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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—DECEMBER 1957—PAGE 13
Georgia Vote Registration
Drive, Tight Laws Mapped
MACON, Ga.
N AACP officials met to map
a vote registration drive in
the South and a move toward
tightening present laws on regis
tration developed. (See “Commu-
< nity Action.”)
A number of Protestant minis
ters in Atlanta signed a manifesto
on race relations. (See “Commu
nity Action.”)
The Georgia Education Commission
was involved in a dispute over “wire
tapping” which had political under
tones. (See “Legislative Action.”)
Moves were made in several court
cases involving racial issues. (See
‘Legal Action.”)
States’ Rights Council officials dis
agreed over a plan to move southern
Negroes into plush residential neigh
borhoods in other regions. (See “Miscel
laneous.”)
COMMUNITY ACTION
National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People officials
from 10 southern states held a two-day
meeting in Atlanta and announced an
immediate goal to register three million
Negroes in the South.
Roy Wilkins, executive secretary, said
this registration would be 60 per cent
of the potential and could be accom
plished with the incentive of the 1957
civil rights law.
Clarence Mitchell, head of the
NAACP’s legislative bureau in Wash
ington, predicted that five Negro con
gressmen—three from Mississippi and
( one each from North Carolina and
South Carolina—could be elected in
1960.
WILKINS VIEWS SITUATION
Wilkins said there is “massive repres
sion” of Mississippi’s Negro voters, a
“bad picture” in Alabama, and in some
Georgia counties Negroes are “diplo
matically discouraged” from voting. He
said he expected some southerners were
“going to try to pull every trick in the
book” to prevent Negroes from register
ing.
Reaction to the plans for intensified
registration of Negroes came a few days
later in a recommendation that re
quirements for voter registration be
tightened. It was approved by the state
election law study committee and will
be recommended to Gov. Marvin Griffin
and the General Assembly.
It includes a proposed constitutional
amendment listing a series of crimes
and offenses which would bar a person
from voting in Georgia. Listed are
moonshine liquor law violations, adul
tery and child abandonment.
NEW REGISTRATION MACHINERY
Another recommendation aimed at
curbing potential Negro voting strength
in Georgia would set up new registra
tion machinery to require new voter
applicants to appear personally before
local boards of registrars.
A third major proposal would make
much harder present voter qualification
tests. A series of questions would have
to be answered and Asst. Atty. Gen.
Frank Edwards, who helped draft them,
said he would have trouble giving the
correct answers to some without a text
book.
Georgians waited to see what signifi
cance a manifesto on racial relations
signed by 80 Atlanta ministers would
have in the state. The ministers, all Pro
testants, called for an end to racial pre
judice, obedience to the law, preserva
tion of the public schools, protection of
free speech, maintenance of communi
cations between the races and prayer
that difficiulties might be solved.
REACTION IS LIGHT
A week later, 13 of the ministers,
picked at random, said comment from
their congregations was light but was
100 per cent in favor of their actions.
Mail received was also light generally
with only a small part critical.
In Macon, a spot check of Protestant
clergymen showed widespread support
for the manifesto. Elsewhere over the
state a number of ministers endorsed
the statement.
Criticism or disagreement, however,
came from some quarters. Several At
lanta pastors who did not sign, and some
Georgia ministers who disagreed, ex
pressed the view that issuance of the
manifesto was unwise and would not
have much effect one way or another.
HARRIS TELLS PLAN
Roy V. Harris, president of the States’
Rights Council of Georgia, outlined to
the public a plan “to save” the state’s
public schools. He implied it had the
backing of Gov. Griffin.
Basically, the plan would have the
Florida
(Continued From Page 12)
judgment in assigning pupils without
, regard to race and “supersedes” the con
stitutional provision.
Boardman asked for summary judg
ment and dismissal of the suit. Judge
Choate reserved decision.
Another suit (Holland et al v. Board
°f Public Instruction of Palm Beach
County) specifically attacks the pupil
assignment law. Judge Choate also dis
missed this petition. An appeal is
Pending.
Florida’s Sen. George A. Sn
Id the State Congress of Parer
teachers (see “Community A
the solution to segregation
6 < lUa, '°n and tolerance.
For the past 20 years the Soi
^ een handling problems of rac(
with more understanding, lc
r d and violence and with consic
ri°u e honesty than some of ou
yghteous friends in the North,” 1
thie conclusion is clear. Rack
°ny will never be solved by ec
„?Urt decrees, and certainly not
°f force.”
0 » "°fher public official, Alan S. Boyd
ro m ’’ chairman of the Florida Rail-
Ur^ an< ^ Public Utilities Commission,
S e d obedience to the Supreme Court.
P 0SSIBLE CANDIDATE
s ib]° yt ^’ frequently mentioned as a pos-
® candidate for governor, told the
] a e dO Council: “We must take the
(j 0 s _'y e don’t like along with laws we
t; ' . erwise the structure of the na-
u w hl fall apart.
of * l ( an ' 1 ' imagine that the possibility
W rp ^ h ° o1 integration is sufficient to
At i° Ur pu hhc school system.”
'"an p 531710 sess i° n a labor spokes-
l a ’ ’’rank R. Shane, executive secre-
mitt °* United Steelworkers’ Com-
Human Relations, urged an
te rs . resistance on civil rights mat-
’ '"eluding segregation.
The State Advisory Commission on
Race Relations organized for business
in Tallahassee and was given the full
time services of an executive secretary.
Named to the $8,500 post was William
B. Killian, Miami attorney.
The commission was set up by legis
lative action almost two years ago and
was credited by Gov. Collins with being
a potent force in preventing violence
during the long bus boycott in Talla
hassee. The recent legislature com
mended the group and continued its
existence, expanding membership from
three to five.
Judge L. L. Fabisinski, retired Pensa
cola jurist, is chairman. He headed the
commission which studied race matters
two years ago and recommended the
pupil assignment law now in effect.
MEMBERS NAMED
Other members are Lewis Hall, Talla
hassee attorney; M. Luther Mershon,
Miami attorney; Dr. Doak S. Campbell,
president-emeritus of Florida State Uni
versity; and J. R. E. Lee, vice president
of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University.
At the initial session of the new
group, Judge Fabisinski said its pur
pose is “to allay social tensions” created
by the Supreme Court mandates.
“Our committee hopes to create an
atmosphere under which legislation may
be advanced to improve the Negro’s lot
in health, housing and education,” he
said.
STUDENT PROPOSAL
A group of high school students, at
tending the annual Florida Forensic
League’s Congress at Tallahassee pro
posed that each state be allowed to
handle its own integration problems.
The vote was 25-8 on a “bill” asking
a change in the federal constitution giv
ing states autonomy in the conduct of
their schools.
# # #
state cut off all money and close the
public schools in a county in which de
segregation took place with citizens of
the county expected to provide for or
ganization and operation of a corpora
tion to run private schools.
Harris said the plan would not have to
be put into effect in about 150 of the
159 counties where whites could per
suade Negroes to stay in their own
schools, but it might have to be imple
mented in the counties with larger pop
ulation. Speaking of the integration
threat, Harris said “Atlanta and Savan
nah are the most critical points in the
state.”
President Eisenhower arrived in Au
gusta for a brief vacation. There had
been some thought expressed that his
visit, the first to Georgia since the Little
Rock incidents, would be coolly re
ceived. But the crowd at the airport
seemed normal in size and reaction.
The Georgia Education Commission,
created by the legislature to seek legal
means of circumventing desegregation,
became involved in a controversy over
electronics equipment ordered by its
secretary.
The official, T. V. Williams Jr., re
quested authorization to buy $3,200
worth of equipment, including wire
tapping listening and recording devices
and a long-range camera. State Auditor
Ed Thrasher passed the request on to
Gov. Griffin, who said the purchases
would be made but denied the state
planned any wire-tapping.
—Atlanta Journal
A storm of criticism broke, however,
upon disclosure of plans. Several mem
bers of the GEC expressed varying de
grees of opposition. Lt. Gov. Ernest
Vandiver warned against a “state ges-
tapo.”
The squabble had political undertones
in that Vandiver is generally regarded
the leading candidate for the 1958 gu
bernatorial contest, and Gov. Griffin,
constitutionally prohibited from suc
ceeding himself, is backing Roger Law-
son, another candidate.
U. S. District Judge Boyd Sloan of
Atlanta denied a motion by Dr. Noah
Langdale, new president of Georgia
State College of Business Administra
tion, and Allen Woodall and James D.
Gould, new members of the Board of
Regents, to have a racial discrimination
suit against them dropped.
Four Atlanta Negroes are suing for
admission to the state school. The col
lege head and the regents succeeded to
their positions since the suit was filed.
Judge Sloan ordered their names sub
stituted for their predecessors in the
action.
A plea for a rehearing by the Atlanta
chapter of the NAACP, which was cited
for contempt of court and fined $25,000
for failing to produce its financial rec
ords for state examination, was denied
by the Georgia Court of Appeals. The
appellate court ruled Fulton Superior
Court Judge Durwood T. Pye, who im
posed the fine, did not have to approve
an NAACP version of the contempt trial
record.
BOARDS MAY HIRE LAWYERS
Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook issued an
opinion that a school board may hire
attorneys to defend its members in law
suits. Earlier, Cook suggested Georgia
mayors have their cities adopt munici
pal ordinances requiring information on
membership and finances from the
NAACP and other organizations. The
attorney general supplied copies of the
proposed city ordinance.
MISCELLANEOUS
A dispute developed over the plan of
the American Resettlement Foundation,
incorporated, to lease homes in plush
northern and western residential sec
tions for use by southern Negroes and
“teach a lesson” to integration advo
cates.
Foundation leaders are Rep. A. A.
Fowler Jr., and Roy V. Harris, president
of the States’ Rights Council of Georgia.
Hugh G. Grant of Augusta, another
council official, however, criticized the
plan, saying it would cost the South sup
port among northerners.
Grant, former U. S. ambassador to
Thailand, wrote Southern School
News: “So far, according to my infor
mation, opposition to the program has
not been publicized. I personally think
the resettlement program is one of the
very worst things that southern segre
gationists could sponsor, as indicated
in my letter of Nov. 3 to Rep. Fowler.
As indicated in my second letter of Nov.
7, addressed to Mr. Fowler, I am re
ceiving telephone calls and letters op
posing the program.” Grant wrote Fow
ler: “Perhaps the most dangerous result
would be the antagonisms aroused in a
host of our white friends in the North
and West who, according to many recent
reports, are just as opposed to racial in
tegration as we are . . .” Harris said he
thought Grant’s “fears are groundless.”
TECH NEWSMAN FIRED
William Hines was fired as news edi
tor of Georgia Tech radio station WGST
in Atlanta for expressing personal views
in broadcasts, including a statement that
Mayor Hartsfield had been elected by
a Negro bloc vote. The ouster was or
dered by the State Board of Regents.
Gov. Griffin expressed regret at the
firing and Hines was hired by WYZE,
another Atlanta radio station which is
partly owned by Roy V. Harris, a re
gent as well as president of the States’
Right Council.
Georgia State Chamber of Commerce
President Edgar J. Forio said a check
of industrial development specialists,
serving as chamber advisors, revealed
not a single case reported in which ra
cial problems were a known deterrent to
plant location in Georgia.
Controversial Koinonia Farms, a bi-
racial religious project, cropped up in
the news again. Clarence Jordan,
spokesman for the project, said Conrad
Browne, farm president, was assaulted
in Americus while unloading pecans.
While Browne was being treated by a
doctor, city police made a case against
him for driving with an improper license
tag. Sumter County Sheriff Fred Chap
pell said his truck had a New Jersey li
cense, and Browne was jailed overnight
when he could not or did not make bond.
The Georgia School Boards Associa
tion in its annual convention adopted
resolutions:
1) Commending Senators Russell and
Talmadge and Georgia congressmen for
“succeeding in removing” the most
“drastic and vicious features” from the
new civil rights law.
2) Arranging for a series of discus
sions on legal aspects of Georgia’s school
segregation laws.
Miss Ira Jarrell, superintendent of
Atlanta schools, told the Masonic Club
the system would have to maintain seg
regation or close down. She said more
than $6 million a year is received from
the state and this money would be cut
off in event of desegregation. “We are
caught between state and federal laws,”
she said.
Gov. Griffin and Denmark Groover
Jr. of Macon, Georgia Democratic na
tional committeman, recommended Ca
mille F. Gravel Jr. of Louisiana resign
as a member of the executive committee
of the Democratic National Committee.
They took issue with Gravel’s concur
rence in a statement of the national
committee’s advisory council regarding
civil rights.
A demand that Paul Butler resign as
national Democratic chairman was also
made by Georgia Democratic Chairman
John Sammons Bell of Atlanta. Butler’s
prediction that the party would “assume
a very liberal and aggressive policy” on
civil rights in 1960 and will not attempt
to “appease” the South caused Bell’s
action.
Lester Maddox, an opponent of Mayor
Hartsfield in the Dec. 4 Atlanta general
city election, charged Negroes bloc-
voted for Hartsfield and said the mayor
“is willing to turn Atlanta into another
NAACP city, just like Washington, D.C.”
Georgia was full of talk on racial mat
ters in November. Public officials, po
litical hopefuls, preachers, editors, law
yers and visitors were among those
commenting.
Rep. Charles L. Gowen of Brunswick,
expected to be a candidate for lieutenant
governor, suggested a million-dollar
fund, with Sen. Russell of Georgia as
trustee, to help present the South’s
segregation viewpoint to the nation.
Ivan Allen Jr., an Atlanta business
man who is an unofficial candidate for
governor, said more money must be
raised to prove to critics that Georgians
are working toward a complete equali
zation of school facilities.
POLITICAL PICTURE STABLE
Congressman Paul Brown said some
interest in voting may be aroused among
Georgia Negroes, but the state’s political
picture will not be radically altered as a
result.
Congressman James C. Davis said he
is confident the U. S. Supreme Court
will hold Georgia’s private school plan
is constitutional if tested.
Gov. Griffin denied the quote that he
would discharge the National Guard
before permitting it to be federalized
in an integration dispute, attributed to
him in a national magazine. Griffin
said he wouldn’t reveal his “strategy.”
NORTHERN REPRESENTATIVE
Rep. Alvin Bentley of Michigan said
at LaGrange that northerners “had bet
ter sweep their own doorsteps clean be
fore worrying about integration in the
South.”
Mayor Hartsfield told the Atlanta
Lions Club the white man loses when
racial troubles erupt into violence. He
said racial issues must be solved peace
fully and public officials must cling to
the law.
Marion A. Wright, president of the
Southern Regional Council, accused
southern political leaders of setting in
motion “forces which breed the Klan
and the very violence they condemn.”
WEAKEST LINKS
T. V. Williams Jr., secretary of the
Georgia Education Commission, said
ministers and educators are the weakest
links in the segregation chain that binds
the Deep South states.
Dr. William Elliott Jr., moderator of
the Presbyterian Church, U.S., said
Christians must recognize the moral and
spiritual problems involved in the race
question and not depend on politicians
to solve the problems.
Dr. James P. Wesberry, president of
the Georgia Baptist Convention, said the
Christian approach to the South’s race
problems must be to stay on the side
of the law.
The Right Rev. C. Ewbank Tucker,
presiding bishop of the 10th Episcopal
District of the African Methodist Epis
copal Zion Church, told a church con
ference in Augusta that “any pastor who
permits any person advocating segrega
tion to speak in his church will have his
appointment immediately revoked.”
MANDATORY ‘DIXIE’ ASKED
The Phi Kappa Literary Society of the
University of Georgia adopted a resolu
tion criticizing federal policy in Little
Rock and asking that the singing of
“Dixie” be mandatory at official public
school gatherings.
The Peace Officers Association of
Georgia resolved to oppose the use of
federal troops to force integration.
Emory University continued its series
of lectures on regional race problems
by southern editors (see SSN, Novem
ber 1957). Ralph McGill of the Atlanta
Constitution said the people of the
South “have been sold a phony bill of
goods” by those who say integration
would mean amalgamation of the races.
Thomas R. Waring of the News and
Courier of Charleston, S.C., said the
South’s greatest hope to avoid integra
tion is through mass resistance. James
J. Kilpatrick of the Richmond News
Leader said southerners are, for the
most part, talking to each other on ra
cial issues and should be carrying their
case to other regions. Harry Ashmore
of the Arkansas Gazette of Little Rock
said President Eisenhower had “no
choice” but to send federal troops to en
force integration at Central High.
# # #