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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—Feb. 3, 1955—PAGE 3
Delaware
WILMINGTON, Del.
B RYANT BOWLES has decided to
become a legal resident of Dela
ware. According to his statements,
he expects to raise money for the
construction of national headquarters
of his National Association for the
Advancement of White People in
Sussex County of Delaware, and also
will strive to make Delaware “the
pilot model for whites.”
When the announcement was made
of Bowles’ intention of becoming a
Delaware resident — moving here
from Washington, D. C.,—he said:
“Eisenhower is making Washing
ton the pilot model for the Negro;
so we’ll make Delaware the pilot
model for whites.”
Addressing a Milford rally of about
200 persons in mid-January, Bowles
said he didn’t like the nation’s “black
capital.”
However, Bowles’ moving into
Delaware was not without some fric
tion, particularly with some leaders
of the State Department of the
American Legion.
He also became a member of the
Milford Parent-Teacher Association
and that created some comment.
WOULD OUST OFFICIALS
Bowles further announced his plan
to have Dr. George R. Miller Jr. re
moved as state superintendent of
public instruction; also to have the
following removed from their jobs:
Dr. Ramon C. Cobbs, superintendent
of the public schools in Milford where
the NAAWP had staged a successful
push to exclude Negroes from white
schools, and Alex Glasmire, princi
pal of the school.
The month of January was devel
oping rather quietly along the inte
gration-segregation front until the
middle of the month when the news
broke that Bowles was not only be
coming a legal resident of Delaware,
was planning to buy a home in the
southernmost county of the state,
Sussex, but that he also intended to
cun for the Milford board of educa
tion at the school board elections later
in the year.
Simultaneous with this announce-
m ent, an NAAWP rally was called for
Jan. 13 at the Milford Port No. 3 of
the American Legion.
It was further disclosed that Bowles
nad applied for a transfer from the
Alexandria, Va., American Legion to
the Milford post, but Thomas B.
Egan of Wilmington, state depart
mental adjutant, hinted that the
transfer would not be automatic. Also
Egan expressed some doubt as to
whether the Milford post home would
actually be used for the NAAWP
meeting.
However, the meeting was held ac
cording to schedule, although there
was some furore at first. Bowles
claimed that considerable pressure
was exerted to prevent the meeting
being held in the Milford post home
but, he said, telephone calls were
made by him to national headquar
ters of the American Legion and,
Bowles reported, he was told there
were no grounds for prohibiting the
meeting.
SPOKE AT MEETING
At the meeting, Bowles was the
principal speaker. He outlined his
plans for raising money for building
the national headquarters of the
NAAWP in Sussex county. He de
nied there was any connection be
tween the NAAWP and the news
paper Common Sense that flooded
Delaware just before Christmas, de
nouncing integration and blaming it
all on the Jews.
Bowles said he was not against the
position taken by the newspaper, but
he said that no one was authorized
by the NAAWP to collect money for
Common Sense.
At this same meeting in Milford,
Bowles threatened to take his anti
integration campaign into Kent coun
ty and New Castle county, the latter
county being the strongest area for
integration. He claimed that there
are already 1,300 members of the
NAAWP in Delaware whose total
population is now somewhere around
360,000. .
Also in mid-January, Bowles
joined the Milford Elementary School
PTA and was accepted as a member
after his application for membership
had first been rejected. Bowles at
tended the meeting of the Milford
PTA meeting at which he was ac
cepted as a member but he did not
enter in any of the discussions.
James N. Snowden of Wilmington,
president of the Delaware Congress
of Parents and Teachers, advised the
Milford PTA that although Bowles
was not yet a legal citizen of Dela
ware and even though his child,
Denise, is not of school age, nonethe
less he could be accepted as a mem
ber “as long as he pays his dues and
subscribes to the objectives of the
PTA.”
Said Snowden, who is an outspoken
advocate of integration:
“On behalf of the 25,000 members
of the Congress of Parents and
Teachers, representing all races,
colors and creeds, we welcome Mr.
Bowles into the membership and we
trust that he will subscribe to our
policies which include the observ
ance of law and order and respect
for our democratic institutions and
processes.”
REPLY TO THREAT
Soon after it became known that
Bowles and the NAAWP in Delaware
were after the scalps of State Public
School Supt. Miller, Milford’s su
perintendent, Dr. Cobb, and Milford
principal Glasmire, a statement was
issued by O. J. Small of Wilmington,
president of the state board of edu
cation, that these men were merely
following the policies laid down by
the state board of education.
Small indicated the state board of
education had no intention of firing
any one of these school executives
because of their role in the attempt at
partial integration in the Milford
school last September.
In the meantime, with the Gener
al Assembly of Delaware in session,
it has been expected that some type
of proposed legislation would be in
troduced any day primarily to curb
the powers of the state department of
public instruction.
It is not thought that any step will
be taken toward preventing integra
tion in those communities that want
it. But since the state department of
public instruction and the state board
of education have an established poli
cy favoring gradual integration, some
members of the General Assembly, it
is rumored in Dover, will attempt to
curb the statewide policy making
powers of the department.
However, it has been pointed out
from time to time that both Demo
cratic and Republican parties of
Delaware have come out in support
of gradual integration and support
of the Supreme Court decisions in
their platforms adopted last August.
This stated position of the political
parties may prevent the crystalliza
tion of any open legislative attempt to
circumvent integration.
On the other hand, Gov. J. Caleb
Boggs (Republican governor faced
with a Democratic General Assem
bly) recommended, in his biennial
message to the General Assembly,
the creation of a State Human Rela
tions Commission which would be
empowered to handle any problem
involving tension or conflict among
groups of citizens.
There was immediate reaction from
James Quigley of New Castle (Dem
ocrat), speaker of the State House
of Representatives, who said he
didn’t see any need for a State Hu
man Relations Commission since, in
his opinion, there hadn’t been any
evidence of conflict among the people
of Delaware.
The Active Young Republicans of
New Castle county retorted: “Where
has Mr. Quigley been? The nation
and even Soviet Russia have heard
of ‘the Milford story.’ Has Mr. Quig
ley just come here from Mars?”
RESULTS OF POLL
Almost at the same time, a poll
taken among news writers and edi
tors on the staff of the Wilmington
Morning News indicated that the
“Milford Incident,” involving the
school attendance boycotts, the rise
of the NAAWP in Delaware and the
integration controversy in southern
Delaware, was the No. 1 Delaware
News Story of 1954.
The poll also revealed the opinion
that integration in some Delaware
schools, beginning in September of
1954, would not have been among the
very top Delaware stories of the year,
had it not been for the “Milford In
cident.”
The poll also showed that the “Mil
ford Incident” affected in many as
pects the outcome of the election on
the state level, giving the Democrats
a complete and sweeping victory.
Gov. Boggs also recommended the
continuation of Delaware State Col
lege and adequate appropriations for
its operation and building construc
tion.
This college, located near Dover, is
in a practical sense considered a Ne
gro college although there are several
white students among its enrollment
of several hundred. Its president is
Dr. Jerome Holland, a former Negro
football star at Cornell and now re
garded as an outstanding educator.
While Dr. Holland insists that Del
aware State College (not to be con
fused with the University of Dela
ware at Newark, Del.) is not a
segregated Negro college, it is re
South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.i
| ' convening of the 1955 sessic
of the South Carolina General A:
sembly was accompanied by thr<
S1 gnificant developments relating
racial separation in the publ
sc °°k: a second interim report fro:
a special committee studying scho
segregation, a farewell message fro:
u Soing Gov. James Byrnes, and e
augural address by incoming Go
e °rge Bell Timmerman Jr.
^ In each instance, the same then
as iaij down—continued racial sej
a ion in South Carolina to the mai
Ur U m f degree possible, with no mea:
6 of compulsory intermingling. T1
“ tt ' v 2° vern or flatly declared th;
t ol 6 P e °ple of South Carolina will n<
of tlf*- 6 an ^ Compering with the livi
the f &l , r children by any agency <
federal government.”
3 n ^g P rev i ou sly stated pc
^ord d at sc k°°i patrons should I
sociat- a ^ rGe choice of racial as
their vi * n determining what school
thic , dren should attend, he mad
^statement;
rendered*?, acce Ptable decree that may t
school the Supreme Court in th
recognj.. ,egati° n cases is one that wi
to choo 5 „ 1 u ri .ght of individual parenl
‘hen. w hat is best for their own chil
^ G^v CURB ° N COURTS
that c ^tferuerman also proposed
of th e £ n ®ress curb the jurisdiction
era! co U ^ reme Court and other fed-
itirisdi ky exempting from such
lie Sc j 1 C 10n eases relating to the pub-
s dtutionf' Preservation of con-
atid the f government, he declared,
itetis H * U * Ur e protection of all cit-
"iudici a i P ^ n ^? upon the curbing of
infringement upon consti
tutional government and upon the
freedom of a large segment of the
citizens of the United States.”
He and his predecessor, Gov.
Byrnes, both declared that the future
course of educational development
in South Carolina depended in large
measure upon the attitude of the
Negroes of the state. Gov. Byrnes, in
a review of the educational equaliza
tion accomplished during his four-
year administration, said:
The great majority of Negro parents
prefer that their children should attend
our modem schools for Negroes and be
taught by Negro teachers . . . Whether
I am right or wrong will be determined
upon the implementation of the Supreme
Court decision. If Negroes should then
desert their colored teachers, seek to at
tend white schools, and as a result our
public school system be endangered, the
responsibility for that tragedy will rest
upon them and not upon you (legislators).
Gov. Timmerman made somewhat
the same point in his inaugural ad
dress, and added a strongly-stated
admonition against group action by
Negroes. He said:
White parents do not wish their children
to mix in public schools with large groups
of Negro children. Most Negro parents do
not want their children to mix with large
groups of white children. These parental
objections are alone sufficient and should
be respected. Our state has discouraged
organizations against Negroes, and it is
hoped that the best thought and senti
ment of the South will continue to do so;
but when Negroes combine against
whites, it is inevitable that whites will
combine against Negroes and both races
will suffer.
NEW LAWS PROPOSED
Meanwhile, the South Carolina
General Assembly had been handed
a number of legislative recommenda
tions aimed at fortifying the author
ity of local school officials to cope
with problems of racial separation.
One major suggestion would elimi
nate the state’s compulsory attend
ance law.
The proposals were made on the
opening day of the 1955 session (Jan.
11) by a 15-member committee which
is studying the overall problem of
public school segregation. Back in
July of 1954, the committee recom
mended against the calling of a spe
cial legislative session and urged the
continuance of South Carolina schools
throughout the 1954-55 school year
on the same basis as heretofore, that
is, with separate schools for white
and Negro children.
In reporting to the legislature in
January, the committee said it had
found no reason to change its views
that “the consensus of public opinion
in this state favors better educational
opportunity for all children—in sep
arate schools.”
A report signed by the committee
chairman, State Sen. L. Marion Gres-
sette, of Calhoun County, said:
“Your committee will not recom
mend any course of action or legis
lative enactment which will force
Negro children to attend schools es
tablished for white children or re
quire white children to attend schools
established for Negro children. If
forced separation is wrong, then it
must follow that forced intermingling
is wrong.”
The committee called attention to
the racial discord and strife which
has arisen in non-Southern states as
a result of attempts to compel inte
gration as a consequence of the Su
preme Court decision outlawing le
gal segregation. Noting the exodus of
white students from such forcibly in
tegrated schools, the committee said:
“This experience indicates that,
wherever integration is attempted,
there will result a gradual migration
of families who can afford homes
elsewhere to neighborhoods where
residential segregation by choice will
produce educational segregation by
necessity.
“It is being increasingly recognized
throughout the nation that the race
problem is no longer a southern
problem alone. It has become a na
tional problem which is more acute
in some areas of the non-South than
it is in most southern communities.”
OTHER SESSIONS
The committee indicated that it
would remain “in more or less con
tinuous session” to cope with subse
quent developments. In the absence
of any final decree from the Supreme
Court, the committee said, “It is em
phasized that hasty, premature or
precipitate action on the part of the
General Assembly, other officials and
the public should be avoided. The
content and effect of the final de
crees cannot be accurately predicted
or safely anticipated. Therefore, we
recommend no further action except
as herein outlined at this time.”
The committee suggested the fol
lowing legislative actions, all of which
are incorporated in bills now pend
ing in the General Assembly and con
sidered certain of passage:
1. Remove the compulsory features
of the existing attendance laws and
re-designate attendance teachers as
“visiting teachers,” charged with ob
taining attendance through influence
and persuasion rather than through
the exercise of legal authority.
2. Remove from county boards of
education the power to open and close
schools and specifically vest that au
thority in district boards of trustees.
3. Spell out the right of district
trustees to transfer pupils “so as to
promote the best interests of educa
tion.”
garded throughout Delaware as such.
Its original name was Delaware State
College for Colored Students. The
name was finally abbreviated to
Delaware State College. It lost its
accreditation several years ago and
is now striving for re-accreditation.
A number of Negroes and whites,
principally in northern Delaware,
have been clamoring for the shutting
down of the institution as a college,
but Gov. Boggs two years ago decid
ed to have it continued and it was
at his request that Dr. Holland was
brought to Delaware to become its
president and prepare it for re-ac
creditation.
Members of the General Assembly
are inclined to agree that the college
should be continued and expressed
their intentions of appropriating suf
ficient funds for its operation and
more money for new buildings.
Delaware State College has a board
of trustees of whites and Negroes
separate from the board of the Uni
versity of Delaware, which is an in
tegrated university at all levels.
Dr. Holland has insisted that Dela
ware State College—not more than
45 miles from the University of Dela
ware—is serving a very important
and distinct service to the Negro
youth of Delaware, particularly for
those youths who because of eco
nomic backgrounds and academic
standings cannot attend the Univer
sity of Delaware.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Other developments on the Dela
ware scene during January were:
The Wilmington Catholic Interra
cial Council in a widely distributed
news letter, Truth and Deed, came
out with a plea for fair employment
legislation in the current Delaware
General Assembly. The letter pointed
that the responsibility lies with the
Democratic Party which controls the
General Assembly by an overwhelm
ing majority, because the 1954 plat
form of the Delaware Democratic
Party stated:
“We advocate the enactment of a
statute providing for all citizens the
right to employment on merit, with
effective provisions guaranteeing em
ployment practices based on qualifi
cation.”
Truth and Deed continued:
“In view of the militant action cen
tered in Milford, some legislators may
be unusually slow to support FEP
legislation. This sort of thinking
should not dominate the General As-
See DELAWARE on Page 4
4. Permit the transfer of pupils
from one county to another where
approved by local school officials
without the existing requirement that
parents own property in the county
to which the transfer would be made.
5. Vest school trustees with the
right to lease as well as to sell school
property.
LIST OF MEMBERS
The committee comprises the fol
lowing: State Sens. L. Marion Gres-
sette of Calhoun County; William L.
Harrelson of Marion; R. M. Jefferies
of Colleton; James Hugh McFaddin
of Clarendon; and John Henry Wil
liams of Aiken; Reps. Tracy J. Gaines
of Spartanburg; Philip H. Arrowsmith
of Florence; Harold B. King of Oco
nee; Paul M. Macmillan Jr. of
Charleston; and William L. Rhodes
Jr. of Hampton; and the following
appointees of the governor: Wayne
W. Freeman of Greenville; Miller C.
Foster of Spartanburg; G. Creighton
Frampton, Charleston County super
intendent of education; George D.
Levy of Sumter; and George Warren
of Hampton.
The January developments brought
little reaction from South Carolina
Negroes, except for a brief statement
in reply to Gov. Byrnes’ remarks in
his farewell message. James M. Hin
ton, state president of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, said that the gov
ernor’s remarks would “in no wise
change the course of action by Ne
groes in South Carolina to continue
their fight for the elimination of se
gregation in education.
“Negro parents only want their
children taught by competent teach
ers and in integrated schools, where
children of both races can learn to
study, and learn to live as citizens.”