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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MARCH 1957—PAGE 13
Arkansas Lawmakers Pass
4 Pro-Segregation Laws
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
our bills designed to maintain racial
segregation in public schools were
passed in February by the Arkansas
General Assembly. All had the support
of Gov. Orval E. Faubus, who signed
them into law.
The measures (1) create a state sov
ereignty commission with investigative
powers; (2) require registration and pe
riodical reports of persons and organ
izations working for racial integration;
(3) relieve school children of compul
sory attendance in racially mixed pub
lic schools; and (4) authorize school dis
tricts to hire legal counsel to defend
school board members and school offi
cials. (See “Legislative Action.”)
Other developments included:
1) March 11 was set by the Eighth
Circuit Court at St. Louis for hearing
the NAACP appeal from the federal
court decision upholding the Little
Rock school board’s plan for gradual
desegregation. (See “Legal Action.”)
AT CIVIL RIGHTS SESSION
2) Atty. Gen. Bruce Bennett tes
tified at the congressional committee
hearings in Washington on the proposed
federal civil rights bill. (See “Miscella
neous.”)
3) The Arkansas House of Represen
tatives approved Feb. 6 a bill to per
mit the use of federal funds to establish
vocational training schools but specified
that federal funds would not be accept
ed if desegregation were required and
that the schools must use the same pol
icy toward segregation as the school
districts in which they are located. (See
“Legislative Action.”)
4) A Negro filed Feb. 23 as a candi
date for the Hot Springs school board.
(See “School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
5) Two officials of the Constitution
Party of Arkansas, a states’ rights
group, filed Feb. 23 as candidates for the
Little Rock school board. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
The four anti-integration measures,
introduced Feb. 11 by Rep. Lucien C.
Rogers of Crittenden County and 26
other representatives from counties
wtih heavy Negro population, were
passed Feb. 13 by the House without
discussion or debate.
The vote on the sovereignty commis
sion bill (HB 322) was 88 to 1, with the
“no” vote cast by Rep. Ray S. Smith
Jr. of Garland County. The bill requir
ing registration and reports from pro-
integration persons and groups (HB
324) was approved 89 to 1, with Smith
Looking Ahead
—Arkansas Gazette
again voting “no.” The school attend
ance bill (HB 323) was approved 89 to
0. The bill to permit school boards to
hire legal counsel (HB 325) was ap
proved 92 to 0.
CALLED MANDATORY
In calling the bills up for a vote,
Rogers said they were mandatory leg
islation required by the people when
they approved the “nullification”
amendment to the Arkansas Constitu
tion in the November general election.
On Feb. 12, the Arkansas Gazette
objected editorially to the sovereignty
commission and registration bills as
“extremist” and “punitive” legislation
certain to be reversed in court and as
damaging to good race relations.
Opposition to all four bills came from
the Citizens Committee, a Little Rock
Negro civic organization, and the Social
Education and Action Committee of the
Arkansas Christian Missionary Society,
a group of the Christian Churches of
Arkansas. The church group said the
registration bill, although described by
Gov. Faubus as aimed primarily at the
NAACP, would require the Christian
Church and other church organizations
to register with the state in violation
of the principle of separation of the
church and state.
‘TEACHES DISRESPECT’
The Negro organization said the bills
would “teach our children and the cit
izens of our state to disrepect our gov
ernment and all that it stands for.”
On Feb. 14, the day the House passed
the measures, Sen. Max Howell of Little
Rock unsuccessfully attempted to per
suade the Senate to refer the bills to a
committee for a public hearing. But the
Senate leader for the bills, Charles F.
Smith of West Memphis, won approval
of his motion to place the bills on the
calendar so they could be voted on the
next day.
On Feb. 15, Senate opponents of the
four measures won a public hearing
because a senator was confused about
what he was voting on.
900 ATTEND HEARING
At the Feb. 18 public hearing, the
state Senate Constitutional Amendments
Committee heard two hours and 10 min
utes of arguments for and against the
bills. About 900 persons attended.
The first speaker was R. B. McCul
loch Sr., a Forrest City attorney, who
wrote the measures. McCulloch said
he never had belonged to any pro
segregation group. In defending the
bills, McCulloch said the provision
which would empower the sovereignty
commission to investigate persons
brought to its attention in written alle
gations had not been copied from a
Mississippi statute but from the civil
rights legislation now before Congress.
ALLEGATIONS DENIED
He listed as false the allegations that
the bills would reverse the present state
policy of moderation in the segrega
tion question, affect policies of school
districts integrated or integrating, affect
the policy of the University which has
been desegregated “since 1950 or be
fore,” not stand the test of law, attempt
to prevent certain organizations from
performing certain legal functions or
violate the Bill of Rights.
Four other individuals spoke in be
half of the measures, and one filed a
statement in support. Ten individuals
spoke in opposition; and nine state
ments were filed in opposition.
On Feb. 19, the Constitutional
Amendments Committee which con
ducted the public hearing, reported
them out “without recommendation.”
After three hours of debate and ma
neuvering to delay action on the bills,
they were passed by the Senate with
three amendments.
SENATE VOTE
The sovereignty commission bill
passed 21 to 12. The bill to remove com
pulsory school attendance passed 32 to
0. The bill requiring persons and or
ganizations to register with the com
mission was approved 20 to 14. The
emergency clause, which would have
made it effective as soon as the gov
ernor signed it, failed to get the re
quired 24 votes for passage. The vote
was 22 to 12. The bill which authorizes
school boards to use school funds to
fight integration suits passed 29 to 3.
On Feb. 21, the House concurred in
the Senate amendments and the bills
went to the governor.
IMPLEMENT MEASURES
In announcing his support of the
measures on Feb. 9, Gov. Faubus said
their general purpose was to implement
the segregation measures approved in
Alabama
(Continued From Page 12)
ft°w at 550, Last spring was no excep
tion and six of the 35 faculty members
leaving gave the Lucy affair as one of
the major reasons for their leaving.”
The Montgomery Improvement Asso
ciation, guiding force behind the year
ns boycott of Montgomery buses and
le S al act i°n which resulted in a
ederal integration order, announced
|hat it W as organizing a credit union
t° free local Negroes of economic de-
P«ndence on small loan companies.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,
"tfA. leader, said he hoped the plan
^ould become a pattern for other Ne-
^ r ° communities in the South. The pro-
® >0Sa l has a twofold purpose, King said:
To encourage Negroes to save
htciiey by investing it in the credit
thhon at $5 a share.
^2) To provide a source of credit for
cgroes who have paid as much as 700
r cent interest on small loans from
v ately operated companies.
King said the “overall poverty of the
is appalling,” but that this plan
hid raise the general economic level
^encouraging Negroes to “invest their
res °Urces in constructive channels.”
MISCELLANEOUS
ft
late^ 6 * ens i° n ’ though not directly re
in Al t0 school issue, was sustained
, fabama during February by a num-
j °f incidents.
jjoh ^icnfingham, U.S. District Judge
of ( ~' rooms > w ho opened the doors
the University of Alabama to Au-
therine Lucy and subsequently upheld
the university in expelling her, had be
fore him a petition by Birmingham Ne
groes to declare bus segregation uncon
stitutional, as in Montgomery.
In Montgomery, a curfew imposed on
nighttime travel of buses was lifted Feb.
18. The curfew was ordered following
dynamitings and shootings.
MOBILE’S FIFTH BLAST
In Mobile, the fifth in a series of re
cent bombing attempts was reported by
Walter Johnson, a 49-year-old Negro
cook who gave as the probable reason
for the attack: “I live in a mixed neigh
borhood.” Johnson said the small bomb,
which did little damage, was thrown by
a white boy on a bicycle. Only two of
the four previous bombs in Mobile ex
ploded, and they did only minor dam
age.
In Montgomery, Police Chief G. J.
Ruppenthal said the recent wave of
dynamitings in the city was “perpe
trated” by members of the Montgomery
Ku Klux Klan. Ruppenthal also charged
that the KKK and its “friends” were
behind two local drives to collect de
fense funds for the accused men, four
of whom were indicted by the grand
jury.
Ruppenthal denied the charges of the
defense attorneys retained by the ac
cused that their arrests were “NAACP-
inspired.” Police Commissioner Clyde
Sellers and Mayor W. A. Gayle, both
prominent White Citizens Council mem
bers, have received threatening phone
calls and been denounced as “nigger-
lovers” because of their part in the dy
namite investigations.
Both defense fund groups denied the
charge of Klan affiliation.
KASPER IN ALABAMA
John Kasper, the segregationist who
figured in the Clinton, Tenn., race dis
turbance, offered his help to men
charged in the bombing cases. Kasper,
the guest of Admiral John Crommelin,
said in Montgomery, “If there’s any way
I can, I would be only glad to help,
financially or morally.”
Birmingham’s Asa E. Carter, recently
indicted in a Ku Klux Klan shooting in
Birmingham (SSN, February) and now
free on bond, was accepted Feb. 11 as a
candidate for the Birmingham public
safety commission. He will run against
incumbent Police Commissioner Robert
Lindbergh and former City Commis
sioner Wade Bradley for the post. Car
ter, outspoken segregationalist, has ac
cused city officials of failing to take a
strong stand in support of the city’s seg
regation laws. All three commissioners
have said the city’s race separation laws
will be enforced.
The Montgomery County Citizens
Council has filed incorporation papers
in Montgomery as a non-profit civic
organization. Among the stated pur
poses of the organization are these:
“To promote the development and
betterment of Montgomery County
without pecuniary profit to its individ
ual members; to preserve order and do
mestic tranquility in Montgomery
County and . . . Alabama and to safe
guard states’ rights by peaceful and
legal means.”
TO SCREEN CANDIDATES
Among 10 committees set up in the
organization’s by-laws is one to “inves
tigate people, actions, statements, and
groups,” and another to “screen all po
litical candidates,” and to promote
ways that we may cooperate with our
allies and defeat our enemies.”
Two Montgomery youths were sen
tenced to two years’ probation in fed
eral court for burning a cross on the
lawn of U.S. District Judge Frank M.
Johnson Dec. 21. Johnson was one of
three judges to sit on the bus integra
tion suit. He voted with the majority
in an action which integrated city
buses.
An overflow throng estimated at 900 persons attended hearings on Arkansas’ pro
posed segregation legislation during February.
the November general election. He said
the registration bill would make it pos
sible for the state to outlaw the NAACP
if it exceeded its bounds as a non-profit
organization.
After protests to the bills began to
arise, Faubus continued to defend them,
but said he thought there should be a
public hearing on them.
“The fear of ‘witch hunts’ or of se
rious jeopardy of the rights of any cit
izen are, in my belief, unfounded,” Fau
bus said. He said the measures were in
tended to “protect the rights of the
people as to the will of the majority.”
Faubus said the bills would not pre
vent any school district from desegre
gating if it wanted to but would make
it possible for districts to maintain seg
regation if they so desired.
Arkansas now has five school dis
tricts with total or partial integration.
They are Fayetteville, Charleston,
Hoxie, Bentonville and Hot Springs.
Negroes are admitted at all state-sup
ported colleges.
ROCKEFELLER OPPOSES
Among those who opposed the meas
ures was Winthrop Rockefeller, chair
man of the Arkansas Industrial Devel
opment Commission. He had been ap
pointed to the commission by Faubus.
Rockefeller said the sovereignty com
mission might hurt the industrialization
of Arkansas. “That bill is dangerous,”
he said. “It would set up what you
might call an Arkansas gestapo. No or
ganization would be safe from embar
rassment of an investigation, and behind
closed doors, too.”
Rockefeller conferred with Faubus
about the measures and there were
reports that he might resign from the
Industrial Development Commission if
they became law. Rockefeller’s only
comment was that he “would have to
make a decision” if the sovereignty
commission bill was enacted.
COMMISSION FINANCE
At the end of the month, still to be
fought was a battle over a proposed
$50,000 annual appropriation to finance
operations of the sovereignty commis
sion. The bill needs a three-fourths ma
jority for adoption in each chamber and
opponents of the measure thought they
had enough votes in the Senate to
stop it. Conceivably, Faubus could
finance commission operations through
grants from his emergency fund or pro
segregation forces could raise the money
through private contributions.
Briefly, these are the major provisions
of the sovereignty commission bill:
Ex-officio members shall be the gov
ernor as chairman, the attorney general,
the lieutenant governor and speaker of
the House of Representatives. The gov
ernor will appoint three members; the
president of the Senate will appoint two
senators; and the speaker of the House
will appoint three representatives.
The commission is to “perform any
and all acts and things deemed neces
sary and proper to protect the sover
eignty of the state of Arkansas, and her
sister states. . . .”
It is to have the power to subpoena
records and witnesses, make investi
gations, hold public or closed hearings,
and cite for contempt. The penalty for
refusing to permit the commission to
inspect books, records or documents is,
upon conviction, a fine of $100 to $1,000
and a jail term of not more than six
months.
The registration and report bill would
require quarterly financial reports
from persons or organizations handling
money being used “to aid in the ac
complishment” of these purposes: (1)
passage by Congress of legislation de
signed to limit or circumscribe the op
eration and control of Arkansas school
districts; (2) defeat by the General As
sembly of legislation designed to main
tain the rights of Arkansas to “control
and operate its own domestic institu
tions according to its own judgment”;
(3) soliciting plaintiffs in prospective
litigation involving the operation and
control of domestic institutions, partic
ularly the public schools; and (4) pro
motion of integration of races in the
public schools, “contrary to the choice
and desires” of patrons of such school
and giving legal aid gratuitously to Ne
groes involved in litigation involving
their admission to any public school.
The penalty for failure to comply is,
upon conviction, a fine of not more than
$5,000 and/or one year in prison.
The bill (HB 211) on the use of fed
eral funds for vocational training
schools was introduced by Rep. John
P. Bethell of Prairie County. At the end
of the month, the bill still was awaiting
Senate action.
On Feb. 14, attorneys for the Little
Rock school board and the NAACP
were notified that March 11 had been
set by the Eighth Circuit Court at St.
Louis for a hearing on the NAACP ap
peal in the Little Rock case (John
Aaron et al v. William G. Cooper).
The NAACP, representing a group of
Negro children who tried unsuccessfully
to enroll in white schools, is appealing
the decision of Federal District Judge
John E. Miller of Fort Smith, who up
held the school board plan for gradual
integration beginning at the high school
level in the fall of 1957 if a new high
school is completed by then.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
A few hours before the deadline, W.
C. Nolen, secretary of the Hot Springs
Civic League, a Negro organization,
filed as a candidate for the Hot Springs
school board in the March 16 election.
League President E. S. Stevenson said
Nolen, a bathhouse attendant, was run
ning as an individual and not under
league sponsorship.
Nolen will oppose two white business
men—Bill H. Cook and David E. Hurst.
They seek the post being vacated by
Raymond Hall.
At Little Rock, filing for separate po
sitions on the school board were Dr.
George P. Branscum, a dentist and
chairman of the Constitution Party of
Arkansas, and Robert Ewing Brown, a
radio and television executive, secre
tary-treasurer of the Constitution Par
ty and president of the Capital Citizens
Council.