Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 18—August 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
86 Negro Teachers Lose Jobs in Oklahoma Desegregation
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.
Jf^ESEGREGATION decisions have
touched more than one-third of
Oklahoma’s 77 counties during July.
By the month’s end, the big state
question was no longer whether the
tide of integration would roll for
ward, but how many Negro teachers’
jobs will be washed away. Educators
came face to face with the Negro
teachers’ status problem they had
been debating ever since May, 1954.
At the month’s end, Negro leaders
estimated 86 teachers have been re
leased so far in 36 towns in 28 coun
ties. Further studies were underway
to determine the scope of the job loss
problem and to sound out federal
lawsuit possibilities.
Negro spokesmen had estimated
last month that perhaps one-fifth of
Oklahoma’s 1,600 Negro teachers
would be squeezed out in the inte
gration process. They said sacrifices
were expected in numerous small
districts, where one or two-teacher
schools would be abandoned and the
children absorbed into white schools
without the need of additional teach
ers. However, Oklahoma Association
of Negro Teachers leaders, teamed
with the Oklahoma conference of the
National Association for Advance
ment of Colored People, kept a close
eye on the growing trend and as
serted at least some of the losses
could be traced to racial discrimina
tion.
NEW JOBS SOUGHT
Henry C. Whitlow, Jr., principal of
Tulsa’s Booker T. Washington high
school and integration chairman for
the OANT, was the source of the 86-
job loss estimate. Whitlow said most
of the teachers are attempting to find
placement elsewhere in Oklahoma
schools, despite his advice that the
quest is probably hopeless. “There
was no great demand to begin with,
and I cannot give them much encour
agement for teaching jobs in the
state,” he said. Whitlow said a few
have applied to schools outside the
state but retained the hope they could
find Oklahoma jobs in the interim.
“No teacher has any backlog of mon
ey saved up. They must find work
somewhere immediately,” Whitlow
pointed out.
Whitlow’s own prediction is that
the majority of the ousted teachers
eventually will filter into other states,
where they can find jobs “in indus
try and the like” more or less com
mensurate with their training and
caDabilities. Such jobs are not avail
able in Oklahoma, he said. “I think
there will be a leveling off process,
and they will go out of state to find
jobs in these other fields, and some
day Oklahoma will wake up to find
a shortage of teachers,” Whitlow
speculated.
OANT executive committee mem
bers met in Oklahoma City early in
July and voted to retain Amos Hall.
Tulsa NAACP lawyer, to wage a legal
battle if necessary to protect Negro
teachers’ jobs. A week later, Hall ap
peared to be on the brink of launch
ing a test suit, but action was de
layed.
An informal report session was
called July 21 in Oklahoma City for
Negro schoolmen and NAACP branch
representatives. U. S. Tate of Dallas,
regional NAACP attorney, helped
preside and termed it a “sort of fact
finding meeting, just in the family.”
At the close of the three-hour ses
sion. closed to the press, Roscoe Dun-
jee of Oklahoma City, state NAACP
executive committee chairman, an
nounced the NAACP would hold off,
possibly until fall, until it could
round up some specific reports form
ing solid basis for a lawsuit.
Some 50 representatives from 15
counties attended. “Most of them had
complaints, many valid and some
imaginary,” Duniee said. He indi
cated some incidents did indicate
some degree of discrimination, but
“the group concluded there have
been no overt acts committed by
school boards or state authorities
which would warrant legal action. It
was decided to delay until Septem
ber. when we can find whether there
has been any lack of good faith.”
SITUATION UNDER STUDY
Dunjee said the hold-off decision
did not mean the NAACP is satisfied
with the present situation. “There is
a probability that as rapidly as we
run into situations that need atten
tion, something will be done,” he
added.
Dunjee pin-pointed Perry, King
fisher, and Chandler as likely spots
for further study and possible legal
action. The NAACP alleges the Perry
board fired five Negro teachers, hired
one back, and employed four new
white teachers; the Chandler board
fired the Negro high school principal
and later hired extra white person
nel; and Kingfisher re-employed a
fired Negro teacher as a “counselor
for colored children,” in effect sep
arating that teacher from all but Ne
gro students.
Perry had been the target of loud
est criticism in weeks before the July
21 meeting. On July 6, NAACP attor
ney Hall was convinced Perry pre
sented the best possibilities for the
South’s first full-dress legal test of
Negro teacher rights.
The school board allegedly had re
leased 10 Negro teachers and hired
at least three extra white teachers,
fresh from graduation at Oklahoma
A & M College. (Dr. Melvin Self, su
perintendent, contended the Blaine
Negro school had been steadily los
ing enrollment since 1951 and was
overstaffed. He said the faculty was
halved from 10 to five last April, be
fore the latest U. S. Supreme Court
ruling. He said the three white teach
ers were replacements for other white
teachers, without increasing the
white faculty above the total of 45
employed in the spring term). With
integration, Blaine school is closing
down.
The same day, July 6, Negro lead
ers learned the Perry board had re
hired one of the five Negro teachers
to teach shop and serve as assistant
coach at the previously all-white
Perry junior-senior high school. The
man, Walter O. Mason, thus became
the first Negro teacher to be absorbed
into a white school anywhere in
Oklahoma.
The board also had absorbed the
Negro bus driver and mechanic into
the Perry school system as a main
tenance man. F. D. Moon, Okla
homa City, OANT executive secre
tary, announced the news would call
for an immediate change of legal tac
tics. “We certainly want to leave Per
ry alone now. That board is going in
the right direction now,” Moon said.
The Oklahoma City School Board,
still without a decision at deadline
date, was presented a desegregation
recommendation by the Oklahoma
City Citizens’ Action Committee, in
a regular meeting on July 5. Mrs.
Cemoria Johnson, executive secre
tary of the Urban League, and action
committee secretary, presented the
plea. She pointed out the committee
represents some 30 Negro and inter
racial organizations.
The six-page statement outlines
three possible patterns of procedure
—setting up two schools within a
district and leaving attendance op
tional; using an “unnatural gerry
mandering” system to bring Negroes
into a district arbitrarily for the sake
of intermixture even though they
might face wide residential and cul
tural differences and be uprooted
from their natural geographic area;
and setting up district lines and re
quiring all students, both white and
Negro, to attend the schools within
their home districts.
The committee recommended the
latter policy for Oklahoma City, and
acknowledged the board might find
it logical to allow present high school
students to continue where they are
until graduation, regardless of the
boundary lines. Following natural
geographical districts, irrespective of
race, “will be in compliance with the
spirit and letter of the decision of the
Supreme Court and will foster the
spirit of true democracy,” the com
mittee stated.
EMPLOYMENT SUGGESTION
The committee also pleaded for
employment of all school personnel
ilililili
‘A’ for Effort
School administrators, official
hoards, teachers, patrons and stu
dents have done remarkably well
in taking down the racial segrega
tion bars in Oklahoma. The Su
preme Court’s decision said let in
tegration come “as soon as feasible”
but made it plain that it must be
done.
Practically all of the institutions
of higher learning in the state, and
public schools in all sections, are
making ready to erase the color line
by the beginning of the autumn
term. It will be easier in some towns
and counties than in others, but the
effort being made almost every
where to live up to the spirit and
letter of the ruling is commend
able .. . give Oklahoma an “A” for
effort, and performance, so far.
—Oklahoma City Times
’ilisilllliliilllllllilllllllllllilill!:
on a basis of training and experience
without regard to race. The statement
specifically suggested that Negro
teachers go with Negro students in
tegrated into a previously all-white
school, to help them adjust to the new
environment. The same policy was
suggested for white pupils faced with
adjusting to a previously all-Negro
school.
Oklahoma school districts of all
sizes presented a kaleidoscopic pic
ture during July. Integration plans
piled up swiftly, and were almost as
varied as the number of districts in
volved. The month saw several ma
jor districts added to the desegre
gation ranks, including Lawton, in
southwestern Comanche County, and
McAlester, in industrial eastern
Pittsburgh County.
Still silent were Muskogee, indus
trial and agricultural city with a
heavy Negro population and no resi
dential segregation; Enid, which per
mitted the Negroes to enroll in sum
mer school but has announced no
autumn policy; and Oklahoma City.
Another sizeable city, Ardmore (in
Murray County in “Little Dixie”)
attempted to let the situation begin
solving itself without making any
definite policy statement. The school
board issued a statement which left
the picture indefinite. George D.
Hann, superintendent, later told
Southern School News, “We did that
deliberately. If you couldn’t under
stand what it means, then it was a
pretty good statement, huh?”
Hann contended Ardmore is lo
cated in deep south Oklahoma, but
also has a fair share of residents with
northern background, and the inte
gration situation poses possible ten
sion threats if allowed to become an
issue. He said a kind of voluntary in
tegration will be encouraged, so that
“eventually—and I don’t mean 100
years from now—the schools will be
mixed. It may take us a year to pre
pare psychologically to meet this sit
uation, but I could say within a year
we will be in complete compliance
with the Supreme Court ruling.”
SQUEEZE IN ARDMORE
Hann said the problem is tight
ened by the fact that oil industry ex
pansion in the area is squeezing all
Ardmore schools beyond the capacity
limit, and building programs can’t
provide class rooms fast enough.
He also argues that his detailed
comparative tests among school chil
dren show wide disparity between
the white and Negro youngsters’
home background and early training.
Ardmore schools, apparently are
scheduled to maintain a status quo
this autumn, serve 514 Negro stu
dents and around 3,939 white pupils.
All 20 of the Douglass and Dunbar
Negro school teachers will be re
tained, and “we might need to add
some more,” Hann said.
The state’s first school district to
start a regular term with mixed en
rollment was Lula, a little center in
Pontotoc County, also deep in south
east Oklahoma’s “Little Dixie.” Lula,
with a school population of 106,
started classes early because a recess
will be taken after about eight weeks,
for the autumn cotton harvest.
Six Negro high school students en
rolled on the first day, July 12. Pre
viously, they had attended Ada’s 12-
grade Napier school, which will re
main open to serve all other Ponto
toc County children. The teen-agers
started classes without incident. Lula
Supt. C. D. Whelchel said, “These
Negro students are anxious to fit into
the school picture. They offer their
assistance on any participation proj
ect and, although a bit self-conscious,
lead a normal school life.” All will
take part in the school’s lunch pro
gram. “This is the clincher,” he said.
“Within a week, our Negro students
will go unnoticed among the others.”
ODD TWIST
In an odd twist, Boley school in
Okfuskee County also had an inte
gration announcement. The all-Negro
school district disclosed plans July
20 to open the doors to white pupils
in the fall. Mrs. Velma D. Ashley,
superintendent, said the board voted
to hire one white teacher for each 26
white pupils who might enroll. She
said no white families are expected to
move into the community immedi
ately, but some may come later be
cause of oil field activities building
up nearby. Boley had 13 teachers and
an enrollment of 306 students last
year.
Although it is probably not a com
plete list, following is the roster of
Oklahoma districts so far known to
plan partial or complete integration
in September:
Metropolitan Tulsa, Poteau, El Re
no, Pawnee, Konawa, Kingfisher,
Seminole, Nuyaka consolidated, New
kirk, Hobart, Crowder, Lawton,
Bartlesville, Sapulpa, Holdenville,
Elk City, Bearden, Waurike, Wea
therford, Altus, Chickasha, Perry,
Davis, Sulphur, Woodland, Lula,
Coalgate, Boley, White Oak, Drum-
right, Hollis, LaCasa consolidated,
Wellston, Meeker, Carney, Daven
port, Chandler, Prague, McAlester,
Tishomingo, Atoka, Alderson, Clare-
more, Cleveland, Duncan, Fort Cobb,
Guthrie, Hennessey, Hominy, Inola,
Jenks, Lehigh, Olney, Okeene, Ponca
City, Sentinel, and White Rock.
C. E. Grady, Oklahoma County
superintendent of schools, announced
the color line was wiped out July 1
in the county’s dependent rural
school districts. Negro pupils may at
tend white schools, if they desire, or
return to the schools they have been
attending, providing the schools are
within their own districts, Grady
said, adding, “The choice will be
made by students and their parents.”
In districts where required educa
tional facilities are available, stu
dents will not be allowed to transfer
to other districts—a rule applying to
both Negro and white children,
Grady said. However, he sees little
change in the coming school term.
So far, Negro teachers have been
working to keep their schools’ enroll
ment up to last year’s level, to insure
their jobs, and most Negro pupils
have indicated they will chose to re
turn to the schools they have been at
tending, Grady reported.
POLICY RE-EXAMINED
The State Board of Education took
another look on July 7 at its policies
on granting state aid funds to dis
tricts which have not presented
strong specific reasons for delaying
integration, plus detailed plans for
future progress. Board members de
cided the local school boards can
qualify for aid without setting forth
detailed plans.
The ruling will make it possible
for some local boards to maintain
separate schools another year with
out promising definite 1956-57 action.
It also opens the way for state aid
applications for aid to Negro schools
kept open in partially-integrated
towns.
The state’s first school district to
start a regular term with mixed en
rollment was Lula, a little center in
Pontotoc County, also deep in south-
each Oklahoma’s “Little Dixie.” Lula,
with a school population of 106,
started classes early because a recess
will be taken after about eight weeks,
for the autumn cotton harvest.
Six Negro high school students en
rolled on the first day, July 12. Pre
viously, they had attended Ada’s 12.
grade Napier School, which will re!
main open to serve all other Ponto!
toe County children. The teen-ag ers
started classes without incident. Lula
Supt. C. D. Whelchel said, “These
Negro students are anxious to fit int 0
the school picture. They offer their
assistance on any participation proj
ect and, although a bit self-conscious
lead a normal school life.” All will
take part in the school’s lunch pro
gram. “This is the clincher,” he said
“Within a week, our Negro students
will go unnoticed among the others.”
Oklahoma City University trustees
voted unanimously on July 1 to drop
racial barriers immediately, opening
the doors to Negroes for the second
summer term scheduled on July 15.
OCU is Methodist owned and oper
ated, but non-denominational in its
attendance policies. The announce
ment was made after a special meet
ing conducted by Dr. W. Angie Smith,
bishop of the Oklahoma and New
Mexico conferences of the Methodist
Church.
Six Negro students took advantage
of the announcement and enrolled
for the second term. A seventh can
didate has indicated he will enter the
OCU school of law, but does not in
tend to enroll until the autumn term.
As mentioned earlier in this re
port, the OANT and NAACP are
jointly rounding up information on
the scope of possible discrimination
against Negro teachers. H. C. Whit
low, Jr., the OANT integration chair
man, was awaiting answers at
month’s end to a questionnaire sent
to 116 Oklahoma communities. Thir
ty returns had reached his Tulsa
office a week after the questionnaires
went out.
Whitlow’s questionnaire asks for
information on any integration de
cisions in small districts that may
have escaped notice in the press; de
tails on how many teachers stand to
lose jobs in the process; how many
have been retained in teaching posts;
what other fields, if any. the ousted
teachers plan to enter; whether they
must leave Oklahoma; whether they
have been replaced by white teach
ers; details on their background and
experience, and their status as home
owners and contributing citizens u 1
their respective communities.
When completed, it appears,
study will be the most definitive p®'
ture of Negro teachers’ status so far
attempted. Whitlow said he has h a “
numerous requests for the type of ®"
formation the survey is expected t0
yield.
the
LEGAL ACTION
Two pending lawsuits, both again®
higher education institutions whic
have since dropped racial barrier®'
were taken under advisement by
eral jurists, after the NAACP soug ^
to have specific victories recorded 0
Negro litigants.
The cases, both filed as class action®
in 1954, and both alleging inequality
because white, but not Negro s
dents, could attend the hometown
stitutions, involved three young *n
seeking admission to the El ”
municipal junior college, and a y°
mother seeking entrance to O'
homa College for Women, four-y
state-operated college at Chickas ^
Both cases had been held in st
ance pending the Supreme
clarification issued last May.
In the El Reno case, a three-ju Wj
court heard arguments on J u Y> s
the defendant board of edu ca ^
motion to dismiss. State Sen-
Rinehart, representing the boar . ^
gued the case is now “moot ^
federal and state constitutions ^
favor integration and becaus „
board voted June 21 to open
ior college.