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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—DECEMBER 1957—PAGE II
Coleman Tells Mississippi Assembly
State Is Now ‘Legally Defenseless’
JACKSON, Miss.
G ov. J. P. Coleman told the spe
cial legislative session he con
vened Nov. 5 to strengthen the
state’s barriers against integration
that Mississippi is “legally naked
and legally defenseless” in that
effort unless his proposal for a
convention to revise the 1890 con
stitution is authorized.
Although Mississippi has more
laws than any other state designed
to preserve segregation, the gov
ernor said the recent U. S. Su
preme Court decision nullifying
the Virginia assignment law
“leaves Mississippi wholly with
out any legal defense whatever in
the event we should be confronted
with a school integration suit in
any of the federal courts.” (See
“Legislative Action.”)
A House of Representatives majority
which favors changes in the 1890 con
stitution by amendment rather than
convention defeated Gov. Coleman’s
proposal for a convention after it had
been voted in the Senate. (See “Legis
lative Action.”)
Medgar Evers, field secretary of the
NAACP in Mississippi, predicted inte
gration of Mississippi schools by 1963,
and National Director Clarence Mitch
ell of Washington told the state con
vention in Jackson Nov. 10 that the new
federal civil rights law “puts Uncle Sam
behind you when you go to vote” and
that it subjects Mississippi’s elected
officials “to the will of all the people.”
(See “What They Say.”)
HAYS WANTS TIME
Rep. Brooks Hays (D-Ark.), presi
dent of the Southern Baptist Conven
tion, sidestepped segregation in his
message to the Mississippi Baptist Con
vention in Jackson Nov. 13, but ex
pressed hope in a press conference that
the federal government will allow
southern states “the necessary time”
to work out racial problems. (See
“What They Say.”)
Negro editor Percy Greene of the
weekly Jackson Advocate said NAACP
officials have not discovered “the fact
that name-calling and the vindictive
retort are no substitute for the states
manship and diplomacy so badly needed
by Negro leaders in these troubled
times in the matter of race relations.”
(See “What They Say.”)
Negro schools will get most of the
funds released under the Negro-white
public school building equalization pro
gram after sale of $10 million in bonds
reactivated the plan which had been
slowed down by earlier failure to sell
the bonds. (See “School Boards and
Schoolmen.”)
State Rep. Ney Gore Jr. of Quitman
County resigned as director of the State
Sovereignty Commission when the spe
cial legislative session convened Nov. 5.
(See “Miscellaneous.”)
Gov. Coleman made official record of
the dangers he said face “the future
preservation of our public school sys
tem” in a message to a special session
of the Mississippi legislature he con
vened Nov. 5 to consider that question.
He insisted that the only cure is in a
revision of the 1890 constitution in a
convention, and not by amendments as
advocated by convention foes.
Coleman said Mississippians are agreed
that segregation will be maintained and
“without violence” or the necessity of
federal troops being sent to Mississippi.
“I am now convinced that silence on
my part would simply leave the public
uninformed and unaware of the danger
that catastrophe is knocking at our
door,” he said.
“I have never thought that we could
successfully rely on a segregated pri
vate school system supported directly
or indirectly with public funds,” he said
with regard to a “standby” amendment
authorizing that course to be taken by
the legislature in event integration is
threatened.
FORCED NEW APPRAISAL’
Gov. Coleman said the recent U. S.
Supreme Court decision invalidating
the Virginia pupil assignment law
“forced a brand new appraisal of our
school situation in Mississippi—these
decisions completely changed the out
look so far as our constitution and
statutes are concerned.
“The legal situation affecting Missis
sippi schools is exactly the same as was
true in Virginia,” he said. “We adopted
an interposition resolution, we have
more stringent school-closing provisions
than had Virginia, we provide for aboli
tion by state action, and the legislative
history as reflected in the journals is
identically the same.”
RACE SECTION ON BOOKS
Coleman said the section (207) which
provides for separate education of the
races “and thus makes color the sole
legal standard for separation,” has not
been repealed even though the “stand
by” abolition amendment was adopted.
“Sec. 213-B, which is our school aboli
tion provision, would itself be promptly
held invalid for two reasons,” he said.
“The courts are allowed to take judicial
notice of the contents of the legislative
journals.
“The special session of 1954 submitted
the school abolition amendment, Sec.
213-B. According to the legislative jour
nals the clear purpose of that amend
ment was to preserve segregation to
the last ditch and then abolish the
schools as a last resort. Under the de
cisions in the Virginia cases, this alone
would be grounds for the federal courts
to hold Sec. 213-B unconstitutional as
being for a purpose in violation of the
14th amendment. This would leave Mis
sissippi without any valid school clos
ing provisions.
SUPPLEMENTAL SECTION
“More than that, Sec. 213-B states on
its face that it is ‘supplemental to all
other provisions of this constitution.’
The federal courts would say that this
made it supplemental to Sec. 207, and,
construed in pari materia, would hold it
invalid for that additional reason,” he
said.
The governor said if 213-B was struck
down the schools could still be closed
by withholding legislative appropria
tions, “but this would result in the
closing of all schools including those
which are without any race-mixing
difficulties.” And, he added, “this is a
result which we do not want and which
we cannot afford.”
“Unless we take steps to remedy the
situation, our entire public school sys
tem will come tumbling down the first
time we are attacked,” the governor as
serted.
NORTH CAROLINA COURSE
Gov. Coleman said Mississippi has
available the course followed by North
Carolina in its pupil assignment law
based on “the orderly and efficient ad
ministration of the public schools, the
effective instruction of the pupils there
in enrolled, and the health, safety and
general welfare of such pupils.” He said
that act was upheld on that score and
also because North Carolina did not
adopt an interposition resolution, as did
Mississippi, nor does that state have a
fund cut-off law, but instead, a statute
which permits school closing at the lo
cal level.
“In view of the Virginia decision,
however, we must wipe the school slate
absolutely clean here in Mississippi and
begin all over in both the constitution
and the statutes,” he said. “We can
then avoid the pitfalls exposed in the
Virginia case.
“I think all we should have to say
about schools in the new constitution
would be that any school district within
this state is authorized to own and op
erate a public school system and in
those districts where such schools are
operated the legislature is authorized
to contribute public funds to the con
struction, improvement, maintenance
and operation of the same. That would
give the legislature complete authority
to handle the public school problem in
the light of questions which will here
after arise and which we cannot fore
see at this time.”
MAY HALT BOND SALES
The governor said unless the con
vention is authorized he may be forced
as chairman of the State Bond Commis
sion not to sell any more bonds author
ized for the Negro-white public school
building equalization program.
“This is money which the people
Virginia
(Continued From Page 10)
schools integrated.
The poll was conducted by placing
a questionnaire in every fiftieth paper
that came off the presses. The poll was
held just prior to the gubernatorial elec
tion and included questions as to how
the readers would vote. A vice presi
dent of Richmond Newspapers, Inc.,
Alan S. Donnahoe, said after an analy-
SIS of the actual election results that
the poll “was an almost exact forecast
°1 the actual white vote” in the three
congressional districts in which the pa-
P er had wide circulation and was a
fairly close” estimate of the white vote
throughout the state.
The newspaper said that so few ques
tionnaires were returned by Negroes
that their votes were not counted since
the response was too small for an ac
curate reflection of Negro opinion. Thus
the poll results reflect only the views
°f the white persons.
three judges heard
The concept of interposition “was dis
credited as a legal theory and over
whelmed as a seditious course of action”
a years ago, U.S. Circuit Court Judge
g dliam H. Hastie told the American
a Ptist Home Mission Society’s anni-
yersary convocation at Virginia Union
University here.
fi ^rcuit Judge William Old of Chester-
e ld County, who is considered to have
®®n the first person to propose using
of 6 '^frine of interposition as a means
resisting the school desegregation de-
er lon > told the Sons of Confederate Vet-
“n . a * their annual convention here:
racial differences and conflicts are
!tten deeply into the nature of the
Autumn Leaves
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
human species. They cannot be eradi
cated.”
Judge Walter B. Jones of Montgomery,
Ala., who also addressed the Sons of
Confederate Veterans, urged his listen
ers to stand by two southern principles
—states’ rights and segregation. “If the
people of the South stand flat-footed
they will be all right,” he said.
DOUBTS SCHOOL CLOSING
Harry I. Wood, president of the How
ard University Alumni Association, told
the Virginia Congress of Colored Par
ents and Teachers at its annual meeting
in Roanoke that he does not believe
Governor-elect J. Lindsay Almond Jr.
will close any Virginia schools because
of court-ordered integration. He said:
“Mr. Almond is a gentleman, a scholar
and an able attorney. I would not take
too seriously any words voiced in a po
litical campaign.”
Dr. Frederick D. Patterson, former
president of Tuskegee Institute, told the
Virginia Council on Human Relations
at its annual meeting here that “a com
munity that allows itself to become hys
terical over racial issues will become
hysterical over other things.” He said
Negroes are being held back in business
and scientific fields because of inade
quate educational opportunities and
that some of the inadequacies in the
quality of instruction “are almost unbe
lievable.” Dr. Patterson is now presi
dent of the United Negro College Fund.
Caroline County High School can
celled a scheduled football game with
Quantico High School because the lat
ter team is racially integrated. The
school at the Quantico Marine Corps
base has one Negro on its team. A Vir
ginia law prohibits athletic competition
between racially mixed school teams.
RESIGNS POST
Former Gov. John S. Battle, who has
been appointed by President Eisenhower
to the new federal Civil Rights Com
mission, has resigned as counsel for the
Charlottesville school board in the de
segregation case brought by the Ne
groes in that city. He resigned several
days after his appointment to the com
mission was announced by President Ei
senhower.
U.S. Sen. A. Willis Robertson of Vir
ginia told the Richmond Bar Associa
tion in an address here that the Com
munists are trying to use the NAACP
to destroy the nation’s government by
first destroying states’ rights. He said
the school desegregation decision
pleased the Communists because it was
an unconstitutional blow at the rights
of the states.
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will have to repay even if their schools
are destroyed and the buildings stand
empty, monuments of our mis-manage-
ment,” Gov. Coleman said.
HOUSE KILLS COMPROMISE
Despite that appeal, the House of
Representatives voted 78 to 61 to kill a
compromise measure passed by the
Senate. The compromise calling for vo
ter approval of the convention was pro
posed by Gov. Coleman after his orig
inal bill for legislative authorization of
the drafting session was rejected by the
Senate, 24 to 23.
After killing the Senate compromise
measure, the House then voted down
the original proposition which was em
bodied in an identical bill introduced
in it.
House Speaker Walter Sillers of Bol
ivar County led the fight against the
convention measures. He said the
changes the governor said present “an
emergency” can be handled quicker and
cheaper in specific amendments to par
ticular sections.
SILLERS’ AMENDMENT PLAN
Sillers said a convention, as planned
for next September, could not com
plete a new draft until late in 1959, if
then. He said the amendments could be
presented the voters within 90 days af
ter voted in the legislature.
The 69-year-old speaker with 42 years
in the House said he has drafted five
proposed constitutional amendments
which would “cure” the situation the
governor said faces the segregated
schools.
Convention opponents said the voters
would be required to vote on a “pack
age deal” in a new constitution, and be
forced to take sections they do not like
in order to get those they favor. They
said under the amendment route, the
voter could make a selection.
Mississippi Field Secretary Medgar
Evers of the NAACP predicted during
the state conference of branches of the
NAACP, in session at Jackson, Nov. 8,
that the organization would accomplish
racial integi&tion in Mississippi by 1963.
Evers, who was denied entrance to the
University of Mississippi law school,
said: “It may not seem the Mississippi
branch is making much progress when
you compare this state to some of the
others, but progress is being made.
“We are getting our feet on the
ground, collecting information and
making other preparations,” he said.
“We hope to accomplish integration in
public schools within five or six years
without a Little Rock.
YOUNG LEADERSHIP
“I hope when we make our big move
here the people will be ready for it and
it will be orderly,” Evers said. “The
older folks [Negroes] may be too set
in their ways to make much progress
toward integration and for that reason
we have organized a state youth rally
to groom future Negro leaders.”
Evers said there are 25,000 members
of the NAACP in Mississippi, about four
per cent of the Negroes in the state.
However, he said, “There are many
more financial supporters who are
afraid to actively participate because
of the threat of economic reprisals.”
National Director Mitchell said: “We
have seen enough of what happened in
Little Rock to know that we need more
civil rights legislation now. Therefore,
we will ask the next session of Congress
to pass legislation that will cover those
civil rights that the new law does not
cover.
RESPONSIVE OFFICIALS
“From now on, Uncle Sam will be on
the lookout for those who think that
voting is for white folks only,” Mitchell
said. “With this new law, the school
boards, county officials, tax collectors
or whoever else holds an elected office
in Mississippi become subject to the will
of all the people and not just a hand
ful that would destroy the United States
Constitution as a means of maintaining
segregation.”
NAACP CRITICIZED
Editor Percy Greene of the Jackson
Advocate said President Eisenhower’s
address that “international relations de
mand a solution of the race problem in
the United States, a demand arising out
of the challenge of Russian communism
to the United States and world democ
racy, should have had a sobering effect
on the national NAACP officials.
“The President’s speech [on the Lit
tle Rock troop issue] should have
marked the end of the NAACP’s name
calling, big talk and threats, as well as
its campaign to make the Negro in the
South believe that it is all-powerful
and that it has the only method and ap
proach to the solution of the race prob
lems in this country,” he said.
“The Jackson Advocate and its editor,
‘Uncle Tom’ Percy Greene, are pri
marily interested in the solution of the
race problem in Mississippi on a formula
that will enable its Negro and white
people to live side by side in peace,
progress and good will, the solution that
can be found when intelligent Negro and
white leaders in the state start meeting
and working together to that end,” the
Negro editor said.
TO ALLEVIATE STRAIN’
Rep. Brooks Hays, who interceded in
the Little Rock school troop controversy
between President Eisenhower and Gov.
Faubus, said in Jackson Nov. 14 he
hopes the South “can get the necessary
time to see if some way can be worked
out to alleviate the strain between state
and national governments” on the racial
issue.
Hays, as president of the Southern
Baptist Convention, addressed the Mis
sissippi convention of the denomination,
but did not mention the race question.
He spoke despite protests from two
county associations of his appearance on
grounds that he has “integrationist
views.”
In a press conference, Hays said the
present relationship between the state
and federal government, as a result of
the Little Rock situation, “is one of
sharp clash.”
First building-approvals by the State
Educational Finance Commission fol
lowing the Oct. 30 sale of $10 million in
bonds called for expenditure of $9,487,-
543. Of the amount $8,422,865 was for
Negro schools and only $288,618 for
white schools.
Ultimate equalization of the dual sys
tem is expected to cost $120 million.
Bonds for the program have been au
thorized by the legislature. Thus far
projects involving $27,337,522 have been
authorized by the commission, with
about 80 per cent of the funds for Negro
schools.
A South Mississippi legislator, Rep.
Upton Sisson of Harrison and Jackson
counties, charged that Gov. Coleman’s
proposal for a constitutional convention
was defeated by an “old guard” leader
ship he said “does not represent a ma
jority of voters.”
Sisson is campaigning for reappor
tionment of the legislature which has
not been done since the 1890 constitu
tion. It is based on three “grand divi
sions” of the state without regard to
population, and gives some smaller pop
ulated counties far more representa
tion than the larger ones.
Sisson’s home county of Harrison has
a population of 84,073 and one and one-
half votes in the 140-member House
and a half vote in the 49-member Sen
ate. That compares with Noxubee Coun
ty, with a population of 20,002 and three
House votes and a full vote in the Sen
ate.
Based on the 412,690 votes cast in the
1955 race for Governor, Sissons said
the 61 House members who voted for
a convention represented areas which
cast 224,006 votes, while the 78 who
killed the bill speak for only 188,683 of
those who participated in the guberna
torial election. “This shows that we
have rule by minority in the house,”
he said.
MISCELLANEOUS
Instead of taking a leave of absence
for the special legislative session, Rep.
Ney Gore submitted an “unconditional
resignation” as director of the State
Sovereignty Commission.
Gore had been the center of a con
troversy over legislators holding state
jobs ever since he took the post after
the 1956 session which created the
agency. He was defendant in a suit chal
lenging his right to the job, but was up
held by the state supreme court which
held that a constitutional prohibition
applies only to offices with specific
tenures. Gore was subject to dismissal
at the will of the commission.
Meanwhile, a report by the commis
sion to the legislature shows it has
spent $65,466 of the $250,000 voted for
its operation.
OTHER REPORT ITEMS
The report discloses that the com
mission “backed a special ‘parallel
progress day’ for Negroes in Jackson
which was designed to offset a meeting
of the NAACP on the same day.
“Working through Negro leaders we
had a larger crowd for the ‘parallel
progress day’ than attended the meet
ing of the NAACP,” the report states.
“We attained good publicity as to the
weakness of the NAACP within the
state.”
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