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PAGE 16—July 6, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Missouri Delta Integration Reviewed ssn Begins 2d Year
(rnntimiPfl Frnm Porro 1 \
ST. LOUIS, Mo.
'yrARIOUSLY known as the Mis
souri Delta country, the Bootheel
and just plain southeast Missouri, the
section of this state lying along the
Mississippi just north of Arkansas is
the most nearly akin to the South.
Most of it lies south of Louisville and
some of it south of Richmond. It has
closer ties to Memphis and Nashville
than to St. Louis. How is it facing
the issues raised by the Supreme
Court decision on school segregation?
Four large high schools in this sec
tion have now had a year’s experi
ence with unsegregated classes. Wil
liam E. Dye, editor of the Dunklin
Democrat at Kennett, sends South
ern School News the following re
port:
“The four Southeast Missouri high
schools which have ended segregation
found that the integration of Negro
students went smoothly.
“School officials in Kennett, Mal
den, Sikeston, and Jackson all report
that Negro and white students at
tended classes together and took part
in other school activities without in
cident.
“The vast majority of the parents
and other citizens in the four towns
accepted integration well, with only
a smattering of adverse comment
heard.
“School boards and other officials
of these four schools, after one year
of integration, say that desegregation
was not the problem they figured it
might be. They report that integra
tion has been successfully accom
plished because of two things:
“First, the liberal attitude of the
white students toward their Negro
counterparts. Second, the beliefs
among the adult citizens of the com
munities, either that integration is a
good thing, or that it is inevitable
_ and might as well be accepted now.”
STUDENT ATTITUDE
The attitude of the white students
has been summed up in what Supt.
H. Byron Masterson of Kennett noted
recently:
Our students didn’t seem to see
anything unusual about integration.
Their general viewpoint was that the
Negro boys and girls were entitled to
the same school privileges that they
had.”
The Kennett school board last sum
mer gave the 20 Negro high school
students a choice. They could either
continue to attend the Negro high
school at nearby Hayti, or come to
the Kennett high school.
The Negro students split about half
and half. Those who enrolled at Ken
nett were accepted calmly by the lo
cal white students both in classes
and in outside activties, according to
Dye. The only Negro senior, Charles
Ivy, was elected class treasurer. Two
of the Negro boys went out for bas-
ketball but did not make the squad.
Several added their voices to the
mixed chorus and glee club.
Malden also integrated at the high
school level last year, but had only
one Negro student, a girl. Supt. W.
I. Myers says she was accepted like
any other student. “In fact,” he said,
“many of our white students seemed
to go out of their way to be helpful
to her, to assure her that she and
other Negro students to come had a
place among them.”
SIKESTON CHANGEOVER
At Sikeston, where 23 Negroes
were integrated into the high school,
Supt. Lynn M. Twitty said the
changeover “went very nicely—much
better than I had anticipated.”
All of the Sikeston High Negroes
were juniors and seniors. “This made
them a select group among their race,
since they had remained in school this
far. Because of this, many of them
were above the average in their
studies,” said Twitty.
Four Negroes were among the 80
Sikeston boys who went out for foot
ball. The Negroes did not do well as
a group. However, three Negroes
played on Sikeston’s first-string bas
ketball team. Other Negroes took part
in debating and dramatics.
Supt. Twitty said that Sikeston has
a “reasonable situation” as far as seg
regation in the elementary schools
goes. Most of the town’s Negroes live
in one section, and they have a mod
ern Negro elementary school to at
tend. He added, however, that if there
were any applications for Negroes
living in other parts of Sikeston to
attend nearby white elementary
schools, these applications probably
would be considered favorably.
Jackson was the only southeast
town to end segregation last year
both in the elementary and high
schools. Supt. R. O. Hawkins says
school officials there “had no problem
in any way” in integrating 40 Ne
groes in classes from kindergarten
to the 12th grade. The high school
had eight Negro students, while the
remainder were in grade school or
junior high.
One of the high school students,
Billy Wade, was the star end on the
Jackson football team. Wade also let
tered in basketball, as did one other
Negro student. Four Negro students
took part in the school’s mixed cho
rus, and next year several Negroes
will be in the high school band,
Hawkins said.
NO TRIP PROBLEMS
Speaking of the Negro athletes,
Hawkins noted that school officials
had felt there might be problems in
feeding and housing them when the
teams took trips. “But,” he said, “we
found much to our pleasure that our
Negro boys were accepted readily
with the other team members in eat-
ing places and hotels throughout
southeast Missouri.”
The reaction of Dunklin County to
the Supreme Court’s final orders is
sued in June is probably typical of
that in southeast Missouri generally.
Dye says reports from Dunklin
school officials indicate that the final
decree is generally approved, but that
few immediate school changes are ex
pected. Districts which have not al
ready integrated will move slowly, it
is felt. The county has 550 Negro stu
dents in a total of 12,000.
One district, at Caruth, will open
a two-room Negro elementary school
this summer in order to accommo
date 50 Negro children who were for
merly sent to a segregated school at
Kennett. Having ended segregation
for its own children, Kennett officials
notified Caruth that overcrowding
would prevent their continuing to
take tuition students from Caruth.
Small numbers of Negroes will be
taken from two other districts, how
ever.
OPTION CANCELLED
At Kennett high school, local Ne
groes will no longer be given the op
tion of attending segregated high
school at Hayti with tuition paid by
Kennett. All will be enrolled at Ken
nett.
Twenty miles north of Kennett is
Clarkton, the only Missouri com
munity which tried integration last
year and gave it up. The school board
voted to end segregation immediately
after the Supreme Court’s decision
was handed down, but after the
school had been in session two weeks,
parents of white students objected
and the board restored segregation.
This year Supt. R. H. Henson says
the board has not discussed any fur
ther efforts to end segregation.
At Senath, south of Kennett, Supt.
Volley Sutton said, “We’ll work it
out in time, but it will take time.”
Largest Negro school population
in the county is in the Rives dis
trict, which has 175 in elementary
and 25 in high school. This district
expects to continue next year oper
ating a Negro elementary school and
transporting its high school students
to Hayti.
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS PLANS
Meanwhile St. Louis city and
county, which together have a higher
proportion of Negro pupils than the
rural Bootheel, are moving rapidly to
complete the end of segregation in
the coming year.
In suburban St. Louis County a re
port by Supt. George W. Vossbrink
shows that every school district with
a significant Negro student popula
tion has either started integration or
announced plans to start it during
the coming school year. Only Web
ster Groves, which has long operated
Negro schools to serve its own and
neighboring communities, will take
more than a year to complete the
process, elementary schools being in
tegrated next September and high
schools in 1956.
In the city of St. Louis, which has
ended segregation in high schools
and junior colleges, plans are set to
complete the process in elementary
schools this fall. New districts disre
garding racial lines were announced
last February and have been calmly
received. At some schools, mothers’
clubs have held get-acquainted teas
for Negro mothers of children to be
transferred into mixed schools.
The Association of Elementary
Teachers, previously a white organi
zation, has announced that it will
merge with the similar Negro teach
ers’ group at the opening of the term.
NEGRO BOARD MEMBER
For the second time, the St. Louis
Board of Education has a Negro
member. At the April election a so-
called “Blue Ribbon” slate sought to
defeat the present board majority,
but failed to win a single seat. (Seg
regation was not an issue in the elec
tion; both slates supported integra
tion without reservations.) The Ne
gro member of the “Blue Ribbon”
slate, Dr. Walter A. Younge, received
the highest vote of the losers, but
fell short of election by 1,637 votes.
When a vacancy occurred shortly af
ter the election, Mayor Raymond A.
Tucker appointed Dr. Younge to fill
it. Another Negro—a dentist—served
18 months on the board by appoint
ment in 1949-51, but was defeated at
the polls when he ran for a six-year
term.
One of Dr. Younge’s first actions
was to obtain appointment of a spe
cial board committee to investigate
the practicability of hiring all school
employes on an integrated basis. He
said hundreds of jobs now were be
ing denied to Negroes, among them
carpenters, painters and electricians.
Other board members pointed out
that the problem is complicated by
the fact that some labor unions do not
admit Negroes to membership.
As a token of the city’s general ac
ceptance of school integration, a pub
lic ceremony was held under spon
sorship of the Metropolitan Church
Federation to mark the first anniver
sary of the Supreme Court decision
on May 17. The ceremony took place
on the steps of the Old Courthouse
where the Dred Scott case was ar
gued 100 years ago. The mayor and
the president of the Chamber of Com
merce spoke. The church federation
presented a citation to Supt. of In
struction Philip J. Hickey for suc
cessfully carrying out the change-
(Continued From Page 1)
4. Legislating the withdrawal of all
public funds from any school district
where there is mixed attendance.
5. The assignment system of de
termining enrollment.
Each of the five methods, he said,
is open to attack.
•
Dr. Long defined what he believes
could be “danger signs” of pending
racial strife in a community:
1. Involvement of certain key lead
ers in one extreme or the other in
the segregation question. In the past,
according to Long, many of these
leaders have been silent.
2. Lack of mediating leadership
where there are two extremes and
little middle ground.
3. The existence of hysterical lead
ership among minority groups.
4. Beginning of rumors about Ne
groes or about whites.
5. Existence of a vacillating relig
ious leadership which robs the com
munity of a “voice of conscience”
and which gives no moral support for
the Supreme Court order.
recognition by the school board tk
students cannot be assigned on £
basis of race and that racial segre^
tion is abolished in that school sy^
tern. Next, we will insist that a pk.
for desegregation be worked out-,
soon as possible but not later tk
September, 1955.
“Third, we will insist that sou;
concrete steps towards desegregatio-
be put into effect the next schoo'
term, beginning this fall. Fourth,
will insist that the plan include step,
by-step desegregation during the ner
school year. Finally, we will insjy
that desegregation be completed bv
not later than the school term begin,
ning September, 1955.”
Oklahoma
(Continued from Page 7)
involved. As a result of the integra-
tion, four of the five faculty member;
have received dismissal notification
The fifth member retired at the close
of the 1955 spring term. Administra-
tors estimated abandoning Douglas;
will save some $24,000 in school sys.
tern operating expense.
Virg
inia
(Continued from Page 15)
culties) for a reasonable time—but
only for a reasonable time.”
Robert B. Crawford, president of
the Defenders of State Sovereignty
and Individual Liberties, told a meet
ing of the Charlottesville chapter:
s = 5== = = £i = i= = = = |||||=||||||||S5g5m|5g
‘Handicaps’
It may take some time, but we
are convinced that when the par
ents of white children realize the
enduring handicaps with which
makeshift substitutes for free pub
lic schools will saddle their chil
dren they will demand their resto
ration, with integration if necessary
to comply with the law.—Norfolk
Journal and Guide.
iiiiiiiiii«iiiiiiiii„ SSII1IIIIgiIgigII
“The worst obstacle we face in the
fight to preserve segregated schools
in the South is the white preacher.
The patriots of Reconstruction had
the preachers praying for them in
stead of working against them.”
State regents for higher education
voted 8 to 1 June 6 to open state col
leges and universities to qualified un
dergraduates of all races. Previously,
Negroes could attend only on a grad
uate level, or in courses unavailable
at Langston Negro University.
The dissenting vote was cast by
Frank Buttram, Oklahoma City
financial and civic leader, who said,
“I don’t like to throw this thing on
them as a sudden shock.”
Meanwhile, Dr. George L. Cross,
president, ordered the University of
Oklahoma opened to Negro under
graduates at once, without waiting
for the September deadline date. Oth
ers already opening lower classes to
Negro applicants are Eastern Okla
homa A&M College and Phillips
(Christian) University. Oklahoma
College for Women regents voted
June 18 to follow the new state pol
icy next autumn.
Arkansas
The Virginia League, a nonprofit,
nonstock organization chartered by
the State Corporation Commission,
has been organized for the purpose,
among others, of working toward
preservation of racial segregation in
the public schools.
John W. Ball, of Highland Springs,
in Henrico County, president, says
the “immediate concern” of the
league is segregation and “the prob
lem of socialist infiltration into
American public life and activities.”
Activity Spurred
(Continued From Page I)
NAACP Special Counsel Thurgood
Marshall, speaking at the Associa
tion’s convention in Atlantic City,
said: “In all school districts we will
insist that the first and minimum
evidence of ‘good faith’ shall be the
(Continued from Page 3)
on June 9, revealed that at least one
of the eight, President D. D. McBrien
of Henderson State Teachers College
at Arkadelphia, plans to stick with
the state law requiring segregation.
“As far as we are concerned,” he
said, “the state law governing our
policy has not been changed. The law
restricts admission to white students. ’
DENIED ADMISSION
On May 31, four Negroes were de
nied admission to Little Rock Junior
College, a privately-supported school.
E. Q. Brothers, dean and acting
president, said the four left “without
animosity’ 1 after he explained that
the school’s constitution specified that
only white students could be ad
mitted.
Dr. Georg Iggers, a white instruc
tor at Philander Smith College for
Negroes and chairman of the Execu
tive Board of the Little Rock Branch
of the NAACP, said the applications
were “not directly connected” with
the NAACP but that he hoped the
school constitution could be changed-
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