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iool News
Objective
VOL. Ill, NO. 5
NASHVILLE, TENN.
$2 PER YEAR
NOVEMBER, 1956
Key Court Decisions Pondered in Region
^Phbvp vvv rnnowi nrr ‘ 1 ’ ...
462
Many
ro Teachers Out,
Land in New Jobs
Neg
M any, if not most, of the 462 Ne
gro teachers in the border states
who have been dismissed from their jobs
because of school desegregation have
been placed in other teaching jobs—
some of them at higher pay— with the
possible exception of those in Okla
homa.
A Southern School News survey of
the effects the school segregation-de
segregation question has had upon
teacher tenure show that 304 Negro
teachers have been displaced in Okla
homa, perhaps as many as 60 in Ken
tucky, 58 in West Virginia, 20 in Mis
souri and about 20 in Texas. In other
states, some teachers, Negro and white,
have been dismissed or asked to resign
as a result of controversies growing out
of the segregation-desegregation issue.
These include at least 24 in South Caro
lina, two each in Virginia and Dela
ware, one in Florida and one in Georgia.
This would bring the total number of
known teacher displacements or threats
of dismissal to 491, as compared to the
“less than 300” reported last year.
(Southern School News, November
1955.)
However, the latest check made by
SSN indicates that practically all of the
teachers so displaced in Texas, Mis
souri, Kentucky and West Virginia have
been re-employed, usually in the same
states.
Only in Oklahoma, where the bulk of
the teacher displacement has occurred,
has this pattern varied. There, roughly
one-sixth of the 1,697 Negro teachers
employed in 1954 have been displaced as
112 Negro schools have been abolished
in the desegregation process.
20 ACTUAL CASES
The picture is clearest, perhaps, in
Missouri, where estimates of teacher
displacements run as high as 40, but
152,751 New Classrooms
Needed in Area By 1960
j^jCHOOL SYSTEMS IN 16 SOUTHERN and
border states need—and hope to get
“■nearly $2.5 billion for the construc-
lon or renovation of 152,751 classrooms
y I960, according to an exclusive sur-
Ve y by Southern School News.
Where this record sum of money is
,. r n°wed, the survey showed, record
*§h interest rates—rising to as much
as 4 per cent—are anticipated. In some
wstances the interest rate and the
j°spect of selling school bonds are
°uded by the segregation controversy.
a ?j exas leads the region in number of
aiffonal classrooms needed by 1960.
^nofficial estimates of the Texas Edu-
clV° n Agency P lace the need at 31,000
Sl4 Sr ° 0ms and anticipated spending of
million to provide them. Actually,
5450
siii is , a ' x>ut half the amount needed,
to °b • agency figures it costs $30,000
keilitj ° ne classroom and auxiliary
2o oria 61 ' c lassroom needs: Kentucky,
annk; Geor g ia > 15,000; Alabama, 13,000.
a North Carolina, 10,480.
c ap A city limited
c atir ) SS0Ur *' S State Department of Edu-
6Stimates that 8 ’°°° additional
C 0st < ^ 0 ? s be needed by 1960 at a
$ai(j °«;p i P 8a million. Of this amount, it
u nd ” million cannot be met locally
Mississippi’s 4 per cent: the lowest,
Maryland’s minus 2 per cent, available
where districts are able to make use of
state credit. Dr. A. R. Meadows, Ala
bama state superintendent of education,
noted that the present rate of 3 per cent
was substantially above the 1.14 per
cent and 1.18 per cent paid respectively
by Jefferson and Mobile counties a dec
ade ago.
VIRGINIA SITUATION
From Virginia, SSN Correspondent
Overton Jones reported: “As to interest
rates, bond men refuse even to hazard
a guess as to what the rate on a school
bond issue would be today. There has
been no sale for several months in Vir
ginia. Meanwhile, the bond market has
changed in general, but, more impor
tant, Virginia has enacted its new anti
integration program, with the threat of
closing schools. Some bond men say
they are not even sure a school bond
issue now would sell at all.”
The same uncertainty was evident in
a statement attributed to a large Nash
ville bond house. It said: “At present
southern school bonds are not looked
on with favor by outside dealers and
bond buyers because of uncertainties
with regard to segregation and what
might be done in some southern states
fJ'HREE key court decisions concerning school segregation-desegregation and similarly important court deliberations in three
other states highlighted a busy month in the 17 southern and border states.
The key rulings were (1) in Tennessee, where the state supreme court invalidated segregation laws under U. S. Supreme
Court interpretations, holding that “non-racial discrimination means integration” and later striking this phrase from its de
cision, (2) in the Hoxie, Ark. case, where the U.S. Attorney General intervened in a test case described as having “nation
wide impact” and (3) in Texas where I
where only 20 actual cases can be pin
pointed.
From St. Louis, SSN Correspondent
Robert Lasch reports:
“At Moberly, Mo., 11 Negro teachers
were dismissed at the end of the 1954-55
school year, when the board of educa
tion decided to close the Negro school at
the start of the 1955-56 school year, and
integrate the pupils in other schools.
Eight of these teachers later filed suit in
U.S. district court, with NAACP sup
port, seeking restoration of their jobs
and damages. Testimony has been heard
and a decision is expected by U.S. Judge
Roy W. Harper after Jan. 1.
“Of the 11 teachers dismissed: One,
the principal of the Moberly Negro
school, has been employed at about the
same salary as principal of a segregated
elementary school at Fulton, which has
integrated its junior and senior high
schools but not the lower grades.
“One has been employed as a teacher
at Sedalia, Mo. at a $300 a year salary
increase. Two others have been em
ployed as teachers at Columbia, Mo. at
salary increases of $250 and $350 per
year. One is teaching at Robertson, a
suburb of St. Louis, probably at higher
pay. One is a substitute teacher in East
St. Louis, Ill. One has been employed as
dean of women at Lincoln University, a
predominantly Negro college at Jeffer
son City, at $4,700 a year as compared
with $2,700 she received at Moberly.
However, she testified she would prefer
to have her old job back, as Moberly was
her home.
“One is still unemployed; and three
are unaccounted for.
TWO OTHERS SUE
“At Webster Groves, a suburb of St.
Louis, nine Negro teachers were dis
missed at the end of the 1955-56 school
(See TEACHERS. Page 2)
the state won a sweeping injunction
against operation of the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Colored
People.
Meanwhile, a survey of school enroll
ment figures showed 21 more districts
desegregated in Oklahoma and one more
in Texas. Kentucky reported mixed
classes in 92 districts (six less than ap
peared from the count in Southern
School News last month) with 17 addi
tional districts planning integration but
having no mixed classes.
Counting the District of Columbia’s
169 school zones as one district, deseg
regation is now in effect in some degree
in 666 school districts out of about 3,700
in the region which have Negro pupils.
Other court actions involved South
Carolina, where a new law barring
government employment of NAACP
members was being tested; North Caro
lina, where the 1955 pupil placement
act was being reviewed in the Fourth
Circuit Court; and Virginia, where the
state sought dismissal of three integra
tion suits under power of recently en
acted segregation laws.
The segregation-desegregation issue
figured in the general election cam
paigns at the national level, though
some states repdrted voters apathetic
on the subject. A basic tenet of the
States’ Rights party, which held its na
tional convention in Richmond, Va., was
continued school segregation. Candi
dates of the two major parties spoke in
the South, using Kentucky as their
principal sounding board; and south
erners reacted to the claim, later re
pudiated, of a northern Negro congress
man that President Eisenhower favored
jailing anyone who disobeys court or
ders to desegregate.
In the Deep South, Louisiana turned
its attention from efforts to re-segregate
state colleges to a record-high Negro
voter registration. Alleged purging of
Negro voters from poll lists was also an
issue in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia
and South Carolina.
Desegregation planning, both formal
and informal, was reported from two
large population areas: Nashville, Tenn.,
where the school board approved first-
grade desegregation in 1957 on a vol
untary transfer basis, and Dade (Mi
ami) County, Florida, where civic
leaders began neighborhood discussions
in preparation for integration.
A state-by-state summary of major
developments during October follows:
Alabama
Each national political party blamed
the other for the South’s segregation
problems in pre-election debate which
generally found Alabama voters indif
ferent to campaign issues.
Arkansas
In what U.S. Atty. Gen. Herbert
Brownell called a test case of federal
intervention, the U.S. Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals held that an Arkansas
school board in desegregating had a
federal right to be free from “direct
and deliberate interference.”
Delaware
School segregation failed to develop
as an issue in the general election cam
paign. Oral arguments were heard in
the first of eight Delaware desegrega
tion suits.
District of Columbia
In a windup of the congressional in
vestigation of the District school sys
tem Supt. Hobart M. Coming testified
that a gap between the former segre-
UI >eler nrcc Ti. migm oe uone in some soumern states mat a gap between the former segre
‘lets. (Vh en i bondmg ca P ac ity of dis- toward continued support of public gated divisions of the system was re-
f °f SplL, e state now P rov ides no aid schools... If issues are large enough to sponsible for mam/ of
_cnool construction.)
°th er ^ er ^ to § e t it—and how” plagued
0Ve rcr Scho °l systems. So did current
ar eas ceding of classrooms in some
aesterfield County, Virginia, is
f ooif, s ng w ith eight temporary class-
schooi’ rented spaces and 11 off-
*#(5. c, „
1,1 0n e eg r e §ation hy sex is necessary
*Hod S i° o1 —rented classrooms in a
°r>lv n * S Parsonage—because there is
i S Cra, WaShr t 00m
Tt '°Ubl e sou thern states have money
r ates. rp, com Phcated by high interest
e highest rate in the area is
schools ... If issues are large enough to
require outside placements, they would
not sell anywhere near the existing
market levels.”
However, school building continues
apace. Arkansas spent $65 million from
1949-50 through 1953-54, and of this
$50,400,000 was raised through bond is-
c ho 0 i . spaces and ll on- $50,400,000 was raised through bond is-
®0ar d c assrooms owned by the school sues. On Oct. 12 the North Little Rock
its 1 1 • Tit i it, n
school board voted to sell $750,000
worth of construction bonds at an in
terest rate of 3.79 per cent to a combine
of two Little Rock investment firms.
Previously the board had voted to sell
only half of the $1.5 million bond issue
(See CLASSROOMS, Page 16)
sponsible for many of Washington’s
educational problems.
Florida
The right of a school teacher to speak
out on a controversial subject such as
segregation became an issue in the
state. In Dade (Miami) County civic
leaders began neighborhood discussions
to prepare for desegregation.
Georgia
Two new measures strengthening the
state s segregation policy may be sub
mitted to the legislature in January.
They are: (1) A fund to tell “the Geor
gia story” in state, South and nation,
and (2) a $10 million appropriation for
grants-in-aid to parents who want to
migrate to integrated states, providing
$1,000 for moving expenses, six months’
rent and time lost while seeking em
ployment, in hardship cases.
Kentucky
Enrollment figures disclosed there
were mixed classes in 232 schools in 92
of 177 biracial districts, 17 additional
districts with integration plans but no
mixed classes, and 68 districts with no
announced plans.
CHARLES S. JOHNSON
Served on SERS Board
gouiHERN School News announces
with regret the death of Dr. Charles
S. Johnson of Nashville, a member of
the board of directors of the Southern
Education Reporting Service since its in
ception in 1954.
Dr. Johnson, who was 63, died of a
heart attack in Louisville, Ky., Oct. 27
while en route to New York to attend
a meeting of the board of directors of
Fisk University, of which he was presi
dent.
In a statement for the SERS board of
directors, Chairman Virginius Dabney,
editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch,
said:
“The sudden passing of Dr. Charles S.
Johnson, the distinguished president of
Fisk University, removes one of the most
valued members of the board of South
ern Education Reporting Service.
“Dr. Johnson was a tower of strength
from the beginning of the enterprise,
and his courageous and statesmanlike
approach to our problem was a con
stant inspiration. We shall miss him
sorely.”
Funeral rites for Dr. Johnson were
conducted from Fisk University chapel
Oct. 31.
A distinguished sociologist, Dr. John
son became president of Fisk in 1946
and held numerous positions of trust and
honor nationally. He was the author of
18 books and some 70 magazine articles,
the most prominent among the former
being The Negro College Graduate. He
received honorary degrees from the Uni
versity of Glasgow (the first such honor
ever accorded an American Negro),
Howard University, Columbia Univer
sity and Harvard University, among
others. He was a United States delegate
to the first World Council of Churches
in Amsterdam and to the United Na
tions Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.
Nashville newspapers, commenting
editorially upon Dr. Johnson’s death,
said:
The Nashville Banner
“In the death of Dr. Charles S. John
son, Fisk University has lost a notable
executive officer, and the field of higher
education an able exponent. Moreover,
Nashville has lost a citizen. In the field
of race relations, where he was a top
spokesman, he made no compromise in
(Continued on Page 2)
Louisiana
With legislative defenses raised
against integration, especially in col
leges, Louisiana segregation advocates
turned their attention to what they saw
as an integration threat in all-time high
Negro voter registration.
Maryland
Fall enrollment figures showed 151,-
094 whites and 22,990 Negroes in 210
mixed schools, mostly in Baltimore.
Mississippi
Twenty New England weekly news
paper editors, winding up a state-spon
sored tour of Mississippi, agreed it will
take “time, education and biracial co
operation” if integration is to be ac
complished.
Missouri
A survey showed Negroes entering
formerly all-white colleges in larger
numbers but “nothing like a flood.”
North Carolina
The Fourth Circuit Court at Rich
mond, Va., was hearing a contest of
North Carolina’s pupil placement law,
with indications that the measure might
be modified or invalidated by court
order.
Oklahoma
A survey showed 21 more districts
desegregated for a total of 182 out of 261
having Negroes.
South Carolina
A federal court in Charleston was
testing validity of a 1956 law barring
government employment of NAACP
members. A $120,000 libel suit against
the Sumter NAACP was settled out of
court for $10,000.
Texas
The state was granted a temporary
injunction against further operation of
the NAACP. According to latest count
Negroes are attending or are eligible to
attend classes with whites in 104 school
districts. (Editor’s Note: Last month
this summary incorrectly stated that
“Texas Rangers moved Negroes from
Mansfield High School.” Actually, no
Negro enrolled at Mansfield High.
Rangers were sent to the school, during
picketing, with orders to arrest anyone,
white or Negro, “whose actions are such
as to represent a threat to the peace.”)
Tennessee
The Tennessee supreme court ruled
state segregation laws void and said the
U.S. Supreme Court decisions must be
interpreted: “Non-racial discrimination
means integration.” On Oct. 30 this lan
guage was deleted and the opinion
modified. The Nashville School Board
drafted a plan for desegregation begin
ning with the first grade in 1957 on a
voluntary transfer basis.
Virginia
In its first action under new anti
integration laws the state moved in
court to dismiss desegregation petitions
in Norfolk, Newport News and Prince
Edward County.
West Virginia
An NAACP suit to hasten desegrega
tion—the ninth in two years—was
brought against Harrison County, where
a graduated program has been under
way for two years.
Index
State Page
Alabama io
Arkansas 12
Delaware 15
District of Columbia 14
Florida 7
Georgia 9
Kentucky n
Louisiana 15
Maryland 4
Mississippi 3
Missouri 16
North Carolina 12
Oklahoma 2
South Carolina 13
Tennessee 6
Texas 8
Virginia 5
West Virginia 10