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PAGE 14—MAY 1957—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Virginia Act Challenged;
Two Argue School Issue
RICHMOND, Va.
A CHALLENGE TO VIRGINIA’S pupil
placement law and a sharp ex
change of views between two of
the state’s most prominent politi
cians claimed the major share of
attention in the school segregation
controversy in Virginia during
April.
A Fairfax County mother re
fused to fill out required pupil
placement applications, with the
result that her two sons were
forced to leave county schools.
(See “School Boards and School
men.”)
On the hustings, State Sen. Ted Dal
ton, state Republican leader, lashed out
at Virginia’s program for maintaining
school segregation and was himself at
tacked by Atty. Gen. J. Lindsay Almond
Jr., who is expected to be the Demo
cratic nominee for governor in this fall’s
general election. (See “Political Ac
tivity.”)
Although not directly related to the
school segregation issue, the inadvertent
inviting of several Negroes to a “dis
tinguished Virginians’ dinner” to he held
here May 17 provoked long and loud
controversy both within and outside
Virginia during April. (See “Miscel
laneous.”)
On the legal front, a special three-
judge federal court set June 26 for
hearing of arguments in a suit brought
by the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People to contest
the constitutionality of so-called
“NAACP laws” enacted by the General
Assembly last year. The court set the
hearing date after turning down a state
motion to dismiss the suit. (See “Legal
Action.”)
The challenge to Virginia’s new pupil
placement law came from Mrs. Theo
T. DeFebio, who had enrolled her two
boys in Fairfax County schools on Jan.
18, about two weeks after the law took
effect requiring the parents of all new
students entering the school system to
fill out assignment applications.
Mrs. DeFebio refused to comply. The
younger son, Nicky, was in effect ex
pelled from the Hollin Hills elementary
school, and his elder brother, Teddy,
from Mount Vernon high school.
The DeFebio family was in the news
nationally about six years ago when Mr.
and Mrs. DeFebio refused to send the
boys to school in North Carolina, where
they were then living. The parents said
then that they wanted to teach their sons
at home.
DRIVES TAXICAB
Mrs. DeFebio now lives in a cottage on
the banks of the Potomac River at Well
ington in Fairfax County. Her husband
lives in an old lighthouse on the coast
of North Carolina. News stories reported
that Mrs. DeFebio, a Smith College
graduate, lives in the Washington, D.C.
area because she can earn a better liv
ing by driving a taxicab there.
Explaining her refusal to sign the
placement applications, Mrs. DeFebio
said this “is a matter of conscience and
morals—the purpose of this placement
program is to deny a segment of the
American population the right to equal
education.
“I didn’t object to putting my sons
into segregated schools,” she continued,
“but I object to being pressured by the
South into going along with their
views . . .”
‘WITHDRAWN,’ NOT EXPELLED’
W. T. Woodson, superintendent of
Fairfax County schools, told Southern
School News that the DeFebio boys
were not “expelled” but simply were
told that they would have to withdraw
from the public schools if their mother
did not send in the placement applica
tion within the 15-day period allowed
by the law. The boys withdrew, and
Woodson said the matter has been re
ferred to the state’s three-member Pu
pil Placement Board. The attorney gen
eral also has been asked for an opinion
on whether the state’s compulsory school
attendance law should be invoked
against Mrs. DeFebio.
In Richmond, a group of Negro par
ents have retained counsel to fight pupil
placement procedures. Their attorney,
Oliver W. Hill, said he had advised the
parents not to sign the placement forms
being sent to them.
In Dinwiddie County, where Negroes
constitute about 65 per cent of the pop
ulation, tentative plans have been made
for a referendum on a proposed million
dollar bond issue for construction of
three Negro elementary schools. The
school board hopes that the proposed
new schools will make it possible to
abandon more than 20 one- two- and
three-room schools now in use.
PLANS FOR NEGRO SCHOOL
The Richmond County school board is
trying to get the county’s supervisors
to authorize employment of an archi
tect to prepare plans for a new Negro
elementary school. One school board
member, Russell Hammack, told the
supervisors that providing better schools
for Negroes is “the surest way of pre
venting an application for integration.”
But Commonwealth’s Attorney W. A.
Jones, commenting on the possible effect
of a building program on the Negroes,
said, “All it could amount to is a slight
delaying action.”
State Sen. Ted Dalton of Radford
and Atty. Gen. J. Lindsay Almond Jr.
—who may be the major candidates in
this year’s race for governor—tangled
verbally over the segregation issue dur
ing April.
On April 2, the Radford Republican
(who got 45 per cent of the total vote
when he ran for governor in 1953) told
Lynchburg College students that the law
to cut off state funds to integrated
schools is a grave threat to the public
school system. He said he will “fight
with a whole heart to keep the public
schools of Virginia open.”
As to the possibility that he will enter
the gubernatorial race, Dalton declared:
“You can well understand that I have
no heart in trying to run for governor
against the tag of integrationist used by
our highest executive [Gov. Stanley].
That, coupled with the power and
strength of the senior United States
senator from Virginia [Harry F. Byrd]
and his organization, are terrorizing to
me. I don’t know that I could fight with
reason against an emotional, racial ap
peal.”
On April 8, Atty. Gen. Almond, who
is expected to win the Democratic gu
bernatorial nomination in the July 9
primary, charged that Dalton was run
ning both for governor and for a fed
eral judgeship. He accused the GOP
administration in Washington of using
federal judiciary appointments as bait
to entice Republicans to run for office
in Virginia.
His remarks, made to a Democratic
gathering in Christiansburg, were
prompted by speculation that Dalton
might be appointed to succeed the re
tiring Judge A. D. Barksdale of the fed
eral district court for western Virginia.
He also referred to the 1953 campaign
for attorney general when he (Almond)
was opposed by Walter E. Hoffman of
Norfolk, who later was appointed a fed
eral district judge.
‘POLLUTE HIGHEST OFFICE’
Said Almond: “When any political
party, Democrat or Republican, sells
high judicial office to candidates to run
for political office, they pollute the high
est office in the land.” Turning to report
ers, Almond said: “You can write that
and send it to Chief Justice Warren and
Judge Hoffman, and I’ll sign it.”
Judge Hoffman had no comment on
the attorney general’s charges, but Sen.
Dalton did. He said, “In one week the
governor calls me an integrationist,
which I am not; and in the next week
Sen. Byrd’s candidate for governor says
I am seeking a judge’s place, which I am
not.
“We have reached a sad state of affairs
in Virginia when a person cannot speak
his mind on public issues or run or con
sider running for public office without
being charged with an improper mo
tive.”
ADVOCATED ASSIGNMENT PLAN
Dalton recalled that he had advocated
a pupil assignment plan such as the one
adopted in North Carolina and the one
originally recommended by Virginia’s
Gray Commission. He said the Demo
cratic leaders who refused to accept
such a plan have now left Virginia de
fenseless in the federal courts.
Howard H. Carwile, Richmond at
torney who is opposing Almond for the
Democratic gubernatorial nomination,
told a Hanover County political rally on
April 12 that the race issue is being
“shamefully agitated” by people who
are “diehard foes of public mass educa
tion.”
“These enemies of the public school
system have seized upon this inflam
mable issue as an expedient technique
for sabotaging public education in Vir- ;
ginia,” he declared.
Carwile called the public school sys
tem “the life blood of our democracy”
He said he sometimes thinks “the Byrd *
machine of Virginia plans on perpetu
ating its ruthless regime by spawning
three generations of illiterates in this
commonwealth.”
“We must bear in mind that a vast
majority of the people in the Souths
white and colored—are disenfranchised
The most effective method of keeping
these people disenfranchised is to keep
them illiterate and to keep them divided
and fighting among themselves. The on
ly way under heaven for the Dixiecrat
political machines of the South to sur.
vive is in the perpetuation of a voteless
populace . . .”
FUTILE FIASCO’
A few days earlier Carwile had pre
dicted that thousands of anti-Byrd
Democrats, Republicans and Negroes
will turn out to vote against Almond •
and for Carwile and will make Almond
“a futile fiasco” in Virginia. He said
that “if Almond gets a single colored
vote in Virginia, it will be a pure ac
cident.”
The race issue has been injected into
a number of contests for Democratic
nominations for seats in the House of
Delegates. Delegate James M. Thom
son of Alexandria has charged his op
ponent, Albert A. Smoot, with sponsor
ing a church resolution “encompassing
intermarriage” of races.
The resolution, sponsored by Smoot
and adopted at the 58th general conven
tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in Honolulu, expressed gratitude for
“the experience of close fellowship in
Christ which it has been our experience
to know among the many races of God’s
children here in the Hawaiian Island.” ;
Smoot replied that the resolution dealt
only with brotherhood in the church. He
argues that the best way of preserving
Virginia’s public schools without mass
integration is through a locally admin
istered pupil placement program.
WOULD ‘TOLERATE INTEGRATION'
In the Prince William County-Stafford
County delegate race, H. Selwyn Smith,
young Manassas lawyer and opponent of
veteran Delegate Frank P. Moncure,
says he is a segregationist but believes 1
Virginians would “tolerate integration
before they give up public schools.”
Delegate Moncure backed the segre
gation program adopted by the General
Assembly last year and says he has not
(See VIRGINIA, Page 16)
Delaware Studies Remark
WILMINGTON, Del.
hief U. S. District Court
Judge Paul Leahy asked the
chief deputy attorney general of
Delaware a question last month,
regarded as highly significant by
both integrationists and segrega
tionists in Delaware:
“Why do you sit back while the
law isn’t enforced?”
The question was posed in the
course of a hearing on the motion
of an NAACP attorney to strike
certain portions of answers filed
by six defendant school boards
of southern Delaware. The suits
seek admission of Negro children
to white schools in these districts.
The question is interpreted as indi
cating that Judge Leahy will order in
tegration, perhaps with the Delaware
State Board of Education initiating spe
cific plans for these districts. (See “Le
gal Action.”)
Also during the past month, Atty. Gen.
Joseph D. Craven, agreeing that the U.
S. Supreme Court has invalidated segre
gation in the state, issued a ruling affect
ing Negro property owners who live in
white school districts. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Defendant attorneys for six southern
Delaware segregated school districts and
an NAACP attorney, on behalf of a
number of Negro school children living
in those districts, appeared before Chief
U. S. Judge Leahy in the U. S. District
Court of Delaware on April 15.
They were ready to argue on a motion
of Louis L. Redding of Wilmington,
counsel for the Negro children, that cer
tain portions of the defendants’ answers
be stricken.
Also present was Chief Deputy Atty.
Gen. Herbert L. Cobin appearing for the
State Board of Education which has been
named a defendant in these cases (Civil
Actions Nos. 1817 through 1822).
The defendant Sussex County school
districts and their white enrollments
are: Milton, 6,028; Milford, 1,761; Green
wood, 477; Laurel, 1,377; John M. Clay
ton, 551; Seaford, 1,777.
UP TO STATE
Defense argument has been that it’s
up to the State Board of Education to
originate a desegregation plan for the
local districts and not the districts.
However, the policy of the state board
is that while it favors adherence to the
U. S. Supreme Court decision, plans for
desegregation must come from the local
districts and be presented to the state
board for action.
As the hearing on this phase of the
suit progressed, Judge Leahy broke in
with “Can’t we get to the heart of this
case by asking the state board to offer a
plan?”
BUCK PASSING
Redding: “The buck seems to pass
from the local board to the state board,
and back and forth.”
Judge Leahy: “And the last buck is
going to be passed to this court.”
Cobin: “The local boards have been
asked to submit plans but have not com
plied.”
Judge Leahy: “Then why doesn’t the
attorney general do something about it?
Why don’t you enforce the law?”
Cobin: “Well, we don’t know precisely
how many Negro students want to at
tend a white school. We are taking the
position that the matter should be left
to the plaintiffs.”
Judge Leahy: “In other words, you’re
letting Mr. Redding carry the ball. Why
do you sit back while the law isn’t en
forced?”
DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE
Cobin: “With about a hundred school
districts (in Delaware) involved, it
would be extremely difficult for the at
torney general to determine exactly
what the situation is in each one. We
hoped that the local boards would be
able to work out the problem. That’s
what we thought would be the best
method.”
The upshot of the hearing was that
Judge Leahy called for an informal dis
cussion in the first week of May with all
i
of Judge in Hearing on School Motion
counsel present, to thrash out the pos
sibility of the State Board of Education
formulating desegregation plans for the
defendant districts.
The attitude of the State Board of
Education to date is that it will not orig
inate any desegregation plan until so
ordered by the court.
In the meantime, the deadline ap
proached for another white school dis
trict—Clayton—in a similar suit to come
up with a desegregation plan, as ordered
by the court. It was reported that the
lawyer for the district, George R. Wright,
may appeal.
The district has been ordered by Judge
Leahy to present a desegregation plan
to the State Board of Education by May
L
The board of education of Dover, capi
tal of Delaware, wants to know what’s
happened in a school since it undertook
a partial desegregation plan three years
ago.
This makes Dover the first Delaware
town with some desegregation that has
decided to make an actual study of the
effects of its plan upon the school and
scholastic standings of the pupils.
Dover began desegregation at the
ninth grade level. White and Negro chil
dren in the elementary grades attend
segregated schools.
PROFESSIONAL STAFF
The survey will be made by the pro
fessional administration staff of the Do
ver Community School which embraces
junior and senior high school grades.
The school has an attendance of 880, in
cluding 20 Negro students.
Samuel Kendall, a member of the Do
ver Board of Education, indicated he is
interested chiefly in a progress report
on the Negro students who are now in
the Dover Community School.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
Dunleith is a small community of Ne
gro homeowners, just south of Wilming
ton, Del. It has its own school with about
577 children (all Negroes) attending. The
Dunleith school has its own board of
trustees.
But the Dunleith school district at
tendance boundaries are practically
identical with that of the Rose Hill-
Minquadale School District which has
923 children, including 20 Negro young
sters.
This school district undertook a vol
untary desegregation plan in 1954. It also
has a board of trustees separate from the
Dunleith District.
TAX DISCOVERY
Recently, quite by accident, a resident
of Dunleith discovered that he had been
paying school taxes to the Minquadale-
Rose Hill District. Other home-owners
examined their tax payments and dis
covered that they too were supporting
the Rose Hill-Minquadale School Dis
trict, even though their children go to
the all-Negro Dunleith school.
The problem was referred first to the
State Board of Education and then to
the attorney general’s office. Chief Dep
uty Atty. Gen. Herbert L. Cobin ruled
that the Rose Hill-Minquadale District
can include all taxables in its school
district, regardless of race or color.
This is regarded as a far-reaching
opinion because similar situations ex
ist in various parts of Delaware and re
flect the perplexing problem of overlap
ping boundaries of Negro and white
school districts. In white districts it has
not been the practice to tax the Negro
residents since their schools were built
wholly out of state funds and not with
any local support. Negro teachers in lo
cal units are paid wholly from state
funds.
NOTES PREVIOUS RULING
Cobin noted that in 1951, a previous
attorney general had ruled that Negroes
living within a white school district,
could not be taxed by this district for
local school funds. Nor were these Ne
groes allowed to vote for members of
the boards of such a district.
But, Cobin continued, “it is our opin
ion that since the specific provisions of
the state Constitution and the school
laws of this state which required the
maintenance of separate schools based
on race or color, are now invalid as be
ing in violation of the United States
Constitution, the construction of the
school law heretofore given by the for
mer attorney general also must fall. • •
“It would seem to be unnecessary to
refer to the numerous decisions of va
rious courts which have held that any
discriminatory action by a state based
solely upon race or color whether in the
field of education, use of governmental
facilities or otherwise, constitutes a vio
lation of the United States Constitu
tion.”
When a local school district decides
to buck integration and a suit develops-
who pays lawyers’ fees for the l° c
school district? ,
This question is puzzling the Laure
Board of Education, one of a group
local districts which are defendants in ®
desegregation suit in the U. S. Distn
Court of Delaware. , .,i
The board has received a legal
from its attorney, James M.
Jr. of Georgetown, Del. He says this 1
a bill just for the retainer. More eN
penses are to come. . lj
Ordinarily, a local school board nu^
be represented in a legal action bv
attorney general. But in this install
the State Board of Education also
volved in the litigation, and it is , j
represented by the attorney
Although both the Laurel Board o _
cation and the State Board of t
tion are defendants, they have dine
points of view as to their defenses.
BILL PASSED TO STATE
The Laurel board sent the Tunne
to the State Board of Education. ^
But the state board sent the bi
with the observation that the l° ca
trict will have to support its claim
a work and time sheet for services
dered by the attorney. . - r *ual-
The Laurel board says this is ' Qn jy
ly impossible since the first bn ^ e te
for a retainer fee. Furthermore-^
are no local funds available
Laurel school board’s budget °
care of such a fee. # £ t