About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1956)
Jo*7 Factual 6-30-56 2 ;08 UNIV. OF C-i. LIBRARIES ACQUISITION DIVISION ATHENS* GA. VOL II, NO. 7 NASHVILLE, TENN. $2 PER YEAR JANUARY, 1956 ‘Interposition’ Weighed in Four States Study Groups At Work Approximately 150 “study” com missions—some made up of lay “advisors” and others of “experts”— are at work throughout the South considering the effects of the Su preme Court’s school segregation decisions, according to a Southern School News survey. Activities of the bodies, some offi- cially appointed and others self- constituted, vary largely with the official policy or public sentiment in the states where they are located. Virginia, South Carolina, Missis- sl Ppi and Louisiana, for example, commissions on the state level, usu- a dy composed largely of legislators or state officials, have been, or are now, at work on plans for circum venting the court’s decrees. In such border states as Maryland, Kentucky ®nd Arkansas, the committees, most ly appointed at the local school ! ar< ^ l eve L are studying methods °f implementing the decisions. States such as Texas and Florida where state policy seems to be t( maintain segregation but where pub- lc opinion, at least in some sections avors desegregation, have commit- ees looking toward eventual schoo' a ^ e S re S a tion. In fact, Florida list: k ° u t 25, the second largest num- of such committees of any oi 0 ? s tates in the region, exceeded NortL k y Kentucky which has 51 anri Caro lina has 24 such groups Sty, Mar yl and has or has had study con U ? S at work in each of her 22 oounties. mart 3 5 elative lack of uniformity jo ks . “e purposes and intent of the tioa Il ! ees ’. even greater variety is mod° e r 6 in tke * r composition and r ac ; e , °f organization. Some are bi- g v a ’ some consist of only three to Purs mem ^ ers ’ some are actively bep.r UIn ^ fheir subject, others have five a l 1 f >0 ’ n f e d and are totally inac- c 0m „ c , rete recommendations have cqj- . r ? m niost of the state-level hon lsslons > and much of the legisla- heen at circumvention has Virgin - 6 Product of these groups. In knoii— a A for example, the popularly Lray Commission formulated the plan for a referendum to permit state support of private schools which this group considers essential to forestall “compulsory integration.” In South Carolina, the bulk of pro- segregation legislation adopted in May was formulated by the South Carolina School Committee, a legis lative group. In Mississippi, seven proposals of the official Legal Edu cational Advisory Committee will be presented to the legislature which convenes this month. On the other hand, the recom mendations for replacing the public schools of Alabama with a private school system, proposed by the Boutwell Committee, have failed to win legislative approval. Meanwhile, local-level groups have met with some success in such proposals as have been advanced for school desegregation in Macon, Mo. In Baltimore, a Community Study Program begun shortly after World War II was credited with helping smooth the way for desegregation. Eighteen months after the original school segregation decision, local school boards still are appointing study committees. The Davidson County, Tenn., board, for example, announced last month it would ap- (See STUDY GROUPS, Page 15) Index State Page Alabama Arkansas 9 Delaware 12 District of Columbia 16 Florida 15 Georgia 10 Kentucky g Louisiana 12 Maryland 3 Mississippi 6 Missouri 7 North Carolina 4 Oklahoma u South Carolina 5 Tennessee 2 Texas n Virginia 14 West Virginia 16 Political figures in at least four southern states—Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina—are consid ering resolutions of “interposition” as a means of evading the U. S. Supreme Court’s decisions against segregation in the public schools, a year-end survey by Southern School News indicates. Legislatures of all four states meet during 1956. “Interposition” is popularly equated with the doctrine of nullification. Meanwhile, three more counties in West Virginia ordered desegregation of their schools and a federal court decision in Kentucky resulted in a two-step plan to integrate the schools of Adair County. Discussion of “interposition” first arose in Virginia when the General Assembly was called into special ses sion to approve a referendum (set for Jan. 9) on a constitutional convention which would amend the organic law in order lo permit expenditure of public funds for private schooling. According to its first proponent, the Richmond News Leader, “this plan contemplates an assertion of funda mental principles, coupled with an appeal to our sister states to decide, by ratifying or rejecting a proposed constitutional amendment, whether the power to operate racially sep arate public school facilities should be prohibited to the states...” In Mississippi the plan is being sponsored by two members of the state’s congressional delegation, a judge and a former governor, but is opposed by incoming Gov. James P. Coleman. It is under study in Louisi ana by state Sen. W. M. Rainach, legislative chairman of the state school program. In South Carolina state Rep. Joseph O. Rogers Jr., of Clarendon County, announced he is drafting a resolution which calls on the legislature to assert the state’s sovereignty in the field of public education. STUDY GROUPS As the year ended, nearly 150 study groups and commissions had reported or had been authorized to report on state or local plans dealing with school segregation-desegregation. Among the states which have not de segregated any of their schools, North Carolina and Florida reported the largest number of community study committees. In a re-survey of so-called “oppo sition” groups, Southern School What Is It? INTERPOSITION — The Vir ginia Resolution of 1798 declared that the powers of the federal government result from the com pact to which the states are par ties, and “that, in case of a de liberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted by the social compact, the states, which are parties thereto, have the right and are in duty bound to interpose for ar resting the progress of the evil” for maintaining their rights. What was meant by interposi tion? It has sometimes been as serted that it meant nothing more nor less than nullification by a single state. Madison declared, in later years, tfxat such was not the meaning. It is not unlikely that nothing more was intended than to secure, by cooperation among the states, a general ex pression of opinion. But it is pos sible that the framers had in mind a convention of the states to pass upon the Constitution or that they planned authoritative inter pretation by amendment. —Cyclopedia of American Government. NULLIFICATION—An alleged right of a state in the American Union, acting in a sovereign ca pacity through a convention of its people, to declare an act of Congress "null, void, and no law, not binding upon the state, its of ficers or citizens.” —New Dictionary of American Politics courses to Negro players. At the month’s end the state was still rever berating from the controversy over the Sugar Bowl football game in which Georgia Tech contracted to play the non-segregated University of Pittsburgh. Kentucky In the state’s first school desegre gation suit a federal judge held that Adair County should open its high school to Negroes Feb. 1, 1956 and that integration in elementary schools should be effected by August or Sep tember of this year. In another action the State Court of Appeals banned racial segregation in all public rec reation facilities. Louisiana A three-judge federal court took under advisement a suit to open all public schools in Orleans Parish (county)—the state’s largest—to all races. State attorneys asked the fed eral court to step out of a local sit uation which they said was covered by state laws. Maryland Two sets of white parents were haled into Juvenile Court in Balti more County for keeping their chil dren out of racially mixed schools. Rather than comply, one family moved to Florida. Mississippi The state’s political leaders debated interposition, or nullification, as new pro-segregation legislation was pre pared for the January session of the legislature. Missouri Racial integration became an ac- News found 44 private organizations, complished fact at the University of „—11 ! iiiiiiiiisiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigiiiiiiiii Missouri and state colleges. Accord- large and small, more or less active in 15 states. Increasing activity also was reported from several states and communities where pro-integration Human Relations Councils are in operation. Other December developments: In the public recreation area (which is allied with the school issue through court interpretation), At lanta opened its seven public golf courses to Negroes after a court rul ing and Greensboro, N. C., ordered sale of one publicly-owned but pri vately-leased course and conversion of a publicly-owned Negro course into an addition to the city dump. In Kentucky a state court struck down segregation laws affecting public parks and other recreation facilities. In Nashville, Tenn., parents of two white children filed suit in federal court seeking admission of the chil dren to a Negro school and in Balti more County, Md., two sets of white parents were brought into court when they refused to send their children to racially mixed schools. A state-by-state summary of prin cipal events follows: Alabama In a referendum the state’s voters decisively rejected a constitutional amendment to provide more funds for schools—a decision having bear ing on equalization attempts. Gov. James E. Folsom summoned the leg islature for Jan. 3 in a special session on reapportionment and constitution al revision, at which time it may also consider pro-segregation legislation including a “private school” plan. Arkansas The state was awaiting a ruling on the Hoxie school case in which the local board is seeking a permanent injunction against alleged interfer ence by pro-segregationists in the operation of the integrated school. The decision, expected momentarily, may decide constitutionality of Arkansas’ school segregation laws. Delaware Although the month generally was quiet on the school front, the segre gation-desegregation issue was a ris ing question as the state looked to ward the 1956 elections. District of Columbia Notice was served on Congress by Rep. Adam C. Powell Jr. (D., N.Y.) that an effort would be made to amend any federal school aid legis lation so as to deny funds to schools practicing racial segregation. This was expected to bog down federal aid measures. Florida The regional advisory board of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, meet ing in Tampa, said progress in car rying out desegregation was com pletely unsatisfactory in a “core area” of the South. Meanwhile a North Carolina sociologist, speaking at Miami Beach, reported that 2,000 Negroes were now attending former ly segregated colleges and univer sities. Georgia New legislation for preserving seg regation in schools and parks was expected to come before the General Assembly, meeting early in January. Meantime a federal district court rul ing which implemented the U. S. Supreme Court decision in the At lanta public recreation case led to opening of seven municipal golf ing to a special Southern School News survey, none of the institutions was flooded by Negro applicants. North Carolina A special session of the General Assembly (perhaps in June or July) was talked following a report from an advisory commission on forth coming plans entailing legislation to “strengthen assurances of the pres ervation of our public schools, and yet not require any child of any race to be forced to attend a mixed school against his will.” In a significant de cision by a three-judge federal court in Richmond, Va. Negro litigants asking entry in McDowell County schools were instructed to seek relief in the state courts and through North Carolina’s school placement machinery. Oklahoma A three-judge panel dismissed a suit to force the all-Negro Red Bird district to permit 14 Negro children to attend schools closer to home, say ing authorities had evidenced the “highest degree of good faith” com pliance. Meanwhile, desegregation was completed at the college level in Oklahoma. South Carolina The legislature, meeting Jan. 10, was expected to consider interposi tion and legislation spelling out racial separation in connection with the ex penditure of all funds earmarked for operation of schools and parks. Tennessee The parents of two white children in what was reportedly the first ac tion of its kind went into court in Nashville seeking admission of the (See INTERPOSITION, Page 2)
