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* JUN 8 1956 VOL. 2, NO. 12 NASHVILLE, TENN. $2 PER YEAR JUNE, 1956 Status of Schools Surveyed at Year’s End Race Issue Figures In 5 Elections 'J'he South’s school segregation- desegregation controversy figured in at least five major political contests or decisions during May, according to reports of Southern School News correspondents. Gov. LeRoy Collins of Florida, re garded as a “moderate,” won sweep ing re-election while U. S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson gained control of the Texas Democratic machinery in a contest involving the school issue. George Washington Williams, run ning on a segregation platform, came out a poor third in the Maryland Democratic senatorial primary won by former U. S. Sen. Millard Tydings. In North Carolina two congress men who did not sign the “Southern Manifesto” were defeated for re- election and a third who did not sign but who endorsed segregation was re-elected by a wide margin. Former Georgia Gov. Herman Talmadge, committed to national legislation de signed to curb the powers of the U. S. Supreme Court, became the apparent successor to U. S. Sen. Walter George, who did not seek re-election. Suits seeking school entry of Ne groes were filed in Delaware (involv ing eight districts) and in three addi tional Virginia communities. Desegregation was reported during the month (effective this fall) in two Maryland counties, a college and a high school in Texas, a college and two local school districts in Ken tucky, and plans for integration of teaching staffs developed in two Oklahoma districts. The Louisiana legislature adopted a resolution of interposition—the sixth in the South this year. A state-by-state summary of major developments during May fol lows: Alabama Gov. James E. Folsom was the first major political casualtv of the segre gation controversy, losing his bid for election as Democratic national com mitteeman to Dro-seeregationist State Rep. Charles W. McKay Jr. by almost three-to-one. Arkansas Four of five candidates filing for the Arkansas Democratic guber natorial primary are on record as pro-segregationists and a fifth is un committed. Seeking guidance on pro cedure. the Fort Smith school board was advised by two consulting at torneys to begin desegregation in the first grade, possibly in 1957. Delaware A suit has been filed by the NAACP in U. S. District Court de manding desegregation in eight school restricts, seven of them in south Delaware. District of Columbia Requesting funds for 180 addition- a l teachers in the Washington school system. Supt. Hobart M. Coming told a Senate subcommittee that inte gration has been a “whale of an Undertaking.” Corning said the “job Ca n t be accomolished without dam- a Se to the children unless the schools are adequately staffed.” Florida Gov. LeRoy Collins’ sweeping vic- R'ry in the Florida Democratic guber natorial primary was described as a rjumoh for “moderation,” though Ma L Gen. Sumter Lowry, an all-out segregationist, ran second in a strong field of five. # Netc and renewal subscriptions to Southern School News are again available for two-year periods—at $3.75. # Here is what some of you are saying about SSN: “I have yet to discover any publication that will compare with your factual, unbiased reporting.”—Retired Army Officer. “I have included for myself a copy of your fine publication when I ordered sufficient copies for the school boards in this division. My com pliments for your excellent factual reporting.”—Virginia school super intendent “Without SSN I would find it impossible to be really informed on this great issue of our day.”—Sociologist JG,HN 5. D0£ 1617 ELM AVE. N A S W V II 1 f , TTM’. NOTE: The date above your name on the address label of your copy of SSN is the expira tion date. You will receive di rect mail notification when your subscription expires. Renew promptly to assure continued service. Georgia Former Gov. Herman Talmadge has been virtually conceded the U. S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Walter F. George, who is not seeking re- election. Talmadge says that if elect ed he will offer a bill regulating jurisdiction of the U. S. Supreme Court. Kentucky The state attorney general’s office has recommended that a “test case” be brought to determine how the U. S. Supreme Court rulings affect teacher tenure. A state college an nounced that it would enroll Negro students at its 1956 summer session and two nearby local districts said they would desegregate. Louisiana During May the legislature was writing into law an interposition resolution—the sixth such resolution in the South—and new pro-segrega tion measures which legislative lead ership hoped would replace the legislation struck down by a federal court decision. Maryland Two more counties have announced desegregation plans for next fall, bringing the Maryland total to fifteen. Mississippi Mississippi’s new State Sovereignty Commission has announced that it will employ secret investigators and informants in an all-out legal effort to oppose desegregation. Missouri Approximately 9,000 Negro pupils remain in segregated school systems after two years of general statewide action which has resulted in the de segregation of some 58,000 other Negroes, according to an SSN survey. North Carolina Two of three veteran congress men who did not sign the “Southern Manifesto” were defeated for re- election, and the third non-signer won by a large margin. In the first test of the state’s pupil assignment law the state supreme court upheld validity of the 1955 legislation. Oklahoma Two school systems announced a measure of integration in their teaching staffs while desegregation in Tulsa, “oil capital of the world” and scene of a 1921 race riot, was re ported working smoothly. South Carolina Eighteen Orangeburg County Ne gro teachers resigned and three re fused to sign certificates containing questions about membership in the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People. Tennessee A state court—the first to do so— held Tennessee’s school segregation laws unconstitutional. Negro students attended the junior-senior prom with white classmates of Oak Ridge high school, while in Chattanooga a labor union member established an organi zation to oppose what he called “forced integration” policies of the AFL-CIO, but within the union. Texas U. S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson won Democratic party control from Gov. Allan Shivers in a contest interpreted by some (including Shivers) as a partial victory for racial integration. Texas A. and I. College at Kings ville raised its ban on Negro students. Virginia State authorities have shelved the Gray Plan—at least temporarily—for solving the school segregation prob lem. In three more localities NAACP attorneys have filed suits to end en forced school segregation. West Virginia Settlement of a suit in McDowell County will bring desegregation in most of the schools next fall; Ohio County has closed its last Negro school. Index State Page Alabama 10 Aransas io Delaware 7 District of Columbia 2 Florida 12 Georgia 16 Kentucky 12 Louisiana 3 Maryland 9 Mississippi 5 Missouri lfi North Carolina 8 Oklahoma IS South Carolina 14 Tennessee 6 Texas 4 Virginia 13 West Virginia 11 the 1955-56 school year ended, about 540 districts in 17 Southern and border states had taken steps toward compliance with the Supreme Court segregation ruling. At school adjournment more than 256,000 Negro students were in “integrated situations” (See Southern School News, March, 1956)—all but a few of them in the border states. From the Deep South the policy of determined resistance spread north into Virginia, south into Florida and west into Arkansas. In New Orleans, a Citi zens Councils of America official said his organization had 500,000 members in 11 states. In the border states—Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma—and the Dis trict of Columbia compliance steps ranged from the initiation of some phase of desegregation in 40 of Ken tucky’s 224 school districts to the end of the second full year of complete desegregation in the District of Co lumbia. By contrast, at the end of the 1954- 55 school year, when several of these states were following a “wait and see” policy, there had been little if any desegregation in Maryland (outside Baltimore), Kentucky and Oklahoma. 2 STATES STATIC Only in Tennessee and in Texas, despite the integration of a few stu dents, did the school situation re main relatively static, at least by comparison. Texas had 65 desegre gated school districts in operation at the end of the school year and in Tennessee federally-supported Oak Ridge had had one year of experi ence with integrated schools. As the year progressed color bar riers began to fall in state universi ties across the South. Three Negro undergraduates were admitted to the University of North Carolina last fall. There were no incidents. The University of Texas will abolish seg regation at all levels in September. A stair-step integration plan has been approved for Tennessee state colleges. Louisiana State University has been ordered to desegregate at the undergraduate level. ALABAMA RIOT At the University of Alabama, however, the enrollment of Miss Autherine Lucy—the climax of lit igation dating back to 1953—was fol lowed two days later by a campus riot. University officials, fearful that she might be killed, suspended her. Miss Lucy’s reinstatement was or dered by Federal District Judge Ho bart Grooms of Birmingham, but the university’s board of trustees imme diately expelled her for contending in her suit for reinstatement that the university had conspired in the February 6 riot. By the fall of 1956, desegregation programs are slated to be in effect in at least 15 of Maryland’s 23 counties, an increase of seven counties over this year. And virtually all of Ken tucky’s 224 districts are due to begin some phase of desegregation by next September. Despite the tautness of racial ten sion in some areas, reports of vio lence have been light. Exceptions in South Carolina have been the firing of shots into homes and commercial establishments of pro-integration Negro leaders, and the firing by a Negro minister on a passing automo bile from which he charged shots were fired at his home. CHATTANOOGA FRACAS In Tennessee, an inter-racial meet ing held by the Chattanooga school board ended on a completely sour note when an unknown person dropped a vial of tear gas as the meeting was breaking up. In Ala bama, the months-old boycott of Montgomery buses by Negro passen gers received new impetus as a re sult of the university excitement over Miss Lucy. Six states—Virginia, South Caro- = = = 3 = = = s = S = = = = = = = = = = s = s = = = = = = = = = = = School doors have closed or are closing for summer holidays in 17 southern and border states, and the year 1955-56 passes in review. This summary of school segrega tion-desegregation developments was compiled by SSN Staffer James Elliott from year-end reports writ ten by SSN’s 19 correspondents. In the individual state reports will be found each correspondent’s esti mate of the five top developments in his state during the school year. lina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana—officially have en dorsed “interposition.” Other sup porters are found in North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas. In the latter three states, it is predicted interposition will become an issue in coming elections. But the Kentucky General Assembly, offered an inter position-study resolution in the spring, let the resolution die in com mittee. In Oklahoma, the outlook for Ne gro teachers continued dim. By Sep tember an estimated 250 to 275 will have had their jobs wiped out by closing of Negro schools in integra ted districts. TEACHERS SUE One dismissed teacher in Okla homa brought a breach of contract suit against the board, but the case has not come to trial. Lawsuits also have been filed in Missouri where Negro teachers claim to have been dismissed for racial reasons follow ing integration of pupils. In the District of Columbia, how ever, where desegregation is com pleted, faculties are integrated. Court action in Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas re sulted in state laws supporting seg regated schools being termed uncon stitutional. State courts held that Texas school segregation laws were knocked out by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in other states. State funds can be paid to schools without regard to segregation, the courts declared. STAIR-STEP PLAN In approving a stair-step integra tion plan submitted by the state for state colleges, Federal Judge Marion S. Boyd in Memphis, declared Ten nessee segregation laws unconstitu tional. In Louisiana a suit asking desegre gation of New Orleans schools was the first direct challenge to the laws, and on Feb. 15 it produced a de cision that the laws were unconstitu tional. In two pending suits for immediate integration in Van Buren and Bearden, Ark., a federal judge held state school segregation laws invalid and ordered the two districts to re port this summer on their plans for integration. VIRGINIA LITIGATES In Virginia the NAACP went back to court in an effort to force Prince Edward County and several other Virginia localities to begin integra tion by the start of the fall school session. The NAACP’s action led to de mands from some Virginians that a special session of the General As- (See STATUS, Page 2)