About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1956)
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MARCH 1956—PAGE 3 Editor Calls for ‘Positive Thinking' in Mississippi Crisis JACKSON, Miss. ditor Oliver Emmerich Sr., of the McComb Enterprise-Journal, sums up Mississippi’s current racial situation in a 21-word paragraph in an editorial urging the current legis lative session to adopt “A Declara tion of Principles.” It reads: “Never before in a Mississippi crisis has there been so little positive think ing—except for the militantly positive will to negate.” Editor Emmerich said “this declar ation of affirmative action should clarify three categories of thinking which relate to this racial crisis.” He lists them as: 1) Mississippi must assert herself as being positively and firmly op posed to brutality, bigotry, intoler ance and lawlessness. 2) This declaration of principles should boldly assert a program of continued improvement for the Negro people. There are multiplied thous ands of faithful Negro citizens who have been cooperative and loyal with the white people of the state. CLARIFY REASONS 3) This declaration should clarify the reasons why Mississippians de mand a continuance of the dual sys tem of schools. Millions of people in America think that segregated schools are the exclusive products of prej udice, injustice, intolerance and wickedness. The editorial suggestion by the member of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learn ing was made as the legislature com pleted action on a series of bills designed to strengthen Mississippi’s position against enforcement of the integration decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court. (See “Legislative Action.”) It also came amidst: Gov. J. P. Coleman’s strongest statement on preserving and main taining segregation: that “Mississippi will close any white public school or college forced by the courts to accept a Negro student.” (See “What They Say.”) Preparation by a legislative com mittee of Mississippi’s “resolution of interposition” against enforcement of -he Supreme Court’s integration man dates. (See “Under Survey.”) RELIGION WEEK EPISODE Cancellation of religious emphasis week at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, following weeks of con troversy over withdrawal of an invitation to an anti-segregation speaker, Rev. Alvin Kershaw, Epis copal rector of Oxford, Ohio. Resignations of a University of Mississippi professor and a member of the faculty of Mississippi State Col lege because of the asserted threat to freedom of speech and academic freedom due to the “screening” of speakers on the campuses of the ^fate-owned and operated colleges. (See “In the Colleges.”) Legislative commendation of the heads of the two major state educa tional institutions for immedate ac ceptance of the faculty resignation. (See “In the Colleges.”) Charge by two Clarksdale Negroes that they were fired from jobs at the oahoma County Hospital because of eir activities in the National Asso ciation for the Advancement of olored People. (See “Community Action.”) Adoption of a resolution by the Jackson Citizens Council “dedicated I? Preservation of segregation” urging . e t= roes who believe in segregation join hands” in keeping segrega- i°n. (See “Community Action.”) n ’EGRO raps measure A statement by a group of Negro 1 'J cat ° rs expressing concern over legislative passage of a bill requiring eachers, white and Negro, to sub- j, . affidavits listing memberships in ° u 1 ^ ty P es °f organizations dur- S the past five years (See “What rhe y Say.”) Approval of additional school dis- kj? consolidations under a 1954 s !f sl fve program to equalize Negro of S an .^ opportunities with those m whites in the face of a move- «, n omong some legislators to repeal ana £ ro § rarn - (See “School Boards and Schoolmen.”) LEGISLATIVE ACTION Four of seven bills recommended by the Legal Educational Advisory Commission, created in 1954 to seek legal bypasses to the Supreme Court’s school integration decision, have been passed at the current legislative ses sion and signed into law by Gov. J. P. Coleman. Three others, which developed after the Supreme Court’s desegregation decisions on interstate transportation and public parks and golf courses, likewise are new additions to Missis sippi’s law books. Two of the other LEAC bills are still in committee, and the third, al though suggested by Gov. Coleman, has been vetoed by him. The LEAC approved bills are: House Bill No. 13—Abolishing com mon law marriages, recognized since the days of the “circuit” riding ministers whose infrequent visits prevented ceremonial marriages of couples who began living together as man and wife. Immediate effective ness of the new bill makes children bom in common law from now on “illegitimates.” NO EXPLANATION No explanation was made as to how the law fits into the segregation pic ture, its sponsors merely telling the legislators, “You know what this bill does.” However, it is expected to bolster the state’s use of a 1954 pupil assignment law based on morals, health and welfare of the community. Of the 56,724 babies bom in Missis sippi in 1953, 7,337 were bom out of wedlock, and of that number 7,070 were Negroes. House Bill No. 17—Requiring su perintendents, principals, teachers, instructors and professors in all state- supported institutions to file, as con ditions precedent to such employment, an affidavit listing the names and addresses of all incorporated and/or unincorporated associations and or ganizations of which each is, or within the past five years, has been a mem ber, or to which each is presently paying, or within the past five years has paid, regular dues or to which each is making, or within the past five years, has made regular contri butions. House Bill No. 31—Repealing the compulsory school attendance law, which has never been enforced, es pecially with reference to Negro children. Proponents wanted to get that law off the statute books in event it becomes necessary to use a “stand by” constitutional authority given the legislature to abolish public edu cation. CURTAILS SOLICITATION House Bill No. 33—Prohibits fo menting and agitation of litigation, and the solicitation, receipt or dona tion of funds for the purpose of filing or prosecuting lawsuit. Purpose of the act is to curtail solicitation of funds by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The penalty for violation, upon con viction, is one year in the peniten tiary. Gov. Coleman vetoed Bill No. 30, which sought to prevent FBI agents from making civil rights investiga tions in Mississippi. It sought to make it unlawful for any person to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten or intimi date any citizen of Mississippi in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege or immunity secured to him by the constitution or laws of the state of Mississippi. Gov. Coleman vetoed the bill be cause “there has been a material change in the conditions which ex isted when I was prompted to recom mend the law.” At the time, FBI agents were in Mississippi investi gating the Democratic primary and questioning citizens and county of ficials on matters the governor said are “wholly within the jurisdiction of the state and which we are amply able, willing and anxious to control in strict keeping with our constitu tion and laws.” But he added: “Let no man mis takenly interpret this action as evidencing any lack of unrelenting ‘Fishing in Fresh Water’ —Jackson Daily News determination to preserve that which we know to be right.” Mississippi’s resolution interposing its sovereignty against the United States Supreme Court’s desegrega tion decisions, introduced Feb. 29, states its “firm intention to take all appropriate measures honorably and constitutionally available to us, to avoid this illegal encroachment upon our rights, and we do hereby urge our sister states to take prompt and deliberate actions to check further encroachment by the federal govern ment, through judicial legislation, upon the reserved powers of all states.” The title reads: “A concurrent resolution condemn ing and protesting the usurpation and encroachment on the reserved pow ers of the states by the Supreme Court of the United States and de claring that its decisions of May 17, 1954, and May 31, 1955, and all simi lar decisions are in violation of the constitutions of the United States and the state of Mississippi, and are therefore unconstitutional and of no lawful effect within the territorial limits of the state of Mississippi; de claring that a contest of powers has arisen between the state of Missis sippi and said Supreme Court and invoking the historic doctrine of in terposition to protest the sovereignty of this and the other states of the union, and calling on our sister states and the Congress for redress of grievances as provided by law, and for other purposes.” EASTLAND LAUDED The House and Senate also adopted a resolution (House Concurrent No. 8) commending Sen. James O. East- land (D-Miss.) for “his untiring ef forts in the battle against subversive and un-American activities within the United States,” and House Con current Resolution No. 19, commend ing all Mississippi congressmen “for their continuous stand in defense of the South and outspoken and unre lenting fight to preserve the principles and traditions for which she stands against political activities designed to destroy them.” Other LEAC bills are still in the House Judiciary “A” committee. Among them is House Bill No. 34 which extends laws of libel, defama tion and slander to prohibit libeling, slandering and defaming states, counties, cities, communities, their inhabitants, their institutions and their government by words, oral or printed. The bill defines defamatory matter as “any word or statement, oral or written, not libel or slander, but which nevertheless, if true, would tend to expose a person to hatred, contempt or ridicule, to degrade or disgrace him in society or to injure him in his business or occupation.” Gov. Coleman still considers Mis sissippi’s pupil assignment law “ab solutely constitutional,” despite a federal court in Louisiana striking down a somewhat similar law of that state. He said the Louisiana law was overruled because it called for use of the state’s police powers, which he has always contended “is not the answer to preserving segregation.” Also, he pointed out that the Mis sissippi law does not mention “color,” as did the one in Louisiana, but relies on health, morals and community welfare factors. He said Mississippi’s assignment law is similar to one he said a federal judge upheld in North Carolina. The governor said the time is not opportune to consider a bill offered in the house of representatives setting up one University of Mississippi with headquarters in Jackson, and using the white and Negro colleges as at tendance centers. Its author, Rep. Stanford Young of Wayne County, said it would solve the question of segregation on the college level in that assignments would be made by the Jackson headquarters on the basis of available accommodations at the institutions, under which segregation could be maintained. PROTESTS MEASURES Prof. R. N. Burger of Hattiesburg, president of the Mississippi Negro Teachers Association, and members of its legislative committee, in a public statement, said some of the legislative actions aimed at preserv ing segregation “are frightening to us.” Mentioned specifically was the act requiring all educators to list their organizational memberships. “Many of us belong to or have held membership in churches and other organizations that presently hold views in conflict with those now held by local white citizens of Mississippi,” the statement said. “Such member ship was accepted when questions now before us were not considered at all. Thus, many Negroes are ex posed to dangers today for member ship in organizations which but a few days ago would have brought them higher status and praise.” Prof. Burger said “we feel that such laws as prescribe the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, when directed against any specific freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, when directed against any specific group, create tensions and force un derground many such activities that would have been better dealt with openly.” Cancellation of an invitation to the Rev. Alvin Kershaw, Episcopal rector of Oxford, Ohio, to appear on the religious emphasis week program at the University of Mississippi, set off chain-action in withdrawals of other ministers and the resignations of two faculty members. Objection was ex pressed to “screening” speakers on the campus and in that way curtailing freedom of speech and academic freedom. The Kershaw controversy arose when he was purported to have an nounced over a nationwide television network that he planned to give part of his winnings in a TV show to the NAACP. Demands for withdrawal of the invitation were made, and the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning conducted an in vestigation. It led to the conclusion that the minister had been “mis quoted,” and Dr. J. D. Williams, chancellor of the university, was left the decision. Chancellor Williams had decided to permit the invitation to stand, until Kershaw corrected the impressions gained by the college board members. He said he was a member of the NAACP, as was his bishop, and the invitation was withdrawn. OTHERS REJECT BIDS Immediately, five other scheduled lecturers rejected their bids in pro test. Kershaw was scheduled to lead a seminar on religion and modem drama. On that basis, the campus newspaper said he should be per mitted to keep his engagement, as did 73 per cent of the students polled by the campus weekly and the Campus Senate. The campus newspaper stated that “barring any citizen merely because of his own personal views on a sub ject is an infringement on the con stitutional right of freedom of speech.” Gov. Coleman said the controversy over “screening” speakers at the state’s colleges “is not simply a ques tion of freedom of speech. “Anybody who wants to can get a soap box and get on the street com em of Oxford or Jackson or any where else,” he said. “But, as far as the educational institutions are con cerned, we’ve got to show some dis cretion and regard to the people who support those institutions.” PROFESSOR RESIGNS When the invitation to Kershaw was withdrawn, Dr. Morton King, chairman of the University of Mis sissippi sociology department since 1946, resigned from the faculty. He is a native of Tennessee and a Vander bilt graduate. Dr. King said he resigned because of a professional principle involving academic freedom—not the segrega tion issue. He said the Kershaw in cident was only “the last straw” in a series of happenings which have deeply concerned him during the past few years. He had encountered the state’s “screening process” for college speakers on other occasions. The controversy jumped south ward from the University of Missis sippi to Mississippi State College at Starkville. There, Dr. William Buch anan resigned because of the asserted “screening processes.” The religious emphasis week pro gram at Mississippi State began to feel the effects of the edicts. Due to asserted “pressure on both sides of the segregation question,” six scheduled minister-speakers with drew from the program. LEGISLATURE APPLAUDS The Mississippi legislature took cognizance of the two college faculty resignations, in commending Chan cellor Williams and President Hilbun for accepting them and “safeguard ing our culture and traditions from vicious attacks and influences con trary to the beliefs of the people of Mississippi and the South.” The resolution stated that “our state-supported institutions of higher learning should reflect the thinking of our people and, of right, should be the primary exponent and protectors of our culture and traditions.” Despite “smouldering” legislative opposition to the school consolidation features of the 1954 Negro-white school equalization law, the State Education Finance Commission con tinues to approve larger districts de signed to provide better buildings, teaching staffs and opportunities. Reorganizations have been ap proved in Warren, Jasper, Hancock, Carroll, Jefferson, Stone, Forrest, Tallahatchie, Humphreys and Desoto counties. There is a court challenge on the proposed reconstitution of the school districts in Adams County. It has not been set down for trial. Acceptance of the commission’s recommendations is a condition to receiving state aid for new buildings. A resolution by the Jackson Citi zens Council urging cooperation of Negroes who are opposed to integra tion, was said to have the “full support and cooperation” of Gov. Coleman and Mayor Allen Thomp son. Asserting that the council has al ways been interested in the welfare of the Negroes as reflected in its charter and by-laws, the resolution stated: “There has always existed harmony and understanding among the races in and around Jackson, which is now being menaced by outside agitators.” At Clarksdale, two Negro women said they were fired from the Coaho ma County Hospital because of their activities in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The two women, Gussie P. Young and Lurleander Johnson, had signed a petition asking for desegre gation of public schools.
