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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.