Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—NOVEMBER 1957—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Little Rock’s
In Arkansas’
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
T ittle Rock Central High
School was integrated, as the
federal court had ordered, though
it took paratroopers of the 101st
Airborne Division to make it
work. The next problem was to
withdraw the soldiers.
That was the concern of all Arkansas
during October, but it couldn’t be done.
While classes went on more or less
normally (see “Miscellaneous”), while
prayers by the thousand went aloft to
the Highest Authority of all (see
“Community Action”), while the at
tempt was made to have judicial power
overrule the military (see “Legal Ac
tion ), the highest political figures
worked in vain over the problem. At
one point there seemed to be agree
ment between President Eisenhower
and Gov. Orval Faubus of Arkansas
for a way to have troops taken out, but
a misunderstanding or misinterpreta
tion broke it up. (See “Political Ac
tion.”) After that the days were filled
with accusations, recriminations and
counter- charges.
Classes went on more or less as
usual at Little Rock Central High
School with nine Negro students at
tending under the protection of federal
troops. Early in October the students
took their six-week tests. No results
were released but most students
seemed to think they were doing as
well, or better, than usual.
Reasons they gave included: The
teachers were pouring on the work
deliberately to keep the students busy;
parents were more strict; some parents
were determined that their children
would make better grades than the
Negroes.
The work of some students suffered
because of their absences. Most of these
were those who took part in a student
walkout and those who were suspended
for incidents involving the Negro stu
dents. The walkout, promoted by the
League of Central High Mothers, was
considered a flop even by the students
who participated. Only about 50 left the
school on Oct. 3. The enrollment at the
school is 1,973. The Mothers League
had expected at least 200 to 250 to
walk out.
PUSHED, JEERED, KICKED
The day before that was the worst
one for the Negro students. White stu
dents crowded them, pushed, jeered
and kicked at them Oct. 2. No one was
injured. Arkansas National Guardsmen
on federal duty were on guard inside
the school that day. After that federal
paratroopers took the inside guard
shift.
On the afternoon of Oct. 23 the Ne
gro students left the school without any
military escort for the first time. The
morning of the 25th they came to
school alone, for the first time. By this
time the military guard was down to
six paratroopers inside the school.
The student newspaper, the Tiger,
urged students to “maintain a sensible,
peaceful neutrality.” Later on it said,
“All that the history books will have
to say about the events at Little Rock
during the 1957-58 school term has not
been written; no one knows what new
developments will arise in the next few
weeks and months. But another sort of
history, of more importance to us per
sonally, is our scholastic record. This
should receive our full attention, re
gardless of the events that have taken
place or will take place, and regard
less of our personal feelings toward
what has happened during this historic
year at Little Rock Central High
School.”
COMMUNITY ACTION
Twenty-five prominent business and
professional men of Little Rock signed
a statement Oct. 2 saying, “We believe
that the people of the city of Little
Rock, regardless of their feelings on the
subject of segregation: (1) Believe in
and are dedicated to government by
law and order. (2) Detest and condemn
violence. (3) Have faith in the use of
democratic legal processes for settle
ment of differences. (4) Need a period
of continual calm consideration of all
facts and circumstances.”
They therefore called on the people
to uphold those “who enforce laws
without reservation” and to condemn
the threat, encouragement or use of
violence. Some of the 25 are known to
harbor strong segregationist feelings.
Situation
Spotlight
Nine civic organizations adopted the
statement.
A mass attempt to solve the Little
Rock problem with prayer took place
Oct. 11 and 12. Twenty-four Baptist
ministers (only one a member of the
Southern Baptist Convention) spon
sored a prayer meeting the night of
Oct. 11 for those who believe in seg
regation. Thirty-eight ministers and
about 600 persons attended. The next
morning 84 Little Rock churches, both
Protestant and Catholic, and syna
gogues held prayer services for a
peaceful solution. Between 6,000 and
7,000 persons attended. Churches at
Hope, Crossett, Camden, Fayetteville
and Hot Springs held similar prayer
services the same day.
BAPTIST STUDENTS’ STAND
At a meeting of the state Baptist
Student Union Convention, 359 out of
360 attending voted for a statement of
beliefs stating that the Christian posi
tion in racial relations was to uphold
the law of the land and abstain from
violence.
About 135 members of the Mothers
League of Central High School walked
C. E. BLAKE
In Tussle With Troopers
to the Governor’s Mansion the morning
of Sept. 28 and asked Gov. Faubus for
a special legislative session to close
Central High until it could be reopened
without “federal control.”
Mrs. Margaret Jackson, president of
the Mothers League, said on Oct. 24
that the Mothers League of America
had been formed and would organize
local chapters in other cities. She said
mothers at Batesville, Benton, Dermott,
Pine Bluff and England, Ark.; Shreve
port, Leesville and Bossier City, La.;
Knoxville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C.
had asked for information.
Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong obtained
a date to play for a student dance next
March at the University of Arkansas.
Armstrong said he would be glad to
play but was sorry that Gov. Faubus
would have that opportunity to hear
his music, and Armstrong’s manager
called the date “a great moral victory.”
Thereupon the University Student Sen
ate on Oct. 14 cancelled the engage
ment, with the approval of university
authorities.
At Hot Springs the white and Negro
ministerial associations integrated on
Oct. 14 by unanimous vote.
The Garden Homes Baptist Church
and the Berean Baptist Church, both of
North Little Rock, sent telegrams to
President Eisenhower asking him to
withdraw federal troops from Central
High School.
HELENA RAPS TROOP USE
The Helena City Council by resolu
tion condemned the use of federal
troops at Little Rock and asked the
Arkansas members of Congress to
initiate legislation to curb the powers
of both the executive and judicial
branches of the federal government.
The Missionary Baptists of Union,
Ashley and Chicot counties, in south
east Arkansas, by resolution opposed
integration, commended Gov. Faubus
and opposed the use of federal troops
at Little Rock.
In Pulaski County Circuit Court at
Little Rock, state Atty. Gen. Bruce
Bennett filed his third suit (see SSN,
September) against the National As
sociation for the Advancement of
Colored People on Oct. 10. In this suit
(State of Arkansas v. the NAACP
Inc.) he says the NAACP did not file
articles of incorporation with the state
for the seven years that it has been in
business in Arkansas and asks for a
penalty of $5,000.
The NAACP filed an answer Oct. 24
to a Pulaski County chancery court suit
(State of Arkansas v. NAACP.) The
answer said that the NAACP had not
refused to pay state corporation fran
chise taxes of $50 a year because the
state had never asked for payment. The
amount at issue is $350, for seven years.
Chancellor Murray O. Reed then al
lowed the NAACP 15 days in which to
comply with a motion by Bennett that
the NAACP allow him to inspect its
financial records and books.
Mrs. Margaret Jackson of Little Rock
filed suit in federal court on Oct. 2 to
have the federal troops removed from
Little Rock Central High School and to
have certain federal laws declared to
be unconstitutional (Mrs. Margaret
Jackson and Charlene Jackson and San
dra Jackson, minors, v. Col. William A.
Kuhn, individually, and as command
ing officer of the 101st Airborne In
fantry Regiment, and Major Gen. Ed
win A. Walker, individually and as
commanding officer of the Arkansas
Military District).
Mrs. Jackson is president of the
League of Central High Mothers, a
segregation organization; her daughters,
Charlene and Sandra, are Central High
students.
PARTICULARS OF SUIT
She alleged that the presence of the
federal troops at the school violated the
10th Amendment to the U. S. Consti
tution, concerning rights reserved to
the states. She asked that Sections 332,
333 and 334 of Title 10, United States
Code, be held unconstitutional; these
are the laws cited by President Eisen
hower as giving him authority to use
federal troops to enforce the federal
court order for integration at Central
High.
Mrs. Jackson asked for a three-judge
court to hear her suit. Chief Judge
Archibald K. Gardner of the Eighth
Circuit Court said at Huron, S.D., on
Oct. 16 that he was trying to deter
mine which judges would be available.
The next day, an order dismissing Mrs.
Jackson’s suit was received at federal
court at Little Rock from Federal
Judge Ronald N. Davies at Fargo, N.D.,
who is presiding temporarily at Little
Rock because of a vacancy on the
bench. His order was in the mail while
Judge Gardner spoke.
Judge Davies’ order said he was dis
missing the suit on the ground of lack
of jurisdiction because the same issues
had been decided previously by the
Supreme Court and that no substantial
federal constitutional issue was in
volved. Mrs. Jackson’s attorney, Ken
neth C. Coffelt, said this dismissal,
“without notice to anyone and without
a hearing,” was grounds for impeach
ment of Judge Davies. He said he
would appeal the dismissal to the cir
cuit court.
TO TEST LAWS’ VALIDITY
The NAACP filed in federal court on
Oct. 26 two suits questioning the va
lidity of the 1957 State Sovereignty
Commission act and an anti-NAACP
ordinance adopted Oct. 14 by the Little
Rock City Council. On the city ordi
nance, the suit asks for an order to
prevent enforcement.
The other suit asks for a three-
judge court to hold invalid Act 85 of
1957, which creates the Sovereignty
Commission and requires certain or
ganizations to register and furnish in
formation about membership, contri
butions and expenditures.
C. E. Blake of North Little Rock, who
was hit on the head by a rifle butt!
wielded by a federal soldier at Central
High School on Sept. 25, went to Pu
Eisenhower’s ‘Notes on Legal Principles’ Cited
Following is the text of what White House Press Secretary
James C. Hagerty described as “notes on the legal principles
that have guided” President Eisenhower in handling the in
tegration situation at Little Rock, Ark.:
1) The executive branch of the federal government does
not participate in the formulation of plans effecting desegre
gation.
This function is left to the community where maximum
understanding of local problems exists so that proper and
effective solutions may be devised. This was clearly recog
nized by the U. S. Supreme Court when it said:
“To that end, the courts may consider problems related to
administration, arising from the physical condition of the
school plant, the school transportation system, personnel,
revision of school districts and attendance areas into com
pact units to achieve a system of determining admission to
the public schools on a nonracial basis, and revision of local
laws and regulations which may be necessary in solving the
foregoing problems. They also will consider the adequacy of
any plans the defendants may propose to meet these prob
lems and to effectuate a transition to a racially nondiscrimi-
natory school system.”
Although the federal government has no responsibility to
initiate action to desegregate public schools or to formulate
any plans for desegregation, the courts have made it clear
that the Department of Justice, at the invitation of the court,
must participate in litigation involving public school deseg
regation for the purpose of assisting the court.
•
2) The period of time within which any such plan should
be put into effect likewise must be proposed by the local
authorities and approved by the courts.
The Supreme Court held that admission of children to
public schools on a nonracial basis should go forward with
all deliberate speed. In requiring a “prompt and reasonable
start to full compliance,” the court also made it clear that
insincere or dilatory tactics could not be used to defeat con
stitutional protections and rights.
The executive branch of the government does not play a
part in these local deliberations or under existing law in
the court proceedings when such plans are considered.
3) A final order of a federal court giving effect to a de
segregation public school plan must be obeyed by state
authorities and all citizens as the law of the land.
The action of the Supreme Court has conclusively settled
the principle that public school desegregation is, under exist
ing constitutional provisions, the law of the land. Final or
ders of the federal courts carrying out this principle must
be observed.
It is the duty of the state authorities to give full aid to
the enforcement of a desegregation public school plan once
it is finally ordered by the court. This obligation is not open
to any doubt. It is also a required responsibility of good
citizenship that every person in the community respect the
law and its processes. Such observance of law is fundamen
tal to our existence as a nation of free people under con
stitutional government.
•
4) Powers of a state governor may not be used to defeat
a valid order of a federal court.
The governors of the respective states have the primary
responsibility for maintaining domestic order. However, un
der a pretext of maintaining order a governor may not in
terpose military force or permit mob violence so as to pre
vent the final order of a federal court from being carried
out.
When an obstruction of justice has been interposed or mob
violence is permitted to exist so that it is impracticable to
enforce the laws by the ordinary course of judicial proceed
ings, the obligation of the President under the Constitution
and laws is inescapable. He is obliged to use whatever
means may be required by the particular situation.
# # #
laski County Prosecuting Attorney J.
Frank Holt on Oct. 3 and asked for
warrants against three soldiers charg
ing them with assault with intent to
kill. Holt refused. He said the soldiers
were on duty at the time and that any
complaint about misconduct by them
should be taken to federal authorities.
The trials of 26 persons arrested dur
ing September disturbances at Central
High School have been postponed until
late November in Little Rock Munici
pal Court. Judge Harry C. Robinson
said he was postponing them to give
the situation “time to cool off.”
The first thing to be done at Little
Rock, apparently, was to get the fed
eral troops out of town. Five members
of the Southern Governors Conference
were selected to talk to President
Eisenhower about that but one of them,
Gov. Marvin E. Griffin of Georgia,
didn’t attend the conference.
On Oct. 1 the other four met the
President at the White House. They
were Gov. Theodore McKeldin of
Maryland, Gov. Luther Hodges of
North Carolina, Gov. Frank G. Clem
ent of Tennessee and Gov. LeRoy Col
lins of Florida, all Democrats except
McKeldin. Hodges, the chairman, dealt
with Gov. Faubus of Arkansas by tele
phone during the meeting.
During the afternoon conference the
four governors presented to Eisenhow
er the Faubus position. The way the
President understood it was given in
his statement at the end of the meet
ing: “At the meeting the governors in
formed the President that the governor
of Arkansas had authorized them to
state he was prepared to assume full
responsibility for maintaining law and
order in Little Rock and in connection
herewith will not obstruct the orders
of the federal court.” As soon as Fau
bus issued such a statement, the Presi
dent said, he would have the troops
withdrawn.
FAUBUS’ STATEMENT
Within two hours Faubus put out his
statement. It said it had never been his
intention to obstruct the court order,
that he would not obstruct the court
order and that this had been his stand
all along.
This did not satisfy Eisenhower:
“The statement issued this evening by
the governor of Arkansas does not con
stitute in my opinion the assurance
that he intends to use his full powers
as governor to prevent the obstruction
of the orders of the United States Dis
trict Court.” He wouldn’t withdraw
the troops.
What went wrong? The White House
said only that there were “many
things” wrong with the Faubus state
ment.
DOUBT AGREEMENT POSSIBLE
Faubus said he had done what he
had said he would do but that he was
beginning to doubt that any agreemen
could be reached as long as Atty-
Herbert Brownell Jr. and the “pala ^
guard” were telling Eisenhower wba
to do.
The four governors on the commit 6 *:
were specific. They said Faubus ha
changed his statement after both si
had agreed to the wording verbatim
both the Eisenhower and Faubus sta
ments. Specifically, McKeldin '
Faubus added the words “by me - g
the sentence ending “the orders of
federal court will not be obstructed
me.” Faubus, however, said those .
words were in his statement as ag re
(Continued On Next Page)
Negro students are shown here as they entered the Central High School on
Oct. 24 for the first time without military escort. The escort was removed the
previous day before the students left the school. No incidents were reported.