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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JANUARY 1957—Page 3 Beating of S. C. Man Lends Violent Overtone to Otherwise Calm Month COLUMBIA, S. C. He Kershaw County beating of a high school band director in late pecember gave a climax of violence to w hat had otherwise been a relatively tranquil month of race relations in South Carolina. Guy Hutchins, 52- vear-old director of the Camden High School band, was beaten severely in the early morning hours of Dec. 29 by hood ed men who accused him of having made a pro-integration speech—an ac cusation denied by Hutchins and un- supported by any prior reports. (See ••Miscellaneous.”) Meanwhile, there was little indica tion of any major legislative proposals to be introduced at the forthcoming an nual session of the South Carolina Gen eral Assembly. The Special Segregation Committee, which maintains a continu ing study of the entire field of race re lations as it affects the state, says no major proposals will be sponsored by it at the 1957 session unless new situa tions warrant. Meanwhile, a few in dividual legislators have indicated that they might have pro-segregation meas ures ready for introduction at the ses sion’s opening. Legal developments in two lawsuits involving segregation are at a stand still for the moment, although racial separation on city buses suffered a set back in one case which has been re manded to the district court for trial. (See “Legal Action.”) Ku Klux Klan activities underwent a change in tactics, while membership drives continued in several counties. During December, attorneys repre senting litigants in the case of Sarah Mae Flemming Brown v. South Caro lina Electric and Gas Co. received copies of a Fourth Circuit Court order remand ing the bus segregation suit back to the district court at Columbia. Although the case comprises a $25,000 damage suit based on alleged deprivation of civil rights growing out of enforcement of segregation on city buses, it is directly linked with earlier school segregation cases. The Fourth Circuit Court, in sending the case back (for the second time) for jury trial in the district court, had this to say with reference to Judge George Bell Timmerman’s dismissal of the case on grounds that state segregation laws were valid at the time of the bus inci dent: “The significant fact Is that the cases of Brown v. Board of Education, and Bolling v. Sharpe, were decided on May y. 1954, prior to the actions of the driver on which this suit was based, while these were school cases the opin- 10ns I aft no doubt that the separate but e 9ual doctrine had been generally re pudiated ... N ’0T ‘COMPLETE DEFENSE’ In most jurisdictions it is held that j ance on a statute subsequently de- c ared unconstitutional does not protect ° ne from civil responsibility for an act . re uance thereon which would other wise subject him to liability. Whether etion taken under a statute valid under Oklahoma (Continued From Page 2) tl * A CPs five-state Region 6, described e frI° r the SSN. One involves the s „ t ° r , °/ aa Oklahoma City couple to deaf lr dau S hter admitted to a state an ‘, and dumb school at Sulphur. In m ,, er case ‘ Stewart said, a Negro er at Earlsboro, Pottawatomie 0 j . has kept her three children out '°cai aS ^ S s * nce September because the ®arl ^ school is not integrated. Sha ° r ° N e gr° es are transferred to s a jj' Vriee Dunbar High School, Stewart 'lent ^ en though some 20 of its stu- hipL S , a ve been admitted to the white ^ school there. third instance, Stewart alleged fie ;° ^ u Pds in Meridian, east of Guth- atte n j h°gan County, are required to *'hil e a fmall, two-teacher high school ity w hite youngsters of the commun- S^ooj® transferred to Guthrie High ?hSEE LEGAL ACTION nteetm niembers at the Lawton Hec es g a § r eed legal action would be sai(j In these cases. But Stewart Hegi 0n ey have to wait because the Dallas attorney, U. Simpson Tate, t^ss ~ t* e d up on important busi- ^Act> eXas and Louisiana, where the . itself is under attack. luiet ^direct measure of the generally t*gr at i an ner in which public school in- Was r ° a has proceeded in Oklahoma iederaj *j?h e d in statements by three .strict attorneys on bus de- ifiat, (j l0 . n in the state. They agreed htise s j^Pite a state segregation statute, Oklahoma are essentially non- the constitutional doctrine prevailing at the time it was taken is protected where the statute is subsequently declared un constitutional we need not decide, since here the only basis upon which the stat ute could be sustained, the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine, had been repudiated by the Supreme Court prior to the com mission of the act constituting the ground of liability. While we think that the statute may not be relied on, under such circumstances, as a complete de fense to liability, we do think that it may properly be considered by the jury on the issue of damages.” The case is expected to come to trial again in district court during the Feb ruary term, although the docket for that term has not been fixed yet. Meanwhile, there still has been no de cision from the three-judge federal court which heard, in October, argu ments in a case testing the constitu tionality of a new South Carolina law. That law, enacted by the 1956 legislature, prohibits the employment by municipal, county, school district or state agencies of members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple. A lawsuit (Ola G. Bryan et al v. M. G. Austin et al) was brought by a group of Negro teachers who left the Elloree school system in protest against a questionnaire which sought to deter mine their membership in the NAACP. Donald Davidson, Vanderbilt Univer sity professor and chairman of the Ten nessee Federation for Constitutional Government, said at Charleston on Dec. 8 that the segregationists at Clinton, Tenn., were being subjected to “terri ble tyranny.” Referring to the blanket injunction issued by Federal Judge Rob ert L. Taylor against all interference with school integration at Clinton, Da vidson said the injunction was “sweep ing and tyrannous and is ominous for all of the South as well as the state of Tennessee . . . Anyone could be hauled into court. It is a violation of the rights of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech ... In effect, Judge Taylor be comes the commissioner of education in Tennessee. He is assuming absolute dis cretion.” Several South Carolinians were quoted in an Associated Press story of mid-December, written to illustrate southern attitudes on “the southern way of life.” Among them were these two: Harold A. Petit, Charleston utility ex ecutive: “The Negro is irresponsible in every degree. I think it is a basic trait, although other conditions — environ ment, economics and education—con tribute to his so-called lethargy . . . The basic fear [of whites in the South] is mongrelization of the races. I just can’t visualize a South which is pre dominantly mulatto.” MUST EDUCATE NEGRO Dr. E. R. Crow, director of the State Educational Finance Commission: “I would say that the average southerner segregated and predicted there would be no racial conflict over seating ar rangements in public vehicles. The views were expressed by Paul W. Cress, Oklahoma City, B. Hayden Crawford, Tulsa, and Frank D. McSherry, Mus kogee, in Washington, where they at tended an attorney generals’ conference on integration of seating in public buses. Dr. George L. Cross, president of the University of Oklahoma, was recognized during December “for leadership and achievement in the advancement of democracy and human relations among his fellow men.” He received the first human relations award given by the southwest regional advisory board of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Officials cited a human relations con ference which Dr. Cross authorized the university to co-sponsor with the league at Norman last June. Some 125 univer sity educators and administrators from southern states attended the meeting. Afterward, Dr. Cross proposed to Pres ident Eisenhower that he convene a southwide conference of educators to deal with integration and its problems and promised that the University of Oklahoma would participate if such a conference were called. in his attitude feels that his position is a defense of a civilization. This state— to its great misfortune — started off wrong. The first ship to land here in 1670 brought Negro slaves. They created a peculiar type of civilization ... Of course, society is weak whenever any considerable segment is held down. There is a need to recognize that the Negro is worth educating and proceed to do it.” A one-time member of the South Carolina House of Representatives who more recently has promoted racial in tegration with public statements and platform appearances, spoke in early December at the Plymouth Congrega tional Church at Washington, D. C. John Bolt Culbertson of Greenville flourished an empty pistol as he spoke from the pulpit of the church, saying he had been given the weapon when he waged a legal battle in Jasper County to have Negroes placed on juries. He termed the ballot, however, “a weapon far more powerful than this” which the Negro must use in the South “to get his rights.” TENSION EASING’ Culbertson was quoted in the Wash ington Post and Times-Herald of Dec. 3 as saying: “I think the tensions are easing [in the South] and the White Citizens Councils and the Ku Klux Klan have reached their peak. Their power is wan ing. I think they realize that in spite of everything they do, the South is a part of the United States and federal laws will prevail.” The Baltimore Afro-American has re ported the “testing” of segregation laws on Columbia city buses by a group of Negro students from Allen University at Columbia. The newspaper attributes leadership of the movement to Fred Moore, Negro student who was expelled earlier this year from State College at Orangeburg for his role in a student strike at the state-supported college. The two-day program wherein Negro students sat beside white passengers or sat in front of white passengers in city buses was described as having brought varied reactions, but no incidents. The president of Allen University, Dr. Samuel R. Higgins, said that the “test ing” episode was in no way connected with the college. Moore’s talk and or ganization of a bus fare fund at chapel exercises, Dr. Higgins said, came with out warning to or knowledge of uni versity officials. He described Moore’s maneuver as “a curve from out in left field,” adding that the Methodist school had no connection with the occurrence. UNAWARE OF TESTING Bus company officials seemed unaware that any such “testing” program had been conducted. They have sought to The Oklahoma legislature will con vene in its biennial session in January, but there is apparently little prospect that any measures dealing with public school segregation-desegregation will be introduced. Jack Rhodes, state legisla tive council director, said no requests for such legislation were received in the two years since the last session and nothing was proposed during recent meetings of the council’s education committee. The attitude of Rhodes and other offi cials is that the situation was well taken care of in 1955. A constitutional amend ment eliminated separate school financ ing, the chief barrier to desegregation, and the state school code was changed to remove a prohibition against oper ating a school with mixed classes. , 'I'Le generally favorable public reac tion to public school integration in Oklahoma City was cited by City Bus Company officials as one of the reasons for deciding to hire the firm’s first Ne gro driver. The company announced a new policy of accepting applications of qualified men without regard to race. Negro drivers hired will be assigned to any routes in the city as their names come up on the regular schedule, the company said. The policy was disclosed after months of conferences between representatives of the firm and of the Urban League and the Negro Chamber of Commerce. minimize friction among city bus pas sengers, and the pattern of segregation has remained generally in force, save for occasional mixing of passengers. A later issue of the Afro-American reported that two advisers of the Allen University NAACP chapter, H. E. Charl ton and R. E. Moran, had resigned im mediately after the bus testing episode. Under date of Dec. 15, the Afro- American added that the state NAACP president, James M. Hinton, had said that so long as they employ orderly pro cedures, they will have full NAACP backing, where and if they need it. The newspaper also carried this paragraph: “Mr. Moore told the Afro that he had been told by faculty spokesmen that the effort cannot be undertaken in the name of the college, unless first endorsed by the trustees and administrative officers.” r U. S. Sen. Olin D. Johnston, chair man of the Senate Post Office and Civil Service Committee, has directed the drafting of legislation aimed at prohibit ing the use of postal vehicles for “vicious political propaganda.” The South Carolina senator’s state ment was prompted by disclosure that the postal trucks had been directed to bear posters promoting equal job op portunity. Sen. Johnston charged that the posters are designed to suggest subt ly that there is virtue in racial intermix ture. He contends that the postal truck program is part of a plan to win mi nority group support for Vice President Nixon as part of his build-up for the 1960 Republican Presidential nomina tion. December brought Ku Klux Klan ac tivities of a charitable nature to at least three South Carolina counties. In An derson, Greenville and York counties, robed Klansmen visited needy families and distributed quantities of food, cloth ing and other commodities, including toys for children as the Christmas sea son approached. In York County, the activities were accompanied by a membership drive in which it was reported that Klansmen solicited new members with the argu ment that nothing would happen to Klansmen “because the governor is a member.” Gov. George Bell Timmer man Jr. promptly denied that allega tion, saying, “I am not a member of the Klan and never have been a member of the Klan.” CLINTON DEFENSE FUND Several Citizens Councils of South Carolina have contributed to a defense fund for the 16 persons charged with contempt of federal court at Clinton, Tenn. Meanwhile, a number of South Carolina newspapers have editorially condemned the blanket inj unction and contempt proceedings initiated by Fed eral Judge Robert L. Taylor in Tennes see. The News and Courier has queried the American Civil Liberties Union with respect to the rights of the 16 persons charged with contempt, and printed in full the ACLU reply, the gist of which was that “the ACLU . . . will defend the civil liberties of the White Citizens Councils on the same terms as it will defend the civil liberties of the NAACP.” State and county law enforcement of ficers were pressing an investigation in the closing days of December in the beating of Guy Hutchins, Camden High School band director. Hutchins was ad mitted to the Camden Hospital early in the morning of Dec. 29 suffering from severe bruises sustained in a beating at the hands of what he described as “four or five” hooded men who set upon him as he was en route home from Char lotte, N. C. Hutchins said he was tied to a tree and beaten with tree limbs and a board in addition to having been threatened with a pistol and a shotgun. His at tackers, Hutchins added, called him by name and accused him of having made a pro-integration talk “at the Lions Club”. They also accused him of talk ing to a group of white women and ex pressing pro-Negro views. Hutchins said he told the men and he subse quently told the press that he had never made any such remarks and that he fa vors segregation. Hutchins also said the men did not seem to be Klansmen, He was released only after promising to leave town under threat of having his home burned down if he did not. As soon as his story was made public, his home and family were placed under protective police guard and Camden Mayor Henry Savage Jr. promised to provide protection to the family. The Rev. Styles B. Lines, rector of the Grace Episcopal Church at Camden, of which Hutchins is a member, told his congregation on Sunday, Dec. 30, that “fear covers South Carolina like a frost . . . men are afraid to speak up. There is no freedom of speech except for those who choose to run with pres sure groups.” A 31-year-old Negro man, William C. Earle, told newsmen and police officers that he had been sent back to his home town of Cayce (across the Congaree river from Columbia) by the NAACP to stir up racial trouble by demanding service in white restaurants, mixing with white passengers on buses, and elsewhere. Earle was arrested in mid- December by Cayce police while driv ing about Cayce in a car bearing Mary land license plates. He since has been turned over to federal authorities for prosecution on charges of transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines. Earle, who asked that newsmen be called in to hear his story, said he had slipped away from an unidentified NAACP membership worker in Balti more before the two were to head South to set up “new cells” for the NAACP and to stir up trouble. He turned over to police a list of NAACP members, in cluding Negro doctors and lawyers, to whom he said the Baltimore NAACP group had referred him in case he got in any trouble. Cayce Police Chief Robert Miller said Earle had a record of two terms in the state penitentiary, one for car theft, the other for breaking and entering. STORY CALLED ‘FANTASTIC’ In Baltimore, NAACP president Mrs. Lillie M. Jackson described Earle’s story as “fantastic.” She said: “I can’t conceive of any such thing. The NAACP is an association of honor able, worthwhile people, both Negro and white, who believe in democracy . . . We are law abiding citizens. We have organizations in each state and each state takes care of its own problems. I don’t even know this man. I think that is the most fantastic tale I’ve ever heard.” City, county and state officials are in quiring into a recent series of Negro church fires in Kershaw County, but thus far have reported nothing indicat ing arson. Three such fires, which occurred re cently, prompted a letter to the editor of the Journal and Guide, Negro news paper of Norfolk, Va. The unsigned let ters charged that the fires were being set by “hate groups of the opposite race” and enumerated six churches destroyed by fire. Camden Fire Chief Carl Hammond said two of the fires, some of which date back to last January, had been definitely ascribed to causes other than arson. One, he said, was started by a church furnace; another, by lightning. SEEK SEGREGATED SOCIETY December found two 17-year-old white youngsters in Lake City, S. C., as an escape from what they termed “un bearable” racial conditions in the schools and community life of Buffalo, N. Y. Douglas Watts and Stanley McCrossan said they decided to come South to find work and live in a segregated society. Watts said: “After seeing the fine re lationship that exists between Negroes and whites in the South, I know segre gation is the only answer to racial strife that exists in my home town. I was amazed at what I found here in South Carolina and in Florida. There simply isn’t any trouble. But to read the news paper in Buffalo, you would think the white people in the South are standing on the street corner killing every Negro that walks by.” The two boys were at Canada’s Crys tal Beach when last summer’s riot be tween white and Negro youths occurred. They told of numerous other instances of racial tension and trouble in and about Buffalo. The Citizens Council of Lake City is aiding in helping find them work in South Carolina. AID PLAN CALLED HOAX’ Clarendon County business and civic leaders have branded as a “hoax” a let ter from the National Committee for Rural Schools, Inc., of New York City, describing the projected establishment of a cooperative store in the county to provide food, clothing, seed and fer tilizer for local Negroes who have lost their sources of credit. A personal in vestigation by News and Courier report er W. G. Bamer failed to show any large scale hardship even among Ne groes who are openly members of the NAACP, although such membership has hampered some in the Summerton area from obtaining credit and loans.