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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—OCTOBER 1957—PAGE 15
Southern Governors Meeting In Georgia
Discuss Use Of Troops In School Issue
MACON, Ga.
outhern governors, meeting in
annual conference at Sea Is
land as developments in Little
Rock reached a climax, arranged
for a five-man committee to meet
with the President.. The governors
intended only to discuss use of
federal troops in the Arkansas
capital city, but President Eisen
hower insisted the talks be about
school integration generally.
Reaction among the governors
i to the Little Rock situation was
varied. (See “Political Activity.”)
A States’ Rights Council leader pro
posed Georgia Democrats bar from
party membership anyone refusing to
subscribe under oath to states’ rights
principles and criticism of the Supreme
Court. (See “Political Activity.”)
The status of an Augusta child, whose
family said she was a Negro but who
was refused admittance to a Negro
school because she was too light in color,
remained uncertain. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Reverberations from Little Rock ex
tended over the region but nowhere
was there more interest in reports of de
velopments than among chief executives
of the states gathered at the Southern
Governors Conference at Sea Island.
A number of the governors met in
Atlanta for ground-breaking cere
monies for a new Southern Regional
Education Board building and to at
tend a football game. At that time, Gov.
Orval Faubus of Arkansas had ordered
the National Guard at Central High
School in Little Rock removed and the
school board had invited nine Negro
students to enter the school at their
pleasure the following Monday.
The governors were introduced to the
crowd over the loudspeakers during the
Georgia-Texas football game. Boos
greeted Gov. Marvin Griffin of Georgia,
Gov. Frank Clement of Tennessee, Gov.
A. B. Chandler of Kentucky, Gov. Theo
dore R. McKeldin of Maryland and Gov.
Cecil H. Underwood of West Virginia.
CHEERS FOR FAUBUS
Wild cheering broke out, however,
when Gov. Faubus of Arkansas was in
troduced.
Several of the governors were cau
tious in their remarks concerning the
withdrawal of guardsmen in Little Rock.
They also shied off from discussion of a
third political party provoked by the re
marks of Democratic National Chair
man Paul M. Butler in Raleigh, N ,C., a
short time before.
Gov. Chandler was outspoken in his
belief that racial integration is coming
to all the schools of the South but said it
will be “more of a problem in some
Places.” An avowed candidate for the
1960 Democratic presidential nomina-
tion and a self-styled “moderate” on
mtegration, Chandler said desegregation
13 the law and we’ve got to keep it.
The alternative is violence and a break
down of law and order and we can’t
tolerate that.”
Although he did not comment pub
licly, newsmen received the impression
that Gov. LeRoy Collins of Florida was
relieved that National Guard troops
had been withdrawn at Little Rock.
NOTHING POSITIVE
Gov. McKeldin said: “The people in
Arkansas have offered nothing positive.
Therefore I regard the Little Rock af
fair as contributing nothing, but at
best prolonging a situation that satis
fies nobody.”
Gov. Griffin had earlier commended
use of troops to prevent integration at
Central High and had said he’d do the
same thing. When Faubus had said Grif
fin contributed to the situation which
developed as Negroes tried to enroll at
Little Rock, the Georgia governor, who
had made a speech to a Citizens Council
group there, commented he was pleased
if he had contributed to pro-segrega
tion unity.
As the governors moved from Atlanta
to the Sea Island conference site, events
moved toward a climax in Little Rock.
Increasing tension and new develop
ments in the Central High situation
were reflected in closer attention to re
ports in Sea Island.
‘CHANGE TAKING PLACE’
Gov. Collins, speaking on the subject,
“Can a Southerner be Elected Presi
dent?” after the opening of the confer
ence, said, “the greatest danger in the
South is that our people will fail to
understand the change taking place all
around them.” To be elected to the
Presidency, a southerner, he said, must
be a man of competence and achieve
ment whose “allegiance to the national
interest and welfare must be forceful,
absolute and unquestioned.”
Gov. Luther Hodges of North Caro
lina, conference chairman, said the
South “has often been subjected to
thoughtless and inaccurate criticism”
and “it is high time that more of our
political leaders came out for the ‘ma
jority’ in this country instead of per
sisting in an unsightly scramble to ap
pease ‘minorities’.”
Gov. Faubus, in a press conference,
blamed U. S. Atty. Gen. Herbert Brown
ell Jr., and what he said were other
members of President Eisenhower’s
“palace guard” for “aggravating” the
Little Rock situation.
HAD NO CHOICE
Gov. Raymond D. Gary of Oklahoma
said Faubus “had no choice but to
abide” by the Supreme Court desegre
gation decision.
Gov. George Bell Timmerman of
South Carolina joined Georgia’s Griffin
in publicly commending Faubus, but Lt.
Gov. Ernest Vandiver of Georgia, an
unannounced candidate for the chief ex
ecutive’s post in the 1958 primary, ex
pressed doubts concerning the sincerity
of Faubus’ segregation beliefs.
President Eisenhower’s federalization
of the Arkansas National Guard and
dispatch of armed paratroopers to en
force the integration order after mob
violence caused Negro students to leave
Central High brought swift reaction
among the governors in Sea Island.
COMMENTS ON TROOPS
Faubus called the President’s action
’’bad judgment” and flew back to Ar
kansas in hopes his presence “would
have a settling effect on the situation.”
Gov. Griffin said the move “has torn
asunder the Constitution of the United
States.” He charged Eisenhower is a
“captive of the Republican political
strategists” who are more interested in
Negro votes than “the peace of this na
tion.”
Gov. Timmerman said the President
“is trying to set himself up as a dicta
tor.”
Gov. Clement said he would rather
solve the problem at the conference ta
ble than “in the streets of Little Rock
by guns and bayonets.”
‘TRAGIC MISTAKE’
Gov. Hodges said that the actual
fact” that troops were ordered out by
Eisenhower resulted in a “tremendous
shock,” and he felt it was a “tragic mis
take.”
Gov. James E. Folsom of Alabama said
that before the federal government
could take over the Alabama National
Guard he would, by proclamation, dis
charge every member.
Gov. Gary said, “It is regrettable the
President had to use force to do it,” but
“the decision of the court is going to
have to be upheld.”
Gov. McKeldin said the President’s
action was “necessary to the mainten-
nance of respect for the law and in the
keeping of order where state and local
authorities shall have failed.”
‘CAN’T HAVE ANARCHY’
Gov. Chandler said he was sorry it
was necessary, but “we can’t have an
archy and mob rule.”
Gov. Long said the President “com
pletely reversed himself” since his
speech in favor of states’ rights at the
National Governors’ Conference in Wil
liamsburg.
The southern governors went into a
huddle and decided to adopt Clement’s
suggestion that a committee meet with
the President. Hodges was named chair
man. Other members appointed were
Griffin, Collins, McKeldin and Clement.
TOPIC EXPANDED
The committee wished to confer with
President Eisenhower concerning his
federalizing of the Arkansas guard and
ordering paratroopers into Little Rock.
But the President indicated the group
must be prepared to discuss with him
the broad question of school integra
tion. He notified the governors he would
be glad to talk about school integration,
seemingly rejecting a limitation of the
discussion to what some of the chief
state officers regarded as infringement
on states’ rights.
Clement said the governors, however,
would have to go along with discussion
of any topic President Eisenhower
brings up.
Criticism of the President was wide
spread among many public figures in
Georgia, who reacted as Gov. Griffin had
done.
COMPARED TO HUNGARY
Sen. Herman Talmadge compared use
of federal troops in Little Rock to the
use of Russian troops in Hungary. Sen.
Richard B. Russell termed the action
unconstitutional use of “storm troopers
to intimidate and coerce the people of
the South.”
District of Columbia
(Continued From Page 14)
youngsters experiences they missed at
home.
Must do more’
Coming contends the school system
m Y s t provide education for these de
prived children so they can become a
Usef ul part of the community. At the
^^e time, he adds, “we must do more
,° r the average child and again, not
or get the gifted child, who is found in
neighborhood and in all walks of
Ufe . ”
From the start, grade school integra-
on received little publicity because of
® apparent ease. An average inte-
s*ated class in an elementary school is
°ut one-half Negro. However, be-
^ause of the neighborhood racial pat-
. rtl > some schools have only a handful
White students and others have as
'y as two or three Negro pupils.
Vl r Sl TS ARRANGED
the past two years, elementary
°ol officials have provided the op-
0 ,, rtu nity for every teacher to visit
0 l er schools. “We call it a morning
S . erva ri°n to see a ‘Good Day at
°°T,” Asst. Supt. Edith Lyons said,
integration is working in elemen-
schools,” she continued, “and I
Ir >k one of the reasons is that our
teachers have had the opportunity to
share experiences and unify thinking.”
A white grade school principal whose
faculty is divided equally racially said:
“I am startled when anyone asks if I
have Negro teachers ... I stopped
thinking about color several year ago.”
By the same token, teachers state,
“I don’t see a child as colored, but as
a child.”
This is a typical example. In one
school in a low-economic neighborhood,
a principal marched a dirty, tattered
little boy into her office. His crime, a
third offense, was stealing a tiny Amer
ican flag from teacher’s desk.
“First, I’m going to teach him not to
steal,” the principal said. “Then, Tm
going to buy him a little flag of his
very own,” she added.
Another principal in southwest Wash
ington has gained the reputation of
“shaking down” the local businessmen’s
groups and other clubs for funds “for
her children.” She has clothed, shoed
and fed many youngsters, according to
her associates.
Parents, too, reportedly are adjusting
to extreme cases of neighborhood
change brought about by integration.
In one southeast school, the popula
tion changed from formerly all-white
to 95 per cent Negro this year. Head of
the school PTA is a capital hill busi
nessman.
“We put on an anti-vandalism cam
paign that really paid off,” he said. “It
was a case of getting Negro parents to
get to know their school,” he added,
“and PTA membership has tripled in
the last three years.”
Every last one of the grade school
officials stress that the key answer to
lagging achievement is smaller class
size.
“We can prove it,” they add. Spot
studies show that in areas where
achievement was low two years ago—
and where students subsequently moved
into smaller classes—the rate of learn
ing has soared.
CLAIM ‘IMPROVEMENT’
Secondary school educators, who
voiced the greatest concern about in
tegration problems in 1954, today are
talking about “the vast improvement”
in the majority of students’ behavior.
“The ground rules we set four years
ago are paying off,” said one high
school principal. “Now, I don’t mean to
say we don’t have hellions, but the
brand of their hell is watering down,”
he added.
Junior and senior high schools also
are establishing more and more spe
cial classes for retarded youngsters
who were promoted out of grade schools
to “seats that fit.” This practice was
squashed after integration.
# # #
Many other public figures in Con
gress, in the Georgia Democratic party
and in the state Capitol deplored the
move and denounced the President. The
reactions to Little Rock developments
overshadowed these other political
moves in Georgia during September:
Sen. Talmadge scheduled more than
50 speeches to meet challenges to his
political leadership. Talmadge and Rus
sell were criticized by some for failing
to filibuster against the civil rights bill.
Rep. James C. Davis of the Fifth Con
gressional District (Atlanta) was the
first and most outspoken critic.
RACE ISSUE EXPECTED
Atlanta Mayor William Hartsfield,
who may face opposition in a Dec. 4
general city election, although he won a
May 15 city primary which is generally
tantamount to election, indicated oppo
nents may try to make race an issue.
Hartsfield said he was proud of Atlanta’s
race record. He pointed out that al
though the municipally-owned golf
courses were integrated in 1956, more
white golfers played last year than in
any other year.
W. C. Ervin, manager of a Negro busi
ness school and NAACP official, filed
for election as an Augusta councilman.
Ervin was the first Negro to serve on the
Richmond County (Augusta) Board of
Education.
Charles J. Bloch of Macon, a States’
Rights Council leader, proposed to the
organization and to Georgia public offi
cials that the right to vote in future
Democratic primaries in the state be
limited to those who subscribed under
oath to states’ rights principles and crit
icism of recent U. S. Supreme Court de
cisions. Bloch said the State Democratic
Executive Committee has the right to
promulgate party principles and to
compel adherence to them.
NEGRO BALANCE
The Columbus Ledger, noting that the
new civil rights law is expected to re
sult in increases in the number of Ne
gro voters, warned that Negroes might
be the balance of power under Georgia’s
county unit system.
Under the system, the eight most pop
ulous counties have six unit votes each,
the next 30 most populous counties have
four unit votes each. Election in the
Democratic statewide primaries is de
termined by unit votes rather than pop
ular votes.
The Ledger said 46 Georgia counties
with nearly 100 unit votes have a ma
jority or a near majority of Negro vot
ers.
An Augusta child whose family says
she is a Negro was refused admission at
a Negro school because the girl ap
peared to be white. Principal I. E. Wash
ington of Charles T. Walker school re
jected the application of Fluenelly Ut
ley to enroll his daughter in the first
grade.
After being turned down at the public
school, Utley sought to register the girl
at a Catholic school for Negro children,
but was informed the first grade class
was already filled. Utley said the child
had been rejected because she is too
light, but added that she would have
to attend classes somewhere to obey the
Georgia compulsory school law.
Comment on a scheduled Oyster Bowl
benefit football game between the Uni
versity of Georgia and Navy at Norfolk,
Va., followed announcement that the
Tulane-Army game would be moved
from New Orleans to West Point be
cause of Louisiana segregation laws.
SPOKESMEN DIFFER
A Virginia spokesman said spectators
would be segregated by race. But a U. S.
Naval Academy spokesman at Annapo
lis said the Navy had a clause in its foot
ball contracts for southern games guar
anteeing non-segregation of fans.
Gov. Griffin of Georgia said state
athletic teams would play under the
ground rules of the invitation they ac
cept but when other teams come to
Georgia, they will play under Georgia
ground rules.
Georgia Democratic Chairman John
Sammons Bell in Atlanta: “Severe dis
cord is unavoidable” if Paul Butler, na
tional Democratic chairman who criti
cized Gov. Faubus, remains party chair
man.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., of Mont
gomery, prior to Eisenhower’s order
sending troops into Little Rock, in a
speech at Macon: The President was “so
silent, so wishy washy” and “refused to
take a strong stand.”
The United Church Women of At
lanta in a resolution deploring the use
of National Guard troops by Gov. Fau
bus to keep Negroes out of Central High
School: Such “interposition” by state
officials denies “to the local government
the same rights of local determination
they demand for themselves.”
The Ku Klux Klan protested against
being denied permission to hold a fair
grounds rally at Summerville and criti
cized police approval of a Negro parade
in Macon.
Southeast Georgia Klansmen held a
public rally at Blackshear, however, and
denounced the Supreme Court, the
NAACP and John Kasper. One Klans-
man said he was against any violation of
the law. But, referring to a Nashville
school explosion, he added: “I can’t say
I’m sorry that school got blown up. It
kept that nigger out of school. And I’m
glad somebody else could do what I
couldn’t.”
# # #
Maryland
(Continued From Page 14)
prevent disruption of the school pro
gram or retaliatory action against the
doctor and his family.
Gov. McKeldin also spoke out, saying
that if Dr. Jones exercised his “right to
return his son to the Deale school,” the
“law-abiding people of the community
would accord him this right,” and “the
law-enforcement officials of the county
and state would support him in the
exercise of this right.”
Despite the assurances of police pro
tection, the Jones family was disturbed
twice that evening. First it was an
anonymous phone call received by Mrs.
Jones. Then a six-foot cross was
propped against a tree in front of the
house and set ablaze.
PUPIL KEPT HOME
The next day, Sept. 20, Dr. Jones
made known to the county school board
and the governor that he did not in
tend to return his son to the school.
The governor issued a statement against
the “moronic maneuvers” of “commun
ity misfits” and said that the commun
ity must be under police guard “until
the vandals and troublemakers are ap
prehended and the town returned to the
peaceful calm of its customs . . .”
On Sept. 25 about 160 residents of
Deale took a full-page advertisement
in the Annapolis Evening Capital. The
ad described Dr. Jones as a “trouble
maker” and Gov. McKeldin as “trying
to cram integration down the throats
of the people of Maryland” in a play for
“the large colored vote of Baltimore
city.”
In addition to long-time residents,
the ad said, Deale has “numerous
Washingtonians” who have bought
homes there “as a haven and sanctuary
from the forced integration being prac
ticed in the nation’s capital and other
places.”
Anne Arundel County is in its second
year of desegregation, having admitted
Negroes to the first three grades last
year and added the fourth grade this
fall. Except for Deale, the mixing has
all been at schools lying in the northern,
predominantly white, suburbanized half
of the county, which lies just south of
Baltimore. The Jones boy represented
the first integration move in the south
ern half of the county, where 50 per
cent and more of the school population
is Negro and where white residents in
clude many tenant farmers and water
men. No previous trouble had been en
countered, although some organized
opposition to integration has existed in
the county since 1954.
The Anne Arundel County Chapter
of the Maryland Petition Committee
has announced a “Freedom Dollar Cru
sade” to raise funds to support political
candidates who will oppose desegrega
tion. Mrs. Anna Dorsey Linder, chapter
secretary, says, “All funds collected in
Anne Arundel County will be used
locally to support statesmen who will
pledge to introduce laws to maintain
Maryland’s segregated school system.”
Montgomery County’s delegation to
the Maryland General Assembly was
called “spineless” for not introducing
anti-integration legislation. The term
was applied by C. Maurice Weidemeyer,
an Annapolis attorney and leader in the
Maryland Petition Committee who gave
a talk before about 30 Montgomery
County supporters of the pro-segrega
tion group.
# # #