregation
would be pleasing to the Negro race as a
whole, even if not to those misguided
leaders whose motives are questionable:
also to the best Christianminded white
people where the problems are acute, but
perhaps not to those leaders of the nation
whose motive to appease atheistic Com
munism abroad seems more important
than the happiness and well-being of a
large portion of our own land which
would be insured by strict adherence to
principle.
The segregation issue is playing a
minor role in the current race for the
United States Senate seat left vacant
by the death of the late Burnet R.
Maybank. Two write-in candidates,
former Gov. J. Strom Thurmond and
Marcus A. Stone, a Florence lumber
man, are opposing State Sen. Edgar
A. Brown, of Barnwell county, who
was nominated by the State Demo
cratic Executive Committee when
the committee decided insufficient
time remained for a primary election.
All three candidates favor separate
schools for white and Negro students.
On the legal front, attorneys for
Clarendon County School officials
who are involved in the Supreme
Court litigation, have decided to file
a short brief with the Court next
month. Robert McC. Figg Jr., Char
leston attorney, said “there are no
new allegations and no new material.
However, it is felt that the former
voluminous briefs would be too
bulky for the Supreme Court’s pur
pose, so we will file a smaller and
more current brief boiling down and
reiterating positions which have
been stated before.”
Those prior positions embrace the
contention that the case should be
referred back to the local district
courts for such further action as may
be necessary in light of the Supreme
Court’s decision. They also contend
that the Supreme Court is without
authority to prescribe any specific
school system whereby integration
might be effected.
In mid-October, South Carolina
members of the NAACP were told in
state convention that “a feasible plan
to end public school segregation”
Turning to the report itself, the
Farm Bureau quoted this:
“The South wants its white and
Negro children to be able to attend
racially separate schools; and where
mixed schools are required, for no
child to be forced to attend one un
willingly.”
He added, “Under such a plan as
we envision, every parent would
have the right to express his or her
choice as to the kind of school the
child would attend.”
Mr. Agnew said the deep public
concern over the situation was mani
fested in numerous resolutions being
submitted by local Farm Bureau
chapters with the approach of the
Nov. 16 annual meeting of the organ
ization.
“Most of the thinking apparently
has been along lines of evasion and
resistance to the implied provisions
of the Supreme Court decision. Our
feeling in the board of directors is
that we should shift the emphasis
from defeatism and resistance to one
of hope for an improved educational
base providing equal and better
schooling while retaining the maxi
mum amount of separation possible.
We believe such an approach will
create an atmosphere of confidence
in the South and avoid the hysteria
and turmoil of ‘shotgun thinking.’ ”
Farm Bureau Takes Action
‘Constructive’ Thinking Urged
would be presented to the Supreme
Court “at an early date.” That state
ment came from Dr. Charming R
Tobias, chairman of the national or.
ganization’s board of directors. He
did not detail the plan in any respect,
at least insofar as public disclosure
is concerned. Dr. Tobias’ address also
included a call upon Gov. Byrnes to
face up to “the responsibility of influ
encing implementation” of the Su
preme Court decision.
Later in the month, another out-
of-state visitor delivered another
sort of message to a South Carolina
audience. Georgia’s Commissioner of
Agriculture, Tom Linder, cham
pioned the cause of segregation in a
speech delivered before a joint meet
ing of the States’ Rights League of
Sumter county, and the Florence
chapter of the National Association
for the Advancement of White Peo
ple.
Approximately 700 persons, mostly
from rural areas and including a
sprinkling of women and a few chil
dren, heard Mr. Linder charge the
NAACP with seeking not only to
mix races in the schools, but “in the
homes, then in the church, and then
before the marriage altar.”
“When we fight for separate
schools,” he said, “we fight for the
very existence of the white man
down here in the South.”
CENSUS REQUESTED
Mr. Linder suggested that a census
be conducted of all school children
and their parents to determine their
wishes in school attendance. Parents
and pupils would be required to sign
a contractual form stating whether
they wished a mixed school or a sep
arate school attendance. Those lists,
according to the Linder plan, would
be published in the press and disclose
“who’s who” in the fight.
He did not elaborate further on his
plan but did say that an abandon
ment of the public school system at
this stage would constitute “an ad
mission of defeat on this first line of
battle.”
Edward V. Atkinson, Sumter at
torney who heads the States Rights
League, and G. L. Ivey, head of the
Florence unit of the NAAWP, both
urged that pro-segregation organ
izations such as theirs be merged
into one large body with resulting
greater political and numerical
strength. The States Rights League
has a present membership exceeding
430, Mr. Atkinson reported. It has an
office in Sumter and is chartered
under South Carolina laws with the
following purpose:
The dissemination of information
“relating to the powers of the states
not surrendered to the federal gov
ernment, to educate the people by
lectures, papers, periodicals and other
means of the necessity of preserving
and maintaining such rights, defend
ing such rights in debate, in court
and elsewhere.”
Another pro-segregation group, as
yet unnamed, has been formed in
Clarendon County, where South
Carolina’s school case originated. Th e
organization elected officers at a
meeting attended by approximately
300 persons. W. B. Davis Jr., a cotton
farmer of the county, is president.
In Charleston County, an organ -
ization known as the “Grass Roots
League” is actively championing seP'
aration of the races. The organization
has been in existence for several
years with the goal of working 110
preserve constitutional government
and State Rights and to combat So
cialism and Communism in State
and Nation.”
PAPER SUGGESTS PLAN
While the vast majority of South
Carolina newspapers hold firm ®
their opposition to integrated school*
the Evening Herald, of Rock Hill, b* 5
suggested editorially the possibility
of beginning the mixing of races s '
the first grade level, so that preset'
differences of educational attainm®®
between white and Negro scho°-
could be avoided.
“After the first grade has b®^
passed,” the paper says, “the n®*
year the second grade would ^
ready without difference in the q ua : ;
ity of education. This process coUj
continue year after year until gn .
uation from high school. Tb ^
throughout the school years, stude® _
have the same opportunities with® ’
confusion, unequal levels and lo' vef
ing of school standards.”