Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965, December 01, 1954, Image 1
1*1
V
Factual
Southern School News
Objective
VOL. I, NO. 4
NASHVILLE, TENN.
DECEMBER I, 1954
Briefs Ask District Court Jurisdiction
A Book Review
‘Schools In Transition’
By RALPH McGILL
Editor, The Atlanta Constitution
SCHOOLS IN TRANSITION, Edited by Robin M. Williams Jr.
and Margaret W. Ryan. University of North Carolina Press,
Chapel Hill, N. C. 272 Pages. $3.00.
about the time the Supreme Court of the United
States handed down its decision declaring the prin
ciple that segregation in education on the basis of color
was unconstitutional, there appeared a book titled The
Negro and The Schools. It was the result of intensive so
cial studies in the field of bi-racial education, long under
way before the historic decision. Harry Ashmore, able
editor of the Arkansas Gazette, did a masterful job of
taking the great mass of carefully documented social
study and putting it into form the layman could under
stand.
In a foreword to this
volume, Owen J. Roberts,
former Associate Justice
of the Supreme Court of
the United States, and
now Chairman of the
Board of The Fund For
The Advancement of Edu
cation, which financed the
study, defined the mission
as follows:
“The Fund will not
undertake to argue the
case for or against segre
gation in public education,
and in no sense will it be
come involved as an advo
cate on either side of the
issues now pending be
fore the Supreme Court
.. This volume and those
PROF. WILLIAMS
that follow it are intended to bring into focus the dimen
sions and the nature of a complex educational problem
that in many ways provides a significant test of American
democracy. The ultimate solution of that problem will
rest with the men and women who make and execute
public school policy in thousands of local school districts,
and their actions will be conditioned by the degree of
understanding of the general public which supports their
efforts with its tax dollars. If this project serves to assist
them in their task the Fund for the Advancement of Edu
cation will feel that it has wisely invested a portion of
the risk capital of American education with which it is
entrusted.”
So meticulously was the “mission” carried out, by both
the study and its editorial catalyst, Ashmore, that even
the most formidably-unreasonable opponents of desegre
gation found nothing to criticise. Rarely has a social study
“mission” so effectively attained its objective.
It seems necessary to give this preamble about a book
already published in discussing a second, the one to be
reviewed. Well before the first volume was in manuscript
form, it began to be apparent that much valuable material
would be left over from what had been a most exhaustive
study of all available sources. In other words, pilots
would be required to fly
three more “missions”
with the same objective.
The immediate result
is Schools in Transition,
which deals with com
munity experiences in de
segregation. Again, fortu
itously I believe, a person
of southern background
was engaged as the editor
to translate the material
into a book. This was
Robin M. Williams Jr., na
tive southerner now at
Cornell University’s So
cial Research Center. He
has an able collaborator,
Mrs. Margaret Ryan.
Again, the purpose in
this volume is exactly
that of the first . . . not
to argue the case for or against segregation, but to make
available factual information about a problem in which
there is a considerable amount of emotional static elec
tricity in all the carpets of life on which are transported,
or those which carpet the corridors of our 20th Century
lives. They give off sparks and a shock almost every time
we insert the key in the door of conversation or action.
But actually, little of factual nature was known. And
unfortunately those who knew the least got there “fustest
with the mostest” words. Or so it seemed.
Schools in Transition deals in a manner completely
sterile insofar as emotion or partisanship is concerned,
(See NEW BOOK On Page 2)
MRS. RYAN
rpHE long awaited hearing by the
•*- Supreme Court of arguments on
how and when it should implement
its decision of last May 17 declaring
public school segregation unconstitu
tions has been postponed again.
In a brief statement on Nov. 22, the
court announced “In view of the ab
sence of a full court, the cases . . .
now scheduled for argument Decem
ber 6 are continued.”
The high court action came after a
decision by the Senate Judiciary sub
committee to delay, until January,
discussion of the nomination of Judge
John Marshall Harlan to the court
chair vacated in October by the death
of Associate Justice Robert H. Jack-
son.
A new date for the hearing was
not set.
The court announcement preceded
by a day two other developments
which tied in closely with the filing
of briefs by eight states and a South
Carolina county earlier in November.
The developments:
EISENHOWER’S REMARK
President Eisenhower declared at
a press conference on Nov. 23 that
he understood the Supreme Court did
not intend to be arbitrary in estab
lishing the proceedure to end seg
regation in public schools.
The President said he believed the
court will try to find a decentralized
process of desegregation, taking into
consideration the practical problems
evolving from such a move.
James Hagerty, the President’s
press secretary, said that President
Eisenhower reached this conclusion
after reading last May’s decision by
the court. When questioned specifi
cally whether the President based
his statement on information received
from the high court, Hagerty replied
the President had no private in
formation, but he would not say
whether the President had discussed
the case with any member of the
court.
One day later, on Nov. 24, the con
tent of the brief filed with the Su
preme Court by U.S. Attorney Gen
ial Herbert Brownell, was released
to the press. The government brief
was found to be in substantial agree
ment with briefs filed with the court
hy eight states and the South Caro
ls county school on two fundamen
tal points. An analysis of the briefs
revealed:
ANALYSIS OF BRIEFS
Each requested the court for ade
quate time in which to comply with
lts decision rendering public school
se ®ation unconstitutional.
Each suggested that the high court
"low lower courts—Federal district
oourts — to supervise the imple
mentation of the decision on a local
level.
f Erownell brief contained the
allowing suggestions, technically
muted to the cases before the court:
c ; the court issue a decree de-
racial segregation is uncon-
tiri *° na l an< ^ that all laws permit-
g or requiring such segregation
^ mvalid.
That the court return the test
to lower courts where they
in ? ® rst heard for further action
'^cisitf t he Supreme Court’s
rnit^ at tonal school boards sub-
aft^j. eae gregation plans with 90 days
Plans ^ ower co urts request such
• Th
regar unless a satisfactory deseg-
ap p _ ori Program is submitted to and
1 low e V6t * ky the lower court, the
revau Cour t should order the deseg-
1011 of the schools beginning
with the next school term.
• That the lower court determine
whether plans submitted provide for
the transition “as expeditiously as
the circumstances permit.”
• That the lower courts should re
quire detailed progress reports from
the affected school boards showing
progress made towards desegregation,
and the lower courts, in turn, should
submit reports to the Supreme Court
detailing action taken in the respec
tive districts “in bringing about com
pliance with the requirements of the
Constitution.”
• That the high court may desire to
appoint a special master to review
such reports and make appropriate
recommendations concerning them to
both the Supreme Court and lower
courts.
• That it would be impractical for
the high court to establish an overall
deadline for desegregation. The brief
declared however, “there can be no
justification anywhere for failure to
make an immediate and substantial
start toward desegregation.”
• That when there is “clear and con
vincing evidence,” that immediate
desegregation is “impractible” then
the lower court should establish the
shortest practible period for ending
segregation. Noting that in addition
to administrative and fiscal problems
comfronting school authorities as a
result of desegregation, “school au
thorities may have to cope with a
certain amount of popular hostility
toward the elimination of segregation
in public schools,” the brief declared,
“While general community hostility
cannot serve as justification for
avoiding or postponing complicance
with the constitutional mandate, it
is relevant in determining the most
effective method of ending segrega
tion in the particular locality.”
COMPLEX PROBLEM
In commenting on the general na
ture of the problem, the Brownell
brief declared, “It can be expected
that even within the same state, no
two school districts will be faced with
precisely the same problems. ... In
areas where there is considerable
disparity in the quality and curricula
of the former white and Negro
schools, the readjustment may be
more troublesome.
“Parents will be understandably
reluctant to send their children to
schools markedly inferior to those
previously attended.
“Teachers may have to reassigned
and changes made in the method of
their selection, with due regard to
the safeguarding of seniority and
tenure rights. In areas which now
have separate eligibility lists for
white and colored teachers, new lists
combining applicants of both races
may be established. Salary different
ials may have to be eliminated.”
The courts should grant due con
sideration to local problems, the
Brownell brief states, but “In the
absence of compelling reasons to the
contrary, . . . there should be no
unnecessary delay in the full vin
dication of the constitutional rights
involved in these cases, and if any
delay is required, it should be kept
to a minimum.”
By mid-November, those states
submitting briefs to the court did so
either as parties to the five suits or
as “friends of the court.”
STATE ROUNDUP
Here is a state-by-state roundup
on briefs submitted, and their general
content:
Filing briefs as friends of the court
were Arkansas, Maryland, North
Carolina, Texas, Florida and Okla
homa; filing briefs as parties to the
suits were Virginia, Delaware and
the District of Columbia. South Caro
lina, as a state, did not file a brief.
Attorneys for Clarendon county,
South Carolina however, point of
origin of that state’s test case, have
submitted a brief.
Out of the 17 states and the District
of Columbia affected by the high
court ruling, eight will not parti
cipate in the . hearing. Of these, de
segregation was well underway in
Missouri and West Virginia; another
state, Kentucky, has indicated comp
liance with the high court’s imple
mentation decree when delivered;
three of the states, Georgia, Missis
sippi, and Louisiana, have taken
specific action attempting to circum
vent the decision; and two states,
Tennessee and Alabama, have main
tained their prior attitudes of “wait
and see.”
A summary of the briefs:
ARKANSAS argues the court
should (1), not order “forthwith in
tegration,” (2), permit gradual ad
justments, and (3), leave problems
of integration of races in public
schools to enforcement by Congress.
MARYLAND suggests that cases
be returned to district courts and re
quests a reasonable desegregation
time schedule allowing for “an ef
fective, gradual adjustment.”
NORTH CAROLINA asks the
court to proceed slowly in effecting
decrees and suggests district judges
be authorized to supervise change
over because the alternative would
be destruction of the school system
and “racial bitterness.”
TEXAS asks the court to rec
ognize long established traditions
which “should not be suddenly and
abruptly destroyed,” and suggests
that the court “preserve the right of
free selection and choice by the
patrons of public schools in select
ing the school which shall be patron
ized.”
FLORIDA declares there is “rea
son to believe that segregated schools
can be ended in Florida in an equit
able manner without destroying the
school system itself,” but warns de
segregation cannot be implemented
“hurriedly or through the legal
coercion of school officials.”
OKLAHOMA asks the court for
time to make extensive legislative
and constitutional changes in the
state’s complex and mandatory taxing
system for public schools.
VIRGINIA requests “gradual ad
justment,” and supervision by district
courts which should be instructed to
consider the need for (1), a “very
substantial period of time,” (2), phy
sical problems that will arise, such
as use of school buildings and trans
portation facilities and (3), “intangi
ble factors” such as “general levels
of health, morals, and educational
attainment . . . (and) the feelings of
the children, their parents and the
community.”
DELAWARE requests the court
to permit gradual adjustment
through district and state court with
in the limits of a definite period of
time, the terminal date being estab
lished by the high court.
CLARENDON COUNTY, S. C. tells
the court that the matter should be
referred back to district courts for
the issuance of decrees.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA in
forms the court that no further
judicial action is needed to bring
about public school integration in
the nation’s capital, and by Sept.
1955, the segregation issue in Wash
ington will be “completely moot.”
Index
State Page
Alabama 2
Arkansas 2
Delaware 3
District of Columbia 4
Florida 5
Georgia 6
Kentucky 9
Louisiana 6
Maryland 7
Mississippi 8
Missouri 10
North Carolina 11
Oklahoma 12
South Carolina 13
Tennessee 12
Texas 14
Virginia 15
West Virginia 9