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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JANUARY 1956—PAGE 9
Decision Pending in Arkansas on Disturbance at Hoxie School
LITTLE ROCK, Ark
rkansas’ hottest school segrega
tion issue—the Hoxie case—will
be resolved early in January when
federal Judge Albert L. Reeves of
Kansas City gives his decision on a
two-day hearing held at Jonesboro
early in December. (See “Legal Ac
tion.”)
The Hoxie case, unusual in that the
school board is seeking federal court
sanction and protection for integra
tion which began in July, will be de
cided by Judge Reeves after he stu
dies briefs from opposing attorneys.
When the Jonesboro hearing ended
Dec. 9, Judge Reeves gave 30 days for
the filing of briefs and said there
would be no unnecessary delay in his
ruling.
DECEMBER EVENTS
Other Arkansas developments in
December included:
1) Pro-segregation groups asked
Prosecutor W. J. Arnold of Batesville
to take action against Hoxie Supt. K.
E. Vance on the basis of an alleged
$3,500 cash fund shortage in the 1954-
55 school year discovered two months
earlier in a routine audit made by the
school audit division of the state
comptroller’s office. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
2) A Little Rock study of elemen
tary school promotion records showed
that more than 50 per cent of chil
dren who failed were Negroes al
though Negroes make up less than a
third of enrollment in the non-inte-
grated system. (See “Under Sur
vey”)
3) A Little Rock attorney repre
senting the Pulaski County Bar As
sociation said several loopholes ex
isted in the Supreme Court school
segregation decision but that they
probably would be plugged when
tested in the courts. (See “What
They Say.”)
4) A committee representing the
Negro ministerial alliance asked the
Little Rock School Board to name
an advisory committee which would
include Negroes to work in the di
rection of integration. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
5) Two pro-segregation groups de
nounced the White House Conference
on Education and asked Gov. Faubus
to recall the Arkansas delegation.
(See “Community Action.”)
6) A spokesman for the White
Citizens Council of Arkansas said pe
titions would be circulated in Feb
ruary for a proposed amendment to
Adair County Ruling
(Continued from Page 8)
Adair County. The high school pupils
are therefore being denied at this time
the rights guaranteed to them by our
Constitution. Education is a thing that
cannot wait, and pupils of proper age
are entitled to immediate considera
tion. It will be the ruling of this
court that the Negro high school chil
dren should be admitted to the high
school by Feb. 1, 1956.
The matter of the elementary pu
pils presents a somewhat different
Question. In the first place, there are
a great many more of these pupils
than of the high school pupils,
and I am of the opinion that the sit
uation as to them is not so acute as is
the question of the high school pu-
fdf- • . . It is true that many white
children are hauled by bus from dis
tances of as much as seven miles to
me Columbia Grade Center while
Negro children are living within
walking distance of this school. How
ever, from the record it does not ap
pear that these Negro children are be-
! n ®. denied the educational oppor
tunities afforded by the county to any
greater extent than are many hun-
eds of white children. I think, how-
t ? er ’ that the school authorities . . .
ould not overlook the fact that “at
stake is the personal interest of the
P aintiffs in admission to public
r, C < j > k as soon 33 practicable on a
nondiscriminatory basis” and that
e burden rests upon the defend-
nts to establish that such time is
ecessary in the public interest and
consistent with good faith compli
ce at the earliest practicable date.”
, am of the opinion that an inte-
P i lor J ,°f the elementary schools in
umbia and Adair County should
the Arkansas Constitution which will
be designed to circumvent the Su
preme Court decision on racial inte
gration in public schools. (See “Com
munity Action.”)
LEGAL ACTION
The Hoxie suit (Hoxie School Dis
trict No. 46 of Lawrence County, et
al, v. Herbert Brewer, et al, Civil Ac
tion No. J-918, in the U. S. District
Court, Eastern District of Arkansas,
Jonesboro Division) asks that a pre
liminary injunction against pro-seg
regation groups and individuals
granted Nov. 1 by federal Judge
Thomas C. Trimble at Little Rock be
made permanent.
It also asked the federal court to
declare:
1) That Arkansas’ law requiring
separate schools for the races is un
constitutional.
2) That the Hoxie school board has
a duty to disregard state segregation
laws.
3) That any school board which in
tegrates its schools and then reverses
its decision is liable to both criminal
and civil prosecution under “certain
federal civil rights acts.”
ALREADY UPHELD
One attorney for the school board,
Edwin E. Dunaway of Little Rock,
who also is known as a personal
friend of and attorney for millionaire
Winthrop Rockefeller, said that those
points already have been upheld by
Judge Trimble.
But Amis Guthridge of Little Rock,
attorney for the Committee Repre
senting Segregation in the Hoxie
Schools and for White America, Inc.,
a defendant in the case, said:
“The only issues that were tried
before Judge Trimble related to al
leged picketing, boycotting, and
threats of violence. There was no tes
timony offered about the legality of
segregation. In my opinion that part
of the board’s complaint has not been
decided.”
DEFENDANTS LISTED
Defendants in the suit are Herbert
Brewer, leader of the Hoxie group
opposing integration; Guthridge;
James D. Johnson of Crossett and
Curt C. Copeland of Hot Springs,
be effective with the beginning of the
school year in August or September,
1956. I put this August or September
as it is apparent some registration is
had in Adair County in August.
The defendants, by their answers,
plead the overcrowding of existing
school buildings and the inadequacy
of transportation facilities. I think
that these conditions are to be taken
into consideration by the court in fix
ing the date for integration, but I do
not think either of them is a defense
for unlimited delay... .
It is further pled by the defendants
that they contemplate the construc
tion, reconstruction or enlargement
of the school buildings within the dis
trict and that the Adair County Board
of Education has adopted a resolution
requesting the Adair County Fiscal
Court to submit to the voters of Adair
County the quesion as to whether an
annual special school building tax
shall be levied in the district for a
period of 25 years in order to meet
the cost of construction and equip
ment. It is also pled that the board
contemplates the leasing or purchase
of additional buses but that it is with
out funds. It anticipates that such
funds will be available if the neces
sary appropriations are made by the
General Assembly of the Common
wealth of Kentucky. These plans are
laudable, and it is hoped they will
eventually be carried out. It must be
admitted, however, that such plans
are rather vague and indefinite and
depend for their ultimate success
upon so many varied elements that
they cannot be considered as lawful
grounds for delay of the mandate
laid down by the Supreme Court. The
court does not question the good faith
of the defendants, but good faith is not
the test. There must be “compliance
at the earliest practicable date.”...
leaders in the White Citizens Coun
cil; White America, the Committee
Representing Segregation in Hoxie
Schools and the White Citizens Coun
cil of Arkansas.
All but Johnson are under the pre
liminary injunction which prohibits
them from boycotting or picketing
the integrated schools, trespassing on
school property, or threatening school
officials with bodily harm.
At the Jonesboro hearing, school
board attorneys asked that Johnson,
who is an attorney, be placed under
the permanent injunction being
sought.
The board contends that white
parents who oppose integration have
kept their children out of school;
that school officials have been threat
ened and that the injunction is nec
essary to preserve the peace at Hoxie.
CHARGES DENIED
Defense witnesses categorically de
nied the charges. They admitted that
some parents had kept their children
out of school but said that an organ
ized boycott doesn’t exist. Attorneys
for the defendants argue that the in
junction deprives the defendants of
their constitutional right of free
speech and that it seeks to enjoin
them from acts which haven’t been
committed.
On Dec. 8, Clarence Braxton, 73, a
Hoxie Negro, testified he sent his son
Joseph, 16, to Pasco, Wash, to live
because he had received a letter on
Oct. 10 which contained a newspaper
clipping about the Emmet Till slaying
in Mississippi and a note which said,
“Your boy can get the same thing.”
He said his son had been enrolled in
the Hoxie schools.
Two other Negroes testified they
had been visited by half a dozen white
men who sought their cooperation in
keeping their children out of school.
Marshall Hill, 31, a mechanic, said
Herbert Brewer was in the delega
tion which called on him. He said
Brewer and another man asked him
to keep his two children from school
“until they got the situation straight
ened out.” Hill said he told his callers
he would not comply unless he was
asked to do so by school officials.
Roy Kelly, 61, a farmer, said he had
received a similar call and was told
that withdrawing his five children
from the school might help the group
in getting “some consideration” from
the school board. Kelly said he agreed
to consider the request if commit
ments were obtained from other Ne
gro parents. He testified that the
callers did not return to report on
their visits with others.
NO THREATS MADE
In reply to questions from M. V.
Moody of Little Rock, a defense at
torney, Kelly and Hill admitted no
threats were made against them.
In his opening remarks, school
board Atty. Bill Penix of Jonesboro
charged that a “reign of terror” with'
“talk of lynching” enveloped Hoxie
when the defendants opened their
campaign against integrated schools.
He said the temporary injunction re
stored peace.
LEGISLATOR HEARD
Former state Sen. James D. John
son of Crossett said in his opening
statements that the suit was brought
by the school board to hamper a state
suit filed by the pro-segregation
groups, charging the school board
with irregular employment and pur
chasing practices.
On the final day of the Jonesboro
hearing, the defense called to the
stand a string of witnesses who denied
allegations of school board witnesses
that pro-segregation activities had
stirred up tension and fear of im
pending danger.
Hoxie Mayor Mitchell Davis said he
attended a pro-segregation rally at
Walnut Ridge which adjoins Hoxie,
and that he did not consider speeches
made there “inflammatory,” as plain
tiff witnesses had charged.
CHIEF TESTIFIES
Similar testimony to the absence of
ill feeling at Hoxie was made by Po
lice Chief Cledus McClintock, who
said he became chief Sept. 1, and later
said it might have been Oct. 1.
Jewell Barnett of Hoxie, a member
of the Committee Representing Seg
regation in Hoxie schools, said he had
withheld his children from school be
cause of integration. He and other
witnesses said there was no threat
of danger in the situation.
UNDER SURVEY
A study of promotion records in the
first six grades of the Little Rock
school district last year showed that
slightly more than 50 per cent of chil
dren who failed were Negroes al
though the Negro students total less
than a third of the grammar school
enrollment.
Of the 10,897 students, 7,865 were
white and 3,032 were Negroes. There
were 378 failures among the white
children and 387 among the Negro
pupils.
In the white schools, 5.6 per cent of
the students in the first through third
grades failed. The failing rate for Ne
groes in the same grades was 14.2 per
cent. Of the 248 white pupils who
failed, only 15 of the failures were
blamed on irregular attendance.
Eighty-six of the 252 failures among
Negroes were attributed to poor at
tendance.
In the fourth through the sixth
grades, the rate of failure among
white students was 3.8 per cent and
among Negroes 10.8 per cent. The fig
ures showed that 17.3 per cent of the
first grade Negro students failed. In
white schools, 6.5 per cent failed. Only
2.8 per cent of the white sixth graders
failed; for Negroes, the rate was 11.9
per cent.
Phillip Carroll, a Little Rock attor
ney representing the public education
panel of the Pulaski County Bar As
sociation, told the North Little Rock
Kiwanis Club Dec. 12 there were
several legal loopholes in the Su
preme Court decisions banning racial
segregation in the public schools but
that they probably would be plugged
by the courts as soon as they were
tested.
Carroll outlined several “evasive
tactics” which have been or might be
used. He said he used the term in the
sense of avoidance which is legal,
rather than evasion which is illegal.
“Some have spoken of the abolition
of education as a state function, but
there are two reasons why this sys
tem would not work,” he said. Private
school systems he said would require
extensive financial help from the
states and the courts probably would
not support the private systems when
they were challenged because of state
grants.
AMENDMENT FORBIDS
He said the Fourteenth Amend
ment as interpreted by the Supreme
Court, forbids state support of any
activity which includes racial segre
gation.
“Also,” he said, “it is probable that
the courts would find that education
of the masses has become so identi
fied as a state function that they
probably would hold that there was
no such thing as a private school
system. In any event, a private sys
tem would be incredibly expensive.”
He suggested that there were only
two ways for the schools to remain
segregated—an amendment to the
Constitution or a reversal of the Su
preme Court decision. He said he
considered both unlikely.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
A committee representing the In
terdenominational Ministerial Alli
ance of Greater Little Rock composed
of Negro ministers asked the Little
Rock school board on Dec. 15 to ap
point an advisory committee which
would include Negroes “to work in
the direction of racial integration in
the schools.”
Dr. William G. Cooper Jr., board
president, said the board would reply
to the request at its January meeting.
On Dec. 17, Amis Guthridge of
Little Rock, attorney for White
America and the Committee Repre
senting Segregation in Hoxie Schools,
and James D. Johnson of Crossett, a
leader of the White Citizens Council
of Arkansas, announced at a press
conference they had asked Prosecu
tor W. J. Arnold of Batesville to take
action against Hoxie Supt. K. E.
Vance.
BASED ON AUDIT
Their charge was based on an audit
made two months earlier by E. G.
Kizzia of the school audit division of
the state comptroller’s office.
Kizzia said he had discussed the
$3,500 shortage Oct. 5 with the Hoxie
school board and Vance and that the
board had given credit to Vance for
travel expenses and other bills for all
of it except $1,445.77. He said Vance
repaid the $1,445.77 on Oct. 11, and
that had ended the matter as far as
his division was concerned.
Kizzia said the audit also showed
that Vance had made loans of about
$1,800 to various school employes but
that these had been repaid. He said
he advised the school board not to
allow such loans in the future and not
to allow Vance to make use of the
cash funds as he had been and that
the board agreed.
On Dec. 18, Arnold impounded the
records of the Hoxie school district.
On Dec. 19 he talked with Vance and
Kizzia and said the charges made by
the pro-segregationists were “sub
stantially true” but that he wouldn’t
file charges until he had investigated
further.
Arnold said his decision would de
pend largely on whether Vance
“benefitted personally” from cash
advances. “If he did benefit, it is seri
ous,” Arnold said. “If not, it doesn’t
amount to anything.”
Vance declined to comment on the
issue.
Bill Penix of Jonesboro, Vance’s
attorney, said he had talked with Kiz
zia and that there was “no suggestion
of dishonesty.”
“It is tragic to observe the con
tinuing abuse one must take as his
punishment for obeying the supreme
law of the land,” Penix added.
On Nov. 29, two Arkansas pro-seg
regation groups, White America, Inc.,
and the White Citizens Council of
Arkansas, endorsed a resolution de
manding that Gov. Faubus recall the
Arkansas delegation to the White
House Conference on Education be
cause, they said, the national meet
ing was designed to force racial inte
gration on the South’s public schools.
The resolution accused the Na
tional Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People of injecting
the racial issue into the White House
Conference. It also said,
“We believe the Conference to be
another fraud perpetrated by the
Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie
Foundations, the Fund for the Re
public, the Southern Regional Coun
cil on Human Relations, and other
un-American groups to force inte
gration upon the public schools in
the South.”
Gov. Faubus said that he hadn’t se
lected the Arkansas delegates and
that “they were chosen by the Ar
kansas Conference on Education and
their names submitted to me before
I knew who they were.”
PLAN PETITIONS
On Dec. 4, in announcing an organ
izational meeting of the White Citi
zens Council of Arkansas to be held
the next night at El Dorado, James
D. Johnson of Crossett, Council di
rector, said that the final draft of a
proposed amendment to the Arkan
sas Constitution was “about ready”
to be filed and that copies of petitions
for a vote on it would be circulated
in the February issue of the Council
magazine, Arkansas Faith.
He said the amendment, if ap
proved, would place Arkansas in a
position to circumvent the Supreme
Court rulings on integration in the
public schools. He said the proposed
amendment would contain the best
provisions of similar amendments
adopted in other southern states.
Johnson said the proposed amend
ment would be supplemented by sev
eral legislative proposals his group
has under consideration.