Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—July 6, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Two N. C. Cities Begin Studies On Compliance With Decree
RALEIGH, N. C.
1I7HILE school boards in two of
if. North Carolina’s principal cities
—Charlotte and Asheville—voted to
begin studies directed toward com
pliance with the desgregation de
cision, Gov. Luther Hodges an
nounced he would not call a special
session of the General Assembly “at
this time.”
In a special radio and television
broadcast, Gov. Hodges gave his
analysis of the implementation de
cree. He said, “There seems to be
more in the court’s opinion” than
most of the people in the state realize.
“We are concerned,” he said. “At
the same time . . . we do not believe
we should take any hasty action at
this time.” During the recent Assem
bly session, the Governor successful
ly blocked two school bills (one to
deny state funds to any integrated
unit, the other to permit use of state
funds for private schools). He block
ed them with the pledge he would
call a special session if the imple
mentation decree was “too drastic.”
Gov. Hodges said that the late Atty.
Gen. Harry McMullan (McMullan, 71,
died of a heart attack June 24, the
day after he met with the newly-
appointed State’s Advisory Commit
tee on Public Education) concurred
with his opinion. (Assistant Atty Gen.
T. Wade Bruton was named as acting
attorney general).
NOT ‘ALARMED’
In his speech, Gov. Hodges em
phasized that his use of “concern”
did not mean he was alarmed. He
cited “factors that seem to have led
many persons to believe that the
court, in its decision, made substan
tial concessions to the South’s tradi
tional position in this controversy.”
These he said, are threefold.
“First, no specific calendar date was
set for full compliance with the de
cision. Second, time was extended in
which to complete full compliance.
Third, the determination of what is
‘good faith’ compliance within the
meaning of the decision was left to
the local federal district judges.”
“What appears to have generally es
caped attention . . .” he said, “is that
the court, in speaking to the parties
involved in the cases—who were the
school boards from Virginia, South
Carolina and other states—requires
that the defendants make a prompt
and reasonable start toward full com
pliance.’
“The requirement of a ‘prompt’
start would seem to mean that the
date upon which a lawsuit may be
brought to determine whether a start
toward full compliance has been
made by any particular school board
is the date when school opens.
ADMITTANCE ORDERS SEEN
“And when a decision has been
rendered in such a suit, if the court
finds that no start toward such a full
compliance has been made at that
time, the school board being sued
may be ordered to admit applicant
(the Negro pupil) involved to the
school he has requested to enter.
“Furthermore,” Gov. Hodges said,
“there is little comfort in the court’s
requirement that the required prompt
start must be made before local fed
eral judges can grant any extension
of time on the basis of matters such
as problems related to physical con
dition of the school plant, the school
transportation, revision of school dis
tricts. . . .
On the “other side of the picture,”
Gov. Hodges noted that it has been
predicted that “considerable time”
and a number of test cases will be
required “before the full effects of
this opinion can be known.” He also
pointed out that the decision tech
nically is binding only on the parties
directly involved in the suits, and
that the decision does not forbid “a
dual system of schools in which chil
dren of each race voluntarily attend
separate schools.’’
and right, and within the framework
of the supreme law of the land.”
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On the following day—June 8—The
Charlotte City School Board, which
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last year expressed the desire to com-
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ply with the law,authorized the ap-
pointment of a study committee from
members of the board to investigate
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“immediately” methods of carrying
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out the decision.
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The board gave the committee au-
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thority to retain extra legal counsel
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and clerical assistance if necessary.
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The committee also may obtain
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someone on a full time basis to com-
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pile data and help frame a recom-
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mended program of integration.
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(On May 18, 1954, the Greensboro
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City School Board voted to make a
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similar study, but since then no com-
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mittee has been named or the study
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activated.)
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In a speech at Durham, Gov.
CHARLES G. TENNENT
Asheville Board Chairman
ply with the court ruling, and said
it will “move with measured step in
the direction of ultimate compliance
with the supreme law of the land.”
Said the statement, drafted by the
Board Chairman Charles G. Tennent:
“The Supreme Court has said in
effect that racial segregation in the
public schools must end as soon as
practical, and it has put the responsi
bility of finding ways and means
squarely upon the local school boards.
“We shall make an honest effort to
comply with the court’s order.
“In the same court ruling provid
ing for integration we are given am
ple time to proceed calmly and care
fully and we shall do so with honesty
of purpose in every move we make.
It will not only take time but pa
tience on the part of all concerned.
“There are many factors involved
in the transition and they must be
given consideration as we carefully
feel our way along a course new to
all of us.
“We expect, and are confident that
we will have, full cooperation from
both white and colored people as we
endeavor to work out the many prob-
‘ Voluntary’ Area
The court obviously cannot cre
ate, maintain or operate a school
system, though it might wreck one.
It will hardly make children at
tend schools that their parents do
not wish them to attend; indeed
the court has no power to do that.
As it is said by James C. N. Paul
in the Report of the Institute of
Government to the Governor of
North Carolina:
“Children are not fungible goods;
they cannot be uprooted and
switched from school to school as
if there were automatons. Nothing
in Chief Justice Warren’s opinion
implies that they can.”
The area for voluntary separa
tion is larger than that of enforced
integration, as a practical matter
at least for the present and prob
ably for the near future.—Greens
boro Daily News.
On June 7, the day after Gov.
Hodges’ broadcast, the Asheville City
School Board adopted a formal policy
of making an “honest effort” to com-
lems that will face us as we move
with measured step in the direction
of ultimate compliance with the su
preme law of the land.
“There must be good will and un
derstanding at all times, even if the
progress may seem slow to some and
fast to others.
“We look to our local governments,
our churches and other institutions,
and to our civic groups, and to all
organizations that daily touch the
lives of the people of this community
to encourage and develop among
them the good will and understand
ing necessary to attain the goal set
for us.
“While the Supreme Court looks to
the school board for compliance, the
responsibility for an equitable and
orderly solution really rests upon all
of us.
“We are mindful that this board
derives its authority from the com
munity it serves, and we are subject
to the laws enacted by the State of
North Carolina. It is our desire to
serve our community and state con
sistent with our concepts of justice
Hodges said of the actions in Ashe
ville and Charlotte, “There was some
criticism of these resolutions, but I
believe that under the circumstances
of the May 31 decision these boards
may have taken a wise course. Such
resolutions may, without any further
immediate action, weigh heavily in
future court actions in which the
issue will be what constitutes a
prompt start toward compliance. . . .
Gov. Hodges added that he was
“proud to know that our people re
acted calmly to this momentous de
cision and refrained from wild or in
flammatory demonstrations. This is
a time for courage. We need wise
counsel rather than inflammatory
headlines.”
While Gov. Hodges has ruled out
a special session of the General As
sembly “at this time,” he did not say
finally no such session will be called
prior to the next regular session in
January, 1957.
In the same speech at Durham, be
fore the Duke University School Law
Conference, Gov. Hodges announced
appointments to the Advisory Com
mittee on Public Education, author
ized as a continuing study group on
segregation by the 1955 General As
sembly.
As committee chairman, Gov.
Hodges named Thomas J. Pearsall of
Rocky Mount, farmer and business
man who headed the late Gov. Wil
liam B. Umstead’s special advisory
committee on education. Pearsall,
along with William T. Joyner of Ra
leigh, an attorney, and R. O. Huffman
of Morganton, a businessman, will be
public members of the committee.
State Sen. W. Lunsford Crew of
Roanoke Rapids and Sen. William
Medford of Waynesville were chosen
to represent the Senate. Rep. H.
Clyod Philpott of Lexington and Rep.
Edward F. Yarborough of Louisburg
were chosen to represent the House.
Joyner and Huffman, like Pearsall,
served on the Umstead committee.
After he named his committee, Gov.
Hodges later spoke to a farm group
in Raleigh. He expressed the belief
that “the great majority of our citi
zens—both races included—prefer to
keep our schools separate.” He said
all citizens should share in the effort
to preserve the public school system.
LOCAL STUDIES URGED
Three days after the committee was
appointed, it convened in Gov.
Hodges’ office. It recommended that
local school units “make a thorough
study of the varied local problems”
arising from the decision, and “seek
the factual information necessary to
the elucidating, assessing and solving
of these problems.”
The committee asked that it be kept
informed “of the progress and of the
result” of the local studies and sug
gested that studies be made “as soon
as may be practicable.” Before mak
ing more detailed recommendations,
the committee will need “a great deal
GOV. LUTHER HODGES
‘— No Hasty Action’
more factual and legal information,”
Chairman Pearsall said.
The June 23 conference was at
tended by Attorney General McMul
lan, who directed preparation of
North Carolina’s brief when it ap
peared before the Supreme Court as
a friend of the court earlier this year.
It was his last official act, after 17
years in office. On June 24, he died
of a heart attack in his apartment
here.
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LEGAL ACTION
by local boards on the grounds the
State Board of Education had full
authority. Alexander said that argu
ment no longer has a validity because
the 1955 General Assembly gave to
local boards “complete authority ’
over the enrollment and assignment
of pupils.
Alexander also disclosed that local
NAACP branches are preparing to
assist Negro teachers, in the event in
tegration begins costing them their
jobs. “The machinery is now set up,”
Alexander said. “We look for the big
cities in Western North Carolina like
Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Sa
lem and Asheville to take the lead.”
“In these cities the problem socio
logically is not as acute as in the
‘Black Belt’ of Eastern North Caro
lina. We expect these cities to show
the leadership.”
“We stand ready with qualified ex
perts in public education and com
munity organization to cooperate
with any and all school boards willing
to work toward desegregation.”
The NAACP brought suit in the
Middle District Court in Greensboro
on behalf of three Durham Negro
students who have been refused ad
mission as undergraduates to the
University of North Carolina. Plain
tiffs are Leroy Frasier, 17, and his
brother, Ralph, 16, and John Lewis
Brandon, 18.
The three Negroes applied for ad
mission to the University prior to
graduating from high school but were
turned down. They charge in their
suit that the University trustees (who
voted against admitting Negroes at
the undergraduate level—Southern
School News, June) violated the 14th
amendment of the U. S. Constitution.
They asked the court to issue a “per
manent injunction, restraining the
defendants and each of them from
denying to the plaintiffs and other
Negroes possessing the qualifications,
admission to the undergraduate
schools of the Consolidated Universi
ty of North Carolina, solely because
of race and color.”
The suit also asks that a three-
judge federal district court be con
vened to hear the case. In addition,
the suit asks that the “court so con
vened issue a judgment of decree and
declare the rights, and legal relations
of the parties—in order that such
declaration shall have the force and
effect of a final judgment and de
cree.” It is alleged in the suit that
the three youths “met all of the req
uisite qualifications for admission and
this admission was denied solely be
cause of race and color.”
SUITS THREATENED
Meanwhile, Kelly Alexander of
Charlotte, head of the North Caro
lina chapter of the NAACP, said local
school boards all over the state will
face lawsuits calling for integration
if the committees have not taken
steps by September toward “reason
able and prompt” desegration in the
public schools.
Every school board in the state will
be petitioned for early integration,
Alexander said. (The Raleigh School
Board got its petition June 25, asking
for such action and suggesting the
appointment of an advisory commit
tee to study ways to end segregation
in the city). “If no plans have been
announced in September, 1955,”
Alexander said, “the time for law
suits has arrived.”
Once the petitions have been filed,
Alexander said, periodic inquiries
will be made to determine what steps
have been taken. He said also that
conferences will be held in communi
ties all over the state to explain the
court’s decision.
Earlier, petitions have been ignored
In Greensboro, the N. C. Lawyers’
Association (Negro) pledged its co
operation in helping to ease problems
connected with public school dese
gregation. It expressed a willingness
to work with state and federal courts
and agencies charged with adminis
tration of the public schools in a man
ner “aimed at serving the best inter
ests of the people of the State.”
Chief Justice M. V. Barnhill of the
North Carolina Supreme Court: the
decision, in his opinion, does not con
stitute a general mandate to end all
school segregation, because it applied
to specific cases only. “I have read the
opinion carefully three times and find
nothing that does not apply only to
those cases. The court was careful
to connect the decision at every point
with the ‘defendants’ or ‘the plain
tiff,’ ” he said.
“It is a great pity,” said Justice
Barnhill, “that the Negro leaders of
our state do not say: ‘The stigma has
been removed. Now we will continue
with our own teachers and schools.
But that is wishful thinking.”
“The Supreme Court decision does
not vest in any district judge in North
Carolina authority to do anything
about our schools that he did not
have before the opinion was handed
down . . . The main threat, or impor
tant factor, to North Carolina, is that
it (the decision) stands as a precedent
and gives us notice as to the type of
judgment that probably would be
rendered if an action were to origi
nate in North Carolina ...”
B. L. Smith, superintendent of
Greensboro city schools: “Gradual
adjustment ... is desirable and nec
essary and the greatest leeway will
come through acceptance of the de
cision . . . The decision constitutes
law and North Carolina laws are sub
servient to the Constitution of the
United States.”
I. E. Ready, superintendent of the
Roanoke Rapids schools: He will ad
vise his board to make decisions tha
“will retain public support of public
education...” .
Bert Ishee, principal of Fayettevil e
schools: “If we could delete tradition
from this whole issue, the problem
wouldn’t be nearly so great. We are
eager to obey the law and eager
maintain what we have.”
Dean Jefferson B. Fordham °f■ ®
University of Pennsylvania L 3
School, speaking at the school la ^
conference at Duke University: E' e ^
though the basic steps in desegrega
tion were taken by the high cou ^
this does not mean that Congre s
can’t act. We should consider the po s
sibility of legislative implementatio
of the desegregation decision.
Dr. John H. Fischer, superintend
ent of schools in Baltimore, speaking
at the same conference: Cornpla 13
are made that “Our town won t s a
for it—we’ll have a riot. This m
course possible, but a review of " .
has actually occurred shows that s ^
predictions usually are fright®
exaggerations. Our people are ^
abiding and orderly. This is n ° u
deny the existence of tensions
difficulties.”