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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JULY 1956—PAGE 3
Georgia College Entrance
Requirements Are Tighter
MACON, Ga.
NTRANCE REQUIREMENTS for Students
attending university system schools
in Georgia were tightened by the State
Board of Regents as three Negroes who
applied for admission to Georgia State
College of Business Administration in
Atlanta were not accepted as students.
(See “In the Colleges”)
Former Gov. Herman Talmadge, re
garded as one of the South’s most mili
tant pro-segregation spokesmen, re
ceived last minute opposition for the
U. S. Senate from former acting Gov.
M. E. Thompson (See “Political Ac
tivity.”)
The president of the Georgia NAACP
said suits aimed at ending segregation
would be filed in at least two cities—
Savannah and Atlanta—in the state prior
to the opening of the September term
(See “What They Say.”)
Three Negro applicants who attempted
to gain admission to Georgia State Col
lege of Business Administration in At
lanta were turned down by registration
officials.
The day before the Negroes applied,
the Board of Regents of the University
System of Georgia, which runs state
colleges, met and made public new regu
lations on entrance requirements which
were adopted at a private session on
May 9 .
The new regulations were adopted
after six Negroes had sought unsuccess
fully to enroll for the spring quarter at
Georgia State.
REGULATION CHANGES
Regulations requiring all applicants
for admission to submit the signatures
of two sponsoring alumni and the county
clerk or ordinary of the applicant’s home
county were already in effect. The new
regulations would: (1) permit an appli
cant in a county of more than 100,000
population to submit the signature of a
third alumnus in lieu of the county clerk
or ordinary, providing the alumnus is
one of the names on a list designated by
the president of the alumni association
to assist it in selecting students of “char
acter, aptitude and ability”; (2) empower
the president of any unit in the univer
sity system to refer an application to
the Board of Regents for assignment if
he believed that the educational needs
of the applicant could be best met at
some other institution in the system.
J. D. Blair, director of admissions of
Georgia State, said at least 11 Negroes
requested admission application blanks
but only three attempted to enroll. They
were identified as Mrs. Myra Elliott
Dinsmore; Russell Thomas Roberts, in
surance salesman, and Miss Barbara
Hunt, stenographer in the Atlanta office
of the Pittsburgh Courier, a Negro
newspaper. All of the applicants were
from Atlanta.
The applicants were accompanied by
a photographer, two ministers and two
newspaper reporters, all Negroes. There
were no incidents when the applications
were presented. Three Georgia Bureau
of Investigation agents were stationed
unobtrusively in the registration room,
Blair said, to help prevent any distur
bance.
NO DISORDER
The three Negroes had earlier asked
for a private conference with Blair. He
sent word that they would have to come
to the room “like everybody else.” The
Negroes waited until there was no line
before the registration desk before ap
pearing. White students in the registra
tion room gave no hint of disorder.
One of the Negro applicants said the
signature of an alumnus on the applica
tion had been sought, but without suc
cess. The applicants said none of them
were representing the National Asso
ciation for the Advancemnt of Colored
People.
Eleventh hour opposition to former
°v. Herman Talmadge for the U. S.
Senate seat of Sen. Walter F. George
appeared as former acting Gov. M. E.
Thompson qualified.
■inompson, a former school teacher,
served as state revenue commissioner
Uring the administration of Gov. Ellis
Arnall. He was later elected lieutenant
S°vernor and became governor on the
eath of Eugene Talmadge, father of
^nian Talmadge.
Thompson has lost twice in guber
natorial contests with Talmadge and was
defeated by the present governor, Mar
vin Griffin, in the 1954 primary.
Although Thompson says he favors
continued segregation of the races, the
Negro vote has generally gone into his
column in previous statewide races.
VINSON OPPOSED
In a contest for the Sixth Congression
al District post, Carter Shepard Baldwin
of Milledgeville qualified to run against
incumbent Rep. Carl Vinson of Mil
ledgeville. Criticizing Vinson, a veteran
of 42 years in the House, Baldwin said,
“I think that if some of our oldtime
congressmen have the prestige and are
big, national characters, then they had
a part in bringing about the conditions
that now exist. I do not believe that they
are capable of crossing their northern
confederates and getting us any relief.”
During June, Rep. Vinson introduced
a bill which would prohibit the U. S.
Supreme Court from reviewing any de
cision which has been in effect for 50
years or more without specific permis
sion from Congress. Vinson said his
measure would be retroactive to Janu
ary, 1954 and would thus invalidate the
Court’s desegregation decision of May
17,1954.
W. W. Law of Savannah, Georgia
NAACP president, said “at least two
suits—in Atlanta and Savannah—”
aimed at ending public school segrega
tion would be filed in the state by Sep
tember. “It will be done in time for
admittance at the opening of the next
school term,” Law said.
The Atlanta school board and the
Chatham County (Savannah) school
board have already had petitions de
manding integration filed before them.
President J. H. Calhoun of the Atlanta
NAACP branch said his group had
adopted a resolution agreeing not to
seek recourse at law until such time as
it appeared school officials are no longer
acting in good faith in working toward
integration in the schools.
RESISTANCE MOVE HINTED
Rep. Adam Clayton Powell of New
York, addressing the graduating class of
Morehouse College in Atlanta, said a
meeting was planned in New York to
discuss whether “the time is ripe” to
launch a nationwide “massive, passive
resistance” movement by Negroes. Pow
ell said the Negro resistance movement,
which includes bus boycotts in Talla-
hasse, Fla., and Montgomery, Ala., may
be broadened.
The Negro congressman urged Ne
groes to “walk together, work together,
vote together, resist together, organize
together” and criticized “moderates” in
both political parties. “Moderation,” he
said, “has come to mean stand in the
middle of the road and be trampled.”
Gov. Marvin Griffin also had some
thing to say about “moderates.” He
termed them “sugar-coated integra-
tionists” and said the term moderation
in Georgia has come to mean “just a
little integration won’t hurt.” Griffin
said he did not believe that some of those
who advocate integration on a small
scale realize what they are doing.
A Washington, D. C. Negro attorney,
addressing the graduating class of At
lanta University, urged that Negroes
launch a propaganda counterattack on
southern foes of integration.
Dr. James M. Nabrit, Jr., said segre
gationists “have embarked upon a well-
organized and coordinated campaign to
divide and poison the minds of northern
whites” through the media of mass com
munications.
IMPATIENCE RAPPED
“Fanatical impatience” on both sides of
the racial issue was criticized by James
S. Pope, executive editor of the Louis
ville, Ky., newspapers, in an address be
fore the Emory University graduating
class.
Pope urged young people to join a
“multitude of white southerners who
are decent, honorable and perplexed and
who have no pat formulas and doubt
there are any in solving segregation
problems.”
The editor was critical of both the
“demagogue who is trying to win or keep
public office, or best a competitor or safe
guard some small counterfeit feeling of
power over others” and “the intellectual
and doctrinal integrationist with his
magic wand [who] will offer you almost
as reckless a solution” in racial matters.
In a sermon June 24, Dr. Roy D. Mc
Clain, prominent pastor of Atlanta’s
First Baptist Church, said “forced inte
gration is as much an assault on free
dom of action as forced silence is an
assault on freedom of speech.”
The status of a new $232,000 Negro
school building, 95 per cent complete, in
Laurens County remained up in the air.
The Brewton school was planned to
serve about 700 Negro students attend
ing five sub-standard schools. Opposition
arose last December when critics of the
site said it was located in the “center of
a white neighborhood.”
The school was constructed for Lau
rens County through the State Building
Authority. Officials said it would be paid
for, regardless of whether the building
is ever used.
Testimony at a hearing before the
State Board of Education brought out
that the school, through a surveying
error, is located partly on private pro
perty adjoining the public property. The
owners of the private property said there
had already been two “partial attempts”
to destroy the school because of its lo
cation.
DEFENSE IMPOSSIBLE
Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook, after review-
‘ Allow Me To Introduce
Myself . .
—Atlanta Constitution
ing the situation, said he would not be
able to defend a segregation suit on that
site.
The state board ordered that no state
funds be allocated for teaching, housing
or transporting Negroes to the Brewton
school. Funds to operate schools at the
old sites were approved.
Members of the Laurens County
Board of Education said they do not have
the necessary funds to operate the school
and asked the state to build a school in
a more suitable location.
The Atlanta Board of Education aban
doned a two-room Negro school at
Philadelphia, attended by 22 students.
Parents petitioned that the students be
allowed to attend the school of their
choice in the area of Southwest Atlanta.
Miss Ire Jarrell, superintendent, said
the students would go to Ben Hill
School, where facilities are better than
at the old school.
Two chamber of commerce officials
said racial tensions have not hampered
the state’s industrial growth.
Publicity about Georgia’s race prob
lems has not caused northern manu
facturers to be reluctant about setting
up plants here, according to Walter T.
Cates, executive vice president of the
Georgia Chamber of Commerce and
Frank K. Shaw, industrial manager of
the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
Shaw said the concerns of manufac
turers considering sites are primarily
economic and “not social.”
Cates said that at present “there is
not so much tension as there is con
versation” over racial troubles, but
warned that “if we keep stirring it, it
could become a problem.”
‘Battle Lines’ Drawn in Delaware Suits
WILMINGTON, Del.
'J'he “battle” lines have been drawn
in Delaware’s eight district school
integration court actions. So far, two dis
tricts, haled into U. S. District Court by
the Delaware NAACP, have declared
they are willing to undertake modified
forms of desegregation.
Five other districts are standing pat
and intend to put up a more or less united
front against desegregation. The eighth
has yet to file an answer. (See “Legal
Action”)
In the meantime, the first man of the
year to announce himself officially as a
candidate for nomination as governor—
J. H. Tyler McConnell (Democrat) of
near Wilmington, has been exposed to
the direct question on the part of 100
per cent segregationists—“For or against
segregation?”
His reply was that the issue is now
before the U. S. T istrict Court for de
cision and that on a practical basis, it is
up to each community in Delaware to
make its decision.
Because of the varied interests in the
desegregation cases now before the U. S.
District Court, involving eight individ
ual school districts and the State Board
of'Education, the developing story of
this litigation has become quite complex
and involved.
The cases are listed as Civil Actions
1815 through 1821. The first is titled
Lawrence C. Jackson et al v. Madeline
Buchanan.
NEW FACTS
By the time the cases come to trial,
a great deal of the little-known facts
about desegregation in Delaware will
become part of the official records.
Among the court-connected develop
ments has been the disclosure of the
willingness of the trustees of the Milton
school board (Sussex County) to admit
Negroes to some of the classes in the
12-grade consolidated white school of
Milton.
But there is indication of considerable
expanse between what the trustees of
the Milton Consolidated School would
like to do and what the community wants
to do about the situation.
Earlier, the trustees of the Christiana
school in upper New Castle County—
about eight miles from Wilmington—
filed with the U. S. District Court a plan
for the gradual admission of Negro
children into their school.
FIVE WILL FIGHT
But at least five other school districts
in Delaware—all in southern Delaware
—show no such inclination. The answers
they have filed to suits brought against
them by the NAACP indicate they in
tend to fight any attempt to make them
desegregate.
The attitude of the Delaware State
Board of Education (which has already
adopted a pro-integration policy) is that
the cases of the school districts that do
not wish to desegregate at this time
should either be dismissed by the U. S.
District Court or the court “enter such
order as shall appear to be proper and
just.”
The State Board of Education—a de
fendant in each of the eight cases—said
through Atty. Gen. Joseph D. Craven
that it will not force immediate desegre
gation upon any local school district.
The state board further declared that in
accordance with its policy and the de
cision of the state supreme court in the
Milford case of 1954, a joint action is re
quired of the local school boards and the
State Board of Education.
The NAACP argues to the contrary—
that the state board can force desegre
gation upon a school district.
STATUS OF CASES
Here is a summary of the status as
the cases in Delaware stand today;
1) Christiana school: This is an eight-
room county school in the town of
Christiana, between Newark and Wil
mington. It had an enrollment of 263.
The Negro children of the area attend
ed the Absalom Jones school near the
town of Newport.
The Christiana school plan is this:
Open the first three grades to Negro
pupils in the fall of 1956; then open
grades four through six in September,
1957; and the remaining grades in Sep
tember, 1958.
The plan has been approved by the
State Board of Education with the under
standing that it should not be considerd
a model for other school districts but
rather one specially designed for Chris
tiana.
*1*
It is estimated that if this gradual plan
is undertaken in September, about 20
Negro children would be admitted to the
Christiana school at the outset.
MILTON SITUATION
2) Milton: This is a consolidated 12-
grade school serving a town of about
1,321 population and a wide farm area.
In November of 1954, the school board
held a referendum on the issue of inte
gration. The vote was 934 against; 6 for.
The Milton Consolidated School has an
enrollment of 666 white students. The
Negro children of the area either attend
the Milton Negro elementary school or
the William C. Jason junior and senior
high school near Georgetown.
The potential Negro enrollment as of
June, 1956, was 70 elementary and 25
junior and senior high school students.
The four-member board of trustees
of the Milton Consolidated School has
agreed to admit Negro pupils to any
class that has room for them in the fall.
STATE APPROVAL
This plan has been approved by the
State Board of Education with one dis
senting vote. He is Byard V. Carmean of
Laurel. He said he opposed it because
it did not have local support in the dis
trict of Milton.
It is estimated that if the plan goes
into effect in September, 1956, at least
60 Negro children will seek admission to
the Milton Consolidated School. Seven
grades are said to have vacancies for
them.
The Milton trustees warn, however,
that their present building is “barely
sufficient to accommodate the current
school enrollment.”
3) Laurel, Seaford, Greenwood and
Milford School districts ask that the
court action against them by the NAACP
be dismissed.
James M. Tunnell Jr. of Georgetown,
former associate justice of the state su
preme court, and regarded as one of the
“moderates” in the integration issue in
Delaware, is representing the school
boards of Laurel, Seaford and Green
wood and is associate counsel for Mil
ford.
These four schools, among the largest
in southern Delaware, form the hard
core of resistance to desegregation. They
are all in Sussex County—where segre
gation is strongly entrenched in the cul
tural and social patterns of the people.
Tunnell, in his statement to the U. S.
District Court, gave this view:
“If there is to be an effective and sys
tematic approach to integration of Dela
ware schools, south of Dover [the state’s
capital], it must be general and sche
matic, applying not merly to one com
munity but throughout the adjoining
communities.”
In the case of the Milford schools,
Tunnell, teaming up with James H.
Hughes III of Dover as counsel, advised
the U. S. District Court that in August
of 1955, a meeting of Negro and white
leaders was held in Milford and it was
agreed that “an interim period should
be allowed for healing the general feel
ing in order that the pleasant and amic
able associations between the two races
may be restored to that of former days.
4) The Clayton School District in
Sussex: The court has been asked to
dismiss the case against its school board
on the ground that the court lacks juris
diction.
5) John M. Clayton school in Sussex:
Date for answer postponed until early in
July.
Dr. William O. Penrose, dean of the
school of education at the University of
Delaware, in a radio interview, declared
that apparent difference in low acade
mic achievements by Negro children as
compared with white children can be
attributed not necessarily to race but
rather to economic and social back
grounds.
The Delaware State Education Asso
ciation, according to its executive sec
retary, Charles R. Harris, has spon
sored an interracial committee for the
past three years and in his opinion “the
committee has made many worthwhile
contributions.”
Jack H. Caum is chairman of the DSEA
Interracial Committee and has sent out
to school officials and PTA leaders letters
in which he states:
“We are now ready to offer services
of several types to any organization
within any school district that wishes to
avail itself of our facilities. We do this
in the firm belief that much of our cur
rent hesitation stems from misunder
standing and misconceptions in the mat
ter of race relations.”
Louis Redding, Negro attorney of Wil
mington and counsel for the NAACP,
has been cited as one of several Wil
mington lawyers who face prosecution
on charges of having failed to file in
come tax reports for the past few years.
Edmund N. Carpenter of Wilmington,
counsel for Redding flprlaiwl that Red
ding denies
time, Carpen^r^ppedUJ. sfagy^j^n
J. Williams Inha made3he xharee fmr
having discl&edLAi/rfenA ft jlfed^ling
and not the owjer atorncyo involved m
these charges.