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Maryland BALTIMORE, Md. rpHE Maryland General Assembly concluded its 90-day session on April 4 without having passed either pro-integration or anti-integration measures, thus bearing out the pre diction of veteran legislators that the whole subject of racial relations would be kept as far under wraps as possible at the 1955 meeting. Still in committee when the legisla tors closed up shop were two bills championed by the Maryland Petition Committee and the Baltimore Asso ciation for States Rights. One would have provided state aid for children attending private schools, and the other would have amended the Maryland compulsory school at tendance law to make it unnecessary for white children to attend schools with Negro teachers or Negro stu dents. The two anti-integration groups tried most of the session to find a senator or delegate willing to intro duce their proposals and succeeded in having it done “by request” only in the waning days of the meeting. No hearing was held on the bills. Sen. Harry A. Cole, a Baltimore Negro lawyer, succeeded in getting a favorable committee report on his “public accommodations” bill but lost out by a 19-9 vote when it was re ferred back to committee. The meas ure would have forbidden discrim ination against Negroes in all types of public accommodations, including amusement places, hotels, hospitals and public schools. It carried a stiff penalty clause which bothered some of the senator’s fellow Republicans who voted with the Democratic ma jority. RATIFICATION FAILS Toward the close of the session Sen. Cole introduced a resolution to have Maryland ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, that being the keystone of Negro legal efforts to obtain equal rights under state laws. The resolu tion received a 12-11 vote on second reading and a 13-12 vote on third reading, but 15 votes were needed for passage. Maryland, California, and Kentucky were cited the only three states of Civil War vintage that have not ratified the Fourteenth, which was added to the Constitution 87 years ago. On the legal side of racial issues, both the state and Baltimore city de cided to appeal the decision of the Fourth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling out enforced segregation at Public recreational facilities. The case had grown out of Negro complaints °f segregation at a city-owned and operated beach at Fort Smallwood juM a state-owned and operated beach at Sandy Point on Chesapeake Virginia Continued from Page 6 u'eir relatively low level of educa- .'onal attainment and to the higher Wcidence of illegitimacy among Ne- Sroes than among whites. The Negro «*ers called this a “below-the- u attack . . . totally out of har- of on y with the gentlemanly conduct Virginia’s governmental officials and citizens.” (4) The Virginia division of the oierican Association of University ° me n, meeting in Staunton April H-16 urged public officials of this j 6 " ma k e every effort to provide r erly compliance with the momen- °Us decision” of the Supreme Court. o a Sroup said also that “local school cials should be given considerable edibility to deal with the complex ' ems raised by integration.” The aauw picked as its state project for “Integration in the schools— 0 lems of implementing Supreme Urt decisions.” The Prince Edward County Ati i Supervisors, meeting on jgj. Postponed adoption of the ber°~t** after hearing a num- p u j,° c *tizens say they do not want a to h 10 ^ aX ^ or sc 'hools if the money is boa ^ or integrated schools. The has until May 31 to act. Bay, near the western end of the new bay bridge. State park officials made the decision to appeal, and then city park officials followed suit, saying “we do not want the city and state groups going in opposite directions.” In another legal action, Federal Judge Roszel C. Thomsen, who was reversed by the Circuit Court in the recreation cases, ruled against dis missing the suit of Negro students to obtain admission to the white ele mentary school which the Cecil County Board of Education operates under a leasing arrangement at Bain- bridge Naval Training Center, in the northern section of Maryland. Judge Thomsen is holding the case until late summer to see (1) if the Supreme Court sets up a desegregation plan and (2) if the naval base school is to be continued next fall. The county is building a new school to take its place. MONTGOMERY DEBATE In Montgomery County, just north and west of the District of Columbia line, the great debate on school inte gration continued strong during the first weeks of April (for background information see the April 7 issue of Southern School News). By April 20 nearly all the PTA units in the county had taken action on the recommenda tion of the executive committee of the County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations that integration in all grades in all sections of the county be made effective at the start of the 1955 fall term. On April 20 the full county council met to take its position. The evening meeting had promised to be a lively one because the voting in individual PTA units had shown that about 25, mostly “down-county” PTAs favored full integration in the fall, while a somewhat larger group of PTAs, mostly representing “up-county” sentiments, favored gradual integra tion plans. In the middle was a slightly smaller group with varying opinions as to the timing of integra tion. The meeting drew 204 registered delegates, lasted three hours and in volved balloting on 15 amendments and amendments to amendments. A feature of the evening was the first participation by a Negro delegate un der a new charter arrangement which admitted Negro PTA units to the council. The debate was vigorous, and on one amendment the voting was as close as 107-96. But on the climactic ballot, the Council decided by a US- 74 vote to accept the recommenda tion of full integration in the fall, with this clause added “or as soon thereafter as practicable.” NEGRO SCHOOLS TOURED An interesting aspect of the whole Montgomery County approach to the integration question was a tour which 75 members of various PTA units made in late March of a half dozen colored schools in the county. Four of the schools were small “down-coun ty” substandard schools which would be abandoned under an integration program. The other two were new and spacious secondary schools, most ly serving “up-county” areas which might receive some white students under an integration program. Both the Washington Star and The Maryland News, a county weekly published at Silver Spring, used the word “shocks” in their headlines to describe the effect of the substandard colored schools on the visiting PTA representatives. Montgomery County has by far the greatest per capita wealth in the state, largely because of the heavy “down-county” concentra tion of federal government workers. And yet the visitors found 104 Negro children in one three-classroom frame structure, and 58 children in two rooms at another. In still another school, a 50-year- old converted church, 93 first-to-sixth grade pupils were in three rooms, with no assembly room, no cafeteria and no inside toilet facilities, and the visitors were informed that the pupils took care of the janitoriai work. The county board of education has said the substandard schools will be closed but has not said when. The board’s position on the timing of the integration remains an indefinite one, although it is the first county board in Maryland to have made a definite statement of its integration plans. The board’s formal statement in March said that it would integrate county schools when advised by the Maryland attorney general that no legal barriers exist, and that “the same policy of integration shall pre vail throughout the county, provided however, the superintendent, with the approval of the board, shall have the discretion to vary the timing of inte gration as conditions warrant.” PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY In nearby Prince George’s County, which like Montgomery County is partly rural and partly a suburb of Washington, the county board of edu cation has appointed 22 school and lay people, including five Negroes, to a desegregation study committee. But the county board definitely wishes to avoid a repetition of what happened in Montgomery County when the tentative voting and disagreements in a similar study group were publi cized in conflicting newspaper stories in advance of final action. In setting up the committee the Prince George’s board unanimously passed the follow ing resolution: “Be it resolved that members of the Board of Education, its employes or any member of the Fact Finding Committee on Desegregation be di rected that they are not to appear be fore citizens’ groups or other inter ested persons nor at any time to discuss the work of this committee nor how desegregation in Prince George’s County will be designated until such time as the Board of Edu cation is prepared to state its policy on this matter.” POLICY STATEMENT The parent body of all county PTAs is the Maryland Congress of Parents and Teachers, which last November voted in annual convention to sup port the efforts of state and local boards of education to bring about school desegregation with a maximum of local control. In March the Board of Managers of the Congress issued an additional policy statement which said: “Since the Maryland Congress of Parents and Teachers at its last con vention affirmed this organization’s obligation to abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court and state authori ties regarding segregation in the schools, it must be recognized that aimless discussion and resolution passing for or against segregation must be considered against the policy of the Maryland Congress. “Instead, under the wording of the resolution passed at the convention, county councils and local groups should undertake the type of study and discussion which will promote the welfare of all children under whatever program is to be applied locally.” KITS DISTRIBUTED To assist local groups in this “study and discussion” of desegregation methods, the Intergroup Relations Committee of the Maryland Congress has distributed this spring some 50 kits of resource material to county PTA councils, boards of education, and the like. The kits include the statements of the governor, state board of education, and others on compliance with the Supreme Court decision, some pamphlets on human relations, a copy of the Baltimore Sun’s series of articles on prejudice, an issue of the Southern School News, a summary of Ashmore’s The Negro and the Schools, and allied ma terial. The Intergroup Relations Com mittee has said that it will: 1. Act as a clearing house on mat ters which concern the PTA and seg regation. 2. Organize and disseminate infor mation collected from all possible sources. 3. Hear suggestions for improving the efficiency of this program. 4. Plan for workshops on this sub ject. 5. Keep the membership informed through monthly notices in the Bul letin of the Maryland Congress. 6. When advisable, cooperate with other agencies studying this same problem. The kits of resource material and the call for local PTA “study and dis cussion” have been quite recent de velopments, and as yet there have been no reports on how much activity they have stimulated. When reports SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—May 4, 1955—PAGE 7 come in, they will be recorded in Southern School News. Meanwhile, some county boards of education and county school superintendents are re porting tentative steps toward meet ing problems arising from the Su preme Court decision. TWO COUNTIES AT WORK On the Eastern Shore, where the proportion of Negro to white pupils ranges from 23 to more than 40 per cent, the boards of education of two counties have announced that they will meet together to discuss integra tion questions, since both counties have similar problems. The two counties and the percentage of colored children in their school populations are: Queen Anne’s 27.5, and Kent 28.9. In response to a letter of inquiry from the Maryland reporter for Southern School News, the superin tendent of Queen Anne’s County schools, Harry C. Rhodes, wrote as follows: “In Queen Anne’s County consider able attention has been given by va rious groups in consideration of the possible effects that integration will have on the school system. The Queen Anne’s County Board of Education has discussed the various possibilities from many points of view. “Likewise, there is organized in this county a Superintendent’s Advisory Council of lay citizens. This council during the past two years has given some consideration to the problem. “We have not appointed any so- called ‘Desegregation Study Group.’ We have not felt that this was needed until we did get the final decree from the Supreme Court. “Very serious consideration has been given to the building program, so that any integration taking place in this county will not place us in the position where we have built schools for which there would be no use.” KENT COUNTY PLANS The superintendent of Kent County schools, Reade W. Corr, responded to a similar letter of inquiry in this way: “The Supreme Court’s decision has been discussed by our board (of edu cation) on several occasions and with various employes and citizens in an informal manner. We have a library shelf devoted to the topic. Several books have been reviewed by the president of the board of education and me. Experiences in other places convince us that integration problems have been handled most effectively and efficiently: “1. When the matter has been left in the hands of the school people, “2. When the board has established definite policies and announced same in advance, “3. When a lay committee, com posed of both races, has met with the board in an advisory capacity to de velop policies. “Our board feels that no definite local action should be taken until the Supreme Court issues a formal de cree. At present we feel that it would be wise to delay appointing a lay committee until such a decree is is sued. We have revised our long-range building plans. These plans are in a state of flux awaiting the appropria tion of additional funds for construc tion purposes. We have conducted several principals’ meetings and teachers’ curriculum committee meetings on an interracial basis. In fact, the principal of our Negro high school has been attending the high school principals’ meetings regularly for the past several years.” ADJACENT TO DELAWARE The Eastern Shore of Maryland, it should be understood, backs up to that long southern leg of Delaware where Bryant Bowles and his Na tional Association for the Advance ment of White People have been actively fanning opposition to de segregation. The ’Shore also joins a section of Virginia on the south to form, with Delaware, the geo graphic unity known as the Delmarva Peninsula. This area has economic unity as well as geographic, because of the chicken broiler industry com mon to that section of all three states, and by tradition it has cultural unity as well, particularly in regard to a “Deep South” attitude toward racial relations. The Eastern Shore, then, is an area where school officials are sensitive io the need to move more cautiously in planning compliance with Supreme Court directives. But the need to move cautiously has not dissuaded school officials from moving at all. In addi tion to Quen Anne’s and Kent Coun ties, some steps have been taken by Somerset County, where 40.8 per cent of the school population is colored. BOARD ENDORSEMENT The Somerset County Board of Education has formally endorsed the state board of education’s acceptance of the Supreme Court decision and has put itself on record as willing to be guided by the c ourt’s recom mendations for implementing that de cision. The county superintendent of schools, C. Allen Carlson, reports that the following steps have been taken: “1. Small committees of colored citizens have met with the superin tendent to discuss desegregation as it may affect Somerset County. “2. The same procedure has been used with small committees of white citizens. “3. The next step is for a commit tee of mixed races to meet and study problems of mutual concern. “4. Our school building plans have not been changed in any way because of the Supreme Court opinion. Our building program has proceeded since 1950 as funds became available. The present phase is to eliminate sub standard buildings and at the same time to provide for the growing en rollments by consolidation.” WORCESTER COUNTY Another Eastern Shore county, Worcester, has a 36.4 to 63.6 ratio of colored to white school children, and one of its towns is right next door to troubled Milford, Del. Worcester County has not appointed a de segregation study group or changed any of its school building plans in view of the Supreme Court decision. But school officials have been trying in a calm way to consider what lies ahead. The county school superinten dent, Paul D. Cooper, writes that: “Immediately after the segregation decision of the Supreme Court was made known we made a spot map study of the entire county to see just what effect integration would have. We conducted informal surveys of opinions toward the decree, primarily through discussion with white and colored teacher groups. “I have discussed the matter with several groups in the county, speak ing for the board of education . . . (and) the implications of the court decision have been discussed before at least three service groups by per sons other than myself.” CAROLINE COUNTY From Caroline County, a ’Shore section with a 1-3 ratio of Negro to white children, Supt. W. Stewart Fitzgerald writes: “Nothing has been done in this county except to sit tight and wait until such time as the Supreme Court hands down its final decrees. Denton (the county seat) is within 25 miles of Milford, Del., and we are con vinced that if we try to anticipate what the Supreme Court will finally do we will be running into trouble. The position we take is the same as the one expressed by Gov. McKeldin during the last campaign—that he represented the law. I feel that if we act in accordance with the law, we shall not have too much trouble in Caroline County. School officials in the remaining Eastern Shore counties report posi tions similar to that of Supt. Fitz gerald—namely, that public state ments on and discussion of desegrega tion should await final Supreme Court action. Some 370 Negro school teachers in the area belong to the Eastern Shore Professional Group, which in April held its annual conference in Dor chester county. The theme was “The Role and Adjustment of the Com munity in Human Relations.” The main speaker was Dr. Earle Jackson, formerly a professor at Maryland’s Morgan State College, and now prin cipal of a Wilmington, Del., high school. Dr. Jackson told his audience that teachers, parents, and children must be educated to meet the prob lems of school integration and that different communities must integrate their schools as they see fit, in keep ing with the Supreme Court decision. Reports on developments in other Sections of Maryland will be carried in subsequent issues of Southern School News.