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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—August 1955—PAGE 15
Hoxie Schools Desegregate In Arkansas Without Incident
LITTLE HOCK, Ark.
T he major action on racial composi
tion of the Arkansas public
schools during July took place at
Hoxie, in the northeast of the state,
where 20 Negro children took their
places with 1,000 white pupils on
July 11 without incident.
Other developments included:
(1) The North Little Rock School
Board, serving the state’s third largest
city, voted to begin desegregation
within two years at the high school
level.
(2) At Fort Smith, the state’s sec
ond largest city, the school board
received a petition from the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People asking desegregation
in September despite a previous an
nouncement by school officials that
integration would not begin before
a two-year building program is com
pleted.
(3) At Little Rock, the state’s
largest city, the NAACP named a
committee to confer July 28 with the
school board. The committee said it
wanted an official board statement on
the plan previously announced by the
superintendent to begin desegrega
tion two years from now at the high
school level.
(4) The Biggers-Reyno School Dis
trict in Randolph County in north
east Arkansas, serving a large rural
area, said it would admit two Negro
students at the junior and senior
level when the next term opens Oct.
24.
TROUBLE AVERTED
At Hoxie, a town of 1,855 in Law
rence County, there was a threat of
trouble shortly before the morning
bell rang when several men “opposed
to integration” gathered in front of
the school building. But the men left
within an hour without making a
complaint.
Twelve Negro children enrolled in
the elementary grades and eight
enrolled in the high school.
Supt. K. E. Vance said there was
obvious tension as school began but
that it lessened as the pupils and
teachers got down to classroom work.
Vance said only one mother voiced
opposition to the end of segregation.
Negro students were seated without
racial restrictions on school buses.
Vance said that all facilities of the
school — rest rooms, cafeterias and
drinking fountains—would be used by
whites and Negroes alike.
Although not a part of the Deep
South of the East Arkansas Delta
region, Hoxie splits its fall term to
allow pupils to pick cotton in late
September and October. t
Before school opened, Supt. Vance
said:
“We are making no special prepa
rations and are expecting no trouble
of any kind. We will try to begin the
new program without fanfare. No
special attention will be paid to
Negro students. It is our intention to
treat every Negro and white child
alike.”
REASONS GIVEN
He said the decision by the five-
man school board to integrate was
based on three considerations:
(1) Integration is “right in the sight
of God.”
(2) Obedience to the Supreme
Court ruling that racial segregation
in public schools is unconstitutional.
(3) It’s cheaper.
In the past, Hoxie operated an
Maryland
(Contd.)
be, in fact, that the parent who on the
surface is opposed to having a Negro
child in the same class with his white
child is, at bottom, reacting to the
realization that his child may grow
U P with different attitudes than his
°wn. This suggests the age-old prob
lem of one generation not wanting
the next generation to have differing
sets of values, a problem eased by
closer associations between school
and parent as well as between school
and child.”
The principal of Baltimore’s all-
Western High School, Mildred M.
y° u ghlin, vigorously denied a report
jn the June issue of Southern School
, Ews that integration in her school
fd brought a curtailment of boy-
j s °cial affairs. “It is true that a
ew large functions during 1954-55
aye been limited to our student body
Miss Coughlin stated, but
la t exp ^ a ’ net ^ that this was because
its f^ 6ar ^ er school was moved from
tormer spacious quarters — now
rving as a predominantly colored
m T-tionnl high school — into a
Uc h smaller renovated building,
ndmg construction of a new all-
school.
Pre° ln *' ne ° Ut small size of her
Mi<f e r!' aut ht°rium and gymnasium,
p e jj S 5' ou Shlin said, “We were com-
°fCl • ° our evening program
bov ,'? s ^ rnas music in one of the large
c [ l0 . S “iyh school auditoriums but our
as u’ t ^ lat hoys, sang together
at s ? a • Our Junior Prom was held
jojjj ote l because we had over 300
a er° rS ' v h°> with their escorts, made
cvm° U P over 600 dancers, and our
than '° uld not possibly hold more
„ 50 couples.
v ited j dance a h juniors were in-
gir] s almost all came—the Negro
and riv/ h'ee to bring their escorts
took n S °'. Th'W- as did all others,
low ® the promenade, went
the p r ,i e re °eiving line and enjoyed
teo Us 3 aven t- There was only cour-
lightest good behavior without the
Part of t r rt0ne objection on the
" e principal, vice principal,
year advisors (faculty), or other
teachers or pupils present. As has
been the custom for 15 years, the
parents of junior officers were invited
guests, but they were not in charge
of the affair.”
NO PUPILS EXCLUDED
Miss Coughlin went on to say that
“our plays and parties, dramatics and
other club meetings, organizations,
cruises, cinema parties and all our
sports are functioning as usual with
all interested pupils participating.”
She said that her school uses the Jew
ish Community Center and the
YWCA pools and facilities for physi
cal education classes and some extra
curricular activities and that none of
her pupils are excluded for reason
of race.
The one place where integration
has raised a problem for Miss Cough
lin is at a commercial bowling alley
where the management has refused to
accept Western High teams because
there were two Negroes among the
170 girl bowlers. “Every effort was
made by school officials to gain the
consent of the manager,” Miss Cough
lin said, “but, according to him, most
bowling alleys in Baltimore are seg
regated, and so we were not permitted
to play. It did not seem just to our
Negro pupils, a very small minority,
to continue bowling under these cir
cumstances, and so 168 white pupils
were denied this sport.”
Commenting on school desegrega
tion in Baltimore generally, Miss
Coughlin stated that excellent as the
program has been, “it is not quite
honest to deny that there are prob
lems still to be worked out, that prej
udices take time to eradicate, that
most schools have had only ‘token’
numbers of both races to handle. The
principals know this to be true, but
frequently hesitate to report anything
which might in the smallest way seem
detrimental to the over-all picture,
which is a good one.”
Miss Coughlin said that the facts
do not bear out the statement that
she is not in full sympathy with in
tegration. As she put it, “Perhaps
Western’s record is best summarized
by the simple but true statement that
no Negro girl enrolled in our school
has asked to be transferred out, al
though Baltimore high schools are
not districted and dissatisfied pupils
or their parents may secure transfers
to other schools. Furthermore, un
solicited letters and comments of ap
preciation from Negro parents and
the pupils themselves have been gen
eral throughout the past year.”
eight-grade elementary school for
Negroes, taught by one teacher, and
sent its high school students by bus
to a Negro school at Jonesboro, 23
miles from Hoxie, in an adjoining
county.
Hoxie became the third Arkansas
district to desegregate. Last Septem
ber, seven Negroes were admitted to
the high school at Fayetteville and
about 12 Negroes were admitted at all
levels at Charleston.
On July 18, Vance reported that
school officials had received several
letters criticizing the mixing of Negro
and white students. He said the most
critical letters were from Memphis,
Tenn., Mississippi and Georgia. He
said mail also had been received from
other points in Tennessee and Ala
bama.
On July 18 at Fort Smith, where
the Negroes make up nine per cent of
school pupils, the school board
received a petition from NAACP offi
cials, signed by patrons of the dis
trict, asking that integration be
started beginning with the Septem
ber term.
The board took the petition under
consideration and made no decision.
Previously, Chris Corbin, superin
tendent of Fort Smith schools, had
said that integration would not begin
before a two-year building program
is completed, and that if it was begun,
it should start at the elementary level
and be extended gradually through
junior and senior high school.
Arkansas has only one pending
case in federal court asking an end
to segregation. The suit was filed in
1952 by patrons, without NAACP
sponsorship, against the Bearden Dis
trict in Ouachita County. It orgin-
ally was intended as an equalization
suit, but the Supreme Court rulings
activated the integration portion
which previously had been nullified
by state law. Federal Judge John E.
Miller of Fort Smith, Western Dis
trict of Arkansas, has said he would
rule on the case at the October term
of court at El Dorado.
On July 5 at Little Rock, the Capi
tal City Chapter of White America,
Inc., an Arkansas organization formed
to maintain separation of the races,
held an open meeting at Little Rock.
Letters of invitation had gone to
school board members in all districts
in Arkansas. The letters also urged
board members to continue segrega
tion and offered legal aid to any dis
trict which might need it to fight
integration efforts. A count of board
members who attended the meeting
was not available.
Two leaders of the move to continue
segregation in Mississippi were sup
posed to talk at the meeting, but they
left without giving their talks after
being informed that the session would
be open to the press.
The two men were Ned Core, chair
man of the Education Committee of
the Mississippi House of Representa
tives, and T. D. Pettit of the Missis
sippi Education Commission.
They declined to talk after Finos
Phillips, a Little Rock businessman
who heads the Capital City Chapter,
told them five minutes before the
program was to start that reporters
would be present.
Core, showing no irritation and
speaking for himself and Pettit, said
they had understood the meeting
would be private.
Core indicated he was trying to
avoid any publicity which might con
nect the pro-segregation movement
in Mississippi with a similar one in
Arkansas.
Core and Pettit were supposed to
speak on what Mississippi has done
to keep segregation. Phillips said he
hoped they could return to speak at
a later date.
About 200 persons of mixed age
groups crowded into the Knights of
Pythias hall to attend the chapter
program.
The featured speaker was W. H.
Gregory of Little Rock, former chief
assistant district attorney for the
federal Eastern District of Arkansas.
In a speech generously marked
with applause, Gregory insisted that
public sentiment could undo the deci
sions of the Supreme Court.
“Bring to bear public sentiment to
the point where they will have to
reverse their decisions,” he said. “And
it can be done.”
Harve B. Thorn, former speaker
of the Arkansas House of Representa
tives and now a Little Rock attorney,
said that one of the results of non-
segregated schools would be a “mon-
grelization” of the races.
LOOK TO BALLOT
“We’ve got to resist the Supreme
Court decision, but we’ve got to do
it legally,” Thorn said. “There’s an
old saying that court decisions follow
the ballot. Let’s see if that’s true.”
At Little Rock, a city of 102,000 with
Negroes making up 24.2 per cent of
the student population, the Little
Rock Branch of the NAACP named
a committee on July 10 to confer with
the school board on July 28.
Mrs. L. C. Bates of Little Rock, a
member of the committee and state
president of the NAACP, said the
group wanted the board to make an
official statement on its plans to begin
integration. Further NAACP action,
she said, would “depend on the
board’s decision.”
She said the NAACP wanted the
meeting because “we haven’t met
with the board since the May 31 rul
ing of the Supreme Court.
Mrs. Bates said that the NAACP
had heard Virgil T. Blossom, super
intendent of schools, “outline what he
called his opinion on when and where
Little Rock should begin desegrega
tion, but the board hasn’t made an
official statement.”
She said the NAACP was “definite
ly against” Blossom’s suggestion that
integration begin at the high school
level on the completion of a new high
school in western Little Rock, planned
for September, 1957, which would
give Little Rock three high schools.
PLAN HIT AS ‘VAGUE’
“He says the next step probably
would be integration at the junior
high level in 1958, but he seems to be
vague about the elementary level,”
Mrs. Bates said. “We have told Mr.
Blossom that we are against his plan
because it is too vague, and it appears
it will take at least five years or more
to accomplish.”
Petitions signed by Negro partons
of the district, asking immediate inte
gration, were filed with the board by
the NAACP in August, 1954, as a
result of the May 17,1954 decision. A
committee representing the patrons
and the NAACP met in September
with the board and asked that it pre
sent a plan for integration. Blossom
and the board told the group then
that “honest studies” toward inte
gration had begun and that Negroes
would be consulted in the planning.
“We aren’t trying to bring nressure
or threats,” Mrs. Bates said. “We just
want to know what the plans are—
officially.”
When the two groups met July 28
the school board was asked to begin
a program of racial integration in
September. Dr. William G. Cooper,
board president, said the board would
answer the request “in a week or so”
in writing.
The request was made by Vernon
McDaniel of Tuskegee, Ala., an edu
cational specialist assigned to Arkan
sas since October by the NAACP. He
said he represented a group of Ne
gro school patrons who had petitioned
in August, last year, for immediate
integration. He spoke less than two
minutes.
About 20 Negroes attended the
meeting. Also present, but offering no
comment, was a smaller delegation
from the Capital City chapter of
White America, Inc.
When McDaniel finished, Dr.
Cooper said only: “Thank you very
much. We will answer your petition
in a week or so in writing.” There
was no further discussion.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
On July 14, the North Little Rock
School Board voted to begin inte
gration “within two years at the high
school level.”
The action was taken on the recom
mendation of Supt. C. S. Blackburn,
who had been asked June 20 by the
board to present a plan. Blackburn’s
recommendation read:
“The administrative staff of the
North Little Rock Special School Dis
trict has given this subject much
thought and very serious considera
tion and has come to the conclusion
that, all phases considered, integra
tion should begin in the senior high
school. In fact, it is felt that it will
be practically impossible to begin
elsewhere in our community with
conditions as they are. I therefore
recommend that integration be begun
in the North Little Rock Special
School District within the next two
years at the senior high school level.”
Previously, a school official had
said integration at the high school
level would mean the mixing of not
more than 30 Negroes with about
1,350 white students. The past school
year, North Little Rock had 291 Negro
high school students. Because the
Negro high school is located in a pre
dominantly Negro section, most of
the Negroes would continue to go to
the Negro high school by reason of
natural geographic segregation.
Throughout the city, Negroes make
up 24.8 per cent of the student popu
lation.
BOTH SIDES HEARD
Representatives of White America’s
Captial City Chapter and the NAACP
attended the meeting.
Amis Guthridge of Little Rock, a
member of the White America legal
staff, spoke against integration and
questioned the authority of the board
“to proceed on a policy that will lead
to liquidating the schools.”
Daniel E. Byrd of New Orleans,
assistant director of the department
of teacher information and security
of the NAACP, spoke after Guthridge.
He said the law was “not designed to
change attitudes but more to regulate
actions.” Byrd asked the board to end
segregation.
Byrd said that the Negro parents he
represented “want to know if the
board plans to apply the law of the
land this August. They want to know
where to send their children.”
After the board voted unanimously
to accept Blackburn’s recommenda
tion, Guthridge said he was “grateful
for the board taking deliberate action
in the matter and deciding to wait.”
Byrd said that although he appre
ciated the obvious sincerity of the
board, the plan was unacceptable to
the NAACP.
“Starting at the high school level
is unfair to both Negroes and whites,”
he said. “The Negro students will suf
fer because the prejudices are more
firmly fixed than at younger ages.
The white parents will complain that
their children are in mixed classes
while others aren’t. The NAACP still
thinks that the only workable solu
tion is complete, immediate integra
tion at all levels.”
On June 30, the Biggers-Reyno
School District announced it would
admit Negroes to its junior and senior
high schools with the beginning of
the next school term Oct. 24.
School Board President Glenn Cox
said only two Negro students were
expected to enroll—one in the seventh
grade and one in the ninth. For the
present, he said, the district will con
tinue to send about 12 Negroes in the
lower grades to a Negro school in
Pocahontas, about 11 miles away. The
district has no separate schools for
Negroes and has sent its junior and
senior high Negro students to Negro
schools at Jonesboro, about 50 miles
away. The district serves a large rural
area around the Biggers and Reyno
communities.
On July 9 at Walnut Ridge, a city
immediately adjacent to Hoxie, A. W.
Rainwater, superintendent of schools,
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