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PAGE 2—DECEMBER 1957—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Near Stalemate Reported
At Arkansas High School
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
fter two months of integrated
classes under armed guard at
Little Rock Central High School,
a near stalemate has developed.
Attempts to mediate the state-
federal clash have slowed to a vir
tual stop. (See “Community Ac
tion.”)
None of the principal personalities
has changed his stand or is publicly
prepared to give an inch. (See “Mis
cellaneous.”)
Inside Central High School teaching
and learning go on at a near normal
pace, the nine Negro students are said
to walk a lonely though bumpy path
and the armed guard is being slowly
and steadily reduced. (See “Miscellane
ous.”)
WILL SEEK ‘BREATHER’
A Little Rock congressman an
nounced that he would introduce legis
lation in Congress for a “breather”
period for the South. (See “What They
Say”)
Gov. Orval Faubus, who prevented
integration at Little Rock until Army
troops arrived to enforce a federal
court order, is stronger than ever po
litically, Arkansas observers believe,
(See “Political Activity.”)
A concerted legal attack against the
National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People was started
and two NAACP officers were arrested
at Little Rock. Many other court ac
tions dealt with or were related to the
Central High problem. (See “Legal
Action.”)
A special committee of the Arkansas
Legislative Council, appointed to in
vestigate the Little Rock integration
situation, had two known meetings in
November. At the second one it re
ceived authority from the Legislative
Council to subpoena persons, docu
ments and records, though only when
all committee members concur.
What the 12 -man committee is doing
has not been disclosed. It made a re
port Nov. 23 to the Legislative Council
on its progress but that was in a closed
session.
Three weeks earlier the committee
had announced that it would call on
Litte Rock ministers, Negro leaders
and businessmen as part of its investi
gation. The chairman, Rep. Paul Van
Dalsem of Perry County, also said the
State Police and the state Revenue De
partment (the state tax-collecting
agency) would help gather informa
tion.
In a poll 10 of 11 council members
said there would be a special legislative
session on integration, probably in the
spring of 1958. To that Gov. Faubus
commented that it was just speculation
but that “they are men who are ac
quainted with the situation and know
something must be done.” He said many
of them had indicated that they wanted
a chance to express themselves on the
issue.
WOMAN CALLED
A Little Rock white woman, Mrs.
Lee (Grace) Lorch, was subponeaed as
a witness at a session of the United
States Senate Internal Security sub
committee at Memphis, Term.
She appeared, but on Oct. 28 re
fused to go into a closed session and
on Oct. 29 answered questions only by
trying to read a prepared statement of
protest. This the subcommittee would
not allow. The subcommittee was in
vestigating Communist activity in the
mid-South. Sen. William Jenner (R.-
Ind.), who presided at the Memphis
hearings, said Mrs. Lorch had been a
member of the Communist Party in
New England in 1945.
Mrs. Lorch said the subcommittee
called her because she befriended
Elizabeth Eckford at Central High
School on Sept. 4. Elizabeth was the
first of the nine Negro students to ap
proach the school that day and the
first to be turned away by Arkansas
National Guardsmen acting on orders
from Gov. Faubus. A yelling mob fol
lowed Elizabeth down the street and
Mrs. Lorch came out of the crowd to
stand beside her and comfort her. Mrs.
Lorch is the wife of a mathematics
professor at Philander Smith College, a
Methodist college for Negroes at Little
Rock. Lorch in 1954 was cited for con
tempt of Congress for not answering
questions asked by the House un-
American Activities Committee about
his background. He was tried last
spring in federal court at Dayton, Ohio,
and a decision of not guilty was an
nounced Nov. 27.
After the Memphis hearings, state
Atty. Gen. Bruce Bennett wrote the
Senate subcommittee for any informa
tion it had on whether the Lorches
were members of the Communist
Party. He said it might lead to prose
cution of them under a 1951 state law
requiring Communists to register with
the state police.
MISCELLANEOUS
Two months after the integration of
Little Rock Central High School with
Army paratroopers there to protect the
Negro students, none of the contend
ing parties had changed his stand.
In interviews they said:
Gov. Faubus, who first used National
Guard troops to prevent integration as
ordered by federal court: “I can see no
other alternative than a voluntary
withdrawal of those [nine Negro]
children.”
Mrs. L. C. Bates of Little Rock, state
NAACP president: “We’ve got the law,
God, and the President on our side.
We’re not running and we’re not hid
ing.”
SEES ‘RESENTMENT’
Mrs. Margaret C. Jackson, president
of the Mothers League of Central High
School, “There is great resentment
against the Negroes inside the school.
The white children are determined to
get them out of there.”
At the school, classes were going on
and teachers were giving grades. The
armed guard was gradually being re
duced. The Negro students lost the
military escort which had been deliv
ering them to and from school, and
inside the school the soldiers quit
trailing them from class to class.
At Hot Springs where he was re
cuperating from a minor illness, Gov.
Faubus talked for two hours with an
Associated Press reporter who then
reported the governor said the follow
ing:
URGES WITHDRAWAL
“I don’t see much ground for nego
tiation. I have been thinking about this
problem constantly, studying it from
Caught in the Tide
—Arkansas Democrat
every angle, and the only solution to
it that I can see is a voluntary with
drawal of those Negro children and
then time to see if the community will
peacefully accept integration.
“My guess would be there will be
some kind of federal force at the school
until the end of this school term.
“The national administration is not
in a position now to pull the troops
out of Little Rock without being hurt,
and yet they can’t stay here without
being hurt either.
“I have always believed and still do
that you have to create a climate of
community acceptance before integra
tion can be successful. If you don’t get
that community acceptance, armed
force certainly is not the answer. You
only have a worse situation and that’s
what has happened in Little Rock.”
LITTLE CONTACT
He said there was little or no con
tact any more between him and the
White House or the Southern Gover
nors Conference; that former Atty.
Gen. Herbert Brownell Jr., and “per
haps some others” acted for political
reasons in advising Eisenhower to
send troops to Little Rock; that after
his conference with President Eisen
hower at Newport, R. I., in September
he was convinced that the President
understood and agreed on the need for
a delay at Little Rock; that the Eisen
hower-Faubus compromise worked out
A few members of the federalized Arkansas National Guard had the duty patrolling Little Rock’s Central High School
as last month ended. The scene here shows clusters of teenagers paying little heed to the two Guardsmen in the background
in October by a committee of southern
governors fell through because “there
must have been some one” in the
White House who didn’t want it to
work.
Inside Central High School the learn
ing process was going on. Students be
lieve the classwork is tougher this year.
Teachers believe the learning is little
affected by the soldiers, Negroes, or
mobs. There is tension and worry but
no turmoil and little trouble in thp
school.
These conclusions come from inter
views with dozens of teachers and stu
dents by six Arkansas Gazette report
ers. Newsmen aren’t allowed in the
school yet. The only way to find out
what’s going on inside is to ask those
who are in there.
PARATROOPERS LEAVE
When integration took place Sept. 25
hundreds of paratroopers from the
101st Airborne Infantry Division were
on guard. They were with the nine
Negro students from their homes to the
school, between classes and back to
their homes. Then the Arkansas Na
tional Guard, on federal duty, took
over some, then more, and finally all
of the guard duty. Half the 1,000 para
troopers at Little Rock were sent back
to Fort Campbell, Ky., then all but 225
were sent back and the last of them
left Little Rock on Nov. 27. All but
900 of the 10,500 federal Guardsmen
were returned to the state. Late in
November only a handful of soldiers
was at the high school each day—one
or two on each floor of the five-story
building, and a few patrolling in pairs
on the campus.
Early in November two white girls
and one Negro girl were involved in
a bumping or shoving incident. All
three were lectured by school offi
cials, who called it the kind of trivial
thing that happens anywhere there are
2,000 adolescents in one building. Later
a white boy in the senior class struck
one of the Negro boys and was sus
pended for a few days.
OTHER INCIDENTS
Students interviewed know of simi
lar incidents that never made the pa
pers: A white girl spitting in the face
of a Negro girl; a Negro girl’s gym
shoes thrown out a window; hissing
and remarks at the Negroes in the
crowded halls.
They report these other incidents:
In a spelling match a white team cap
tain picks a Negro as first choice for
his side; a home room class invites a
Negro to read the Bible; a Negro stu
dent giving an extemporaneous talk,
tells how her mother worried and
struggled with a diet, finally gained
five pounds and quit it, and the white
students were “rolling in the aisles”
with laughter.
In general the Negro students now
go it alone. For a time a few white
students tried to be friendly. The
whites were ostracized by other whites
and such fraternization as having
lunch with the Negroes soon ended.
WHEN TROOPS LEAVE
Nearly all the students know of talk
about students organized to hurt the
Negroes as soon as the troops are
pulled out. Only one girl was found
who actually knew any of the students
supposed to be in on the plan.
Most of the white students go about
their business as usual, reporters
learned. Only a few seem to be both
ered, one way or the other, by the
presence of Negroes.
Most teachers say they are making
as much progress this year as last and
that grades are holding up as well.
There are some exceptions. Some
teachers believe the Negroes in their
classes tend to raise the level of work
bcause the whites don’t want to make
lower grades.
Some teachers tried “talking out” the
integration problem, others chose not
to have it brought up in class. Neither
method seems to have worked much
better than the other. Teachers are
aware of tension in the school and in
themselves.
Many students voiced resentment at
what had happened to their school.
This was especially prevalent among
seniors. Among them the attitude was
to make the grades and get out.
Another idea that several students
expressed was that everything would
have been better if the whole thing
had been left to the students them
selves to handle.
U. S. Rep. Brooks Hays (D.-Ark.)
who lives at Little Rock and is presi
dent of the Southern Baptist Conven
tion, made several talks on the Little
Rock situation. Most of them were on
the idea that forebearance and “friend
ly persuasion” were needed to solve
the problem. Once he mentioned his
hope that southern congressmen would
be able in the next session to hold off
the anticipated strong civil rights bills
and later he came up with a legislative
proposal of his own.
This is a bill for “a suspension of
judicial procedures” to provide a
breather period for the South. He said
he would introduce it in the next
Congress and hoped to get it approved
by using friendly persuasion on north
ern congressmen. He announced this
one morning at the annual meeting of
the Arkansas State Chamber of Com
merce.
That night at the Arkansas Baptist
State Convention, without mentioning
Little Rock directly, he said the solu
tion lay “in the realm of spiritual
values because it is God’s law and will
bring peace.”
GATHINGS COMMENTS
U. S. Rep. E. C. Gathings (D.-Ark.),
who lives at West Memphis in an area
with a heavy Negro population, also
made comments at several different
times during the month. They includ
ed: Gov. Faubus acted wisely in call
ing out the National Guard at Little
Rock; Little Rock set integration back
many years; Little Rock “probably
means a Democratic sweep in 1960”;
the power of the Supreme Court can
and should be curbed; the NAACP is
a menace, a “money-mad outfit” try
ing to dominate all three branches of
the federal government.
Sen. John L. McClellan said the use
of Army troops at Little Rock had
hurt President Eisenhower, even among
some people who approve of integra
tion. He thinks and hopes the South
will stay in the Democratic Party.
Sen. J. William Fulbright in an in
terview said, “The Little Rock thing
was terribly mishandled. No sense in
sending down an Army to handle
something like that. A few deputy
marshals could have taken care of it,
especially if they had arrested some of
the leaders like Jimmy Karam. Brown-
ell was behind it. He thought it would
be a big thing politically and help
Nixon out.”
rn convention at Little Rock
members of the Arkansas Edu(
Association (white teachers and s'
visors) were interviewed by the
kansas Gazette. The consensus
that Gov. Faubus is still very po
with the teachers.
At the AEA convention, Dr. I
H. Hill, president of George Peabody
College at Nashville, Term., and a for-
mer Arkansas resident, said that the
clash of opinion over desegregation
could halt improvement of public edu
cation and even “sound an educational
retreat.” In only a brief reference to
the Little Rock situation he called the
improvement and expansion of the
public school system more important
than the precise method of living with
the Supreme Court decision.
In interviews and speeches during
November, Gov. Faubus pressed the
theme that the Eisenhower administra
tion was having second thoughts about
what it had done at Little Rock am)
that the Little Rock issue had fatally
damaged the Republican Party.
He said he had information, which
he couldn’t yet disclose, that the resig
nation of Atty. Gen. Brownell was
connected with the Little Rock situa
tion. He added that Brownell’s succes- !
sor, William P. Rogers, was in closer I
touch with the situation and that his
presence should signal a return to un
derstanding and tolerance' in segrega
tion problems.
In a fund-raising speech for the
Democratic Party he reviewed what he
said was a series of promises made
and broken by Eisenhower and his
administration.
RECALLS CAMPAIGN
Chief among these were promises re
lating to integration. Faubus described
how Eisenhower had campaigned
through the South in 1956 counseling
tolerance, patience, and understanding
and had said he could envision no sit
uation where troops would be used ®
the South. He said he remembered
how indignant Brownell had become
in a Senate hearing when the use ®
troops was mentioned and how Brown
ell had threatened to walk out if d*
senators even implieed that such 1 ■
thing might happen.
In late November the Associated
Press surveyed political observer*
around the state and came up W1
the conclusion that for now at l ea -
Faubus is in an ideal position in
state
politics. That is, if he ran for a
third
term and the election were now a
tide
of segregation votes would sweep
him
In Little Rock segregationists I
the issue of race into a city g° v j
ment election and very nearly
with a surprising show from strewn.
the
Little Rock was changing from
mayor-council to the city manager
tem of government and at the end .
year’s campaign was to elect the
city manager board on Nov. 5. A ^
deadline for candidates to file SeP^
three officers of segregationist fS r °'Z
0
ai£
entered the race. Also in the camPj^
for seven seats on the board were
iui seven sedis un me uudiu Qo^'
didates sponsored by the Good ^
ernment Committee, a group of
v A 11
civic and business leaders,
dependents. About half way
the campaign the segregationist®^,
four of the independents with ^
own three as a slate of seven who
against race-mixing.
CAMPAIGN ON ISSUE
From there on the
campaigned vigorously on
alnnp T'Vio f'invro'mm PTlt CO v
alone. The Good Government
tee candidates tried to ignore th e ^. •
issue, took no stand on it and
paigned on a “good govern 1 ^
theme. The vote was light— v ot^
50 per cent of the qualified ^
voted—and the segregationists v '’ .. b?
seat and the GGC group won
narrow margins.
(Continued On Next Page)