About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1955)
PAGE 12—Jan. 6, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS North Carolina RALEIGH, N. C. AS the date for the convening of x the 1955 N.C. general assembly approached, there were indications it will send an expression of its senti ments on school desegregation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Such a course of action has been recommended by Rep. Larry I. Moore, of Wilson, who has no oppo sition for the powerful position of Speaker of the House. Moore agreed, however, that any legislation on the subject would be premature pending the implementation decree. The “no legislation” adherents thus include the three key figures in the Assembly: Moore, Gov. Luther Hodges and Sen. Luther Barnhardt of Concord. The latter is without op position for the job of president of the Senate, over which he will pre side. Barnhardt said the Assembly would be “leaping in the dark” if it acted on the school segregation issue, and Gov. Hodges called this “a sensi ble statement.” The governor also praised the Federal government’s position that implementation should be accomplished gradually. OPPOSES INTEGRATION A lawyer-farmer and long a power in political circles, Moore left no doubt that he personally opposes in tegration. He said, “We owe it to the Supreme Court to give them our ‘slant’ on segregation. We should give them an indication of how we feel about it. “I don’t think it would be entirely fair to say to them ‘We’ll accept 100% what you send down’ if we are not going to do it. I think we ought not to give them the impression we are going to buck if we’re not or that we’re going to accept everything if we’re not. “I think we should let them know where we are planning on heading— to lay it down cold unless we are willing to accept what they give us. “We should send up something reasonable, fair and logical instead of making a sounding board for a lot of speeches. We ought not to pass any final law, because we can’t pass anything final until they pass some thing final. “It is not my opinion that either of the races will be benefited by it (in tegration) at the present time, and I think we ought to let the Supreme Court know that. “I don’t think we should go so far as to threaten the court. We should declare our stand in a nice way. “The General Assembly may see fit to say to them that if they do so and so, the only alternative for us here would be to do so and so, but we should not make a threat. STATE NOT READY “We should tell them, I think, that North Carolina is not ready to accept non-segregation in the schools, and that to impose it now would be to create bitterness between the races instead of to improve the relations we have tried for years to build up. “North Carolina has the reputation among Southern states of a moderate in race relations. We want to do what’s best for both white and col ored children, and to bring about mandatory non-segregation at the present time wouldn’t be for the best interests of either. Nor would it bet ter relations between them. “For the General Assembly not to say anything at all would, on its face, appear smart. But I think we owe it to the court, and to our people, to give a good, logical, concise state ment of the way our people feel. They just don’t want it at the present time, and it would be very difficult for them to accept it now. We shouldn’t just sit back and let the court think that we’re ready, just waiting for them to tell us what to do, and then have trouble somewhere when they put it into effect. They are entitled to our feelings on the subject.” Another legislator, Sen. Arthur Kirkman of High Point, told a meet ing of the North Carolina Associated Press News Council that he had been approached on the subject of school segregation by a number of col leagues. A few—“a very few”—have suggested that public schools be turned into private schools. “I don’t think that’s the answer,” he said, adding: “The proposal I have heard most discussed among my legislative col leagues goes no further than decen tralization of the schools, which are now operated statewide. “This would make it so that the 100 counties of North Carolina may be come the sole defendants in possible lawsuits, rather than the state. This would make 100 possible defendants instead of one. It would further the ideas of those who wish to delay in tegration legally. “I have some reservations in my mind on this point. It poses a finan cial problem. Would the financial re sponsibility also be shifted back? “These proposals are not answers, but aimed at delay.” Kirkman said the “calm, deliberate way” North Carolina has approached the problem “makes me proud of my state.” GOVERNOR PETITIONED Meanwhile, a professor of anatomy at the University of North Carolina Medical School—Dr. W. C. George— originated a petition to the governor and General Assembly asking con tinuation of segregation “in the in terest of protecting both races from destruction.” Dr. George said commingling of white and Negro children in the schools would lead to “destruction of the races” and that the segregation problem is “purely a biological and PROF. W. C. GEORGE social one.” The petition “deplores the efforts of some people to identify a program of integration of the races with Christianity. There are vital reasons why destruction of the white and colored races should not be pro moted. It is unbelievable that we should passively accept such an out come by edict.” On the biological aspect, Dr. George said, “No cattle breeder would want to cross up his productive stock with a stock with an unproven record ... We should do all in our power to develop their (the Negroes’) capaci ties but not destroy ours ... When you cross up different breeds of ani mals, including man, you spoil the breed.” He added: “It is better for the two races to make their own contributions to civi lization without destroying their ca pacities by blending. What I have in mind in this: The Negro race has not yet proved its capacity to develop a civilization. All great civilizations of ancient and modern times are from some branch of the Caucasion or Mongoloid races.” The petition: We, the undersigned residents of the State of North Carolina, earnestly petition you to do everything in your power to maintain separate schools for white and Negro pupils. The members of the two races signing this petition wish to live on terms of peace and good will and help fulness with one another under a program of separateness in social life. A spirit of good will and helpfulness has been in creasingly present in recent years where agitators have not interfered. Inasmuch as a careful reading of the New Testament reveals that Christ never said one word about the race problem, we deplore the efforts of some people to identify a program of integration of the races with Christianity. It is rather a biological-social problem. There are vital reasons why destruction of the white and colored races should not be promoted. It is unbelievable that we should passively accept such an outcome by edict. Dr. George has not released figures on the number of signers. In mid- December, a month after he launched it, he said he had received more than 350 communications about it. “The reactions in these communications ... indicates approximately a 30-to-one sentiment in favor of my position,” he said. ANOTHER VIEWPOINT Another educator — Dr. Mason Crum, professor of Biblical literature at Duke University—took a different view in The Christian Advocate, na tional Methodist weekly. A native of South Carolina and grandson of a slave-holding minister, Dr. Crum wrote: “To most Southerners the abolition of segregation in public educational institutions was inevitable, as was the abolition of slavery. “Churches that have been spirit ually embarrassed for years have welcomed the Supreme Court deci sion. The greatest fear in the South is social equality, or compulsory so cial intermingling. But the Supreme Court decision has nothing to do with personal social relations. It is aimed at equality of opportunity in tax-sup ported educational institutions . . . The removal of racial barriers in tax- supported institutions is perhaps the first great step in the direction of a new order in the South. Who knows but what it may be the dawning of a new day? “You may talk to farmers, laborers, trainmen and professional people, and they will generally agree that the de cision was inevitable and right. “There is, of course, some loose talk when the thought is motivated by a deep-seated prejudice which has over the years formed the culture pattern. Whenever the accepted cus toms of generations have been chal lenged, there is always a spontaneous resistance to new ideas. “For years Southerners have suf fered from an inner emotional con flict. Their ideals of social justice have been at cross purposes with the prevailing practices of their region. But now that which they knew in their heart of hearts was right and just has been declared by the high est court in the land ... “In spite of the difficulties... most Southern people are willing to tackle the problem and meet what is perhaps the most momentous situa tion since Emancipation... “Too much attention has been giv en to the aggressive wing of the Negro group. Not everyone is a meddler and a strife stirrer who de sires to effect some justifiable change in the customs of a region.” EQUAL SCHOOLS ASKED In Newton, a delegation of 25 Ne gro patrons of the Maiden Negro Elementary School told the Catawba County Board of Education they had no desire to see integration effected, that they did want equal school fa cilities. A delegation of Negroes from the Catawba and Sheriffs Ford sec tion some weeks ago had asked the school board to order integration in Catawba as soon as possible. Clarence D. Wilson of Maiden was spokesman for the anti-integration delegation. He said, “We don’t want that at all. We want our boys and girls to stay like they are.” He added that his group wanted equal facili ties, however. Maiden elementary students now attend school in a three-classroom building without central heat or sewer facilities. In Catawba and Sheriffs Ford, Negroes have a mod em school plant. “We don’t want to mix and min gle,” said Wilson. “We think it will cause trouble, and that a lot of edu cation through the churches and schools is needed before we are ready for desegregation.” He said another century may be required before in tegration can be effectively carried out. Hary M. Arndt, superintendent of county schools, said that $150,000 had been earmarked for Maiden school improvements, but the money is be ing held up pending further Supreme Court decrees. Approximately 60 Negro families, most of them home- owners, live in the Maiden com munity. The delegation, like the pro-inte gration one, was thanked by the board which said it could not take action in view of the pending decree. In Greensboro, the Right Rev. Vincent Waters, bishop of the Cath olic Diocese of Raleigh, announced an interracial parochial high school for white and Negro Catholic chil dren will be built there. Earlier, inte gration of other Catholic high schools in the state had been ordered. “We are going to integrate Cath olics,” Bishop Waters said, “but we are not going to integrate non- Catholics.” STUDENTS DEBATE ISSUE In Winston-Salem, high school speech and debate students voted in favor of gradual desegregation in the public schools. The occasion was a meeting of the Carolina district of the National Forensic League, at tended by 60 students from North and South Carolina. A resolution calling for gradual desegregation was passed as a sub stitute resolution for one which ad vocated the abolition of public schools. Most of the speakers on the subject favored immediate integra tion. Said Mary Anny Bryant of Greenville, N. C., “They could inte grate the schools tomorrow and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference to me. Two students said they were “ap palled” at the segregation stands taken by their parents, who favored continued segregation. John Barn hardt of Concord, N. C., calling the resolution premature, said he would vote for it nonetheless. Walter Carl of Sumter, S. C., op posed it. Each race, he said, has its own purposes and “complete integra tion will result in the obliteration of one of the races.” CARROLL’S SPEECH Dr. Charles F. Carroll, state su perintendent of public instruction, told a school group that North Caro lina is probably farther advanced in its approach to the segregation prob lem than any of the other states con cerned. “By abstaining from anticipatory and precipitate administrative ac tion,” Dr. Carroll said, “our leaders have not confused nor have they in flamed the minds and emotions of the people.” No “responsible” person in the state has made a statement or committed an act that he had to re tract or regret later. “Instead, our governors, legislators, attorney general, advisory commis sion members, school boards, educa tors, newspapermen and others have consciously striven to create and sus tain an atmosphere in which people can think clearly and act intelligent ly. “This procedure is characteristic of the manner in which North Caro linians have always approached grave problems and decisions. It is this approach that causes many peo ple elsewhere to look to us for guid ance. .. All these events are integral parts of North Carolina’s plan to pre serve the public school system, re spect community attitudes, and solve properly the manifold social, legal and economic aspects of the perplex ing problem. “Under the calm and stable leader ship of Gov. Hodges and the General Assemblies of the years ahead, I am confident that this state will resolve the issue of segregation to the satis faction of all who genuinely want it resolved.” TREND IN COLLEGES Dr. Guy B. Johnson, University of North Carolina sociologist, said that Negro graduate and professional students are being integrated into Southern institutions of higher learn ing “with little indication of undue friction or strain.” He based his ob servations on a tour of southern states in which Negro graduate stu dents have been admitted. “In contrast to all the talk about preserving segregation in the public schools in spite of the Supreme Court’s decision, the colleges and universities of the South have quietly undergone a ‘revolution’ in the last five or six years,” Dr. Johnson said. He added: “As a result of court decisions and voluntary action, at least 30 publicly supported institutions and about 40 private and church colleges have opened their doors to Negro students ... All of the state universities in the South except South Carolina, Geor gia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi now have some Negro students en rolled. This transition from complete segregation to some degree of inte gration has been accomplished with little fanfare and a single incident of interracial friction. “The great majority of Negro stu dents are graduate and professional students. Very few undergraduate students have been admitted to the state universities as yet; hence the Negro students have been mature serious-minded people who are working toward definite vocational goals. Perhaps this is fortunate, be cause it has made the transition process possible under the most favorable circumstances. “When the state institutions start admitting Negro undergraduates, as they are bound to do in the next year or so, the undergraduates will profit by the pioneering which the older Negro students have done.” In general, Dr. Johnson said, Ne gro students are not coming up to the white students’ performances ir the classroom. He said, “But I think it is significant that I ran across no one who wanted to attribute this to some ‘racial’ inferiority of the Ne gro. Rather there was simply a rec ognition of the practical situation, namely, that many of the Negro stu dents, perhaps the majority of them, have come up in a segregated school system which is below standard and which has not prepared them to com pete on even terms with white stu dents.” Negro students, Dr. Johnson said, take an active part in campus affairs. But “in the strictly social aspects of student life, such as dating, dancing, going to parties, sorority and fra ternity activities, the amount of in terracial contact is close to zero. Here both groups have recognized certain long-standing traditions, and neither group has intruded upon the private social world of the other group.” CHURCH ACTIONS In Raleigh, the Raleigh Ministerial Association passed a resolution to establish the policy that in the fu ture all community ecumenical serv ices sponsored by the association will be on an interracial basis. A commit tee was appointed to implement the interracial resolution. At the Baptist State Convention in Charlotte, some 2,700 delegates adopted a committee report calling for restrained emotions. It also said that “in the South race relations is a biracial matter” and added: “The Christian citizens in the South, if the spirit of the court’s de cision is taken seriously, must re affirm their belief and teaching about man as having infinite worth in the sight of God. The crux of the Chris tian attitude is to view other humans as being of equal worth and thus worthy of equal rights and responsi bilities, until those persons prove themselves unfit for rights and re sponsibilities.” Other proposals for action on the segregation questions were referred to committees for study. In Chapel Hill, approximately 6® persons formed an interracial com mittee “to consider ways in which the community can help meet the problems posed by the Supreme Court’s decision.” ntegration Totals >8% In Wilmington WILMINGTON, Vel In his latest report on the progres- f integration in the Wilmin&^V :hools, Supt. Ward I. Miller said tha bout 68 per cent of the elemental ublic school pupils in the city n °' ttend integrated schools. The remaining 32 per cent, he sai^ ve in neighborhoods where the s junding population is either 'hite or all Negro. So far, there has not been one pu cized incident within the Wilm ^ )n public school system and only ;tter to the editors of the WilrninfP^ apers, opposing integration m \ ity schools since the open®^ ffiool. That was a letter from a ' v ^ arent who complained abou bild being taught by a Negro teac
