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Objective
VOL. IV, NO. 6
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
$2 PER YEAR
DECEMBER, 1957
Negro Pupil Percentages
Off in 10 Areas, Up in 8
A special Southern School News study of school population shows
that the Negro proportion of the enrollment has declined in 10
southern and border states and increased in seven states plus the Dis
trict of Columbia during the last five or six years.
All of these states were affected by
the May 1954 U.S. Supreme Court de
cision. The base periods used in the
survey were 1951 enrollments, at a time
when the school cases were coming be
fore the court, and latest figures ob
tainable for 1957.
Negro percentages of total enroll
ments declined relatively from 1951 to
1957 in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina and Virgin
ia, states which have no desegregation
in public schools, and in Texas, North
Carolina, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
Increases were noted in Alabama,
which has no desegregated schools, and
in Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky,
Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee and the
District of Columbia.
RANGE OF CHANGE
Decreases ranged from .4 per cent
(Oklahoma) to 2.5 per cent (Georgia).
The smallest increases (.3 per cent)
were in Arkansas, Kentucky and Ten
nessee. The largest was in the District
of Columbia (15.6 per cent) and Ala
bama (1.8 per cent).
The decline in the Negro ratio of
total enrollment has been steady in the
still-segregated states of Florida, Geor
gia, South Carolina and Virginia. And
it has been cumulative in the wholly
or largely segregated states of Louisi
ana, Mississippi and North Carolina.
This leaves only Alabama of the states
with heavy Negro population which are
still maintaining segregation with an
increase in Negro percentage of total
school enrollment in comparison with
1951.
factors cited
With absolute increases in Negro en-
Jollments recorded in every state since
1951 and with the rate of increase
fmong Negroes exceeding that of whites
e ight states and the District of
Columbia, two principal factors seem to
explain the relative Negro decline in
“ e Dee P South states: (1) out-migra-
“°n; (2) booming white enrollments.
However, it has been pointed out
‘nnt in these areas Negro enrollments
W, rising, too, probably in response to
uer school buildings (though segre-
8® d) and better economic conditions
®)ong Negroes, especially in the cities,
all 1m ° gra P hic experts say, addition-
y, that Negro school age population
oughout the region is increasing at
greater rate than is the white popu-
on ‘ Yet these decreases appear.
# # #
‘Quiet’ Month Is Reported
As Year-End Approaches
A relatively “quiet” month on the segregation-desegregation front in southern and border state schools
was reported as the year-end approached.
There was some activity in legislatures and legislative committees, where new pro-segregation laws were
passed or planned. The Texas General Assembly adopted a measure providing for the closing of any school to
prevent the using of troops. Louisiana legislative leaders discussed more stringent school-closing laws for adop
tion at the May 1958 session. A proposed Maryland statute prohibiting cross-burning was said to have the ap
proval of Gov. Theodore R. McKeldin.
One new school district—in Oklahoma—was reported to have desegregated. This brought the total in the
17-state region to 762 out of 3,008 biracial districts. All but 15 of these are in the border states.
Two governors long prominent in the
Statistical Summary
Revised and Updated
In response to the many requests
received by Southern Education Re
porting Service, the statistical sum
mary “Status of School Segregation-
Desegregation in the Southern and
Border States” has been reprinted.
This represents the third revision
and the second full printing of the
manila folder-bound reference work.
“Status” is published as a statistical
summary of Southern School News.
The new edition, two pages longer
than the June revision, contains com
plete statistics on the school subject,
including data on white and Negro
enrollments and teachers, teacher sal
ary scales, legislative and legal actions
and the situation in the colleges. The
material is arranged on a state-by
state basis for ready reference by edu
cators, newsmen and others.
The revised summary has been
mailed to those persons who, on re
ceipt of the first edition, indicated
they wished to receive subsequent re
visions.
A limited supply remains on hand at
SERS, and copies may be obtained for
$1 by writing “Southern Education
Reporting Service, Summary, P.O. Box
6156, Acklen Station, Nashville, Tenn.”
Plans are to continue periodic revi
sions of this reference material for
distribution on request.
# # #
segregation - desegregation controversy
made headline-catching statements dur
ing the month. Kentucky’s Gov. A. B.
(“Happy”) Chandler, pointing to his
state’s integration program, urged
southern states to abolish racial seg
regation. Mississippi’s Gov. J. P. Cole
man told a special session of the legis
lature that unless it adopted a measure
to amend the state constitution by con
vention, Mississippi would be “legally
naked and legally defenseless” against
school entry suits. A bloc in the legis
lature committed to the amendment
rather than the convention process de
feated his bill.
PLACEMENT TESTED
Tests of pupil placement laws were
current or pending. In Alabama, Birm
ingham school authorities sent ques
tionnaires to 5,000 white families asking
about their reaction to the efforts of
Negro children to enter three schools
there. White parents in North Carolina
went to the state supreme court to seek
removal of Negro children admitted to
schools in Greensboro.
Some increase in both pro-segregation
and pro-integration activity at the com
munity levels was noted.
In Georgia, 80 Protestant Atlanta
clergymen issued a “manifesto” urging
an end to racial prejudice and calling
for obedience to the law. In South
Carolina, the home of a contributor to
a “moderate” pamphlet on race rela
tions was bombed though the clergy-
sponsored publication apparently was
well received.
Ku Klux Klan activity was heightened
in Alabama and Delaware and under at
tack in South Carolina, where resigna
tions from one Klan were reported.
A summary of major developments
state-by-state during the month fol
lows:
Alabama
Birmingham’s schools may provide the
first test of Alabama’s pupil placement
law. Parents of children at three all-
white schools have been sent a question
naire asking how they would react to
White and Negro Enrollment, Ratio Changes
Source for these data is Swanson &
Griffin for 13 states. Other 4 and D.C.
come from SSN report, Sept. 1954.
Source is Statistical Abstract of U.S.
1957
Source is SERS Statistical Summary
1951-2 Enrollments
1954-5 Enrollments
1957 Enrollments
White
Negro
% Negro
White
Negro
% Negro
White
Negro
% Negro
440,000
239,000
35.2
460,507
243,140
34.6
475,500
279,300
37.0
316,000
100,000
24.0
315,111
99,844
21.7
316,709
120,000
24.3
43,552
9,172
17.3
42,237
9,968
19.0
56,913
12,429
17.8
46,084
54,716
54.3
45,750
60,029
56.6
33,000
77,000
70.0*
408,000
127,000
23.7
487,698
140,779
22.4
703,800
196,200
21.8
490,000
254,000
34.1
533,508
274,123
33.9
649,800
300,200
31.6
526,000
35,000
6.2
553,051
38,517
6.5
551,771
38,358
6.5
312,000
197,000
38.7
343,914
208,577
35.9
390,625
234,375
37.5
305,650
81,074
20.9
338,308
89,984
21.0
417,214
116,275
21.6
268,000
268,000
50.0
263,478
263,930
50.04
276,276
269,724
49.4
611,086
61,997
9.07
637,705
65,962
9.3
675,000
77,000
10.0
637,000
273,000
30.0
683,284
284,782
29.3
755,000
322,000
29.8
464,000
36,000
7 2
446,989
36,111
7.5
495,664
36,390
6.8
285,000
228,000
44.5
304,908
234,529
43.4
337,000
253,000
42.8
556,000
111,000
16.6
598,247
118,048
16.5
657,560
133,740
16.9
1,249,000
207,000
14.2
1,388,828
215,465
13.4
1,627,307
258,333
13.7
473,000
160,000
25.2
523,165
172,112
24.7
584,285
190,413
24.5
420,577
26,133
5.85
426,345
25,646
5.6
428,300
25,834
5.4
7,860,949
2,468,092
23.89
8,393,033
2,581,546
23.51
9,431,004
2,922,571
23.65
^abama...
Arkansas. ..
Delaware
D.C
Florida
Georgia....
Kentucky 526
Louisiana..
dryland..
Mississippi 268,1
Missouri
Korth Carolina.
Oklahoma
^°oth Carolina.
Tennessee
T exa s
V kgini a
^est Virginia..
Total
data, made available after the start of the school year, raise this figure to 71.2 per cent.
the enrollment of four Negro children
who are seeking entry to the schools
and who have been given placement ex
aminations.
Arkansas
Federal-state negotiations over re
moval of troops at Little Rock’s Cen
tral High School (where only federal
ized national guardsmen remain) were
at a near stalemate while inside the
school teaching and learning were said
to go on “at a near normal pace.”
Delaware
Legal resolution of the segregation-
desegregation issue in south Delaware
schools was expected during 1958. There
was stepped-up activity by both pro
integration and pro-segregation groups.
District of Columbia
Negro enrollment in Washington’s in
tegrated schools reached 71.2 per cent,
tion and to strengthen segregation laws.
A House majority which favors amend
ment rather than convention defeated
the governor’s proposed constitutional
move.
Missouri
A special study of Clark School in
St. Louis, once all-white and now 80 per
cent Negro, showed a variety of expe
riences of educators in meeting prob
lems raised by desegregation.
North Carolina
Admission of Negroes to all-white
schools in Greensboro was under at
tack in the state supreme court by 41
white parents appealing a lower court
decision which denied them an injunc
tion against the Negroes’ school entry.
Oklahoma
A federal court gave an eastern dis
trict, desegregated at the high school
level, additional time to end elementary
INDEX
Alabama
. 14
Kentucky
8
Oklahoma
. . . 3
Arkansas
2
Louisiana
8
South Carolina .
. . . 6
Delaware
12
Maryland
6
Tennessee
... 9
Dist. of Columbia .
. 15
Mississippi
II
Texas
... 5
Florida
12
Missouri
. .16
Virginia
10
Georgia
. 13
North Carolina . .
. . 4
West Virginia . .
.14
up 3.2 per cent since last year. All but
one senior high school, all but two jun
ior high schools, and 105 of 122 elemen
tary schools reported mixed classes.
Florida
Efforts to force through a pro-segre
gation resolution failed in the Florida
Council of Parents and Teachers, while
on the local level the Dade (Miami)
County school board decided not to
consider a segregation policy resolution
as attorneys were instructed to renew
efforts to get dismissal of a school entry
suit by Negro children.
Georgia
Officials of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People
mapped a voter registration drive at an
Atlanta meeting while the state moved
toward tightening voting laws.
Kentucky
Gov. A. B. Chandler urged acceptance
of racial integration in southern schools.
A state survey showed Negro enroll
ment in desegregated schools ranging
from one pupil in several small districts
to 7,647 in Louisville.
Louisiana
Legislative leaders planned new laws
for introduction at the May 1958 legis
lative session for “temporary” closure
of any schools which are integrated, re
opening them later “racially segre
gated.”
Maryland
An Eastern Shore grand jury indicted
two persons who picketed schools in
Easton. Fall enrollment figures showed
13 counties (districts) had some mixed
classes—the same number as last year—
with an increase in the number of pupils
affected.
Mississippi
The state presently is “legally naked
and legally defenseless” against school
integration, Gov. J. P. Coleman told a
special legislative session called to
change the 1890 constitution by conven
school segregation. One more district—
Kinta, in Haskell County—was disclosed
to have desegregated.
South Carolina
The home of a contributor to a “mod
erate” booklet on race relations was
bombed and the act was strongly criti
cized. (Excerpts from the publication
appear on page 7.) A large number of
statements by political leaders opposing
integration was made during the month.
Tennessee
Six state colleges were instructed by
the board of education to admit all
qualified students next fall who meet
entrance requirements, in effect ending
segregation at these institutions. John
Kasper was sentenced to six months in
federal penitentiary for his part in the
1956 Clinton disturbances and six co
defendants received suspended sen
tences. Front-running candidates for
the Democratic nomination for governor
took pro-segregation stands.
Texas
A special session of the legislature
passed a law authorizing closing of any
school to prevent the using of troops.
Dallas asked a three-judge federal court
to give it until at least the summer of
1958 to present a plan for school deseg
regation.
Virginia
J. Lindsay Almond Jr. was elected
governor by a nearly 2-to-l vote in a
campaign testing the state’s official pol
icy of “massive resistance” to desegre
gation, which he endorsed. A federal
district court order which refused to set
a deadline for desegregation in Prince
Edward County was reversed by the
Fourth Circuit Court.
West Virginia
A $100,000 study of instructional de
ficiencies was critical of the achieve
ment of West Virginia pupils. School
districts where there were disturbances
at the beginning of the term were re
ported as quiet.
# # #