Newspaper Page Text
J
PAGE 4—April 7, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Delaware
WILMINGTON, Del.
^FTER a fairly quiet and tranquil
winter throughout the three
counties of Delaware, an uneasiness
began to break through the truce
in the integration-segregation con
troversy with the coming of spring.
Here are some of the highlights
of the events contributing to this
uneasiness:
• The state board of education
served notice through the Wilming
ton newspapers that it will ask the
Delaware General Assembly, now
in session, to reorganize the 110
school districts of the state into
15 large administrative school dis
tricts, eliminating what are now
known as Negro school districts and
white school districts.
• Dr. Raymond Cobbs, superin
tendent of the Milford school district
—the scene of the integration flareup
that captured national attention last
fall—resigned, effective June 30. He
gave no reason but talk in the town
has it that he “couldn’t take it any
more”—meaning he couldn’t endure
the jibes and pressure from the anti-
integrationists in the area.
• An article on the so-called
“Milford Incident,” entitled “The
Town That Surrendered To Hate”
by Selwyn James—appeared in the
April Redbook Magazine and irri
tated Milford officials so much that
a special meeting of officials was
held to protest the article.
• The PTA of the Negro elemen
tary school in Milford lodged a
formal protest against a plan to have
separate rest rooms for Negroes and
whites in a proposed city hall for
Milford.
• The NAACP has intensified its
membership drive in southern Dela
ware.
• A new segregation organization
—Christian Americans’ Segregation
Association—has been chartered in
Delaware by Manaen F. Warrington,
self-styled evangelist of Selbyville,
Del., who had once been “national
chaplain” of the National Association
for the Advancement of White
People.
• A code on civil rights has been
proposed in the General Assembly
by Paul Livingston, Democrat of
Wilmington, who is the only Negro
member of the Delaware assembly.
• The newly-elected attorney
general of Delaware—Joseph Donald
Craven—is preparing to represent
Delaware at the April 11 hearing
before the U. S. Supreme Court but
has given no indication as of the
latter part of March whether he will
follow the brief filed by his pre
decessor, H. Albert Young, or take
a new line of approach in recom
mending a mandate to the U. S.
Supreme Court.
REDISTRICTING DEBATE
Of all these factors, none is being
more hotly debated in Delaware than
the plan of the state board of educa
tion to reorganize the school districts
in the state, even though the philoso
phy of the state board of education in
the reorganization has little or noth
ing to do with the integration contro
versy.
But it is fairly impossible to dis
cuss reorganization of school dis
tricts in Delaware without the ques
tion of integration getting into the
picture.
Ever since 1947, there has been
talk in Delaware of reducing the
110 school districts to about a dozen
or more, with large high schools as
the center of each district.
In 1950, a specific plan for reor
ganization of school districts was
drawn up, but this plan did not
involve Negro districts, some of
which overlapped the boundaries of
white school districts.
The 1950 plan did not take in
Negro school districts because there
had not yet been any decision from
the U. S. Supreme court on segrega
tion and because there was no local
problem of school construction in
the Negro districts.
In Delaware, local districts have
shared the cost of building schools
in white school districts, whereas
the state has paid for all construc
tion in Negro districts.
LITTLE INTEREST SHOWN
Little or no interest was shown
in Delaware in the 1950 plan for
reorganization of the school districts.
Yet the state board of education and
state leaders of the Parent Teacher
Associations kept saying that only
through a reorganization of the dis
tricts, could there be an orderly and
intelligent development of high
schools in Delaware.
This made no impression upon
the rank and file school leaders or
the people.
NEW PLAN DISCLOSED
Then in the middle of March of this
year, the state board of education
disclosed its master plan:
In contrast to its previous plan
for voluntary reorganization on the
part of school districts, this new ap
proach would make reorganization
mandatory by order of the General
Assembly.
The master plan of the state board
of education would wipe out the 110
administrative school district bound
aries and establish 15 fairly auton
omous school districts.
While the proposal itself would
not disturb any segregation pattern
and would not prevent a transition
toward desegregation, nonetheless it
would eliminate what have been
known as Negro school districts and
white school districts as such.
REACTION VARIED
Immediate reaction in many parts
of Delaware ranged from sullen
ness toward the plan to strongly ex
pressed objections.
And oddly enough, even though
the actual mention of “integration”
did not occur in any of the reports
of various community meetings on
the subject, in some areas in south
ern Delaware the thought of the
integration implications prevailed as
a strong undercurrent.
Dr. George R. Miller, state super
intendent of public instruction, said
that the reorganization of Delaware’s
110 school districts into 15 more
efficient districts would be necessary
to the progress of education in Dela
ware, even if the U. S. Supreme
Court had never handed down its
integration decision. And the
Journal-Every Evening of Wilming
ton, supporting the reorganization
plan, stated in a March 14 editorial:
“The regrouping of districts car
ries with it no present integration
of the races. Until the U. S. Supreme
Court issues its directives, a large
new district with segregated schools
would operate just as a present ‘spe
cial’ district with segregated schools
operates now. In any case, the Negro
pupils will be a small minority in any
senior high school enrollment in
Delaware and cannot greatly affect
the immediate need for new con
struction.”
TWO EXAMPLES
Here are two examples of what
would happen under the school dis
trict reorganization plan:
In what would be known tem
porarily as School District M, there
are now nine school districts: Green
wood, Farmington, Bridgeville, Sea-
ford and Blades—all white school
districts; and Blocksom’s, Bridge
ville, Concord and Greenwood, all
Negro. In the large town of Bridge
ville, the white school and the Negro
school are administered by different
local boards of education.
Under the state board of education
plan, all these districts would be
combined into one large district, ad
ministered by one local board of
education, though the present segre
gation pattern would not be dis
turbed.
Another example: In Dover, the
capital of Delaware, all the schools
but one are under the control of
one local board education. This in
cludes white and Negro schools. The
exception is a brand new Negro
comprehensive high school—the Wil
liam Henry School—which is ad
ministered by a separate board of
education composed of white and
Negro members.
Under the state board of education
reorganization plan, the William
Henry School, four other rural
Negro school districts and eight
rural white school districts would
be combined with Dover into an ad
ministrative area to be known tem
porarily as District H.
As a matter of fact, it has been
admitted by state department of edu
cation officials in Delaware that
while this sweeping reorganization
of school districts is not predicated
upon the Supreme Court decision,
such a plan would eventually have
to be put into effect if complete
desegregation is to be successfully
effected in Delaware. Under com
plete desegregation there could not
be such a thing as a “Negro school
district” and “a white school dis
trict” side by side or overlapping in
boundaries.
Even the most ardent proponents
of the reorganization plan as drawn
up now by the state board of edu
cation do not think it will be ap
proved by the General Assembly this
year.
SUPT. COBBS RESIGNS
The sudden resignation of Dr.
Cobbs as superintendent of the Mil
ford school system was a significant
development in March.
Dr. Cobbs had been under sharp
criticism from segregationists ever
since the Milford high school ad
mitted Negroes last September. It
was reported that Bryant Bowles,
president of the NAAWP, who now
lives in the town of Houston, Del.,
had been determined “to get rid of
Cobbs.”
In early March an incident de
veloped that brought Dr. Cobbs’
name back to the headlines. A Mrs.
William H. Macklin of near Milford,
accompanied by Bowles, showed up
at the office of Magistrate Morris
Groverman of Milford and asked for
a warrant for the arrest of Dr. Cobbs.
She charged that the superintendent
had struck her 14-year-old son in
the Milford school because Supt.
Cobbs overheard the boy call one of
his teachers “the old bald headed
eagle.”
WARRANT ISSUED
Magistrate Groverman issued the
warrant—and the story was relayed
to the Wilmington newspapers by
Bowles.
However, Magistrate Groverman,
later interviewed by the newspapers,
revealed that he wasn’t happy with
the whole incident and that he
didn’t like the presence of Bowles on
the scene of this case.
The warrant was served on Dr.
Cobbs but almost immediately a
statement was issued, signed by 710
residents of the Milford school dis
trict, expressing their confidence in
Dr. Cobbs.
TEXT OF STATEMENT
The statement said in part:
“We wish publicly to make known
our hearty endorsement of and con
fidence in the policies which the
school board and Dr. Cobbs’ ad
ministration uphold and to state
that we will promise our utmost
efforts to support them, their policies
and their efforts to maintain a high
standard of discipline and American
concepts of conduct.”
This was the first open act of
support of Dr. Cobbs by any large
group of Milford citizens since the
integration-segregation flareup last
fall.
Several days after this statement
was made public, the mother of the
14-year-old boy dropped charges
against Dr. Cobbs.
On March 14, six days after the
charges were dropped, Dr. Cobbs
submitted his resignation to the Mil
ford Board of Education, effective
June 30.
RESIGNATION ACCEPTED
The resignation, unaccompanied
by any reason, was accepted with
regret by the board which made it
clear that its members still had faith
in him as a school administrator.
It was a voluntary resignation,
followed by widespread rumors that
Dr. Cobbs and his family had decided
that they couldn’t endure the tense
situation of Milford any longer. It
was also admitted in Milford that
the school system had been greatly
improved since the beginning of his
administration in 1948.
As the school year draws to a
close, the Milford Board of Educa
tion is faced with the problem of
getting a successor. Board elections
are also coming up later in May.
In the meantime, stories were de
veloping during March about a break
in the ranks of the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of White
People. One instance, pointed to as
indicating this, was the incorpora
tion of the Christian Americans’
Southern School News
Southern School News is the official publication of the Southern Education
Reporting Service, an objective, fact-finding agency established by southern
newspaper editors and educators with the aim of providing accurate,
unbiased information to school administrators, public officials and interested
lay citizens on developments in education arising from the U. S. Supreme
Court opinion of May 17, 1954 declaring segregation in the public schools
unconstitutional. SERS is not an advocate, is neither pro-segregation nor
anti-segregation, but simply reports the facts as it finds them, state by state.
OFFICERS
Virginius Dabney
Thomas R. Waring
C. A. McKnight
Frank Ahlgren, Editor, Memphis
Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
Tenn.
Gordon Blackwell, Director, Institute
for Research in Social Science,
University of N.C.
Harvie Branscomb, Chancellor, Van
derbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
Virginius Dabney, Editor, Richmond
Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va.
Coleman A. Harwell, Editor, Nash
ville Tennessean, Nashville, Tenn.
Henry H. Hill, President, George
Peabody College, Nashville, Tenn.
. . . . Chairman
. . Vice-Chairman
Executive Director
Charles S. Johnson, President, Fisk
University, Nashville, Tenn.
C. A. McKnight, Exec. Director Sou.
Education Reporting Service
Charles Moss, Executive Editor,
Nashville Banner, Nashville, Tenn.
Thomas R. Waring, Editor, Charles
ton News & Courier, Charleston,
s. c.
Henry I. Willett, Superintendent of
Schools, Richmond, Va.
P. B. Young Sr., Editor, Norfolk
Journal & Guide, Norfolk, Va.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CORRESPONDENTS
ALABAMA
William H. McDonald, Editorial
Writer, Montgomery Advertiser
ARKANSAS
Thomas D. Davis, Asst. City Editor,
Arkansas Gazette
DELAWARE
William P. Frank, Staff Writer,
Wilmington News
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Jeanne Rogers, Education Writer,
Washington Post & Times Herald
FLORIDA
Bert Collier, Staff Writer, Miami
Herald
GEORGIA
Joseph B. Parham, Editor, The
Macon News
KENTUCKY
Weldon James, Editorial Writer,
Louisville Courier-Journal
LOUISIANA
Mario Fellom, Political Reporter,
New Orleans Item
MARYLAND
Edgar L. Jones, Editorial Writer,
Baltimore Evening Sun
MISSISSIPPI
Kenneth Toler, Mississippi Bureau,
Memphis Commercial-Appeal
MISSOURI
Robert Lasch, Editorial Writer, St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
NORTH CAROLINA
Jay Jenkins, Staff Writer, Raleigh
News & Observer
OKLAHOMA
Mary Goddard, Staff Writer, Ok
lahoma City Oklahoman-Times
SOUTH CAROLINA
W. D. Workman Jr., Special Cor
respondent, Columbia, S. C.
TENNESSEE
James Elliott, Staff Writer, Nash
ville Banner
Wallace Westfeldt, Staff Writer,
Nashville Tennessean
TEXAS
Richard M. Morehead, Austin Bu
reau, Dallas News
VIRGINIA
Overton Jones, Editorial Writer,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
WEST VIRGINIA
Frank A. Knight, Editor, Charles
ton Gazette
MAIL ADDRESS
P.O. Box 6156, Acklen Station, Nashville 5, Tenn.
Segregation Association by Mr.
Warrington, who had been national
chaplain of the NAAWP.
In a letter explaining the purpose
of this new organization—alpha
betized to CASA—Mr. Warrington
wrote:
“We are not against any race
within its own bounds. ... We want
people saved in all races. Then we
will have no need for the various
associations of racial agitators for
either white or Negro people.
“We have a membership applica
tion whereby all races may join
who want to remain in the will of
God and remain segregated. It costs
$5 a year, payable in advance.”
MAGAZINE STORY
All through the winter, the peo
ple of Milford had hoped that the
unfavorable publicity in this country
and even in some international areas
would die down. Then appeared the
story by Sewlyn James in the April
issue of Redbook. The title in par
ticular irritated Milford: “The Town
That Surrendered To Hate.”
The article recounted the events
of last September and October, re
volving around the Milford high
school. James also told the story of
Bowles and the rise of his NAAWP
into the headlines.
A point stressed by James was
that what happened in Milford could
happen in any other American town
where “people will allow violence
and threats of violence to be used as
means for settling community rela
tions problems.”
Milford’s mayor, Edward C. Evat
and the City Council, in a sp#'
session on March 24, took issue
the Redbook magazine article
declared that neither the mayor ^
the council had ever surrendered
mob rule since no mob was evef'
evidence in the town.”
A cross-burning incident last &
tember in Milford was described ^
the Milford officials as “a teen-af! e '
prank.”
But despite these protests,
continued in the Delaware headd-
when the PTA of the Negro Bertf*--'
Banneker School of Milford P
sented the City Council with a r
tion protesting the setting ^ ^
Negro and white rest rooms in
proposed $100,000 town hall- ^
The petition was offered t 0 ^
Milford town council by the
Randolph Fisher, district repr ese ,
tive of the NAACP. It was rece
without comment.
CIVIL RIGHTS CODE ^
In the meantime, in the ■,
General Assembly, Represen ^
Livingston of Wilmington,
a civil rights code for ena 5 t>
into law. The preamble of u 1
“The purpose of this chapj*' ; s ,
is to give recognition to. .
that practices of discru 11 ^ r.
against any of the inhabits^.
the state because of race,
color or national origin are a ^ •;
of concern to the governmen
state.”