Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.