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PAGE 2—JULY 1958—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Three Cases
(Continued From Page 1)
Maryland
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a
seven-year desegregation program in
Harford County. Howard County an
nounced extension of its voluntary pro
gram, raising to seven the number of
counties planning additional steps in
September.
Mississippi
Negro Prof. Clennon King failed in
his effort to register for graduate study
at the all-white University of Missis
sippi, was removed from the campus
by police and placed in a mental hos
pital for observation, and was released
after he was pronounced sane.
Missouri
Missouri’s larger cities were shown
to have proceeded with teacher inte
gration on a scale paralleling pupil
integration, but there was a lag in
smaller localities with a loss of Negro
teaching jobs.
North Carolina
Negroes sought to broaden last year’s
“token integration” with school entry
attempts in three Piedmont cities and
in one eastern county.
Oklahoma
Six additional school districts were
disclosed as having desegregated dur
ing last school year, with more ex
pected to report as the state completes
a study of enrollment.
South Carolina
School segregation figured in the
Democratic gubernatorial run-off pri
mary, won by Lt. Gov. E. F. Hollings.
Approval of teacher-training was re
stored by the state at Allen University
(Negro), scene of a controversy over
faculty members.
Tennessee
U.S. district court approved Nash
ville’s gradual grade-a-year desegre
gation program under which the second
grade will be opened to Negroes this
year, the third grade in 1959, and so
on until 1968.
Texas
The Dallas school board announced
that its 141 schools would remain seg
regated next school year and moved to
resolve a conflict between federal and
state authority.
Virginia
Norfolk and Newport News were
added to Arlington County and Char
lottesville on the list of localities or
dered to begin desegregation this fall.
West Virginia
School officials reported no effect on
the state desegregation program from
the Little Rock school decision.
# # #
Wk at Southern f~^aperd
Editorial Comments On Little Rock
Arkansas Gazette
If the higher courts sustain Judge
Lemley this beleaguered community
has gained a breathing spell, and it
is welcome. But we must not delude
ourselves—or permit Mr. Faubus to.
The problems are still with us—
crying out as they have from the be
ginning for sober, responsible leader
ship.
Atlanta Daily World
Surely, after • taking the stand it
did, the government would not at this
late hour recede from a position it has
fortified already with military force.
To proceed with integration is the
only consistent option now facing the
law enforcement personnel. They can
not now accord quarter to lawless
ness because it promises a threat. . . .
This latest Little Rock decision
should be reversed.
Baltimore Evening Sun
Quite apart from all the judicial
questions raised in the latest turn at
Little Rock, one practical fact stands
out above the rest. This is that once
again the ill feeling first stirred by
Governor Faubus has forced at least
a detour and perhaps a turnabout
upon the orderly progress of law and
order in Arkansas.
Richmond News Leader
Assuming that his ruling sticks
(and that is a large assumption),
Judge Lemley will have done a major
service for Little Rock, in relieving
the bitter tensions of that strife-tom
city. More importantly, he will have
provided a fresh legal support for
school boards across the South.
Washington Post
However one looks at it, U. S. Dis
trict Judge Harry J. Lemley has struck
a severe blow at the cause of inte
gration in the public schools. If it
should stand, his decision granting the
request of the Little Rock School
Board for resegregation of the Cen
tral High School would be an unmis
takable step backward. It is inaccu
rate to say that the decision means a
stay of two and a half years in racial
integration at Little Rock. Rather, it
calls for a roll back; for eight Negro
students have attended the school
since Governor Faubus withdrew his
National Guardsmen last September,
and one was graduated in May.
Birmingham News
Judge Lemley’s decision granting a
suspension of integration at Little
Rock’s Central High School gives new
recognition to the basic reality that
force and compulsion are not the so
lution for racial problems growing out
of the Supreme Court’s decree against
segregation in public schools.
Atlanta Journal
Judge Lemley’s decision to suspend
the court-ordered integration of Cen
tral High School in Little Rock for
two and a half years is a victory for
common sense over wishful thinking.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
From the standpoint of justice, the
order appears to punish the wrong
persons. For the Negro students are
being denied their just rights, while
the instigators and perpetrators of
violence against them go untouched.
From the standpoint of practicality,
which is the seeming basis for Judge
Lemley’s order, the question is not
entirely whether integration and edu
cation were breaking down, for both
were proceeding if in distressing
fashion.
Greensboro Daily News
The Little Rock School Board has
not said it will defy the law, it simply
asked the court for a breathing spell.
In effect, however, it has also alerted
the court to the fact that change can
not be brought about more rapidly
than people on the local scene will
accept, whether they be a politically
ambitious Governor Faubus or a fear-
crazed mob. A period considerably
longer than 2% years will be neces
sary to change the minds and hearts
of many people concerning a decree
which radically overthrows what has
been the law of the land and substi
tuted something drastically new.
Charlotte Observer
In short, it places a premium on
commotion and violence as a certain
means of averting, or defeating out
right, the national law.
Judge Lemley’s order may quiet
the furies for a while at a single
school in a single city. It may, in the
process, stir them at a dozen other
points.
Dallas Morning News
In all probability Judge Lemley’s
decision considered, as NAACP has
not, and doubtless others have not,
that the chief interests to be served
are those of the school population it
self, white and black. It is the young
sters who have been made the vic
tims of the difficult situation. Surely
anything that can contribute to reliev
ing the pressure on these hapless sac
rifices to adult discord is sound. The
Lemley “postponement” so contrib
utes.
Charleston News & Courier
Leaving aside what may or may not
happen in the future, the decision of
the federal court is historic. A South
ern community voluntarily agreed to
an experiment in integrated school
ing. The experiment was a failure.
Nashville Tennessean
At the most, however, the day when
Little Rock must ultimately choose
between mob rule and law and order
has merely been delayed. Judge Lem
ley’s ruling merely suspends deseg
regation for a limited period. The
original order requiring compliance
with the decision of the Supreme
Court is left standing.
Washington Evening Star
So the bitter choice still remains—
a choice between enforcement of the
Supreme Court decree on the one
hand, and, on the other, a strict en
forcement of the ruling at the price
of chaos in Central High School. In
short, this turnabout in Little Rock
solves nothing. It merely postpones
the day of reckoning.
Richmond Times-Dispatcli
Judge Lemley’s decision is encour
aging to Virginia, since it shows that
some of the courts, at least, will listen
to reason, and grant extension of
time, when situations threaten to get
out of hand. It shows the value of
postponing dangerous showdowns by
as many legal delays as possible, as
Virginia is now doing.
Chattanooga Times
Judge Lemley cited the fact of ex
treme tension and unrest in the cap
ital. As he said, the use of troops un
doubtedly would have to be contin
ued in the next school term. He made
it clear that Negroes have a right to
oppose discrimination, but that the
board’s request for a stay grants time,
and reflected reasonable discretion
and judgment.
Much will depend upon his deci
sion’s fate upon appeal. But we hope
it will be upheld.
Memphis Commercial Appeal
Judge Lemley had no difficulty de
termining the source of the Little
Rock trouble and he spelled it out.
It was “the deep-seated, popular
opposition in Little Rock to the prin
ciple of integration, which, as is
known, runs counter to the pattern of
southern life which has existed over
300 years.”
It is not a pattern to be reshaped or
destroyed overnight or over a few
years.
Nashville Banner
Judge Lemley has gotten Uncle
Sam off an awkward and agonizing
hook, where he was put by precipi
tate action unconscionable from start
to finish.
He has removed a cloud of dishonor,
anxiety, and disgrace, by putting re
sponsibility where it belongs—and
where it has belonged all the time—in
local hands. The precedent of that, as
here, can reestablish faith in the ju
dicial processes, shattered by episodes
recklessly employed to destroy that
faith.
Jackson Daily News
Southerners are in a better posi
tion to determine school policies than
politicians perched in Washington.
While Judge Lemley’s decision was
more in keeping with good sense than
is usual these days, his ruling has
room for improvement, such as setting
aside integration at Little Rock for,
oh say, 66% generations.
Columbia State
The whole Little Rock affair has
been poorly handled. Governor Fau
bus himself, did not use the best of
judgment. And the handling of the
matter by federal authorities was in
violation of the very essence of states’
rights and sound thinking. At long last
someone seems to have come along
who appreciates the situation. We
hope the judge’s order means the en
tire federal attitude toward forced
school mixing in Little Rock has
changed.
Wilmington (Del.) Morning
News
We seriously doubt that this deci
sion will be sustained on appeal.
There are rulings on the books, both
by the Supreme Court and by lower
federal courts, which state unequiv
ocally that the threat or fact of law
lessness is not a proper ground for
postponing desegregation. Communi
ties are to be permitted to move with
“deliberate speed” in order to make
painful change come more easily, but
they cannot stand still merely because
of a threat of lawless violence. Still
less, it would seem, can they be al
lowed the sort of rollback which
Judge Lemley’s decision would au
thorize. The Supreme Court will tol
erate “deliberate speed,” but will it
invite deliberate defiance of the Con
stitution?
GEORGIA-
All Candidates Support
Segregation In Schools
MACON, Ga.
HREE CANDIDATES WERE running
for governor and five for lieu
tenant governor in Democratic
primary campaigns to be decided
Sept. 10. All are for segregation.
(See “Political Activity.”)
A controversy over use of
school buses to transport Negro
students to register for voting was
dropped. (See “Schoolboards and
Schoolmen.”)
The U. S. Supreme Court knocked
out any chance of a ruling on the
county unit system’s constitutionality
being decided before the 1958 primary
date. (See “Legal Action.”)
Entries closed on June 21 for state
Democratic primary races. Political
observers generally agreed the cam-
a municipal office in the city since Re
construction days was defeated in a bid
for an aldermanic post.
The state Board of Education dropped
from its agenda a controversy over use
of Chatham County school buses to
haul Negro students to register for
voting. (See Southern School News,
June 1958.) The board had originally
decided to discuss the matter after a
protest from a Savannah resident crit
icized such use of the buses.
State Board Chairman George P.
Whitman Jr. would not discuss the case
but other sources said Atty. Gen. Eu
gene Cook had ruled that the scho
buses could be used for any school
purpose and that Chatham County offi
cials contended the Negro students
were taken to register as part of their
class in government.
Terrell County School Supt. Frank
Christie answered disclosures that
modern furnishings were removed
from new Negro schools in Dawson and
WILLIAM BODENHAMER
ERNEST VANDIVER
Seeking Gubernatorial Nomination
paigns for the top offices of governor
and lieutenant governor would not be
as heated as in the past.
There are three gubernatorial can
didates:
1) Lt. Gov. Ernest Vandiver, an at
torney who has the quiet backing of
Sen. Herman Talmadge and is related
by marriage to Sen. Richard B. Russell.
Vandiver, with a powerful organization
in every part of the state, is conceded
to be the overwhelming favorite. He is
a strong advocate of segregation. Van
diver termed a federal judge’s decision
to postpone integration in Little Rock
as “further proof . . . that the social
customs and long-established traditions
of any people cannot be altered by a
court edict or federal troops if the
people themselves are unwilling to
submit.”
2) Rep. William T. Bodenhamer, a
South Georgia minister, member of the
legislature and former executive secre
tary of the States’ Rights Council.
Bodenhamer said that white and Negro
children would never go to school to
gether as long as he is governor.
3) Lee Roy Abernathy, a North
Georgia gospel singer. He expressed
his views on government and racial
matters by saying his administration
would have “no fixin’—no mixin’.”
FIVE SEEK POST
Five candidates are seeking the lieu
tenant governorship. Former Rep. Gar
land Byrd is believed to have the edge
at this time. The others are Rep. C. J.
Broome, a South Georgia newspaper
publisher; Rep. John Odum, Camden
County; Rep. Colbert Hawkins, Griffin
administration House floor leader; and
Howell Smith, Atlanta businessman. All
are for segregation.
Former Gov. Ellis Amall, believed to
have strong liberal and Negro support
in Georgia, said he was thinking of
running for governor but did not qual
ify-
Rep. Charles Gowen of Brunswick,
who had considered running for lieu
tenant governor, also withdrew. Gowen
drew some liberal support in the 1954
gubernatorial election.
The state primary will be held Sept.
10.
In a municipal election in Savannah
the first Negro candidate to offer :
unspent bond money is being withheld
from the county until the equipment is
returned. Christie said the transfers
were without discriminatory motiva
tions. He said the moves of equipment
between schools for different races was
solely because of needs and usage of
the equipment in particular schools.
State School Building Authority files
showed equipment removed included
refrigerators in cafeterias, furnishings
in teachers’ lounges, desks in offices and
some student desks in classrooms. The
equipment was taken from the Lillie
Cooper Elementary School (Negro) and
the Terrell Negro High School, both lo
cated at Dawson, the county seat, and
is now being used in white schools
and in Christie’s office, according to
Authority records.
The Authority files also showed
Christie had promised twice to return
the equipment to the proper schools,
but said later he did not intend to re
turn it since he had to do what the
county board of education ordered.
The State School Building Authority
is withholding $32,316.78 in unspent
funds destined for Terrell County.
Christie, asked for comment, said the
report “looks like another smear like
the Washington Post tried.” (See “Mis
cellaneous.”)
The U. S. Supreme Court in a 5-to-4
ruling refused to order a three-judge
panel convened to hear Atlanta Mayor
William B. Hartsfield’s suit against the
county unit system. A favorable deci
sion might have enabled the constitu
tionality of the system itself to have
been carried before the high court for
a ruling prior to the Sept. 10 Demo
cratic primary, Hartsfield’s attorneys
said.
The U. S. Conference of Mayors had
joined in the legal attack on the county
unit system, asking for permission to
intervene as a friend of the court.
Proponents of the system argue it
helps maintain racial segregation and
thwarts city machine politics. Oppon
ents claim it gives rural areas an unfair
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