About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1955)
57^7 »/' Factual Olfr a Southern School News Objective 'VOL. I, NO. 8 NASHVILLE, TENN. APRIL 7, 1955 Arguments On DecreesTo Begin April 11 T WO major new developments highlighted the segregation-de segregation issue during the month of March: 1. The U.S. Supreme Court an nounced that beginning April 11 it would hear oral arguments on the formal decrees in the five public school cases. 2. The Fourth Circuit Court of Ap peals, in a decision interpreted as having wide implications, ruled en forced segregation of Maryland pub lic recreation areas unconstitutional. Elsewhere in the region, legisla tures either adjourned, or approached adjournment. Legislation designed to preserve segregation in one way or another was adopted by the legisla tures of Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, but failed of passage in Arkansas and Tennessee. Here is a capsule summary of re gional developments during March: ALABAMA As the Alabama legislature com pleted the second of two special ses sions called by Gov. James E. Folsom to consider his road and welfare pro grams, Folsom served notice of what he expects of the legislature when it meets for the regular biennial session in May—school aid. Meanwhile, the report of a special legislative com mittee, set up by the 1953 legislature to study school segregation, was for mally presented to the lawmakers. A noted Alabama legal scholar at tacked the committee’s “private school” recommendations as uncon stitutional and as a waste of the state’s time, money and energy. He also crit icized the committee’s conclusions about race relations and its methods of collecting data and formulating opinions. ARKANSAS The Arkansas Senate turned down a House-approved bill designed to Preserve racial segregation in public schools through a system of admis- sion officers and a lengthy appeal Procedure. The General Assembly ended a 60-day legislative session without providing additional reve- nne for the schools—in fact, the schools will get less state aid—but Passed legislation to encourage more effort at the local level through equal ing an( j increasing property assess ments. Representatives of the Missis- s *PPi Association of Citizens Coun- f 1 s s P°ke at a rally of White Amer- ca> Inc., of Arkansas, attended by out 500 persons. Delaware A Delaware State Board of Educa- y° n P ro Posal that the 110 white and ro!? 0 sc D°ol districts in the state be seh UC f^ *° ^ fair ly autonomous * as to distric ts, without distinction color lines, is being interpreted Notice Sout hern School News is the , publication of the Southern |(j., <a *' on Reporting Service, 1109 It . "'' f “ South, Nashville, Tenn. ip^i*. * s,r 'buted free to interested re 9Ue«t Ua " and or S anizations u P on s CHo quiries about Southern to SFn'o NEWS should he addressed Sta,; O. Box 6156, Acklen q ° n ’ Nashville, Tenn. t he D , ^blish i' eportm S Service was es- Srirj ( , e< hy the southern editors on ,/ Uca tors whose names appear fin an e mas thead on Page 4. It is for th / )y a 8 ran t from the Fund an j n j Advancement of Education, hy ( l Pe ndent agency established A n e n? r ,d Foundation. ‘cy V j]|’e'al statement of SERS pol- heaj^ also he found in the mast- Here Is Background WASHINGTON, D.C. The Supreme Court on April 11 will begin to hear further arguments on how and when to put into effect its historic decision of last May that public school segregation is uncon stitutional. Court Clerk Harold Willey said the arguments on the five cases might take the greater part of a week if all the parties involved use their full allotted time. Hearings on the method and timing of integration were slated to start last Dec. 6. Argument was deferred be cause of a court vacancy resulting from the death of Justice Robert H. Jackson and Senate delay in con firmation of Justice John Marshall Harlan to take his place. in some parts of the state as a step toward integration throughout the state. Dr. Raymond Cobbs, controver sial personality in the Milford School case, has resigned, even though more than 700 residents of Milford have openly expressed confidence in him. A civil rights code has been pre sented to the General Assembly for approval, by a Negro resident of Wil mington who is a Democratic repre sentative in the legislature. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA The Washington Board of Educa tion in March moved into the last round of the ticklish problem of in tegrating top school personnel with out discriminating against incum bents. The school board learned that one phase of the job reorganization eventually would result in an annual $90,000 savings in salaries. The board approved a revamping of administra tive posts which gave many key edu cators new duties—but postponed ac tion on realignment of supervisory jobs which would result in future abolition of more than ten present positions. Board members drew on the opinion of large community groups before acting on any part of staff reorganization. FLORIDA In preparation for his oral argu ments to the United States Supreme Court, Florida’s Atty. Gen. Richard W. Ervin rechecked the results of a leadership survey made last summer as a basis for his brief. He reported an apparent stiffening of resistance to immediate desegregation and a tendency to more vocal opposition. This strengthened his belief, he said, that violence might result if integra tion is attempted too swiftly. GEORGIA No change was noted in the anti integration position of state govern ment leaders as groups on either side of the issue publicly called for oppo sition to or compliance with the Su preme Court decree outlawing seg regation in the schools. Plans to raise funds for a combined CIO-AFL drive to wipe out segre gation in the South were announced by delegates to a meeting of United Packing House Workers in Atlanta. The Southern Regional Council and the NAACP Southeastern Regional Conference criticized Southern states which have made no moves toward compliance. KENTUCKY Increasing Negro participation in desegregation discussions was re ported in Kentucky. Speakers or con sultants of the interracial Kentucky Council on Human Relations were Harlan, 55, a New York court judge, took his oath of office March 28, al most two weeks after the Senate by a 71 to 11 vote approved his controver sial nomination. Thus, a full bench of nine members will hear the arguments which will be the basis for the writing of a form al decree for the cases involving Vir ginia, South Carolina, Kansas, Dela ware and the District. Final decisions in these cases affect all the other 17 states that maintain separate schools for white and Negro pupils. Most of the South has adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward in tegration, pending the final court orders which now are expected by June. The five school segregation cases have spanned two administrations, active in 19 counties of the state. A mixed panel of students from 18 Ken tucky colleges and one Indiana insti tution agreed that “prejudice begins at home.” Two white Louisville or ganizations had Negroes participate in their meetings, and one accepted an invitation to have its April meet ing at the home of a Negro. Louis ville’s school superintendent, after desegregation talks before a dozen groups, reported he had yet to face “an unpleasantly aggressive or an tagonistic question.” LOUISIANA Louisiana’s vast tidelands oil riches were the prize in a tug of war be tween highway and education forces. Education forces are seeking $225 million to equalize the white and Ne gro facilities all over the state. After what appeared to be an early agreement between the two forces on division of the money, the rise of a third group, calling for “pay-as- you-go” programs on both levels, has apparently thrown settlement of the issue back until next month. MARYLAND Montgomery County has become the first in Maryland to issue a defi nite and detailed statement of its plans to desegregate public schools, once legal barriers are removed. The County Board of Education state ment followed a full and frank dis cussion of the issue by many county groups. At Annapolis, the bill to open all public accommodations to Negroes was defeated by the General Assem bly, and two bills aimed at circum venting school integration were in troduced. MISSISSIPPI The Mississippi legislature ad journed a special session on April 7 after financing a Negro-white school equalization program designed to preserve a voluntary segregated school system. The plan is to make Negro schools equal to those attend ed by whites, and includes teacher salaries, transportation, administra tion and facilities. The special session also inserted in the state constitu tion an amendment ratified by the voters last December which author izes the legislature, as a “last resort,” to abolish the public school system if necessary to avoid integration. MISSOURI Kansas City, second city in the state, published plans for integrating both elementary and high schools at the start of the term next Septem ber. In St. Louis, where high schools were integrated Feb. 1, one incident of racial friction marred an otherwise peaceful record of transition. Louis ville’s superintendent of schools On Cases both opposed to racial discrimination. They went to the Supreme Court in 1952. Six months after the first argu ments, the court asked attorneys for participants to present further argu ments and to answer five questions bothering the judges. This second round of arguments was heard in De cember, 1953. The court’s unanimous decision came on May 17, 1954, knocking out the “separate but equal” doctrine which kept school segregation legal since 1896. Coupled with this deci sion, however, were two questions which the judges said they still found perplexing: the when and how of integration. Briefs were filed in November in preparation for the third set of argu ments. urged school administrators attend ing a professional conference in St. Louis to face up to the problem of ending school segregation in conform ity with the Supreme Court’s deci sion. Missouri’s legislature declined to repeal present laws providing for segregation, although the attorney general has ruled them to be unen forceable. NORTH CAROLINA By a compromise, Gov. Hodges headed off extreme legislation on the school question in North Carolina. The sponsor of a bill to spend public funds for private schools agreed not to push it and in return Gov. Hodges said he would call a special session of the General Assembly if he con siders the implementation decree “extreme or abrupt.” The NAACP called for an end to all state segrega tion laws, and Negroes presented their views on pending school bills. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma legislators, who have hammered at a new school finance structure for three months, will hand the package to the public in a con stitutional amendment election April 5. The omnibus proposal would wipe out present special taxes for Negro schools and create a replacement levy for all schools. Gov. Raymond Gary is publicly staking his political future on the amendment, and it carries en dorsement of all affected agencies. SOUTH CAROLINA South Carolina school laws were altered in several respects during March when the General Assembly passed and Gov. George Bell Tim merman Jr. signed six bills proposed by a special committee studying the school segregation problem. Chief among the changes was one repealing the state’s compulsory attendance law. Another bill set up a system of “visiting teachers” charged with pro moting school attendance through persuasion and influence. In an ad dress before the South Carolina Edu cation Association, Gov. Timmerman condemned “integrationists” and re newed his pledge to work toward preservation of the right of parents to determine the type schools to which their children would be sent. TENNESSEE The big news in Tennessee during March was Gov. Frank Clement’s veto of several local hills designed to maintain segregated schools by giv ing local school boards wide author ity over assigning pupils. Introduced after a similar statewide measure was tabled in committee, the bills were described in the veto message as at tempting “to circumvent the efficacy of the recent opinion handed down by the Supreme Court....” Clement’s veto was generally praised by Ten nessee newspapers. TEXAS Atty. Gen. John Ben Sheppard said he will be in Washington during the week of April 11 to appear before the Supreme Court. The legislature passed the halfway mark of a four- month session with no sign of con cern over the segregation problem. No bill had been introduced to affect the segregation system in the public schools, although state officials are expected to act quickly if the Court’s decree calls for an abrupt end to seg regation. Many bills are pending to improve Texas schools, and appropriations for education will be many millions high er than for past years, the state’s lawmakers indicate. VIRGINIA The United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision hand ed down in Richmond, ruled that en forced segregation in public recrea tional facilities is unconstitutional. In the decision, given in two Maryland cases, the court specifically cited the United States Supreme Court’s opin ion on school segregation and de clared that since segregation is un constitutional in schools, then cer tainly it also is unconstitutional in public recreational areas. In another major development in Virginia, the state attempted to lease one of its public parks to a private operator for the summer season but the move was temporarily blocked by a Federal Dis trict Court injunction. The injunction is effective until April 26, the date for hearing of a case in which four Ne groes are seeking the right to use the park, which heretofore has been op erated only for white persons. WEST VIRGINIA Legislators shied away from the integration issue in their 60-day ses sion which ended March 12 except to pass a Senate resolution creating a commission on interstate commerce and joint committees on government and finance to make a study of state- supported colleges and the university and report back two years hence. Consolidation of higher education seems to be the aim, but this doesn’t have approval of Negro educators who maintain that colleges now in existence, including two former all colored institutions, will find ample need for their services. Meantime, the superintendent of schools in Boone County where two integration flare-ups occurred last autumn reported that since then the program has “run smoothly” al though complete integration is not now planned because placement of four colored teachers in white schools would encounter opposition. Index State Page Alabama 2 Arkansas 3 Delaware 4 District of Columbia 7 Florida 9 Georgia 11 Kentucky 8 Louisiana 8 Maryland 6,7 Mississippi 5 Missouri 10 North Carolina 12 Oklahoma 15 South Carolina 13 Tennessee 16 Texas 15 Virginia 14 West Virginia 9
