Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.”