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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—OCTOBER 1956—PAGE 13
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
* ppeal arguments in one federal dis-
-*• trict court case involving racial de
segregation and notice of appeal in an
other were the major developments in
Arkansas during September.
At St. Louis on Sept. 10, in the Eighth
Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge
court heard arguments by a Justice De
partment attorney and an attorney for
the Hoxie School Board in support of
the federal court injunction against in
terference with integration in the Hoxie
schools. The pro-segregation groups
which had appealed the case submitted
their arguments in a written brief. (See
“Legal Action.”)
In the other case, NAACP attorneys
filed notice of appeal at Little Rock from
an Aug. 28 ruling by Federal District
Judge John E. Miller which supported
the Little Rock School Board’s plan for
gradual integration beginning at the
high school level in 1957. (See “Legal
Action.”)
COURT ENDORSED
1) Roy Mitchell of Hot Springs, the
Republican nominee for governor in a
state in which Republicans are not con
sidered serious contenders, opened his
campaign with an outright endorsement
of the Supreme Court’s anti-segregation
decision. (See “Political Activity.”)
2) Adlai Stevenson, in a brief speech
at Little Rock Sept. 25, reiterated his
support of the Supreme Court decision
against segregation in public schools,
drawing a surprising volume of applause
from his audience. (See “Political
Activity.”)
3) The Pine Bluff School Board an
nounced that it would begin desegrega
tion in the first grade in 1958 and that it
had abandoned its plan to begin in 1957.
(See “School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
4) At Hot Springs, six Negro and four
white students enrolled in a high school
auto mechanics course opened to both
races on a voluntary basis. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
HIGH SCHOOL BEGINNING
5) The North Little Rock School
Board reaffirmed its intention to begin
integration by 1957, starting at the high
school level and working downward in
successive years, and indicated it
would adopt features of the Little Rock
plan for gradual desegregation. (See
“School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
6) About 30 persons met Sept. 18 at
Little Rock to form the Constitution
Party of Arkansas, selecting a slate of
Presidential electors and nominating T.
Coleman Andrews, former Internal
Revenue commissioner, and Thomas H.
Werdel, former Republican representa
tive from California, as its candidates.
(See “Political Activity.”)
In the Hoxie case (Hoxie School Dis
trict No. 46 of Lawrence County, et al
Missouri
(Continued from Page 12)
Nation by civic organizations. “Seldom
if ever has there been a project on
which the key civic and religious or
ganizations and social agencies have co
operated more unanimously than this,”
sa ys the report.
How new high school districts were
niapped without reference to race is
etailed in the report. Each principal
s ®nt to the central office IBM cards for
a , students enrolled. The cards con-
lofned the student’s grade level and the
number of the city block where he
ved. From this data an IBM card was
Prepared for each of the 6,000 city
ooks, showing by grade the total num-
er of high school students living in the
°ck. All indications of racial identity
^’ ere omitted from the cards. On the
Wtv? stat fsti c s thus assembled, along
iti " cons !derations of building capac-
citJ’ Stance and transportation the
v Was divided into nine high school
districts.
Children living in a new district were
fo 6n °PH° n °f remaining at their
r^mier high schools instead of transfer-
S, provided building capacities per-
a l ' always, students could also
°Ut •a ^° r P erm i ss i° n t° attend a school
me their districts. There were few
er
Perny^ Uests ^ or suc ^ special transfer
the t ^ an i n any previous year. In
s t u , tv/ ° Negro high schools, of the
Seh e H&ible to transfer to a mixed
40 0 about 60 per cent transferred and
r cent elected to remain.
CHANGES REQUESTED
in U® Rlentar y district lines were drawn
distri 6 Same way. In both cases, the new
of C ^ s Were published well in advance
bec 0 ^ e ^ re 2 a ti° n so that parents could
ten- e familiar with them. Only one
- S * f° r a change in district lines
a £r 0 i? Ce * Vec b and granted. It came from
e er ^. P °f white parents who asked that
tri^ K* blocks be retained in their dis-
to tb 6 6cause children would have to go
Pew school in a round-about way.
Justice DepartmentArguments Are Aired
As Legal Moves Feature Arkansas Month
v. Herbert Brewer, et al, Civil Action
No. J-918, Eastern District of Arkan
sas, Jonesboro Division) Henry Putzel,
Jr., a Justice Department attorney ap
pearing in support of the federal gov
ernment’s friend of the court brief,
argued for a ruling upholding the Dis
trict order against interference with in
tegration at Hoxie.
“If the court grants injunctive relief,
it should give other school boards
across the nation courage to stand up
and assert their rights in overriding any
personal feelings they might have,” he
said.
Federal District Judge Albert L.
Reeves had ruled that the campaign
against integration at Hoxie, including
a giant segregation rally, had been
marked by intimidation, acts of ter
rorism and threats of violence.
RULING DENIED
This was denied by the appellants,
who were not represented at the hear
ing but said in a written brief sub
mitted by M. V. Moody of Little Rock
that “the factual situation was simply
one in which a vast number of citizens
were undertaking to require state offi
cials to defer to popular judgment on
a question of school administration.”
In the campaign against integration
of 25 Negroes with about 1,000 white
pupils a year ago (only six Negroes are
now enrolled at Hoxie) the segregation
ists said they merely threatened a pub
lic body with legal action and picketing,
and argued this “hardly rises to the
level of supplanting public authority.”
The state of Georgia, also entering
the case as a friend of the court, con
tended that Judge Reeves’ injunction
was a restraint on the segregationists’
rights of freedom of speech and assem
bly and a violation of their constitu
tional rights.
‘STAGGERING BURDEN’
Putzel noted that the appellants did
not raise the issue of freedom of speech
in their brief “so it’s obvious they don’t
think much of it.”
Attorney Bill Penix of Jonesboro,
representing the Hoxie School Board,
said the integration dispute and court
decisions preceding it placed on the
Hoxie board members “a staggering,
unpleasant burden.”
“I think the record shows the ap
pellees at the tragic expense of great
personal suffering and grief have com
pletely fulfilled the obligations to the
federal government . . . even to the
extent of turning their back on a cen
tury of customs and mores that were
as much a part of them as life itself,”
Penix said.
The government described the prin
cipal issue in the case the question of
whether “state officials can be protect
ed in federal courts from purposeful
formidable obstruction to the perform
ance of duty imposed upon them by the
federal constitution.”
A ruling by the Appeals Court is not
expected for several weeks.
At Washington on Sept. 16, Atty. Gen.
Herbert Brownell said present plans
did not call for federal intervention on
the school integration issue beyond its
action in the Hoxie case.
APPEAL DECISIONS
On Sept. 21 at Little Rock, NAACP
attorneys representing 12 Negro pa
trons seeking immediate integration for
their 33 children filed notice with the
U.S. district court clerk’s office that
they were appealing Judge Miller’s de
cision approving Little Rock’s plan for
gradual integration. (John Aaron et al
v. William G. Cooper, board president
et al.)
The appeal notice was signed by
Thurgood Marshall of New York, chief
counsel for the NAACP; Robert L.
Carter of New York, U. Simpson Tate
of Dallas, regional NAACP attorney,
and Wiley A. Branton of Pine Bluff.
On Sept. 11, a pro-segregation group
seeking to oust three members of the
five-member Hoxie School Board ap
pealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court
a ruling by Chancery Judge Thomas
Butt of Fayetteville, sitting on ex
change, that a chancery judge does not
have authority to remove school board
members.
The suit (Herbert Brewer et al v.
Leslie Howell, as board president et al)
was filed by Brewer and other mem
bers of White America, Inc., alleging
administrative irregularities, including
the hiring of teachers related to board
members. Butt also ruled that the board
had acted properly but that it should
meet' with patrons when requested to
do so. Of the five board members who
voted to integrate in the summer of
1955, Guy Floyd, Howard Vance and
Leo Roberts still remain on the board.
Pine Bluff School Board Chairman
Gordon E. Young announced that grad
ual desegregation would begin in Sep
tember, 1958. Negroes made up 38.8 per
cent of the school population in 1952-
53. Pine Bluff’s 1950 population was 37,-
162.
The board announcement followed a
meeting the day before of a citizens
committee composed of Negroes and
whites.
Young said the board originally had
planned to begin integration in 1957 but
later decided to delay a start until 1958
when it was learned that a building
program would not be completed until
then.
The plan calls for integration in the
first grade the first year, the second
grade in the second year and contin
uing until all 12 grades are integrated.
MIGHT DELAY
The statement by Young indicated
that the board might delay some phase
of integration in case of “overcrowd
ing or surplus facilities.” It said that
“no pupil whose race or color is in the
minority shall be required to attend
that school. He should be allowed but
not required to attend the school near
est his home in which his race or color
predominates.”
Hot Springs began its program of
gradual integration Sept. 4 with a vol
untary high school class in auto me
chanics for white and Negro students.
Negroes made up 14.7 per cent of the
school population in 1952-53. Hot
Springs’ population in 1950 was 29,307.
With six Negro and four white stu
dents enrolled on the first day, Dr. Imon
Bruce, superintendent of schools, said
he had talked to all the students the
first morning and “everything was go
ing smoothly.”
The classes are held in a garage at
the edge of Hot Springs. At noon, stu
dents get transportation back to their
separate high schools in the city.
POLICY CONFIRMED
On Sent. 6, the North Little Rock
School Board, at the request of Supt.
F. B. Wright, confirmed the policy it
established on integregation in July,
1955, and gave Wright full authority to
“restate and conform to” the policy.
The 1955 policy was to “look forward
to desegregation beginning within two
years” and to begin with the twelfth
grade and continue downward one
grade each year.”
“There will have to be considerable
work done before we actually nut the
plan into effect,” Wright said. “But we
do expect to have a plan by the fall of
1957.” Wright said he thought the dis
trict would be moving in an “accepta
ble” direction if it followed the Little
Rock plan for gradual integration, bas
ing his statement on the federal court
aporoval of the Little Rock plan.
On Aug. 30, the contract of Virgil T.
Blossom, superintendent of Little Rock
schools, was extended another year by
the school board, which voted to give
Blossom a new three-year contract
dated back to July 1. His old contract
had two more years to run. Under law,
the board cannot give more than a
three-year contract to a superinten
dent. The contract extension was a
commendation from the board for the
manner in which Blossom, as the dis
trict’s chief administrative officer, han
dled the integration suit against the
district. Blossom was the principal wit
ness for the board in the federal court
hearing.
Later, in a speech at a Parent-
Teacher Association meeting, Blossom
said the success of integration at Little
Rock would depend largely upon public
support.
“Intelligent cooperation will give us
the kind of results we can be proud of
—both educationally and on the ques
tion of good citizenship,” he said.
Blossom said the board would move
“slowly, cautiously and carefully”
toward complete integration.
“And we will not lower but improve
our educational system as we inte
grate,” Blossom said. “Too many school
districts have made the mistake of low
ering their educational level by jump
ing into total integration.”
IN THE COLLEGES
———-
Negro students were reported en
rolled in all state-supported colleges
when the fall semester opened but no
accurate count was available. A few
Negroes began entering undergraduate
courses in the state colleges last year
and early enrollment reports this year
indicate the number ranges from one
to 12 in each of the colleges.
The University of Arkansas volun
tarily opened its doors to Negro grad
uate students in 1947.
Administrative officials of the state
colleges generally are reluctant to give
figures on the number of Negroes en
rolled, apparently taking the position
that publicity might create trouble
where none exists now. Some of the
college officials say they keep no rec
The effect of the change was to send the
white children involved to a school with
more Negroes than would have been
the case under the original districting.
Southern leaders of the National As
sociation for the Advancement of
Colored People met in St. Louis Sept. 22
for a private discussion of school inte
gration. State presidents were present
from Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Ken
tucky, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee,
Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Dela
ware and Missouri. National board
members attended from Georgia, Okla
homa, Tennessee and Virginia, as did
members of the New York staff, includ
ing Roy Wilkins, executive secretary,
and Thurgood Marshall, special counsel.
A statement issued by Wilkins during
the closed meeting said: “Leaders of the
NAACP in 14 southern and border
states met to discuss recent events in
the South and to consider ways and
means of meeting the present and fu
ture developments.
STATE BANS CITED
“Three states—Louisiana, Alabama
and Texas—have issued injunctions
banning NAACP activities. Virginia,
South Carolina and other states have
passed laws designed to restrict activ
ities of the association. Mississippi has
announced the formation of a secret
police force. Today’s session was called
to consider methods of dealing with the
issues created by such state action.
“In addition to anti-NAACP legisla
tion, mob defiance of the Supreme
Court’s ruling against segregation in
public schools was reported on by rep
resentatives of the states concerned.
There was unanimous agreement among
the conferees that this wave of persecu
tion would not deter them from con
tinuing to forward the legal and con
stitutional efforts to secure compliance
with the Supreme Court ruling. They
reported unabated support for the pro
gram in their respective states.”
Missouri Democrats and Republicans
both bid for the Negro vote in their
state platforms, adopted at state con
ventions Sept. 11.
The Democrats adopted a civil rights
plank which went beyond that of the
national convention at Chicago. “We
pledge,” the platform declared, “a
thorough-going revision of existing
legislation to strengthen the administra
tion and judicial machinery for the pro
tection of civil rights, and to give the
maximum protection to the enjoyment
of rights guaranteed by the Constitu
tion. In particular, we pledge the enact
ment of legislation to protect security
of the person from mob violence and to
empower individuals and government
agencies to resort to the courts for en
forcement of constitutional guarantees.”
The Democrats also promised passage of
a law prohibiting discrimination in em
ployment, but did not specifically come
out for a fair employment practices
commission.
NATIONAL PLATFORM LAUDED
The Republican civil rights plank
promised an end of racial discrimina
tion in state employment, praised the
plank in the national platform, and de
clared that progress can be achieved
through intelligent study, understand
ing, education and good will.” President
Eisenhower was praised for abolishing
discrimination in the armed services, in
federal employment and in work per
formed under federal contracts.
We pledge our party in Missouri to
strive for the enactment of such legisla
tion as will support the national admin
istration in this field,” said the GOP
platform.
Republicans are hoping to pick up
new strength among Negro voters in St.
Louis and Kansas City because of the
school segregation fight in the South.
ords by race and will only estimate the
number of Negroes. Best guesses on
the number of Negroes now enrolled
in previously all-white colleges range
from 50 to 100, including undergraduate
and graduate level.
Dr. John Tyler Caldwell, president
of the University of Arkansas, said he
thought the number of Negroes en
rolled this year would be about the
same number as the “five or six” who
took undergraduate courses at the uni
versity last year. Most of them were
taking pre-medical courses.
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
On his first campaign stop in the
South, Adlai Stevenson in a speech at
Little Rock expressed his personal en
dorsement of the Supreme Court deseg
regation ruling and drew applause and
cheers from many in the crowd of
about 5,000.
It was the same position Stevenson
had spelled out before, but it was the
first time he took it in the South.
The first applause came when Ste
venson called for “law-abiding citizens”
to accept the decision. He was applaud
ed again when he also endorsed the
Democratic platform plank which said
that force should not be used to in
terfere with the court’s determination
of segregation matters.
HIS STATEMENT
This is what Stevenson said on the
subject;
“There is today a critical division of
national opinion regarding recognition
of the common rights of American cit
izens of different racial origins. This
division is reflected in the Democratic
p ar ty—necessarily reflected because,
unlike the Republican Party, ours is a
national party which has its roots in
every section of the country.
“I find reason for great encourage
ment in the fact that the Democratic
Party has risen above this division.
Here is the promise, the assurance, that
the nation too will rise above this di
vision.
“The Supreme Court has deter
mined unanimously that the Constitu
tion does not permit segregation in the
schools. As you know, for I have made
my position clear on this from the start,
I believe that decision to be right.
“Some of you feel strongly to the con
trary.
“But what is most important is that
we agree that once the Supreme Court
has decided this constitutional question,
we accept that decision as law-abiding
citizens.
‘COMMON GOAL’
“Our common goal is the orderly ac
complishment of the result decreed by
the court. I said long ago and I stand
now squarely on the plain statement,
adopted in the Democratic platform,
that ‘we reject all proposals for the use
of force to interfere with the orderly
determination of these matters by the
courts.’
“The court’s decree provides for the
ways and means of putting into effect
the principle it sets forth. I am confi
dent that this decision will be carried
out in the manner prescribed by the
courts. I have repeatedly exoressed the
belief, however, that the office of the
Presidency should be used to bring to
gether those of opposing views in this
matter—to the end of creating a climate
for ueaceful acceptance of this deci
sion.”
GOP CANDIDATES
Roy Mitchell, an attorney, opened his
campaign for governor on the Republi
can ticket Sent. 7. In a radio speech
he said that if elected he would direct
his efforts toward gradual integration
in the schools because the Supreme
Court anti-segregation decision was the
“law of the land.” He said he would
appoint a committee of leaders of both
races to work out a “sane” solution to
the problems of integration. Mitchell is
running against the Democrat incum
bent, Orval Faubus.
The Constitution Party, formed Sept.
18 at Little Rock, is a group of con
servatives standing for states rights.
Among the platform planks were these:
A return to states’ rights, including
the right of the states to interpose their
authority over federal authority in op
erating the public schools.
A constitutional amendment to re
form the Supreme Court which has
conducted “a cunning attack on the con-
st'tution.”
Dr. George P. Branscum, a Little
Rock dentist, is party chairman.
On Sept. 15 in convention at Little
Rock, the Arkansas Democratic Voters
Association, the largest Nesro political
group in the state, decided to sponsor
a get-out-the-vote campaign aimed at
defeating interposition amendments.
The association urged Negroes to pay
their poll taxes and vote in the gen
eral election because “the issues today
are the most important' ever faced by
our electorate.”