Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—Jan. 6, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Delaware
WILMINGTON, Del.
ELAWARE is awaiting the deci
sion of the State Supreme Court
of three justices on whether or not
10 Negro students can return to the
Milford white high school. Upon that
decision depends, to a large extent,
the direction and scope of the deseg
regation program in this state.
These students had finished Negro
grade school in Milford. They had
been admitted in September to the
Milford high school. Almost imme
diately there flared up a controversy
that attracted national and even in
ternational attention.
As the controversy continued and
attendance boycotts in southern
Delaware spread in protest against
the admission of the 10 students, a
new board of education was organ-
ized in Milford and the 10 students
were told to leave.
Since then, they have been attend
ing an all-Negro high school in
Georgetown, Del.
DECISION APPEALED
However, the Wilmington chapter
of the NAACP brought suit in the
Chancery Court of Delaware, and
Vice Chancellor William Marvel de
clared that the children should be
readmitted. The counsel for the Mil
ford board of education took an ap
peal to the State Supreme Court.
Appearing in arguments before the
State Supreme Court were counsel
for the following parties:
Louis L. Redding, attorney for the
NAACP.
Howard E. Lynch, attorney for the
Milford board of education. (Atty.
Gen. H. Albert Young, who would
ordinarily represent a local board of
education, took the position that the
10 Negro students should be read
mitted.)
William Prickett, attorney for the
Delaware unit of the American Civil
Liberties Union, on behalf of read
mission of the Negro children.
John J. Morris, Wilmington attor
ney, who had been appointed by the
State Supreme Court to argue the
effect of the U. S. Supreme Court’s
May 17 decision on the state consti
tution.
The gist of the arguments:
Mr. Redding: The May 17 decision
of the U. S. Supreme Court clearly
gives the Negro students the right
to attend the Milford high school, de
spite the separate but equal provi
sions of the state constitution. The
reorganized Milford board of educa
tion, had no right to suspend the Ne
groes, once they had been admitted
by the predecessor board.
Mr. Lynch: The Negro students
had never b.een legally admitted to
the Milford school because the Mil
ford board of education, as consti
tuted in September of 1954, had not
first consulted the state board of edu
cation. The state board of education
had issued a directive to all school
districts in Delaware, just before the
opening of the school year, asking
that it be notified in advance of any
integration plans.
Mr. Prickett: The May 17 decision
of the U. S. Supreme Court super
sedes any state constitution and
therefore, there was no reason to
deny the right of the Negroes to at
tend white schools in their districts.
Mr. Morris: The effect of the May
17 decision is still undetermined. The
U, S. Supreme Court has still to hand
down decrees implementing its deci
sion.
The State Supreme Court reserved
decision.
OTHER INCIDENTS
In the meantime, three incidents
occurred in the latter part of 1954
that focused attention upon the in
tegration problem:
1. The testimonial dinner given in
honor of NAAWP President Bryant
Bowles.
2. The visit of National American
Legion Commander Seaborn Collins
of New Mexico, and remarks he made
in an interview on the subject of in
tegration.
3. The mass distribution through
the mails of a paper, Common Sense,
out of Union, N. J.
The Bowles turkey dinner was
given by his supporters of Sussex
County and the locale was the VFW
Hall of Millsboro. The place was
jammed. Bowles talked for about an
hour and said that he was proud of
the people of the State of Delaware,
particularly those of Kent and Sus
sex Counties for their efforts in
fighting integration.
However, this was not the end of
it. A Negro post of the VFW in Wil
mington objected to the fact that the
VFW in Millsboro had rented its hall
for the occasion and that the VFW
auxiliary in Millsboro had served the
dinner.
This controversy involved Miles
Frederick of Wilmington, state com
mander of the VFW, who is also di
rector of the State Development De
partment.
In reply to criticism directed
against the VFW post in Millsboro by
the Negro veterans of Wilmington,
Mr. Frederick said, “I feel that the
Millsboro post and auxiliary have not
violated any VFW principle by stag
ing this dinner other than the pos
sible attitude of monetary return
over moral principle.”
The auxiliary in Millsboro got $300
for having served the Bowles testi
monial dinner.
Mr. Frederick said he had spoken
with VFW officials in the town and
had warned them not to violate any
of the principles of the VFW. He
also stated that in his opinion Bowles
and his followers “are openly preach
ing defiance of the Constitution of
the United States through their op
position to a ruling by the Supreme
Court.” However, Mr. Frederick
could see no violation of any stated
principle of the VFW in renting its
hall and serving a dinner to the
Bowles followers.
COLLINS INTERVIEW
The next incident occurred when
American Legion National Com
mander Collins came to Delaware.
In an interview on integration with
a reporter of the Wilmington Morn
ing News, Collins is said to have re
marked:
“You can’t legislate morals—just
by passing a law, you can’t make peo
ple do things which are not natural
and which they do not choose to do
of their own volition. This school in
tegration will take time. If you try
to force it by law you are ramming
something down the throats of people.
“As for the Negro, I respect him
and think the world of him but I
don’t regard him as my equal.”
This interview created a stir in
Wilmington, particularly among Ne
gro Legionnaires. They demanded an
apology.
However, National Commander
Collins claimed later there was some
confusion in the room of the Hotel
DuPont, Wilmington, when he was
being interviewed by the reporter,
Ted Clark. He denied having referred
to the NAACP as having “a lot of
northern radicals” in its membership.
He also said—later: “I did not want
in any way to intimate that all men
are not created equal. As a member
of the Legion there is only one stand
I can take on this issue and that is
the stand taken by our Legion pre
amble. I must support law and order
and due process of the law.”
PAPER DISTRIBUTED
The next incident came shortly be
fore Christmas when thousands of
copies of Common Sense were de
livered to “householders” and “route
boxes.”
While there was considerable ap
proval of what the paper had to say
about Jews and Negroes, there was
little published support of the paper
in Delaware. On the other hand, the
Wilmington News-Journal papers
denounced Common Sense and vari
ous interracial groups demanded that
the publisher of the paper be investi
gated as “subversive.”
Common Sense—which lists Conde
McGinley as its editor—featured the
Milford story, attacked Jews as the
perpetrators of integration and
charged that the B’nai B’rith, a Jew
ish fraternal organization, has been
using the News-Journal papers as its
tool. It also accused President Eisen
hower as being involved in the
“Jewish-Communist” plot to take
over America.
The issue attacked Atty. Gen. H.
Albert Young, who is Jewish, and
recalled that he had changed his
name from “Yonevich.”
The mailing of the paper and its
contents were criticized by the Wil
mington Council of the Brotherhood
of Christians and Jews, the Catholic
Inter-Racial Council of Delaware,
and by several ministers, including
the Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Mulligan of
Georgetown and the Rev. Roy Law-
son Tawes, of Wilmington, Method
ists; also leaders of the VFW and the
American Legion and the Delaware
unit of the Jewish War Veterans.
Southern School news
Southern School News is the official publication of the Southern Education
Reporting Service, an objective, fact-finding agency established by southern
newspaper editors and educators with the aim of providing accurate,
unbiased information to school administrators, public officials and interested
lay citizens on developments in education arising from the U. S. Supreme
Court opinion of May 17, 1954 declaring segregation in the public schools
unconstitutional. SERS is not an advocate, is neither pro-segregation nor
anti-segregation, but simply reports the facts as it finds them, state by state.
PUBLIC REFERENDA
The most important and most
significant events in southern Dela
ware—the battlefield of the integra
tion-segregation conflict—during No
vember and December have been the
unofficial referenda on the question.
They are unofficial in that they are
not binding by law upon any school
district board, the state board of edu
cation, or any state or local official.
Proponents of integration are in
clined to pooh-pooh these referenda
and opponents of integration see in
them very decisive evidence of the
feeling in southern Delaware against
integration.
In the meantime, H. Albert Young,
retiring attorney general, has made
the results of the referenda in 14
southern Delaware cities and towns
part of the integration files in his
office and has promised to include the
results in his presentation to the U.
S. Supreme Court discussion on im
plementation of the May 17 decision.
With several exceptions, all the
towns that held such referenda are in
Sussex County, Del.
It is felt certain that when and if
a situation presents itself that would
require further expression of public
opinion in southern Delaware, the
self-styled “citizens committees” will
hold more referenda in other com
munities of that area.
BACKGROUND OF VOTING
To understand the referenda, one
must keep these facts in mind:
Although the voting was held in 14
towns, the voters did not necessarily
come from those towns.
The voting was held in what is
known in Delaware as “school dis
tricts” which are often greater areas
than the towns where the schools are
located.
The rules for conducting school
referenda vary. In some places, reg
istration books are used and in other
places, people just come in and vote.
School boards are independent of
local governments but are answer-
able to the state board of education.
Delaware has a highly developed
state school system which provides
the great bulk of funds for operating
schools. There is no such thing in
Delaware as a county school system.
There is a mixture of elected school
boards in Delaware and boards ap
pointed by judges. All the school
boards in southern Delaware are
elected by the voters of the respec
tive school districts—and in this way,
are answerable to the people of the
districts.
Virginius Dabney
Thomas R. Waring
C. A. McKnight .
OFFICERS
Chairman
Vice-Chairman
Executive Director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Frank Ahlgren, Editor, Memphis
Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
Tenn.
Gordon Blackwell, Director, Institute
for Research in Social Science,
University of N. C.
Harvie Branscomb, Chancellor, Van
derbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
Virginius Dabney, Editor, Richmond
Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va.
Coleman A. Harwell, Editor, Nash
ville Tennessean, Nashville, Tenn.
Henry H. Hill, President, George
Peabody College, Nashville, Tenn.
Charles S. Johnson, President, Fisk
University, Nashville, Tenn.
C. A. McKnight, Editor (On Leave]
Charlotte News, Charlotte, N. C.
Charles Moss, Executive Editor,
Nashville Banner, Nashville, Tenn.
Thomas R. Waring, Editor, Charles
ton News & Courier, Charleston,
S. C.
Henry I. Willett, Superintendent of
Schools, Richmond, Va.
P. B. Young Sr., Editor, Norfolk
Journal & Guide, Norfolk, Va.
CORRESPONDENTS
ALABAMA
William H. McDonald, Editorial
Writer, Montgomery Advertiser
ARKANSAS
Thomas D. Davis, Asst. City Editor,
Arkansas Gazette
DELAWARE
William P. Frank, Staff Writer,
Wilmington News
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Jeanne Rogers, Education Writer,
Washington Post & Times Herald
FLORIDA
Bert Collier, Staff Writer, Miami
Herald
GEORGIA
Joseph B. Parham, Editor, The
Macon News
KENTUCKY
Weldon James, Editorial Writer,
Louisville Courier-Journal
LOUISIANA
Mario Fellom, Political Reporter,
New Orleans Item
MARYLAND
Edgar L. Jones, Editorial Writer,
Baltimore Evening Sun
MISSISSIPPI
Kenneth Toler, Mississippi Bureau,
Memphis Commercial-Appeal
MISSOURI
Robert Laseh, Editorial Writer, St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
NORTH CAROLINA
Jay Jenkins, Staff Writer, Raleigh
News & Observer
OKLAHOMA
Mary Goddard, Staff Writer, Ok
lahoma City Oklahoman-Times
SOUTH CAROLINA
W. D. Workman Jr., Special Cor
respondent, Columbia, S. C.
TENNESSEE
James Elliott, Staff Writer, Nash
ville Banner
Wallace Westfeldt, Staff Writer,
Nashville Tennessean
TEXAS
Richard M. Morehead, Austin Bu
reau, Dallas News
VIRGINIA
Overton Jones, Editorial Writer,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
WEST VIRGINIA
Frank A. Knight, Editor, Charles
ton Gazette
MAIL ADDRESS
P. O. Box 6156, Acklen Station, Nashville 5, Tenn.
The 14 referenda held in southern
Delaware as the year 1954 waned
were given considerable advance
publicity. In some instances, the vot
ing places were in the schools, and
in other communities, in public halls.
The ballots stated the propose
very briefly: Are you for integrate
Are you against integration?
Or: Are you in favor of segrft
tion? Are you against segregation
Another type of question p oseC
a referendum was:
Results Of Delaware Referenda
This table gives a complete tally of the various public referenda on segre
gation-integration held in Delaware during November and December. The
referenda are discussed in detail in the Delaware report on this page.
It should be remembered that the population of a town may not have a
direct relationship to school population, since the school districts often ex
tend beyond the corporate town limits.
The tally does not include such large and important southern Delaware
towns and cities as Seaford (pop. 3,079); Lewes (pop. 2,904); Rehoboth Beach
(pop. 1,794). Although no referenda have been held in these communities, it
is quite likely that they would register similar majorities against integration.
Town Where
School Is
Population
of the
School District
Enrollment
Integration Vote
Located
Town
White
Negro
Against
For
Blades
789
95
**
148
0
Laurel
2,689
1,333
297
1,261
31
Georgetown ...
1,913
981
92
1,387
11
Millsboro
470
643
204
802
2
Ellendale
319
131
45
299
1
Lincoln
*
141
56
236
1
Gumboro
218
108
**
218
0
Frederica
290
190
**
290
6
Greenwood ....
746
486
47
459
10
Harrington ....
2,247
714
103
1,106
11
Houston
327
110
**
245
11
Milford
5,179
1,565
251
2,332
25
Milton
1,322
591
58
934
6
Hartly
139
184
31
220
0
Total
....16,648
7,272
1,184
9,937
115
* No population figures
♦* No Negro school in this district
“Are you in favor of colored ;
white attending the same school
In one city, Harrington, an &■
tional question was asked:
“Are you in favor of equal ed*
tional facilities for colored?
vote was: 192, yes; 30, no.
Negroes were barred from v0 ’
in only several of these townftj
where they were permitted,
few turned out.
The results of these referenda
bound to appear before the G 0 *,
Assembly when and if it i s -
upon to enact legislation that :
possibly be interpreted as ha 31
the transition to integrafi 00
southern Delaware.
The referenda will have son ^-
fluence, too, since of the 17 J® j,
in the State Senate, 10 com e ^
the two southernmost coun,
Delaware, and of the 35 mem
the State House of Represen ^
20 come from the two same c°
—Kent and Sussex. ^
Some of the problems
presented to the General
in early 1955 concern reorgahw
of school district boundaries’ (
finances, building construct: 0
school support.