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PAGE 10—MARCH 1956—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Segregation Measures, Interposition
Are Adopted In Georgia
MACON, Ga.
he 1956iregular session of the Gen
eral Assembly of Georgia ad
journed sine die Feb. 17 after writ
ing Gov. Marvin Griffin’s segregated
private school plan proposals into
law, acting on several other bills de
signed to safeguard or strengthen
segregation and adopting an interpo
sition resolution which declares the
U. S. Supreme Court’s desegregation
ruling null and void. (See “Legisla
tive Action.”)
The legislature adjourned during a
month which saw strong statements
issued on both sides of the race con
troversy and a southern regional
meeting of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People in Atlanta. (See “What They
Say.”)
A pre-trial hearing on a Negro’s
application to enter the University
of Georgia was held in federal court.
(See “In the Colleges.”) A Negro
school principal resigned after mak
ing a pro-segregation speech because
of what he termed pressure from
other Negroes. (See “School Boards
and Schoolmen.”)
In a traditional last day address to
the adjourning state legislature, Gov.
Griffin thanked the legislators for
“unparalleled harmony” and said he
was proud of their stand against fed
eral orders for integration of the
races.
Five private school bills passed
during the session will:
1) Permit the governor to close
schools not eligible for state funds
(i.e., because of mixed classes); pro
vide for preservation of such prop
erty; allow the governor to make
state grants to individuals in such
closed schools for purposes of educa
tion and prohibit use of such funds
in religious, sectarian schools.
2) Authorize local school boards to
lease property for private school pur
poses.
3) Allow subleasing of property for
private school purposes.
4) Include teachers in private non
sectarian schools under the Teacher
Retirement Act.
5) Prohibit operation of any pri
vate school not having a certificate
from the state fire marshal attesting
that the building is safe from fire
hazards.
SIXTH BILL DROPPED
A sixth private school plan which
would have made it illegal to peti
tion for desegregation was passed by
the Senate but permitted to die in a
House committee after administration
leaders decided against the wisdom
of passing it.
A number of other pro-segregation
bills were considered and many
adopted. Those which gained legis
lative approval would:
1) Make it a misdemeanor to enter
state-owned property closed by the
governor or other empowered state
officials.
2) Allow affected governments to
sell, lease, grant, exchange or other
wise dispose of public recreational fa
cilities.
3) Provide that the state patrol
and Georgia Bureau of Investigation
shall enter any county or municipal
ity upon request of any citizen or of
ficial thereof, to enforce segregation
laws.
4) Cause peace officers who failed
or refused to enforce segregation
laws to forfeit all retirement benefits
and disabled payments.
TO DEFEND OFFICERS
5) Authorize the attorney general
to order any solicitor general to ad
vise or represent any law enforce
ment official or employe or any other
public official or employe of any po
litical subdivision, if such persons
were charged, accused or indicted
relative to any federal statute or reg
ulation, or if they are investigated
by any federal employe or official rel
ative to their performance of duties,
or relative to laws, ordinances, rules,
regulations or judicial procedures of
Georgia or its political subdivisions.
6) Require that common carriers of
passengers for hire in intrastate trav
el provide separate accommodations
for white and Negro passengers.
7) Require that all intrastate trav
elers use only waiting rooms marked
for their race—white or Negro—and
would provide that no action for false
arrest, false imprisonment or other
action shall be entertained by any
court in Georgia against any law en
forcement officer arising out of vio
lation of the act.
A bill to make it a crime to spend
money on desegregated vocational
schools passed the House unanimous
ly but was killed in the Senate.
CHARTER REVOKE BILL DIES
A House bill which would have
provided for a referendum to revoke
the charters of cities allowing inte
gration on golf courses was aimed
at the city of Atlanta which under
federal court orders permits Negroes
and whites to play public golf
courses, but died on the calendar.
None of the segregation measures
which failed to pass, however, were
pushed by the administration.
A strongly-worded interposition
resolution which declares the U. S.
Supreme Court’s desegregation rul
ing to be “null and void and of no
effect” was asked by Gov. Griffin and
approved 178 to 1 in the House and
39 to 0 in the Senate.
The resolution did not propose a
constitutional amendment to clarify
the question of contested power over
operation of public schools but stated
that the contest had arisen and
Georgia was asserting its authority
in school matters. The measure said
the state had never surrendered its
authority to regulate its own schools
and stated Georgia intended to ig
nore the Court’s decision that segre
gation is illegal.
DISSENTING VOTE EXPLAINED
A lone vote against the proposal in
the House was cast by Rep. Hamilton
Lokey of Fulton County (Atlanta),
who said he was for interposition but
had to oppose the resolution because
it was merely one of nullification.
In Washington, Sen. Walter F.
George of Georgia said he had been
asked to call a meeting of senators
interested in the interposition doc
trine but that he did not plan to call
such a meeting soon unless asked to
do so by other senators.
In identical speeches before the
House and the Senate on the last day
of the session, Gov. Griffin told the
legislators: “You have moved deci
sively to let the whole nation know
that Georgia will stand firm for its
traditions and ideals, come hell or
high water.”
A pre-trial hearing in the college
admission suit of an Atlanta Negroj
Horace Ward, was held before U. S.
Judge Frank Hooper in Atlanta.
Ward first applied for admission to
the University of Georgia law school
in 1952. The suit was interrupted in
1953 when Ward entered military
service but was reactivated recently
following the Negro’s discharge, by
Ward’s attorney, A. T. Walden,
NAACP counsel.
Walden requested the conference
“in order to see upon what points
the two parties might agree.”
B. D. Murphy, attorney for the
State Board of Regents, argued that
it was a rule of the school that a new
application be filed, along with com
plete administration procedures, by
any student who had been in the
armed services since the last filing.
Walden did not say whether or not
a new application would be filed, and
Judge Hooper was not asked to rule
on the point.
Walden asked what admission pro
cedures had not been complied with
by Ward and was told by university
attorneys that they could not be cited
offhand, but a list would be given
Walden.
Following the pre-trial hearing,
Walden said he thought the trial
would be held before June of this
year. Judge Hooper had said earlier
he would make every effort to have
a decision before the fall semester
begins at the university.
A conference for NAACP officials
from 14 southeastern states was held
in Atlanta and addressed by Roy
Wilkins, executive secretary, and
Thurgood Marshall, chief legal coun
sel, of the organization.
Plans for speeding desegregation
action in all states—with September
as a goal—were discussed. Lawsuits
would be filed in eight “recalcitrant”
states no later than June 1 in an ef
fort to speed up integration, it was
announced. The eight states, which
were termed as “in open rebellion
against the Constitution” are Georgia,
Alabama, Florida, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi
and Louisiana.
Desegregation progress in Arkan
sas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas
is “immeasurably slow,” it was said.
A third group of states, including
Delaware, Oklahoma, West Virginia,
Missouri and Maryland, is “desegre
gating in sensible fashion,” the con
ference agreed.
MANY TOPICS TOUCHED
In a press conference later, Wilkins
and Marshall:
—Said private school plans weren’t
worth the paper they were written
W. Va. Suit
CHARLESTON, W. Va.
sun to force integration in one
county, a pay raise for teachers
and a broad legislative program for
institutional consolidations were the
highlights of the month in West Vir
ginia.
The teachers received $6.4 million
in salary boosts as a part of a $100
million budget for the fiscal year
starting July 1, but not until the
state’s board of public works in
creased its estimated revenue by
more than $2 million. The remainder
was contained in another one-cent
tax on cigarettes—expressly reserved
for schools—plus legislative paring
from other sources.
The legislature also approved the
merger of the Negro Boys Industrial
School at Lakin with the white
school at Prunytown. The Lakin
school will not be abandoned, but in
stead will become a part of a merger
of several institutions suggested by
the board of control and made pos
sible by desegregation.
The Negro home for the aged and
infirm at McKendree, a dangerous
and antiquated structure, will be
closed permanently, and the elderly
people will be transferred to Hunt
ington where they will be housed in
the Negro children’s home and the
industrial home for Negro girls.
CHILDREN’S HOMES TO MIX
The Negro children, in further ex
pansion of the desegregation pro
gram, will be shifted to the now
white children’s home at Elkins, and
the Lakin Negro industrial home for
boys will become the girls industrial
home.
No definite date has been set for
these consolidations, but the board
of control has all the authority it
needs to proceed toward these ends.
Stands Despite School Board Action
There was an obvious mix-up on
the timing of the suit by the NAACP
to force racial integration in Mc
Dowell County where a large per
centage of the state’s Negro popula
tion resides. The 1953-54 school regis
tration figures, the last available,
showed that out of 25,164 pupils at
tending public schools 5,728 were Ne
groes. This is substantially the same
today, and it isn’t likely other sta
tistics will be available later since
the State Department of Education
no longer maintains separate records.
The U. S. district court action was
filed Feb. 22 by the NAACP without
that group’s apparent knowledge
that the McDowell County school
board planned to take action the
same day toward integration. The
petition asserted that “nothing has
been done under the above alleged
plan [adopted by the county school
board last August] and nothing was
intended to be done toward integra
tion of the schools.”
Yet the latest resolution adopted
by the McDowell board provided that
no child in the county shall be denied
admission to any school because of
race. Supt. George W. Bryson said
the resolution was essentially the
same as the one adopted last August,
although the two actions were word
ed differently. Although reluctant to
discuss the matter, state NAACP
president T. G. Nutter of Charleston
felt “a resolution in itself is not suf
ficient. We don’t believe in voluntary
decisions based on the action of par
ents.” He added: “We think school
districts should be established.”
SUIT WILL STAND
He said that although the suit was
filed 10 hours before the board met
it would stand.
The action brought by the NAACP
was similar to others filed against
Raleigh, Greenbrier and Mercer
county school boards in recent
months. All three of those cases have
resulted in general agreements lead
ing toward desegregation.
Surveying these developments the
Charleston Gazette commented edi
torially that “today segregation is
about over in the Mountain State.
With the opening of next fall’s term
pupils in every one of our 55 coun
ties will be attending mixed classes.
Already, largely without fanfare,
it has been officially accomplished in
all but a handful. And in one of these,
according to our information, it has
been done without a public an
nouncement.”
The reference was to Berkeley
County, located in the eastern pan
handle along with Jefferson and
Hardy counties, where the Negro
population is sparse and there has
been no trouble.
A Negro youth has been elected to
the presidency of the Charleston
Youth Congress. He is Carl King of
Garnet High School, a segregated
institution, and was named by 32
delegates representing all of the
capital city high schools meeting at
Morris Harvey College, which has
no Negro students.
The congress was formed with the
overall objective of giving youth a
voice in community affairs. The work
of its committees, including social
and public relations, will be the
means by which this is accomplished.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
Meantime, Kanawha board of edu
cation officials in Charleston are
considering converting Garnet High
into a vocational-technical school on
a countywide basis. Henry E. Knight,
director of vocational education, and
Supt. Virgil L. Flinn have been in
structed by the board to get cost esti
mates of moving necessary equipment
from other school shops to Garnet.
Flinn and the board have discussed
the feasibility of a vocational-tech
nical school since the Supreme Court
announced that segregation is uncon
stitutional and it became obvious that
Garnet High would not be needed in
the regular secondary education pro
gram. Even post graduate work for
the 13th and 14th years is a possibil
ity, but not in the immediate future.
Meanwhile, a charge has been
made that Negro teachers have been
refused jobs in Kanawha county
“solely because of race.” It was made
in connection with a request from
the NAACP for the board to make a
public statement of policy on em
ployment.
NO DISCRIMINATION
“I don’t believe we have any dis
crimination in hiring teachers,” Flinn
replied. “We have 18 Negroes teach
ing now in integrated county schools
and we have no special regulations
for hiring anyone on a basis of race,
color or creed.”
Desegregation of students in Ka
nawha County will be completed next
fall and the Kanawha board replied
to the NAACP request by saying:
“The laws of West Virginia assign
to the superintendent ... the duty
to nominate all teachers, principals,
assistant superintendents and all
other employes of the district, subject
only to the approval of the board ...
Therefore we see no need for any
specific rules or regulations covering
the employment of personnel.”
Willard Brown, Charleston attorney
for the NAACP, said the letter to the
board was “misinterpreted.” He ex
plained his association “enjoyed the
finest degree of cooperation” with
Flinn and the majority of his staff.
The letter, he remarked, was “a part
of the strategy being used in all in
stances in states that are desegregat
ing schools.”
Its only purpose was to ask for a
statement of the board’s policy, he
said, adding:
“Without an announced policy of
employment the superintendent and
his agents can practice discrimination
at will in a so-called desegregation
program.”
on.
—Tagged “interposition” a “fancy
word” which would have no effect on
NAACP action.
—Emphasized that the NAACP, as
an organization, could not endorse
any presidential candidate.
—Denied any NAACP affiliation
with Communist organizations.
—Hailed a bus boycott by Mont
gomery, Ala., Negroes as a “key is- '
sue” in the desegregation problem.
Other newsworthy statements dur
ing the month in Georgia included:
A prediction by Roy V. Harris,
member of the State Board of Re
gents, before students of Savannah
State College (Negro) that attempts
to lift racial barriers will lead to “bit- (
terness, hatred and bloodshed.”
A plea by four Negro bishops rep
resenting African Methodist Episco
pal churches in Atlanta, New Or
leans, Los Angeles and Nashville for
President Eisenhower to bring to the
attention of southern leaders “the ir
reparable damage being done to
American foreign relations” by the '
segregation dispute.
An appeal for Negroes to stay i®
the South, but snap out of their p°" (
litical lethargy and fight through the
ballot box by Rep. William L. Daw
son, Illinois Negro congressman, be
fore the Negro Voters League in
Atlanta.
An opinion by Atty. Gen. Cook be
fore a meeting of Atlanta lawyers
that most of the segregation law® ,
passed by the state legislature “wil
be stricken down in due course.’ n
An expression of “deep concern
over private school legislation which
has “dangerous implications for the
welfare of our people and the futu re
of our state” by the Rt. Rev. R 8 ®"
dolph R. Claiborne, bishop of the ^
Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, at
annual meeting of the diocese in
Macon.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
Harrison E. Lee, principal
Speight Negro school at Fort Gai®^ '
resigned in an official notice to
the
Clay County Board of Education
cause, he said, pressure from otn
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