Newspaper Page Text
page 6—DECEMBER 1957—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
2 Who Picketed Maryland
School Indicted by Jury
BALTIMORE, Md.
county grand jury on Mary
land’s Eastern Shore has in
dicted two persons who picketed
desegregated schools in the city of
Easton on the opening day of the
fall semester.
Nine conspiracy counts were
charged against the pair, both
members of a pro-segregation
group. (See “Legal Action.”) The
indictments are without parallel in
Maryland’s four years of desegre
gation.
A study of fall enrollment figures in
Maryland schools shows that 14 dis
tricts have some mixed classes, which is
the same number as a year ago, but
that the amount of integration in some
of the counties has increased apprecia
bly. In Baltimore County, for example,
the number of mixed schools has in
creased from 24 to 49, and the number
of integrated Negro pupils from 385 to
839. (See “Under Survey.”)
CAMPAIGN ISSUE
With a spirited gubernatorial cam
paign under way among Democrats, the
question of integration has been re
opened in Maryland politics (see “Po
litical Activity”), while new legislative
proposals include a legal prohibition
against cross-burning. (See “Legislative
Action.”)
Montgomery County has auctioned off
two small, substandard Negro schools,
providing what is called an instance of
savings brought about by desegregation.
(See “School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
The Talbot County grand jury in No
vember returned indictments against
two persons who defied a police ban in
September against picketing integrated
schools in Easton. Those indicted were
L. Francis Berry and Mrs. Elsie An
drew, both members of the pro-segre
gation Talbot County Citizens Associa
tion.
Berry was arrested on the opening
day of school at the Hanson Street Pri
mary School, and Mrs. Andrew at the
Idlewild Avenue Elementary School,
during a one-day demonstration that
failed to win public support. The jury
charged that Berry and Mrs. Andrew
had unlawfully conspired together to
induce children to absent themselves
from school and to prevent enrollment
of children by inducement, threat and
intimidation.
Other counts against the two were
that they had conspired to disturb a
public school while in session, to picket
a public school and to persuade, coerce,
influence, threaten and intimidate the
school board to segregate the races in
a lawfully integrated school; and the
teachers and school officials to violate
the lawful order of the school board.
FIRST SUCH INDICTMENTS
The indictments marked the first such
action in Maryland, which has seen little
picketing of integrated schools. There
were some arrests in Baltimore during
the 1954 disturbance at Southern High
School, but there the charges were dis
turbing the peace and disorderly con
duct.
The grand jury in its report com
mended the county state’s attorney,
Henry P. Turner, and the Easton po
lice department for their “prompt ac
tion in the situation surrounding the
opening of our schools.” The grand
jury had reference to the controls
exercised by Turner and the police to
prevent disturbances at Easton schools,
after Bryant Bowles had come over
from Milford, Del., prior to opening
day and attempted to build up resist
ance to integration.
The outlawing of cross-burning in
Maryland was proposed at a regional
meeting of the Anti-Defamation League
of B’nai B’rith. Milton S. Kronheim Sr.,
chairman of the Maryland-District of
Columbia area, said that such legisla
tion had been discussed at a conference
which league members had had with
Gov. Theodore McKeldin and that it
would have the governor’s support.
The legislation was described as sim
ilar to laws in effect in Virginia, Geor
gia, Florida, North Carolina and South
Carolina. The proposal would make it
unlawful “for any persons to place or
cause to be placed on the property of
another a burning or flaming cross, real
or simulated, in whole or in part,” with
out first obtaining the permission of the
fire department and property owner.
The proposal would also prohibit
flaming crosses on public property and
outlaw, as well, “any exhibit with the
intention of intimidating any person or
persons, to prevent them from doing
any act which is lawful.”
BALTIMORE BILL
A bill introduced in the Baltimore
City Council would ban discrimination
in all types of public accommodations,
including hotels, restaurants, theaters,
soda fountains, bowling alleys, amuse
ment parks, bath houses, hospitals and
any “kindergarten, primary and sec
ondary schools, high school, academy,
college and university.” The bill was in
troduced by Walter T. Dixon, a Negro
councilman from the fourth district.
The bill is similar in purpose to those
introduced without success in the Mary
land General Assembly during the past
two years by State Sen. Harry A. Cole,
who is also a Negro from the fourth
district.
A study of fall enrollment figures
shows that Baltimore City and 13 of
Maryland’s 23 counties have schools in
which both white and Negro children
are enrolled. Seven counties have de
segregation policies under which Negro
pupils may apply for transfers to white
schools, but with one exception these
counties have had no Negro applicants.
The one exception is Wicomico County,
where a Negro transfer request was re
fused on the ground that the child’s
home was closer to a Negro school
than to the school he sought to enter.
Of the remaining three counties, one
(Garrett) has no Negroes of school age.
The other two (Calvert and Caroline)
have not announced desegregation pol
icies. It is understood that school offi
cials in Calvert and Caroline have dis
cussed desegregation and know the pro
cedures they will follow in the event
the issue arises. But no policies have
been published inasmuch as no Negroes
have sought entry to white schools.
MIXED SCHOOLS INCREASE
The 13 counties with mixed schools is
the same number as last year. Since
last year, the number of mixed schools
in these counties has increased from
138 to 186, and the number of Negro
pupils who have been integrated has
more than doubled, rising from 1,727
last fall to 3,077 at present.
Some of the counties where integra
tion is significantly above last year are
Anne Arundel (17.4 per cent Negro
enrollment), Baltimore (5.6 per cent),
Frederick (9.2 per cent) and Montgom
ery (4.8 per cent). The change in these
counties is as follows:
The number of mixed schools in Anne
Arundel County increased from 13 to 17,
and the number of integrated Negroes
from 77 to 173.
NEGRO NUMBERS UP
In Baltimore County the number of
mixed schools rose from 24 to 49, and
the integrated Negro pupils from 385 to
839.
Frederick County showed an increase
from 49 Negro pupils in three mixed
schools in 1956 to 170 in 13 mixed schools
this year.
The number of mixed schools in
Montgomery County decreased from
49 to 48 as the result of resegregation
at one junior high school, but the num
ber of integrated Negro pupils rose from
686 to 1,245.
When enrollment figures become
available in Prince George’s County,
integration increases are expected to be
recorded there also. Preliminary esti
mates showed two additional mixed
schools and a rise in integrated Negro
pupils from 155 to 224.
SINGLE NEGRO SCHOOLS
Two counties—Allegany and Wash
ington—have carried desegregation as
far as possible at the present time. Each
county has only one Negro school re
maining, and in each instance the school
serves an immediate residential area.
Since Negro pupils for the most part
are scattered thinly through formerly
all-white classes, the number of white
pupils attending integrated schools far
exceeds the number of integrated Negro
children. In some counties more white
children are in mixed schools than in
all-white schools.
In Allegany County, for example,
9,168 white children attend integrated
schools, while 6,378 are in all-white
schools. Baltimore County has 40,947
white pupils in integrated schools, and
27,747 in all-white schools. Montgomery
County has 31,279 whites in mixed
‘Hee-Haw’
flfcr/Qt?
ftesi/m/
VlRQSUk
[SEGfiE&W® 1
\ NKKXK
-Baltimore Evening Sun
schools, and 28,877 in all-white schools.
Close behind these counties are Fred
erick County, where 5,079 white pupils
out of 11,990 attend integrated schools,
and Washington County, where 6,275
out of 17,323 white pupils are in mixed
schools.
The Democratic race for governor is
wide open and going strong, spurred
by the fact that Gov. McKeldin’s term
expires next year and he is prevented
by Maryland law from serving a third
term. Three of the Democratic hopefuls
attended a suburban political meeting
in November at which they were asked,
“What would you do toward enforcing
integration in two Maryland counties
that have not begun the process so
far?”
J. Millard Laws, presently state
comptroller and the candidate with the
most political backing to date, replied
that he had a statement on integration
“right here in my pocket” but that he
did not intend to release it until after
he had discussed it with running mates
later in the campaign.
Dr. H. C. Byrd, former president of
the University of Maryland and unsuc
cessful gubernatorial candidate in 1954,
said he believed the question remained
one ‘“that cannot be answered categor
ically.”
Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., the present
and 10-year mayor of Baltimore, said:
“I will carry out the mandate of the
Supreme Court of the United States
with all deliberate speed.”
Two of Montgomery County’s sub
standard Negro schoolhouses, closed in
1955 as the first step in desegregation,
were auctioned off in November, bring
ing a total of $51,200. The larger one, a
two-room frame structure on nearly
two acres of ground, brought $46,200;
the smaller one, $5,000.
The county closed four small Negro
schools in all during the first year of
desegregation, assigning the pupils to
about a dozen white schools. Before he
left the county last summer, Dr. Forbes
H. Norris, who served as county school
superintendent during the initial deseg
regation stages, estimated that the clos
ing of the four schools had saved the
county approximately $80,000 a year in
direct costs, with additional savings ac
cruing from the lower transportation
costs which resulted from the elim
ination of bus routes to the separate
Negro schools.
CARROLL POSITION CLARIFIED
The Carroll County Board of Educa
tion clarified its position on desegrega
tion in November with a public state
ment that said, in part:
“In compliance with the Supreme
Court order and with the policy of the
State Board of Education, the governor
of the state, and the attorney general,
the Carroll County Board of Education
instituted a policy of integration in
September, 1955, accepting the applica
tions and approving the transfers of
pupils to all schools for which applica
tions were submitted during a desig
nated period prior to the opening of
school in August-September, 1955.”
The statement said that the board had
followed the same procedure in ad
vance of the 1956-57 school year, ap
proving all transfer applications. The
identical course was followed once
again prior to the present school year
and will be continued for an indefinite
period.
Looking ahead, the school board pro
posed to “continue to maintain and op
erate existing schools in present loca
tions for as long as need for such facil
ities continues.” Also, to “continue
school transportation over present
routes to existing schools for as long a
period as need for such transportation
S. C. Home of ‘Moderate’
Book Contributor Bombed
COLUMBIA, S. C.
P ublication of a booklet con
taining a dozen expressions of
“moderate” sentiment on race
relations was followed in Novem
ber by the dynamiting of the
house in which one of the authors
resided. Another dynamiting took
place the following night in front
of a Negro tenant house. News
paper and other comment con
cerning the bombings has been
adverse. (See “What They Say.”)
Public expressions from polit
ical leaders continued strongly op
posed to integration, and were
made in unusual number dur
ing November of occasions for
speeches. (See “What They Say.”)
Candidates for public office in next
year’s elections almost universally pro
nounce themselves strongly in favor of
racial segregation. (See “Political Ac
tivity.”)
Rifts continue to appear in the ranks
of the Ku Klux Klan, especially in the
wake of a statement from Gov. George
Bell Timmerman Jr., vigorously attack
ing the KKK. (See “Miscellaneous.”)
Dynamite blasted the Gaffney home
of a South Carolina woman who was
one of 12 persons contributing “moder
ate” statements on race relations to a
booklet entitled “South Carolinians
Speak.” No one was hurt by the ex
plosion, which occurred on the night of
Nov. 19, but it damaged the home of
Mrs. Claudia Thomas Sanders, native of
Charleston and wife of a Gaffney physi
cian, Dr. J. H. Sanders.
Investigating officers found nearby
nine unexploded sticks of dynamite,
wired to a clock for electrical detona
tion, and a bundle of three sticks tied
together and fused. The fuse had been
lit but had gone out, they reported.
A second explosion occurred on the
night of Nov. 20 near the neighboring
town of Cowpens. This blast damaged
the concrete and rock dwelling occupied
by a Negro tenant farmer, Lewis Ford,
and his family. The owner of the house,
Mrs. J. Mark Hayes, white, told inves
tigators she knew of no reason why the
Ford residence had been singled out for
dynamiting.
$2,500 REWARDS OFFERED
On Nov. 21, the Spartanburg Herald-
Journal announced that it would pay
$2,000 for information leading to the ar
rest and conviction of the person or per
sons responsible for the bombings. The
following day, the Gaffney City Council
added $500 to the reward. Early the
next morning, a four-foot cross was
burned near the residence of Council
man Paul Guthrie.
Meanwhile, Police Chief Frank N.
Littlejohn of Charlotte, a North Caro
lina city 50 miles distant from Gaffney,
inquired into a possible link between the
Gaffney-Cowpens explosions and an at
tempted bombing of a synagogue earlier
in the month at Charlotte. He reported
no findings linking the events.
Dr. Sanders said that the explosion
at his house could “possib^’ be related
to his wife’s contributions to the booklet
of moderate statements on race rela
tions. In it, Mrs. Sanders had suggested
slow but sure movement toward de
segregation.
According to Dr. Sanders, publication
of his wife’s view in the booklet brought
continues to exist.”
Carroll County has less than 5 per
cent Negro enrollment.
The Anne Arundel County Ministe-
rium for the third time since May, 1954
has voiced its support of the Supreme
Court decision on school segregation.
The Christian Social Action Committee
of the Mimsterium announced early in
November that the ministers “deplored
with shame and a deep sense of guilt
the continuing racial tension in Amer
ica and in our county.”
The ministers “expressed a special
sense of humiliation that there were in-
dividuals and groups in the community
who had it within their hearts to resort
to mob violence, intimidation and
cross-burning”
“about five” telephone calls of protest
and one unsigned letter.
The Gaffney bombing brought edito-
rial condemnation from newspapers
throughout the state, and statements o(
concern from the sponsors of the pub.
lication.
The booklet, “South Carolinians
Speak,” was compiled by a group 0 ;
five ministers from the Pee Dee section
of the state who sought thereby to gi ve
expression to “moderate” views from
representative lay leaders in various
parts of South Carolina. The booklet
was distributed without cost to 8,400
“community leaders” throughout the
state and additional sales through news-
stands and book stores brought the to
tal in circulation to 11,400 by the end of
three weeks following publication (Oct
23).
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
One of the sponsors, the Rev. John
B. Morris of Dillon, quoted former U. S.
Rep. (now special Ambassador) James
P. Richards as having commended the
publication’s contribution toward pre-
serving freedom of expression.
Publication of the booklet drew praise
from the Rev. James M. Hinton, Negro
insurance executive and long-time pres
ident of the South Carolina Conference
of the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People. He de
scribed the booklet as “the finest thing
that has come out of our state in many
years . . . Negroes in South Carolina
are deeply grateful for this book and
it may be the medium of exchange of
ideas between the two races which after
all is the only sensible approach and so
lution to a problem.”
The dynamitings at Gaffney and Cow-
pens prompted Solicitor J. Allen Lam-
bright, of the Seventh Judicial Circuit
to call for tougher state laws to keep
terrorists in line. The solicitor, some
times mentioned as a possible candidate
for governor, said the General Assem
bly should take “appropriate” action ■
toward strengthening the laws which
prevent or penalize incidents such as
bombing and cross-burning. He pro
posed a five-year maximum penalty for
cross-burning whether such burnings
be pranks or otherwise.
‘TOTAL EMANCIPATION’
Mrs. Ruby Hurley, regional NAACP
secretary from Atlanta, told a Green
ville audience on Nov. 19 that “tota*
emancipation” would be achieved by
1963, the 100th anniversary of the Eman
cipation Proclamation. “The NAACP.
she said, “which is you, can make this
country what it ought to be without the ,
dead body of segregation laying around |
. . . Start telling the while folks the
truth and stop saying you’re satisfied
Any Negro who is satisfied with the
way things are in this country nee®
to see a psychiatrist.”
U. S. Rep. L. Mendel Rivers of the
First Congressional District told tk
South Carolina Farm Bureau convex
tion at Charleston on Nov. 19 that th
nation’s missile program and other en
terprises have been retarded becau*
“Nixon and Eisenhower . . . bow an
scrape to the NAACP. They . • • c ®
tinue to pay their pound of flesh to t"
integrationists and mongrelists . . •
still read their glory in the eyes of “■
Afro-American newspaper for declare
war on the helpless school children
Arkansas.”
‘LACK OF WISDOM’
U. S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, spe^r’
to Sumter Rotarians on Nov. 11, sai“
President’s action in sending troops a 1,
Arkansas to enforce integration
“ill-conceived” and “ill-advised.”
ing the action political, he added,
(Continued On Next Page)
A Unitarian minister in Montg 0l V_ .
County, John Baker, found ready ^ |
port for his suggestion of a sc k°“fjjg-
fund to recognize the “courage ana ^
nity” of Negro children and the ^
cency and humanity of the white^.
dren who received them with ft 1 $
ness and understanding” during
Little Rock school integration c °
versy. ^
The Rockville Record, a jj;
weekly, reports that Baker s ^ j
brought an immediate resp ‘
Montgomery County and l ater ^ if
persons and groups in far parts J
country, and that he had j}
methods of administering the *.j .ti
the Greater Little Rock Minister 1
sociation.