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Objective
VOL. IV, NO. I
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
$2 PER YEAR
JULY, 1957
School Issue Has Gone
Before Court 22 Times
T he U. S. Supreme Court has
held, in effect, for the 22nd time
in three years that segregation in
the schools must go.
Desegregation has been effected
in six of the 20 cases which thus
far have gone through state and
federal judicial channels to the
high court. They include school
cases in Kansas, Delaware and the
District of Columbia (all as a re
sult of the 1954 School Segregation
decisions), the University of North
Carolina, and the schools in Ohio
and Texas in subsequent cases.
In the most recent case, the court
refused to review the appeal of the
Orleans Parish School board from fed
eral district and circuit court decisions
which previously had: (1) declared
Louisiana’s pupil placement act and
other segregation provisions invalid; (2)
ordered the end of compulsory segre
gation in the New Orleans public
schools; and (3) declined to set a spe
cific date by which desegregation must
be accomplished or begun.
LEFT TO LOCAL COURTS
A Southern School News survey of
actions by the Supreme Court since
1954 shows that the court has handled
a majority of the school segregation
cases which have come before it in
similar manner. On 13 of the 22 occa
sions in which cases have been appealed
to the high court, it has refused to re
view or otherwise declined to alter
lower federal court handling of the
cases.
In the past three years, 20 cases
d'rectly involving school segregation
and two involving related issues have
Bone to the Supreme Court. Six of the
cases, four involving colleges, have
gone up twice each.
11 REFUSALS TO REVIEW
According to the SSN survey, the
Jgh court has ruled directly on only
nine occasions, refused to review deci
sions by lower courts on 11 occasions
and has denied petitions for different
andling by district courts on two oc-
casions. Thus, in the 20 cases dealing
1 " school segregation specifically, it
°uld apnear that the court has ad-
cred with considerable consistency to
e policy it established in the 1955
r ° Wn decision when it remanded the
■ e . s to the federal district courts for
“nplementation “consistent with this
“Pinion.”
Wie Supreme Court has handled the
issue C p S T reIated to the segregation
eati ’ ■ not directl V involving segre-
nianne r ln sc7locds ’ * n the following
review^T 27 ’ 1957 the court agreed to
AlaiwJ. Case of NAACP v. State of
“ourt * n state supreme
Sose^! tWice u P held a $100,000 fine
Monte agalnst ^e organization by the
cont Pn ° r ? ery bounty Circuit Court for
r “corH, P m . ^fasing to make certain
an a )[ailable to the court during
P r “me^ Ctl0n hearing ' Date of the Su-
Uourt hearing has not been set.
B( ^ d CASE
certiora^- the court denied
"Lerein^ 1 case °f Doby v. Brown,
denied • 3 - ^ ederEd district court had
the v a r!p? Sdicti ° n ' n a case involving
“larle „ school bonds in Albe
de . N. C.
the ‘ ^ rom the original decisions ii
iing „ 'f, n case and in the case of Bol
^“ndled ' iar i pe ’ the Supreme Court ha
Win-, subsequent cases in the fol
? manner:
case of Florid
the §. ail 'kins v. the Board of Contro
state su Preme Court remanded to th
th e p r t me cour ti ’ for consideratioi
^'ided the Segregation Case
,< ^ l 'issin Iay 77 ’” t * le action seekin]
Florii 1 ^ a Negro to the Universit’
OnT 13 W school.
”■ th e p Same date, the case of Tureaut
"as r ° a j rd of Supervisors of LSI
ll °n$ . ariC ed with the same instruc-
c “se seefc 8 ^ edera ^ distTict court. Thi:
adm ission of a Negro to th(
Lpive rs ; t Uate level of Louisiana Staff
Oct. 10, 1955—In the case of Lucy v.
Adams, the Supreme Court reinstated
an injunction against barring two
Negro women from the University of
Alabama, after the stay had been
granted by the district court pending
appeal.
March 5, 1956—The Supreme Court
affirmed a three-judge district court
order to admit Negroes to the under
graduate level of the University of
North Carolina in the case of Board of
Trustees of UNC v. Frasier.
March 12, 1956—Again in the case of
Florida ex rel. Hawkins v. the Board
of Control, the Supreme Court refused
to review the state supreme court find
ings on questions of capacity, plant and
other “conditions that now prevail,” but
entered a new order specifying that
factors of possible delay recognized for
elementary and secondary schools do
not apply in cases involving graduate
professional schools.
OHIO CITY INVOLVED
April 2, 1956—The Supreme Court
denied certiorari (refused to review)
the case of Board of Education of Hills
boro v. Clemons in which the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals had ordered
a district court to direct admission of
Negro pupils to public schools in Ohio
without discrimination.
May 7, 1956—The Supreme Court de
nied certiorari in the case of Board of
Supervisors of LSU v. Tureaud where
in the Fifth Circuit Court had directed
admission of a Negro to the LSU un
dergraduate level.
May 14, 1956—The Supreme Court
refused to review the case of Adams v.
Lucy in which the University of Ala
bama appealed lower court decrees to
admit qualified Negroes.
May 28, 1956—The Supreme Court
denied motion for leave to file petition
for a three-judge court to hear the
case of Booker v. Board of Educa
tion after a single district judge had
approved a gradual desegregation plan
for Memphis State College and other
Tennessee colleges and universities.
DENIED 3-JUDGE PLEA
On the same date, the court denied a
similar petition in the case of Orleans
Parish School Board v. Bush, after a
three-judge court had determined it
lacked jurisdiction in a school segre
gation case.
Oct. 15, 1956—The Supreme Court
denied certiorari in the case of Hood
v. Board of Trustees of Sumter County
School District No. 2, wherein the
Fourth Circuit Court had ruled that
administrative remedies must be ex
hausted before plaintiffs, known as
“Turks” in South Carolina, could seek
relief in federal courts.
Oct. 22, 1956—The Supreme Court re
fused to review the case of Hippy v.
Brown in which a federal district
court’s denial of an injunction in a
Dallas, Texas, segregation case was re
versed by the Fifth Circuit Court.
Dec. 3, 1956—The Supreme Court de
nied certiorari in the case of Rawdon
v. Jackson wherein the Fifth Circuit
Court had remanded to a district court
the case involving segregation in the
Mansfield, Texas schools with instruc
tions that the lower court order a
prompt start toward desegregation “un
influenced by private or public opinion
as to the desirability” of desegregation.
March 25, 1957—The Supreme Court
denied certiorari in the case of Carson
v. Warlick, wherein Negro plaintiffs
sought to mandamus a federal district
judge to hear a school segregation case
after he had ruled that administrative
remedies under the state’s pupil place
ment act must be exhausted before re
lief could be sought in federal court.
March 25, 1957—In the combined
cases of School Board of Charlottesville
v. Allen and School Board of Arlington
County v. Thompson, the Supreme
Court denied certiorari in the appeal
from a Fourth Circuit Court decision
upholding lower court orders requiring
admission of Negroes to public schools
in Virginia.
April 22, 1957—The Supreme Court
denied certiorari in the case of Avery
v. Randel in which the Fifth Circuit
Court had ruled that the district court
must retain jurisdiction in a segrega-
(Continued On Page 2)
Eight Districts
Plans for New
Disclose
Year
T>lans for fall desegregation in school districts in two border states and one mid-South state were
announced while predicted “general” desegregation in a third border state—Delaware—appeared to
have been arrested by a State Board of Education ruling.
Desegregating in 1957-58, according to announcement, are one district in West Virginia, three in Okla
homa (two of which have “policy” desegregation) and four in Arkansas, in the mid-South.
Kasper, 15
Others Face
July Trial
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
On July 8 the much discussed trial
of 15 residents of Anderson County
and John Kasper, the Washington,
D.C. Citizens Council leader, will start
in federal court in Knoxville.
The defendants are charged with
criminal contempt of court for alleged
violations of an injunction issued Aug.
29, 1956 by Federal District Judge
Robert L. Taylor prohibiting interfer
ence with the peaceful desegregation
of Anderson County’s Clinton High
School.
The trial will be before a jury of 12
members chosen from a panel of “65
to 70” veniremen. The panel was se
lected by the two-member jury com
mission at the beginning of the present
term of court in May.
The panel members are residents of
the 14 counties that compose the
northern division of the eastern fed
eral district of Tennessee.
By statute, each side in the case
must be allowed at least three chal
lenges in the selection of the jury, al
though it is within the discretion of the
judge to permit additional challenges
if it is deemed necessary.
JURY SELECTION FIRST
The selection of the trial jury will
be the first point of contention between
the prosecution and the defense. A
spokesman for the 15 defendants—ex
cluding Kasper—said it is their belief
that each of the defendants and the
prosecution should be allowed 10 chal
lenges in selecting the jury. The prose
cution, however, contends that in
federal court, since the defendants are
being tried as one case, they are en
titled to challenges as a “side” and not
as individual defendants.
Judge Taylor will preside over the
trial and the case will be prosecuted
by Federal District Attorney John C.
Crawford.
There are four defense counsel, all
retained by the Tennessee Federation
for Constitutional Government (TF-
CG). They are: Thomas P. Gore of
Nashville, a first cousin of Tennessee’s
Sen. Albert Gore, Robert L. Dobbs and
L. E. Gwinn of Memphis, and W. M.
Shaw, assistant state’s attorney for
Louisiana. Their defense is being fi
nanced by the “Freedom Fund for
Clinton,” a fund sponsored by the
TFCG.
The dimensions of the case have
broadened considerably since last Oc
tober when desegregation troubles
plagued the Clinton High School (forc
ing its temporary closure) and result
ing in the arrest of the defendants.
The reason: the controversy in Con
gress over civil rights legislation and
particularly over the right to trial by
jury in contempt of court cases where
civil rights are at issue; and the re
cent decision of the U.S. Supreme
Court in the Jenks case relating to ac
cess of defense counsel to records of
the FBI in criminal prosecution.
The trial, according to observers, is
expected to last at least a week. It
may last longer, depending on three
factors: prolonged selection of the
jury, examination of witnesses by all
members of the counsel for the de
fense, demands of counsel for defense
for access to FBI records.
# # #
Meanwhile, pupil placement acts
were under challenge in three states.
In a decision upholding a desegrega
tion order for Orleans Parish (New
Orleans), Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme
Court sustained a lower court ruling
which invalidated Louisiana’s pupil
placement law. Negroes petitioning for
school entry by transfer assignment
apparently were testing North Caro
lina’s placement law. And a circuit
court heard a test case involving Vir
ginia’s placement legislation.
Florida’s legislature had adjourned
without passing a major pro-segrega
tion bill and Alabama’s was still in
session with 25 to 40 such measures
before it. Recent legislation in Texas
was cited in the delay of projected de
segregation at Galveston. South Caro
lina’s second longest legislative session
ended with a sprinkling of new pro
segregation laws.
Meeting in annual convention in De
troit June 25, members of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People heard from Executive
Secretary Roy Wilkins: “We are going
to give special attention to achieving
desegregation in the so-called hard
core area of the South.”
The “hard-core area,” said Wilkins,
is Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South
Carolina and Virginia. In reference to
the U.S. Supreme Court decisions of
1954 and 1955 in the Brown case, he
said “we intend to work with all the
techniques and weapons available so
the people of those states will receive
the benefits of the Supreme Court de
cisions.”
A state-by-state summary of major
developments follows:
Alabama
With a backlog of an estimated 25 to
40 pro-segregation bills, the legislature,
which convened May 7, had passed one
local measure. The consensus of legisla
tors was that the state’s pupil placement
law was the principal defense against
forcible integration.
Arkansas
Four school districts—Little Rock,
North Little Rock, Fort Smith and Van
Buren—plan desegregation this fall.
More than 200 Arkansas districts will
remain segregated.
Delaware
Local initiative should govern deseg
regation, the State Board of Education
ruled again, in a move interpreted as
reducing the likelihood of general de
segregation in the fall.
District of Columbia
Washington’s nine-member school
board got a new chairman as the Dis
trict also continued its quest for a su
perintendent to succeed Hobart M.
Coming.
Florida
The legislature adjourned without en
acting any major new law on segrega
tion-desegregation. It failed to override
a gubernatorial veto of a “last resort”
bill allowing local districts to abandon
public schools faced with desegregation
orders.
Georgia
The state’s request to dismiss an en
try suit to Georgia State College was
refused by a federal court. An assess
ment of more than $17,000 in back in
come taxes was clapped on the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.
Kentucky
Two state institutions of higher edu
cation—the predominantly white Uni
versity of Kentucky and the formerly
all-Negro Kentucky State College,
joined to sponsor extension courses at
Frankfort, the state capital.
Louisiana
Orleans Parish (New Orleans) School
Board lost its appeal against a deseg
regation order in the U. S. Supreme
Court, which also upheld a lower court
order ruling the state’s pupil placement
law unconstitutional.
Maryland
A federal court approved “selective
integration” in Harford County, a plan
involving the screening of Negro ap
plicants. Negro plaintiffs said they
would appeal the ruling.
Mississippi
Gov. J. P. Coleman issued his strong
est statement to date on school segrega
tion, saying that “we have no intention
of complying with the decision that we
regard to be utterly unconstitutional.”
Missouri
A survey of desegregated John Pitman
School in Kirkwood, a suburb of St.
Louis, showed that desegregation was
“easier on the whole, this year than
last,” when difficulties were reported at
the second-year mark.
North Carolina
Applications for school entry, gov
erned by the state’s pupil placement
act, have been filed in Charlotte,
Greensboro, Raleigh and Winston-Sa
lem, plus Mecklenburg (Charlotte)
County.
Oklahoma
A state survey showed that a “Little
Dixie” district planned complete de
segregation this fall and that two other
districts had “policy desegregation,”
while all-Negro high schools would be
maintained in 34 and possibly 40 dis
tricts.
South Carolina
The next-to-longest session in the
state’s legislative history ended with a
sprinkling of new pro-segregation laws.
Tennessee
Knoxville asked a federal court to
dismiss a school entry suit as John
Kasper, pro-segregation organizer, ap
peared in Nashville, which plans first-
grade desegregation this fall (under
court order). Kasper said he has organ
ized a Citizens Council in opposition.
Texas
A federal court was asked to set a
definite date for desegregation of Hous
ton’s school system as Galveston an
nounced it would postpone desegrega
tion because of new state laws. Appeal
was announced of a state court order
restricting NAACP activities.
Virginia
Pupil placement, as provided by state
law, was under challenge in both fed
eral and state courts. In one instance,
the Fourth Circuit Court heard (at
Asheville, N.C.) a case involving Nor
folk and Newport News.
West Virginia
Hardy County announced it would
take its first desegregation steps this fall
and Mason County said it would adopt
complete desegregation, leaving two
counties in the state with segregated
school systems.
Index
State Page
Alabama 10
Arkansas 10
Delaware 8
District of Columbia 9
Florida 12
Georgia 9
Kentucky 2
Louisiana 7
Maryland 5
Mississippi 5
Missouri 6
North Carolina 6
Oklahoma 12
South Carolina 4
Tennessee 2
Texas H
Virginia 3
West Virginia 8
