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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE 1958—PAGE 15
SOUTH CAROLINA-
Segregation Is Campaign
Issue; 6 Professors Out
COLUMBIA, S.C.
emocratic Party politics,
revolving about a June 10
• primary for state office, coupled
with observances of Confederate
Memorial Day (May 10) and the
Presidential announcement that
1 federal troops are to be with
drawn from Little Rock kept the
segregation issue in the limelight
during May in South Carolina.
(See “What They Say.”)
Dismissal or release of a half-dozen
professors at two Negro colleges marked
new developments in the long-contin
ued agitation over alleged Communist
affiliations or sympathies on the parts
' of certain faculty members at the Ne
gro schools. (See “In the Colleges.”)
Registration books for voting in the
June 10 primary closed 30 days in ad
vance of the election and disclosed that
almost 11 per cent of the registration
was Negro. (The state’s population is
39 per cent Negro.) (See “Political Ac
tivity.”)
A composite legal fee of $25,000 for
services rendered in representing the
Summerton school district of Clarendon
County in the years of federal court lit
igation is on deposit in the State Treas
ury. The amount was set aside in an
amendment to the supplemental appro
priation bill enacted by the 1958 Gen-
1 eral Assembly, which adjourned in late
April.
Lawyers in the case were the late
John W. Davis of New York (who re-
1 fused to accept any payment for his
services and instead was presented a
silver service by the state legislature)
and two South Carolina attorneys. They
i are Robert McC. Figg of Charleston
''“e “What They Say”) and S. Emory
Rogers of Summerton. They worked
jointly on the Clarendon County case
from 1950 through 1955. Neither has yet
presented a voucher for his share of the
legal fee.
On May 1, Atty. Gen. T. C. Callison
expressed the opinion that the absence
of Negroes from South Carolina juries
would not invalidate legal proceedings
unless there was evidence of a system
atic and deliberate effort to exclude
them. His remarks followed a circuit
judge’s quashing of an indictment in
Williamsburg County when it was
found that no Negro had served on a
grand jury in that county since 1944.
Virginia’s Gov. J. Lindsay Almond,
addressing the South Carolina Bar As
sociation on May 2 at Columbia, cen
sured the “judicial usurpation” of leg
islative authority by the U.S. Supreme
Court. He urged that prior judicial
service be made a prerequisite for ap
pointment to the Supreme Court and
that the states not represented on the
Supreme Court at the time a vacancy
occurs be permitted to submit recom
mendations for such appointment. With
reference to his state of Virginia, Gov.
Almond, former attorney general of
that state, explained his purpose in suc
cessfully recommending to his legisla
ture the creation of a Commission on
Constitutional Government.
“In brief,” he said, “the whole pur
pose and conception of this commission
is to work in cooperation with our sis
ter states to the end that the several
states may be restored to their proper
dignity and defended in the exercise o"
their non-delegated and reserved pow
ers under the Constitution.”
‘CAPRICIOUS NOTION’
U. S. Sen. Olin D. Johnston, in a
speech on the floor of the Senate in
early May said: “Law-making is not the
function of the judiciary. No jurist has
a warranty to tear up the Constitution.
.. . The proposition that a court, through
the issue of an opinion can cancel out
the time-tested, time-honored, time-
developed social institutions of a nation
is not only a capricious notion but a
dangerous concept.”
Robert McC. Figg, Charleston attor
ney and one of the lawyers who de
fended the state’s position in the Clar
endon County school segregation suit,
proposed before the state Bar Associa
tion on May 1 that federal judges from
throughout the nation be called to sit
with the Supreme Court “en banc” for
consideration “of grave constitutional
questions on which the court itself is
in substantial disagreement.” (Pro
vision for such sessions are incorporated
in South Carolina law.) “Currently,”
Figg added, “many throughout the na
tion feel that the [U. S. Supreme]
Court, as presently constituted, has
shown a proclivity for intruding into
Louisiana
(Continued From Page 14)
“has been for many years closely iden
tified with Communist-front organiza
tions . . . the Southern Conference for
Human Welfare, and the Southern Con
ference Educational Fund.”
She flatly denied Communist connec
tions or sympathies, and said:
COMPROMISED’ POSITION
“In regard to the PTA resolution, it is
m y opinion that school authorities and
the courts are the agencies oualified to
work out the matter of compliance with
the Supreme Court ruling. I feel the
PTA unhappily comnromised itself in
assuming responsibility in this matter.”
The state NAACP observed the fourth
anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s
school segregation ruling at a meeting
*n New Orleans. A field secretary for
the organization, Clarence Laws, said,
An increasing number of responsible
citizens of both races are beginning to
realize they cannot divorce themselves
from the problem of denial of rights to
other citizens without doing injury to
their own security. . . . Experience has
taught that where school and other pub
lic officials take firm and positive stands
tor l aw an d order, school integration
ca n and does work.”
Camille F. Gravel Jr., of Alexandria,
the state’s Democratic national commit
teeman, made a frontal assault on
the movement to unseat him for what
his opponents call his “espousal of ra-
c ial integration.”
He addressed a five-page statement
t° all 101 members of the Democratic
State Central Committee. In it he said,
1 have never advocated or proposed
^tegration of the races in any shape,
form or fashion, and I challenge any
one to prove the contrary.”
What he did do, he said, was endorse
the civil rights plank adopted at the
1956 Democratic national convention—
which the entire Louisiana delegation
also did. Later, he said, as an ex-officio
member of the party’s advisory council,
he supported civil rights resolutions
when they “fell within the confines of
the platform.”
OPPOSED EXCEEDING PLATFORM
When an advisory council resolution
went beyond the limits of the platform,
he said, as did one adopted Sept. 16,
1957, on the Little Rock crisis, he voted
against it. In October, that year, Gravel
said, he persuaded other advisory coun
cil members to leave out any reference
to Gov. Faubus in a resolution charging
that President Eisenhower was sub
stantially responsible for the Little
Rock troubles. He voted for the resolu
tion critical of Eisenhower, he pointed
out.
Gravel repeated that he has always
supported the right to vote held by all
citizens, regardless of race. He had
been critical of a Citizens Council-
sponsored drive against “illegal regis
trants”—most of whom turned out to be
Negroes—in northern Louisiana parish
es.
The Republican Party is “finished” in
Arkansas and possibly the entire South
because of President Eisenhower’s use
of federal troops at Central High School,
Little Rock attorney Amis Guthridge
said in New Orleans.
“Ridiculous,” replied the Republican
national committeeman for Louisiana,
Dr. Virgil T. Jackson Sr. “An overflow
crowd, including many enlightened
Democrats, attended the recent lunch
eon meeting in New Orleans honoring
Republican National Chairman Meade
Alcorn.”
Guthridge, an Arkansas Citizens
Council official and now a Democratic
congressional candidate, was in New
Orleans to participate in a Citizens
Council telecast.
Year-End Summary
1) The South Carolina General
Assembly enacted very little seg
regationist legislation during the
1958 session. Public officers and
office-seekers continued to pre
sent an unbroken front of oppo
sition to integration.
2) In the fall of 1957, a compil
ation of 12 “moderate” state
ments on race relations was pub
lished under the sponsorship of
five South Carolina clergymen,
who termed their booklet, “South
Carolinians Speak.” The home of
one of the authors was dyna
mited in November. Several local
men, linked with the KKK, were
arrested for the offense and still
await trial.
3) Two Negro colleges at Co
lumbia, Allen University and
Benedict College, were kept in
the news by Gov. George Bell
Timmerman’s repeated assertions
that each had a few Communist-
connected members on its fac
ulty. The state Board of Educa
tion withdrew its certification
approval for Allen graduates to
teach in South Carolina schools.
The faculty members under fire
were discharged or released at
the end of the school year.
4) A 24-year-old Hungarian
refugee accepted a scholarship to
Allen University in September
and became the first white stu
dent at a Negro school in the
state. All other schools, private
and public, remained segregated
throughout the year, except for a
parochial school at Rock Hill.
5) Ku Klux Klan activities
were sporadic throughout the
year and were characterized by
considerable dissension between
various KKK factions.
matters beyond its competence or
amending the Constitution by changing
long-settled constructions.”
NEGRO LEADERS LAUDED
Mrs. Sarah Patton Boyle, wife of a
University of Virginia professor and
author of a pro-integration article of
recent years, told an NAACP meeting
at Greenville on May 25 that “Negro
leaders have a firm grip on American
ideals which whites haven’t had since
Jeffersonian days. . . . The courage of
the Negro leaders in this crisis is some
thing which makes the heart warm. . . .
Against this army of segregationists
march a small band of Negro leaders
and their white friends, but they will
win.”
Dr. L. P. Hollis, retired superintend
ent of Greenville County’s Parker
School District and former member of
the State Educational Finance Commis
sion, criticized South Carolina congress
men for failing to “establish the lines
of communications between the two
races.” Speaking to the Greenville Lions
Club on May 14, he singled out Sen.
Strom Thurmond and Rep. Robert T.
Ashmore, of the Fourth District, for that
censure. Terming the progress of Ne
groes since slavery as “nothing short
of marvelous,” he said Negroes should
be encouraged to vote and should have
representation on “the city council,
school board and the legislature.”
‘DEFEND SOVEREIGNTY’
State Sen. John D. Long of Union
County told a Confederate Memorial
Day audience at Rivers Bridge State
Park on May 9 that they should “cling
to your states, defend their sovereignty
against the encroachments of the federal
government.” He described the use of
federal troops to enforce integration at
Little Rock, Ark., as “unconstitutional
and illegal,” adding that the news of the
President’s order withdrawing the
troops “was the best news I’ve seen in
print all year.”
The President’s action in removing
the federalized troops from the Little
Rock high school drew caustic comment
from South Carolina congressmen. Ren.
L. Mendel Rivers said: “It took him an
awful long time to recognize his respon
sibility. I assume he’s cleared this with
the NAACP.” Sen. Thurmond observed,
“It appears that the end of the school
term at Little Rock has given the Presi
dent an excuse to abide by the Consti
tution for at least the summer vacation
period.”
The administrations of two Negro
colleges at Columbia released from their
faculties six teachers, three at each in
stitution, who had been linked directly
or indirectly by Gov. George Bell Tim
merman Jr. with Communist-affiliated
organizations or activities.
Allen University officials announced
the dismissal of Dr. John G. Rideout,
Edwin Hoffman and Forrest O. Wiggins.
Their presence at the denominational
(African Methodist Episcopal) school
caused the state Board of Education last
fall to remove Allen from the list of in
stitutions whose graduates are certified
to teach in South Carolina. However,
when the state board met in Columbia
on May 16 and received a formal re
quest from Allen officials for reinstate
ment of the certification status, no ac
tion was taken. The board meets next
in June.
3 CONTRACTS DROPPED
Meanwhile, three other teachers at
Benedict College have been notified
that their contracts will not be re
newed. B. M. Edwards, Columbia bank
er and one of several white members
of the college’s board of trustees, said of
the professors: “They have not been
sufficiently cleared in the eyes of the
public of charges that they have Com
munist affiliations.”
The three are J. Spencer Kennard,
Lewis Smith, and Mrs. Marian Davis, all
of whom are white. Kennard is the only
one of the trio to have faculty tenure.
Statements strongly supporting con
tinued racial segregation in South Car
olina were much in evidence as candi
dates for statewide office neared the
June 10 Democratic primary. Candidates
for governor (3), lieutenant governor
(3), attorney general (2), and superin
tendent of education (2) all are incor
porating pro-segregation planks in their
personal platforms.
In Greenville, four organizations is
sued statements urging candidates to
deal with the race issue and other cam
paign questions in a dignified manner.
The organizations are the Young
Women’s Christian Association; the
League of Women Voters; the Green
ville branch of the American Associa
tion of University Women; and the
Greenville County Council of Church
Women.
James W. Cole, Marion County
preacher and KKK leader, said in
Greensboro, N.C. on May 18 that he
planned to run as a write-in candidate
for governor of South Carolina in the
November general election. He said
there were only two issues facing the
people, and that his stand against inte
gration and against communism was
well known. Cole is under an 18 to 24
month sentence in North Carolina for
inciting a riot at a KKK rally in Lum-
bee Indian territory last January.
NEGRO CANDIDACIES
A Negro minister announced his can-
Youall Better Be Thinking
It Over!
—Charleston News and Courier
didacy for a place on the city council of
Sumter in the June primary. Four
other Negroes, three in Richland
County and one in Charleston County,
are seeking nominations to the state
House of Representatives.
Secretary of State O. Frank Thornton
announced in late May that a total of
538,915 South Carolinians had regis
tered to vote in the June 10 primary
by the time the books closed on May
10. Of that total 58,122 or 10.8 per cent
are Negroes. Negro registration is high
est in percentage in Beaufort County
(31 per cent); greatest in number in
Charleston County (7,277) and smallest
in McCormick County, where no Ne
groes are registered.
Delegates to the American Council of
Christian Churches, meeting in late
April and early May in Greenville, de
clared:
“Segregation within the church on
racial, linguistic, and national lines is
not un-Christian nor contrary to the
specific demands of the Bible. . . . Only
Christian faith which generates real
love among men can give mutual re
spect and proper relations between the
races as each carries on its work for
Christ according to its convictions.”
The Council represents 15 fundamen
talist Protestant groups.
# # #
Mississippi
(Continued From Page 14)
been estimated by the state Department
of Education at $120 million. Jhe legis
lature has authorized bonds for the
program, and allocations to the schools
are being based on $15 for each Negro
student and $12 for each white.
Another feature of the equalization
effort is the recently completed reor
ganization of the 2,000 school districts
into 151 districts in the 82 counties.
PROJECTS APPROVED
William D. Neal, finance director of
the State Educational Finance Commis
sion in charge of the program, said 209
projects in 65 of the 82 counties and
in 93 of the 151 districts have been ap
proved by the commission headed by
Louis Alford of McComb. A total of
48 projects in 14 counties and 16 dis
tricts have been completed at a cost
of $5,152,143.
There are 68 projects in 39 counties
and 50 districts under contract, with 93
in 23 counties and 34 districts approved
but not under contract. Neal said no
projects have been approved in 17 coun
ties and 58 districts, considered less
“critical” than others.
Gov. Coleman does not contemplate
he will have to use the new authority
vested in him by the legislature to close
public schools or colleges under threat
of integration. He feels that the equal
ization program has lessened integra
tion threats.
The authority was contained in a bill
approved at the recent legislative ses
sion. Another proposal which would
have also given the local school trustees
that authority was defeated in the Sen
ate after gaining House approval.
The governor is also empowered to
close any state park under the same cir
cumstances. Likewise, a companion bill
to divide that authority with the State
Park Board was rejected.
Gov. Coleman would close the school
by proclamation, and it would remain
closed until he ordered it reopened. At
the same time, he is authorized to pre
vent any person from entering the
school premises. This is aimed at pos
sible use of federal troops.
VETOES MEASURE
The governor vetoed a bill which
would have authorized the attorney
general to inspect any and all records
of any corporation, designed to permit
the state to open the records of the
NAACP. The governor said it was not
needed at this time, and if an emer
gency necessitating it should arise, the
legislature could then consider the mat
ter.
Proponents of the corporation bill
said it was patterned after a Texas law
under which that state sought informa
tion concerning the NAACP.
A resolution, which did not have to
clear through the governor’s office, calls
on the general legislative investigating
committee to investigate the NAACP to
determine its plans in Mississippi.
Chairman of that group is Sen. Stanton
Hall of Hattiesburg. No committee ac
tion has begun on that project.
FAILS IN HOUSE
Gov. Coleman was all set to veto a
bill under which public funds could
have been channeled into Citizens
Councils for a nationwide campaign to
“tell Mississippi’s position on segrega
tion.” However, it failed to reach his
desk when the House, where it origin
ated, refused to accept Senate amend
ments requiring expenditures to be ap
proved by the 1956 legislative created
Sovereignty Commission, the state’s
segregation “watchdog” agency headed
by the governor.
Voters in August will decide whether
to ratify or reject a proposed constitu
tional amendment to make it easier to
amend the 1890 charter. It was the lone
proposal of over 100 proposed amend
ments offered during the recent session
to gain adoption. # # #