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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MAY 1957—PAGE 9
Continued: A List of Major Events in School Segregation Story
September 1955 as target date for desegrega
tion in region.
March 3—Kansas City, Mo., announces desegrega
tion for September.
March 8—Arkansas Senate kills House-passed as
signment bill.
March 9—S.C. Gov. Timmerman signs six new bills
strengthening segregation laws, including one
abolishing compulsory school attendance.
Oklahoma legislature provides for referendum
on amendment erasing color line from school
budgets.
March 14-24—Tenn. Gov. Frank Clement vetoes
four local bills reinforcing segregation laws.
March 30—N.C. legislature adopts pupil placement
law.
•
April—Miss, legislature adopts plan to finance
Negro-white equalization plan designed to pre
serve voluntary segregated schools.
April 5—Oklahoma voters approve merging white
and Negro school budgets.
April 11—Hearings begin in U.S. Supreme Court
on implementing May 17 decision.
April 23—Ku Klux Klan holds first public meet
ing since school segregation decisions in Se
quatchie, Tenn.
•
May—S.C. legislature requires that appropriations
at any level “shall cease and become inopera
tive” for any school to which and any school
from which a pupil may be transferred by
court order.
First enrollment of Negro children in an all-
white school in Texas disclosed—at Friona.
May 31—U.S. Supreme Court, in unanimous de
cision, calls for “prompt and reasonable start
toward full compliance with our May 17, 1954
ruling.” Southern School News correspondents
reported that the decision was received with
“relief,” with “a general air of caution,” as
“moderate and reasonable,” and also with at
titudes ranging from “defiance to hopeful ac
ceptance.”
•
June 4—Atlanta meeting of NAACP advises local
branches to file suits seeking admission of Ne
gro children to white schools in districts where
no desegregation steps are taken by September
1955.
June 9—Va. Commission on Public Education rec
ommends continuation of school operation
through 1955-56 on present basis. Prince Ed
ward case remanded, county supervisors de
cline to appropriate funds for schools for next
year.
June 14—S.C. Segregation Study Committee rec
ommends state schools be operated on segre
gated basis, as in past.
June 15—Tenn. Board of Education approves grad
ual plan for desegregation of state’s six col
leges.
June 17—Oklahoma authorities issue state policy
outline for schools providing: (1) state will
no longer pay bill for separate school systems;
(2) Oklahoma segregation statutes are void.
State colleges were ordered opened to Negro
undergraduates.
June 23—Ky. State Board of Education urges local
school authorities to begin integration “as
rapidly as conditions warrant.” June 15 Wayne
County first district to announce desegregation
for following September. June 6 Louisville
board voted to begin preparation of plan for
desegregation in September 1956.
June 25—Hoxie, Ark., school board announces de
segregation for July 11.
Aug. 15—Ga. Board of Education rescinds ban on
teachers who approve of or agree to teach
mixed classes.
Aug. 19—Hoxie, Ark., school board closes school
two weeks early after boycott.
Aug. 26—Catholic archbishop says Louisiana par
ochial schools will not desegregate before 1956.
•
September—Southern School News survey shows
134,000 Negro children now attending mixed
schools in eight (mostly border) states and
D.C. Eight of Maryland’s 23 counties report
school desegregation. Oklahoma reports mixed
classes in 264 schools.
Sept. 10—Three-judge federal court orders admis
sion of three Negro undergraduates to Univer
sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Sept. 12—D.C. schools open with 80 per cent mixed
classes.
Sept. 16—U.S. district court denies application to
compel immediate desegregation of Dallas, Tex.
schools. 65 other districts in state desegregated
as school year begins.
Sept. 21—Miss. Legal Educational Advisory Com
mittee adopts six-point plan to retain segrega
tion.
Sept. 24—Statewide Georgia States’ Bights Coun
cil organized.
•
October—Southern School News survey shows
less than 300 Negro teachers out of 75,000 in
region have lost jobs as result of desegregation.
Oct. 10—U.S. Supreme Court orders University of
Alabama to admit two Negro women as stu
dents.
Oct. 12—Greenbrier County, W.Va. schools, once
scene of demonstration which brought reimpo
sition of segregation, are desegregated.
Texas Supreme Court rules state funds may be
used for mixed schools, knocks out state seg
regation laws.
Oct. 17—U.S. district court at Memphis holds Ten
nessee segregation laws unconstitutional, ap
proves state’s plan for gradual college deseg
regation.
Oct. 19—Fla. Supreme Court knocks out state seg
regation laws as legal principle in Virgil Haw
kins case.
Oct. 24—Hoxie, Ark., schools reopened without
incident but high rate of absenteeism.
•
Nov. 13—Va. Commission on Public Education
submits 12-point “Gray Plan” calling for pupil
assignment and tuition grants.
Nov. 21—Louisville, Ky. school system announces
12-point “free choice” desegregation plan ef
fective in fall of 1956.
•
Dec. 1—U.S. district court orders desegregation of
Adair County, Ky. schools, expected to set
legal pattern for state.
1956
January—Year-end report in Kentucky shows 32
of state’s 224 schools districts had begun de
segregation.
Jan. 9—Virginia voters overwhelmingly approve
constitutional amendment to clear way for
tuition grant plan.
U.S. District court holds Arkansas segregation
laws unconstitutional in ruling in Hoxie case.
Jan. 18—Milford, Del. High School PTA first to
vote disaffiliation from National Congress of
Parents and Teachers.
Jan. 23—300 pro-segregationists “march” on Ten
nessee capitol; demands rejected by Gov.
Clement.
July—Desegregation plans announced in more than
a score of communities in 10 states, a dozen in
Texas.
Desegregation affects more than one-third of
Oklahoma’s counties. Eighty-six Negro teach
ers reported losing jobs.
u y 1—U.S. district court orders University of
Alabama (in Autherine Lucy and Polly Ann
Myers cases) not to deny any applicants ad-
mission because of race.
u y 8—Texas Board of Regents opens three col-
leges to Negroes.
y 12—Ga. Board of Education votes to revoke
forever” licenses of teachers who “support,
encourage, condone or agree to teach mixed
classes.”
u y 16—Three-judge federal court, hearing re
manded Clarendon County, S.C., case, directs
compliance without time limit and says of
Supreme Court decision: “The Constitution, in
other words, does not require integration . . .
■It merely forbids use of governmental power
j 1° enforce segregation.”
y 18—Three-judge court, hearing remanded
Prince Edward County, Va., case, rules “not
practicable ... to place school system upon a
non-diseriminatory basis . . . before September
1955.”
Vicksburg Negro parents, in first Mississippi
j Petition, ask school board to integrate system,
y 28—Alabama legislature adopts pupil place
ment bill.
u gust—As schools began to open, Souim
School News correspondents reported oppo
tmn to desegregation “hardening” in Alabar
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North £
South Carolina and Virginia.
During summer desegregation announced
60 Texas districts, 80 in Oklahoma, 10 count
and four of the larger cities of Kentucky,
West Virginia counties, 114 Missouri distrii
* Arkansas districts. In Delaware, 21 distri
considered themselves desegregated.”
Feb. 1—Va. legislature adopts resolution “inter
posing the sovereignty of Virginia against en
croachment upon the reserved powers of this
state . .
Feb. 3-6—Riots on University of Alabama campus
after enrollment of Autherine Lucy. One white
student expelled, University authorities ex
clude Miss Lucy from classes indefinitely “for
her protection.”
Feb. 15—U.S. district court rules Louisiana segre
gation laws invalid, orders desegregation in
New Orleans schools.
S.C. legislature adopts formal resolution of pro
test against Supreme Court decision.
Feb. 17—Ga. legislature adjourns after adopting
five-point private school plan, resolution of
interposition.
Feb. 29—Federal judge rules Autherine Lucy must
be readmitted to University of Alabama, trus
tees “permanently expel” her for charging they
conspired in February riots.
•
March—S.C. legislature adopts 14 new pro-segre
gation measures.
March 12—Southern Manifesto signed by 101 con
gressmen.
March 13—Florida takes strong resistance stand
after U.S. Supreme Court rules Virgil Hawkins
must be admitted without delay.
March 21—Nashville, Tenn. school board announc
es policy “in compliance with the law of the
land” six days before three-judge court opens
hearings on school segregation case.
March 22—Miss. State Sovereignty Commission ac
tivated.
•
April—Southern School News survey shows 36
districts in Maryland, Oklahoma, Kentucky,
and Texas desegregating, 42 pro-segregation
measures adopted in last three months by leg
islatures of five states.
April 14—Gov. Folsom signs “free choice” bill
the first pro-segregation bill he had approved.
April 24—Louisiana state district court “perman
ently” bans NAACP for failing to file member
ship lists.
•
May—Southern School News survey shows de
segregation announced in one Arkansas com
munity, one Maryland county, 26 Oklahoma
districts, one West Virginia county, two Texas
districts.
May 14—U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review
University of Alabama appeal in Autherine
Lucy case, leaving doors open to qualified
Negroes.
May 26—Two of North Carolina congressmen who
did not sign “Southern Manifesto” defeated in
North Carolina Democratic primary, third re
nominated.
May 29—La. legislature adopts interposition reso
lution.
May 31—Virginia shelves Gray Plan while looking
for other methods to fight desegregation.
June—Southern School News survey shows at end
of 1955-56 school year 540 school districts had
desegregated or were in process, with 256,000
Negro students in “integrated situations.” Citi
zens Councils of America claimed 500,000 mem
bers in 11 states.
June 1—NAACP enjoined from operation in Ala
bama.
June 6—N.C. Supreme Court, in a case involving
school bonds, rules state segregation laws in
valid.
June 12—First suit in Florida filed against Dade
County.
June 28—Fifth Circuit Court rules Mansfield, Tex.
school board cannot refuse to end practice of
segregation merely because of adverse public
opinion.
•
July—Fla. legislature in special session votes five-
point plan to retain segregation, including as
signment law.
La. legislature adopts 12 new pro-segregation
laws, requires certificate of “good character”
for college enrollment.
July 23-27—N.C. legislature votes to submit con
stitutional amendments providing “local op
tion unit” elections and tuition grants.
July 25—Alabama NAACP fined $100,000 for con
tempt in failing to obey July 11 order to pro
duce records.
July 31—U.S. district court issues injunction
against racial discrimination in schools of Ar
lington County, Va.
August—Southern School News survey shows 161
Oklahoma districts will have “integrated situa
tions” in 1956-57, bringing to 570 number of
districts in region desegregated or in process
—out of some 3,700 having both white and Ne
gro pupils.
Both national political parties adopt platform
planks of accommodation and compromise on
the school segregation-desegregation issue.
Aug. 7—Federal judge orders Charlottesville, Va.
schools to begin desegregation by start of the
1956-57 school year.
Aug. 20—Twelve Negroes among 806 pupils regis
tered at Clinton, Tenn. High School.
Aug. 28—Alabama voters approve “freedom of
choice” amendment.
Federal court approves Little Rock’s gradual
desegregation proposal.
Aug. 31—Mobs form on school ground at Mans
field, Texas, after school board loses legal
effort to prevent enrollment of Negroes. No
Negroes enroll, but Gov. Allan Shivers sends
Texas Rangers to scene and school trustees are
asked to transfer out of district any student
whose presence might be likely to cause vio
lence. At Van, Fort Worth, and Houston, Ne
groes attempt to enroll, are turned down.
Sept. 1-3—Demonstrations at Clinton, Tenn., after
Negro students enroll and attend Clinton High
School under court order. Gov. Clement sends
in National Guard to “promote law and order
and preserve the peace.” John Kasper, 26, sec
retary of Seaboard White Citizens Council,
convicted of contempt of court in violating
U.S. district court order. Last Guard detach
ments leave Sept. 11 and by Sept. 15 school
“operating on a normal basis.”
Sept. 4-7—Demonstrations at Clay and Sturgis,
Ky. as Negro children seek to attend formerly
all-white schools in which they have been en
rolled. Gov. Chandler sends National Guard.
Students later removed after enabling opin
ion by attorney general.
Sept. 5—Classes begin without incident at Louis
ville, Ky., under “free choice” desegregation
plan affecting 54,821 whites and 12,720 Negroes.
Sept. 8—N.C. voters adopt “Pearsall Plan” amend
ments to constitution (providing for school
closing and tuition payments) by 4-1.
Sept. 19—House District subcommittee begins
hearing witnesses in probe of District of Co
lumbia school system. Civic group protests
“tone of hearing.”
Sept. 29—Va. Gov. Thomas B. Stanley signs 23
pro-segregation measures, including one creat
ing Pupil Placement Board.
•
October—Southern School News survey shows de
segregation begun or accomplished in 650
school districts of 3,700 having students of both
races. 319,184 Negroes in “integrated situations”
with about 2 million whites. Still segregated:
2.4 million Negroes and about 7 million whites.
Survey also shows 110 tax-supported formerly
all-white colleges of 208 such institutions in
South now admit Negroes in practice or prin
ciple.
About 20 of the 27 PTA units in Montgomery
County, Ala. withdraw from national Congress
of Parents and Teachers in protest over na
tional position on segregation-desegregation
issue.
Oct. 5—Tenn. Supreme Court rules state school
segregation laws invalid.
Oct. 24—Texas state court enjoins NAACP from
further operation in state.
•
Nov. 6—Arkansas voters approve amendment to
nullify Supreme Court decision, resolution of
interposition and pupil assignment act.
Louisiana voters approve segregation amend
ment to constitution blocking suits against
school boards.
Nov. 14—U.S. 4th Circuit Court rules McDowell
County, N.C. Negroes must exhaust “admin
istrative remedies” of Pupil Assignment Act
before seeking federal court relief in school
entry.
Nov. 21—Segregationist John Kasper acquitted on
state charges of sedition and inciting to riot
at Clinton, Tenn. Negro students at desegre
gated Clinton withdrew late in month after
series of “incidents”
•
December—Southern School News survey shows
five additional school districts desegregated
for total of 671.
Dec. 3—First Florida school segregation suit is
thrown out of court for second time for lack
of a controversial situation.
Dec. 5—Order of attachment issued for 16 persons
accused of contempt of court for interfering
with desegregation at Clinton High School.
Dec. 19—Federal judge in Texas rules Dallas
schools may remain segregated while prob
lems are studied.
Dec. 27—Reports released by special House Dis
trict subcommittee on D.C. public schools. Ma
jority says desegregation undertaken too rap
idly with damaging consequences, recom
mends in subsequent statement legislation be
enacted to restore segregation. Minority re
port attacks majority report as dealing in “sor
did headline items” and lacking in objectivity.
Controversy stirred.
Dec. 31—U.S. 4th Circuit Court upholds desegre
gation orders handed Arlington County and
Charlottesville, Va. school boards by lower
courts.
1957
Jan. 11—U.S. district court says Virginia place
ment plan is “invalid on its face.”
Jan. 17—U.S. district courts restrain Louisiana
state colleges from barring Negroes because
they do not have “moral eligibility” certificates.
Jan. 18—U.S. district court rules University of Ala
bama justified in expelling Autherine Lucy
Feb. 29, 1956 for unproven charges university
conspired in 1956 campus riots.
Jan. 21—U.S. district court accepts Nashville, Tenn.
school board plan to begin desegregation at
first grade in fall of 1957.
Union and Webster counties, Kentucky, where
segregationist demonstrations occurred in 1956,
file desegregation plans under court direction.
Jan. 25—Tenn. Gov. Clement signs five school seg
regation bills, including assignment act.
February—Georgia legislators enact five more pro
segregation measures; ask impeachment of six
U.S. Supreme Court justices.
About 100 Negroes register in Louisiana col
leges under court injunctions against enforce
ment of laws designed to resegregate institu
tions of higher learning.
Feb. 6—Four laws aimed at strengthening segre
gation passed by Arkansas legislature.
Feb. 11—U.S. judge orders Newport News and
Norfolk, Va. to submit plans to begin desegre
gation in fall of 1957.
Feb. 12—Horace Ward’s suit to enter University
of Georgia law school dismissed on grounds
discrimination not involved and his failure to
pursue administrative remedies.
Feb. 27—Tennessee Manifesto, protesting en
croachment on states’ right, adopted by legis
lature.
•
March 1—5th Circuit Court affirms lower court
decision ordering New Orleans desegregation
but sets no time limit.
March 6—First federal court order in Delaware
directs Clayton district to present desegrega
tion plan. 32 per cent of state’s school popula
tion reported in “integrated situations.”
March 8—Fla. Supreme Court, asserting doctrine
of states’ rights, refuses to order admission of
Virgil Hawkins to University of Florida law
school despite U.S. Supreme Court order.
March 14—Texas legislature adopts resolution urg
ing states to resist federal encroachment.
March 22—Tenn. legislature adjourns after adopt
ing segregation-by-sex bill. Gov. Clement in
dicates March 23 he will veto bill amending
compulsory school attendance law.
March 25—U.S. Supreme Court apparently ap
proves constitutionality of North Carolina
placement bill, in McDowell County case.
U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review lower
court orders in Virginia directing Charlottes
ville and Arlington County desegregation.
•
For April developments see this issue of SSN.