Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL
Analysis
Continued From Page 1
ing comments are typical of this
group:
An Army officer, pursuing graduate
courses in New York writes:
One of my “papers” I am working on
this vear centers around the problems
resulting from the Supreme Court’s recent
decision on segregation in public schools.
Since your organization has material on
this problem I would appreciate receiving
t Most of my information so far has
been secured from newspapers of this area
or from national magazines. I did write to
the attorneys general of all the states in
the South and received some information
from them. I still feel that I am getting
a biased interpretation based on northern
reporting.
Since I am a southerner, I should like
to receive additional information originat
ing in the South since that is where the
problems will arise.
A student at an Ohio college:
Although I go to a northern school, I
am from Kentucky and am very interested
in the problem of integration.
From Centralis, Washington:
I am interested in receiving your pam
phlet giving information on removal of
segregation in the schools. I may add that
I was born in Kentucky and lived for
years in the deep South and consider this
order of the Supreme Court to integrate
unconstitutional and the greatest outrage
visited upon the white people of the
South.
Los Alamos, New Mexico:
As a citizen of North Carolina, I am
interested in any news concerning the
present attack upon our schools, as well
as in any other politically inspired aggres
sions against my state and my race.
From Boise, Idaho:
I am a deep-South southerner and was
overwhelmed to read just a small notice
of the new Southern School News which
you are to edit. I find that people in, this
part of the country are completely un
aware of the southerners’ problem. I want
to say that all southerners will be eternally
grateful to you and your staff if this t°~
rible Supreme Court decision and results
are explained in detail in your paper . . .
How my heart bleeds for our beloved
Southland.
Teachers with southern back
grounds, now teaching in northern
areas, commented as follows:
From Northampton, Massachusetts:
As I am a southerner who is very in
terested in this problem, I am very anxi
ous that college students here have a real
comprehension of what is going on now
in the South. Broad generalized state
ments are extremely prevalent, and I
think your paper is an extremely good
one.
From New Jersey:
I am a southerner by birth and was
educated in the South. I now head a high
school history department which includes
twelve teachers. I’m sure we can make
good use of your publication and would
hke to receive it.
Morristown, Pennsylvania:
I am white; bom in Memphis, Tennes
see, and have many relatives in the South.
ince I am a teacher and have seen the
socio-economic situation in the mid-
^th, I am very concerned about their
school conditions with respect to deseg
regation.
There are those “interested citiz-
ens ’ who viewed Southern School
ews as a positive device and had the
following to say:
From Prairie View, Texas:
Excuse the expression, but this first issi
‘h School News is a gem—
c °Py came today. I am i
so of j on fh e mailing list and a
nonJrf° t° ^ now all the good things haj
a no ? j ° r my husband and I have ov<
of ahnost 50 y ear s taught ar
ed for this day of simply—a chanc
From Baton Rouge, Louisiana:
serv*in TH * RN ScHOOL News will be of gre
pr ejudice° my effort t0 COmb '
A minister in Alabama:
a h^f e ! y that your pa]
n _"f lpful instrument in the e
transit tllat must come aboi
tiom tl0n period with regard to i
irA retire d superintendent of sci
111 -Tennessee:
serreMf Very definitely interested i:
ra*"? P r °gram. I believe that i
a Period e o ,° y U e t am y ^ SCh ° 01 pe ° ple
mt^ ) - USineSS man in Florida 1
®* Ven a copy of the first iss
Would it k exeen ent round-up of
issue as P?* 511516 to secure the Oc
hooves , as fu t u re copies? I
ihformaSm 11 to obt ain as much fi
and n.mi! n Up ° n an admittedly cor
he don?=_ n ^ situation that justice
as calmly as possible.
Another Florida citizen:
A friend of mine showed these c
to me and I am sure the publication will
be most helpful as we try to work toward
integragtion in this community. We find
factual information very necessary, and
very difficult to obtain much of the time.
A retired school teacher in South
Carolina:
Your publication will be of great help
in broadcasting the plans and procedures
as developed in the several states and in
keeping the leaders informed as to pro
gress being made over the nation. After 40
years in the schools of South Carolina . . .
I am now retired. However, I am still
actively interested in our schools and am
trying to help solve the problems of seg
regation in every way possible. Thank you
for this help as will be given by a copy
of SSN.
PARENTS SHOW INTEREST
Occasionally a parent addressed
himself as “concerned” over the de
cision; one father referred to himself
as “the father of three blonds,” living
in New Jersey and anxious to receive
SSN. However, for the most part, pa
rents simply identified themselves as
“a parent” with the comment that
they were interested in learning all
they could about the decision, or that
they expected Southern School News
to “provide some of the answers to
problems” which may lie ahead.
Typical comments of parents who
addressed themselves at length to the
problem follow:
From Miami, Florida, a mother of
five:
I think it well behooves every parent,
to study this desegregation law in our
schools with open minds and remember
ing that in better and equally educating
the Negro youth of today we shall be
creating more useful Americans.
A Virginia mother:
Recently I read the copies of your paper
sent our public library. It offers more un
biased thought on segregation than any
thing I have read yet.
My 18 year old daughter is a freshman
at a northern College and has been as
signed a term paper on “What the Seg
regation Decision by the Supreme Court
will mean to the South.” She has had
to answer many questions asked by col
lege youngsters from other sections.
Could you send her a subscription to your
publication from its beginning, and until
June, 1955?
Out of West Virginia comes the
comment:
I would like very much to receive your
paper. I might add that when this segrega
tion issue was touched off by the Supreme
Court ruling in May, I was moved to
write an article on ‘The Right of Seg
regating Children in Public Schools.’ In
the meantime, I have been revising it,
though as yet my basic viewpoint remains
unchanged, and has been verified bv th~
action of those standing up for segrega
tion ... It has been written from the
viewpoint of a mother who will be sub
merged in perspnal problems of her child
should segregation be legally outlawed.
From Albuquerque, New Mexico:
My husband and I are very interested in
the subject of segregation, being bom
and reared in South Missouri and South
ern West Virginia, respectively. We have
a small boy not yet school age whom fath
er declares will be privately tutored.
Therefore, we would like to collect as
much information and articles as possible
concerning this important subject.
Out of Jackson, Mississippi:
As a parent, I assure you that nobody
in the South is more interested in the mat
ter of segregation than I am, and will be
most grateful to have the factual and ob
jective information that will appear in
your paper. I’ll pass my copies of this
monthly around and see that they are
read.
OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS
Among the occupational groups, it
is not surprising that teachers and
educational administrators, profes
sional workers associated with estab
lished local and national organiza
tions, librarians, newspaper editors
and newspaper employees, business
men and ministers would lead in the
requests for Southern School News.
The teacher seems to regard South
ern School News not only as a valu
able resource for use in the various
high school and college courses, but
teachers of journalism are using the
News as an example of a new kind
of journalism worthy of study and
emulation. Comments from teachers
employed in some of the nation’s
leading colleges and universities may
serve to illustrate some of the uses
which Southern School News is be
ginning to serve:
From Dartmouth comes the re
quest:
May we receive issues of Southern
School News? We would like to use it in
our Great Issues Course, Public Affairs
Laboratory.
A professor of education at Harvard
University:
This material will be most valuable for
our classes here. How excellent Volume I
is.
An associate professor of educa
tion, Teachers College, Columbia:
For several years I have given attention
to the problem of segregation in a course
dealing with legal and administrative as
pects of public school issues of social sig
nificance. Your new publication will be
of inestimable value.
A professor of education, Washing
ton University:
I would like to receive copies of South
ern School News. I saw an issue recently
and thought it was very good. I would
like to have copies of the back issues. I
want students in my classes to use this
material as a basis for a report.
A professor at Boston University:
Our class in “Changing Social Atti
tudes” here at Boston University School
of Theology would profit greatly by your
publication.
A professor of education, Duke
University:
A copy of Southern School News has
been brought to my attention. I find that
it would be most valuable to me for my
classes in school law and administration.
An assistant professor of educa
tion, the University of North Caro
lina:
I have heard a great deal about this
publication and would find it of great
value in my work here in the School of
Education.
Professor of psychology, Georgia
Institute of Technology:
Please put me on the mailing list for
the coming issues of Southern School
News. I have heard much about this pub
lication and wish to use the information
in college social science classes.
Assistant professor of sociology,
Mississippi State College:
I have just seen your publication and I
think it is a very valuable publication.
I am teaching a course in which this ma
terial would be a valuable asset. Will you
please enter my subscription and also
send me copies of Vol. I numbers 2 and 3?
The college minister at North
Carolina College at Durham:
Please send me your factual reports on
developments in the Southern education
field. We would like to use them as a
basis for student discussion on these is
sues in our college community.
From the University of Virginia:
I would very much appreciate being
put on your mailing list to receive copies
of Southern School News. Since the gen
eral problem of segregation is being used
as a topic for debate by the Virginia de
baters, as well as a topic for discussion
before off - campus audiences by the
speakers bureau, I am sure that we would
find your publication invaluable.
From the University of North
Carolina:
The first issue of Southern School News
has just come to my attention and I am
wondering if it would be possible for you
to add my name to your mailing list. I
feel that this is an excellent and much
needed publication which would be ex
tremely valuable to both faculty and stu
dents in studying and understanding
health and related problems in North
Carolina schools.
From Louisiana State University:
For the past 15 years, I have been
teaching and doing research in the field
of race and minority group relations, and
I feel that the data of your publication
should prove to be challenging collateral
readings for students.
From Wheaton College, Massachu
setts:
I should appreciate it if you would put
my name on your mailing list for SSN.
I teach a course in Race Relations and
am very anxious to keep in touch with
southern developments in this general
field. I have found the first issue of your
News to be most helpful in its factual
data.
Another in Tennessee:
I am a high school sociology teacher
and have been assistant director of Sem
inars in Human Relations for two sum
mers. Therefore I am intensely inter
ested in objective information on the
segregation problem and would like to
receive SSN.
And another in Florida:
As a teacher of social science in a high
school, I could use your publication ad
vantageously. Being a native Georgian I
have a definite Southern viewpoint which
probably could be modified by a better
knowledge of the facts as carried in your
paper.
A professor at Goucher College,
Baltimore:
I am very much interested in the prog
ress of integration and would very much
appreciate having my name on the mail
ing list of your news service. Your ma
terials will be used in my teaching pro
gram and can, I hope, combat some of the
distortions resulting from the newspaper
emphasis on the unpleasant “incidents”
rather than on the day-to-day progress.
A social scientist at Rusk College,
Mississippi:
In your plan to disseminate informa
tion concerning the implementation of
the Supreme Court decision you are ren
dering a real service to the people of the
South. We want to pass on this significant
and helpful information to our students
and in-service teachers.
From the University of Kentucky:
Southern School News is a very impor
tant publication and the staff is to be con
gratulated on the excellence of Numbers
1 and 2.
This is to request that the attached list
of addresses be added to the mailing list
if possible. In addition to the normal con
cern of these units in the University of
Kentucky there is an extra factor of in
terest in that personnel from the staff of
these departments and bureaus are jointly
involved in planning seminars, workshops,
and consulting services for school officials,
teachers and lay leaders involved in de
segregation.
USE BY STUDENTS
Students are using southern school
news almost as a text in some col
lege courses and as a base for reli
able research in others. Prompted by
their teachers and also following
some research interests of their own,
at Boston University students are
using SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS as a
basis for discussion in a class on
Press and World Affairs. A graduate
student majoring in journalism is
interested not only in the “content
of the paper, but in its general for
mat.” At Indiana University a class
in Federal Government is to use
southern school news as a reference
source, and at Fisk University a class
in Sociology is using the news as a
basis for reports on education.
A senior at Harvard, another at
Smith, an honor student at Vassar,
a student at The Citadel, a high
school student at Chevy Chase,
Maryland, another at Sunburst,
Montana, all requested Southern
School News as an aid in their re
search on segregation which they are
doing in connection with theses and
“honors” papers.
Graduate students at the Univer
sity of Chattanooga, Mississippi
Southern College, University of
Louisville, the University of Mary
land, Valparaiso University (Indi
ana), New York University, Brook
lyn College, Columbia University
engaged in research projects dealing
with some aspect of segregation are
relying upon Southern School News
because of its “factual and objective”
presentation.
A Brooklyn college student writes:
On October 19, at the New York Herald
Tribune Annual Forum, held in the main
ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, I was
given a copy of the newspaper the
Southern School News.
I read it through carefully and was very
unpleased with what I encountered.
It is very hard to believe that such a
thing as segregation still exists in the
United States.
Another student who attended the
Forum:
At the recent sessions of the New York
Herald Tribune Forum copies of the
Southern School News were distributed.
The response, as you are aware, was tre
mendous.
As a student of political science, and
one deeply interested in the dynamics of
American society, may I offer my con
gratulations for the significant contribu
tion which your news bulletin represents.
If at all possible, I would appreciate re
ceiving future copies of this most worth
while and vital educational effort.
A senior at Hofstra College, Hemp
stead (New York):
I have read with a great deal of interest
in a number of publications of the estab
lishment of your project and its program.
If it is at all possible to receive copies
of your publication Southern School
News I would deeply appreciate same.
Some years of residence in the South,
plus more than an interest in the South
and its problems—particularly its educa
tional problems prompted me to send this
request.
A student from Holland studying
at a southern university:
Could I possibly be put on the list of
subscribers to the Southern School News?
I saw the first copies of it and am very
interested in it. I am a student of history
from Holland. I am studying Negro his
tory, on which subject I hope to publish
some study when back in Holland. I won
der if it would be possible to receive it
there too?
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS
Perhaps more than other groups,
and this is understandable, school
administrators and members of school
boards have recognized Southern
School News as one of their most
useful instruments as their comments
reveal.
A superintendent in Kentucky:
Your presentation of the problems of
desegregation in the Southern School
News was most timely and needed. As a
superintendent in a city which expects to
accept rather than evade the decision of
the Supreme Court in this regard, it is my
feeling that such a course of objective
NEWS—Jan. 6, 1955—PAGE 15
treatment of the problems involved is
vitally needed. We should appreciate hav
ing you send copies to our board mem
bers and key administrators. If possible
we would also like copies for fifteen addi
tional principals of both white and col
ored elementary schools.
A superintendent in Arkansas:
Appreciate the completely objective re
ports on developments in the segregation
problem. I am confident your organiza
tion will be tremendously helpful to all of
us who want to meet the difficult prob
lems ahead with all the information we
can get and all the wisdom we can bring
to bear.
A superintendent in Texas:
Of course we are interested in any help
you can give in trying to make an intelli
gent adjustment to this serious problem.
A high school principal in Ala
bama:
I would like to receive the SSN as a
medium for supplying information to our
educational and civic organizations.
We are an elementary school with an
enrollment of 720 pupils and a PTA mem
bership of about 350 parents. We are won
dering if we could be sent some copies
of the SSN—some for the PTA for distri
bution, one for the library, and a few for
the teachers which we could circulate.
Information has come to us that good
objective articles on segregation are be
ing printed at this time and we are cer
tainly in a position to use that kind of
material.
A superintendent in North Caro
lina:
I want to thank you for including me
on the mailing list to receive Southern
School News. I have read the first two
issues with a great deal of interest. The
factual information that you are provid
ing for our guidance is both interesting
and helpful. Would it be possible for you
to send me ten additional copies of the
second issue? I would like to distribute
them to members of our board of trustees.
A principal in South Carolina:
I am very interested that our faculty
which consists of 22 teachers should re-
ceive Southern School News. We are vi
tally interested in factual information
which pertains to schools in our general
region.
LAWYERS ARE INTERESTED
Significantly represented in this
group of requests were members of
the legal profession. Again, as among
other groups, whether the interest is
in continuing segregation or work
ing toward its elimination, there was
the unanimous belief that Southern
School News provides a reliable base
upon which they could establish valid
arguments. Commented an attorney
in West Virginia: “You are doing
what we need in trying to solve the
problems created by the U. S. Su
preme Courts decision on desegrega
tion.”
An attorney for the U. S, Depart
ment of Justice:
As I am presently assisting in the
preparation of the brief of the Department
of Justice in conection with the school
segregation cases, I am very much inter
ested in your publication. It would be
greatly appreciated if you could place me
on your mailing list for future issues of
this publication.
Counsel for the Plaintiffs (Wash
ington, D. C.):
We are counsel for the plaintiffs in a
suit which we have filed in the U.S. Dis
trict Court for the District of Columbia
for an injunction to prevent the Board
of Education from proceeding with de
segregation until the Supreme Court of
the United States shall make its decree on
the subject. We would find your publica
tion very useful.
An attorney in North Carolina:
I should like to receive your bulletins
reporting the progress of integration of
the public schools in Southern States. My
long standing interest as an attorney
particiDating in some of the school cases
and my current interest in education are
such that I have an unusual interest in
matters of this nature.
An attorney in Mobile, Alabama:
We find Southern School News of great
value and do not know how otherwise we
should have succeded in approaching the
fund of helpful information that it con
tains.
A lawyer in Indianolo, Mississippi:
I was fortunate to be able to examine
briefly your September 3rd issue of
Southern School News and was very
much impressed with the thoroughness of
the reporting therein regarding the school
situation. I would like to subscribe to
your newspaper and would appreciate
your advising me as to the subscription
rates.
COMMUNITY GROUPS
Groups requesting issues of south
ern School News range from the
small neighborhood clubs, church and
fraternal groups, local legislative and
advisory committees concerned with
studying the problem of desegrega
tion, to nationally recognized bodies
such as the League of Women Vot-
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