Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—June 8, 1955—PAGE 15
Mississippi
JACKSON, Miss.
T HE five Democratic candidates for
the Mississippi nomination for
governor in the Aug. 2 party primary
are assuring voters that public school
segregation will be continued during
the new administration commencing
next January, regardless of the de
cree of the United States Supreme
Court implementing its integration
decision of May 17, 1954. Democratic
nomination in this one-party state is
equivalent to election.
Segregation is one of the major
campaign issues now being discussed
and on which the candidates are in
agreement. Its mention on the politi
cal stump draws greater voter-re
sponse than any other subject.
The governorship candidates gen
erally express the belief that an over
whelming majority of Negroes will
not push the issue, but will abide by
the long-followed “way of life,” pro
vided the educational opportunities
of their race are equalized with those
of the whites without further delay.
They also outline legal steps they
claim will forestall integration for the
foreseeable future.
The candidates point to a new Ne
gro-white public school equalization
program enacted by the legislature as
the basis for working toward a form
of voluntary segregation agreeable to
both races.
That approach is contrary to the
position of the Misisssippi branches
of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People and
the Mississippi Regional Council of
Negro Leadership.
NEGRO LEADERS DIVIDE
A schism, however, has developed
among the Negro leadership.
Percy Greene, editor of the Jack-
son Advocate, weekly Negro news
paper, and also chairman of the Mis
sissippi Association of Negro Demo
crat Clubs, advocates a form of vol
untary segregation, designed to “cre
ate an atmosphere in which white and
Negro citizens can work together in
harmony and goodwill towards what
ever is inevitable in the future history
of Mississippi and the South.”
Editor Greene said his proposal is
based on a statement by U. S. Rep.
C. C. Diggs, Jr., (D.-Mich.), before the
April 29 meeting of the regional coun
cil of the all-Negro town of Mound
Bayou, Miss. Diggs is the son of a for-
mer Mississippi Negro tenant farmer
w Issaquena County.
Editor Greene bases his suggestion
on the statement of Rep. Diggs to the
■00 Negroes attending the council
meeting: “We should preserve our
race-consciousness and pride in our
group achievement.” It is also tied in
"nth Diggs’ statement that Negroes
meet the asserted economic pressure
o the Misisssippi Citizens Councils
composed of “white males dedicated
o preservation of segregation,” in
this way:
, must support our own first
said Greene), even if it means a
sacrifice until the water of democ-
cys economic stream flows back
ward for black and white alike. Call
inconsistent with our dream of in-
egration, call it segregation or dis-
t mntion if you wish—but the al-
rnative is to witness many of our
Pctentiah” advances ~P resent and
SE p Ks RESOLUTION
SDnrJ t0r Greene wired Diggs
o . or a resolution in Congress re
srnzing voluntary segregation in c
am,’ 6 . sa td, “to immediately relie
anH l XlSting ten sion in Mississij
and the South.”
TVt n
that ft, Mississi PPi editor suggest
bor s f reso hition recite that “met
toseti? Sny one mcial group livi
havm„ er ,, m su ® c ient numbers a
and ntt, heU " 0wn churches, scho<
a srp=t 6r - h^titutions demonstral
Amerip ri ? t and privilege und
fies th p 311 democ racy, and exemp'
the lav, ^^rnttee of equality und
ihg f-tu made hy the nation’s foum
all racp 6rS whic h brought people
hi searpt ai ) d creeds to this count
^earch of freedom.”
George w, 21 mem orial for Re
gS Wesle y Lee, Negro Bapti
minister of Belzoni and leader in the
NAACP movement for qualifying
Negroes as voters, Roy Wilkins of
New York City, executive secretary
of the NAACP, criticized Editor
Greene’s proposal.
The Belzoni memorial was to the
Negro minister who was found dead
in his automobile which had crash
ed into a house. Bullet wounds re
portedly were found in his body, and
NAACP officials claim he was shot
as a result of his civil rights activ
ities.
Law enforcement officials at Bel
zoni, which is in Humphreys County
where a strong White Citizens Coun
cil exists, have been unable to de
termine the cause of Rev. Lee’s death.
The leader of the Citizens Council de
nied that organization had anything
to do with it.
CRITICIZED BY CARTER
A warning to Mississippi that “it’s
two minutes to midnight” on the seg
regation issue by Rep. Diggs was
criticized editorially by Hodding Car
ter, Pulitzer-prize winning editor of
the Greenville Delta Democrat Times.
Editor Carter said in a speech be
fore the Mississippi Bankers Asso
ciation convention at Biloxi that “in
tegration will have to come on a very
gradual basis.”
Carter said there will be “only tok
en integration in the South in the
foreseeable future,” and that “it
must come, particularly in heavy Ne
gro areas, by degrees.” He said if the
nation can adjust to living with the
H-bomb, the South “certainly can
adjust to the decision” by the United
States Supreme Court banning pub
lic school segregation.
At its April meeting, the Missis
sippi Regional Council of Negro
Leadership, headed by Dr. T. R. M.
Howard of Mound Bayou, charted a
“determined course looking to attain
ment of first class citizenship by Ne
groes.”
“We serve notice here and now
that when the Supreme Court says
how and when integration is to be
gin, we plan to do that right here in
Mississippi,” Dr. Howard said.
WILL GO TO COURTS
“Everything done by the state leg
islature which conflicts with the con
stitution of the United States will be
carried into the federal courts until
true justice and democracy reign,”
he said.
Dr. Howard said a fund of $100,000
is being raised to contest the state
legislative enactments—the school
equalization program and raising ed
ucational qualifications of voters—as
well as to prosecute cases where Ne
groes assertedly have been brutally
treated and forced out of business
through “economic pressure.”
The Negro physician criticized the
White Citizens Councils, and asserted
that “we are definitely whipping the
economic freeze.” He said a fund be
ing deposited in the Tri-State Bank
at Memphis, officered by Negroes,
for the purpose of making loans to
Negroes feeling the asserted “eco
nomic pressure” of the whites, has
reached $250,000. Dr. Howard is a
director of the bank.
PREDICTS VICTORY
Meanwhile, Attorney General J. P.
Coleman of Mississippi has said that
“Mississippi will win its fight against
integration if the citizens stand fast
and united.”
Addressing the Legal Educational
Advisory Committee head by Gov.
Hugh White, the attorney general
said:
“We are in charge of the situation
—it’s our tax money and they are
our schools. If we let them know we
are not going to take it, the Congress
might be inclined to implement the
desegregation decision with laws.
“As it is,” Coleman told the group
created by the legislature to devise
ways and means of bypassing the in
tegration decision, “all the Supreme
Court can do is lay down a rule and
then enforce it only when some vio
lation comes before it. As for enforce
ment, the Court has no way to enforce
it otherwise.”
“The decision will apply only to
those cases in court, and will not
affect Mississippi until we are
brought into court because no blan
ket order can be issued,” he said.
Attorney General Coleman said
the voter-ratified amendment to the
State constitution giving the legisla
ture standby authority to abolish
public education if integration is at
tempted, works two ways.
“We can abolish districts under
it and then reestablish them under
a different setup under the amend
ment,” he said. “We could keep the
court busy for years in that way.”
DELTA COUNCIL HEARD
Also speaking out on the school
issue was the Delta Council of white
leaders in the 17 counties of that
heavily-Negro populated section of
Mississippi.
It’s position was expressed in the
following resolution adopted a# its
May 10 annual meeting:
“The membership of Delta Council
believes that the decision by the U. S.
Supreme Court, declaring it to be a
violation of the Constitution of the
U. S., for a state to require children
of different races to attend separate
schools, goes beyond the protection
of equal rights contained in the four
teenth amendment. This decision is,
in effect, an attempt to change and
regulate the social customs and tra
ditions of a society built up over a
period of more than 150 years. Such
social customs and traditions cannot
be changed by law. Furthermore, the
matter of public education is the re
sponsibility of local and state gov
ernments uninterfered with by any
court, department or authority of
the federal government.
“It should be recognized that mem
bers of the Negro and white races
have lived in peace and friendliness
in this area for many years and have
made rapid economic progress. There
is more freedom of opportunity for
Negroes in Mississippi than in most
states of this nation.
“We believe that the inevitable re
sult of any action by the federal gov
ernment to force integration in public
schools would be unbearable friction
between the races, resulting in dis
cord among the citizens of this area.
Advancements made by both races
would be jeopardized. Forced inte
gration would also result in the low
ering of over-all educational stand
ards in the South.
“Southern states are making great
progress in improving educational
and economic opportunities for both
races, and will continue to do so if
such efforts and existing friendly re
lations are uninterfered with by agi
tators and by attempts to force in
tegration through decrees of federal
courts.
“With complete good will toward
our Negro friends and to other sec
tions of the United States, we declare
that in so doing we will serve the
best interests of all the people of all
the races in the U. S.”
Virginia
Continued From Page 14
opposition,” he declared. He warned
the Negroes not to “go around acting
as if you had won a great victory
over the white people of the South.
We have won a victory over evil in
stitutions that have descended upon
them.”
Meeting in Charlottesville, dele
gates to the annual council of the
Episcopal diocese of Virginia ap
proved a resolution stating that it
is “the principle of Christian ethics
for the people of the diocese that
they make every effort ... to elimi
nate all barriers preventing the free
fellowship in the church’s life of
people of different races.” The clergy
delegates voted 59 to 24 for the reso
lution and the lay members 54 to 48.
A Fairfax County “workshop” on
school segregation bogged down in
confusion and broke up into two sec
tions, one inside and one outside the
school building in which the session
started.
About 150 persons attended the
workshop, sponsored by the Fairfax
County Federation of Parent-Teach
er Associations. Persons opposing the
workshop took the position that the
affair was not a proper P-TA func
tion, and they also charged that the
entire session had been “loaded” in
favor of integration. Those who op
posed the workshop—or at least
Texas
AUSTIN, Texas
TPHE first integration of Negroes
in a public school in Texas was
disclosed during May.
Three Negro children enrolled
earlier this year at Friona, a farm
ing community in Northwest Texas.
About 700 white students attend the
same elementary school.
Supt. Dalton Caffey said that two
Negroes had been accepted by the
school last fall, but had moved away.
Three others then enrolled. The ac
tion was supported by the local
school board and no move was made
by any citizen in the district to re
quire court enforcement of Texas
segregation laws.
Some persons outside the district
complained of the Friona board’s ac
tion.
A few complained to Gov. Allan
Shivers, who relayed the messages
to the Texas Education Agency.
COMMISSIONER REPLIES
Dr. J. W. Edgar, Commissioner of
Education, replied to these objectors
(none from Friona):
“Texas school laws vest the au
thority in each local school board for
establishing operating policies in
each local school district. On that
basis, the local school district
(board) has the right to interpret
statutory and constitutional pro
visions. Such interpretations are
subject to review by a court of com
petent jurisdiction.
“Accordingly, the action by the
board of school trustees at Friona can
be properly placed before the court
by proceedings instituted by a resi
dent of the Friona district.”
Texas Education Agency, enforc
ing the state’s policy of segregation,
previously had advised the Friona
district against putting the Negro
children in class with whites. Wheth
er state aid, based on attendance,
will be allowed on the Negroes is
yet to be determined.
DEPENDS ON COURT
Deputy Commr. Bascom Hayes
said the state agency had offered to
pay half the salary of a Negro teach
er for the three pupils at Friona.
The Negroes taught there this year
are the first to apply for an educa
tion in the growing farming commu
nity.
“We could have spent about $10,-
000 and had a separate place for the
Negroes,” Caffey said. “We thought
if we had 12 to 20 Negroes, we might
provide separate classrooms. But it
would cost a lot of money. Under the
present situation, we might have to
discard segregation at any moment.”
Caffey said there was some criti
cism locally of the move when it first
took place.
“One father particularly, a man
from Georgia, raised talk downtown
but other citizens talked him out of
doing anything about it,” the super
intendent reported. “I think the com
munity is sympathetic to what we
are doing. The Negro children have
been accepted by other children.
They are very congenial. In fact, the
white children seem rather proud of
the Negroes. They are good stu
dents.”
The first Negroes enrolled at Fri
ona were Jimmy and Robert Walker,
brothers 8 and 10 years old. They
came to Parmer county, Texas, from
California. They withdrew from
school in December.
In January, Marvin Smith, 9, en
tered the third grade, and his broth
er, Donnie M. Smith, 11, the fifth
grade. Mozelle Lemon, 10, became a
fourth-grader. These three Negroes
previously had attended segregated
West Texas schools at Littlefield and
Wilson, near Lubbock.
Friona is 27 miles from Hereford,
the closest Texas town with a Negro
school. It is 32 miles from Clovis,
N. M., where segregation was abol
ished last year. Caffey commented
that most Clovis Negroes prefer to
attend a segregated school, although
they can now go to an integrated
school.
“I think this is a problem that
should be faced on the community
level,” said Caffey. “Some of our
neighbor schools in West Texas are
faced with the same problem. It will
be more difficult to solve where there
are more Negroes.”
Scholastic population in the Friona
district has increased from 350 in
1947 to 900 in 1954-1955, the result
of developing irrigated farming. New
residents include a large number of
Latin-American farm workers and
a few Negroes.
Some Texas colleges have admit
ted Negroes with white students for
several years. This includes several
state-aid junior colleges. None is lo
cated in the Eastern third of Texas
where 90 per cent of the Negroes
live, however.
SEES DALLAS ACTION
Meanwhile, the head of the Dallas
school board predicted a beginning
of desegregation there within a year.
Dr. Edwin L. Rippy, president,
said:
“We shall face desegregation and
we shall be obliged to evaluate
methods of effecting it. I personally
expect the best cooperation from our
Negro friends.”
At nearby Garland, an advocate of
immediate integration ran a poor
fourth among candidates for the
school board. Russell Sanborn, who
campaigned on an integration plat
form, got 40 votes. The winner, in
cumbent William J. Holt, Jr., re
ceived 711. Two other candidates
drew 299 and 183 votes respectively.
In Elgin, Central Texas, the school
board set up a 27-member citizens
advisory committee, believed to be
the first in Texas on the segregation
problem. Leading citizens are serv
ing on the committee, which will help
the town decide how to meet prob
lems arising from the U. S. Supreme
Court decision.
Pending the decree, Elgin’s school
board withheld spending funds ear
marked for expanding the Negro
school.
MINISTERS CRITICAL
Two attacks on segregation came
from Texas Negroes.
Negro Methodist ministers in a
conference at Dallas criticized segre
gation in hotels, schools and in the
Methodist Church itself. They called
on hotels to accept Negro patrons.
State officials were urged by resolu
tion to bring the state’s school sys
tem “into full harmony” with the U.
S. Supreme Court decision.
The third resolution expressed
hope that the Methodist Church will
start moving toward the end of seg
regation.
Two students from Texas Southern
University at Houston returned
home with complaints they were
barred by color from taking full ac
tivity in the American Law Students
Association meeting at St. Peters
burg, Fla.
The Houston Informer quoted Stu
dents Percy Robinson of Port Arthur
and Nelson Wade of Houston as say
ing they were barred from social
events at the convention.
many of them—were said to be mem
bers of the Defenders of State Sov
ereignty and Individual Liberties.
HOLD OWN MEETINGS
This group (opponents of the work
shop) held a meeting in the school
auditorium after the sponsors of the
workshop and persons on their side
had moved out into the yard to hold
their program.
The Albemarle Council of Parent-
Teacher Associations was dissolved
during May by decision of the group’s
executive committee. The council had
been under attack for several rea
sons, one being its sponsorship of a
series of radio discussions in which
both white and Negro pupils ap
peared. (Details of that controversy
were given in Southern School News
of Dec. 1, 1954.) Commenting on the
dissolution of the council, Mrs. C.
Mercer Garnett, Jr., president, said:
“It was formed to benefit the public
schools, but it could no longer seem
to do them any good.”