Newspaper Page Text
I
Factual
VOL. II, NO. 2
NASHVILLE, TENN.
$2 PER YEAR
AUGUST 1955
Lower Court Decrees Mark Busy Month
S.C., Va. Decrees
What The
Judges Said
At Columbia
This cause coming on to be
heard on the motion of plaintiffs
for a judgment and decree in ac
cordance with the mandate of the
Supreme Court, and the court
having carefully considered the
decision of the Supreme Court,
the arguments of counsel, and the
record heretofore made in this
cause:
It is ordered that the decree
heretofore entered by this court
be set aside, and, in accordance
with the decision and mandate of
the Supreme Court, it is ordered,
adjudged and decreed that the
provisions of the Constitution and
laws of the State of South Caro
lina requiring segregation of the
races in the public schools are
null and void because violative
of the Fourteenth Amendment to
the Constitution of the United
States, and that the defendants
be and they are hereby restrained
and enjoined from refusing on
account of race to admit to any
school under their supervision
any child qualified to enter such
school, from and after such time
as they may have made the nec
essary arrangements for admis
sion of children to such school on
a non-discriminatory basis with
all deliberate speed as required
by the decision of the Supreme
Court in this cause.
It is further ordered that this
c ause be retained on the docket
for the entry of further orders
herein if necessity for same
s hould arise.
At Richmond
(1) That the decree entered by
“bs court on the 7th day of
“larch 1952 be, and it is hereby
''seated and set aside to the ex-
rf n ‘ that it denies the prayer of
he complaint herein for a dec
oration that Section 140, Consti
tution of Virginia of 1902, as
fended, and Section 22-221,
0< I e of Virginia of 1950, as
fended, insofar as they direct
, a t white and colored persons
“thuf not be taught in the same
hools, are unenforceable be-
aus e invalid as in conflict with
e statutes or Constitution of the
Uni ted States.
th t f'bat insofar as they direct
p white and colored persons,
col y ° n account of their race or
° r > shall not be taught in the
same schools, neither said Sec
tion 140, Constitution of Virginia
of 1902, as amended, nor said
Section 22-221, Code of Virginia
of 1950, as amended, shall be en
forced by the defendants, be
cause the provisions of said sec
tions are in violation of the
clauses of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution
of the United States forbidding
any state to deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the law.
(3) That the defendants be,
and they are hereby, restrained
and enjoined from refusing on ac
count of race or color to admit
to any school under their super
vision any child qualified to enter
such school, from and after such
time as the defendants may have
made the necessary arrangements
for admission of children to such
school on a non-discriminatory
basis with all deliberate speed
as required by the decision of the
Supreme Court in this cause; but
the court finds that it would not
be practicable, because of the ad
justment and re-arrangement re
quired for the purpose, to place
the public school system of
Prince Edward County, Virginia,
upon a non-discriminatory basis
before the commencement of the
regular school term in Septem
ber, 1955, as requested by the
plaintiffs, and the court is of the
opinion that the refusal of the
court to require such adjustment
and rearrangement to be made in
time for the said September, 1955,
school term is not inconsistent
with the public interest or with
the decision of the Supreme
Court.
(4) That jurisdiction of this
cause be retainer! for further con-
(See DECREE, Page 13)
HEAR CASES — The Clarendon
County school case was heard by
Judges (top, left to right) Armistead
Dobie, John J. Parker and George
Bell Timmerman. Judge Dobie also
sat with Judge Sterling Hutcheson
(bottom, left) and Judge Albert V.
Bryan in the Prince Edward, Va., case.
Tenn. Group
Explains Stand
'J'HE recent Supreme Court anti-
segregation decisions constitute
only one—but the “most immediate
and pressing”—area of interest of the
Tennessee Federation for Constitu
tional Government which is among
the latest groups to be organized in
opposition to the court’s decree.
However, for the present and the
immediate future, the efforts and re
sources of the organization will be
directed toward this major issue.
In an interview with Southern
School News, Donald Davidson, an
English professor at Vanderbilt Uni
versity and president of the group,
said: “The anti-segregation decision,
with its proposed implementation in
Tennessee ... happens to be the most
immediate and pressing issue to
which we are directing attention.
Our interest in the broad and funda
mental principles (of constitutional
government) would naturally prompt
us to include the anti-segregation
decision in our concerns as a matter
of first importance; but we certainly
shall not limit our activities to this
problem. It is only one of the various
urgent and. indeed, critical m-oblems
that have to be faced and solved.”
Concerning the group’s contem
plated course of action in this re
gard. Davidson added “We prooose
SEE TENN. GROUP, Page 17)
RESPITE the traditional summer vacation season, July was another busy
month on the public school segregation-desegregation front in the south
ern and border states.
Three major developments point up the story:
1. Federal court judges sitting in Columbia, S.C. and Richmond, Va., to
whom the U.S. Supreme Court mandated two of the original test cases, handed
down decrees which set no time limits for compliance and generally followed
the language of the higher court. As interpreted locally, the decrees seemed to
permit another year of segregated schooling in the applicable areas.
2. Desegregation activity quickened in a number of states. According to re
ports reaching Southern School News, communities in 10 states announced
plans for integration wholly or in part this fall or by 1956.
3. Opposition to desegregation was
either at the word of state officials or
tions. Southern School News found 13
in nine states.
Meanwhile the principal plaintiff
group, the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People,
continued to press for action this fall
or at least by the fall of 1956. This re
sulted in a score or more of petitions
seeking integrated school systems in
school districts of nine states—includ
ing three (for the first time) in Deep-
South Mississippi.
•
A three-judge court heard the re
manded South Carolina (Clarendon
County) case on July 15. Presiding
Judge John J. Parker highlighted the
hearing with these remarks: “The
Constitution, in other words, does not
require integration. It does not for
bid such segregation as occurs as
the result of voluntary action. It
merely forbids the use of govern
mental power to enforce segregation.”
The subsequent decree (which ap
pears elsewhere on this page) “was
not to the initial liking of counsel for
either side, but after further explana
tion by Judge Parker and discussion
between the court and the attorneys,
the lawyers for plaintiffs and defend
ants alike indicated greater accept
ance,” reported the SSN South Caro
lina correspondent.
In Richmond another three-judge
court heard the Prince Edward
County case and “issued a decree
which state officials interpreted as
permitting the operation of segre
gated schools during the 1955-56
school year,” reported the SSN Vir
ginia correspondent. The decree ap
peared to end plans for operation
of private schools in Prince Edward
this fall. NAACP attorneys said the
decree had reiterated the unconsti
tutionality of segregation.
©
Desegregation was announced or
planned in more than a score of com
munities in 10 states.
A dozen communities in Texas took
steps to end segregated schooling this
fall. Mostly in southern and western
Texas (where there are few Negroes),
announcements ranged from San An
tonio (7.7 per cent Negro scholastics)
to Mission (two-tenths of one per
cent! in the lower Rio Grande Val
ley. Texas districts now planning in
tegration involve 209,072 children, of
whom 10.503 are Negroes.
Other activity: Oklahoma is de
segregating more than one-third of its
counties; Wake County in North
Carolina announced a desegregation
pattern for 1956; Chattanooga in Ten
nessee disclosed plans for compliance
with the Supreme Court decision;
Delaware school districts were given
a deadline of Aug. 15 to announce
plans; West Virginia’s Wood, Marion
and Harrison counties (upstate) had
plans for desegregation this fall;
Montgomery County in Maryland an
nounced desegregation steps; Wayne
County schools in Kentucky opened
early with desegregation in force and
without incident: Hoxie district in
Arkansas opened a similar school
with Biggers-Reyno district in NE
Arkansas announcing desegregation
and North Little Rock disclosing
plans to begin desegregation in two
years, and in Missouri 91,000 chil
dren, 35 per cent of them Negroes,
stiffening in much of the Deep South,
at the beckoning of private organiza-
“opposition” groups more or less active
were to go to school in a completely
desegregated St. Louis system this
fall.
At the college level, the University
of Texas announced undergraduate
desegregation effective in 1956 with
desegregation this fall at its El Paso
branch. The college system of Okla
homa will be desegregated this year.
And Tennessee’s plans for desegre
gating the college system other than
the University of Tennessee at Knox-
illllllllllllllllillllliliimiliillili
In This Issue
Transcripts of the South Carolina and
the Virginia (an SSN Exclusive!)
Court Hearings . . . P. 6 and P. 10.
Special Reports from West Virginia,
D. C. and Missouri by SSN Cor
respondents . .. P. 5, P. 9 and P. 19.
An Interview with Head of Tennes
see Federation for Constitutional
Government.. . P. 1.
Complete Accounts of State Activities
on Inside Pages.
ville, beginning this year at the
graduate level, apparently were in
abeyance pending a court decision.
•
Opposition to desegregation re
mained in the “unyielding resistance”
states and hardened to some degree
in others.
Georgia’s board of education an
nounced it would ban “forever” any
teacher who instructed a mixed class.
In Texas Gov. Allan Shivers hung
up a “go slow” sign and appointed
a special advisory group.
An assistant attorney general in
North Carolina, speaking “privately,”
counseled school districts to think
about operating private schools. His
dismissal was demanded by the
NAACP, but Gov. Luther H. Hodges
rejected the idea.
These private groups were more
or less active during the month in
opposition to desegregation:
Citizens Councils in Alabama and
in Mississippi, where they claim 60,-
000 members.
White America, Inc., in Arkansas.
Knights of the White Christians,
Southern Gentlemen and the Society
for Preservation of State Government
and Racial Integrity, in Louisiana.
Maryland Petition Committee and
Baltimore Association for States
Rights in Maryland. At the end of
the month a third group was form
ing in Dorchester County.
States Rights League in South
Carolina.
National Association for the Ad
vancement of White People in Dela
ware, where Bryant Bowles, NAAWP
president, won a court case and dis
carded announced plans to resign.
Virginia League and Defenders of
State Sovereignty and Individual
Liberties in Virginia.
Federation for Constitutional Gov
ernment in Tennessee. (See special
story on this page.)
