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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE 1958—PAGE 13
MIAMI, Fla.
d k SERIES OF RACIAL AND re-
e ligious bombings in Florida
and elsewhere led to a meeting of
city and law enforcement officials
j 'in Jacksonville. (See “Commu-
I * n ity Action.”) A South-wide
agency was set up to exchange
, information and coordinate ac
tion.
; Gov. LeRoy Collins, opening the
1 Rational Governors’ Conference at
i Miami Beach, called for federal-state
commissions to decide the “wheres,
whens and hows” of school integration
in the light of local conditions. (See
I “Political Activity.”)
-ar— — ll'tJ
COMMUNITY ACTION
, Officials representing 28 southern
* cities, at a meeting in Jacksonville,
* set up a central intelligence agency to
exchange information and evidence
1 ( about school and religious bombings.
The meeting was called by Jackson
ville’s Mayor Haydon Bums after
dynamite exploded in his city at the
i James Weldon Johnson Junior High
School for Negroes and at the Jewish
Center.
Top municipal and police officials
attended the meeting and exchanged
evidence. Representatives of some of
the cities who participated would not
identify themselves or permit photo-
( graphs to be taken.
Mayor Bums, who acted as spokes
man, said similarities in the bombings
at Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville and
, the attempt in Birmingham were “be
yond the realm of coincidence.” Bums
said this clearly showed central direc
tion.
, ACTS OF SAME PERSONS
“I believe that when the facts are
coordinated they will show these were
the acts of the same person or per
sons,” Bums said.
“We have established a pattern of
terror and with our combined brains
and intelligence we are confident that
,southern law enforcement officers will
break the stranglehold of fear which
has gripped the South.”
Representatives of the Anti-Defama
tion League submitted to the police a
list of 45 racial or religious bombing
incidents which they said had occurred
in the south since Jan. 1, 1957. (Mayor
Bums said there had been 47.)
Police in a few of the cities denied
such incidents, but most confirmed the
listings.
list of names
' Milton Ellerin, ADL’s national fact
finding director, presented the assem
bled officials with a report of his or
ganization’s investigation of the bomb-
1 ings.
Ellerin said he also provided a list
of “several hundred names of persons
known to have expressed intention of
' violence or who have committed ter
rorist acts, or who might have some
knowledge of these outrages.”
The list, the ADL official said, con-
i tained “names of Klansmen and other
extremists.”
The central intelligence agency
which emerged from this meeting has
headquarters in the Jacksonville police
department. Selected police officers in
each cooperating city will send confi
dential reports of all bombing inci-
FLORIDA-
Southern Mayors Set Up An Agency
To Curb School, Church Bombings
MAYOR HAYDON BURNS
Seeks Bombing Evidence
dents, evidence gathered and suspects
questioned. This information will be
coordinated and sent to all law en
forcement agencies throughout the net
work.
Mayor Bums said any southern city
would be welcomed as a participant.
The agency is limited to the South, he
said, “because no other area seems to
be involved.”
Some facts have begun to emerge
from the joint effort. Birmingham po
lice contributed a set of four finger
prints taken at the scene of the at
tempted bombing there. They helped
exonerate a suspect held in Jackson
ville.
Among the coincidences, Mayor
Bums said, was the fact that dynamite
was taken to the scene of bombings in
several cities in similar or identical
canvas bags. A similar type of cello
phane tape was used in several in
stances to bind fuses to the explosive
charge. Most of the dynamite was of
the same strength and fuses of the
same length were found attached to
unexploded dynamite in different
cities. The Jacksonville, Birmingham,
Miami and Nashville incidents were
marked by anonymous telephone
warnings, some in the name of the
“Confederate Underground.”
REWARDS TOTAL $55,700
In the light of these similarities, the
police group decided to pool all local
ly posted rewards for evidence. These
now total $55,700.
Reaction to the two Florida bombing
incidents was widespread. Gov. Collins
warned Floridians that setting off ex
plosives in public places carried the
death penalty on conviction.
“The full force of all government
agencies will unite in a relentless
effort to bring the guilty hoodlums to
justice,” Gov. Collins said. “This is not
just an invasion of personal and prop
erty rights of those directly injured.
It is a serious crime against every
citizen of Florida. It is a trampling
underfoot of the freedom and security
of American justice. Anyone who
would perpetrate a wrong like this has
such a diabolical mind and intent that
he is a common enemy of all, regard
less of race, color or religion.”
Sen. Charley E. Johns, chairman of
the joint legislative committee looking
into racial agitation, sent the commit
tee investigator to Jacksonville. He said
he would call the committee to consid
er the bombings if the facts warranted.
“I am for segregation,” said Johns,
“but dynamitings such as this have no
place in Florida.”
In Miami, civic, school and law en
forcement representatives met at the
call of the National Conference of Chris
tians and Jews to consider ways to halt
racial violence. Dr. Gordon Lovejoy,
NCCJ national program consultant,
said such violence may be a by-prod
uct of this era of change.
The group voted to set up a human
relations committee with mayors of
Miami, Miami Beach and Coral Gables
as co-chairmen. It asked the NCCJ to
coordinate research and study on the
problem of racial and religious bomb
ings.
A proposal by Rep. John B. Orr Jr.
for a committee of civic leaders, ap
pointed by the county, to serve as
conciliators in racial controversies, was
endorsed.
Circuit Judge William A. Herin told
the newly empaneled Dade County
grand jury that it has authority to
investigate bombings “as a felony or
even as a capital offense.”
SEGREGATIONISTS RAP BOMBINGS
Two avowed segregationists also
condemned the bombings. W. J. Grif
fin, Tampa private investigator who
was grand dragon of the Association of
Florida Ku Klux Klans before he dis-
Year-End Summary
1) Despite three active and
long-pending suits, Florida still
has complete segregation at every
level of state-supported schools
and colleges.
2) Alarmed by the Little Rock
crisis, the legislature in extra
session under a call that did not
include segregation, adopted a
law requiring any school to close
if federal troops were sent to en
force integration. A “last resort”
bill allowing communities to
abandon public schools ordered
to desegregate failed to pass.
3) A joint legislative commit
tee investigating the role of com
munism in the pressure for in
tegrated schools was stymied
when 15 witnesses refused to
testify. The committee’s subpoena
powers are under study by the
courts.
4) An outbreak of racial and
religious bombings caused con
cern and brought calls for action
at state and local levels.
5) Gov. LeRoy Collins drew
increasing attention as a “mod
erate” spokesman and stated that
integration is inevitable but no
steps will be taken by his office
to force it on an unwilling com
munity.
Law Day—U.S.A.
—St. Petersburg Times
banded the organization recently, said:
“These bombings were the work of
the scum of the earth—men who go
out for the sake of membership fees
and live high on the hog while a
bunch of stumblebum suckers foot the
bill.
“The Klan is more of a menace in
Florida than the Communists. I tried
to reform it but violence kept popping
up all over the place.”
The Rev. George Downs, Orlando,
executive secretary of the Florida As
sociation of Citizens Councils, said:
“The Citizens Councils have done
what they could to prevent this sort
of thing and ease tensions. Our policy
is strictly one of legislation and non
violence.”
LEADERSHIP LACKING
Closing its national meeting at Miami
Beach, the American Jewish Congress
called on President Eisenhower to
“demonstrate moral leadership inher
ent in his office by condemning pub
licly the campaign of suppression and
persecution in the South against the
NAACP.”
Gov. LeRoy Collins, as host to the
National Governors’ Conference in
Miami Beach, proposed at the initial
press conference that Congress set up
a special federal-state commission
with power to act in racial matters.
He said there will never be a solution
of segregation until state and federal
governments work together.
While details of the proposed com
mission should be worked out by
Congress, said Collins, he suggested
the President could appoint one rep
resentative from each affected state.
This group would then work out the
“whens, wheres and hows” of school
integration.
Collins was questioned by a group
representing major news, television
and magazine media. One reporter,
noting that no school integration exists
in Florida after four years, asked Col
lins what he proposed to do about it.
Missouri
(Continued From Page 12)
chapter would press for a recognition
°f the fact that Negro employment op
portunities were not confined to manual
, labor and domestic work.
The senior high school at Popular
“luff, in the bootheel, was desegregated
|®st September and the school now has
® Negroes. Another Butler County
•own, Neelyville, also ended segrega-
fion in its high school. It has 56 Negro
students. County school Supt. Fred M.
, “torrow said there had been no trouble
Whatsoever. The Popular Bluff elemen-
tory schools were integrated three years
on a permissive basis. Last year
, ”956-57) the formerly all-white ele-
JP^ntary school had seven Negro pupils,
“is school year it has 23.
Superintendents of the two Missouri
counties that have not moved toward
desegregation are Floyd W. Liley of
ew Madrid County and Floyd E. Harn
ett 0 f Pemiscot. Liley told SSN that
' were “just the same as they
re , and there are no plans for
change ”
Hamlett
Hamlett
"Jadrid and
ab °ut 25
school population,
kt neither case did the county school
are no plans
A similar report was made by
concerning Pemiscot County,
estimated that both New
Pemiscot counties have
per cent Negroes in their
superintendent feel that there was any
evidence of tension or pressure for
change from Negro families. There are
still three one-room Negro schools in
Pemiscot, but Hamlett said “nearly
every district” was engaged in improv
ing its facilities for education cf Ne
groes.
Although, as reported previously in
SSN, there have been numerous in
stances of shifts toward desegregation
in southeast Missouri, particularly in
the major towns, white observers
tend to point out that these have not
added up to a great deal in terms of
white children going to school with
Negro children.
A white educator pointed out with
some sarcasm that a high school in a
neighboring town had reported itself
“100 per cent integrated” several years
ago, when in fact it had one Negro pu
pil.
NAACP IN ‘BOOTHEEL’
Although the NAACP has some rep
resentatives in the bootheel, it is not, as
might be expected, organized there in
depth. Jesse Sterling, chairman of the
NAACP branch at Cape Girardeau, is a
cement mason and business agent and
secretary-treasurer of the Cement Fin
ishers’ Local 908. Sterling feels that
considerable strides toward desegrega
tion are being made.
He noted that several major towns,
including Cape Girardeau, had inte
grated at the high school level, and said
there were other localities in which
Negro children could go to the nearest
school, if they desired, even though par
allel systems still were maintained. It
was Sterling’s feeling that Negro par
ents in some parts of the bootheel had
no desire to press for a clarification of
their children’s status.
In general, Sterling said that he had
no difficulty in conferring with white
school officials of the area, and got
along well with them. In areas where
no action is being taken, he suggested
the explanation may lie in the attitude
of Negro parents.
KANSAS CITY INCIDENTS
A spokesman for the Kansas City
public school system, which has been
in the news in recent months because
of incidents involving white and Negro
children in integrated schools, said the
last year had been encouraging on the
whole. “Considerable progress,” he said,
has been made in the use of integrated
faculties, and there will be more in Sep
tember.
“There has been very little tension
except around Central Junior and Cen
tral High School,” he said, adding that
these schools were in an area where a
great amount of mobility—that is,
change of the neighborhood’s residential
population—was going on. He suggested
that there might have been as much
tension even if the schools had re
mained all-white.
On May 1, a white boy was severely
beaten by a group of four or five Negro
boys in the Central High School build
ing. The victim’s jaw was fractured, and
he required several days of hospitaliza
tion. The incident took place as stu
dents were moving from a period of
ROTC training to a shops class. Four
Negro boys were suspended imme
diately, and after investigation the
board of education expelled them for
the duration of the semester. Basis of
the expulsion was “demoralization of
the school.”
BEHIND THE BEATING
What apparently was behind the in
cident, the board of education’s investi
gation indicated, was that the assailants
resented the white boy’s use of author
ity as an ROTC squad leader. The re
sentment had been building up for a
period of time. However, at least one of
the boys who were expelled was not a
member of the squad. The Central High
school population was 28.2 per cent Ne
gro last September and the percentage
is believed to be higher now.
Although the incident involved white
and Negro students, school officials said
it was not a racial incident. There was
no tension following the incident, it was
said, and no further difficulty. There
was no report of any weapon being used
in the beating.
# # #
“I don’t regard integration in itself
as a proper goal,” the governor replied.
“I do regard racial tolerance and un
derstanding, and improving the welfare
of all citizens including the Negro, as
a very high and worthwhile goal.”
“I intend to do no more than speak
out for the right kind of atmosphere
for the development of good racial
relations.”
STATE COMMISSIONS ASKED
Florida’s governor, who later was
elected chairman of the National Gov
ernors’ Conference for the coming year,
authored an article in Look magazine
in which he elaborated his views. He
urged civil rights commissions in each
state, with members named by the
President on recommendation of the
governor.
“There are countless southern com
munities where it will be many a day
before desegregation can be accom
plished without race rioting,” he said.
“Yet, under present procedures, such
could be provoked irresponsibly at any
time.
“We are in a situation in which the
NAACP decides when and where to
desegregate. These decisions should
rest with an agency created by law
and responsible to all the people.”
Concerning the Little Rock crisis,
Gov. Collins wrote, “I do not now hes
itate to say that in my mind—and I do
not pretend to speak for any others—
both the President and the governor
lOrval Faubus of Arkansas] share the
blame for Little Rock: the governor
for using his police powers affirma
tively to prevent enforcement of a
judicial order; the President for not
anticipating the explosiveness of the
situation and moving early to head it
off.”
Collins’ article drew much attention
at the National Governors’ Conference.
Gov. Faubus said the Florida gover
nor didn’t know all the facts in the
situation.
The complicated Hawkins case
(Hawkins v. Florida State Board of
Control) ground on in federal court.
Atty. Gen. Richard W. Ervin asked
that the ruling on Hawkins’ petition
for admission to the University of
Florida be delayed until the Florida
Supreme Court completes action in the
case.
Arguing the legal rule of “comity”
between courts, Ervin said Hawkins
wasn’t eligible as a student anyway
because the score on his admission test
was too low.
TEST SCORE REQUIREMENTS
The Board of Control last month
adopted a rule requiring an aptitude
test score of at least 250 for applicants
prior to February, 1958, and a score of
340 for those who applied later. The
previous rule required only a satisfac
tory grade, with no specific score set
up. Board of Control members said the
change was not a device to rule out
Negro students, but an effort to raise
academic standards.
Hawkins, according to spokesmen for
the board, scored only 200 of a possible
725 points. Hawkins has demanded
proof that his score actually was that
low.
The Florida Supreme Court is study
ing the right of the joint legislative
committee on race agitation to sub
poena the records of the NAACP and
the Florida Council for Human Rela
tions.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
E. L. Allsworth, resigning as a mem
ber of the Dade County Board of
Public Instruction, urged the public to
leave the timing of integration to the
school board. But the Dade County
Council on Community Relations con
tinued to urge school authorities to
take initial steps toward compliance
with the court mandate.
The congregation of the First Uni
tarian Church lined up with the Coun
cil. The church group asked the school
board “to attempt to lead the com
munity in some of the necessary plan
ning to establish a favorable climate
of public opinion, which plans should
include preliminary integrated meet
ings of teachers in professional meet
ings, of PTA leaders and groups, of
various youth councils and clubs in the
school system, and classroom discus
sions of these problems to share the
knowledge of coming changes.”
MISCELLANEOUS
Jacksonville police arrested three
white high school students on charges
of violating the state’s anti-defamation
statute by circulating inflammatory
placards in Negro areas.
The crudely printed signs said:
“Regular bombings; the Confederate
Underground; Negroes and Jews Our
Specialty.” # # #