Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12—April 7, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
North Carolina
RALEIGH, N. C.
N the final days of March, senti
ment jelled in the N. C. General
Assembly on the legislative course
North Carolina will follow as a re
sult of the segregation decision.
By an adroit maneuver, Gov.
Luther Hodges consolidated support
for his proposal: enactment of a law
transferring from the state board
of education to local school boards
control over the assignment and en
rollment of pupils.
The Senate passed the bill unani
mously. It awaits action in the House,
where opposition is negligible.
Rep. Sam Worthington, veteran
legislator from Pitt County who of
fered a bill for a vote on a constitu
tional amendment to permit use of
public funds for private schools, has
announced he will vote for the gov
ernor’s bill.
COMPROMISE REACHED
This decision came about after
Gov. Hodges conferred with Worth
ington and reached a compromise.
The governor pledged he would call
a special session of the General As
sembly if the Supreme Court’s im
plementation decree is “extreme or
abrupt.” In return, Worthington
agreed to abandon his bill.
The governor’s proposal, based on
the recommendations of a special ad
visory committee named to study the
problem, was approved speedily and
without debate both by the Senate
and House education committees.
SATTERFIELD BILL
Meanwhile, Rep. B. I. Satterfield
of Person County—a former school
superintendent—introduced a bill
which would deny state funds to any
city or county which integrated its
public schools. “The purpose of this
bill is to keep all of the schools of
North Carolina segregated,” Satter
field said.
“To permit (integration) would
create confusion and tear down our
state school system. Questionnaires
sent to superintendents reveal that
there are six or seven superintend
ents who are now willing to do away
with segregation even before the de
cision of the Supreme Court is im
plemented by any decree.
“Under bills now pending in the
legislature carrying out the recom
mendations of the commission ap
pointed to make a study of the Su
preme Court decision as it affects the
public schools of the state, it is pos
sible for white and colored students
to attend the same schools.”
Satterfield, a member of the House
Education Committee, was not pres
ent when the committee voted with
out a dissent to report favorably on
the bill and send it to the House
floor. At his request, the bill was
taken from the calendar and referred
once again to the committee.
RESOLUTION PASSED
Worthington, emphasizing he
would vote for the bill, and Satter
field appeared before the committee
when the legislation was considered
a second time. Both asked that the
General Assembly adopt a resolution
expressing strong opposition to in
tegration so Atty. Gen. Harry Mc-
Mullan’s “hand can be strengthened”
when he appears before the court in
April as a friend of the court. Such
a resolution now is in preparation.
“This bill (the governor’s) is at
the very most a delaying action and
a passive agreement to slow, creep
ing integration,” said Worthington.
“The attitude of those in high
places (in N. C.) since the decision
has been that (desegregation) was
inevitable and all they could do was
plead for time.
“I’ll say to you it is not inevitable.
It is not inevitable if we are right.
“If it is right that Negroes and
whites go to school together, it is
inevitable. But with that philosophy
I disagree.”
LOCAL OPTION
The bill, said Satterfield, puts seg
regation “on a local option basis,
where any board can break down
the segregation system. It is a dan
gerous precedent to permit this thing
to start anywhere in the state.”
On this subject, Worthington said,
“I will point out to you that some
enterprising (school) superintend
ents in the state have filled the pa
pers with news that they’re ready
to integrate.”
Satterfield praised the North Car
olina brief as “very fine” (it asked
for gradualism, with Federal dis
trict judges given authority to im
plement enforcement) but he added,
“I was struck a blow between the
eyes . . . When it said in effect that
this is something that can not be
forced on us at this time, the in
ference being that we can work it
out if they give us time.”
A majority of both whites and
Negroes in North Carolina want
school segregation continued, Satter
field said. As for those who want de
segregation, he said:
“It is not equal opportunities be
tween the races from the education
standpoint that the NAACP (Nation
al Association for the Advancement
of Colored People) is trying to get
done. They are seeking social equal
ity and you know I speak the truth.”
SOCIAL BREAKDOWN
A breakdown of social barriers,
he said, would result in intermar
riage which would “degrade” both
the White and Negro races.
Rep. Roger Kiser of Scotland of
fered an amendment to the bill to
remove from it a provision to pro
vide for appeals to state courts (in
stead of to the state board of edu
cation) from decisions of local boards
on the assignment of pupils. The
proposed appeal procedure, he said,
would put final authority in courts
and not local boards.
Kiser’s motion died for lack of a
second after Rep. George Uzzell of
Rowan pointed out people have a
right to appeal from any law and
the bill would channel appeals
through state courts rather than let
ting them go directly into Federal
courts.
ANOTHER VIEWPOINT
Rep. H. Cloyd Philpott of David
son County took issue with Satter
field. He said he had detected “no
thought” among state leaders of al
lowing unsegregated schools. The
bill, he said, “is intended to meet
the situation as it now exists.
“Nobody thinks this is the final
answer,” said Philpott. “I feel the
Georgia and South Carolina ap
proach is unrealistic.”
On the question of reporting the
bill favorably for a second time, only
Satterfield voted no. The bill was
sent back to the calendar. Passage is
certain, either for the House bill or
for an identical bill which already
has been unanimously passed, with
out debate, in the Senate.
OTHER LEGISLATION
Gov. Hodges’ bill likely will be the
principal school legislation enacted
at the current session, although cer
tain other bills will accompany it to
implement the intent of the meas
ure. The death of the Worthington
bill, plus the fact that the General
Assembly is nearing the adjourn
ment rush, spells almost certain de
feat for the Satterfield bill. It is
doubtful that it will reach the House
floor, because of the temper and past
action of the House Education Com
mittee.
Among the factors local boards
would consider in assigning pupils
would be “orderly and efficient”
school administration, the “effective
instruction” of pupils, and their
“health, safety and general welfare.”
If enacted, the bill becomes effec
tive at once. This means authority
would immediately be transferred
to local boards.
TESTIMONY BY NEGROES
Meanwhile, spokesmen for Ne
groes in the state spelled out the
sentiments of that group before the
Joint Education Committee. Approx
imately 200 Negroes, unorganized
but representing a cross-section of
Negro life in North Carolina, at
tended the hearing.
John H. Wheeler, Negro lawyer
and banker of Durham, said Ne
groes are opposed to any legislation
aimed at decentralizing the state’s
public school system as a means of
delaying integration. They oppose
all school legislation thus far in
troduced, he said, adding:
REP. SATTERFIELD
Would Ban School Funds
“Our group has rather strong
feelings that North Carolina should
avoid the dangers inherent in luke
warm efforts at integrating our
schools.”
He said “many white persons”
joined the one million Negroes in
North Carolina in the hope that
North Carolina would take the lead
in developing a positive and forth
right position leading to integration
of the schools. . .”
The “shackles of segregation,” he
said, have retarded the progress of
the state as a whole. He cited statis
tics tending to show the relatively
low economic status of his race has
hindered the progress of all the
people. He said a state policy on in
tegration, firm leadership and a
centralized school system will pro
duce progress.
Said Wheeler:
“The present legislature, therefore,
has the choice of putting its great
wisdom to work on the problem of
supporting the Supreme Court of
the land or falling into the time
worn trap of sacrificing efficiency of
the schools while shadow-boxing
with an unfounded fear of school
deterioration through recognition of
the citizenship rights of one-fourth
of the state’s population.
“It is our firm belief that the suc
cessful integration of the schools
involves full integration of the teach
ing force as well as pupils.”
EXPERIENCES CITED
Teachers in Washington, D.C., are
being hired and promoted on the
basis of merit, without reference to
race, Wheeler said. “To those who
feel that this could not work in
North Carolina,” he said, “we refer
you to integrated schools on Army
posts within our state. Several of
those schools employ Negro teachers
with satisfactory results.”
Wheeler said research reports in
dicated that North Carolina ranks
44th among the states on ability to
support education, 27th in effort put
forth, but 40th in accomplishment.
To a large degree, the effort is
not efficient because of the many
school systems, he said. Decentrali
zation would further reduce ef
ficiency.
“. . . The course of action and of
ficial policies adopted by our state
government shall determine whether
North Carolina’s Negro population
will become a great reservoir of
productive capacity and purchasing
power or whether it will continue
to be the Number One problem in
our economic life,” he said.
LOW INCOME FACTOR
The low income of Negroes means
the remaining three-fourths of the
population must assume “the tre
mendous tax burden,” he said.
Wheeler said Negroes “are sys
tematically excluded from most
skilled employment purely on the
basis of race” in the textile industry,
in clerical jobs of the state, and in
administrative jobs at state, county
and city levels.
Public power companies, telephone
companies and the State Highway
Commission also exclude Negroes
from skilled jobs although A&T
(Negro college, in Greensboro) is
turning out Negro engineers, he
said.
Experiences of other cities show
that integration can be achieved
“only when those charged with its
execution are given full power to
carry out their plans and where
they themselves have enunciated a
firm policy of determination to do
the job quickly and efficiently,”
Wheeler said.
Centralized authority would pro
duce good results, he said. Any
other procedure could besmirch the
state’s record “by a long period of
bickering, litigation and unpleasant
ness occasioned by efforts to avoid
the decision of the court.”
OTHER SPEAKERS
Other speakers were Dr. M. D.
Williams and Prof. W. A. Taylor
of Durham. They called proposals
to decentralize “a backward step”
and said they are “unnecessary, non
progressive.”
“We believe men of good will of
both races can work together with
out upsetting the morals of any com
munity,” said Taylor.
Among the Negroes in the group
were the grand master of the Free
and Accepted Prince Hall Masons,
the executive secretary of the N. C.
Teachers Association, the president
of the General Baptist State Conven
tion, the president of the N. C.
Federation of Women’s Clubs and
three Negro members of city coun
cils in the state.
NAACP BILLS OFFERED
Meanwhile, Kelly Alexander of
Charlotte, president of the state
branch of NAACP, sent to Gov.
Hodges 27 bills proposing to change
segregation laws on subjects rang
ing from marriage to public trans
portation accommodations. No bill on
schools was included because Alex
ander said any school segregation
statutes “already have been declared
unconstitutional.”
In a letter of transmittal, Alex
ander said, “. . Many of the laws
. . . remain on the statute books of
this state which have as their pur
pose the maintenance of a degrading
system of caste which is neither
Christian nor democratic, and, many
would say, neither practical, pur
poseful, nor logical.”
Alexander’s letter was released to
the press before it was received by
Gov. Hodges, a fact the governor
noted in his answer rejecting Alex
ander’s request for repeal of laws
requiring segregation in the matters
of:
Marriage, street railway, bus and
railroad accommodations; jails and
prisons; cemeteries, fraternal or
ganizations; state-operated hospitals,
and public toilets and waiting rooms.
OPPOSITION VOICED
Gov. Hodges said, “. . . I am of
the opinion that to anticipate the
content of further decisions by the
Supreme Court on this matter is un
wise. I do not favor the introduction
of the bills you submitted.”
A Negro minister in Salisbury,
the Rev. S. R. Johnson Jr. pastor of
the First Calvary Baptist Church,
said Negroes “by the thousands” re
sented the views of Alexander. He
said Alexander “does not speak the
sentiment of his organization.”
To request the legislature “to
repeal the act forbidding marriage
between white persons and Negroes
is absurd and inconsistent and is
not the thinking of the Negroes in
North Carolina,” Johnson said. “It
seems as though Mr. Alexander
sees the drama moving along in
North Carolina at a rapid pace and
he wants to be counted in the cast
before the curtain is rung down.”
Various NAACP units over the
state took Johnson to task, as well
as the Baptist Ministers Conference
of Winston-Salem. A spokesman
for the conference said Johnson’s
references to sex and mixed mar
riages “at a time when those of noble
intellect are striving desperately to
solve an admittedly delicate prob
lem of living” are “most unfortu
nate.”
“Such a course,” said the con
ference, will only arm the dema
gogues with dangerous weapons and
tie the hands of friends of progress
and harmony among all men. It
tends to revive opposition to all
the Negro’s legitimate ambitions and
aspirations and clothes these with
legitimate suspicion.”
The conference statement said
Johnson’s attack was “obviously of
evil purpose, since there are so
many other rights to which the Ne
gro is entitled, much more than in
termarriage. The Negro simply wants
to live as a full-fledged citizen oi
America and to be so considered
and treated.”
FARM AGENTS ACCEPTED
In another area, trustees of the
Greater University of North Caro
lina voted 57-15 in favor of per.
mitting Negro farm and home agents
to take a summer refresher course
at State College with other county
farm and home agents. The vote
upheld the action of the university’s
executive committee and came after
a minority group attacked the move
as a “step toward amalgamation of
the races.”
State College Chancellor Carey H.
Bostian said, “This is not regular
classroom instruction. . . it is a
type of workshop for professional
workers ... all of these people have
college degrees.” The Negroes would
be quartered at Shaw University
(Negro, in Raleigh) and take meals
there while attending the course on
the campus here.
The alternative to the course,
said Bostian, was duplication of the
course at greater expense on a
Negro campus.
Mark Lassiter, trustee from Snow
Hill and for a long time vocal on
the race issue, said, “I am in toto
opposed to this intermingling in
churches and schools.” He said it
was a step toward “opening all
the gates . . . and I don’t like it at
all as coming from the head of
one of our institutions. I know we
don’t want it in Eastern North Caro
lina.”
McLENDON ANSWERS
Major L. P. McLendon, promi
nent Greensboro attorney, said, “I
feel it is quite unfortunate that it
should be suggested this has any
thing to do with amalgamation of
the races.” He recalled that several
years ago the trustees voted to ad
mit Negroes to graduate schools in
the Greater University when similar
courses were not offered at other
state-supported schools.” . . . This
is thoroughly in accord with that
policy,” he said.
The Negro farm and home agents,
McLendon said, are “some of the
finest and most conservative leaders
of the Negro race in North Carolina.
... As a class, they are fine people.
They are not trying to create
trouble ... It is a sad time . . •
when we turn our backs on the
very people we’ve educated.”
Lassiter said, “He doesn’t take
into consideration that there is a
precedent being set. When you start
at the top, it radiates down.”
rHER OPPOSITION
B. B. Everett of Palymra and John
ark of Franklinville opposed the
jp. Everett said eventually inte-
ation may mean white and Negro
ildren will ride the same schoo
is. “If you contemplate that with
ly degree of satisfaction,” sal
rnrett, “I think you are already on
se as a good white citizen.
Clark, an industrialist who earlier
otested the proposal in a letter 0
gislators, said it was “an opening
in in the campaign” for integration.
Supporting the idea was
arence Poe of Raleigh, editor °
re Progressive Farmer. He cal
tention to the harmony that
listed between the races in No
irolina, and to the work do
’ Negro farm and home age®
in outright rebuff . . • would b®
saster to the white man,” he sal
Another supporter was W. F r ,
rylor of Goldsboro, Speaker
e House in 1951. He said that
e county level now the
5gro agents work from the
hidings and hold joint mee ^
le summer workshop, he ~
Duld bring to the state leve w
ready is accepted at the co
vgI. ..,
Dr. Ben Royal of Morehead CO
id as an individual he woul
;ainst the plan but as a trus e
is for it. He explained he ^
ember of a committee nam ^
:ar by the N. C. Medical jjig
study the question of ad 5^ s0 -
sgroes to membership m ^
sty. In its reports, which
esented to the society in May>
uck our necks way oU >