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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—DECEMBER 1957—PAGE 9
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
T he State Board of Education
has told the six colleges it con
trols that effective next fall they
shall admit all qualified applicants
w ho meet the entrance require
ments of the respective colleges.
(See “School Boards and School-
men. )
John Kasper was sentenced to
six months in federal prison and
six other defendants were given
suspended sentences by a federal
judge in Knoxville who denied
motions for new trial in a con
tempt case growing out of last
year’s Clinton disorder. (See “Le
gal Action.”)
In Nashville Elmer Lee Pettit, chair
man pro-tem of the city board of edu
cation, said he expects the board to pre
sent the remainder of its desegregation
plan to federal court by Christmas. (See
“School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
The school issue warmed the political
[ront as three leading aspirants for the
gubernatorial candidacy on the Demo
cratic ticket came out favoring segre
gated schools. (See “Political Activity.”)
The State Board of Education, in ef
fect, ended segregation in six colleges
under its control, effective next fall.
The board’s action came after the
committees named to study integration
and admission requirements presented
a single report. The resolution, adopted
unanimously, said in part:
“The State Board of Education shall
authorize the admission of all qualified
applicants who meet the entrance re
quirements of the respective colleges
and universities, effective at the begin
ning of the fall term 1958.”
NO DISCUSSION
There was no discussion at the open
i meeting, held in Nashville, of the com
mittee reports submitted by J. Howard
Warf of Hohenwald, committee chair
man. The plan obviously had been de
cided upon in the board’s earlier infor
mal closed-door meetings.
The resolution said that when any
college becomes overcrowded, or reaches
financial limit, it may set up special
tests and screening programs to limit
the number of students accepted. Those
tests would apply to all applicants alike,
and would have to be approved by the
board.
TO MAKE ROOM
There was no direct mention of seg
regation or desegregation in the resolu-
hon. It said the program of tests would
he aimed at keeping out applicants un
able to do college level work, to make
room for those who can.
The board also adopted a set of mini
mum entrance requirements submitted
y the Presidents’ Council, composed of
' ll eads the colleges under the
hoard’s jurisdiction.
Those requirements are essentially the
as those now in effect, but indi-
J dUal spools may raise their require-
«rts W ith the approval of the board.
This action does not affect the Univer-
ty of Tennessee, which operates under
Louisiana
(Continued From Page 8)
“test count he had received 23 req
““ha parish committeemen for a i
< ? rave h “But none in almos
. h s - Hayes said several m
in s 6 wou ^h Dot call a statewide r
g Until he had received requests
101 ff St ,*** Th e central eommi
1 members.
^hird party?
dig™ ^hd party” of southerners was
P. P T ed in several quarters. U. S. Rep.
Concr- Ward Hebert of Louisiana’s First
“uiirp e . SS * ona ^ District called the move
Soi>n? aIStic and unpractical because
bona] rners wou ld lose key congres-
i ty ’> P os ts if they joined another par-
le ^hert told the YMBC in New Oi
tWj’T refuse to be driven from tl
e rs h’arty.” He said southerr
me nt 0uld Promote a coalition of ele
tip. , w *thin both present major par
^favorable to the South.
Ui e t Bights party of Louisiar
dele-7 Alexandria with nearly 3,01
Shj. ates attending. Its chairma
ler _ e P° r t attorney Robert G. Chant
JUven t li Little Rock crisis rt
p>art v a ed the drive to establish tl
y rn Louisiana.”
WHAT THEY SAY
si 0 - f ent U. S. Supreme Court deci-
Of w ,, av e grievously violated the rights
* Persons,” attorney Walter Su
Tennessee Board of Education Orders
Colleges to Admit All Who Qualify
its own board of trustees and is inde
pendent of the board of education.
The board has jurisdiction over Ten
nessee A & I State University at Nash
ville, Middle Tennessese State at Mur
freesboro, Tennessee Tech at Cookeville,
Austin Peay and East Tennessee State
colleges and Memphis State University.
In Memphis, Elijah Noel, 33-year-old
postal employe and a litigant in the
1954 Memphis State suit, praised the
action of the state board. “I think it was
the democratic thing to do,” he said. “We
knew something had to give sooner or
later on it. I personally feel the school
board’s action was very wise and very
fine.”
NO BENEFIT
Noel said he himself would not be
able to benefit by the board’s action.
“My school privileges under the GI bill
have expired now,” he said, “and I have
a family to support and can’t afford to
go to college.”
Actually, the policy permits each
school to deal with the integration prob
lem separately by authorizing the indi
vidual school to establish entrance re
quirements “when and if the capacity of
any college is reached because of lim
ited building facilities, finances, and
other reasonable circumstances as de
termined by the college administra
tion . . .”
The policy appears to be tailor-made
for Memphis State University where 14
Negroes sought admission to the school
last fall. At present the Memphis school
has an enrollment of 4,192 students.
School officials say that the school can
not take additional students. Because
of this it can move to create entrance
requirements.
NASHVILLE PLAN
Elmer Lee Pettit, chairman pro-tem
of the Nashville Board of Education,
said in mid-November he is confident
the board will have its final desegrega
tion plan ready by Christmas. The
board is under instruction by federal
court to present the court its plan for
the complete desegregation of the city
school system by Dec. 31.
Earlier in the month, the Nashville
Board of Education voted to accept a
$648,700 bid for the construction of a new
Negro elementary and junior high
school. The 1,000-student school will be
built on a six-acre campus in a predom
inantly Negro section.
Two front-runners in the race for the
Democratic nomination for governor,
Glenn Nicely, executive assistant to Gov.
Frank G. Clement, and State Agricul
ture Commissioner Buford Ellington,
have come out against desegregation.
Neither, however, offered any definite
plan to block school integration.
In Memphis, Nicely on Nov. 4 told the
Tennessee Tourist and Development As
sociation he favors the “separate but
equal” approach to segregation.
He said, “The vast majority of Ten-
thon Jr. of New Orleans told the an
nual Conference of Local Bar Associa
tions in Alexandria.
Suthon told the conference, spon
sored by the State Bar Association, that
“there is an amazing contrast between
the apparent great concern of the court
over the danger of injury, particularly
intangible injury, to Negro children by
segregated schools, and the apparent
lack of concern respecting possible in
jury to white children from the effects
of enforced racial integration.”
Another spokesman on another occa
sion said, “integration means freedom
—freedom to work and compete, and
not be denied because of race.” The
speaker was NAACP official Daniel
Byrd at the National Achievement
Week program sponsored in New Or
leans by Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
WARNS AGAINST DEMAGOGUERY
The Rev. William J. Kenealy, S.J.,
professor of constitutional law at Loyola
University, told a Dillard University
forum that a “Little Rock” can be pre
vented in New Orleans “if our respon
sible leaders make their voices heard
before the demagogue does irrepara
ble damage.” He called some of the
speeches at the Citizens Council rally in
New Orleans “the language of dema
goguery.”
A Negro minister from Little Rock,
the Rev. W. D. Willett, said in Baton
Rouge, “The NAACP is leading my peo
ple astray.” He said the trouble at Cen
tral High was inspired by Negroes.
# # #
nesseans, public officials, businessmen,
professional men, laborers, and just
plain citizens generally stand upon the
separate but equal principle.”
The next day Ellington told the Mem
phis Rotary Club he is against mixing
the races in public schools. Ellington ad
vocated the use of “every legal means”
to prevent the mixing of the races in
public schools. He disavowed “the type
of resistance to integration epitomized
by lawless mobs or wild, irrational lead
ership.”
A third gubernatorial aspirant, Judge
A. T. Taylor of Jackson, also has made
his pro-segregation position clear. He
said, “I am definitely opposed to inte
gration in Tennessee’s public schools.
“The cause of the Negro race will not
be advanced by integration of white and
Negro children in our schools; on the
contrary, the opportunity of the Negro
child for education could conceivably
be lost . . .”
KNOXVILLE PRIMARY
In a Knoxville city primary a city
council candidate and two city school
board candidates—all running as
avowed segregationists—were defeated.
James L. Overby, school board segre
gationist candidate, got 415 votes against
his leading opponent’s 3,820. His board
running mate, Miss Bernice Settle, got
385 votes in the same race.
Donald M. Hensley, the segregation
candidate for city council, polled 396 of
7,759 votes cast in the city-wide ballot
ing.
In Chattanooga, Harry Young, Chat-
tanoga Times courthouse reporter, re
ports that segregation will not be a ma
jor issue in Hamilton County’s Demo
cratic primary and election next year.
NEGRO VOTE UP
A factor that will discourage segrega
tion speech-making, according to
Young, is Hamilton County’s record in
registering Negroes, who represent ap
proximately 20 per cent of the voting
strength in the county.
A story in the Times which said Her
bert Brownell Jr. was “reliably report
ed” to have resigned as U. S. attorney
general because of anger at Presidential
aide Sherman Adams drew a prompt de
nial from Brownell.
His resignation in late October, the
Times reported, was said to have been
announced in resentment over “a belief
that his influence as the President’s chief
legal officer had been minimized by
Adams in a series of incidents connected
with the school integration problem.”
WHAT THEY
Before a Veterans Day luncheon au
dience in Memphis, Gov. Frank G. Cle
ment offered the American Legion
pledge “to preserve law and order” as
a national theme in troubled times. A
past state commander of the Legion,
Clement read the preamble to the Le
gion constitution and said the state
ment of principles is his own watch
word.
“During the next year and three
months of my term as governor, we will
uphold the law and order in Tennessee
and we’ll do it as Tennesseans for Ten
nesseans without outside interference,”
he said.
“God helping me, federal troops are
not going to march in Tennessee.”
‘ENJOYS SOUTHERN WAY’
In an address frequently interrupted
by applause, Clement declared himself
“a southerner who has always enjoyed
the southern way of life and still likes
it.”
In Nashville, a few days before his
Memphis address, Clement said he is
“available to try again at any time” to
get federal troops out of Little Rock.
On Nov. 20, in New York as the prin
cipal speaker at a dinner of the Citizens
Traffic Safety Board, Inc., Clement was
asked whether he thought a “more sym
pathetic attitude in the North toward
the South’s racial problems” might aid
in their solution.
PROBLEM FOR ALL
“Chicago, Levittown, San Francisco,
Detroit and other localities have
proved,” he said, “that the problem of
mixed races living in a single place is
not a southern problem but a condition
which demands the prayerful attention
and consideration of all good Amer
icans . . . every race, creed, and color.”
The head of the Southern Baptist Con
vention said in Memphis churches must
play a leading role in the settlement of
racial differences in the South. Rep.
Brooks Hays told the Baptist Pastors’
Conference that regardless of regional
sentiment churchmen must fight to see
that the Negro has equal rights.
MISCELLANEOUS
A drive to double the Negro vote in
the South opened in Memphis in early
November. It is called the Crusade for
Citizenship and is led by the Rev. Mar
tin Luther King, leader of the Mont
gomery, Ala., bus strike. Plans call for
20 mass meetings in January at cities
in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Missis
sippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Ten
nessee, Virginia, and North and South
Carolina.
An effort at Fisk University to remedy
the shortage and sometimes mediocre
quality of high school science teachers
may soon be expanded to include ele
mentary teachers. Fisk is one of 15 col
leges and universities in the nation se
lected by the National Science Founda
tion to operate a foundation-financed in-
service training program for high school
science teachers. The Fisk program is for
teachers of high school chemistry.
Federal District Judge Robert L. Tay
lor denied motions for a new trial filed
by John Kasper and his six co-defend
ants in the Clinton school trial after a
two-day hearing in Knoxville.
After denying the motions based on
33 errors defense counsel contended
were made in the original trial last July,
Judge Taylor sentenced Kasper to six
months in federal prison and placed the
six other defendants on probation for
periods ranging from 12 months to two
years.
Each of the defendants, found guilty
of criminal contempt of court for violat
ing a federal court injunction prohibit
ing interference with the peaceful de
segregation of Anderson County’s Clin
ton high school, faced a maximum sen
tence of six months in prison, a $1,000
fine or both.
PROBATION TERMS
Those convicted with Kasper and the
probationary sentences they received:
William J. Brakebill, 41, Clinton service
station operator, 15 months; Lawrence
John Kasper and other defendants in
the contempt of court cases growing out
of the 1956 Clinton disorders are shown
here en route to the federal court room
where their plea for a new trial was
denied and their sentences announced.
J. Brantley, 51, Clinton used car dealer,
two years; Alonzo Bullock, 52, Clinton
carpenter and sometime preacher, two
years; Clyde Cook, 36, Oak Ridge fire
man, two years; Mrs. Mary Nell Cur
rier, 39, Clinton housewife, 12 months;
Willard H. Till, 43, Oak Ridge machinist,
15 months.
Defense counsel announced immedi
ately after the hearing that they would
appeal the judge’s decision to the U. S.
Sixth Circuit Court and by the end of
the month, Kasper’s attorney, J. Benja
min Simmons of Washington, D. C. had
done so in behalf of his client.
While the defense noted 33 points it
claimed as errors in the original trial,
it became apparent soon after the hear
ing started that its hope for a new trial
rested on three basic arguments. They
were:
—That distribution of a federal hand
book for jurors to the trial jury was a
reversible error because the pamphlet
alters the statutory manner of electing
jurors, supplements the court’s instruc
tions to jurors contrary to statutory pro
visions, forecloses the defendants’ right
under court rules to object to such in
structions, provides the jurors with er
roneous information, contains inaccura
cies, is conspicuous for what it omits as
well as what it contains.
—That the foreman of the jury, Powell
May, a retired Western Union super
visor, “violated his oath as a juroil”
when he saw a television program that
contained an interview of his pastor and
his neighbor concerning himself as an
individual.
—That the government failed to show
beyond a reasonable doubt that the six
defendants from Anderson County con
spired with Kasper to violate the injunc
tion.
NO PREJUDICE
In delivering his ruling denying the
motions for a new trial, Taylor said it
was his opinion there was nothing in the
jurors’ handbook that would prejudice
a juror in reaching a verdict as to the
guilt or innocence of a defendant.
As to the contention that the govern
ment had not proved conspiracy between
the defendants, Taylor said he felt the
government had produced ample evi
dence to substantiate the charge.
And as to May and the television pro
gram, the judge praised May for his
honesty and said he had no reason to
doubt May’s testimony that he was not
influenced in any way by what he saw
and heard on the television program.
Judge Taylor then asked each of the
defendants if they wanted to make state
ments.
KASPER STATEMENT
Kasper made a plea to permit him to
serve whatever sentences his co-de
fendants might receive. “They are guilty
of nothing except being friends of mine.
They are guilty of no crime. I think
they have suffered enough punishment
already. The worst that can be said
about them is that they associated with
me. I feel I am responsible for them
being in this court room.” Kasper went
on to say that he would appeal the rul
ing, denied he had ever been involved
in any violence related to desegregation
in Tennessee and sharply criticized the
U. S. Supreme Court for “allowing Com
munists to gain control of the govern
ment.”
Judge Taylor asked Kasper if he was
sorry “for what happened over there in
Clinton?” Kasper did not reply.
TROUBLE-MAKER’
“I’m firmly convinced,” Taylor con
tinued, “that if it hadn’t been for you,
none of the peace-loving East Tennes
seans would in here today. I don’t un
derstand how you stir up all this trouble.
Apparently you aren’t satisfied unless
you are in a crowd causing trouble.
“I’m sorry for you,” the judge de
clared. “I only wish I could just do or
say something to get you out of the path
you are in. This is a government of law.
Until the Supreme Court ruling is
changed, we must stand by the court’s
ruling. Otherwise, we will have an
archy.”
Kasper was returned to the Knox
County jail after the trial pending trans
fer to the federal penitentiary in Talla
hassee, Fla. where he is to serve the
one-year prison term he received for
his first conviction of violating the An
derson County high school injunction.
When last seen in Tennessee, he was
being escorted from the jail by U. S.
marshals for the trip to Florida carry
ing with him a copy of Mein Kampf.
SCHOOL BOMB PLOT
In early November two men were ar
rested on charges of plotting to dyna
mite the integrated Clinton High School
building, according to Anderson County
Sheriff Glad Woodward. The sheriff said
he was seeking a third man in connec
tion with the plot.
He identified the two as Avon Nolan,
19, and Clifford Lowe, 20, both of near
Clinton. Woodward said both are
charged with conspiracy to damage or
destroy the school by dynamiting it and
also with illegal possession of explosives
for the purpose of dynamiting the
school.
The sheriff said he had information
that an “unknown source” in Nashville
had offered $500 for the dynamiting of
the school.
“We found 150 sticks of dynamite in
a sack on the Clinch River bank on Sept.
29,” the sheriff related. “Later on Oct.
10 we found another sack on the same
bank containing 150 sticks. I have in
formation linking both Nolan and Lowe
with the dynamite.”
The sheriff said the dynamiting was
to have been carried out in September
after school opened, but one of the con-
spiritors backed out because he was
afraid “someone might get killed.”
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