About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 1955)
PAGE 6—Feb. 3, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Georgia MACON, Ga. TTHE General Assembly of Georgia convened on Jan. 10 with the pas sage of laws aimed at strengthening segregation in the public schools one of the primary legislative objectives. In the works are proposed meas ures recommended by the Georgia Education Commission which would: 1. Make it a felony for any school official of the state or any municipal or county systems to spend tax money for public schools in which the races are mixed, with punishment set at two years in the penitentiary in addi tion to liability for the money ex pended. 2. Allow school superintendents to assign individual students to specific schools in their districts. 3. Permit local school boards to create school districts and amend and alter them at any time. On Jan. 24 the Senate passed with out a dissenting vote the bill mak ing it illegal to use local funds for mixed schools. The other two bills which were recommended by the commission were withdrawn in the Senate for a few days while legal experts cor rected some technical points, admin istration leaders said. No one doubts that the other two measures will pass. OTHER PROPOSALS These three proposed laws, which were explained in detail in the Jan uary issue of Southern School News, have been followed by several other legislative proposals designed to cir cumvent the May 17 U. S. Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation in the public schools or to show dis pleasure at the decree. Both the House and the Senate ap proved two resolutions which would amend the Constitution of the United States to make states solely respon sible for the policies under which their schools operated. One resolution seeks to have Congress initiate the proposed consti tutional amendment. The other reso lution seeks ratification by the leg islatures of at least two-thirds of the states. The House has passed a resolution introduced by Rep. C. C. Perkins of Carroll County and Rep. Bill Kilgore of Gwinnett County which asks Con gress to amend the U. S. Constitution in order to allow white persons to serve with other whites and colored persons to serve with other colored persons in military life. The effect of the amendment urged in the resolution would be to pro hibit a draftee from being ordered to serve with any military unit not com posed of members of his own race if he preferred to serve only with those of his own race. The authors of the amendment said the military reserve program in the South would be wrecked if the na tional administration forces mixing of the races in the federally-con trolled reserves. Rep. Perkins pre dicted that Southerners would resign from the reserves unless steps to pre vent integration are taken. Widespread integration in the armed forces has taken place in units based in Georgia, but reserve and National Guard authorities in the state have vigorously opposed such a policy. At Fort Benning, Georgia’s largest military post, all schools on the post, serving some 1.000 grammar school students, have been operating on an integrated basis for several years. The grammar schools on the post are financed with federal funds. The post does not have a high school and all high school students living on the post go to high schools in the city of Columbus and county of Muscogee, which are operated on a segregated basis. Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson has set Sept. 1, 1955 as the deadline for integration of the 17 military post schools still operating on a segregated basis. None of the 17 is in Georgia. Repeal of Georgia’s compulsory school attendance law may be sought in a proposed bill now under study prior to introduction in the legisla ture. State law now requires all children between the ages of 7 and 17 to at tend either public or private schools. Gov. Marvin Griffin has promised to change the public school system to a segregated private school system as “a last resort” to avoid integration. The author of the proposed bill to wipe out the school attendance law said it may be necessary to repeal the present act requiring school attend ance as a further safeguard against integration. In his traditional message to a joint session of the House and Senate, Gov. Griffin reminded that he had pledged in his campaign for the gubernatorial nomination that Georgia’s constitu tional requirement for the races to be segregated in her schools and col leges would be upheld with all the resources at his disposal “come what may,” and said that the fulfillment of that prime commitment would be a dedicated purpose of his administra tion. Gov. Griffin labeled the Supreme Court decision outlawing segrega tion as a challenge flung in the face of the people “of our region,” and said he spoke for the people of Georgia in accepting the challenge. Pointing out that the state created, built and financed its own educational insti tutions, he said the right to conduct and regulate them would not be sur rendered. “It is likely,” Griffin said, “that during the services of the members of this General Assembly now in office the school segregation crisis may reach its fearful climax.” In that event, the governor said, “Our only concern . . . will be the welfare of the children of Georgia.” Gov. Griffin reminded the legisla ture that a constitutional amendment preparing the machinery for a pos sible segregated private school sys tem had been ratified by the people in the November general election. He endorsed the report and recom mendations of Georgia Commission on Education and put the full weight of his administration behind an ap peal for passage of the laws proposed by the commission. COMMISSION REPORTS The 23-member commission, com posed of state and school officials, legislators and private citizens, all white, reported to the members of the legislature in a book which listed the proposed laws designed to strengthen segregation, cited official opinions by Georgia Atty.-Gen. Eu gene Cook and listed state and fed eral court decisions bearing on the subject of segregation. A memorandum from Durwood T. Pye, executive secretary of the com mission, was included in the report and posed and sought to answer the auestions: “How may the people of Georgia be protected against this de cision?” Pye dismissed legislation of a temporary character in his memo randum and said “The problem is one of long range, involving both the education of all the children and the social structure of the state, and the legislation should be such as looks the situation in the face and may be reasonably regarded as permanent.” At the state’s command, said Pye, are at least the following resources “which constitute materials available for an educational structure whereby the children may be educated in separate institutions: (a) The desire of the people for separate education; (b) The limitations of the Fourteenth Amendment and of the Oliver Brown decision; (c) The taxing power of the state; (d) The state’s ownership of the exist ing public educational plant; and (e) The general legislative power of the state. Examining the “resources” separ ately, Pye said: (a) “The desire of the people for separate education is a resource the importance of which cannot be over emphasized ... If the people of the state are permitted to follow their own inclination and desire, the result of separate education will be accom plished ... If an educational system can be erected beyond the scope of the (U. S. Supreme Court) decision, and beyond the power of the federal judiciary establishment, separate education will prevail notwithstand ing the federal courts. Logic indicates that such a system must operate in the field of education not occupied by the Oliver Brown decision. The unoccupied field is private educa tion. That educational field must be explored and utilized.” (The case of Oliver Brown, et al vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Shaw nee County, Kansas, resulted in the 1954 Supreme Court decision outlaw ing racial segregation in the public schools.) (b) “. . . Neither the decision nor the Fourteenth Amendment to which it applied deals with other forms of educational assistance by the state or with any educational structure other than state-operated schools. The decision will be effective to ter minate the existing public school system in all areas where it is ap plied and enforced by judicial de cree. But it in no way forecloses uti lization of the great field of privately operated educational institutions . ..” STATE’S TAXING POWER (c) “The taxing power of the state is perhaps our greatest resource. By state money our children are edu cated. Federal contributions are rela tively insignificant . . . The state’s power to tax for such public purposes as the state deems proper is beyond federal control . . . (Ratification of) the proposed amendment to the Georgia constitution permitting the General Assembly by law to provide for grants of state, county or muni cipal funds to citizens of the state for educational purposes . . . puts beyond any doubt of legal construc tion the right, power and authority of the General Assembly to utilize the taxing power of the state for the purpose of making educational grants to citizens when such is deemed nec essary and proper by the General Assembly . . .” (d) “All the children of the state, both white and colored, may be ade quately housed by making available the existing educational plant, and the buildings and other physical fa cilities of which it is composed. Local school authorities, sensitive to local School Population Figures Released Figures on school population by race compiled by the state depart ment of education show that Georgia has one county, Dawson, which is 100% white and another county, Han cock, which has 80.4% non-white. The figures are for 1950, the latest year available, and are for 6 to 17 year old school age population and not for enrollment in school. For various reasons, department officials said, all the school age population does not enroll in school. The percentage of Georgia’s non white school age population has steadily decreased from 43.6% in 1920 to 35.1% in 1950. Population esti mates of the Southern Regional Edu cation Board anticipate a continuing decrease: Year Percent Percent White Non-White 1951 63.4 36.6 1952 63.9 36.1 1953 63.9 36.1 1954 64.7 35.3 1955 65.0 35.0 1956 65.3 34.7 1957 65.9 34.1 1958 65.8 34.2 1959 65.9 34.1 Based on the 1950 figures, the me dium, or county above which 50 per cent falls and below which 50 per cent falls, is Wheeler County with 62.5% white and 37.5% non-white 6 to 17 year old school age popula tion. Figures on non-whites of school age in Georgia’s 159 counties show: Less than 1%— 7 Less than 5%— 15 Less than 10%— 21 Less than 15%— 33 Less than 20%— 39 Less than 25%— 46 Less than 30%— 57 Less than 35%— 72 Less than 40%—- 88 Less than 45%— 97 Less than 50%—107 More than 50%— 52 More than 55%— 40 More than 60%— 31 More than 65%— 19 More than 70%— 13 More than 75%— 8 More than 80%— 2 needs, can determine the terms and conditions upon which these prop erties may be made available for educational purposes, just as the General Assembly has from time to time handled the leasing of the state’s railway and other state properties when it was concluded that it was no longer desirable for the state to operate them.” (e) “. . . Included within the au thority of the General Assembly to make laws are the following, which are here of particular relevancy: (1) The power to . . . provide for an educational shift-over in school dis tricts in which the existing separate public school system is knocked out by federal court decree, without dis turbing the present separate public school system in those localities un affected by such decree ... (2) The power to classify . . . This principle should be applied to those localities in which the federal courts knock out the existing public school systems. (3) The licensing and regulatory au thority . . . now utilized in this state to a limited extent only (but) it is requisite that it be expanded in the interest of adequate educational standards for the protection of stu dents and teaching personnel.” Separate education, Pye concludes, requires only (1) money for school tuition and other necessary educa tional expenses; (2) a sufficient num ber of available schools to house the school population; (3) adequate reg ulation of educational institutions to insure corrective standards; and (4) schools which are beyond the coer cive power of the federal courts. “These ingredients,” he said, “are available.” MARSHALL SPEAKER Only a few days before the legis lature convened, a spokesman for the organization declared in Atlanta that the NAACP cannot afford to win the battle against school segregation and “lose the war against segregation.” Atty. Thurgood Marshall, chief le gal officer of the NAACP, spoke at the 91st annual celebration of the Eman cipation Proclamation at the Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta on Jan. 1. In his first address in Georgia since the May 17 ruling, Marshall told some 2,000 Negroes that states con tending that the integration decrees handed down by the court will not work are run by politicians instead of the people. Marshall said Georgia was in this category and said the NAACP intends to find out why pub lic spokesmen maintain that mixed schools are unworkable. The NAACP, said Marshall, is pledged to an all-out effort begin ning in 1955 to “break down segre gation in all forms, including trans portation on street buses and railroad waiting rooms.” He observed that the May 17 rul ing has been called “The Second Emancipation Proclamation” but de clared, “unless we continue the struggle with renewed vigor and without abandoning our objectives, it might be that in the future the so- called Second Emancipation Procla mation will go the way of the first.” CONGRESS TO GET BILL A bill to remove jurisdiction of fed eral judicial agencies from state school systems, proposed by Georgia Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook before the national convention of attorneys gen eral several weeks ago, will probably be introduced in Congress by Rep. E. L. Forrester of Georgia’s Third Congressional District, Cook said. The bill, designed to block the Su preme Court from enforcing its inte gration decision, has been held by Cook to be the simplest means for the South to avoid mixing the races in the schools. Cook said Forrester told him “a number of my colleagues are interested in the measure.” Sen. Richard B. Russell of Georgia had said earlier, however, that he saw little hope of Congress passing such legislation. In Augusta, two Negro women were accepted for grand jury service when Richmond County Superior Court convened. They were listed as Jerrylina Walker and Leah B. Foster. Both are residents of Augusta. Court officials expresed an opinion that it was the first time Negro women have served on a grand jury anywhere in the country. Augusta was also the site for an organizational meeting of the States’ Rights Council of Georgia, Inc. In a brochure being circulated, the group, composed of Augusta citizens, said the council is dedicated to: 1. The preservation of the social, politi cal and economic institutions of our Southland. 2. The prevention of the encroachment of subversive ideologies which have as their aim the undermining of our con stitutional rights. 3. The preservation of the integrity of the white and Negro races, under our system of segregation as the only means of maintaining racial harmony. 4. The use of every lawful means to achieve and maintain the objectives set forth above. The council believes integration will “lead to miscegnation and ulti mate mongrelization of the races” and warns: “There is a job to be done. Don’t be lulled into complacency by the soothing talk of ‘gradual’ race integration. There must never be any integration.” Hugh G. Grant is fisted as presi dent of the organization and Roy V. Harris is first vice president. In Atlanta, the NAACP charged that Negro doctors were discriminat ed against at a meeting of the Amer ican Cancer Society. The Negro doc tors did not attend any of the sessions because of what they considered an insult in being barred from the lunch eon and dinner, according to C. I. Harper, president of the Atlanta NAACP branch and Dr. F. Earl Mc Lendon, president of the Georgia State Medical Association, an organi zation of Negro physicians. They contended information about cancer given by featured speakers at lunch eon sessions should have been avail able to all members of the medical profession. Dr. Enoch Calloway, chairman of the Professional Education Commit tee of the American Cancer Society’s Georgia Division, said an error was made in addressing invitations to the meeting. The committee intended to invite Negro doctors to only the sci entific sessions and white doctors to the scientific sessions and the lunch eon and dinner, Dr. Calloway said. Through an error, he reported, invi tations urging “every white doctor in Georgia” to make reservations for both functions were mailed out. The Medical Association of Geor gia, composed of white members, has agreed to allow any county medical association to grant full membership to colored doctors but only two groups have done so. New Negro Association Draws NAACP Criticism NOTASULGA, Ala. Dr. Collier P. Clay, introduced as a noted Negro educator and presi dent of “Union Theological Semi nary” of Birmingham, told a group of Macon County Negroes on Jan. 22 that “the best friend we have is the Southern white man.” Dr. Clay spoke before a group calling itself the Negro Improvement Association of Alabama, Inc., organ ized in avowed opposition to the “outside troublemakers” of tbe Na tional Association for the Advance ment of Colored People. (Dr. Clay’s school, “Union Theo logical Seminary,” is not fisted to either the Birmingham city directory or telenhone directory.) The Negro Improvement Associa tion of Alabama seeks equalization of Np°ro facilities rather than inte gration. In referring to the segregation question as “the greatest threat to the human family,” Dr. Clay said: “. . . The answers to all the race problems of the South are found to the South. We have our problems, but for all of them there is a South ern remedy. We don’t need and don’t want help from the outside. If you have any oro .’ lems here, petition the white foil 1 ®. authority and they will help you. *o know who feeds you, you know wn clothes you, and you know who fills jp gaps. That’s what the white folks do » yOU ' On Jan. 24, the Alabama NAAL‘ replied to Dr. Clay’s address by r® affirming its intentions to fight “first class citizenship.” The state or ganization from its Birmingh 31 ^ headquarters, warned against known pseudo-leaders” speaking 1 state Negro citizens.
