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Objective
VOL. III. NO. 11
NASHVILLE. TENN.
$2 PER YEAR
MAY, 1957
School Status Shown At Three-Year Mark
SERS Publishes Statistical Summary
O N THE EVE OF THE THIRD ANNI
VERSARY of the U.S. Supreme
Court decision against public
school segregation, Southern
School News files showed that
685 school districts in nine states
had begun or completed the deseg
regation process, while there had
been no lower school desegrega
tion in the eight remaining states
of the 17 having statutory segrega
tion in 1954.
Current school records list some
3,700 school districts in the region
as having both white and Negro
pupils. (A detailed map, depicting
the status of the schools, appears
on Page 8.) Thus about 3,100 dis
tricts remained segregated.
Meanwhile, legislatures in 11 states
had adopted more than 130 pieces of
pro-segregation legislation. During
April, three of these legislatures were
in session and were dealing with ad
ditional bills to preserve segregated
schools under state laws. Among them,
Florida hjd adopted a resolution of in
terposition.
Three states—Louisiana, North Caro
lina and Virginia—were implementing
their school assignment, or pupil place
ment, laws in preparation for the
1957-58 school year. No apparent use
had been made of similar recent leg
islation in Arkansas.
Nine additional school districts were
reported to have desegregated in Mis
souri during the year, with nine more
reported in April as planning this step
next fall. Most recent data showed
325,739 Negro pupils and 1,852,846 white
pupils in “integrated situations”—
mostly in the border states.
For the first time in several months
ew court decisions were reported.
Little Rock, Ark., which plans to begin
desegregation this fall at the high school
lev <d, won a circuit court decision up
holding its “gradual” plan. Louisiana
rederal judges invalidated two college
legation laws and enjoined four state
colleges from barring enrollment of
Negro graduate students. In a case out
side the region but based on the May
'■ 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision,
• " lat court ruled against private school
'legation where state agencies ad
minister such schools.
, ^ s tate-by-state summary of major
, ‘"''elopments follows:
JV"early 1,000 libraries and news media
currently subscribing to Southern
School News have received a special
summary—“Status of School Segrega
tion-Desegregation in the Southern and
Border States”—prepared and published
by Southern Education Reporting Serv
ice.
The summary is printed in loose-leaf
form, and arranged so that it may be
used for quick reference by school ad
ministrators, public officials, newsmen
and other interested persons.
All the material is statistical and fac
tual. The summary lists, state-by-state
and for the region as a whole, latest
available information on:
School enrollment
Number of school districts and
racial composition
Number of teachers and pay
scales
Petitions and court actions
Alabama
The Alabama legislature, convening
this month, is expected to get a private
school bill and a proposal to create a
State Sovereignty Commission, in a flow
of pro-segregation legislation which
may run as high as 100 proposed new
measures.
Arkansas
Little or no use of the state’s new
placement law was reported by state
school officials who pointed out that the
local districts are autonomous. Little
Rock, which won a “good faith com
pliance” court test of its gradual de
segregation, said it expected to go ahead
with high school desegregation in the
fall.
Delaware
Questioning by a federal judge hear
ing a motion in a school-entry suit
against six southern Delaware school
boards was interpreted as indicating
that the court will order desegregation.
District of Columbia
Asst. School Supt. Carl F. Hansen,
author of Washington’s “four-track”
plan, told the education board that “un
usual gains” under this diversified
curriculum, growing out of desegrega
tion, have been made since last fall.
Pro-segregation and pro-integra
tion groups by name
Description of legislative action
Status of individual school dis
tricts
Florida
The legislature adopted a resolution
of interposition, which was criticized by
Gov. LeRoy Collins, and debated six
bills designed to curb activities of or
ganizations taking part in litigation on
racial matters.
Georgia
The State Board of Regents tightened
entrance regulations at the University
of Georgia Law School, which a Negro
graduate student has sought to enter,
requiring character references from
alumni and public officials in the ap
plicant’s home county.
Kentucky
Holding its last meeting before disso
lution, the Kentucky (Negro) Teachers
Association was told that 75 per cent
of the state’s Negro pupils are in dis
tricts which have begun or have com
pleted the desegregation process.
Louisiana
U.S. district court invalidated two
college segregation laws and enjoined
four integrated colleges where the state
sought to bar Negro enrollment. New
Orleans began placement of elementary
pupils on a segregated basis under a
stay of a federal court order invalidat-
Segregation-desegregation situa
tion in colleges
SSN subscribers who have received
the printed summary are being asked
whether they would be willing to pay a
small charge (at cost) to keep the sum
mary up to date by periodic publication
of supplementary data which can he
inserted in the loose-leaf binder. If
demands are sufficient, SERS will sup
ply these supplements regularly to
users of the summary.
A few extra copies of the summary
are available to other SSN subscribers
at $1 per copy, postpaid. SERS invites
inquiries and will order a second print
ing if the demand is sufficient.
The summary was prepared by the
19 correspondents of Southern School
News and edited by Patrick E. McCau
ley, Assistant to the Executive Director.
# # #
ing the pupil assignment law and or
dering integration.
Maryland
U.S. district court in Maryland ad
vised Harford County to work out a
new plan for secondary school desegre
gation, calling the present gradual plan
too slow and “too vague.”
Mississippi
State laid plans to market its first
general obligation bonds for a building
program to equalize facilities in still-
segregated schools.
Missouri
Nine additional school districts were
reported to have desegregated during
the year, with nine more reported
planning the step next year.
North Carolina
The school board of Charlotte, North
Carolina’s largest city, told parents of
Negro children that initiative for de
segregating the schools rests with in
dividuals and not the board. One board
member told the group: “No door is
closed. Our schools bear no signs say
ing ‘No Admittance.’ ”
Oklahoma
Integration will be expanded in at
least three school districts next year as
the result of school board decisions
during April.
South Carolina
The legislature, considering a num
ber of new pro-segregation measures,
repealed a bill prohibiting government
employment to NAACP members—then
under attack before the U.S. Supreme
Court—and enacted in its stead an em
ployment procedure measure couched
in more general terms.
Tennessee
Nashville, first of state’s large cities
to begin desegregation, said 3,200 chil
dren (41 per cent of them Negroes) will
be affected by a fall first-grade deseg
regation plan approved by U.S. district
court.
Texas
Bills delaying desegregation advanced
in the legislature but faced the chal
lenge of a filibuster. U.S. Supreme Court
ruled against Wichita Falls in suit in
volving judicial review of school de
segregation.
Virginia
A first challenge of the state’s new
pupil placement law arose in Fairfax
County. Republican and Democratic
political figures who may oppose one
another for governor debated the seg
regation-desegregation issue.
West Virginia
With desegregation general, West
Virginians were studying problem of
employment for young Negroes who,
after finishing school, reportedly are
having difficulty finding jobs.
Index
State Page
Alabama 5
Arkansas 2
Delaware 14
District of Columbia 2
Florida 4
Georgia 6
Kentucky 5
Louisiana 13
Maryland 15
Mississippi 12
Missouri 12
North Carolina 16
Oklahoma 10
South Carolina 3
Tennessee 7
Texas H
Virginia 14
West Virginia 10
ja rono L
°99
Major Events in School Segregation-Desegregation Since May, \54
J blowing is a list of major events since the Su-
rj ^ e Court decision of May 17, 1954. This chron-
», j W not re presented as complete but it is be-
p, to be the most detailed of its kind. SERS has
an e ven more extensive list in mimeo-
I “ form which may be obtained upon inquiry
° n 9 ns the supply lasts.—The Editor.)
1954
' *7—U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous
deci •
that
hint
ision in Brown v. Board of Education, rules
in the field of public education the doc-
V " Ule of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.”
a-NAACP leaders from 18 states meet in
Stjj, an ta, call for school integration at all levels.
,U~~Claymont, Hockessin, Arden, Del. school
~j®tricts desegregate before end of 1953-54
. °°1 year, becoming first to act after de-
ilj Cls ‘ons.
V?* School Supt. Hobart Corning of D.C. sub-
Its plan for beginning desegregation in Sep-
l[ a lert iber.
Md. State Board of Education says no
° v e toward desegregation can be made until
(Im ^ ec ' s ' on “becomes final and an effective
a e 's set by the Supreme Court.”
W.Va, Supt. W. W. Trent advises local
superintendents to begin readjustments
V j
^hool
mtciiucuu) iu ucgxii icaujuoi
. ess ary to comply with the decisions,
g. N.C. Board of Education votes to continue
'’He on segregated basis.
] a Ark. Gov. Cherry says state’s segregation
s s s hll stand and any move toward desegre-
J Vi„ is premature.
« Louisiana legislature approves first of
ee Pro-segregation bills.
June 23—St. Louis school board announces three-
stage plan of desegregation to begin in fall.
•
July 9—Alabama Board of Education says schools
will continue to operate under segregation
laws.
July 11—White Citizens Councils organized at In-
dianola, Miss.
Aug. 4—Pearsall Committee named in North Caro
lina to “think through the various proposals
and make a study of policy and program.”
Aug. 23—Eleven Negro children admitted to form
erly all-white high school in Charleston, Ark.
Sept. 7—Mississippi legislature approves bill call
ing for constitutional amendment to permit
abolition of public schools.
Sept. 13—Desegregation inaugurated in D.C. with
registration normal, Negro ratio up to 60 per
cent.
Protest demonstration in Greenbrier County,
W.Va. causes reversal of desegregation plan.
State reports 25 of 55 districts beginning de
segregation.
Sept. 17—Demonstration at Milford, Del. begins,
resulting ultimately in removing Negro stu
dents from the school.
Parochial schools desegregated in Oklahoma,
Virginia, Nashville, Tenn. and in Rock Hill, S.C.
Sept. 24—Ky. Gov. Wetherby says the state will
“do whatever is necessary to comply with the
law.” Negro undergraduates admitted at Uni
versity of Kentucky.
Sept. 30—Desegregated Baltimore schools picketed
by segregationists, police appeal for order and
threaten arrests. Schools return to normal by
Oct. 6.
•
Oct. 4—White students at three Washington, D.C.
formerly all-white high schools and six junior
high schools demonstrate against desegrega
tion; order restored by fourth day and enroll
ment is normal.
Oct. 26—Defenders of State Sovereignty and Indi
vidual Liberties chartered in Virginia.
Oct. 27—Negro educators and school officials from
14 southern states and D.C. urge at Hot Springs,
Ark. that “immediate steps be taken to imple
ment the (Supreme Court) decision.”
•
Nov. 2—Georgia voters ratify constitutional
amendment authorizing private schools to re
place public schools in event of desegregation.
Louisiana voters approve 4 to 1 “police powers”
amendment to preserve segregation.
Nov. 4—Southern School News survey shows de
segregation begun in 110 Missouri school dis
tricts.
Nov. 13—Eight southern governors sign statement
pledging to “preserve the rights of the states
to administer their public school systems in
the best interest of our people.” Six governors
refuse to sign.
Nov. 14—Briefs filed with U.S. Supreme Court in
Brown case.
Nov. 20—Six Delaware towns—Laurel, Milford,
Georgetown, Harrington, Greenwood, and Mil-
ton—vote in referenda to retain segregation.
Dec. 5—Eight more Delaware towns vote to retain
segregation.
Dec. 16—Ky. State Board of Education promises
“careful consideration” of plan proposed by
Citizens Committee on Desegregation.
Dec. 17—U.S. District Court orders Louisiana’s
McNeese State College to admit 16 Negro stu
dents.
Dec. 21—Mississippians in referendum vote 2-1 to
vest legislature with power to abolish public
schools.
1955
Jan.—Georgia legislature adopts bill making it a
felony to spend public funds for mixed schools,
shelves two other bills.
Jan. 6—Survey shows 52,545 Negro and white chil
dren attending 135 desegregated W.Va. schools;
1,245 Negroes and 13,344 whites enrolled in 10
of 11 state colleges.
Jan. 11—Federally-operated Oak Ridge, Tenn. an
nounces high school desegregation for fall of
1955.
Jan. 18—Incoming S.C. Gov. George Bell Timmer
man, Jr. says “only acceptable decree that may
be rendered by the Supreme Court” will be
one giving parents right to “choose what is
best for their own children.”
Jan. 22—Federation for Constitutional Government
organized at Jackson, Miss.
Jan. 31—St. Louis high schools desegregated with
start of second semester.
Feb. 7—S.C. legislature adopts resolution memo
rializing Congress to enact legislation limiting
appellate jurisdiction of U.S. Supreme Court.
Feb. 27—Third annual southeastern regional con
ference of NAACP, meeting in Atlanta, sets
(Continued On Page 9)