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Alabama
MONTGOMERY, Ala.
G OV. JAMES E. FOLSOM’S giant
road program dominated the in
terests of the Alabama legislature
during February, but there were
indications that school matters were
on the minds of the governor, the
legislators, educators over the state,
and the public.
Gov. Folsom called the special ses
sion of the legislature—which may
be the first of several such special
session calls between now and the
time of the regular biennial meeting
in May—to consider his proposed
road program, financed largely by
an increase in gasoline taxes.
While the lawmakers were so en
gaged, Gov. Folsom met with the
state superintendent of education
and 111 city and county superinten
dents from all parts of the state.
The meeting was called by Dr.
Austin Meadows, state superinten
dent of education who took office
in January, to discuss school needs.
It was said to be the first time in the
history of the state that the gover
nor had met jointly with the state,
county and city superintendents.
Gov. Folsom called for a cooper
ative effort to provide for the high
way, school and welfare needs of the
state. He heard the superintendents
endorse a 150 million dollar bond
issue for school construction. The
superintendents also recommended
an additional appropriation of 25
million dollars a year to raise teach-
Arkansas
Continued From Page 2
school districts at their discretion.
Rep. Elmer Tackett of Garland
County opposed it on the ground
that it was “premature and possibly
unconstitutional.”
“Until the U. S. Supreme Court
tells us what we must do we are
prematurely forcing the issue and
thereby endangering the cause,”
Tackett said.
The measure, on passage, was
transmitted immediately to the Sen
ate where it was assigned to the
Judiciary A Committee. The Senate
has an identical measure (Senate
Bill 319) pending before it.
The roll call on the emergency
clause first was 66-15, or just one
vote short of the necessary majority.
Twenty minutes later, Rep. Charlie
G- Johnston of Craighead County
gave notice of reconsideration. Rep.
Russell C. Roberts of Faulkner
County promptly moved for im-
m ediate reconsideration, which was
granted by a voice vote.
As the chamber clamored “call the
p ’ Rep- L. H. Autry of Mississippi
ounty, who hadn’t voted on the bill,
obtained recognition.
1 wanted to speak against this bill
o while ago,” he said. “But to have
°ue so would have been misunder-
°od. The easiest way for all of us
°w is to let this bill go to the Sen-
at ® as it now is.
A difference of 90 days (in the
e = ll je date of the measure) makes
tim *? erence - It will be effective in
, e for the next school term if it
sorn 0rneS 3 ' aw ‘ R C0U I < I create
not L VWy em I> arras sing situations—
dist betWeen races—but in the school
( fren!” tS ' nvo ^ v f n S only white chil-
C 0 6 R' Ka °x Kinney of St. Francis
ure y Inquired whether the meas-
Rer tore * 3e re f er red to the Novem-
r e f ® general election by initiative
emer 6naUm R R didn’t have the
th^ S f ncy dense. Autry replied
that tv, C0U 'R But expressed doubt
m n ,,„ ere would be a referendum
ve ment.
genev ^,° Use then rejected the emer-
v °te of a Q USe a 2 a * n —this time by a
a §ainst ^ ^° r c * ause ^9
ArW 6brUary 22 > Ne g ro lead
i gam st aS t i, marshale d their
(Housp ir® House-approved
serve 488) designed to
Lg egre gation with red tap
Hie the counter-attac
^'ation 11833 democratic Vote]
^Pport ’ t Negro group, wit
f?r th e ° a tbe National Assoc
Re°pi e Advancement of C-
ers’ salaries—which, it was noted, are
now $900 below the national average
—and to provide additional super
vising principals.
SCHOOL CRISIS CITED
The superintendents agreed that
public education in Alabama “faces
its greatest crisis” since the Civil
War. In addition to the acute class
room shortage, there is a dearth of
funds for maintenance of existing
facilities, the educators said. Over
crowding on school buses has also
become a greater problem because of
the shortage of funds with which to
buy additional buses. Finally, there
is the problem of Alabama teachers
being lured away to other southern
states paying higher teacher salaries.
A total of 3,394 emergency teach
ers’ certificates have been issued for
the current year, Dr. Meadows said.
Such certificates permit teachers
without college degrees or special
teacher training to teach.
(School forces are seeking a $600
a year across-the-boards pay in
crease for Alabama’s 25,000 teachers.
This alone would require an addi
tional 15 million dollars a year.)
Dr. Meadows said that the capital
outlay allotment in the state’s Mini
mum Equalization Program, in
tended to bring state school con
struction up to minimum require
ments, is still no higher than the
average annual outlay during the
four worst depression years of the
1930’s. And most of the current out
lay is being used to retire existing
school bonds, he said. The number of
pupils per teacher is still on the
same basis as during the depression
years, Dr. Meadows added.
SPARKMAN STATEMENT
In Washington, Sen. John Spark
man (D-Ala.) said on Feb. 10 that
many Alabama children are going
to school in buildings which were
put up 40 or 50 years ago—“many
of which should more honestly be
called shacks.” Not only are the
buildings old, Sen. Sparkman said,
“They are also extremely over
crowded, unsanitary and unsafe.”
Sparkman said that according to
the latest survey figures compiled
by the U. S. Office of Education,
more than 50,000 of Alabama’s school
children are going,to school in rented
quarters or facilities other than reg
ular school buildings.
“And our teachers face one of the
worst situations in the country,” he
said. “Unless we attract more good
teachers through better schools and
improved salaries, conditions will
grow increasingly worse. . . . The
average teacher’s pay in Alabama
now runs around $2,600 a year,
much less than that of other pro
fessions that require similar periods
of training.
However, Sparkman said, Alabama
has conscientiously sought to meet
her school needs, and has made a
much greater effort than the ma
jority of states. “In the United
States as a whole,” he said, “the
states spend an average of 2.27% of
their income from state and local
sources for schools. Alabama spends
2.69% and still is far behind wealthier
states in providing its children with
even the minimum school needs.”
In urging Congress to give speedy
approval to a school building con
struction program, Sparkman said
that Alabama resources have simply
not been adequate to cope with the
demands of the state’s increasing
school population. Without federal
help, he said, Alabama will never be
able to catch up with the serious
building backlog which has been
growing since the late 1930s.
Sen. Sparkman is one of the spon
sors of several bills to provide aid
for school construction.
IKE’S PLAN SCORED
President Eisenhower’s proposal
that the government buy school
bonds from communities unable to
sell them in the open market won’t
help Alabama’s situation, State Supt.
Meadows said on Feb. 10. As inter
preted by Dr. Meadows, the govern
ment would charge an interest rate
of three and one-eighth per cent.
“The interest rate proposed by the
President is much too high,” Dr.
Meadows said. “We can sell bonds
DR. AUSTIN R. MEADOWS
Alabama School Superintendent
here for half that amount.” However,
Meadows said, Alabama would wel
come federal matching grants.
COURT CRITICIZED
Two regulations aimed at the Su
preme Court’s ruling outlawing seg
regation in public schools were in
troduced in the February special
session of the Alabama legislature.
Both houses unanimously approved
a resolution introduced by Sen.
Walter C. Givhan of Dallas County
in Alabama’s centrally located Black
Belt. The resolution petitions Con
gress to limit the jurisdiction of the
U. S. Supreme Court and other fed
eral courts on appeals from state
courts. Givhan’s resolution noted
that the U. S. Supreme Court
through “numerous opinions and de
cisions” has invaded the fields of
legislative and executive branches of
government as well as State’s rights.
Sen. Givhan has been active in the
White Citizens Councils movement in
Alabama, (southern school news,
Jan. 6).
A second resolution, which was not
voted on immediately, was intro
duced by State Sen. Sam Engelhardt
of the Black Belt county of Macon.
Engelhardt introduced a “private
school” bill in the 1953 legislature,
but it remained bottled up in com
mittee.
While still favoring that bill, he
has also prepared another which he
expects to introduce as a fallback
plan in case the legislature regards
the private school plan as too drastic.
His second bill would preserve class
room segregation by a rigidly regu
lated placement system. His resolu
tion, which he introduced on Feb. 15,
notes that the constitution of Ala
bama provides for segregated schools.
This policy has resulted in “great
economic, cultural and social bene
fits to all of the people of this state,”
the resolution says, but adds:
“. . . Any weakening or reversal of
that policy would bring about vio
lence, disorder, breaches of the peace,
riots, bloodshed and ill-feelings to
such an extent that it would be ex
tremely difficult, if not impossible,
for civil authorities to prevent re
grettable action of this kind.
The resolution calls the Supreme
Court’s segregation opinion of last
May “unconstitutional.”
ROW WITH GOVERNOR
On Feb. 12, three days before in
troducing his resolution, Engelhardt
told the press that Gov. Folsom had
threatened, on Feb. 1, to register
“every damn nigger” (sic) in Macon
County if Engelhardt did not support
his road program. Engelhardt was
among the senators who opposed Fol
som’s road plan, which, as amended
by the House, called for a two-cent
increase in gas taxes and the is
suance of 100 million dollars in rev
enue bonds. Engelhardt favored a
referendum on the issue, which Fol
som did not want.
In announcing Folsom’s alleged
threat, Engelhardt said:
“I haven’t revealed this threat
earlier, because I was waiting on
Folsom to take it back. But he hasn’t
done so, and I feel the good people
of Alabama, both white and colored,
should see the tactics being used by
the governor.
“I can’t visualize any native Ala
bamian resorting to such methods
which could jeopardize the good feel
ings that now exist between the peo
ple of both races in Macon County
as well as in other counties of the
SOUTHERN SCHOOL
state. It appears to me that when a
governor must use such tricks to pass
his program, then there must be
something wrong with it.”
Engelhardt quoted Folsom’s Feb. 1
message to him as saying: “If you
don’t go along with my highway pro
gram, I’m going to get a new board
of registrars in Macon County and
register ever damn nigger in the
county.”
County boards of registrars, which
have virtually autonomous powers to
register or refuse to register pros
pective voters, are appointed by a
board composed of the governor, state
auditor and commissioner of agricul
ture. Macon County, with 84.4% of its
population Negro, has the highest
Negro-white ratio in the state and
reportedly the highest in the nation.
It is the home county of world
famous Tuskegee Institute. Tuskegee
is also the location of one of the
state’s more active NAACP chapters.
Macon is virtually un-industrialized;
agriculture is the principal occupa
tion, cotton the chief money crop.
The county ranks 27th among cotton-
producing counties in the state. Sen.
Engelhardt is a farmer, merchant and
ginner at Shorter. He operates a
large plantation at Shorter, employ
ing a number of Negro families. Of
the Folsom threat he said:
“I do not think the Negroes of my
county are ready to take an active
part in politics, and if Gov. Folsom
should carry out his threat of regis
tering all of them to vote, I am
afraid it would not benefit either
race.”
Folsom refused to confirm or deny
making the threat. He did not reply
to Engelhardt’s comments.
LOW REGISTRATION
Of the 25,000 Negroes in Macon
County, only about 1,000 are regis
tered to vote. This fact was criticized
on Feb. 11, the day before Engelhardt
revealed Folsom’s threat, by Judge
Hubert P. Delany, Negro, New York
City domestic relations jurist ad
dressing the annual Founders Day
meeting of the Tuskegee chapter of
NAACP. Speaking at Tuskegee In
stitute, Judge Delany said:
“I hear that brother Folsom is
getting a little better, but if he
doesn’t move fast and get you a reg
istration board in Macon County, I
am advising you to get in touch with
the NAACP and have your local
chapter file a mandamus compelling
the registration of all Negro voters
in Macon County.
“I don’t believe you people believe
in representative government. You
have 25,000 Negroes in the county
and only 4,000 whites, yet you have
no representative in the state legisla
ture and only about 1,000 registered
Negro voters.
“The time has come when it may
be necessary to sacrifice our jobs and
even our lives if necessary to speak
what we believe in our hearts. We
are now engaged in a cold war with
Russia and we are trying to win the
people of Europe. But we can’t win
those people with the type of democ
racy that is preached by Jimmy
Byrnes, Herman Talmadge and Bull
Connor.”
He warned that if the Negro peo
ple of the South do not stand up for
their convictions “we may lose the
actual battle of integration after
winning the written battle last May.”
The only reason any Negro is against
integration, he said, is “because he is
afraid.” “Deep down in our hearts
we all want equality,” he said.
Judge Delany said that some states
may use stalling tactics to delay in
tegration in the schools. “You don’t
give a convicted criminal two or
three years before punishing him,”
he said, “Why should you give a state
any time?” He added:
“Blood will not flow in the streets
of the South. We don’t believe in
bloodshed. But we are going to fight
for the things in which we believe.
And the Byrneses and Talmadges are
not going to stand in our way.”
Judge Delany was introduced by
Dr. Luther H. Foster, president of
Tuskegee Institute.
The day Judge Delany’s speech ap
peared in newspapers, Feb. 13, Sen.
Engelhardt revealed Folsom’s regis
tration threat of Feb. 1.
RESOLUTIONS OFFERED
On Feb. 15, Engelhardt and Givhan
introduced their resolutions in the
legislature aimed at integration.
After stating that “any weakening
of (Alabama’s segregation policy)
NEWS—March 3, 1955—PAGE 3
would bring about violence, disorder,
breaches of the peace, riots, blood
shed. . . .” Engelhardt’s resolution
continues in part:
. . The decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States in the
case of Brown et al v. Board of Edu
cation, 347 U. S. 483, and companion
cases, are not binding on the state of
Alabama or on the people of this
state and not to be respected by an
official of this state.
“We brand as unqualifiedly false
and completely untrue, in so far as
the state of Alabama is concerned,
the statement in the opinion of the
Supreme Court of the U. S. to the
effect that:
“ ‘Segregation of white and colored
children in public schools has a det
rimental effect upon the colored
children. The impact is greater when
it has the sanction of the law. Seg
regation with the sanction of the law,
therefore, has a tendency to retard
the educational and mental develop
ment of some Negro children and to
deprive them of some of the bene
fits they would receive in a racially
integrated school system.’
“The remarkable progress made by
colored children in segregated
schools in Alabama, which is much
greater than the progress made by
children of the same race in in
tegrated schools in other sections of
the country, completely and conclu
sively demonstrates the fallacy of the
statement quoted.”
The resolution states that segrega
tion in Alabama has never been spe
cifically outlawed and is still in force
and effect. In a paragraph obviously
referring to Gov. Folsom’s refusal to
commit himself to any plan, such as
Engelhardt’s “private school” pro
posal, to preserve segregated class
rooms, the resolution concludes:
“. . . We hereby declare our un
qualified allegiance to this provision
of the constitution of Alabama (re
quiring segregation) and we call
upon the chief executive of this state
to make known in a most appropriate
manner a fixed determination to up
hold, support and defend this pro
vision in our organic law in every
lawful way.”
Unlike Givhan’s resolution, which
was approved unanimously, Engel
hardt’s was sent to committee for
study. The committee recommended
that the resolution be adopted, but it
had not been submitted to a vote by
Feb. 22.
CITIZENS COUNCIL
Some 400 members of the Dallas
County White Citizens Council con
vened in Selma, Alabama, on Feb.
2 to hear Robert B. Patterson, Mis
sissippi planter, tell how his state
intends to retain segregation.
Patterson, 33-year-old former Mis
sissippi State football star, said there
will never be any race integration in
Mississippi. “We will stand firm with
the other fifty million people in the
South,” he said, “or we will stand
alone.”
“The integration monster creates
the most serious crisis in the South
since the Civil War,” Patterson said.
He continued:
“The people of the South have
been complacent and apathetic for
many years. Every battle we have
lost has been by default. Some great
philosopher once said, ‘all that is
necessary for the triumph of evil is
for good men to do nothing’ and
that certainly applies to us.”
Noting that there are only 300,000
members of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People while there are fifty million
Southerners, Patterson said:
“If 50,000,000 of us can’t keep our
race white, then we aren’t fit to be
white, and we won’t be white very
long. . . . I’ve got three little children
and they are either going to a white
school or they are not going to a
school at all.
“The newspapers up North have
said a lot of things about us. They
have treated us unfairly and for that
matter a lot of newspapers in the
South have been unfair too. But I
am not crying about it. The truth will
out in the end.
“Some people think we are the Ku
Klux Klan. We’re not. We don’t
cover our faces and we aren’t bait
ing anybody. ... In places like Chi
cago and Detroit they hate the Negro.
Here the Negro is our friend and we
are his friend. But we in Mississippi
will never stand for the integration
monster.”
