About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1955)
Factual Objective VOL. I, NO. 7 NASHVILLE, TENN. MARCH 3, 1955 Legislators Ponder Segregation Bills SEVERAL southern state legisla- ^ tures continued to map plans for preserving segregation in February. In Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, pro-segregation bills and resolutions of various kinds were either passed or debated. In Louisiana, Mississippi, Okla homa, Texas, and West Virginia, the problem of financing the schools was a main object of concern. In Missouri, St. Louis desegregated its high schools without incident. In the District of Columbia, the integra tion of administrative personnel was the order of business. Kentucky saw an increase in public discussion of the segregation issue. And in Delaware, the big story was the decision of the State Su preme Court upholding the Milford board of education which removed 10 Negro pupils from the Milford white high school. Here is the state-by-state roundup of developments in February: ALABAMA With the Alabama legislature in special session to consider Gov. James Folsom’s road program, two resolutions concerned with the seg regation issue were introduced. One, petitioning the U. S. Congress to limit the jurisdiction of the U. S. Supreme Court and other federal courts, was unanimously adopted. The second, declaring “unqualified allegiance” to a provision of the Ala bama constitution requiring segre gation, was approved by committee, but had not been voted on by the legislature as this issue of Southern School News went to press. ARKANSAS Arkansas school forces seeking ad ditional state aid picked up the sup port of Gov. Orval Faubus and cut the requested annual increase from $12,500,000 to $10,300,000 but still were far from success with the anti tax legislature. White America Inc., to promote continued racial segre gation, was incorporated and began circulating petitions. Segregation in the schools finally was mentioned on the floor of the legislature and it led to the defeat of a resolution asking Congress to help build schools. Three days later, the Senate again heard warnings that acceptance of federal aid for schoolhouse construction ^ught jeopardize the practice of segregation but it approved a House hill enabling the state to accept such aid if available. Bills designed to ma mtain racial segregation in schools an d patterned after legislation pro posed in Tennessee were introduced la both houses, and the House of representatives gave quick approval. Notice Southern- School News is the ofheial publication of the Southern .“cation Reporting Service, 1109 th Ave. South, Nashville, Tenn. i j* .’hstrilmted free to interested tviduals and organizations upon bluest. lnqui r ; es a j, out SOUTHERN t ^cr- 01- should be addressed S, ^. ER S, P. O. Box 6156, Acklen at'on, Nashville, Tenn. Tlv tahl'r Reporting Service was es- ai(( j ,s hed by the southern editors on educators wdiose names appear fin ”' e mas thead on Page 4. It is f 0l f“ccd by a grant from the Fund an ‘ ? Advancement of Education, by 'j ependent agency established A ' e ^ Foundation. 'ey n .?.^ Ec ' a l statement of SERS pol- b ea ^* a Iso be found in the mast- For Writers And Researchers SERS Library Established COMPREHENSIVE library of contemporary materials on the segregation-desegregation issue has been established in the Nashville headquarters of the Southern Educa tion Reporting Service. The collection is available current ly to writers, students and other re searchers in the field. At the conclusion of the SERS project, the collection will be placed in the archives of a leading southern university library for the use of scholars and historians of future years and centuries. The library is built around the fol lowing: 1. A group of basic reference works, including current volumes. 2. A vast assortment of clippings of news stories, magazine articles and editorial comment from current newspapers and other periodicals, mainly but not exclusively published in the southern region. 3. Texts of important legislative proposals proposed for action by legislatures in the region. 4. Texts of important public ad dresses. 5. Records of special study com missions, statistical reports by state departments of education in the southern and border region, and hearings before congressional com mittees. 6. The original, unedited manu scripts of the state-by-state factual reports submitted monthly by SERS correspondents. Among the items of greatest his torical value are the original field re ports from the scholars and re searchers who worked on what has become known as the Ashmore proj ect. These materials are now being indexed. The library is under the direction of Mrs. Imogene McCauley, who came to SERS from the position as librarian of the Ordnance Guided Missile School at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama. Previously, Mrs. McCauley had held other posi tions in public and special libraries. “We hope eventually to have in the SERS library a complete record of every significant development during this interesting period of American history,” explained SERS Director C. A. McKnight. “The library has already been used by a number of graduate students working on degrees in this field and by newspaper and magazine writers. We anticipate that the demand for these materials will continue to grow,” he added. DELAWARE The big news in Delaware during February was the decision of the State Supreme Court upholding the Milford school board’s action in re moving from the Milford white high school 10 Negro pupils who had pre viously been admitted. The Delaware court took the position that the pre decessor of the present Milford board had not followed administra tive procedures laid down by the state board of education, and that its action in admitting the Negro pu pils was hence invalid. The court, however, reaffirmed the principles laid down in the U. S. Supreme Court opinion of last May, declaring that the opinion nullified Delaware segregation statutes. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA The District Board of Education has received a blueprint for job re organization of its dual sets of top school officers who under segrega tion performed parallel duties. Under the proposal, subject to a March vote, several new administrative jobs are created which have been needed in the school system for a number of years. The job realignment would cause no demotions, promotions or salary adjustments for officers. FLORIDA Florida legislators, sounding pub lic sentiment for new laws in a series of public hearings, report an almost total lack of demand for action for or against school segregation. This indicated that any developments in the legislature which starts its bien nial session in April will result from a movement to prevent using tax funds to build segregated schools. Florida is desperately short of class rooms for a swiftly growing school population and this would strike at a highly sensitive spot. GEORGIA The Georgia legislature adjourned after passing several resolutions de signed to emphasize Georgia’s op position to integration, but only one law aimed at helping to prevent mix ing of the races in the schools. The law extends to local communities requirements of an existing statute prohibiting spending of state money for mixed schools. Two Georgia Education Commis sion recommendations were held up in the legislature in a surprise move by the Griffin administration. Aides explained the strategy switch by saying the administration did not wish to create laws which might later be killed by the Supreme Court. KENTUCKY In Kentucky there was a marked increase in mixed-group discussion of desegregation prospects and prob lems. It was sparked largely by com munity leaders seeking to create “a favorable climate of opinion” for a transition deemed inevitable. A Presbyterian pastor in Louisville urged immediate desegregation, but state and local officials said legal roadblocks barred this until the Su preme Court implements its ruling of May 17, 1954. LOUISIANA Louisiana appears to be on the eve of a gigantic school building program designed to equalize facili ties throughout the state. The money apparently will come from the state’s tidelands oil reserves. A showdown battle between exponents of a 1.6 billion dollar highway building pro gram and the education forces seems to have been averted by compromise. Under the temporary agreement: Schools will get 220 million dol lars over the next five years, with 99 million dollars to be given out next year. Highways will get 450 million dol lars over the next 20 years. MARYLAND The General Assembly neared the mid-point of its 90-day session with out segregation entering into its discussions, and the present outlook is that Maryland legislators will, if possible, avoid the subject altogether. Several county groups are studying methods of complying with the Su preme Court decision. The Oliver Cromwell School in Baltimore has become the first formerly all-white school to have more colored than white pupils. MISSISSIPPI At the end of seven weeks, a spe cial session of the Mississippi legis lature was still tied up on legislation for Negro-white public school equal ization designed to preserve segre gation on a “voluntary” basis. One major bill, allocating “bonus” con struction funds for Negroes to speed closure of the facility gap in the dual system, has been approved. However, financing of the equaliza tion program has not been voted, nor bonds authorized to launch the building program which the state department of education estimates will ultimately require 117 million dollars. Gov. Hugh White has warned the “deadlocked” legislature that “unless the equalization program is financed, we might as well forget segregation.” There is no time limit for adjournment of the legislature. MISSOURI The state’s biggest single step to ward integration so far was taken in St. Louis when the seven white and two Negro high schools ended segregation at the start of the second semester on Jan. 31. St. Louis also announced new districts for in tegrated elementary schools, to be come effective at the start of the next school year on Sept. 8. High school integration went off without a single incident of friction or diffi culty, although agitators had tried to stir up trouble. NORTH CAROLINA In North Carolina, the General Assembly has been asked to call for a vote on a constitutional amend ment which would permit the state to appropriate public funds for a system of private schools and Gov. Hodges announced firm opposition to the proposal. Other legislation per taining to schools also has been in troduced. Petitions requesting con tinued segregation have been sub mitted to the legislators. A high NAACP official called for patience and caution in carrying out the Su preme Court decision. OKLAHOMA An all-purpose constitutional amendment designed to revamp Ok lahoma’s entire school finance struc ture went to the Senate after House passage on Feb. 15. The House res olution calls for a statewide election on March 25, but possible delays loomed as school bloc leaders fought Gov. Raymond Gary’s stand aganist increased tax burdens. The omnibus measure includes a new levy replac ing the separate Negro school financ ing system that is now presumably illegal, and this replacement levy sailed through the House without organized opposition. SOUTH CAROLINA Six legislative proposals strength ening the authority of local school trustees to control public school af fairs, including assignment of pupils, have been passed by the State Sen ate and are now before the South Carolina House of Representatives. Included among them is a bill re pealing the state’s compulsory at tendance law. That measure is pro voking opposition from legislators who fear it will weaken the public school establishment, although no opponents of the bill are in favor of integrated schools. TENNESSEE As February drew to an end, it appeared that the Stainback bill to preserve segregation, previously giv en little chance of passage by the Tennessee legislature, might get a new lease on life when it was re ported out favorably by a 6-1 vote by the Senate education committee. In a later action, however, it was tabled by the Senate calendar com mittee. Earlier, at a public hearing on the bill, a number of proponents and opponents voiced their views about the bill. Sen. Stainback, the sponsor, said frankly, “This bill is intended to preserve segregation and we don’t make any secrets about that. . . . The time has come to speak out and act.” TEXAS In the second month of the Texas legislative session, many laws affect ing schools were under considera tion, but none mentioned the segre gation issue. The Texas Council of Organizations, representing various Negro groups, adopted a resolution pledging to fight for implementation of the U. S. Supreme Court decision. A bill to provide for appointment of a majority of Negroes to the govern ing board of Texas Southern Uni versity at Houston won approval of the House of Representatives. VIRGINIA February produced no major de velopments in the segregation-de- segregation question in Virginia. The Richmond News Leader analyzed racial birth rates in the state’s capi tal and noted relative increases among Negroes. Negro newspapers sent representatives to a Winter Workshop at Hampton Institute. Also at Hampton, President Moron an nounced a special course for white and Negro teachers to study the broad question raised by the Su preme Court decision of last May. WEST VIRGINIA In West Virginia there were no new developments in the public school desegregation program, but the legislature began giving a close scrutiny to the state’s system of in stitutions of higher learning to see how much money could be saved by merging some institutions and dis continuing others. Higher per pupil costs at previously all-Negro Blue- field and West Virginia State at tracted the attention of a special Senate subcommittee. Index State Page Alabama 3 Arkansas 2 Delaware 5 District of Columbia 4 Florida 6 Georgia 7 Kentucky 8,9 Louisiana 11 Maryland 10,11 Mississippi 9 Missouri 12 North Carolina 13 Oklrhoma 16 South Carolina 14 Tennessee 15 Texas 6 Virgin'a 16 West Virginia 15
