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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—August 1955—PAGE 17
Historic Vicksburg First City in Mississippi To Get Petition
JACKSON, Miss.
V icksburg, the cradle of Mississip
pi’s Confederacy which for over
80 years failed to celebrate the July
4th Independence Day because that
was the day it fell to Union forces in
1864, has been selected by the Na
tional Association for the Advance-
me nt of Colored People for its initial
attack on the state’s segregated school
system.
The “opening shot,” heard possibly
“around the world” because of its
potentials in this segregation strong
hold, was a petition filed by the
Vicksburg chapter of the NAACP
demanding that immediate steps be
taken by the Vicksburg school board
to reorganize the system in line with
the U. S. Supreme Court’s integration
decision. It was purportedly signed
by 140 Negroes.
Simultaneously with filing of the
Vicksburg action, Dr. A. H. McCoy,
dentist of Jackson and president of
the Mississippi branches of the
NAACP, said at Jackson that other
“ultimatums” are being prepared for
submission to school authorities at
Jackson, Natchez and Clarksdale.
Later, integration petitions were
filed with the school boards at Nat
chez and Jackson. Pending school
board meetings during August, those
officials had no comment except that
their documents are similar to the
one filed in Vicksburg.
NO TIME LIMIT
Dr. McCoy said the documents are
“not petitions, but ultimatums which
will be followed up with legal steps
to force compliance with the court’s
decision.” He also said that no “set
time limit” for compliance had been
fixed by the NAACP and that legal
action “can be expected after a rea
sonable time.”
Dr. McCoy said legal counsel for the
Mississippi suits will be furnished
through the legal department of the
NAACP in New York, and that “it is
likely that local attorneys will also
be employed.” He said that 50 of
those signing the Vicksburg request
had already signed statements retain
ing the NAACP-selected counsel to
represent them in the case there.
The petition in the Vicksburg case
was mailed to the school board with
Joseph R. Johnson, a Negro minister
and cleaning firm employe, signing it
as president of the Vicksburg chapter
of the NAACP.
After its receipt was made known,
Atty. Gen. J. P. Coleman interrupted
his campaign for governor and went
to Vicksburg to confer with the school
board and H. V. Cooper, superintend
ent of the city school system.
After a conference with the attor
ney general on Tuesday, July 19, the
day following mailing of the petition,
the school board headed by Dr. W. K.
Purks issued the following statement:
“After conferring with the attorney
general and upon full consideration
of the purported petition received
through the mails on Monday after
noon, July 18, the Vicksburg school
board finds that this communication
is not a petition, wholly fails to meet
the requirements for a petition and
actually presents this board with
nothing upon which to take action.
“The matter therefore will receive
no further consideration from us and
the incident is closed.”
Tennessee Group (Continued)
to take legal action to restrain edu
cational officials who, in violation
of Article XI, Section 12, of the state
Constitution, may seek to receive
white and Negro children as scholars
together in the same schools; and we
offer legal assistance and guidance to
citizens of both races who wish their
children to continue to have the free
dom of attending school with their
own cultural group.”
legal aid requests
Thus far, he said, "several re
quests, both from private citizens
and from educational institutions, ’
have been received for legal assist
ance.
Davidson declined to go into plans
of the federation for enlarging the
legal staff to assist Paul F. Bumpus,
Nashville attorney and a former state
district attorney who has been ap
pointed chief counsel of the group.
Such plans will be announced later,
he said. However, Davidson noted,
°ffers of assistance from distin
guished attorneys in various parts
of the state have been received.
The Tennessee federation, incor
porated under state law on June 30,
1955, is affiliated with the Federation
or Constitutional Government, a
southwide organization which aims
at national stature. The southwide
group, under the temporary chair
manship of John U. Barr of Louisi-
®n a , was organized earlier this year
during meetings at Atlanta, Ga. and
Ja ckson, Miss.
The exact relationship of the Ten-
dessee organization, independently
incorporated, to the regional group
as not been fully determined. This
question is due to be settled during
i e re §ional chartering convention to
e “eld in the near fuutre.
Position defined
nr endeavoring to ascertain the
position of the Tennessee
q u era l'°n on the school segregation
•*<*. Davidson was asked: Does
r gr°up feel that the recent court
to tv,° n ° n segregation is contrary
Ho he Principles of constitutional
r^nmenU If so , explain why.
this, he replied:
eont^’ We that the decision is
tutio ? t0 t ^ le Principles of consti-
re as<5 Sovemment for the obvious
p U k,. cited by various prominent
of )yj 1C ngures, notably Sen. Eastland
in p lsslss iPPi in his recent speeches
P r em° n r^ eSS ' h 0 ^ that the Su-
tionaf . our t violated the constitu-
p° w Principle of the separation of
Wh a t attempting to declare, not
e law is, but what they
thought it ought to be. Thus they
usurped the legislative power ac
corded to the federal Congress and
the states of the Union. Further
more, in abandoning established
precedent and judicial procedure in
favor of mere sociological and psy
chological opinionating, the present
Justices did gross and possibly irre
parable injury to the authority and
prestige of the U.S. Supreme Court
as an institution.”
Questioned on the federation’s
plans for financing its activities,
which in addition to the legal assist
ance will include dissemination of
information through a news and edi
torial service, newsletters and bulle
tins, Davidson said voluntary contri
butions would constitute the primary
source of income.
“We have no capital endowment at
present,” he said. “Our prospectus
... says that ‘the normal annual sub
scription for a sponsoring member is
$5.’ But we will accept contributions
in larger or smaller amounts.”
CONCERNING MEMBERSHIP
On the matter of membership, Da
vidson said the question, Do you aim
for mass membership? is “hardly
appropriate” since “we are not a poli
tical party or anything of that sort.”
However, he said an eventual mem
bership of 100,000 is anticipated. The
question of whether the organiza
tion would be open to persons of
both the white and Negro races, Da
vidson said, “has not been much dis
cussed.” However, he pointed out
that the offer of legal guidance and
assistance has been made to Negro
citizens as well as white.
“The implications of this offer are
perfectly clear,” he asserted. “We
shall not hesitate to make common
cause with Negro citizens of the
state who may share our point of
view. We are exploring the extent of
interest of Negro leaders who are
friendly to our announced purpose,
and several prominent Negro citizens
have expressed an interest in our or
ganization and a willingness to par
ticipate toward our objectives. We
are in no sense an ‘anti-Negro’ or
ganization.”
The objectives of the organization,
as set out in the corporate charter,
are to disseminate “educational and
cultural information and (to take)
such other steps as mav be deemed
necessary to preserve the traditions,
beliefs, customs and the constitution
and laws and the public policies of
Tennessee and the United States of
America.”
St/m i’T am*
jtfraw tivT'i;
WiMMiSUL ■'
—Jackson (Miss.) Daily News
In an accompanying statement,
Atty. Gen. Coleman said:
“The public school system of Mis
sissippi is in no danger whatever
from the attempted attack at Vicks
burg.”
On July 20, W. H. Jefferson, chair
man of the executive committee of
the Vicksburg branch of the NAACP,
issued a statement that the Vicksburg
school board will be given a “reason
able time” to take action and if none
follows that legal action will be taken.
He said the petition was drawn by
Thurgood Marshall, chief counsel for
the NAACP in New York, “and in
our opinion was legal and proper in
every respect.”
Another immediate development
was a statement issued at Vicksburg
by Rev. H. H. Hume of Greenville,
president of the Negro General Bap
tist Convention of Mississippi in ses
sion at Vicksburg July 20. Hume, who
edits a Negro weekly newspaper,
charged that filing of the integration
petition in Vicksburg “was timed to
coincide with the convention in
Vicksburg in order to give the im
pression that the convention had a
hand in it.”
Asserting that the statewide Baptist
convention he heads “is not inter
ested in segregation or in integration
of the schools of Mississippi,” Rev.
Humes said, “The General Baptist
Convention of the state of Missis
sippi has never gone down on record
as pushing any litigation for integra
tion.”
A resolution said to have been
unanimously adopted by the conven
tion stated that “we deplore the at
tempt to give the impression that the
General Baptist state convention
majors in any field outside religion.
What we’ve worked for is peace of
the community.”
Hume said “such implications to the
contrary on the part of the leadership
and the NAACP are most false and
untrue.”
NO SOLUTION
“Litigation such as we have flying
here in Vicksburg and in other places
will not solve the problem,” Hume
told the convention. “Integration in
Mississippi, if it were initiated, would
be purely experimental and those
who clamor for it don’t know if they’d
be happy if they got it.”
President Johnson of the Vicks
burg NAACP answered, stating that
Hume’s statement “is just more prop
aganda to oppose action.”
Chairman Jefferson of the
NAACP’s executive committee said
filing of the petition at the time of
the Baptist convention “was purely
coincidental and had nothing to do
with it.”
Meanwhile, the five candidates for
governor used the petition as a basis
for strengthening their positions
against integration efforts. One of the
candidates, speaking to an audience in
which about 40 Negroes were present,
said the majority of Mississippi
Negroes want to continue the segre
gated system.
State Rep. Ney Gore Jr. of Quit-
man County, secretary of the Legal
Education Advisory Committee
headed by Gov. Hugh White and
created at the 1954 legislative session
to map plans to combat integration
efforts, conferred during the latter
part of the month with attorneys gen
eral in North Carolina, Virginia,
Georgia and Alabama. Rep. Gore,
who has been reelected without oppo
sition, earlier was placed on full-time
status to build up a file of develop
ments in the South on the segrega
tion vs. integration issue.
No legal action has been taken in
Mississippi, but has been pro
grammed by several local chapters
of the NAACP. It is scheduled as a
follow-up to petitions being filed with
school boards asking for immediate
action looking to compliance with the
Supreme Court’s integration decision.
The Vicksburg petition filed with
the school board there on July 18 was
the first move in Mississippi by the
NAACP to seek integration of the
segregated school system.
The petition follows:
“To the Board of Education of
Vicksburg, Miss., and Superintendent
of Schools of Vicksburg, Miss.:
“We, the undersigned, are the par
ents of children of school age entitled
to attend and attending the public
elementary and secondary high
schools under your jurisdiction. As
you undoubtedly know, the U. S.
Supreme Court on May 17,1954, ruled
that the maintenance of racially
segregated public schools is a viola
tion of the Constitution of the United
States and on May 31,1955, reaffirmed
that principle and requires ‘good
faith compliance at the earliest prac
ticable date’ with the federal courts
authorized to determine whether local
officials are proceeding in good faith.
“We therefore call upon you to take
immediate steps to reorganize the
public schools under your jurisdic
tion on a non-discriminatory basis.
As we understand it you have the
responsibility to reorganize the school
systems under your control so that
the children of public school age
attending and entitled to attend pub
lic schools cannot be denied admis
sions to any school or be required to
attend any school solely because of
race and color.
‘DUTY BOUND’
“The May 31st decision of the
Supreme Court, to us, means that the
time for delay, evasion or procrastina
tion is past. Whatever the difficulties
in according our children their con
stitutional rights, it is clear that the
school board must meet and seek a
solution to that question in accord
ance with the law of the land. As we
interpret the decision, you are duty
bound to take immediate concrete
steps leading to early elimination of
segregation in the public schools.
Please rest assured of our willingness
to serve in any way we can to aid
you in dealing with this question.”
After publication in a Vicksburg
daily newspaper of the names of those
signing the petition, Rev. B. L.
Thomas, pastor of the King Solomon
Baptist church at Vicksburg, whose
name appeared as one of the peti
tioners, issued a statement charging
his name was a “forgery.” He said he
had no knowledge of the petition until
it appeared in a Vicksburg newspaper.
His statement was issued July 23.
The petition was filed July 19.
“I am totally innocent of signing
this petition,” Rev. Thomas said. “I
was not even contacted, and whoever
signed my name to the petition com
mitted a forgery.”
WHAT THEY SAY
Walter Sillers, attorney of Rosedale
and member of the House of Repre
sentatives continuously since 1916
from Boliver County, said filing of
the petition “is not a surprise.” Repre
sentative Sillers was one of the
leaders who gained voter-ratification
of an amendment to the state consti
tution of 1890 authorizing the legis
lature to abolish public education in
event integration is attempted. The
amendment also provides for a system
of “public education” without regard
to race or that it be operated on a
“separate, but equal” basis as pro
vided under the 1890 constitution if
so desired by the legislature if aboli
tion is not voted.
The amendment also empowers the
legislature to permit abolition of pub
lic education “county by county” as
well as statewide.
COUNCIL STATEMENT
At Winona, headquarters of the
Mississippi Association of Citizens
Councils composed of “white males
dedicated to preservation of segrega
tion,” Robert Patterson, the statewide
organization’s executive secretary,
said:
“White citizens of Vicksburg have
not seem fit to form any organization
with which to defend themselves.
Organized aggression must be met
with organized resistance.”
At Jackson, William J. Simmons,
secretary of the Citizens Councils,
said “it’s no surprise.”
“It’s right in line with what the
NAACP said they were going to do,”
he said. “If the white people need
anything to show them this is seri
ous, this is certainly an indication.”
On July 20, a group of white citi
zens at Edwards, small town halfway
between Jackson and Vicksburg, held
a mass meeting which was addressed
by Circuit Judge T. P. Brady of
Brookhaven, and Ellis Wright, presi
dent of the Jackson Citizens Council.
The meeting was presided over by
E. O. Bufkin, superintendent of
schools at Edwards.
Judge Brady, a Harvard graduate
and leader in the southern movement
to organize Citizens Councils, called
on citizens of Vicksburg to organize
a council to help school officials main
tain segregation.
NON-VIOLENCE
“This is a clash of principles,” he
said. “We will fail with bullets and
bricks. The highest, finest, cleanest
non-violent program is necessary if
we are to be victorious. Then we will
have God and right on our side.”
Organization of a Negro counter
part to the white Citizens Councils
was revealed by the Columbus, Miss.,
Sun, a Negro newspaper. The organi
zation is called the “Parent-Teacher-
Youth Council.”
The Sun said the new group will
“foster segregation, combat and ex
pose Negro agitators and encourage
racial pride among the Negro people.”
A spokesman for the white Citizens
Councils confirmed that his group is
“working with” the new Negro group,
but emphasized that organizational
work is being done “by the Negroes
themselves.”
In a statement issued at Jackson,
State Superintendent of Education
J. M. Tubb said with reference to the
Vicksburg integration petition:
“We were hoping this wouldn’t
happen, because it brings us into liti
gation. I don’t think this will improve
the feeling of the people as we try
to initiate a program of equal schools
for all the people.”
Increased activity in organizing
new all-white Citizens Councils fol
lowed filing of the Vicksburg inte
gration petition. The statewide organ
ization claims a present membership
estimated at 60,000, mostly qualified
electors.
At Jackson, the local Citizens
Council opened a drive, with a mem
bership goal of 10,000.
The Jackson Daily News and the
Jackson State Times both carried long
stories on the membership drive.
One carried a photostatic copy of the
application in calling on white citi
zens to affiliate with the council.
The “mother” chapter is at Indian-
ola in Sunflower County, organized
about a year ago. Each unit is autono
mous with no relation to other groups,
but all working in cooperation with a
state headquarters maintained at
Winona in Montgomery County.