About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1955)
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.)
