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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.