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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—June 8, 1955—PAGE 13
North Carolina
RALEIGH, N. C.
RIOR to adjournment on May 26,
the North Carolina General As
sembly enacted a revised school law.
Major changes made in the old law
flowed from the desegregation deci
sion.
Principal changes:
1. Elimination of any mention of
race.
2. Transfer of authority over en
rollment and assignment of pupils
from the state board of education to
the 172 county and city school ad
ministrative units.
(Purpose: to make individual units,
and not the state as a whole, defend
ants in any school litigation so one
lawsuit will not be binding upon all
units. Appeals from assignment and
enrollment rulings, in the past taken
to the state board, under the new
law will go directly into the courts.)
3. Transfer of title of the state’s
7,200 school buses (largest fleet in the
nation) to the counties. This supple
ments the enrollment and assignment
feature. The General Assembly will
appropriate money for operation of
the buses.
4. Substitution of one-year con
tracts for teachers and principals in
lieu of “continuing” contracts. The
latter type of contract meant that a
teacher, unless notified during the
year the contract was terminated,
had a contract automatically for the
following year.
CHANGE IN CONTRACTS
(Reason: state school districts will
be realigned because the attorney
general has said that present dis
tricts—drawn on a bi-racial basis—
are unconstitutional. School districts
are employing agents of teachers and
principals. Under continuing con
tracts, the teachers after redistrict
ing still would have contracts with
the old—and non-existent—districts.
Lawsuits could result.)
While the stated purpose of trans
fer of authority over enrollment and
assignment of pupils is to resist inte
gration, it was pointed out during
hearings on the bill that this step
also will permit local school boards
to integrate if they so desire.
Gov. Luther Hodges headed off one
measure proposing a more extreme
approach to the school problem. This
was a bill by Rep. Sam Worthington
of Pitt County to permit the use of
state funds for private schools. Gov.
Hodges promised to call a special
session of the General Assembly if
he considers the implementation de
cree “drastic,” and Worthington let
his bill die.
Another bill, by Rep. B. I. Satter
field of Person County, would have
denied state funds to any integrated
school. The attorney general told
Satterfield the bill violated the state
constitution, which calls for “a uni
form system of schools” and Satter
field killed his bill.
During the committee discussion
preceding unfavorable action on the
Satterfield bill, Rep. Byron Haworth
of Guilford County asked, “. . . Isn’t
it time some of us were beginning
to think of ways” integration can be
accomplished without violence.
AUTHORITY DECENTRALIZED
“If we have done all we can do,”
Haworth said, “isn’t constitutional
government at stake? Isn’t that more
important than how we feel about
the segregation decision?”
Haworth said that although author
ity was being decentralized, the state
still was paying the lion’s share of
the cost of school operations. “When
the Supreme Court looks at any of
these things they are going to look
right back at who’s paying the money
and throw them out.”
Meanwhile, three Negro students
(Ralph K. Frazier, Leroy Frazier,
John Lewis Brandon) who are gradu
ating this year from Hillsboro high
school in Durham applied for admis
sion as undergraduates to the Uni
versity of North Carolina.
Director of Admissions Roy Arm
strong rejected the applications in a
letter to Attorney C. O. Pearson of
Durham, NAACP counsel. Armstrong
wrote, in part: “The trustees of the
university have not yet changed the
policy of admission of Negro students
to the university.” He added Negroes
at the graduate and professional
level, who cannot obtain the same
training in a Negro college in the
state, could be admitted. “Negroes
are not eligible at this time to make
application for admission to the un
dergraduate divisions of the univer
sity,” he concluded.
Pearson appealed to university
President Gordon Gray, citing the
court decision and adding Arm
strong’s refusal “is not in keeping
with the type of leadership which a
great university should provide . . .”
Pearson said he was prepared to go
to court.
Soon afterward, Gray called a
meeting of university trustees. He
said two other Negroes also had ap
plied for admission to the undergrad
uate school and another had applied
for admission to a summer session
at a UNC unit, Woman’s College in
Greensboro. Gray said he knew the
policy about undergraduates, but that
he awaited instructions.
LEGAL GROUNDS UNCERTAIN
Trustee Thomas J. Pearsall of
Rocky Mount then informed the
trustees that Gray was “uncertain
of the legal grounds on which he
stands.” The uncertainty arose, Pear
sall said, because neither the state
constitution, the laws nor policy
statements of the trustees specifically
prohibited admission of Negroes as
undergraduates — although no Ne
groes have ever been admitted as
undergraduates.
At that point, the trustees unani
mously adopted this statement:
“The state of North Carolina, hav
ing spent millions of dollars in pro
viding adequate and equal educa
tional facilities in the undergradu
ate departmenets of its institutions
of higher learning for all races, it is
hereby declared to be the policy of
the Consolidated University of North
Carolina that applications of Negroes
to the undergraduate schools at the
three branches of the Consolidated
University not be accepted.”
Several trustees thought the word
“equal” should be deleted. Trustee
Herman Weil of Goldsboro moved to
delete the word, but the motion failed
for lack of a second. Gray had told
the trustees, “It would be very diffi
cult to prove that facilities through
out the Negro institutions are the
equal of facilities at the University.”
Twelve white students at the uni
versity supported the request of the
three Negroes for admission in a
statement which said acceptance “will
serve the best educational interests
of both races . . .” The statement
added, “The University of North
Carolina, if it accepts this challenge
to leadership, has an opportunity to
preserve and make clear its position
as a great liberal institution . . . The
ideal of human equality and freedom
of association is one that can no long
er be relegated to some future time.”
White students who signed the
statement included YMCA and
YWCA presidents, former and pres
ent editors of the daily student news
paper and the vice president of the
student body.
CALLED A KEY STATE
At a meeting in Raleigh, Roy Wil
kins of New York, executive secre
tary of the NAACP, told a “Freedom
Day” rally that North Carolina is one
of the key states in the NAACP drive
for full and complete equality. The
state, he said, is not as progressive
as it used to be and is “farther down
than Arkansas and Texas” but not
so far down as Mississippi.
In Asheville, Bishop M. George
Henry of the Episcopal Diocese of
Western North Carolina said south
erners had to bury “pride and self-
seeking” while tackling the problem
of school integration. The bishop, a
native southerner, said, “The prob
lem will not be solved by leaving it
to someone else or to some group.”
“Some are still arguing whether
we should have unsegregated
schools,” Bishop Henry told delegates
from 62 parishes and missions of the
mountain area. He said it seemed to
him the court already had solved that
question. He added: “We are Chris
tians and, as such, should be leaders
in solving this problem. May our gen
eration show itself to be a great one,
as we solve this problem in the fight
of Christian brotherhood.”
William T. Polk, associate editor
of the Greensboro Daily News and
author of Southern Accent, said on
an editorial writers’ panel in Chapel
Hill he thought there is “practically
no chance that the South on any
large scale will integrate its public
schools in the near future. It is more
likely to abandon or abolish them.
“By and large, much of the South
is willing to admit that Negroes ought
to be given a fairer chance in many
fields—civic government and medical
groups, for example—but the South
looks on public education as a spe
cial case: as a state, not federal, mat
ter; and as a question not of equality
under the law, but of attainment of
excellence by each child in accord
ance with intellectual qualities.”
At a meeting in Pinehurst, mem
bers of the House of Delegates of
the N. C. Medical Society voted 104-
37 to allow Negro physicians full sci
entific membership in the society
with full privileges of membership.
The action culminated a five-year
study of the issue.
Dr. James P. Rousseau of Winston-
Salem, new president of the society,
said the action was “for the good of
humanity” and “. . . if, by our action,
we help one Negro physician to serve
humanity more effectively, then our
action was well worthwhile.”
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Other developments during the
month:
Dr. Ralph D. Wellons, president
of Pembroke State (Indian) College,
was elected chairman of the N. C.
Council on Human Relations.
An interracial seminar on “The Re
sponsibility of the Christian in the
Problem of Racial Tensions” was con
ducted in Rocky Mount by the N. C.
conference of the Methodist Church.
Eighty persons attended.
Four ministerial associations in the
state have integrated. These are lo
cated in Chapel Hill, Lexington, Wil
mington and Cabarrus County.
Greensboro and Salisbury will inte
grate later this year, and four other
cities are laying the groundwork for
such a step.
Arkansas
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
PRIVATE college for Negroes at
Little Rock graduated its first
white student in May. The Arkansas
Council on Human Relations opened
an office at Little Rock. One of the
world’s richest men said in an Urban
League speech that the Supreme
Court’s May 17 decision on segrega
tion in schools was an important step
in progress. The attorney general of
Texas told the Arkansas Bar Associ
ation convention that the May 17 de
cision was “demoralizing” to lawyers.
And the University of Arkansas
Graduate Center announced an inte-
§ r ation-in-reverse move.
These were the major develop-
me nts in Arkansas during May. In
date order, this was what happened:
On April 29 at Fort Smith, 1,000
delegates to the annual convention of
Arkansas Christian Churches (Dis
ciples of Christ) voted to survey the
Possibility of racial integration in
congregations, the state convention
and the state missionary society.
Rev. Colbert S. Cartwright, pastor
of the Pulaski Heights Christian
Church at Little Rock, chairman of
*be Social Education Action Commit-
^ e ’ said the results of the survey
would be submitted at the conven-
hon next year.
Philander Smith College at Little
Rock, a Methodist-supported institu
tion for Negroes founded in 1868,
graduated its first white student on
May l.
social science major
The white graduate in a class of 29
1 V ',? S Dorothy Martin, 32, of Mabelvale,
Majored in social science. Doro-
y Martin is her maiden name, re-
ced after her divorce in 1953 from
a Methodist minister.
MGien Miss Martin enrolled in 1953,
or two years of study at a private
le ge for white students, she said
she was waging a “one-man battle
against segregation.”
Dr. M. Lafayette Harris, Negro
president of the College, said that
when he received her application for
enrollment, he could not turn it down.
“Across the years we have been a
Christian institution,” he said. “We
have felt that the Christian concept
had to be big enough for all people to
work together in a Christian enter
prise.”
He said that when she enrolled,
economy had been of prime impor
tance to her and that the cost of at
tending Philander Smith probably
was lower than that of any white
school in Arkansas.
When Miss Martin enrolled, she
said that a married sister of hers, who
fives at Little Rock, was so against it
that she went to the Pulaski County
prosecuting attorney. But that offi
cial said there was nothing she could
do to prevent it.
Miss Martin was not the only white
student at Phliander Smith College
this year. Wayne Detloff of Little
Rock, a white student, has been
studying chemistry there this year.
THIRD OF FACULTY WHITE
About one-third of the college’s
40 faculty members are white.
On May 7, the Arkansas Council on
Human Relations, affiliated with the
Southern Regional Council, opened
an office at 211 South Izard Street at
Little Rock with Nat Griswold, a
white man, as executive director, and
Christopher C. Mercer, Jr., a Negro,
as associate executive director.
Segregation in schools will occupy
most of the Council’s attention, Gris
wold said in an interview. “But,” he
said, “the school problem can’t be
separated from other problems of
segregation. The satisfactory solu
tion of one involves at least the par
tial solution of the others. We can’t
FIRST WHITE GRADUATE AT PHILANDER SMITH
DOROTHY MARTIN (third from right) at Philander Smith College com
mencement exercises at Little Rock May 1 is the first student to receive a
degree from the Methodist-supported college founded in 1868.
have a satisfactory integration in
schools unless there are changes in
other areas.”
Mercer entered the University of
Arkansas School of Law in 1949, two
years after the board of trustees vol
untarily voted to admit Negroes.
“I don’t think Arkansas will ever
be ready for integration in the
schools,” Mercer said. “People never
are ready for a change. More than a
state of readiness we need a state of
willingness to do the right thing.”
ROCKEFELLER SPEECH
On May 8, Winthrop Rockefeller, a
member of the board of the National
Urban League and now a resident of
Arkansas, spoke at the 18th annual
public meeting of the Urban League
of Greater Little Rock, which he
serves as a member of the Advisory
Board.
“The Supreme Court’s decision on
segregation in the schools and elimi
nation of armed forces segregation
are important stepping stones in our
current progress,” he said. “Those
things didn’t just happen. People of
strong beliefs eliminated those stum
bling blocks to a united citizenry.”
Rockefeller, who has worked with
the League more than 15 years, said
that improved housing for Negroes
should be the next area of effort for
the League. He also said he thought
integrated housing could work.
On May 12 at Hot Springs, in a
speech at the Arkansas Bar Associa
tion convention, John Ben Shepperd,
attorney general of Texas, said the
Supreme Court decision on racial
segregation in public schools was “de
moralizing to the legal profession.”
“The most recent and the most
thunderous edict uttered by the
Court was its decision in the segrega
tion cases handed down almost one
year ago,” Shepperd said.
‘BOOT AND SPUR’
“In its ruling the Court rode boot
and spur right across 105 years of
legal precedent and 150 years of social
tradition repeatedly upheld under the
Federal Constitution,” he said.
“School segregation has been up
held by federal courts in 77 cases, at
least 13 of which were before the
United States Supreme Court,” Shep
perd said. “When the Court junked
the fine of cases, it was demoralizing
to the legal profession whose every
legal concept must be based on prece
dent.”
Shepperd said that there was
“nothing sacred and all-wise about
the judiciary; it is composed of falli
ble human beings. To assume that
nine men in Washington can solve the
problems of all school districts in the
United States better than the thous
ands of school board members and
legislators is the worst kind of irre
sponsible day-dreaming.”
He said that the big problem before
the nation’s lawyers was what they
could do about federal encroachment.
“We seem to be approaching a con
dition of complete instability under
which we will be governed by the ca
price and whim of the individual jur
ists,” he said.
CITES CASES
Shepperd cited several cases in
which he said that the Supreme Court
had ignored all precedent and that
“later courts can just as casually ig
nore present decisions and legislation,
with the effect that the rock-like
Constitution becomes a lump of clay
to be remodeled by each generation of
court justices, under the pressure of
sociologists and politicians.”
As one remedy against federal en
croachment, Shepperd suggested that
the states extend their system of in
terstate compacts to “keep quarrels
in the family and out of federal
courts.
REVERSE ORDER
On May 20, integration-in-reverse
was announced by the University of
Arkansas Graduate Center at Little
Rock. University officials said that
white students would be allowed to
See ARKANSAS on Page 23