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Southern School News
Objective
VOL. II, NO. I
NASHVILLE, TENN.
$2 PER YEAR
JULY 6, 1955
Activity Spurred By Court’s Ruling
(1) Alabama’s senate passed the Engelhardt pupil assignment
bill. Gov. James E. Folsom said it could cause “complica
tion” but declined comment on a possible veto.
(2) Officials of school districts in four of Arkansas’ five largest
cities, including Little Rock, revealed plans or thinking
on integration;
(3) Hoxie, small district in NE Arkansas, said it would inte
grate for 1955-56 term.
(4) Delaware awaited word from its reorganized board of edu
cation.
(3) In the District of Columbia a school board member charged
integration is a “one-way street proposition” in the nation’s
capital.
(6) Florida’s legislature adopted an assignment act; its spon
sor said “counties that want to keep segregated schools
ll nder this bill can do so.”
7) J* eor £ia was awaiting a session of its education committee
iormed to find legal means of circumventing the court de
cision; meanwhile a petition was filed on behalf of Atlanta
(8) £ egro P arents requesting integration.
) Kentucky’s board of education urged local school authori
ng^ J? 8 to begin integration “as rapidly as possible”;
ayne Co., with a small number of Negro children, was
fun 1 t0 inte £ rate *
In Louisiana segregation forces led by State Sen. W. M.
nambach sought $100,000 in state funds to pay special
attorneys retained to fight desegregation suits in parishes
(in l: 0llntles ).
i„ New Orleans a petition was filed by the
Hi,. " * or ^ Paints in Orleans Parish asking “imme-
(12) I*, m an ? concre t e steps” leading to integration.
c Maryland some further integration was foreseen in one
ounty this fall and possibly in two others; school authori-
Worcester Co. said flatly it was not “feasible or
P actical to act this year.
SSN Begins 2nd Year; Format Altered
§°cthern School News begins its
a volume year this month in
easjg Y altered format designed for
tyjj. reac li n g and quick reference.
&eir * f , tbe state reports lose none of
ganm2 l ect i'? ty ’ they have been or -
•eade ■ by ^ e P art ments” so that the
me nts r ™ teres ted in specific develop-
tW , s ^ ate 'by-state may turn
ly , tbe Pages and find more easi-
Thu * " e may be looking for.
gati 0r . S : n f^ s °f segregation-desegre-
each ln higher education appears in
the r ^? ort under the heading “In
Legal° 4 eges ’’ A&ain for example,
beadm ct i° n ” is the departmental
•ourt ff ,)° r news °f petitions, suits,
legal h ’ n H s and actions by special
lUotes °~! es ’ Further, significant
the se}, 3 i ^ ec l arat ions bearing on
■Uider “mi sub i ec t may be found
4r° Ug , aat They Say.” And so on
tlal j nt . e various categories of spe
ech reSt *
i, ith a state report begins as usual
*ith , Umr nary of developments—
C0v eraCTp O j.j exce Ptf° n s where full
^tpient d not warrant this new
ho^* t0rs Southern School
> f 0t J* tha t our readers will find
Hd. o c ? TJ rn i . 0re attractive and more
“^licy^ •, of course has not changed
S t *ts typographical appear -
Plans for this issue were developed
at a meeting of correspondents in
mid-June in Nashville at a “shop
talk” session following a morning
seminar with legal and educational
experts. Correspondents heard:
James C. N. Paul of the Institute of
Government, Chapel Hill, N.C., on
The Southern Education Report
ing Service began its second year
on July 1 under a new director,
Don Shoemaker, former editor of
the “Asheville (N. C.) Citizen.”
Shoemaker succeeds C. A. Mc-
Knight, who will return to news
paper work later this month.
At the June 12 meeting of the
SEES board of directors, Shoemak
er was formally elected executive
director, and a member of the board
of directors and executive commit
tee. McKnight remains on the
SEES board.
Patrick McCauley, former Hunts
ville, Ala., newspaperman, who has
been doing graduate work in po
litical science at Vanderbilt Uni
versity for the past year, has also
joined the SEES staff as assistant
to the director.
JN THE first month following the Supreme Court decision of May 31 calling
for public school desegregation with “deliberate speed” much of the South
was almost literally (see Knox’s cartoon on this page) going to “summer
school.”
Constituted authorities in state after state and community after community
were making plans either to comply with the implementation order or to
resist it.
Observers called the consequence,
(13) Mississippi’s official Legal Education Advisory Committee
reiterated its opposition to desegregation “in any form
whatsoever.”
(14) l our large high schools in SE Missouri reported on the
first year of unsegregated classes.
(15) In Asheville and Charlotte (16), North Carolina, school au
thorities began studies looking toward compliance with
the court decrees while Gov. Luther Hodges announced
appointment of the Advisory Committee on Public Educa
tion authorized as a continuing study group on segregation
by the 1955 legislature.
(17) Oklahoma opened its college and university system to both
races this fall and the State Education Department advised
local school districts to begin merger at once;
(18) Tulsa and nine other districts took action.
(19) The Special Segregation Study Committee recommended
that South Carolina schools be operated on the same segre
gated basis as herefore and
(20) Clarendon Co. officials said schools would be closed before
mixed classes were allowed.
(21) Tennessee’s board of education announced a gradual de
segregation plan in the six state-supported colleges begin
ning at the graduate level.
(22) Texas Gov. Allan Shivers advised schools he sees no need
to hurry into desegregation while
(23) At San Antonio and El Paso (24) plans were announced to
abolish segregation at least partly, beginning in September.
(25) Virginia directed continued operation of segregated schools;
(26) Prince Edward Co. may abandon its public schools entirely
and is raising a private fund of $212,000 to assure white
teachers of salaries.
(27) West Virginia closed its school for colored deaf and blind
at Institute and merged with formerly all-white Romney
school for Deaf and Blind.
“Legal Questions Yet Unanswered;”
Dr. Arnold Albright, associate direc
tor, Southern States Cooperative
Program in Educational Administra
tion on “Problems Facing School Ad
ministrators,” and Dr. Herman Long,
director of the Race Relations Insti
tute, Fisk University, on “Broad
Community Problems Posed by the
Court Decision.”
All three talks, with question-and-
answer periods, were presented only
for background information.
In his discussion of legal ques
tions Paul pointed out that the
United States Constitution “nowhere
requires states to provide a free edu
cation for their children. That’s strict
ly up to the individual states.”
He said he did not believe abolish
ing public schools would be attempt
ed, but he listed what he called five
“evasion” methods:
1. A wait-and-see policy by local
school boards who defer action until
forced by a law suit or court order.
2. A free private education system
with private schools leased to citi
zens’ corporations and tuition grants-
in-aid provided.
3. Re-enactment of state segrega
tion laws placing schools under the
state police power.
(Continued On Page 16)
once described as the “fragmenta
tion” of Southern attitudes and posi
tions, now the “atomization” of that
pattern. For there were developments
within states widely at variance sec
tion by section and community by
community.
TWO CITIES ACT
For example, North Carolina had
adopted no state policy beyond pupil
assignment and enrollment legisla
tion provided by the 1955 General
Assembly, but two of the larger cities
in that state had announced plans
looking toward compliance.
As SSN went to press, the Texas
Board of Education told local school
districts (July 4) they must solve
their own problems but ordered the
distribution of state funds “regard
less of whether or not the schools
are segregated or non-segregated.”
Earlier, in June, El Paso and San
Antonio had announced plans to abol
ish segregation, at least partly, in Sep
tember.
A further press-time development:
In Norfolk, Va., the city school board
announced it approved the principle
of integration as laid down by the
U. S. Supreme Court. The board said,
however, it was powerless to act un
til present state law is changed. Nor
folk (29.4% Negro) was the first dis
trict in Virginia to make such a dec
laration.
In Virginia the impact of the May
31 decision was felt in Prince Ed
ward County when the federal dis
trict court at Richmond received a
mandate from the U. S. Supreme
Court “to take such proceedings and
enter such decrees consistent with
the opinions of this (Supreme) Court
as are necessary and proper to admit
to public schools on a racially non-
discriminatory basis with all delib
erate speed the parties (Prince Ed
ward Negro children) to this case.”
And in Alabama, in what was called
the first test of segregation laws in
the South since the May, 1954, de
cision, a federal judge in effect or
dered opening of the doors of the
University of Alabama to any Negro
applicant—an apparent “class action.”
•
At the end of June, then, the South
wide pattern appeared to be as fol
lows:
South Carolina, Louisiana, Missis
sippi and Georgia remained firmly in
the so-called resistance or “opposi
tion” group. Additionally and also
as to preponderant state attitudes,
Virginia and Alabama seemed to be
moving into this group.
The so-called “wait and see” states
could have been described in part
as “wait and see—some more” states.
While Tennessee had ordered grad
ual desegregation at the college level,
there was no general action affecting
the lower schools. Florida had
adopted an assignment bill. North
Carolina awaited the deliberations of
a new study commission.
Missing from the “wait and see”
group for the first time were Texas,
Oklahoma, Maryland, Arkansas and
Kentucky—either on the basis of state
action or local action.
Oklahoma, Maryland and Ken
tucky were moving toward or into
compliance. Delaware’s largest city,
Wilmington, was moving further in
its desegregation program. Desegre
gation was largely accomplished in
West Virginia. Desegregation affect
ing about 75 per cent of its Negro
Summer School
—Knox in Nashville Banner
pupils had been accomplished in
Missouri.
•
The month saw new or renewed
activity by both segregation and de
segregation action groups. Citizens
Councils were active in Mississippi,
Alabama, Georgia and to some ex
tent in Arkansas. A Knights of the
White Christians group was organ
ized in Louisiana “for the purpose
of preserving Christianity, States’
Rights, Segregation and the Tradi
tions of the South as well as the
Purity of the White Race.” There
was some Ku Klux Klan activity in
South Carolina.
5,000 AT RALLY
Some 5,000 persons attended a
White Citizens Council rally at Sel
ma, Ala., to hear former Gov. Her
man Talmadge of Georgia and Cir
cuit Judge Tom P. Brady of Brook-
haven, Miss. Talmadge described the
Supreme Court decision as “the
greatest single blow that ever has
been struck against constitutional
government.”
In Nashville, Term., there was an
nounced formation of the Federation
for Constitutional Government,
which said it intended to restrain
education officials from desegregat
ing their school systems on grounds
of the unconstitutionality of segrega
tion without constitutional authority
for such action from the state. Or
ganizers included Prof. Donald Da
vidson of Vanderbilt University and
several prominent businessmen.
The principal protagonist group,
the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People, was
active during the month in most states
(related in detail in the state reports).
(Continued On Page 16)
Index
State Page
Alabama 2
Arkansas 3
Delaware 13
District of Columbia 5
Florida 5
Georgia R
Kentucky 8
Louisiana 12
Maryland 10
Mississippi 4
Missouri 16
North Carolina 6
Oklahoma 7
South Carolina 14
Tennessee 9
Texas 12
Virginia 15
West Virginia 8
