Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—August 1955—PAGE 13
Alabama Adopts Act To Retain Segregation In Schoolrooms
MONTGOMERY, Ala.
rphe Alabama legislature in July
* endorsed a school “placement” bill
designed to preserve classroom seg
regation by delegating broad assign
ment powers to local boards of edu
cation. While not mentioning race as
one of the considerations in assign
ing pupils to their schools, the bill as
approved by both houses is admit
tedly intended to thwart any chal
lenges to the state’s school segrega
tion policy.
The Senate during June had unani
mously approved an identical bill
(Southern School News, July), but
a companion bill introduced in the
House made it through the legislative
mill first and the Senate again (and
again unanimously) passed it. The
House vote was 97-3, the only oppo
sition votes being cast by Reps.
George Hawkins of Etowah County
(14% Negro), Charlie Nice of Jeffer
son (37% Negro), and James Dement
of Limestone (23% Negro).
Fate of the measure was left in
the hands of Gov. James E. Folsom.
Refusing to say whether or not he
intended to veto it, Gov. Folsom has
said that while he saw nothing par
ticularly wrong with the bill, it might
cause “complications.” There was
some speculation that he might choose
to let the bill become law without his
signature. He has taken a generally
dim view of proposals to alter the
existing school setup in order to meet
the Supreme Court decision. This po
sition has caused criticism, notably
from legislators representing Ala
bama’s agricultural Black Belt, where
Negroes outnumber whites as much
as four to one.
The Senate also endorsed amend
ments to the state constitution which
would delete all references making
free public education a mandatory
duty of the state. The amendments,
proposed by a legislative study com
mission on segregation headed by Sen.
Albert Boutwell of Birmingham, are
'ntended to give the legislature au
thority to abolish anv schools if neces-
sarv to maintain segregation. How
ever. as explained bv Sen. Boutwell.
Ibe abolition of public education
would come onlv as a final resort.
Proceedings
(Continued)
liberate speed” and they place that
construction by abrogating its every
svnonym and adopting its antonyms
°f haste and capriciousness. That is
"wat “deliberate” means to them.
tell this court that Prince Ed
ward County can accomplish deseg-
rcEmtion beginning in September
li if 3 s h° c king statement in the
jj? actual conditions—and, in
j aition to that, between this good
av and Sept. 1 thev should file in
terim
they
reports and tell the court how
t, - ar e getting along. Your
onors, it cannot be done, no matter
d “ w mu ch we would like to see it
Now,
tat
taki
j, • the Supreme Court has
d that this court may properly
^ e into account the public interest.
mV” s t ncer ity feel that we have
^ j here a case which should ap-
in a j, to the conscience of the court
Nor th °t the public interest,
for sa he °f those who oppose us,
for Sa ^ e their own children,
and ' 6 sa ^ e the public interest,
fare N rorn °tion of the public wel-
tjjj ’ f appeal to the conscience of
e 9uitv >Urt ’ as chancellors in
attrib ” at ** exercise its traditional
gr an f Utes °N equitable power by
fijpj . Ine the prayer of the petition
ln this cause.
JUDGE DOBIE: Will there be
"''tng else, Gentlemen?
(T? 0t ’ We will adjourn the court,
cluded' ) &UP ° n ’ hearing was con-
Decree
(Continued from Page 1)
to t eration an< f action from time
if the necessity shall oc-
p e ’, la res Pect to any issue perti-
' n JUn t' ° r aris ‘ ng f rom , the said
The amendments, Sen. Boutwell has
explained, would give the legislature
“flexibility” in meeting problems as
they arise.
BACKSTOP AMENDMENT
In a sense, the Boutwell amend
ments backstop the placement bill
written by Sen. Sam Engelhardt of
the Black Belt county of Macon (84%
Negro). Should the placement plan
fail in its avowed purpose of block
ing integration attempts, the legisla
ture could, with the Boutwell amend
ments, abolish schools wherever and
whenever it chooses.
However, Sen. Boutwell said re
cently:
“It is not contemplated that any
drastic changes would be neces ary
as I believe that the people of Ala
bama would conduct themselves in
such a manner as not to make neces
sary the abolishing of any schools.”
Also included among the amend
ments is the designation of all school
officials as “judicial officers,” and
hence, in theory, immune to lawsuit.
The House had not acted on the
amendments which must also be rati
fied by the voters.
The placement bill grants local
boards of education the authority to
consider the wide variety of factors
in assigning pupils to their school.
(Southern School News, July 6,
1955).
Apparently referring to the Su
preme Court’s decision, the bill says:
“Any general or arbitrary realloca
tion of pupils heretofore entered in
the public school system according
to any rigid rule of proximity of resi
dence or in accordance solely with
request on behalf of the pupil would
be disruptive to orderly administra
tion, tend to invite or induce disor
ganization and impose an excessive
burden on the available resources and
teaching and administrative person
nel of the schools.”
Appeals from assignment decis’ons
would go to the circuit court of the
judicial circuit in which the school
board is located. All Alabama circuit
judges and most jurors are white.
When proponents of the placement
bill attempted to bring it up out of
order, administration leaders blocked
the move. This stirred considerable
controversy, in the course of which
the administration was accused by
Sen. Engelhardt and others of trying
to intimidate legislators into support
ing Folsom’s high-prioritv plan for
reapportioning the legislature.
Reapportionment has been a hot
issue through the years, but no gov
ernor has been able to effect it since
the constitutional provision for re
distributing representation on the
basis of population was written in
1901. Folsom promised in his cam
paign last year that he would get re-
apoortionment. Nucleus of the op
position is the Black Belt. whi"h.
because of population shifts in the
past 50 years, would lose most.
In addition to the passage of a
pro-segregation school placement
bill and senatorial endorsement of
constitutional amendments paving
the way for possible abolition of pub
lic schools, other action in the Ala
bama legislature during July includ
ed the following:
Administration-backed efforts to
raise an additional $43,000,000 for edu
cation needs were still bogged down
in controversy over the big question
of where to find the money. The in
creased appropriation would, among
other things, give a pay raise to teach
ers, which is urgent, proponents said,
because many of Alabama’s best
teachers are being enticed to other
states by better salaries.
EQUALIZATION URGED
Also still unresolved is the pro
posed $150,000,000 bond issue to fi
nance school construction. The bill
has received committee endorsement,
but has not come up for action on the
floor. Dr. Austin R. Meadows, state
superintendent of education, has
urged approval of the bond issue, one
of his arguments being that it would
provide for the equalization of Negro
STATE SEN. SAM ENGELHARDT
schools and thus stave off attacks on
the state’s segregation policy.
A bill aimed at prohibiting the Na
tional Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People from solicit
ing funds in the state was introduced
by Sen. Sam Engelhardt of Macon
County. Sen. Engelhardt is also au
thor of the school placement bill
passed by the legislature.
Engelhardt’s solicitation bill re
quires all fund-raising organizations
to take out certificates of registration.
But specifically disqualified would
be any organization which advocates
or encourages “disregard of or dis
respect for” Alabama’s segregation
laws. While not specifically mention
ing NAACP, Sen. Engelhardt said it
was aimed at the organization.
COURT PROBE ASKED
The Senate shouted approval, July
1, to a resolution sharply criticizing
the Supreme Court’s segregation de
cision. The resolution endorsed a de
mand by U. S. Sen. Eastland of Mis
sissippi for a congressional investiga
tion to determine what part, if any,
the Communist Party played in in
fluencing the Supreme Court’s de
cision. As finally passed, the resolu
tion was a watered-down version of
a more vigorous one introduced bv
Sen. Albert Davis of Pickens County
(48% Negro) calling for the impeach
ment of the high court. There was
no mention of imneachment in the
resolution as nassed. The original ver
sion (Southern School News. July
6. 1955.) was buried in a hostile sub
committee.
Sen. Davis is also sponsor of a
bill which would give boards of edu
cation the authority to discharge any
teacher “with or without cause, with
or without notice of a hearing.” The
bill thus abridges the teacher tenure
law. It further provides that the ac
tion of the board “in regard to anv
such discharge shall be final and not
subject to review or modification bv
any officer or avency.” While making
no mention of the segregation ques
tion. the bill is admittedlv aimed at
anv teacher who might advocate or
encourage comoliance with the Su
preme Court’s decision. The b'll was
sent to a Senate education subcom
mittee for study.
An identical bill, not yet intro
duced, has been prepared by Sen.
Engelhardt. Engelhardt’s bill, which
would applv only to Macon whereas
the Davis bill would apply generally
to all counties, was being advertised
in a Tuskegee newspaper prepara
tory to its introduction in the legisla
ture.
Sen. Engelhardt told the Senate
Education Committee: “We’ve got 190
colored teachers in Macon Countv and
the board (Macon’s Board of Educa
tion) tells me they’ll fire every one
of them that takes part in this agita
tion.”
LEGAL ACTION
Attorneys for the University of
Alabama’s dean of admissions, Wil
liam Adams, have asked for a new
trial after a federal judge enjoined
the university from barring Negroes
admittance because of race.
U. S. District Judge Hobart Grooms
had ordered the university, specifi
cally Dean Adams, not to deny admit
tance to any person because of race.
The suit was initiated by two Bir
mingham Negro women, who claimed
they had been turned down at the
university because they were Ne
groes, but their attorneys asked that
it be considered a “class action,” ap
plying to all Negroes generally. Judge
Grooms so ordered.
Judge Grooms set Aug. 19 as the
date for hearing the university’s mo
tion for a new trial. Attorneys for
Dean Adams claim that the evidence
did not support Judge Grooms’ find
ing that the university made no ef
fort to deny the applications of the
two Negro women on any grounds
other than race. The motion con
tained 22 other reasons which Adams’
lawyers argue are grounds for a new
trial.
Following Judge Grooms’ ruling
the two women. Arthurine Lucy and
Polly Ann Myers Hudson, said they
would enroll in the university this
fall. W. C. Patton, Birmingham,
NAACP secretary, said other Negroes
would be encouraged to enroll.
However, the motion for a new
trial, and a possible appeal to follow,
could delay registration of Negroes
in the school. But the injunction
against Adams would remain in ef
fect until dissolved.
State Supt. Austin R. Meadows
said of the court’s injunction.
“I am still hoping that Negroes in
Alabama will go ahead and abide by
the will of the majority of the people
which is overwhelmingly in favor of
continued segregation.
“They have won the legal right to
enter the university according to that
ruling, but that decision is not based
on the will of the majority of Ala
bama. Negroes in Alabama are faced
with the greatest decision they have
had to make since they became citi
zens of the state.”
Asked if he intended to veto the
school placement bill, which has now
been passed by both houses of the
state legislature, Folsom replied
simply that he had no “major objec
tions” to it. The bill gives county
boards of education broad authority
to assign pupils to schools after con
sidering a number of factors. Race is
not one of the factors, but the bill
is admittedlv designed to defeat in
tegration attempts. (See above.)
In Anniston, Dr. Gordon A. Rogers,
Anniston dentist and president of
the Alabama state conference of
NAACP, struck back at threats to fire
Negro teachers who support demands
for integrated schools. Bills (see
“Legislative Action”) have been in
troduced in the state legislature, giv
ing local boards of education author
ity to fire teachers “with or without
cause, and with or without notice of
hearing” and without the right of
appeal. The bills make no mention
of the segregation auestion. but are
admittedly aimed at teachers who
might advocate integration.
Dr. Rogers said that Negro teachers
“are obligated to teach respect for
law and order, and to defend the con
stitution . . .” It is therefore “their
duty to advocate nonsegregated class
rooms,” he said.
Rogers said the NAACP would de
fend not onlv Negroes but white
teachers fired under such circum
stances. in Macon County as well as
the entire state.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
A petition calling for the desegrega
tion of Macon County schools has
been prepared for presentation to the
county board of education at its next
meeting, scheduled for September.
The petition, bearing the names of
32 Negro “parents of children of
school age entitled to attend and at
tending the public elementary and
secondary high schools under your
jurisdiction,” calls on the board to
“take immediate steps to reorganize
the public schools ... on a non-dis-
criminatory basis.” Reminding the
board of the Supreme Court’s order
requiring “good faith comnli at
the earliest practicable date” the pe
tition insists that the board is "duty
bound to take immediate concrete
steps leading to early elimination of
segregation in the public schools.”
Macon County, with 84 per cent of
its population Negro, has the highest
Negro-white ratio of any county in
the state, and reportedly the highest
in the nation. It is the home county of
famous Tuskegee Institute for Ne
groes.
Macon’s Sen. Engelhardt, author of
the school placement bill and spon
sor of a number of other measures
aimed at preserving the state’s tradi
tional policy of separation of the
races, said of the Macon school pe
tition:
“Th; c
is the first of many such peti
tions (it was not the first; there have
been a number of others—see pre
vious issues of Southern School
News) education board members all
>wer Alabama will receive in the near
future. I regret the innocent colored
neople will have to suffer because of
the action taken bv the National As
sociation for the Agitation (sic) of
Colored People.
“The National Association for the
Agitation of Colored People forgets
there are more wavs than one to kill
a. snake . . . We will have segregation
in the public snhools of M' 1 -on Coun
ty or there will be no public schools.”
He added that the petition should
convince the House Rules Committee,
which at that time had not reported
out his placement bill, of the “serious
ness of the situation.” Shortly there
after. the placement b ; ll was report
ed out of committee and passed by
both houses.
C. A. Pruitt, Macon County super
intendent of education, released the
following statement:
' Thu petition which was signed by
32 supposed patrons of the schools
will be presented before the Macon
County Board of Education at its next
regular meeting.
Personally. I feel the majority of
Negroes in Macon County do not
want integration any more than white
people, I have taught in Macon Coun
ty for 30 years and I feel I know the
people here. I do not think the pe
tition will pass.
I will work for equally good edu
cational facilities for both races which
will have equally good programs. I
hope the very fine relations which
have existed between the two races
in Macon County will not be de
stroyed by a few, hotheads of both
races.”
Florida
(Continued from Page 9)
It was endorsed by representatives
of the Wesley Foundation (Method
ist), the Baptist Student Union, and
Canterbury House (Episcopalian).
Dr. Francis Hayes, member of the
university’s foreign language depart
ment and clerk of the Society of
Friends, said action in his group and
the Wesley Foundation was unani
mous. The other groups endorsed the
petition by a majority vote.
TOO LATE FOR ACTION
The petition did not reach the
Board of Control in time for consid
eration at its July meeting. This
group does not meet again until the
university begins its fall term.
Dr. J. Howard Culpepper, board
secretary, said that to his knowledge,
only one qualified application for ad
mission had been received from a
Negro—in this case a student seeking
pre-medical training.
Culpepper said this had been hand
led “in the regular way,” by notifying
the applicant that the state law for
bids integration, and suggesting that
he enroll in the Florida Agricultural
and Mechanical University at Talla
hassee, for Negro students.
A Negro girl, valedictorian in her
high school graduating class in St.
Petersburg, applied for admission to
the St. Petersburg Junior College,
operated by the Pinellas County
School Board.
Supt. Floyd Christian said a com
mittee of civic leaders is studying the
matter and will have a report before
the term begins in September.