Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16—August 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Chattanooga Is First City With Definite Plans in Tennessee
ANNOUNCE DESEGREGATION POLICY — Members of the Chattanooga school board are, from left to right,
seated—Mrs. J. B. Irvine Sr., Chairman Harry Allen and R. E. Biggers; standing—William L. Leber, Harry Miller
and Raymond B. Witt Jr. Not shown is Alf J. Law Jr.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
radio-television announcement by
the Chattanooga School Board
that it will integrate schools in com
pliance with the Supreme Court ord
er climaxed a full but unspectacular
month of desegregation develop
ments in Tennessee.
In Nashville, State Education Com
missioner, Dr. Quill E. Cope, said de
segregation of state colleges and A&I
University probably will be delayed
until a federal court has ruled on the
question this fall.
Federal District Judge Marion S.
Boyd has set Oct. 17 for hearing of
the suit filed by five Memphis Ne
groes seeking admission to Memphis
State College.
In June, the State Board of Educa
tion had approved a gradual desegre
gation plan—beginning this Septem
ber and ending in the academic year
1959-60 — for Tennessee’s six state-
supported colleges.
The Chattanooga School Board said
it will not effect integration immedi
ately and that it will not begin by the
start of the new school year in Sep
tember. (Chattanooga Negro popula
tion: 30 per cent.)
The statement, issued formally
July 22, was repeated simultaneously
over five radio stations and one tele
vision station the following evening.
WIDE COUNSEL ASKED
The board reported it will seek the
widest possible counsel from the peo
ple of the community to determine
the method of achieving integration
“that will be fair and just to each
and every person . . .”
In declaring its policy the board
said:
“We have come to this decision after
careful deliberation, believing that re
spect for the law of the land is es
sentially vital to each and every in
dividual and to the welfare and hap
piness of all.”
The declaration of policy was
adopted unanimously on a roll-call
vote by A. E. Biggers, Alf Law Jr.,
William Leber, Harry Miller, Ray
mond B. Witt Jr., and Educational
Commissioner Harry Allen, who
serves as chairman of the school
board.
Absent was Mrs. James B. Irvine,
who was out of town on vacation. The
board said Mrs. Irvine had partici
pated in the drafting of the statement
and concurred with it.
The board stated its intention to
act in good faith, to make a prompt
and reasonable start and to comply
at the earliest possible date as stated
by the Supreme Court.
It noted, however, that the Su
preme Court directed the individual
boards of education to examine care
fully their local situations before
making final decisions.
•THINK, PLAN, DISCUSS’
In that connection the board an
nounced:
“The board will appoint a continu
ing interracial advisory committee
and provide opportunities for other
groups of citizens to present their
points of view and proposals for con
sideration. As we think, plan and dis
cuss together, we will grow as a
community in understanding, and
this process will produce ideas for
action reflecting the combined wis
dom of the community.”
Hearings will be started in the near
future to obtain expressions from
individuals and groups who desire to
contribute to the planning of integra
tion.
The board noted that the Supreme
Court declared “racial discrimination
in public education is unconstitution
al.”
The board stated:
“It is our clear duty to comply with
the ruling. Why? Because we are
citizens of the United States of Amer
ica. As American citizens we have
been blessed with benefits far beyond
those of any other people since the
beginning of time. Being so blessed
it is the obligation of every American
citizen to uphold the Constitution of
the United States—the very founda
tion of our way of life.”
NEWSPAPERS DIFFER
Chattanooga’s two daily newspa
pers, the Times and the News-Free
Press differed sharply in their edi
torial opinions of the action.
The Times hailed the announce
ment as a “wise” decision.
“We hope that all citizens will care
fully read the fine statement issued
by this excellent board. It could be
a model for the entire South,” the
Times said.
The News-Free Press, Chatta
nooga’s afternoon newspaper, stated
editorially “it is regrettable that the
city school board has so readily ac
cepted the unconstitutional order of
the Supreme Court...
“It would be preferable for this
community to await further rulings
by lower courts and further action
by those more strongly resisting seg
regation, so our decisions might have
the advantage of following the ex
periences of others.”
The announcement was hailed as
“wonderful” by the Chattanooga
chapter of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored Peo
ple.
LABOR VIEWS VARY
The first public reply came from
the resolutions committee of the
Chattanooga Printing Pressmen’s
Union, Local 165. They termed the
decision “cowardly and disloyal” and
“docile submission to the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.”
The committee’s blast was paral
leled by its attack on the Supreme
Court, in which it asserted “the per
version of our laws and Constitution
by the Supreme Court is tantamount
to lawlessness on the court’s part.”
The committee resolved “that we
notify the Governor, our state repre
sentatives and the local school boards
that we are unalterably opposed to
the integration of the white and black
races in any form in our public
schools and that we want laws en
acted, proceedings, or other means
that will continue segregation in our
schools, even to the extent of elim
inating public schools as such.”
The next evening the Chattanooga
Central Labor Union endorsed the
board’s decision and declared its sup
port of the school board’s plan to
seek the participation of the public
in “finding a fair and just answer to
the problem.”
Stanton E. Smith, president of the
Tennessee Federation of Labor, an
nounced the CLU decision after a
regular meeting of the local group.
He said there were no dissenting votes
after discussion.
Free legal service to parents wish
ing to fight integration in the state’s
public schools is being offered by the
Tennessee Federation for Constitu
tional Government.
Donald Davidson, a Vanderbilt
University professor and president of
the group, disclosed that Paul F.
Bumpus, a former state district attor
ney, has been retained by the federa
tion and will head a statewide staff
“to protect the rights of white and
Negro citizens who wish to maintain
fair and equal school facilities for
their own people.”
LINKS CASE STUDIED
In Nashville Federal Judge Elmer
Davies took under advisement a legal
question on whether the U. S. Su
preme Court segregation ruling ap
plies to recreation as well as public
schools.
The case is an outgrowth of the
city golf course litigation in which
Davies ruled March 1, 1954, that Ne
groes must be permitted to use Shelby
Park golf course two days a week
until Cumberland Golf Course for
Negroes was completed.
After Cumberland was finished, at
torneys for the city filed for a dis
missal of the order, holding that
Cumberland now provides facilities
equal to the other city courses.
However, attorneys Z. Alexander
Looby and Avon Williams argued
that the Supreme Court decree must
be applied far more broadly and
should include recreation facilities.
James C. Summers, attorney for
the city, held that the primary ques
tion before the court is whether the
new Negro golf course is comparable
to the others.
Davies opened a trial on these facts
reserving his ruling on the legal ques
tion until he has studied arguments.
Experts in race relations were fea
tured speakers, at the 12th annual
Race Relations Institute held in early
July at Nashville’s Fisk University.
Participants included Thurgood
Marshall, chief counsel for the
NAACP; Dr. George Mitchell, di
rector of the Southern Regional
Council; Dr. Charles S. Johnson, Fisk
president; Houston H. Jackson, as
sistant superintendent of Baltimore
schools; and James P. Mitchell, U. S.
secretary of labor.
Marshall warned that the NAACP
“will not give one inch” in its fight for
full and complete public school de
segregation.
Local school boards asking a longer
period of time to study the decision
will be told “the study stage is over
. . . now is the stage for action,” he
said.
Earlier, Dr. Mitchell predicted the
end of public school segregation in
the South in six to eight years.
“It must be painstakingly organ
ized,” he said, “with meetings and
discussions. And it must be done in
a way so that fhe town or commun
ity feels proud of the act it performs.
WHY TIME IS NEEDED
“You just can’t go into a place and
say desegregate the schools right now
because the court says it must be
done,” Dr. Mitchell declared. “You
have to point it out that to do so is
Christian, American and education
ally sound.”
Discussing the desegregation pro
gram in Baltimore, Jackson listed two
major reasons why complete integra
tion must wait in his city:
(1) Segregated housing still exists.
(2) The masses of white and Negro
people have not accepted it yet.
He said in spite of these conditions
1,800 Negro children out of a total of
55,000 in the school population went
over to formerly all white schools last
September without serious incident.
Jackson said the program of inte
gration has been extended to teachers
and administrators with great suc
cess.
WARNS OF WASTE
Said Secretary of Labor Mitchell:
“Unless this area (the South) starts
now to train its Negro workers it is
going to find that its possibilities for
industrial expansion will be greatly
curtailed.
“Moreover, Southern industrialists
will eventually wake up to the fact
that rigid segregation in industry will
put them at a serious competitive
disadvantage which can only lead to
a waste of human potential in many
different ways—failure to develop the
Negro potential, double facilities, less
than maximurx efficient design of
work groups, and excessive supervis
ion.
“It is my opinion, therefore, that
the South will eventually eliminate
segregation in industry. Self interest
will demand a reappraisal of the
present policy.”
WHAT THEY SAY
Cecil Sims, Nashville attorney and
former county school board member,
at Memphis State College Leadership
Seminar:
The “Evansville Plan,” which per
mits Negro students a choice of
schools is a “sensible approach” which
ends compulsory segregation without
complete integration.
“This dual system has worked so
well in Evansville, Ind., that at the
end of a five-year period no effort
was made to change.”
Since the program began in 1949
92.5 per cent of the Negro children
voluntarily continued in separate
schools.
“It illustrates it is not necessary to
establish ultimate, complete integra
tion as a necessary goal to comply
with the requirements of the Supreme
Court decision.”
Dr. H. C. Brearley, professor of
educational sociology, George Pea
body College, at a Peabody summer
faculty lecture:
Pro-Negro prejudice in the U. S
may be as socially harmful as anti-
Negro prejudice. Desegregation of
schools is not so much a matter of
right or wrong, but how to deal wise
ly with conflicting wishes of two im
portant groups of Americans.
George Dempster, mayor of Knox
ville. at the Memphis Council on Hu
man Relations:
Desegregation steps have been tak
en in Knoxville, “with dire predic
tions” but without incident. “The peo
ple may be just a little bit ahead of
their public officials in their think
ing.”
Eugene Cook, Georgia attorney-
general:
“Tennessee’s position on the segre
gation problem has embarrassed
Georgia to the point that Tennesse;
is no longer a friend.
“Tennessee unfortunately has Ke-
fauver and Clement. Although they
are both friends of mine, their am
bitions have led them to sell the state
down the river by not fighting this
decision.”
‘Haste Unwise’
All those who advocate hasten
ing the process of integrating white
and Negro children in the public
schools should take another look
and a long one. Common sense and
justice to all concerned dictate that
the complex problem shall be ap
proached slowly and gradually.
A case in point is found in schools
of Washington, D.C... .
Mr. Coming (superintendent of
District schools) has recently ad
mitted that a “good many” Negro
pupils are not functioning as well
as some of the white children in
the integrated schools. He advo
cates the formation of more special
classes for youngsters who can’t
make the grade ...
When any school system experi
ences difficulties in bringing slow
pupils along, the temptation is to
lower the standards and slow the
pace. If that happens, the injustice
done the brighter, quicker student
is most serious and educational ac
complishments are lessened. The
superior student is frequently the
neglected one, anyhow, when yon
come down to it.—Memphis Com
mercial-Appeal
Arkansas
(Continued from Page 15)
said his school board had adopted e
“wait and see” attitude and would
watch the Hoxie move with a keen
eye.
Walnut Ridge and Hoxie have about
the same number and percentage oj
Negro students, and Rainwater said
the result of Hoxie’s move would have
a “great influence on the outcome 0
Walnut Ridge’s thinking.” He said he
doubted that Walnut Ridge woul
integrate this fall.
■ ■ ■ .
8 IlljMiU”
On July 24, it was reported fro®
Sheridan that Grant County J u ®
W. E. Reeves had been elected temP°'
rary chairman of a countywide c a
ter of White America organized
week before at Sheridan.
L. D. Poynter of Pine Blu.ff> SgHite
dent of the state organization o
America, Inc., attended the mee ^
and assisted in the organization^^
new organization scheduled a
ing for Aug. 1 at the Grant low -
courthouse at Sheridan. . ^
It was at Sheridan that the s ,
board voted last fall to begin IP
tion and then rescinded its ac 1
next day in the face of P ro e
patrons of the district.