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Objective
VOL. III. NO. 4
NASHVILLE. TENN.
$2 PER YEAR
OCTOBER. 1956
]\|0B violence and boycotts upholding segregation in some areas while uneventful
desegregation proceeded in others—sometimes within the same state—presented
a contrasting picture of the new school year, now in its second month.
National guardsmen or state police (or both) were summoned in Tennessee, Ken
tucky and Texas. Minor demonstrations occurred in West Virginia and Maryland.
Kentucky, mob action, parental boycott and a legal opinion combined to remove
Negroes from two schools; at Clinton, Term., a dozen Negroes remained in a prev
iously all-white high school after several days of violence. Texas Rangers moved
Negroes from Mansfield High School at the instance of Gov. Allan Shivers after
they had been enrolled there under federal court order.
Meanwhile, an exclusive Southern School News survey showed that 650 individ
ual school districts have completed or have begun the desegregation process. In
cluding the school zones of the District of Columbia, the figure is 797, for a net
increase of 208 since the beginning of the 1955 school year. (See table on Page 2.)
(There are approximately 3,711 school
districts having Negroes in the 17-state
area plus the District of Columbia.)
Among the districts which desegre
gated without incident was the Louis
ville system, where some 54,000 whites
and 12,000 Negroes participated peace
fully in a “top-to-bottom” switch-over
to mixed schooling.
REPORT ON SURVEY
The SSN survey also showed 319,184
Negroes in “integrated situations” to
gether with nearly 2,000,000 white chil
dren. An “integrated situation” is one
in which Negroes are either attending
or are eligible to attend mixed schools
or are enrolled in districts in which the
desegregation process has begun. Ap
proximately 2,400,000 Negroes still are
in segregated districts.
Additional desegregation recorded
during September included a large
number of districts not previously re
ported in Missouri and Kentucky and
one in Maryland.
To the some 84 pieces of pro-segrega
tion legislation enacted since the 1954
Supreme Court decision, Virginia added
23 measures. In a third state—Texas—
an effort was under way to ban activ
ities of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People through
court action. There (at Tyler) testimony
showed that Herman Marion Sweatt,
onetime Houston mail-carrier who won
entry to the University of Texas law
school in the celebrated case (Sweatt v.
Painter) which broke down the “sep
arate but equal” doctrine in higher edu
cation in 1950, had a contract with the
NAACP calling for $11,500 which was
the equivalent of his salary plus “un
foreseen expenses” for three years. A
Texas Negro publisher said in a public
statement that a fund to help Sweatt go
to college was raised by friends in
Houston.
National attention was focused on the
District of Columbia, where a House
subcommittee began open hearings on
conditions within the District’s three-
year desegregated system.
A state-by-state summary of major
developments during September fol
lows:
Alabama
Two unsuccessful efforts were made
by individuals to enroll children in all-
white schools—in one instance a Negro
child who is the ward of a white woman
—as some Alabama PTAs “revolted”
against the policies of the national or
ganization.
Arkansas
A federal court heard the Hoxie case
growing out of a months-long effort to
interrupt the desegregation process),
with the federal government intervening
to back an injunction against pro-segre
gationists. The State of Georgia, also
intervening, charged the injunction
denied segregationists their civil rights.
Delaware
A privately conducted public opinion
sampling indicated that half the voters
disapprove the U.S. Supreme Court de
cision against public school segregation,
reportedly surprising some observers
who had expected a larger margin of
opposition.
District of Columbia
House hearings concerning conditions
in Washington’s school system began
with testimony from schoolmen on
standards, pupil behavior and other fac
tors affected by integration. Some wit
nesses reported Negro achievement' lag
and discipline problems; others found
the process satisfactory. The inquiry was
both criticized and praised as the month
ended.
Florida
A group of Florida business and pro
fessional men, including a former gov
ernor, announced organization of a
nationwide movement to amend the
U.S. Constitution so as to allow each
state to settle its racial problems.
Georgia
Herman Talmadge, nominated over
whelmingly to succeed U.S. Sen. Walter
F. George, said he did not believe segre
gation will break down in Georgia dur
ing his lifetime.
Kentucky
Mob action at desegregating Clay,
Sturgis and Weaverton schools brought
national guardsmen to the scene in the
first two instances and white boycotts
in all three. Negroes were removed from
Clay and Sturgis under a ruling by the
attorney general. Meanwhile, desegrega
tion proceeded peacefully in Louisville,
Frankfort and scores of other com
munities representing between 75 per
cent and 85 per cent of the districts hav
ing Negro pupils.
Louisiana
No additional Negroes enrolled in tax-
supported colleges under Louisiana’s
new segregation laws, which proponents
were seeking to apply to mid-term
registrations in order to remove the
some 200 Negroes now studying at the
institutions.
Maryland
Desegregation proceeded smoothly in
most counties—some desegregating for
the first time—with disturbances of a
non-violent nature reported at four
schools out of approximately 200 now
admitting Negroes.
Mississippi
State officials laid plans for an Oc
tober tour of New England newsmen as
part of a program designed to acquaint
“outsiders” with the state’s segregation
pattern.
Missouri
With 184 districts out of 244 having
Negroes now desegregated, observers
studied a 63-page report holding the St.
Louis school desegregation experience
successful because t'he community had
begun the process in other areas and
was ready for this new step.
North Carolina
Voters approved by better than four
to one the “Pearsall Plan” to maintain
segregation through a private tuition
payment system and local option school
closing, with the plan coming under le
gal challenge five days after the refer
endum.
Oklahoma
One more district was desegregated as
a move began in the “Little Dixie” area
to conduct a referendum on school inte
gration.
South Carolina
The state’s new anti-NAACP law is
being challenged in the courts. The pro-
(See DEVELOPMENTS, Page 2)
Index
State Page
Alabama 9
Arkansas 13
Delaware 10
District of Columbia 6
Florida n
Georgia 10
Kentucky 3
Louisiana 5
Maryland 8
Mississippi 2
Missouri 12
North Carolina 7
Oklahoma 12
South Carolina 4
Tennessee 15
Texas 14
Virginia 16
West Virginia 5
110 Colleges
Of 208 Open
To Negroes
Approximately 110 tax-supported col
leges and universities of the 208 such
schools in the South now admit Negro
students in practice or in principle.
About 100 of these schools in the Dis
trict of Columbia and in 12 of the 17
southern states have Negroes on their
campuses.
All institutions of higher learning in
Oklahoma, Missouri, Maryland, West
Virginia and Kentucky operate under
non-segregation policies, but Negroes
have not applied for admission to some
of them.
States which do not' admit Negroes to
white public colleges or universities, or
to public schools at any other level, in
clude Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,
South Carolina and Florida.
NO MISSISSIPPI APPLICANTS
Mississippi has had no Negro appli
cants for admission to any of its white
public colleges this year. Alabama, which
had one Negro on the campus of its
state university briefly last winter, re
ceived two applications. South Caro-
nna’s Clemson Agriculture and Mech
anical College has received applications
rom two Negroes. Both the University
of Georgia and the University of Florida
aw schools are involved in court actions
with Negroes seeking admittance.
'HO colleges and universities
r °ughout the region now willing to
accept Negro students represents an in
crease of six over the 104 identified in
t «ch. Three of them are in Texas and
ree are in North Carolina.
Since most colleges, particularly in
I 6 border and mid-South states, no
°uger keep student records showing
?.®, fbe number of Negroes actually en-
0 ed in formerly all-white colleges is
0 certain. The number probably does
0 exceed 2,000 during the regular
ler ms.
^OLLMENT DOUBLE
m t S * S a ^ mos f double the number esti-
1 , ea ® public colleges and universities
it . year by Dr. Guy Johnson of the
co Versity North Carolina. He also
tend PUted that about 2 > 000 Negroes at-
w >. ea summ er sessions at formerly all-
te schools last year.
leg state -by-state summary of the col-
jjjj® ®*fuation in those areas which ad-
j ns f, Negroes to their tax-supported
A L 01 * higher learning follows:
a ll_ r “ ansas —All eight of the formerly
c* 1 ** colleges have Negroes on
S9 ^ Us in compliance with the non-
s ^. e ? a bon policy established for the
N e _ In 1955. Estimates of the number of
t° j ° students enrolled range from 50
c ° , . graduates and undergraduates
o n lne d, with each school having from
tain ° Negroes. The state still main-
s one all-Negro school.
War 6 a ^ Vare —The University of Dela-
s eV( f , as Emitted Negro students for
the ra years bu t there is no estimate of
p^ber attending. The only other
lcly supported college in the state
is Delaware State College, predom
inantly Negro.
District of Columbia—The formerly
Negro and white teachers’ colleges have
been merged, leaving for purposes of
this count one integrated institution.
29 KENTUCKY COLLEGES
Kentucky—All eight of the formerly
white public colleges now admit Neg
roes, though it is uncertain whether
Negroes have applied at all of them. A
recent tabulation of colleges and uni
versities, public and private, showed 29
schools with Negroes enrolled. The
number of Negroes on formerly all-
white campuses was estimated last
spring at 550, with the University of
Louisville having “several hundred”
Negroes. The Negro enrollment at the
University of Kentucky this fall was
down slightly, to 83. The state still main
tains a predominantly Negro college
which has five or six white students en
rolled in night classes.
Louisiana—Four of the seven state
supported colleges formerly for white
students now accept Negroes. Negro
enrollment in these schools is expected
to drop from about 400 to less than 200
this fall under the new segregation
legislation (Acts 15, 249, 250 and 252)
adopted in July. (See Louisiana report,
Page 5). The state has two all-Negro
institutions.
Maryland—All 10 of the formerly
white tax-supported colleges and uni
versities now operate under non-segre
gation policies, though last year no
Negroes applied at two of them or at
three of the seven private white schools
which receive state financial support
through scholarship grants. Maryland
last year had three all-Negro institu
tions.
Missouri—Missouri last year enrolled
Negro students at 10 of the 15 formerly
all-white colleges and universities
which now operate on desegregated
bases. Enrollments varied from perhaps
two hundred at Harris Teachers College
in St. Louis to “a few” at Central Mis
souri State College at Warrensburg.
Predominantly Negro Lincoln Univer
sity had 10 to 20 white students last
year.
North Carolina—With 11 publicly-
supported colleges mainly for whites
and six for Negroes, North Carolina this
fall had 19 Negroes enrolled in four di
visions of the consolidated university
system. The University of North Caro
lina at Chapel Hill has seven Negro
graduate students and four undergrad
uates; North Carolina State College at
Raleigh has five Negro undergraduates;
Woman’s College at Greensboro has two
Negro undergraduates and Gaston
Technical Institute has one Negro study
ing auto mechanics.
Oklahoma—All 22 publicly-supported
colleges and universities in the state op
erate on an unsegregated basis, includ
ing Langston University which is
predominantly Negro. There is no esti
mate either of the total Negro enroll
ment or the number of schools which
actually have Negro students on campus.
NONE AT SENIOR LEVEL
Tennessee—Six of the seven public
colleges and universities in the state op
erate under policies of non-segregation
at the graduate level and the senior
level in the undergraduate divisions. The
exception is the University of Tennessee
which accepts Negroes at the graduate
level only and had some 32 enrolled at
its Knoxville campus and its extension
centers last year. Negroes also attend
Austin Peay State College (two last
(See COLLEGES, Page 2)
Top to bottom desegregation began in Louisville, Ky. public schools (above)
last month with only a few minor incidents reported. A hundred miles to the west,
however, national guardsmen escorted Negro children into formerly all-white
schools at Sturgis and Clay (below). The upper photo shows a mixed 10th grade
class at Eastern High School where about 25 Negro pupils enrolled in the student
body of about 1,800. The bottom photo shows an uncertain 10-year-old Negro being
directed toward the Clay school from which he was later excluded under an
opinion by the Kentucky attorney general.
Protests, Peaceful Integration Mark Month