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PAGE 12—DECEMBER 1957—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Delaware School Segregation Issue Expected to Be Settled in ’58
WILMINGTON, Del.
\HE SEGREGATION-DESEGREGATION
issue in Delaware is expected to
be legally resolved during 1958 (a
political campaign year), an attor
ney involved in the current litiga
tion before the U.S. Third Circuit
Court said last month. (See “Legal
Action.”)
In the meantime, there is being
waged in the southern counties of
Delaware a “cold war” of nerves
and jitters.
On the one hand, pro-integration
agencies are attempting to build up
enough resistance in Delaware’s two
lower counties to prevent possible vio
lence and disruption of the public
school system.
James M. Tunnell Jr. of Georgetown,
one of the attorneys for four local school
boards involved in desegregation suits
in Delaware, has estimated that the
question will not be resolved legally
until late in 1958.
the basis of race, color or ancestry is the
ipsi dixit of segregation.
“In no school district anywhere in the
state of Delaware,” the brief continues,
“do the defendants [State Board of Edu
cation members] exercise or have the
power to exercise the assignment of stu
dents to a particular school.
LOCAL PREROGATIVE
Former U.S. District Court Judge
Paul Leahy of Delaware had ruled in
seven cases before him that all school
districts shall desegregate according to a
plan to be drawn up by the State Board
of Education.
BOTH SIDES ACTIVE
Countering these efforts is the work
of anti-integration groups, such as the
Citizens Councils and the Ku Klux
Klan. (See “Community Action.”)
The pro-integration supporters are
emphasizing the importance of law and
order and are saying that whatever hap
pens next year, Delaware should not be
come another “Little Rock.”
Their leaders admit that they are en
gaged in a race against time. One leader
who asked that his name not be pub
lished said, “We hope that by the time
the federal courts hand down the ulti
mate order for desegregation, we will
have enough support from the right
thinking citizens to avoid violence.”
This has been appealed to the circuit
court by the local school boards and
briefs are now being prepared. The only
brief filed thus far was by the office of
the attorney general on behalf of the
State Board of Education.
QUESTIONS RAISED
The questions, according to this brief,
are:
1) Can the State Board of Education
comply with the order of the court?
2) How can the rights of the plaintiffs
(the Negro children seeking admission
to the white schools) best be secured?
3) Did the district court exceed its in
junctive powers in granting the order?
On behalf of the State Board of Edu
cation, the attorney general’s office says
that the means of desegregation are in
the hands of the local school boards.
“There is no statute which specifically
locates the power to assign students to
particular schools; however, the assign
ment has always been done by the local
boards, since the defendants are totally
unequipped to perform this essentially
local function and are granted no au
thority to perform it.”
The brief continues that the second
power vital to any planning or effectua
tion of desegregation is the power to
employ, assign and dismiss teachers and
principals on the basis of the scheme of
desegregation.
The attorney general also states that
the members of the State Board of Edu
cation are unable to force the local
boards to act with the state board in
seeking a solution to problems and ad
ministration of desegregation.
About 100 members of the local school
boards in Delaware—members of the
Delaware School Boards Association—
were advised at their fall conference
early in November, to remember that
their oaths of office call for obedience
to the constitutions of the United States
and Delaware.
This reminder came from Robert V.
Huber, Wilmington attorney who is also
president of the Mt. Pleasant School
District, just north of Wilmington.
He explained that when the U.S. Su
preme Court said that the boards of
education shall act with “deliberate
speed,” it did not mean “hasty speed”
but with deliberation and thought.
COMMUNITY ACTION
KLAN CAMPAIGNING
On the other hand, the Ku Klux Klan
has now definitely entered the southern
Delaware scene, engaged in a member
ship campaign for “the Delmarva Penin
sula Realm, Invisible Empire of the U.S.
Klan, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”
(The “Delmarva Peninsula” includes
the three Delaware counties and the
Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and
two counties of Virginia.)
ASSIGNMENT POWERS
“It is necessary,” the attorney gen
eral’s brief states, “to have the power
to assign individual students to attend
one school rather than another. This
power, of course, is the crux of desegre
gation.
“No plan can be made or effected
without it, since the assignment of in
dividual students to certain schools on
HAD ASKED PLANS
The State Board of Education had
taken the position ever since the U.S.
Supreme Court handed down its opin
ion that the local boards should initiate
programs of desegregation and submit
them for approval to the state board.
The attorney general pointed out that
a number of local school boards have
already done this and that by now
“over one-half of the state’s popula
tion” is living in areas with desegregated
schools.
The brief of the attorney general also
advises the circuit court that the state
board does not have the means for ful
filling any responsibility for desegrega
tion, and “in order to secure promptly
the rights of the plaintiffs, the order of
the district court should be directed to
the local boards.”
It is in the area of community action
that most of the segregation-desegrega
tion activities have taken place in recent
months.
Negroes will be attending what are no^y
white schools.”
Efforts are also being made by certain
agencies to combat community tensions.
An example of this is the forthcoming
second annual Police-Community Rela
tions Institute, scheduled for March in
Dover.
While the question of desegregation
will be discussed at this conference,
there will be other issues studied, relat.
ing to the entire field of community
relations and community tensions.
ANTI-INTEGRATION ACTIVITIES
In the meantime, the anti-integration
groups have also been busy. On Nov.
22, a group of men who said they rep
resented the Ku Klux Klan attended a
meeting of the Milford Citizens Council,
uninvited, and made overtures for
membership in the Klan.
One report is that the Klan represen
tatives were given a cool reception.
On Nov. 21, Mrs. William R. Money,
state president of the Delaware Federa
tion of Women’s Clubs, spoke to the
members of the Georgetown (Sussex
County) New Century Club on the sub
ject of desegregation.
James M. Rosbrow of Wilmington,
president of the Delaware Congress of
Parents and Teachers, has been visiting
as many local PTA groups in southern
Delaware as possible and talking with
leaders on the problems involved in de
segregation.
The points he has been emphasizing
are: (1) Keep the schools open, in the
event of an ultimate desegregation
order. (2) Maintain high percentages of
attendance. (3) Avoid “peripheral” alle
gations and charges, such as intermar
riage and mixed socializing.
NEED FOR COMMUNICATIONS
“The important thing,” he said, “is
to keep open all lines of communica
tion. Another thing to keep in mind is
that I cannot foresee any situation in
southern Delaware where too many
‘COMMUNITY ISSUE’
The gist of her remarks: “Integration
is the most active problem that must be
met by club women during the coming
year . . . Each community must meet the
issue . . . Communities must be calm in
all considerations of this problem. We
can no longer hide behind platitudes.”
She also urged “frank discussions” of
integration and advised the club women
against listening to “outsiders.”
The meeting was attended by club
women from all parts of Delaware and
was one of the first meetings in southern
Delaware where the issue of desegrega
tion was openly discussed at other than
a meeting sponsored by a school agency,
or a Parent-Teacher Association unit or ,
a community relations agency.
There has also been an increase in
discussion meetings dealing with the
general problems of housing and
churches. # # # '
Attempt to Adopt Segregation Resolution Fails in Florida PTA
MIAMI, Fla.
Segregation leaders and Citi-
^ zens Councils groups failed in
an effort to force through the
Florida Council of Parents and
Teachers a strong segregation res
olution.
Instead the Congress in annual
session eliminated all mention of
the word segregation from its pol
icy statement, an action called a
victory for “middle-of-the-road
ers.” (See “Community Action.”)
On a local level the Dade County
school board sidestepped the issue and
refused to consider a segregation policy
resolution. (See “School Boards and
Schoolmen.”) But, on the board’s in
structions, its attorneys renewed efforts
for dismissal of a suit by Negro children
for admission to white schools. (See
“Legal Action.”)
Florida’s explosive school growth
continued. This year’s increase in reg
istration called for an estimated $60
million in new classrooms. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Dr. Henry C. Fox of Miami, commit
tee chairman, said about 30 local groups
had made suggestions about the plank.
Some wanted minor changes in wording,
he said. “Some of the critics wanted an
out-and-out plank favoring segrega
tion.”
COMPROMISE PLANK
After considerable debate the plank
was changed to call for “continuous im
provement of our public school system
by cooperation when requested with
school and other local officials working
toward intelligent solutions of the prob
lems which face the schools.”
All reference to segregation was elim
inated.
Fox said the wording “was a more
acceptable position under which the
PTA can work, although it may not
make people the happiest.
As the Florida Congress of Parents
and Teachers gathered for their annual
convention in Orlando, a show-down
fight was brewing over the segregation
issue.
For weeks, local PTA groups had been
the target of a letter campaign by seg
regationists. The letters, mailed from
cities where there were strong Citizens
Councils, said in part:
“It has been reported that a lot of
teachers in the state are brainwashing
the children and are teaching that white
and Negro students should mix socially.
A check should be made on all teachers
through the state and anyone found
guilty should be fired immediately.”
DIVERGENT VIEWS
“We are not trying to beat around the
bush. We know the problems are about
segregation and that is what we are re
ferring to. But obviously there are two
divergent views in our organization and
in some cases it seems impossible to
reconcile them.
“The PTA should be in the best posi
tion to work with school boards at the
local level to solve this problem. We
don’t want to hamstring PTA operations
in an area where it may be necessary
to work whether we like it or not.”
Delegates from Lake Sumter, Flagler
and St. Johns counties led the fight for
a segregation plank. Among the Lake
County delegates was Sheriff Willis C.
McCall, who made national headlines
three years ago when he addressed a
mass meeting at Milford, Del., later the
scene of school disturbances.
which in calmer days would have been
enacted are trampled in the stampede
of racial demogoguery. In such an at
mosphere the demagogues are able to
drag ordinarily sound-thinking legisla
tors down to their level.”
Another convention figure was J. N.
Heiskell, editor of the Arkansas Gazette
of Little Rock, which took a strong stand
during the outbreak of violence at the
Central High School in that city.
Heiskell said many readers got the
impression the Gazette was supporting
integration “while actually it was sup
porting order.”
“When Gov. Faubus called out the
state guard,” the editor said, “it actually
amounted to an invitation for mobs to
gather.
“The Gazette took the position that
the state guard should have been called
out to preserve order rather than keep
the [Negro] children out.”
tion in its colleges and universities. To
preserve this it pays out-of-state tuition
for qualified Negro undergraduates un
able to find the courses they need in the
state.
RESOLUTION FIGHT
Mrs. C. D. Johnson of Quincy, a past
president of the state PTA, said she
understood Citizens Councils in several
localities would send delegates to the
convention to force through a resolu
tion favoring continued segregation.
The fight centered in the platform
committee which had under considera
tion a plank calling for “intelligent co
operation with schools and other gov
ernmental authorities in each communi
ty toward a just solution of the complex
problem of segregation.”
PUBLISHERS LIST ISSUE
Southern publishers at their annual
convention in Boca Raton listed segre
gation as the key problem in the area
they serve. The meeting was addressed
by Florida’s Gov. LeRoy Collins. He told
the publishers:
“The South is at one of history’s
crossroads. We can miss our greatest
opportunity and go blindly down a road
of turmoil and frustration, or we can
seize the opportunity to clear the emo
tional atmosphere and undertake our
rightful responsibilities.”
Collins said; “The greatest roadblock
to progress I have yet encountered is
the disease of racial intolerance and
furor. It has astounded me how emo
tions of this kind can paralyze a state
and halt progress in its tracks.
“When racial fears and feelings infect
a legislature, progressive measures
Florida added up its school popula
tion as the new term got under way
and found an enrollment of 790,915. This
was 9.67 per cent more than last year
at this time and indicated a final en
rollment this year of more than 900,000.
Many Florida pupils enter late because
they come with their families for the
winter.
State Supt. Thomas J. Bailey said an
increasing number of schools must hold
double sessions to meet the demand. A
survey showed 46,627 pupils in 115
schools were in this category, a 63 per
cent increase in a year.
Last year’s enrollment exceeded the
normal classroom capacity by 74,217.
Despite a large building program there
are 92,152 more pupils today than the
rated classroom capacity.
In an attempt to dramatize this situa
tion, Bailey pointed out that each in
crease of 600 pupils means the need for
an additional 20-classroom school, plus
staff and other expenses. Thus, the in
crease so far this year calls for a $60
million investment in new classrooms
and an $11.5 million dollar annual in
crease for teachers salaries.
Florida had 30,147 teachers on the
rolls at the end of the first school month,
up 10 per cent from last year. At the
same time standards were raised. Only
554 teachers this year had certificates
based on less than four years of col
lege. Last year the figure was 640.
Florida has maintained strict segrega-
75 OUTSIDE FLORIDA
Under the plan, the Board of Control
reported, 75 Negro students are being
maintained outside Florida. Ten are
studying engineering, nine are taking
medical courses.
The legislature appropriated $45,000
for this program last spring. The Board
of Control said some money has been
left unused each year since the program
started.
On the local level, a move failed in
the Dade County school board for a
declaration of policy on segregation.
Despite a number of appeals from
community groups, nothing has been
done in Florida’s largest county since
a statement of policy of continued seg
regation “until further notice” was
adopted two years ago. A suit has been
filed challenging that policy. (See “Le
gal Action.”)
Board member S. D. Phillips Jr. an
nounced, to clarify the situation, he
would offer a resolution—pledging ac-
ce P tan ce of the pupil assignment laws.
As chairman of the Southern Gov
ernors Conference, Florida’s Gov. LeRoy
Collins has been increasingly projected
in the national picture as a spokesman
for the South’s “moderate” point of
view. Several references have been
made in recent days to his appeal to
President Eisenhower more than a year
ago to call a conference of southern
governors and attorneys general “so
that a general discussion may be had
of the South’s present problems in the
whole field of racial relations.”
With interest in the proposal reviv
ing, the St. Petersburg Times reported
the governor is evolving a plan to pre
sent if such a meeting is held.
Collins would propose a federal-state
commission in each state to hold hear
ings and make studies in communities
faced with court orders for school de
segregation. The commission would ad
vise federal district judges on the tem
per of the community and its readiness
to accept integration.
and “all supporting legislation.”
" The school board can only follow the
law,” said Phillips. “We don’t make the
law.”
His announcement kicked up a hectic
board meeting. Spokesmen for both sides
stormed the meeting room. David I.
Hawthorne, president of the Dade Coun
ty Property Owners, a group affiliated
with the Citizens Council movement
said:
PROSECUTION THREATENED
‘We have the names of people advo
cating integration and these people are
going to be taken care of at the proper
time. They will be prosecuted for vio
lating the laws of this state. Advocating
racial integration is the same thing as
breaking into the First National Bank.”
Mrs. Edward W. Ullrich, club leader
and widow of a clergyman, said: “By
failing to prepare for an orderly transi
tion to integrated schools the board has
allowed certain elements to profit from
the undesirable publicity and do irrep
arable damage.”
Phillips said he tried to offer his res
olution “to explain our position to the
people and stop people from coming
down to continually harass this group.”
Board Chairman C. Raymond Van
Dusen would not permit Phillips to read
his resolution and his ruling was up
held by a 6-1 vote.
The suit to compel Dade Count'
schools to accept Negro children ®
white schools (Gibson et al v. Boati -
Public Instruction of Dade County) b e '
gan its second round in the courts.
This time the school board attorn®! -
asked the federal district court to db"
miss the suit on grounds that the bo art
was acting under the state pupil
signment law.
The race of the petitioners was D
involved, said Edward P. Board®®®
school board attorney.
NEAR DEADLINE
Boardman’s motion and brief
filed only a few hours before the d e f.
line for further action. The suit ori#
nally was thrown out by District J U< K
Emett C. Choate on grounds that ‘b
issue was raised. The Circuit Court
Appeals reversed the ruling and s 6 ®
the case back for trial. j
The attorney said the school bo^
had been segregating schools under
state constitution until the pupil ass®^
ment law was passed at a special ses 5 ^,
in 1955. This gives county superinte®
ents the right to exercise their
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