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Factual Sou " 0 " 030 ll ?-.M" t 0 o .rr2 2 Mo | r r w 3wnr hool News Objective VOL. NO. 3 NASHVlLLt, TENN. $2 PER YEAR SEPTEMBER, 1956 More Border Areas Mix, Deep South Solid School Segregation Issue Plays Part In Conventions gcHOOL doors were opening this month in 17 southern and border states plus the District of Columbia with 723 school dis tricts and school units desegregated—186 more than last year—and with racial segregation at the lower school level un broken in eight states. The eight are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. In three of these Louisiana, North Carolina and Virginia—some Negroes are attending private and state-supported colleges. Late August saw .he first violence growing out of a federal court order requiring desegregation this school year at Clinton, Tenn , (see below and Tennessee report, page 3) and at Mansfield, Texas (see page 12.) Olatform planks of accommodation A and compromise were adopted by both major political parties in their national conventions last month. Civil rights—particularly the school segregation question—dominated the Democratic national convention in Chi cago. This issue was a consideration in practically every decision reached by candidates, delegates and the party leadership. As ultimately resolved, the problem of school segregation-desegre gation was recognized as a national rather than a regional problem but with particular “consequences” for the “communities directly affected.” For the Republicans, the question was resolved in somewhat stronger terms, but largely in paraphrases of the Su preme Court’s decision. BOTH PLANKS ‘ACCEPTABLE’ In both cases, the planks on civil rights were proclaimed “acceptable” if not “satisfactory” by all except the most extreme who had joined issue. Grover Hall, editor of the Montgom ery Advertiser and one of the few southern editors who covered both conventions, found “agreement all around that the Republican civil rights plank is stronger than the Democratic, though how much stronger is for the debaters.” In Chicago, the civil rights issue flared briefly in an early morning floor fight on Aug. 15 giving the convention its first dramatic moment. It ended in a close but undeniable voice vote favor ing compromise and party unity. This came as, after two dull and ill-attended days, the convention moved into its third evening session amid an atmos phere of tension. Efforts within the platform committee to avoid a minority report on civil rights had failed. SOUTHERNERS ‘TOUCHY’ Southern delegations had been made touchy by remarks of such previous speakers as Sen. Wayne Morse of Ore gon, Sen. Paul Douglas of Illinois, Da- V1 d A. Bunn, Young Democrats presi dent, and by keynote speaker Gov. Frank Clement of Tennessee. As the evening’s program proceeded, one by one party leaders disappeared from their accustomed places. Conven- tion Chairman Sam Rayburn left the rostrum. Soon National Committee Chairman Paul Butler followed. Sen. Douglas was not in his usual place in the front row of the Illinois delegation, ^he band played on and on. Rep. Mc Cormack left the platform. Georgia’s Gov. Marvin Griffin left his delegation. Forty minutes later, almost as sud- enly as h e bad disappeared, Chairman Ka yburn returned to the podium and rapped sharply for order. The conven- Ion proceeded rapidly through the (See CONVENTIONS, Page 2) Chicago . . . At San Francisco . . . ‘For Little OF Me?’ The One Issue Ver* P^duced any major contro- °f * n ^ ra ^**ng the platforms both political parties was public school pesegregation ^ '— C it . ere °an educators and lay e hs find the full information on this question? See Page 16 ‘B&ldq —Atlanta Constitution Private Schools Are Little Affected By Desegregation An exclusive spot check by Southern School News correspondents of some 50 leading private non-sectarian schools in 12 southern and border states indicates that public school desegrega tion has had little effect on enrollments, which are booming everywhere. Private school heads in only three states attribute the increase in any way to the Supreme Court decisions against public school segregation—and not all of them agree. Some think it may be a factor in the years to come, “but not yet.” THREE CAUSES A survey of nine Tennessee schools by SSN Correspondent James Elliott is perhaps typical of the region as a whole. While some school administrators say that desegregation is a slight factor, in effect they rule it out by assigning these major causes of the bumper crop of applications: 1) Increased number of school chil dren everywhere. 2) Dissatisfaction with current trends in education in many public schools. 3) Good financial conditions across the United States. Few instances are reported of new schools springing up to accommodate children in desegregated areas. One, in Beckley, W. Va., failed for lack of cap ital. On the other hand, two private schools in Baltimore that would have been most immediately affected by de segregation of public schools—Park School and Friends School—have adopted their own desegregation pro grams. One school in North Carolina re ported that “segregation has had an effect” on its increased enrollment. “Overall,” reports Correspondent Jay Jenkins, “reaction seems to be that the effect of the segregation rulings is diffi cult if not impossible to measure, but that it has influenced the thinking of parents.” One school head in Louisiana told SSN Correspondent Leo Adde that enrollment was up because “people have very frankly told me they want to get in while they can” since they feel integration is coming to all but the private, non-sectarian schools. An other school head in the same state said that “integration has subsided as a fac tor in causing people to register their children.” Some of the schools sampled and comments received from headmasters, together with reports of SSN corre spondents, are as follows: TEXAS—Hockaday School, Dallas: Knows of one or possibly two cases where applications may have been in fluenced by desegregation but it can hardly be called a factor. Allen Acad emy, Bryan: Effect of desegregation slight, if any; believes it will be a fac tor in the years ahead; increased pop ulation, higher college requirements and crowded public schools bringing in more students. Peacock Military Acad- emy, San Antonio: School full since World War H; believes desegregation will influence future enrollment, but not now. Kinkaid School, Houston: New plant and increasing population, plus general prosperity, have brought more pupils than school can accept; race problem not a factor yet. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—"Ho evi dence seen of a big boost,” reports SSN Correspondent Jeanne Rogers. “We do, of course, have this continuing migra tion to the suburbs and some nearby Maryland and Virginia private schools have benefitted. We think, however, these children are the ones who would have attended private schools in the District had their parents remained there.” KENTUCKY—Louisville Country Day School (for boys): Enrollment up by 30, as it has been, roughly, every year since opening in 1951; waiting list 90 to 100; no evidence of any change due to desegregation of city’s public schooh. Kentucky Military Institute, (See PRIVATE SCHOOLS, Page 2) Pending full enrollment reports later in the year, Southern School News esti mates that approximately 300,000 Negro pupils are in “integrated situations.” This is an increase of approximately 45,000. An estimated 2,400,000 remain segregated. (“Integrated situations” is a term used to cover Negro children who are attend ing formerly all-white schools; attend ing formerly all-Negro schools which whites have entered; are eligible to at tend mixed schools in desegregated dis tricts but are not doing so, or are en rolled in districts which have just begun the desegregation process.) Most of the 300,000 are in the District of Columbia and the border states. However, the first breach in the state- jupported segregated systems of most of me southeastern states and all of the Deep South appeared during August in Tennessee. There, at Clinton High School in Anderson County, 15 Negroes were enrolled under federal court order and 12 were attending classes at the end of the month. Violence flared in Clinton as groups described by peace officers as “mobs” endeavored to halt the integra tion process. One other incident in volving violence was reported from Mansfield, Tex., as the month ended. School districts desegregating this fall ur desegregated last year without public announcement until this time include three in West Virginia, one in Delaware, six in Missouri, one in Tennessee, 46 in Kentucky, 35 in Texas, 85 in Oklahoma and nine in Maryland. As against the 723 districts and school units desegregated, nearly 3,000 (ac cording to latest count) having Negro pupils remain segregated as the school year begins. Following are the major develop ments, state by state, during August: Alabama By a 12 to 8 margin, voters adopted a constitutional amendment empowering the legislature to withdraw aid to, and even dispose of, any school faced with forcible integration. Called the “Free dom of Choice” amendment, its mean ing and effect were widely disputed in pre-referendum debate. Arkansas The academic year opened with three small schools integrated (same as last year) and Van Buren and Little Rock school districts planning desegregation in 1957—the latter under a plan ap proved by a federal district court Aug. 28. Delaware Fourteen of 63 school districts with Negroes had mixed classes as the school year opened (eight others have an nounced policies of non-discrimination), with 4,100 out of nearly 11,000 Negro pupils in the state in “integrated situ ations.” District of Columbia With an estimated school population ratio of 65 per cent Negro and 35 per cent white, the District schools begin their third year of integration against the backdrop of a congressional investi gation into school standards. Florida Official confusion appeared over the mechanics of operating Florida’s wholly segregated school system under new laws adopted by the state legislature. Georgia The new school year was opening with segregation maintained at every level of public education and with higher enroll ments expected in the segregated 16- unit university system—especially in Negro colleges, where a 16 per cent increase was forecast. Kentucky Schools opened to “integrated situa tions” in all but 15 of the state’s 120 counties, involving 180,000 white and 20,000 Negro children. August also saw the organization of the first Citizens Council (prosegregation) in Kentucky and a protest against desegregation of Louisville schools. Louisiana “Solidly segregated” was the descrip tion of the state’s school system as the year began, with new state laws enacted in an effort to preserve racial separation. Five school entry suits are pending. Maryland School doors were open on a desegre- gated basis to nearly 85 per cent of Maryland s Negro pupils. Nineteen counties plus Baltimore City had deseg regation programs in effect, with one of the remaining four counties (one other has no Negro children) to begin deseg regation next fall. Mississippi An estimated 542,000 school children ot both races are returning to segregated classrooms though with physical facili ties, along with teacher salaries, at a new high of equality. Missouri The third year of integration began with 120 districts (out of 244 having Ne groes) affected; 88 per cent of Missouri’s Negro pupils were enrolled in wholly or partly integrated system. North Carolina Schools “are not expecting any diffi culty as the school year began on a segregated lower school basis, with a school entry effort by Negroes in moun tainous Swain County. Two Negro women were admitted to Woman’s Col lege of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Oklahoma “Actual” integration was reported trom 161 school districts with “policy” integration in 12 others (where Negroes did not choose to go to mixed schools.) Rer-pupil costs were reported “about the same in 66 districts and lower in 43 others. South Carolina Schools opened on a segregated basis at all levels with an estimated record high enrollment of 575,000 pupils of both races. Tennessee Violence flared in Anderson County after 12^ Negroes began attending Clin ton High School under a federal court order—the first such instance of deseg- regation in a state-supported lower school—but the Negro pupils remained in mixed classrooms as the month ended ended. Texas More than 100 school districts (the most recent count shows there were 73 last year) began the school year under desegregation and the first district in heavily Negro-populated East Texas- Port Arthur-announced desegregation effective m 1957. An estimated 500,000 white and 25,000 Negro students were in integrated situations without incident save for a flareup at Mansfield. Virginia The state reopened its wholly segre gated lower schools as the legislature was embroiled in a special session over Gov. Thomas B. Stanley’s new “total re sistance program. Charlottesville, ord ered to desegregate this month by a federal district court, won a stay of exe cution of the order pending a circuit court appeal. West Virginia Twenty county systems began the year fully desegregated, 21 were partly desegregated and three remained segre gated. (Eleven other counties have no Negro pupils.) Index State Page Arkansas Delaware g District of Columbia .... ..' ” g Florida j~ Georgia 5 Kentucky 5 Louisiana 44 Maryland Mississippi g Missouri jg North Carolina 10 Oklahoma 7 South Carolina 4 Tennessee 3 Texas 12 Virginia 8 West Virginia 10