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PAGE 6 —Dec. I, 1954 — SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Georgia
MACON, Ga.
OTH pro and anti-segregation
forces in Georgia are marking
time on measures and counter-meas
ures until the Supreme Court of the
United States gives some hint of its
ideas on the method and time to be
allowed for integration in implement
ing instructions.
The situation quieted somewhat
with few public statements from of
ficials on either side of the issue with
in a few days after the election of
Nov. 2, in which a constitutional
amendment paving the way for the
state to set up segregated private
schools was ratified by the people.
The amendment received 210,488
“for” votes and 181.148 “against”
votes. It won approval in 129 of Geor
gia’s 159 counties. Generally, heavily-
populated areas and Negro citizens
voted against the amendment. Gov.
Herman Talmadge said it was the
most difficult political fight in Geor
gia since 1946.
Gov. Talmadge, Gov.-elect Marvin
Griffin and Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook
were leaders in the campaign for the
amendment. Opposition leaders were
State Superintendent of Schools M.
D. Collins, the Georgia Education
Commission and a Citizens’ Save Our
Schools committee.
TALMADGE COMMENT
Commenting on the ratification,
Gov. Talmadge said:
Despite efforts of the opposition to cre
ate a different issue, the people of Geor
gia have ratified an amendment to give
the General Assembly of Georgia and the
governor power to preserve segregation
in our schools.
1 hope it will never become necessary
to use the amendment, but this should put
the Supreme Court of the United States
and the people of this nation on notice
that the people of Georgia are deter
mined to preserve segregation.
Gov.-elect Griffin said he would
like to set at rest the fears of the
people about the amendment. “No
action will be taken under this
amendment except through careful
study by my administration, the
Georgia Commission for Education,
and finally, through debate and con
sideration by the people’s duly elect-
NEW ORLEANS, La.
As late returns finally trickled in
from every one of Louisiana’s 64
parishes (counties), voters from this
Deep South state were almost five to
one in favor of maintaining segrega
tion in the public schools.
Complete returns from the Nov. 2
election, compiled some two weeks
after the actual balloting, show that:
217,992 persons voted for an
amendment to continue segregation.
46,929 persons voted against the
amendment.
Specifically, the amendment would
allow the state to use its police power
under the constitution in maintain
ing segregation in the public schools
“to promote public health, morals,
better education, peace and good
order.”
It also authorizes the legislature to
enact laws on all matters “regarding
the terms and qualifications for ad
mission to the public schools,” and
provides that future amendments to
the public school provisions of the
constitution could be voted on at spe
cial elections instead of waiting for
the biennial general elections.
Thus the amendment is the very
heart of Louisiana’s battle to main
tain segregation.
RAINACH’S COMMENT
The overwhelming victory brought
this comment from State Sen. W. M.
Rainach of Summerfield, who heads
up a joint legislative committee to
study segregation-integration trends:
This election certainly shows what the
people of Louisiana want and I think
they’re going to get it.
Rainach also announced that a sub
committee of his group is going to
make a study to determine what it
would cost to equalize white and
Negro school facilities in the state.
ed representatives in the General
Assembly,” he said, adding that he
had the utmost faith in the integrity
and sincerity of the members of the
General Assembly.
Griffin said he hoped the U.S. Su
preme Court would not force Georgia
and Georgians to invoke sovereign
powers to prevent the establishment
of mixed schools in the state.
However, If this court is so unrealistic
as to attempt to enforce this unthinkable
evil upon us, I serve notice now that we
shall resist it with all the resources at
our disposal and we shall never submit
to the proposition of mixing the races in
the classrooms of our schools.
Let those who were sincerely concerned
relative to some of the fancied objections
raised to the school segregation amend
ment put their minds at ease. It has one
purpose and one purpose only. That is to
protect the children of Georgia and pre
serve our institutions of free segregated
schools.
Negro Attorney Austin T. Walden
of Atlanta, a native Georgian and
state counsel for the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Col
ored People, said the amendment is
unconstitutional and not worth the
paper it is written on. Discussing the
contention of pro-amendment forces
that the Supreme Court might close
the schools of Georgia in an attempt
to enforce integration, he said the
Supreme Court does not have such
power. “It does have the power to
hold to accountability officials,” he
said, “but if the schools are closed,
it will be by the state, not by the
Supreme Court.”
Walden said an exhaustive studv
was being made of the case in which
about 100 Negro students are seeking
admission to Atlanta’s white schools
in the light of amendment approval.
The suit, originally filed under the
argument that the schools were sep
arate but not equal and later amend
ed to argue against segregation per se,
has been pending for some time. Wal
den is attornev for the plaintiffs.
The NAACP lawyer says it is diffi
cult to say how long it will be before
Georgia schools are integrated since
it is impossible to know how many
delaying plans will be tried and what
length of time will be taken to ex-
He added that school facilities are
already equal in some parishes, but
that the survey would also attempt to
determine the cost of bringing some
substandard white schools up to the
desired level.
Rainach said the study would
probably take “several years,” and
that the subcommittee plans to re
quest the assistance of various state
departments concerned with educa
tion and local school boards in mak
ing the study.
The youthful Louisiana state sena
tor said the sub-group would also
have other purposes besides the
study, but declined to name them.
“The members of the committee
believe in giving colored persons
every educational opportunity they
are capable of taking advantage of,”
he said.
Balloting on the segregation
amendment was reasonably heavy, in
the face of what was generally a light
vote. In dominantly Democratic
Louisiana, general elections are
usually a formality.
In the Nov. 2 election, the state’s
voters also considered 30 other pro
posed constitutional amendments.
Only seven were voted down, with
24 adopted.
The vote on the segregation
amendment, Number 16 as listed on
the voting machines, was the highest
of the 31—a total of 264.921. The
average total vote on the other
amendments was 185,000.
A breakdown of voting throughout
the state shows that the proposal was
favored in every parish. It had been
expected that in urban centers large
numbers of Negro voters might have
some effect.
But while New Orleans delivered
16,467 votes against the measures,
54,728 persons voted for it—or a
haust each. “The Supreme Court in
structions will give us a hint as to
our next moves,” he said.
SEES LITTLE VIOLENCE
Integration of the races in Georgia
schools will bring a minimum of vio
lence, in Walden’s opinion. “And none
at all if some politicians and other
people did not deliberately accen
tuate it,” he said.
“The prediction was made that
bloodshed would occur when Negroes
went to universities in the South,”
Walden said, “but there have now
been between 2,000 and 3,000 Ne
groes to go through universities in
the South without a single incident,
and with a large degree of cordial
ity evident.”
Walden says politicians keep racial
prejudices inflamed for political ad
vantage and believes that when it
ceases to be politically advantageous
the issue will be dropped. He added:
The white youth and Negro youth of
the South could solve our problems if
these elders didn’t insist on perpetuating
traditions which should have been dead
long ago ... I have always had great
faith in the liberality and broadminded
ness of the students of the South ... if
I hadn’t expected segregation to be out
lawed. I wouldn’t have planted myself
down here.
The staff of the Georgia Education
Commission, empowered by the legis
lature to seek to maintain segregated
schools, began work on proposed leg
islation to strengthen segregation fol
lowing ratification of the controver
sial amendment in the general elec
tion. Durwood Pye, secretary of the
commission, said these would include
proposed acts on assignment of pu
pils, establishment of school district
lines, authority of local trustees and
boards of education and power of lo
cal boards to contract for education of
pupils in adjoining school districts.
These recommendations were made
bv the commission prior to the elec
tion.
Pye and Atty. Gen. Cook both ex
pressed optimism over Georgia’s
chances of maintaining segregation
permanently now that the amend
ment is a part of the Georgia Con
stitution.
The attorney general predicted the
U.S. Supreme Court “can never strike
down” the new amendment and said,
“Even if the court should strike down
some of the implementation measures
the General Assembly might enact
ratio of better than three to one.
In upstate Louisiana, where there
is the heaviest concentration of Ne
gro families, the ratio was even
higher. This was particularly true in
the parishes that border on the
Arkansas and Mississippi lines.
Here are a few of those parishes,
with the Negro population percent
ages in brackets:
Claiborne (51.7)—8.286 to 80.
DeSoto (56.6)—1.488 to 136.
Tensas (64.8)—540 to 52.
W. Feliciana (71.2)—405 to 33.
Concordia (59.3)—1.072 to 111.
Madison (66.2)—947 to 88.
All six are dominantly rural with
the heaviest concentrations of Ne
groes. Tensas is one of two Louisiana
parishes in which there are no reg
istered Negro voters.
The constitutional amendment was
oposed by the NAACP Bureau of
Governmental Research, an inde
pendent research agency in New
Orleans; the Catholic Church,
through its semi-official voice, Cath
olic Action South; the Independent
Women’s Organization in New Or
leans, and both the New Orleans and
Baton Rouge Unitarian churches.
In addition, it was opposed by
small groups of citizens throughout
the state.
In New Orleans, the city’s 28-man
legislative delegation refused to en
dorse the measure — although they
did not go on record as opposing it.
Mayor deLesseps S. Morrison,
who heads up the Crescent City
Democratic Association which put
him in power, also refused to take a
stand on the measure. In printed
listings of the CCDA endorsements
for constitutional amendments, the
segregation amendment carried only
the word “optional” as opposed to the
words “for” and “against” which ap
peared next to the others.
This stand of Mayor Morrison has
given rise to political speculation
throughout the state. Morrison, ac
cording to political observers, is toy-
. . . it would be a simple matter for
the legislature to enact other meas
ures from time to time that would
accomplish the objectives of the
amendment.”
Pye said, “In view of the fact that
we now have the amendment, it may
be years before any of our public
school systems are closed down.”
Gov.-elect Griffin said he would
not ask the legislature to act on pri
vate school plans until the schools
are actually closed because of inte
gration. Pye said the proposed leg
islation blue-printing the private
school system would be prepared but
not presented to the legislature at
this time.
NEWSPAPER REACTION
The daily newspapers of Georgia,
roughly 4-to-l in opposition to the
amendment, generally called for cau
tion and restraint in putting the
amendment in force in editorial com
ment following the election.
“Our next governor asked for pas
sage of the amendment on the
grounds that it would give the state
government the ‘tools’ with which to
work in its effort to keep our schools
segregated,” said the Augusta Chron
icle. “Let it then remain in the tool
box until, and if, an emergency
arises.”
The Macon News advised: “It will
take resourceful leadership and bold
statesmanship to perfect the plan to
the point where it will allay the fears
and doubs of many Georgians. This
is to be the real test of the incoming
Griffin administration: whether a le
gally watertight plan can be fash
ioned from the powers to the General
Assembly by Amendment No. 4 which
will truly maintain segregation, pro
tect the rights of the people and re
main out of the legal reach of the
federal government.”
“Never before have the people
voted so great a concentration of
power in the State Capitol,” said the
Atlanta Constitution. “The solemn
fact is that the future of education in
Georgia no longer belongs to the edu
cators or the people. The future of
education in Georgia now is the re
sponsibility of Gov. Herman Tal
madge and of Gov.-elect Marvin
Griffin. Into their keeping Georgians
have entrusted the futures of their
children.”
The Atlanta Journal commented:
“. . . obviously the issue concerning
ing with the idea of running for gov
ernor of Louisiana in 1956.
If tradition is any guide, Morri
son’s candidacy would be handi
capped by the fact that he is both a
Catholic and a resident of New Or
leans—despite the fact he was bom
in New Roads, La., a small town near
Baton Rouge. Not since the imme
diate Reconstruction Days has Lou
isiana elected a New Orleans Cath
olic as governor.
According to reports through the
state, if Morrison announces he will
run, his opponents will first call for
him to take a firm stand on the seg
regation issue.
An announced candidate is former
Gov. Earl K. Long, brother of the late
Huey P. Long, senator, governor and
political boss of Louisiana until his
assassination. Earl Long has taken a
firm stand against integration, as
have the three other announced can
didates — James McLemore, Rufus
Fontenot and Lt. Gov. C. E. “Cap”
Barham.
Morrison, they reason, is sure to
draw heavy support from the state’s
Negro bloc because of the young
mayor’s work in New Orleans, par
ticularly in bringing up to standard
the city’s Negro school system. But
any endorsement of an integration
policy by a gubernatorial candidate
could very well be the kiss of death,
observers feel.
Meanwhile, the state has heard the
first statement by a public school
leader against integration. Dr. Clar
ence Scheps, president of the Or
leans parish school board and comp
troller of Tulane University, has an
nounced his belief that “rapid inte
gration will result in chaos.”
However, Dr. Scheps emphasized
that his views on segregation were
his own and not those of the Orleans
school board.
He said that “very definitely an
unequal situation” exists between
white and Negro schools in the par
ish’s public school system. “I’d be
Louisiana
the schools has not been settled . . .
the people of Georgia look to Gov.
Talmadge and Gov.-elect Griffin to
‘protect the children of Georgia and
preserve the institution of free, segre
gated schools.’ ”
In the opinion of the Macon Tele
graph, “. . . Georgians did not give
the Griffin administration any over
whelming mandate to abolish their
public schools. Today is a time for
sober reflection, not merely by those
who conscientiously opposed this
amendment but equally by those who
sponsored it.”
“What happens in the future de
pends upon the Supreme Court,
largely,” said the Columbus Ledger.
“The responsibility for education in
the future in Georgia rests largely on
the new administration and its leg
islature.”
A Negro newspaper, the Atlanta
Daily World, said Negroes “oDposed
the measure in a ratio vote of approx
imately 15 votes against it to every
one for it” and concluded: “It is ap
parent by deduction that the maiority
for this amendment was provided by
the white voters.”
SCHOOL BILL PREPARED
Only one of the proposed bills de
signed to strengthen segregation laws
has been released to the press by the
attorney general’s office and it is sub
ject to changes by the Georgia Edu
cation Commission before being sub
mitted to the legislature.
It provides for the assignment of
pupils in school districts bv the dis
trict superintendent on the basis of
the official’s opinion as to what would
be in the best interest and most con
ducive to the welfare of not onlv the
individual pupils but the school sys
tem as well.
The determination, according to the
proposal, would be made by the su
perintendent upon such information
as may be at his disposal, and may,
in his discretion, consider psycholog
ical, sociological and other scientific
data.
Appeals by either dissatisfied party
may be directed first to the local
board of education, secondly to the
State School Superintendent and
finally to the State Board of Educa
tion. “The opinion of the state board
shall be final and conclusive, and shall
not be subiect to review of anv court
or tribunal, by arineal. on certiorari,
or in any other manner,” the measure
states.
untruthful if I said all facilities are
equal. On that basis, there is discrim
ination if you want to put it that
way,” he added.
Dr. Scheps continued:
But it is my considered opinion that a
sudden, rapid integration in the public
school system would do irreparable dam
age to the children of both races.
He revealed that there are 7,800
Negro school children on the platoon
(half-day) system in New Orleans.
“There are 51 Negro classrooms in
this thriving metropolis that still are
heated by pot-bellied stoves; the
overcrowding situation applies most
ly, but not totally, to Negro schools,”
he said.
He asserted that the present school
board has made a “great deal” of
progress toward equalizing facilities
and is continuing to move forward
“but I very much regretted that the
Supreme Court decision came at this
time.” Dr. Scheps added that he
wished integration could be post
poned for another 50 years.
Asked to explain his “chaos” re
mark, Dr. Scheps said “I don’t mean
bloodshed and revolution when 1
speak of chaos. But to try to get over
a school tax increase, for instance, for
any future much-needed program
was difficult enough before, and
would be pretty nearly impossible if
we integrate now.”
Another reason, he said, is that the
state will most probably “engage in
as many delaying efforts as it can,
which means litigation, probably f° r
many years.”
While the question is being set
tled, he continued, the school system
would suffer from diverted interest
He concluded:
We—and I think on this one point l
speak for the school board—we belief®
every child of every race is entitled
equal educational opportunities.
At the same time, I think that the edu
cation of both the white and Negro chil
dren would proceed better for man]•
many years to come if education
proceed under separate but equal facu 1 "
ties.