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1 A Factual I a j VOL. II, NO. 9 NASHVILLE, TENN. $2 PER YEAR MARCH, 1956 Legislation Claims Spotlight In 5 States Tax-Backed Colleges Open Doors TJalf of the 208 formerly all-white, publicly-supported colleges and universities in the South have opened their doors to Negroes at some level. According to a survey made by Southern School News, as many as 93 of the 104 institutions now willing to accept Negro applicants may ac tually have Negroes on their cam puses. The survey included colleges and universities supported in whole or in part by the state governments, district, county or city governments and by the national government. Tabulations on desegregation of pri vate and church-supported institu tions are not complete, nor are tabu lations of predominantly Negro schools which now admit white stu dents. The number of Negroes actually studying at formerly all-white public institutions is hard to come by since most schools no longer maintain records showing the race of their students. The best estimates of the number of Negroes now studying at desegregated colleges and universi ties put the figure at about 1.000 dur ing the regular terms and about 2,000 during summer sessions when many Nesro teachers return to school to work on advanced degrees. These estimates were made by Dr. Guy Johnson, University of North Caro lina sociologist whose book on “In tegration in Southern Higher Educa tion” is due for publication this summer. percentage small Dr. Johnson also estimated that an equal number of Negro students have enrolled in private and church-sup- Ported colleges and universities Jnich formerly had all-white stu dent bodies. He judged that while the number of Negroes now on “white” campuses in the South varies from °ne in some cases to more than 100 m a few, Negro enrollment in for- d'erly all-white Southern schools in n ° instance exceeds one or two per cent of the total student body. in the state-by-state tabulation compiled by Southern School News, our states—Florida, Georgia, Missis- *Ppi and South Carolina—were °Und to have no Negroes enrolled as .in their publicly-supported, all- he colleges. The University of orida is under court orders to ad- *t qualified Negro applicants. A j, ara \ court suit for admission to l e University of Georgia law school , been filed, and a Negro applicant >, . been denied admission to the diversity Mississippi law school, ^°ugh no suit has been initiated. No ®gro has applied at any of South r*nolina’s six publicly-supported n dutions of higher learning. At the ^versify of Alabama a Negro j®nan graduate student, Autherine was enrolled and suspended m? 111 , c ^ ass attendance following cam- ifdemonstrations. *o tv? 1 * 8 ^ ar no disturbances similar ), °se at the University of Alabama e been reported. ^ summary of the situation in with desegregation at the sber level of education follows: J^ama—Of the seven public ma intained by the state for hajj/ 68 ’ on ly the University of Ala- Jj e a a * Tuscaloosa has enrolled a sr° student. Her enrolling touched T egislative action to defend or strengthen school segregation practices, including four resolutions of “interposi- ® J tion”—three passed and one pending—highlighted the past month in 17 southern and border states, while a federal court in Louisiana overthrew that state’s recently-enacted segregation laws in the first such legal test in the region. Meanwhile, an exclusive Southern School News survey disclosed that: (1) Of the Negro children enrolled in 4,791 southern and border-state school districts, some 256,020 are now in “integrated situations;” (2) the percentage of Negro students enrolled in schools of the region has declined in 10 of the 17 states. Legislatures of five states—Ala- , , , white pupils have entered, or (3) enrolled in schools which are official ly desegregated but which have very few mixed classes. A state-by-state summary of major developments follows: JUDGE J. SHELLY WRIGHT Louisiana Laws Toppled in First Test off the disturbances which wracked the campus early last month. Arkansas—Six of Arkansas’ eight all-white public colleges admit Ne groes, while one predominantly Ne gro private school, Philander Smith College, admits whites. Arkansas A and M has about 15 Negro students in night classes under a program be gun in 1950. Arkansas Polytechnic College has one Negro student, as has Henderson State Teachers College. Arkansas State College at Jonesboro and Southern State College at Mag nolia each have three Negro students. The University of Arkansas, which since 1948 has granted the master’s degree to some 400 to 500 Negroes, now has Negro students both on the graduate and undergraduate level, but the number is unknown since no records are kept by race. (See COLLEGES, Page 2) bama, Georgia, South Carolina, Mis sissippi and Virginia—were in session during February. Much of their time was occupied by discussion of the segregation-desegregation q u e sti o n and action on a myriad of pro-segre gation bills. The resolutions of “inter position” actually varied from a declaration by Georgia lawmakers that the U. S. Supreme Court decis ions were “null, void and of no effect” to a resolution of protest in South Carolina which omitted the words “interposition” and “nullification.” There was other action, too, on the legal and school board fronts. A 14-state meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Atlanta was told that school entrance suits would be filed in eight “recalcitrant” states no later than June 1 to speed up de segregation. The states are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Missis sippi. North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. • One more school board in Texas announced desegregation plans; sev eral additional school districts in Kentucky were moving toward de segregation by plan or action, and a school board in West Virginia met with a suit although it had recently announced plans to desegregate. The special SSN survey on mixed enrollment disclosed considerable numbers of Negro children in “inte grated situations” in five states and the District of Columbia. The term is defined as embracing children (1) at tending formerly all-white schools, (2) enrolled in schools which some to desegregate are not put in effect by September. Legal Expert Explains Interposition Doctrine 'J'he doctrine of “interposition” has been acted upon or is under discussion in at least eight south ern states. What does it mean? What is its significance? The edi tors of Southern School News submitted a series of questions on this subject to Prof. Wylie H. Davis of the law school of the Univer sity of Texas (formerly of the Uni versity of Arkansas.) Professor Wylie’s answers follow: Q. What is “interposition”? A. “Interposition” is a label for the doctrine that any one of the American states has the legal right to “interpose” its sovereignty against an exercise of national governmental power deemed by that state to vio late the federal Constitution, and specifically deemed to violate it by usurping powers not delegated to the national government but reserved to the states or to the people. The idea is that the state’s sovereign, protec tive right of resistance is “placed be tween” the national government’s act and the state’s citizens. “Inter position” is also used to describe any procedure the state may adopt to im plement the doctrine. Q. How does “interposition” differ from the doctrine of nullification? A. As a matter of basic doctrine, there is no substantial difference. “Interposition” is just a euphemism for nullification. Both assume the same theory of “states rights,” and both have the same objective, viz., to nullify an act of Congress, the President or the Supreme Court. Procedurally, however, there may be some differences. John C. Calhoun’s refinement of nullification clearly presupposed a constitutional option in each nullifying state to secede from the nation. It is doubtful that today’s exhumed version of “inter position” is tied to an assumed privi lege of secession in case the state’s resistance is ineffective. “Interposi tion” also seems to be regarded now as the function of a state’s legisla ture by resolution, usually with the governor’s concurrence (with some variations, such as approval by pop ular referendum), whereas a Cal- houn-style nullification was initiated by constituent convention. Q. What is the political theory be hind the “interposition” movement? A. The political theory may be re duced to four essentials: (a) The powers of the national government are delegated powers only, (b) Such powers were delegated by the states (not merely the people) as sovereign entities, through their convention representatives, (c) The delegation was effected by a purely voluntary states’ compact making the national government their agent, (d) The states not only reserved to them selves all powers not delegated or prohibited (made explicit by the Tenth Amendment), but also re served the power to ignore and over ride any excess or usurpation by the (See INTERPOSITION, Page 2) Alabama The legislature adopted a “freedom of choice” school enrollment plan— which may lead to the creation of three types of racially-aligned school systems—as the state discussed the Autherine Lucy case. (A complete chronological story of the case will be found in this month’s Alabama re port.) At Montgomery, Gov. James Folsom called for a bi-racial commis sion to settle race conflicts and issued a strong statement in support of segregation. Arkansas A suit was filed by the NAACP in Little Rock to test that community’s “gradual” plan for desegregation while the Justice Department an nounced that it would enter the cele brated Hoxie case—the first such action by the executive branch in support of the Supreme Court de cisions. Delaware Wilmington (Negro school ratio: about 34 per cent) announced com plete desegregation this fall. The NAACP intimated it would file a number of law suits in solidly-segre gated south Delaware. District of Columbia School officials have answered “how-is-it-going?” queries from par ents, saying among other things that desegregation is a “success” where there is no more than one Negro to each three white children in a school but where Negroes are in a majority there are “serious” problems. Florida SSN Correspondent Bert Collier reported segregation had become an important issue in the forthcoming gubernatorial campaign with Gov. LeRoy Collins warning that Florida “cannot afford an orgy of race con flict and discord.” Georgia The legislature has passed five of the Griffin administration’s pro-seg regation bills strengthening the state’s stand against integration as well as a resolution declaring the Supreme Court decisions “null and void and of no effect.” Kentucky Louisville’s school board has ap proved a plan for desegregation of the elementary schools this fall and is considering a plan for 13 junior high schools. Several additional dis tricts in Kentucky are moving toward desegregation by plan or action. Louisiana State officials are planning an ap peal from a three-judge federal court ruling which overthrew Louisiana’s recently enacted school segregation laws—the first test of its kind in the country—and will draft legislation to “fill the breach.” Meanwhile, New Orleans Catholics have been told again that parochial schools must be desegregated. Maryland Howard County’s (20 per cent Negro) desegregation study group recommended desegregation for the fall term as the NAACP threatened suits in every county in which plans Mississippi A resolution of interposition was introduced in the legislature Feb. 29 following passage of four of seven bills sponsored by the Legal Educa tional Advisory Commission to strengthen segregation. As a Missis sippi editor called for “positive thinking” on the school question, Gov. J. P. Coleman said he would close any school forced by the courts to accept Negro students. Missouri A study of elementary schools in St. Louis has shown that integration does not wipe out racial differences overnight, and neither does it create “insuperable problems” of child be havior. North Carolina Gov. Luther Hodges, announcing for his first full-term candidacy, gave an inkling of legislation he would advocate, including tuition grants or transfers “along the lines of the Vir ginia proposal.” An appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court was filed in the Uni versity of North Carolina case. Three Negro undergraduates admitted there told a newsman they had encountered no obstacles in their student careers begun in September. Oklahoma The State Board of Education has adopted a new transportation policy designed to speed up integration and make it more profitable budget-wise to local school districts. South Carolina As the legislature busied itself with a myriad of new bills to strengthen the state’s official pro-segregation position, both houses adopted a dec laration of protest against the U. S. Supreme Court decisions omitting the words “interposition” or “nullifica tion.” Tennessee Calls for “moderation” were being voiced while Nashville and Davidson County boards were reported to be considering gradual desegregation plans beginning as the first grade and working up a year at a time. Texas Gov. Allan Shivers has suggested a statewide referendum on interposi tion, with an eye to state regulation of the oil and gas industries as well as segregation. The Kerrville board —apparently the 66th in Texas—dis closed plans for a three-vear desegre- (See LEGISLATION, Page 2) Index State Page Alabama 6 Arkansas 4 Delaware 16 District of Columbia 8 Florida ....13 Georgia 10 Kentucky 7 Louisiana 5 Maryland 11 Mississippi 3 Missouri 12 North Carolina 16 Oklahoma 12 South Carolina 9 Tennessee 15 Texas 8 Virginia 14 West Virginia 10