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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—SEPTEMBER 1957—PAGE 13
Missouri Cities, Most Rural Areas to
ST. LOUIS, Mo.
M issouri begins the fourth
academic year following the
, Supreme Court decision with
school desegregation completed in
all the larger cities and segrega
tion lingering only in scattered
rural communities and the cotton
growing southeast “bootheel.”
~ High school segregation has
been ended nearly everywhere
except in the “bootheel,” and a
local observer there reports that
five or 10 years will see the end
of it.
To date, some 209 districts out of
244 with Negro enrollments report the
end of segregation, and 60,000 out of
67,000 Negro pupils are expected to be
in integrated situations when classes
open this month. Most of these are in
the big school svstems of St. Louis, St.
Lou's County, Kansas City, St. Joseph
and Springfield.
Southern School News, surveying
1 those districts where segregation had
been previously reported as surviving,
found that six districts have plans to
end it in elementary grades this fall.
(See SSN, August 1957.)
DEPEND ON BUILDINGS
Superintendents in 10 more districts
report that integration is expected to
be accomplished within two or three
years, usually dependent upon the com
pletion of building programs. Otherwise,
not much change from last year seems
evident. Where sentiment for integra
tion was strong, the task has been ac
complished. Elsewhere, both white and
Negro communities appear to be mark
ing time, both convinced that integra
tion is coming but neither wishing to
press the issue.
Reports by superintendents to SSN
show both sides of the coin in border-
state Missouri.
One of the first city systems in Mis
souri to end segregation was St. Joseph.
Marion E. Gibbins, formerly principal
of Central High School, now dean of
St. Joseph Junior College and super
visor of secondary education, gave SSN
a report on the change-over in 1954.
Asked to comment today after three
years of experience, he had this to say:
THREE-YEAR REPORT
“The process of integration has con
tinued in the main to move alon
smoothly with a minimum of difficulty
“We have had only 60 to 70 Negr
students per year in a student body c
1200, so any possible effect on th
school certainly is much less than i
Might be were the proportions differen
The school’s academic standards hav
always been considered reasonably hig
and I have been able to observe no ap
Preciable effect due to integration.
We have found some very good stu
ents among our colored boys and girl:
ut if I am completely objective I mus
re Port that the percentage of strop
sudents is not as high with them a
' is among those who have come u
rough the white elementary school:
am more inclined to attribute thi
1 erence to lack of real incentive t
West Virginia
(Continued From Page 12)
“ n ' y m * nor changes in its transporta-
°n system.
ancock, another industrialized Ohio
count y> adopted a one-step de
legation policy. In 1955 Dunbar
w 001at a 12-year facility,
int chan S e d from an all-Negro to an
Ul j!grated school.
children now can attend schools
°f T ^. e ' r localities, but since most
its 6m ^' ve * n The vicinity of Dunbar,
j, orollnaent still is 70 per cent Negro.
\j ar now has three white and five
the f° P eo Pl e on Its staff, and despite
act principal is a Negro all the
t eac hers wanted to return to
^"har this year.
S,n GLE COMPLAINT
om^t H. Hall, superintendent, says
segj. n e complaint grew out of the de-
^tron 3110 ? move ' That was from a
W e i rt w “° had recently moved to
his d a ° n , and didn't like the fact that
c hild Ug trter was one of only two white
“» her room.
Moved ® x Pl a ined to him that if he had
^’eirt,'^! 0 an y of five other parts of
hig tQ the child would have been go-
%r 3 ^nool where most of the young-
Plain ts e >, e k er race. No further com-
Map have been registered by the
Hap
5anj s C ° C k * s muc h like Ohio as re-
-\’ati Q ~, C ™a 0rnies realized from deseg-
’ll R Tlie school is still being used,
N cbn,! eacl ? ers . were retained, and
. Pee tv, dren lived near their school,
v, e , re was little if any transpor-
Pfoblem.
study or motivation than to any great
difference in native ability.
“In one other area do our records
show a poorer record for colored stu
dents: there is more absence and tardi
ness. This situation is showing improve
ment.
LITTLE FRICTION
“No special problems of a disciplin
ary nature have arisen and there have
been relatively few points of friction
created by differences in color. We
have had one or two Negro athletes
who may have felt their color rather
than their lack of ability was responsi
ble for their not being used as exten
sively in athletic competition as they
wished to be used. On the other hand,
several capable Negro boys earned
places on the basketball team, and one
of them was elected co-captain by the
team.
“In general the process of integration
has been working very well and I am
convinced that the colored students
now enrolled are benefiting by a
stronger, broader, more challenging
program of instruction than it was pos
sible to offer them in a separate
school.”
The other side of the coin is pre
sented in “minority reports” from
superintendents in smaller towns and
rural areas where segregation continues
despite its disappearance in the cities.
Most of the concentrated segregation
remaining is located in the “bootheel”—
chiefly Pemiscot, Dunklin, New Madrid,
Stoddard, Mississippi and Scott coun
ties. This is the only section where high
schools remain segregated, and in most
of the communites no effort has been
made to desegregate elementary grades.
Yet high school integration has begun
even here—in Kennett, Malden, Cape
Girardeau, Jackson, Charleston and
Poplar Bluff.
CITES COST
One local observer, William E. Dye,
editor of the Dunklin County Demo
crat at Kennett, believes that in spite
of the persistence of segregation in
some parts of the area, integration will
be the rule within five or 10 years, if
only because the cost of maintaining
dual school systems is high. There are
no “rabid” segregationists in the area,
he reports, and the general feeling is
that integration is bound to come.
In this spirit, some school districts
with large Negro populations have built
new and better facilities for Negroes
since the Supreme Court decision, but
have not invested too much money in
them because of the belief that within
the near future integration will be
forced upon them.
Caruthersville in Pemiscot County,
where the Negro population is 40 per
cent of the total, has just opened a
new Negro high school and gymnasium.
It is said to look fine outside, but the
construction is not of the most perma
nent type. Hayti, in Pemiscot County,
spent only $35,000 on its new Negro
high school, and the architect pulled
out of the contract because he felt the
building was not up to standard.
So far, no pronounced demand for
integration has been forthcoming from
The State Board of Education, policy
making body for the nine state col
leges, will take its time on the selection
of a successor for Dr. Stephen J.
Wright as president at Bluefield State
College. Dean G. W. Whiting, mean
while, will serve as acting president on
a month-to-month basis.
Bluefield was the hardest hit of the
state institutions by desegregation,
when it became a fact in the upper
educational division by board order
shortly after the Supreme Court ruled
in 1954. Enrollment has remained at
between 300 and 350 students, most of
it Negro, since then, and in the face
of the trend toward migration of Ne
gro people to northern urban centers,
the board is wondering what the future
status should be for Bluefield.
A citizens committee has been ap
pointed to try to work out a better
curriculum for the college, but it hasn’t
yet come forward with a final set of
recommendations. The appointment of
a new president likely will come after
Bluefield’s future course is set. Cur
rently, the board has applications on
file from four white and seven Negro
educators who would like to succeed
Wright at Bluefield.
NO GROWING PAINS
West Virginia State College, the
state’s only other previously all-Negro
college, is having no growth troubles.
Enrollment is about 60 per cent Negro,
40 per cent white, and the indication
is that when classes start in Septem
ber this ratio will be maintained.
# # #
the Negro communities, Dye reports.
The Negroes seem to be content with
improvement of school facilities. The
economics of the region are in flux as
both Negro and white cotton laborers
are being steadily displaced by ma
chines. Last year 45 per cent of Dunk
lin County’s cotton crop was picked by
machine as compared wth five per cent
five years ago. The traditional split
summer term for Negro children, de
signed to enable them to attend classes
in July and August and pick cotton in
September, has been abandoned be
cause there was so little need for it.
The drift of bootheel opinion, accord
ing to Dye, is indicated by Kennett’s
swimming pool being opened to Negroes
this summer. No formal policy decision
was announced, but when a Negro
turned up at the ticket window he was
admitted, and today it is not uncommon
on a Sunday to see half a dozen Ne
groes swimming with 100 or so whites.
Kennett’s high school has been deseg
regated and the school board has an
nounced that any Negroes who apply
to attend mixed elementary schools will
be admitted. Owing to residential con
centration and a new school in the Ne
gro area, no applicants have sought ad
mission to the white schools.
WON’T FORCE ISSUE
While nearly everybody in the boot
heel seems to expect integration in the
years ahead, there is no disposition
among either whites or Negroes to force
the issue, and there has been little
change in the situation this year. Rela
tively few school superintendents
in the area responded to the Southern
School News survey, which probably
indicates no new action toward compli
ance with the Supreme Court decision
is expected. Responses were received
from the following southeast Missouri
communities:
PEMISCOT COUNTY, Wardell —
Neither the elementary nor high schools
have been desegregated and no plans
have been made to that end.
SCOTT COUNTY, Morley — With a
total enrollment of 678 whites and 107
Negroes this district has ended segre
gation in the high school and reports
the transition operating “smoothly.”
Academically, the Negro pupils gener
ally are said to be slower than the
whites. The superintendent adds: “I
think this is largely due to Negroes
having poorer educational facilities
prior to our high school integration.”
The elementary schools remain segre
gated and no plans have been made for
any change.
STODDARD COUNTY, Essex — The
total enrollment is 400 whites and 30
Negroes. Neither the high school nor
elementary schools have been desegre
gated, and no plans have been made in
that direction. A race riot some 15
years ago is given as one reason why
the community feels it is not readv
for desegregation.
STODDARD COUNTY, Gray Ridge—
With an enrollment of 1,192 whites and
196 Negroes, neither the high school
nor elementary schools have been de
segregated. School officials say the
Negro patrons prefer to send their chil
dren to Negro schools, and have ex
pressed that desire to the board of
education. “We provide them with good
school faculties and adequate trans
portation,” says the superintendent.
STODDARD COUNTY, Bell City —
With a total enrollment of 555 whites
and 185 Negroes, this district has ended
segregation at the high school level but
not in elementary grades, and no plans
have been made for any change. The
district is now building an elementary
school for Negroes which will be oper
ated cn a “voluntary” basis.
School officials say the colored peo
ple prefeired to retain their own
colored teachers and separate school,
though they desire equal facilities and
opportunities The high school, with a
white enrollment of 200 and 30 Negroes,
has had Rule trouble under desegrega
tion. Some “routine'’ disciplinary nroh-
lems arc- reported, most of them arising
on the crowded buses, but differing
tittle from the same problems among
whites.
Negro girls take part in the glee club
and mixed chorus. One Negro boy was
on the first basketball team, four on
the baseball teams, and five on the
second squad in basketball. A few of
the Negroes rank high scholastically
but as a whole they are slightly below
average. The superintendent says:
“We find that most disciplinary prob
lems arise between white boys and
colored girls. The white and colored
boys have very little trouble. They
don’t associate much with each other
except in sports. White and colored
girls do not associate, but are friendly
Open Year Desegregated
in classes, especially physical education
and glee clubs, where they work and
play together. There is no mixing of
the races before and after school or at
noon hour. The children segregate
themselves, with little talk or visiting
between white and colored.
“I think both the white and colored
people prefer segregated high schools,
but that is not possible here. It would
be too expensive to transport Negroes
to a colored high school 40 miles away,
and tuition there is high. The predom
inant sentiment in the community is
for retaining segregated elementary
schools.”
NEW MADRID COUNTY, Canalou—
Neither high school nor elementary
schools have been desegregated, and
no plans have been made to do so.
Total enrollment is 325 whites and 75
Negroes.
NEW MADRID COUNTY, Parma —
Neither elementary nor high schools
are desegregated. Total enrollment is
775 whites and 220 Negroes. No plans
have been made for integration.
NEW MADRID COUNTY, Kewanee
—With a total enrollment of 265 whites
and 194 Negroes, both elementary and
high schools remain segregated, and no
plans have been made otherwise.
CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY, Oak
Ridge—Here the high school has been
desegregated “very smoothly,” accord
ing to the superintendent, but the ele
mentary grades remain segregated and
no plans have been made to change it.
Total enrollment is 250 white and 13
Negroes. The community has a small
number of Negro families, all old resi
dents, and according to school officials
“they desire to retain segregation,
especially in the elementary school.”
BUTLER COUNTY, NeelyviUe—The
high school will end segregation in the
1957-58 school year, partly as a result
of segregation being ended in Poplar
Bluff, where Neelyville students for
merly were sent. No difficulty is ex
pected by school officials. The elemen
tary grades remain segregated and will
continue so. Total enrollment is 301
whites and 103 Negroes.
OUTSIDE BOOTHEEL
Pockets of elementary school segre
gation remain in scattered parts of Mis
souri outside the bootheel. The SSN
survey brought out these answers from
school superintendents in such com
munities (for results from other com
munities where segregation has been
ended, see SSN, August 1957):
GALLAWAY COUNTY, Auxvasse—
This district in a north central area
traditionally known as “Little Dixie,”
because it was settled maiply by south
erners, has retained segregation both
in the high school and elementary
grades, and has no plans to change.
Asked if any special circumstances re
quired the district to retain segregation,
the superintendent replied, “No.” Total
enrollment is 270 whites and 30
Negroes.
PETTIS COUNTY, Sedalia — This
west-central community, home of the
Missouri State Fair, has a total enroll
ment of 3,342 whites and 331 Negroes.
No plans have been made to desegre
gate the elementary school. The Negro
population lives in one section of the
town and forms a “natural” school
district, says the superintendent. Last
year Negro pupils were given the op
tion of attending either of the two high
schools. A few attended the white
school but most continued in the Ne
gro school. The plan “worked per
fectly, with no difficulties whatever,”
says the superintendent. Pupils will be
given the same option this year.
AUDRAIN COUNTY, Laddonia — In
the “Little Dixie” area, this community
with a white enrollment of 650 and 11
Negroes has ended segregation in the
high school without problems, only
three Negroes attending with 200
whites. Segregation remains in the ele
mentary grades and no plans have been
made to change. One school official says
there are no special circumstances to
account for this, and segregation
“should” be ended there as in the high
school.
MONROE COUNTY, Paris — This
community is in northeast Missouri, on
the fringe of the “Little Dixie” area.
It has 346 white pupils and 37 Negroes.
The high school has ended segregation
with “no trouble at all” between the
12 Negroes and 250 white students. Ele
mentary grades remain segregated and
“there is quite a bit of pressure to
maintain it as it is,” citizens contend
ing that “it wouldn’t be good for the
district to mix races at this time.” Con
siderable academic disparity has been
encountered in the high school, one
official saying the Negroes “just can’t
compete on an equal basis.” Some social
problems have arisen at school dances
and banquets.
MONROE COUNTY, Monroe City—
The high school has been integrated
and the superintendent’s report is,
“O.K. so far.” Total enrollment is 500
whites and 100 Negroes. No plans have
been made to end segregation in the
elementary schools, partly because of
residential separation of the races. If
segregation were ended at that level,
80 Negroes and 270 whites would at
tend mixed classes.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Festus—With
a total enrollment of 1,700 whites and
120 Negroes, the high school in this
community southwest of St. Louis has
ended segregation “very smoothly,”
says the superintendent, no particular
problems of any kind having arisen.
The seventh and eighth grades are also
being desegregated, with 10 Negroes
and 800 whites attending mixed classes,
but no plans have been made respect
ing the lower grades.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Crystal City
—As in Festus, the high school and
grades seven and eight have been de
segregated, but no plans have been
made for grades one to six. The Negro
community wishes to retain segregation
at that level, says the superintendent,
because the Negro school is located in
their neighborhood and is an excellent
building. With a total enrollment of 900
whites and 70 Negroes, 600 whites and
30 Negroes are attending mixed classes.
The elementary school for Negroes will
be maintained “as long as the Negroes
want it—no longer,” says the superin
tendent. No trouble of any kind has
been encountered. According to the
superintendent, “our Negro teachers
have been a lot of help over the years
in furthering good race relations. Our
board has been fair with the Negroes,
and they trust the board.”
CLINTON COUNTY, Plattsburg —
This western Missouri community be
tween Kansas City and St. Joseph has
an enrollment of 634 whites and 62
Negroes, and has desegregated the high
school “very smoothly.” Says Supt. C.
D. Kelley: “Unless someone mentions
it, we go day after day thinking noth
ing of having 24 colored pupils in our
high school. Frankly, they have better
manners and a better sense of appre
ciation than do the whites.” The ele
mentary schools remain segregated and
no plans for a change have been made.
According to the superintendent,
Plattsburg “is a southern town by tra
dition and is not ready to accept colored
pupils in the elementary school until
we are forced by law to do so.” In high
school, no academic or disciplinary
problems have been encountered, but
there are some social difficulties. At
first Negroes attended school dances
and danced among themselves, but now
they do not attend. The superintendent
believes “they do not appreciate our
social functions and would rather have
their own high school.”
Prior to the Supreme Court decision
Plattsburg sent its Negro high school
pupils to St. Joseph, but that city
desegregated promptly and Plattsburg
was compelled to follow suit.
PLATTE COUNTY, Platte City—Im
mediately west of Clinton County,
Platte City has desegregated its high
school and the superintendent reports
a “smooth” transition with no academic,
disciplinary or social problems. Total
enrollment is 299 whites and 22 Negroes.
No plans have been made to desegre
gate the elementary schools.
WARREN COUNTY, Wright City—
This eastern Missouri community be
tween St. Louis and Columbia has
ended segregation in the high school
and Supt. F. L. Small reports, “It has
worked out very well.” Enrollment is
324 whites and 41 Negroes. The aca
demic level of the Negroes is somewhat
lower than that of the whites, but “this
is due to other factors than native
ability,” says the superintendent. Due
to overcrowded conditions in the ele
mentary schools, the lower grades re
main segregated and no plans have
been made for a change.
WARREN COUNTY, Warrenton —
This community also has desegregated
the high school but has no plans to
extend the process to the elementary
grades. “Backwardness of Negro pupils
because of poor facilities and poor
teaching” has been noted in the high
school, but generally the superintend
ent reports that the change has worked
out “O.K.” Enrollment is 837 whites
and 23 Negroes.
# # #