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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—OCTOBER 1955—PAGE 3
Citizens’ Council Movement Is Spurred in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S. C.
n OUTH CAROLINA’S public
5 schools opened in September
without incident and without inte
gration. In contrast with the calm
on the academic front, however, was
the continued organization of numer
ous Citizens’ Councils about the state,
particularly in the Lowcountry areas
where Negroes outnumber whites
snd where a number of integration
petitions have been filed by local units
of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
In numerous instances, Negroes
whose names appeared on such pe
titions have disavowed their signa
tures, or have stated publicly, that
their signatures were obtained by
. fraud or misrepresentation. Several
suggestions have been made that the
circumstances surrounding the ob
taining of signatures be investigated
to determine whether state laws have
been violated with respect to fraudu
lent representation.
One such recommendation came
from the “Committee of 52,” a loose
ly-knit group of industrial, business,
professional and agricultural leaders
who in August sponsored a statement
of principles calling for the mainte
nance of separate schools, racial in
tegrity, state sovereignty and consti
tutional government. On Sept. 7, a
majority of that group met in Colum
bia and decided to continue its
existence, to set up a headquarters
and to work toward securing addi
tional signatures on its resolution of
principles.
A similar recommendation came
from S. Emory Rogers, attorney for
the Summerton School District of
Clarendon Countv. Earlier, Federal
Judge Ashton H. Williams of Charles
ton had announced from the bench
that he would scrutinize all cases
coming before him to determine
whether they involved “imDrooer
conduct” on the Dart either of the
NAACP or the Ku Klux Klan. Said
Judge Williams:
It is my belief that no progress
“n be made unless and until both
Klan and the NAACP are wholly
eliminated from the picture in South
Carolina.”
PETITIONS UNDER PROBE
On the night of Sept. 23, at a special
press conference, Gov. Timmerman
disclosed that the integration peti
tions were being investigated by the
South Carolina Law Enforcement Di
vision (state constabulary). The gov
ernor said the constabulary was seek
ing to determine whether there had
been irregularities in the securing of
signatures, and added that his office
and the constabulary were interested
in recording the circumstances and
the signatures of all such petitions.
On the heels of that disclosure, the
state NAACP president, James M.
Hinton, asked that the same agency
be directed to investigate “the pres
sure that may have been used on
signers of petitions to withdraw their
names or to make contrary state
ments.’
With respect to the uneventful
opening of the state’s public school
system, Gov. Timmerman made this
statement:
“South Carolina’s school children
have returned to their books for an
other year, and they have done so
in peace and in conformity with the
pattern of racial separation which
has made for that peace. Not one
child, either white or colored, has
sought to gain admission to a school
for the other race. There have been
no acts of disorder, no disturbances
and no unpleasantries at our schools.
The schools are open, they are oper
ating, they are better than ever
before. Our citizens are determined
to continue to provide our children
with good facilities, with equal fa
cilities, and with separate facilities.
That is the will of the people of South
Carolina.”
Total enrollment figures for the
1955-56 school year will not be avail
able until some time in October.
Meanwhile, school officials estimate
that more than 570,000 students will
be enrolled in South Carolina’s ele
mentary and high schools for the aca
demic year. That estimate reflects a
projection of past growth as applied
Maryland
(Continued from Page 2)
and senior high schools. The
colored youngsters thus integrs
j ve re in a total county school po
ation of 52,236, of which about
P« cent is colored.
The remaining county to annou
» re adiness to receive Negro tra
~ r applications was Prince Geor
'-ounty, i n southern Maryland,
PPer reaches of which join v
• onteomery County in serving e
ashington suburban area. Pri
srV,° r ^ eS ^ as a P er cen t colo
, 00 enr °llment, much of it in
t( J acP0 'farming parts of
of p , v ' The Prince George’s Bo
nt .„ ucati °n went farther than
stat; r bve transfer” counties
Sc k/'f , as a Part of its policy 1
justed b ? sc ^ e< lules would be
date ’ where possible, to accomr
egr° transfer students.
Georee ’ s received 93
merlv f °v- Ne?ro transfers to f
64 m .^yPt® schools and accep
So'rne^f ku” 1 u PP er -county regi<
lectin ° t ,‘ he rea !°" s g-en for
PortatL j.£. ernain der were tra
bilitv ? ‘T’iTicu]ties, the inadvi
^ar of uH nsferrin g in th e ser
Policv , a scIl0 °l and a blan
trarikfp not allowing students
Part-t;,v, ° ou t °f schools hav
59 of ft, 6 sblfts - By m 'd-Septeml
^ven v?t.^ e8ro transfers were
had rL, V e r rt ° white schools. T
decided i rom the county, one 1
the rem • 5° to a colored school, ;
enroll 1 ™ 5 ~°. were still expec
Wer e ; n l" 6 88 mtegrated Near
School _ a , first-day countyw
Th e H ati ° n of 47 ’ 801 -
'Meerat; nth county to have so
lies south' 1 * Anna Arundel, wh
a 19 Baltimore city and
■fu Per rpnf 7 11
I’he cei \t colored enro
fittrino tv, y scho °l hoard anne
y’ouid 1 e su mmer that seere
J 6 school COntlmj ed during the
^e?roe s ,, year ’ wj th two excel
spceia] are to be admitted
Jerehrai "l , 1 for children
Pilot seh^i>> y anc * a brand
A ‘ last b °° for trainable ch:
Port the county ha<
no applications for the cerebral palsy
school. Two colored children were
enrolled at the other school.
The eight counties where some in
tegration has taken place in Mary
land—Allegany, Washington, Carroll,
Baltimore, Cecil, Anne Arundel,
Prince George’s and Montgomery—
are mainly those with the smallest
proportions of colored students. Ex
cept for Anne Arundel and Prince
George’s, all have less than seven
per cent Negroes in their school
systems. Together the eight counties
have close to 240,000 students, of
which less than 20,000 are colored.
The total number of integrated Ne
groes, which is just over 1,000, is,
therefore, about five per cent of the
colored enrollment in the eight
counties, and a much smaller per
centage of the total eight-county
school population.
The state board of education an
nounced last June, following the
May 31 Supreme Court decision, that
segregation was officially ended at
Maryland’s five teachers colleges,
three of which formerly had been
designated as white and two as col
ored. The policy was similar to that
adopted by the six Maryland coun
ties which announced their readiness
to consider Negro transfers. That is
to say, no move toward integration
was made other than the statement
that Negroes had the right to apply
to white teachers colleges, and white
students to Negro colleges. Other
wise, white and colored teachers col
leges were to be operated as former
ly, with all-white or all-colored
staffs.
When the teachers colleges opened
this fall, there were four Negroes at
Towson, the formerly all-white col
lege just north of Baltimore, and one
at Frostburg, in Western Maryland.
No qualified Negro applicant had ap
peared at Salisbury, the only teachers
college on the Eastern Shore, and no
white applicants at Bowie and Cop-
pin. the colored institutions for
teachers.
to last year’s school attendance. For
the 1954-55 school year, Negro en
rollment in the state was 240,017;
white enrollment 312,932, for a grand
total of 552,949. Estimates point to an
increase of some 15,000 children for
the current year.
The state’s official School Segrega
tion Committee, headed by State Sen.
L. Marion Gressette, met twice during
September but gave out only routine
statements. The first reported that the
equalization and expansion program
of public school construction was
proceeding satisfactorily. The second,
coming after a meeting with school
officials, expressed agreement that
the construction program should be
continued.
A projected survey of the Summer-
ton district schools in Clarendon
County has not yet been started. The
study is to determine the extent and
nature of factors impeding or affect
ing the feasibility of integration
within the district.
S. Emory Rogers, attorney for the
Summerton School District: “There
should be unity of plan, action and
procedure throughout the states hold
ing (segregation) views. This will
Lack of Unity
South Carolina and some other
states are attempting to hold the
line against the ruling of the United
States Supreme Court until no al
ternative remains. But other South
ern states are seeing fit to bow to
the court’s decision and are giving
in.
This would seem to be an unfor
tunate situation. The states similar
ly affected, it would seem, would
strengthen their hands considerably
by slinging together, just as moun
tain climbers link themselves by
ropes against tragic falls.
The surrender of some states
makes it harder for the others to
hold the line.—Columbia State
permit one plan at a time to be tested,
and will gain a greater overall length
of time for all.”
Albert A. Kennedy, Negro attorney
of Columbia and state counselor for
the NAACP: “Once the two races are
integrated, intermarriage is the nat
ural consequence.”
James M. Hinton, state president of
the NAACP: “Kennedy . . . speaks
only for himself . .. The NAACP has
at no time in any meeting, any plan
ning, or at any program talked about
or had any designs on intermarriage.”
The Conway Ministerial Associa
tion: “Resist every pressure to join
the Ku Klux Klan or any similar
organization.”
The Rev. James VanWright, Negro
minister of Moncks Comer: “Not all
(Negroes) want integration . . . We
will lose our identification as a race
and would not be credited for what
ever achievement that as a race we
may accomplish . . . Instead of solving
our problem it will increase it and
make it more confused ... The meth
od that is being used to attain inte
gration is much more harmful than
the segregated school. It discredits
the past . . . and creates in the minds
of our children a false illusion of the
future.”
Lt. Gov. Ernest F. Hollings: “It is
my belief that the Citizens’ Councils,
by mobilizing the best leadership at
the community level, can help to re
store decency in government and
maintain peace and security for all
people, both white and Negro. I am
glad that responsible spokesmen for
the movement say they do not use or
ganized economic pressure as a wea
pon against anyone.”
The Rev. Webster McClary, Negro
minister at Kingstree: “I’m warning
all you Negroes not to be misled by a
few NAACP folks you see strutting
their stuff in your community . . .
Come out into the open and throw
your weight for equal but separate
schools where Negro children can
learn to take pride in their own race
instead of being ashamed of it.”
Sen. L. Marion Gressette, chairman
of the special School Segregation
Committee: “In this fight, thousands
of Negroes are on our side . . . They
do not want the races mixed in the
schools and churches ... It would be
well for us to encourage the members
of the Negro race with these views, so
that they may in turn discourage the
few whites and colored, from within
and without the state, who advocate
integration.”
Thomas R. Waring, editor of the
News and Courier (Charleston) made
this statement in a series of articles
written by him following a personal
study of the Citizens’ Councils of
Mississippi:
“After studying its operations and
conferring with its leaders, this ob
server from South Carolina believes
the councils are both sound and de
cent, and loaded with power for
good.”
From the office of Sen. Olin D.
Johnston came this statement: “He
expressed his absolute agreement
with the principles of the various
Citizens’ Councils that are being or
ganized throughout South Carolina.”
J. M. Dabbs of Maysville, advocate
of interracial amity and cooperation:
“Why not enroll Southern Negroes in
the (Citizens’) Councils and thus ob
tain from them directly and continu
ally their opinions as to what is best
for the South? . . . The way to defeat
the NAACP is to get the Negroes into
our councils as full-fledged members,
and thus make these councils real cit
izens’ groups. When all are working
together for the advancement of all
people, there won’t be much motiva
tion left for the Advancement merely
of Colored People.”
Rep. John L. McMillan of South
Carolina’s sixth congressional dis
trict: “It is my sincere opinion that
the Supreme Court made a serious
error by rendering their decision on
the basis of social reforms instead of
the legal facts in the case ... I am
satisfied that the thinking people of
South Carolina, both colored and
white, can solve this problem within
the state and continue to have good
relations between the races. It is dif
ficult for me to believe that there will
be any integration of races in south
ern schools without the consent and
desire on the part of the colored and
white people within the southern
states.”
A state representative from Or
angeburg County (where numerous
Citizens’ Councils have been formed
in the wake of the filing of several
integration petitions) says he will
seek a legislative investigation of
NAACP activities at South Caro
lina’s State College (for Negroes) at
Orangeburg.
Rep. Jerry M. Hughes said:
“Such an investigation would de
termine who are members and sym
pathizers of the NAACP among the
faculty and student body, the extent
of such member participation in such
activities and whether or not its mem
bers are misleading the Negro citizens
and misrepresenting the aims and
objectives of the NAACP to the Ne
gro people.”
LEGAL ACTION
Following a report in the Columbia
Record, indicating that the NAACP
might not press its suit in Clarendon
County (Briggs vs. Elliott), this state
ment came from Thurgood Marshall,
NAACP counsel:
“We have not changed our position
one iota from what we stated to the
U. S. District Court at the hearing on
July 15 to the effect that: (1) We be
lieved that both sides should work to
gether in a spirit of good faith and
cooperation to carry out the order of
the court issued on that day, and (2)
if we should ‘get to the point where
either side was dissatisfied, and it
couldn’t be worked out on an ami
cable basis, then further relief would
be sought . . . the court having re
tained jurisdiction’.”
Integration petitions have been
filed with school boards in Sumter
County (for both city and county
schools) and in Chesterfield County
(for schools at Cheraw). These bring
the total petitions filed in South Caro
lina to about 13.
County superintendents of educa
tion in Barnwell and Aiken Counties
report that schools in those two
counties now have equal facilities for
white and Negro students.
Two children of disputed race (al
though with white birth certicates)
have been barred from the white
schools of Sumter. The schools’ attor
ney, former State Sen. Shepard K.
Nash, said his personal investigation
convinced him that the children of
Mrs. Julia Ard could not be admitted
under a constitutional provision
which states that “no child of either
race shall ever be permitted to attend
a school for children of the other
race.”
The council of delegates of the
South Carolina Education Associa
tion has reaffirmed its position on
school segregation, stating (at a Sept.
24 meeting in Columbia) that the
state’s racially-segregated schools are
“most desirable.” At the same time,
the delegates called for greater prog
ress toward “a real equalization of
school facilities.”
State-supported institutions of
higher learning in South Carolina re
port no applications from Negroes for
admission to the 1955-56 school year.
Citizens’ Councils continued to de
velop in South Carolina during Sep
tember. Some pro-segregation organ
izations, formed under other names,
changed their identity to Citizens’
Councils. Recently formed councils
are at Bamberg, Branchville,
Charleston, Earle’s, the Cordova-
Cope community of Orangeburg
County, Greeleyville, Hemingway,
Indiantown, Johnsonville, Lamar,
Lane, Leo, Lynchburg, North, Olanta,
Orangeburg, Springfield and Sum
merton. A Pond Hollow Segregation
Club has recently been formed in
Darlington County, and a States
Rights League in Lee County. Alto
gether there are approximately 33
pro-segregation organizations in the
state, operating under one name or
another.
The resolution censuring Citizens’
Councils for use of economic pres
sure, adopted late in August by South
Carolina Methodists in annual confer
ence, has drawn fire from a number
of persons, including several minis
ters, who oppose integration and de
fend the right of citizens to resist it.
One of the sponsors of the resolution,
the Rev. John V. Murray Jr., has been
transferred from his Orangeburg
County charge at the request of his
four congregations.
In several localities, Negroes whose
names appeared in integration peti
tions continue to ask withdrawal of
their names, charging either misrep
resentation of facts or alteration of
petition content. In the Summerton
district, a total of four plaintiffs and
15 intervenors have asked that their
names be removed from lawsuits
seeking admission of Negroes to the
Summerton white schools.
In Lake City, the Rev. J. A. De-
Laine, one of the Negroes who helped
organize the original Clarendon
County suit, reported to law enforce
ment officials that his home had three
times been the target of oranges,
rocks and empty bottles.