Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 14—MAY 1958—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
i
Nashville, Tenn., Board Hands Court
Year-By-Year Desegregation Scheme
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
T he Nashville Board of Edu
cation last month adopted a
grade-a-year plan to desegregate
its public schools and presented
the plan to federal district court
here for consideration. (See
“School Boards and Schoolmen”
and “Legal Action.”)
With the exception of the above
developments, April was a com
paratively quiet month in the
school segregation-desegregation
story.
The trial of Frederick John Kasper in
Nashville on charges of inciting to riot
originally scheduled for April 4 was
postponed until the May term of court.
(See “Legal Action.”) And in Chatta
nooga, two branches of the Ku Klux
Klan became embroiled in an inter-or
ganizational controversy which ended
up in federal court there. (See “Legal
Action.”)
CURRENT STATUS: 3 (includ
ing federal city of Oak Ridge) of
141 bi-racial school districts have
begun desegregation.
On March 31, just as Southern
School News was going to press with
its April edition, the Nashville Board
of Education at a special meeting
adopted, by a 7 to 1 vote, a plan to
desegregate its entire school system by
the fall of 1968. The dissenting vote was
cast by the board’s sole Negro member,
Coyness Ennix, an attorney.
The first grade was desegregated by
court order last September. The new
plan was contained in a brief resolution
adopted by the board, as follows:
“Be it resolved that the plan hereto
fore submitted to the court and ap
proved by the court as modified, be
supplemented as follows:
GRADE-A-YEAR
“A. Compulsory segregation based
upon race is abolished in grade two of
the schools of the city of Nashville for
the scholastic year beginning in Sep
tember 1958 and thereafter for one ad
ditional grade beginning with each sub
sequent school year, i.e., for grade
three in September 1959, grade four in
September 1960, etc. . . .
“B. All provisions of the plan with
respect to zoning, transfers and the like
shall continue in force and effect with
respect to each additional grade as the
plan becomes applicable to such grade.
“C. The board of education declares
its policy to be to keeD the U. S. Dis
trict Court of the Middle District of
Tennessee informed of the progress be
ing made at such intervals as the court
may desire or direct and of such prob
lems as may arise or be solved which
in the opinion of the board of educa
tion should be called to the attention
of the court.”
The plan which the above supple
ments was the one tentatively approved
by the court last January. It was this
plan which implemented desegregation
in the first grade and established poli
cies for zoning schools on the basis of
capacity without regard to race and
for authorizing transfer of pupils on
request of their parents when the pupil
normally would be assigned to a class
or school in which the majority of stu
dents are of another race.
In an interview after the meeting,
Elmer Lee Pettit, chairman pro tern of
the board and chairman of the board’s
instruction committee which drafted
the new plan, said the program was
adopted at a meeting of the instruction
committee on March 19.
Did the committee consider any other
plans?
Said Pettit: “I don’t know if you can
say we considered other plans. We cer
tainly discussed others and discussed
all the different points in the school
system about where and when to start,
and we decided this was the best
plan.
“The main principle that guided our
decision was that of providing children
an education and not a crusade. The
main thing, our main job is education.
And we looked at the whole problem
from this point.”
Did the instruction committee and
board members know that a similar
plan was adopted by the Hopkins
County, Ky. school board in 1957 and
declared unacceptable by a federal dis
trict court in Kentucky?
Said Pettit: “It was brought up, at
least the fact that it was thrown out of
cpurt was discussed, But we decided
that what may be good for one city’s
desegregation may not necessarily be
good for another city.”
Did the instruction committee and
board members consider the fact that
a gradual, class-a-year desegregation
plan eliminating racial segregation in
Tennessee’s state colleges and univer
sities over a period of five years was
declared unacceptable by the federal
courts?
Said Pettit: “Yes. But we decided
there was no connection between the
state college plan and ours.”
Ennix said he opposed the plan be
cause “it’s too slow.”
“A federal district court in Kentucky
said it was too slow,” he said. “I feel
that with what we’ve already done, the
second grade would have been auto
matically desegregated next fall since
we wouldn’t have transferred those
children back to all-Negro schools for
the second grade.
“I don’t know what’s the best altern
ative,” Ennix said. “I would have voted
for a plan that, say, finished up the
elementary schools first and then went
on to the high schools.”
W. H. Oliver, the city superintendent
of schools, had this to say about the
new plan: “To accomplish desegrega
tion in the city of Nashville is a tre
mendous undertaking, and if it can be
done in 12 years peacefully and har
moniously, it' will be a tremendous ac
complishment.
“When I say this, I have in mind
those who think it can be done quickly.
If it is done quickly, I think we will
have more agitators here than if it is
done gradually.
“The elements in society here on the
two different sides of the question have
such strong attitudes toward desegre
gation, I believe a method that is gen
erally slow will give them more time
for adjustment of their differences than
a method that is generally fast.”
At the same meeting, Oliver read a
statement to the board calling for com
plete desegregation of the schools this
fall signed by nine Negro clergymen
representing AME and Baptist churches
and church organizations.
Through what he called an “oversight
for which I deeply apologize,” the state
ment was not read to the board by the
superintendent until after its members
had voted on the gradual desegregation
plan.
The statement was almost identical in
content to one received by the board
earlier in March (see SSN, April 1958)
from 26 religious, civic and social or
ganizations, most of them Negro.
Major Developments
Since 1954
1) Public schools of Oak Ridge,
a federally-operated community,
desegregated in 1955.
2) In 1957 General Assembly
passed five pieces of permissive
legislation designed to give local
school boards the means to retain
segregated schools.
3) Desegregation of Clinton
high school, calling out of Na
tional Guard, trial and conviction
of John Kasper and others, issu
ance of precedent-making in
junction.
4) Desegregation of state col
leges, in practice or in principle,
after litigation.
5) Desegregation of first grade
in Nashville schools in 1957 and
bombing of school.
a questionnaire to indicate their deseg.
regation plan preference and return
them to him unsigned. He said that
only one of the principals advocated
immediate desegregation of the entire
system. All others, he said, advocated
the grade-a-year plan.
BEST PLAN’
“This is the best plan for us here in
Nashville,” he said.
Under cross-examination, he was
asked by Z. Alexander Looby, attorney
for the plaintiffs and one of Nashvill e ’ s
two Negro city councilmen, how he de
termined a gradual plan was best for
Nashville.
Oliver replied: “Once I was exposed
to contact with a rabid dog. I could
have taken all my rabies shots in one '
dose, but this would have produced a
violent and unpleasant reaction. In
stead, I took the immunization in 14
installments, as it were.”
CURRENT STATUS: District
court decision on grade-a-year plan
awaited in Nashville case. Hearing
date still to be set in Knoxville
A five-hour hearing on the board’s
new plan was held before Federal Dis
trict Judge William E. Miller, the judge
who ordered the first grade desegrega
tion in Nashville schools, on April 14.
Testimony followed expected lines.
When Judge Miller took the new
plan under advisement, he actually had
before him three separate proposals.
One was the board’s plan; a second,
offered by a Negro educator, was to
desegregate the entire system in two
years—one for elementary schools and
one for high schools; and the third, of
fered by other witnesses for the plain
tiffs in the original desegregation suit,
was to desegregate the entire system
next faff.
Under direct examination, Supt.
Oliver said he asked all of his school
principals, white and Negro, to fill out
“The principal person I’m pleading
for though,” he said, “is the child him
self.”
Pettit testified he, members of the in- 1
struction committee and members of
the board believed there would be less
trouble resulting from a gradual deseg
regation plan than from one that would
desegregate the entire system immedi
ately.
Mrs. Mary Brent, principal of Glenn
elementary school in East Nashville, a i
school which desegregated in the fall
and which was the site of some of the
most turbulent crowd scenes, said she
believed teachers could better cope ,
with the transition under a gradual
plan as the community became edu
cated to it.
“Any radical change is bound to (
(Continued On Next Page)
Delaware Election Issues Highlight Month’s Activities
WILMINGTON, Del.
B iennial election year head
aches are beginning to plague
Democratic and Republican lead
ers as the time approaches for
state political conventions and the
drafting of platforms with planks
referring to civil rights.
Delaware, a border state, has
public opinion ranging from strong
pro-integration to strong pro
segregation attitudes.
event Judge Leahy is upheld by the ap
peals court—on the ground that they
did not have their “day in court.”
OFFICES TO BE FILLED
Delaware this year elects a U. S. sen
ator, a U. S. representative, and a state
attorney general. Also to be elected are
an entire state House of Representatives
and seven of 15 state senators. (See “Po
litical Activity.”)
Between now and convention time in
Delaware—usually late in July or early
in August—the U. S. Circuit Court in
Philadelphia is expected to hand down
its opinion of District Judge Paul
Leahy’s decision calling for general de
segregation in the state. The issue be
fore the circuit court is who originates
a desegregation plan: the state board
of education or the local school boards.
(See “Legal Action.”)
DEFENSE ATTORNEY MOVES
In the meantime, James M. Tunnell
Jr., formerly an associate state supreme
court justice and now a practicing at
torney in Georgetown, Sussex County
(the heart of the anti-integration sec
tion of Delaware) has announced that
he will move his law practice to Wil
mington.
Tunnell has been foremost among the
attorneys representing the segregated
school districts in the federal court liti
gation, although he is a “moderate” in
favor of integration. Observers are at
taching political and desegregation im
portance to this move since the Tunnell
family has been identified with the Sus
sex “way of life” for generations.
dent of Sussex County where the bit
terest antagonism against desegregation
prevails.
Sen. Williams has made his position
clear to voters ever since the summer
of 1954. He has said that as long as the
U. S. Supreme Court desegregation de
cision stands, it is the law of the land.
Snowden objected to the restoration
of the defeated bill to the calendar and
charged that threats and coercion had
been employed to get it back on the
calendar.
CURRENT STATUS: Party con
ventions to be called in summer.
TO ASSURE RIGHTS
His position is that, as a U. S. sena
tor, he has nothing to do with the op
eration or administration of the public
schools in Delaware, except to help as
sure that the legal rights of all groups
are protected.
On the other hand, the Republican
who will be his running mate as candi
date for re-election to the U. S. House
of Representatives, Harry G. Haskell
Jr., young business executive of Wil
mington, is more inclined to side with
desegregation.
This year considerable statewide in
terest will be shown in the candidates
for the General Assembly. The current
session of the Assembly which is likely
to be meeting, off and on, through the
summer and fall, has had two measures
specifically referring to race relations.
SNOWDEN CHARGES BLACKMAIL’ 1
West denied these charges but Snow
den indicated that at some future time
he will publicize “the trend to black
mail that has hung around this bill”. i
Snowden later claimed that West has
been able to get things his way, patron
age-wise, by threatening to call up the
“Little Rock” bill for a vote and put
other legislators on the spot.
CURRENT STATUS: Cases in
volving seven school districts under
consideration by Circuit Court. Ex
tension of desegregation asked in
Dover suit.
There will be segregation-desegrega
tion overtones to the election in Dela
ware this year, affecting the entire slate
from the candidates for U. S. senator
to the men running for seats in the Gen
eral Assembly.
The Republican candidate for the
U. S. Senate will be John J. Williams,
noted outside the state for his attack
upon income tax evaders. He is a resi-
WEST SEEKS SENATE SEAT
One is the so-called Delaware “Lit
tle Rock” bill, sponsored by Rep.
Charles West of Gumboro in Sussex
County, an outspoken segregationist
and a Democrat.
West has announced that he will seek
election to the state Senate this year
It is also expected that Paul Living
ston (Democrat) of Wilmington, the
only Negro in the General Assembly,
will seek re-election to the state House
of Representatives.
As the current school year draws to
a close, the state Board of Education
and all local boards in southern Dela
ware are anxiously awaiting the opin
ion of the U. S. Third Circuit Court in
Philadelphia concerning the Delaware
pattern for desegregation on a general
basis.
Last summer, Chief U. S. District
Court Judge Paul Leahy (now retired)
ordered the state Board of Education to
draft a general desegregation program
and submit it to all local school districts
that do not have any desegregation
program. He also ordered that the pro
grams were to be implemented early in
the 1957-58 school year.
STATE BOARD’S APPEAL
Soon after Judge Leahy’s decision, the
state Board of Education took an ap
peal to the circuit court, arguing that
in none of the segregated states has the
state board been required to initiate a
desegregation program.
However, even if the circuit court
hands down its opinion, upholding the
district court, there is no guarantee that
desegregation will actually begin next
school year.
School districts in southern Delaware
that were not party to the district court
litigation but were involved in Judge
Leahy’s decision plan appeals—in the
Major Developments
Since 1954
1) Desegregation of public
schools in northern Delaware
without any incident. Opposition
of segregation in southern Dela-
of segregation in Southern Dela
ware.
2) The flare-up in Milford be
cause 11 Negro students were
permitted to go to the high school
temporarily.
3) Desegregation of the Dela
ware Congress of Parents and
Teachers.
4) The establishment of train
ing courses and police-community
relations seminars to condition
law enforcement officers in ad
herence to court decisions and
policies of school boards.
5) The decision of Federal
Court Judge Paul Leahy that all
school districts that did not have
a desegregation policy or program
must proceed to desegregate ac
cording to a plan drafted for
them by the state Board of Edu
cation. Up until this decision, now
on appeal, the state board’s policy
was that desegregation plans
should originate within local
school districts.
OPPOSITES WITHIN PARTIES
West and Livingston stand for the
two extremes in the segregation-deseg
regation issue. Since both are Demo
crats, attempts will be made on each
side to have their ideas incorporated
in the Democratic state platform this
summer.
Similar extremes in the Republican
Party also will attempt to get their
ideas written into the platform of their
party.
Opposition to the proposed “Little
Rock” bill in the General Assembly of
Delaware has developed in new areas. 1
The annual meeting of the Delaware
Congress of Parents and Teachers —
with representation from all parts of the
state—unanimously opposed the pass- <
age of the bill.
Part of the PTA resolution stated:
“Whereas, certain forces are pressing
for passage of legislation directing the '
automatic closing of schools should
military forces be sent by federal order
to maintain law and order at or around
any Delaware school, and,
“Whereas it appears that such legis
lation is aimed at depriving some Dela
ware children of their rights to educa
tional opportunity through threats to
the rights of other children to the same
educational opportunity, now therefore
be it resolved that this 47th Conven
tion of the Delaware Congress of P ar "
ents and Teachers formally oppose the
passage of legislation of this type.
CHURCHMEN OPPOSE
The Council of Churches of Wilming
ton and New Castle has also oppos'
:ed
CURRENT STATUS: No laws di
rectly related to school segregation
enacted, though 1957 assembly ap
proved a pupil transfer law akin to
pupil placement acts of other states.
The General Assembly will return to
session in mid-May to grapple with the
problems of state finances, and there is
always the chance that the Delaware
“Little Rock” bill will be brought up
for another vote.
the “Little Rock” bill. The Rev. Wi -
liam F. Dunkle, pres’dent and Dastor o
Grace Methodist Church in Wilming
ton, said the council has taken a stan
of “unyielding opposition” to the bi
He added: “I am certain that the Prot
estant people of Delaware who have an
historic interest in public schools as a
foundation of American democracy w
oppose any legislation to shut off edu
cation from the children of our sta ®
by extremists in the General Assembly-
Taking a personal angle, Dr. Dunkle
said, “As a southerner, I personally re
sent the radical and un-American pro
posals of what is known as the Lit
Rock bill.”
Dr. Dunkle was backed by other lead
ing ministers.
The bill has been voted down three
times but has been restored to the active
calendar. The last time it was restored
there developed a sharp debate between
its sponsor, Rep. West (Democrat) and
Rep. James H. Snowden (Republican)
of Wilmington.
CURRENT STATUS of segrega
tion-desegregation in Delaware:
SCHOOL DISTRICTS: 18 of 81
bi-racial districts desegregated tn
practice or policy.
COLLEGES: University of Dela-
v>are and Delaware State Colle(t e
desegregated. „
# # *