Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—NOVEMBER 1957—PAGE 3
Tennessee in
Little Rock ‘Backwash’;
NASHVILLE, Term.
T ennessee remained in the
“backwash” of Little Rock
last month and with one excep
tion escaped major development
in public school segregation-de-
segregation.
The exception was the refusal
of the U. S. Supreme Court to
hear the appeal of segregationist
Frederick John Kasper from his
first conviction for criminal con
tempt of federal court arising
from the Clinton desegregation
controversy of September, 1956.
(See “Legal Action.”)
October was a time of a good deal
of political soul-searching. Next sum
mer’s election of a new governor (Gov.
Frank G. Clement cannot succeed him
self) has the politicians of the state re
assessing their hitherto closed-mouth
policy on racial desegregation in the
aftermath of Little Rock. (See “Polit
ical Activity.”)
NASHVILLE BEGINS PLANNING
It was a time also for a good deal of
educational and legal soul-searching.
For example, the Nashville school
board, under court instructions to come
up with a plan completing the abolition
of segregation in the public schools (the
first grade desegregated in September),
started the laborious process of devising
a plan that would not only satisfy in-
tegrationists and segregationists but the
federal court as well. (See “SchooJ
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
And it was a time of interesting
paradox. In Nashville, 11 Negro first-
graders continued in class without in
cident in the city’s five elementary
schools that desegregated, as a rash of
cross burnings flared in or near almost
every Negro neighborhood in the city.
In Clinton, hot spot of the 1956 deseg
regation story, a white student walkout
in protest of continued desegregation
SDuttered briefly, then ended. In Chat
tanooga, Sherman Adams, assistant to
President Eisenhower, backed Eisen
hower’s decision to send troops to Little
Rock and was warmly received by his
party’s southern chieftains.
And in Nashville, the city council
refused to adopt a resolution which
praised Gov. Orval Faubus and con
demned Eisenhower for his dispatch of
troops to Little Rock. (See “Political
Activity.”)
Kasper returned to Nashville on the
night of Oct. 10, almost a month to the
day after he left. He was met by a city
motorcycle patrolman after he was well
within the city limits and ticketed for
speeding 42 miles an hour in a 30-mile-
an-hour zone.
Thus did Kasper add a sixth charge
to his local police record.
The segregationist returned to Nash
ville to appeal sentences he received on
four convictions in city court in Sep
tember as a result of the public dis
orders that accompanied school deseg
regation here. (See Southern School
News August 1957 et seq.)
He had been arrested on two counts
°f disorderly conduct, one of vagrancy
and one of loitering, and was freed on
$2,000 bond pending appeal. He was
later convicted on all four charges and
committed to the city workhouse when
he failed to pay his $200 fine.
In addition to those charges, Kasper
was arrested on a state charge of in
citing to riot, posted $2,500 bond, and
was scheduled to face trial on this
count in November. Since the U. S.
Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Kas
per’s appeal in effect opened the doors
of a federal penitentiary for the segre
gationist, legal officers in Davidson
County now predict that it will be at
least a year and possibly more before
Kasper is tried on the riot charges in
Nashville—if ever.
APPEAL FAILS
Kasper’s appeal on the city charges
in Nashville apparently was in vain.
His sentences for vagrancy, loitering
and one count of disorderly conduct
were upheld by Special Judge Tyree
Harris. The fourth charge—one of dis
orderly conduct—was dismissed.
Prosecution of the charge of vagrancy
permitted the first examination of
Kasper on his finances, since to dis
prove vagrancy, one must prove that
he is employed in a legitimate business.
City Atty. Robert Jennings, the
prosecutor, probed fully into Kasper’s
financial status. The following colloquy
between Jennings and Kasper on the
question of finances took place during
the trial. Jennings was cross-examin
ing Kasper. He asked:
Q. Is your employer here today to testify
to your employment?
A. I can produce proof today.
Q. Do you have a check here issued to
you, showing how you are paid?
A. I don’t have any financial records.
Q. Then how are you paid?
A. On the basis of what needs to be done.
Q. What do you mean?
A. All the funds are available to me and
the organization—I am not on a salary
basis.
Q. When was the last time you drew a
check?
A. None of your business.
At this point, Judge Harris inter
rupted the cross examination. He said
to Kasper: “Yes, it is. Answer the
question.”
A. I never drew a check.
Q. Are you paid in cash? How are you
paid?
A. In cash.
Q. By whom?
A. By the finance committees of the
councils.
Q. Who is in on it?
A. Lots of folks.
The judge again interrupted the ex
amination. He asked Kasper: “Let me
ask a question. In August and Septem
ber, 1957, what was your salary?”
A. I couldn’t tell you ... [I have been
back] to Washington. I have had no op
portunity to get my papers in order.
At this point, Kasper said also that
he “never had any salary of any kind”
and that this was so as far back as
March, 1956.
The judge then asked Kasper:
Q. Do you have a treasurer for your or
ganization?
A. Yes sir.
Q. Does he pay you?
A. No sir.
Q. You are paid on a local basis?
A. When people are trying to organize a
council, we use whatever is necessary for
membership applications, literature. It is
paid by the council people by the funds
kept by the people.
Q. Do you draw from that fund?
A. If I need some.
Q. Then you are on an unlimited expense
account?
A. No sir.
Q. It is limited only by the size of the
treasury?
A. No sir ... I have been extremely
sparing . . . There are very few I’ve asked
for money ... I feel it is best to give the
people something to look at.
Jennings resumed his cross-examin
ation of Kasper.
Q. If you needed money today whom
would you turn to for pay?
A. I would turn to the secretary-treasurer
of the Davidson County group.
Oliver
(Continued From Page 2)
fte board of education’s answer to an
ln tegration suit filed in 1955. It was ap
proved by Judge Miller in a memoran-
au m opinion.
FKTL’RE violence possible
Oliver, who will succeed retiring
bpt. Bass on Jan. 1, is hopeful that ad-
uonal desegregation in Nashville can
j* carried out peacefully. He admits,
owever, the possibility that additional
o ence will be a danger for many
years.
Oliver, who has spent 27 years in the
p^jHle school system—25 as a princi-
hi k at ° ne Hre city’s largest senior
ev spools—said he believes that
PareA * 1 * * * S ^ earl y September have pre-
red school officials to meet the future
confiden tly.
some 6 f ^ aVe * earned >” He said, “that
^ j r°rce is often necessary in order
ty- P re ss on these agitators that their
°f conduct will not be tolerated.”
WITH DISORDER
Poli ®® rst da y °f school—
t °' v arrl 3 briefly hands-off policy
On o those protesting desegregation.
b^Pt- IP—the morning after the
pojj ln § °f Hattie Cotton school—the
6 moved quickly. Streets in front
of the desegregated schools were barri
caded, agitators who defied police in
structions were arrested. The core of the
resistance began to crumble.
It is important, Oliver said, to tell
local people what outsiders can do to
stir up violence. “At the most,” he said,
“there were 300 persons who were ac
tively protesting. I think it safe to say
that half of these were from outside the
city limits. In other words, people who
were in no way affected by the school
desegregation.”
More important, according to Oliver,
was the presence of three persons who
in many respects furnished leadership
for the agitators but whose backgrounds
were far from southern:
PURPOSE OF SCHOOLS
Oliver feels strongly that it is neces
sary to keep the emotional aspects of the
issue involved out of the schools.
“Too often nowadays people are so
wrapped up in the issues of segregation
and integration that they forget the pur
pose of all schools is education. “The
main thing we have in mind here in
Nashville,” he said, “is to continue to
give all students the best education pos
sible. That’s something folks on both
sides of this issue are apt to forget.
“I think it is important that they be
reminded.”
Q. And how much have you gotten from
here to date?
A. I haven’t gotten any.
Q. If you were never given any where
did you get it?
A. I didn’t need any.
FREED ON BOND
Kasper was freed on $600 bond pend
ing appeal of the convictions to a higher
court. He was declared a vagrant, mak
ing him subject to daily arrest until, in
the words of the court, he finds an
“honest calling.”
On Oct. 14, the U. S. Supreme Court
declined to hear Kasper’s appeal from
the criminal contempt of federal court
conviction of September, 1956. He was
sentenced to a year in jail on the con
viction by Federal District Judge Rob
ert L. Taylor of Knoxville.
Kasper was taken into custody in
Washington by federal marshals and
placed in jail there pending a plea by
his lawyer for the high court to recon
sider its decision in his case.
In Nashville, members of the city
school board and its administrative staff
prepared to buckle down to the task of
drafting the final steps in its plan to
end all racial segregation in the school
system.
Last January, when Federal District
Judge William E. Miller approved the
board’s decision to start desegregation
in the first grade, he declared that the
board must by Dec. 31 present the
court a plan to completely abolish seg
regation in the schools.
While the school board has not for
mally discussed what steps it will take
to accomplish this end, board mem
bers have talked about the problem
informally and as individuals and in
terviews with them indicate they are
considering the following possible
courses of action:
THREE COURSES
1) Seek a conference with the judge
and counsel for the plaintiffs in the case
and negotiate a plan satisfactory to all
in the judge’s chambers.
2) Desegregate on a three-grade unit
plan. This means desegregation would
be accomplished over a period of four
years by desegregating along the scho
lastic groupings of grades one through
three (primary), four through six (in
termediate), seven through nine (junior
high), 10 through 12 (senior high).
3) Desegregate in two years on the
simple scholastic division of grades one
through six (primary) and seven
through 12 (secondary).
4) Desegregate on the basis of a so-
called “bracketing” plan. This would
work as follows: start in, say, grades
two and eight one year, three and seven
the next, four, five and six the next,
nine and 12, and finally 10 and 11.
ANOTHER PLAN
There is another plan that the board
may consider, but none of the board
members questioned indicated the plan
had much chance of approval.
This is the plan suggested by the
Parents Preference Committee and the
Tennessee Federation for Constitutional
Government (see SSN, August 1957 et
seq.). It envisages a school system con
taining three types of schools—one for
white children whose parents prefer
their children attend school with mem
bers of their own race, one for Negro
children whose parents prefer their
children attend school with other Ne
groes only, and one for white and Ne
gro children whose parents prefer they
attend desegregated schools.
Board members give this plan little
chance of success for three reasons:
1) They feel it is almost identical
with the plan envisaged by the state’s
school preference law which was de
clared unconstitutional by Judge Miller
in September.
2) They point out the plan makes no
provision for the enrollment of, say a
Negro child whose family moves into
an all-white school zone after the cen
sus is taken and wish their child to at
tend that school. One member said that
pre-school censuses of the system’s
first-graders have, in years past, been
as much as 20 per cent off the mark.
3) They say that the sheer mechanics
of taking the required parents’ prefer
ential census each year would place an
impossible burden on the administra
tive staff.
OPEN PRIVATE SCHOOL
There were two other developments
in this field during October. One was
the establishment of a private school
for white children in North Nashville.
The other was the failure of the white
student walkout in Anderson County’s
Clinton High School.
The private school was established in
a neighborhood not far away from
Fehr elementary school, scene of one
of the bitterest disturbances on the first
Kasper Loses Court Test
day of desegregation.
It is called the Christian Day School
and it has 20 students. It is being con
ducted by Mrs. Virginia Harding of
Greenville, S. C., formerly a foreign
missionary for the Bible Presbyterian
Church. Classes are held in two rooms
of a private residence at 1615 Seventh
Avenue, North.
All except two of the children en
rolled in the school are transfers from
four of the city’s five desegregated ele
mentary schools. The other two are
transfers from an all-white high school.
Tuition is $10 a month.
CLINTON INCIDENT
The abortive student walkout in
Clinton was apparently the direct re
sult of the Little Rock school contro
versy. Leaflets circulated among the
student body (700 white, eight Negro)
reading:
“We are in sympathy with LITTLE
ROCK! We too have faced BAYONETS!
WALKOUT—STAYOUT. Please pass
this on.”
Principal W. D. Human described the
walkout as a “fizzle.” A segregationist
in Clinton said 20 students took part in
the demonstration.
One report said that the walkout was
touched off by a fight in a school cor
ridor between a white and a Negro boy.
Human confirmed the fact that a fight
did occur but considered it “one little
incident” and not the cause of the
walkout.
The effect of Little Rock on Tennes
see politics has been pronounced—but
not in tangible form. It has, said one
possible gubernatorial candidate,
knocked the fence-straddlers off the
fence on the desegregation issue. And
there are few political observers in the
state who don’t believe that practically
every candidate in next summer’s race
will have to take a firm stand on the
issue if he is seriously seeking election.
All are agreed that the Little Rock
crisis provided Gov. Clement with an
opportunity to stand before the South
as a man declaring his personal belief
in segregation (and his opposition to
enforcement of desegregation orders by
federal troops) and to stand before the
rest of the nation as a man who while
personally favoring segregation believes
in obedience to the law and is a “mod
erate” on the race issue. He grabbed
the national spotlight at the Southern
Governors Conference with his proposal
that the governors should act as medi
ators between Gov. Faubus and Presi
dent Eisenhower.
ADAMS IS HEARD
On Oct. 3 Sherman Adams, assistant
to President Eisenhower, defended the
President’s use of federal troops in
Little Rock in an address to a region
wide finance meeting of the Republican
National Committee at Chattanooga.
He told the gathering of 125 southern
Republicans four things ought to be
kept in mind with regard to the Presi
dent’s action at Little Rock. They are:
the President’s oath to defend and up
hold the United States Constitution;
Gov. Faubus’ oath to uphold both state
and federal constitutions; the adminis
tration is not responsible for Supreme
Court interpretations of the law; and
that the Little Rock desegregation plan
was presented to the court by the city’s
officials and not by the federal adminis
tration.
Adams’ speech was well received by
the Republicans. Several remarked pri
vately “that’s just what we needed to
hear at this time, just the things we
should keep in mind until this crisis
blows over.”
On Oct. 15 Nashville’s city council
refused to adopt a resolution praising
Gov. Faubus and condemning President
Eisenhower for his use of federal troops
in Little Rock. The vote of the 21-
member council, two of whom are Ne
groes: three for, three against and fif
teen abstaining.
The 15 who abstained signed a state
ment reading, in part: “We do not be
lieve the expressions in [the] resolu
tion . . . are in the best interest of our
community at this time. We therefore
decline to vote on the same and request
the clerk to record this as our reason.”
WHAT THEY SAY
Paul Christopher, AFL-CIO regional
director for Tennessee and Kentucky,
told the state convention of the Tennes
see Labor Council that Tennessee em
ployers are using the AFL-CIO’s stand
favoring desegregation in attempting to
defeat labor organizing campaigns.
On Oct. 8, he said, “Employers are
saying to their workers, if you vote for
the union, you will be voting to give
your money to the NAACP. When we
fall for that line of propaganda, we
lose too. If you vote for the union next
week, and some of your dues went to
the NAACP, which is an untruth, the
raises you would get from the union
still would make it a good buy.”
On Oct. 10, another top labor leader
told the convention delegates to go
straight down the line for school deseg
regation. Speaking at a four-state con-
mittee meeting of the AFL-CIO Com
mittee for Political Education, James L.
McDevitt, the committee’s national di
rector, said, “It is our policy to speak
out against any and all discriminatory
practices ... I don’t expect miracles
. . . but don’t allow any evil influence
to pull labor in the South apart on this
issue.”
‘NEW RECONSTRUCTION ERA’
Dr. Donald Davidson, chairman of
the Tennessee Federation for Constitu
tional Government, in a speech to the
federation’s Davidson County chapter
Oct. 16, declared the South is threat
ened with a new Reconstruction era.
He proposed the following program
for the federation:
—Limit the jurisdiction of the Su
preme Court and other federal courts
so as “to forbid infringement by them
upon the legislative rights reserved to
Congress and the states.”
—“Opposition to any transformation
of the federal government into a police
state, whether through the so-called
civil rights laws, or otherwise.”
—At the state level, seek a governor
who “represents the state of Tennessee
inside the state of Tennessee, and is
responsive to [the] citizens’ interests,
and particularly to his sworn duty to
defend and uphold the sovereignty of
the state.
—Establishment of a fund to provide
for a white private school system.
At least 12 crosses have been burned
in or near Negro neighborhoods in
Nashville, according to police records.
Most have been of the same construc
tion: three to four feet high, made of
two by four lumber, wrapped in kero
sene soaked rags.
The Men’s Club of Glenn school, one
of Nashville’s desegregated elementary
schools, disbanded. In a letter to Supt.
W. A. Bass, club spokesmen declared
the club’s reason for existence was the
improvement of the school and since
they believed “so long as a colored
child is . . . attending classes in Glenn
School . . . the school ... is beyond any
improvement or assistance that we . . .
might give.” Two Negro children are
attending classes at Glenn.
Desegregation at another Nashville
elementary school, Buena Vista,
prompted the resignation of three top
officers of the school’s Parent-Teacher
Association, including its president.
Two Negro students are attending class
at Buena Vista. # # #
STATEMENT REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF
AUGUST 24, 1912, AS AMENDED BY THE
ACTS OF MARCH 3, 1933, AND JULY 2, 1946
(Title 39, United States Code, Section 233)
SHOWING THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGE
MENT, AND CIRCULATION of SOUTHERN
SCHOOL NEWS, published monthly at Nash
ville, Tenn., for October, 1957.
1. The names and addresses of the publisher,
editor, managing editor and business man
ager are: Publisher, Southern Education Re
porting Service, 1109 19th Ave. S., Nashville,
Tenn.; Editor, Don Shoemaker, 1109 19th Ave.
S., Nashville, Tenn.; Managing Editor,
Patrick McCauley, 1109 19th Ave. S., Nash
ville, Tenn.; Business Manager None. 2. The
owner is: (If owned by a corporation its name
and address must be stated and also imme
diately thereunder the names and addresses
of stockholders owning or holding 1 percent
or more of total amount of stock. If owned
by a partnership or other unincorporated
firm, its name and address, as well as that of
each individual member, must be given.)
Southern Education Reporting Service, Inc..
1109 19th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn. 3. The
known bondholders, mortgagees, and other
security holders owning or holding 1 percent
or more of the total amount of bonds, mort
gages, or other securities are: (If there are
none, so state.) None. 4. Paragraphs 2 and 3
include, in cases where the stockholder or
security holder appears upon the books of
the company as trustee or in any other fidu
ciary relation, the name of the person or
corporation for whom such trustee is acting:
also the statements in the two paragraphs
show the affiant’s full knowledge and belief
as to the circumstances and conditions under
which stockholders and security holders who
do not appear upon the books of the company
as trustees, hold stock and securities in a ca
pacity other than that of a bona fide owner.
5. The average number of copies of each
issue of this publication sold or distributed,
through the mails or otherwise, to paid sub
scribers during the 12 months preceding the
date shown above was: (This information is
required from daily, weekly, semiweekly and
triweekly newspapers only.)
Don Shoemaker, Editor
Sworn to and subscribed before me this
fourth day of October, 1957. (Seal)
Natalie M. Rollow, Notary Public
(My commission expires July 20, 1960)