Newspaper Page Text
Factual
Southern School News
Objective
VOL. V, NO. 2
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
$2 PER YEAR
AUGUST, 1958
Politics, School Opening Plans To Forefront
21 New Segregation Laws
Make 11-State Total 196
R evision of existing provisions
for curbing school desegrega
tion and several new measures in
five states this year moved the
total of school segregation legisla
tive enactments since 1954 to 196.
In all, 11 state assemblies have
taken such action. The five states
enacting new measures this year
(all of which previously had
adopted some such bills and reso
lutions) were Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina and
Virginia. Other states which have
adopted pro-segregation measures
since 1954 are Alabama, Arkan
sas, Florida, North Carolina, Ten
nessee and Texas.
The measures adopted by the five
states during the current year included
14 statutes, five resolutions and two
constitutional amendments.
7TH SCHOOL CLOSE LAW
Closing of public schools was pro
vided for in acts adopted by the as
semblies of Louisiana, Mississippi and
Virginia and was recognized as a pos
sibility by the revision of the compul
sory attendance law in Georgia. This
represented the first provision in Lou
isiana for closure of schools facing pos
sible desegregation and brought to
seven the number of states with such
provisions.
New pupil placement laws, revising
statutes previously declared invalid on
their face, were enacted in Louisiana
and Virginia. In both instances, the
1958 measures were designed to remedy
or replace the previous laws which
federal courts had found unconstitu
tional.
In South Carolina this year, the as
sembly enacted only one new act di
rectly dealing with the school issue. It
authorizes the attorney general to in
spect records of non-profit organiza
tions operating in the state. This would
include the NAACP though it is not
named in the bill. The General Appro
priations Act in South Carolina again
carries the designation “for racially
segregated schools only” in the educa
tion section, as it has done for the past
several years.
A similar provision has been added
to school appropriations acts in Vir
ginia since 1956.
VIRGINIA ADDS 7 ACTS
Virginia’s General Assembly, in ad
dition, added seven new laws to the 24
already on the statute books. Among
them were provisions for: (1) Creation
of a commission on constitutional gov
ernment charged with the duty of en
lightening the public on the functions,
powers and duties of state and federal
governments and the liberties guaran
teed under the state and federal con
stitutions; (2) amending a previous
school closing law by requiring local
governing bodies in addition to school
boards to certify to the governor when
the schools cannot be reopened or re
organized and reopened; (3) amending
the Pupil Placement Act;
(4) Closing any or all schools in a
district (separate acts) in which fed
eral troops or other forces are sent to
enforce court orders; (5) creating a
new Committee on Offenses Against
the Administration of Justice; and (6)
authorizing the state Corporation Com
mission to require the filing of certain
mformation (membership rosters, fi
nancial statements) by non-profit or
ganizations engaged in the unauthor
ized practice of law in the state.
Constitutional amendments were pro
dded for in Mississippi and Louisiana.
~“ e Mississippi revision would make
the amending procedure easier. It was
accepted by the assembly as part of an
agreement that may see a subsequent
Package” amendment proposed at a
succeeding special session. This later
amendment would include provisions
°f direct bearing on the school segre
gation question such as the removal of
r ace references from the present con
stitutional requirements or separate
facilities; authorizing the legislature to
close schools and colleges under certain
circumstances; and tuition grants for
pupils. A referendum on the first
amendment is set for Aug. 26.
SCHOOL AUTHORITY BROADENED
The Louisiana amendment would
broaden the legislature’s authority in
the field of education to cover private
as well as public schools. Louisianans
vote on this amendment in November.
(For an outline of the five other school
segregation enactments adopted this
year in Louisiana, see page 3.)
The five resolutions adopted by four
state legislatures included:
Georgia—Taking notice of incidents
of violence in New York schools and
expressing the opinion that local au
thorities should be permitted to handle
such problems without interference of
federal troops.
NAACP, HEALTH STUDIES
Mississippi—(1) Calling for legisla
tive investigation of the NAACP, and
(2) calling on the state Health De
partment to make a study of disease
as a possible means of preventing
school desegregation. Reference was
made to “cystic fibrosis of the pan
creas” found in white children and of
“sickle cell anemia” found in Negroes.
South Carolina—Condemning use of
federal troops in the Little Rock crisis.
Virginia — Requesting the Virginia
Bar Association to take certain actions
relative to the unethical and unauthor
ized practice of law on the basis of re
ports by legislative committees which
investigated circumstances surrounding
instigation of desegregation suits.
The total of 21 measures represents
something of a decline in legislative
activity when compared to the 50 en
acted last year and the 84 placed on
the books during 1956.
Law Reporter,
SSN To Merge
Administration
Southern School News and the Race
Relations Law Reporter will be
merged administratively, while re
maining editorially separate.
The two factual publications are
supported by independent agencies of
the Ford Foundation. Under the merg
er, both publications will be published
by Southern Education Reporting
Service, publishers of Southern School
News.
Race Relations Law Reporter began
publication in February 1956 under di
rection of the Vanderbilt University
School of Law. Editorial content will
remain the responsibility of the law
school, with Prof. Paul H. Sanders
continuing as director of the board of
editors.
Administrative merger was approved
in March by the board of directors of
Southern Education Reporting Service
and the Vanderbilt law faculty. SERS
board members, under the chairman
ship of Frank Ahlgren, editor of the
Memphis Commercial Appeal, adopted
the following resolution:
“Be it resolved that, SERS having
been approached bv the Fund for the
Advancement of Education to assume
responsibility for production of the
Race Relations Law Reporter, it will
assume that duty as of Jan. 1, 1959,
and in the meantime will cooperate
with the Race Relations Law Reporter
in preparation of promotional material,
keeping of lists and other administra
tive problems. It is understood that full
responsibility for the contents of the
Race Relations Law Reporter, within
budgetary limitations, rests with Van
derbilt University School of Law and
that a statement of policy of the RRLR
to this effect will be contained in its
masthead.”
E lections in two states and an approaching desegregation showdown in a third highlighted midsum
mer developments over the South.
On the school front, the total of desegregated districts rose to 777 with the report from Oklahoma that
seven more districts had ended segregation quietly during the past two school years. Other school districts
in Texas, Maryland and Delaware planned extensions of existing desegregation programs.
On the political front, Arkansas’ Gov. Orval Faubus won nomination to a third term by a wide margin
over two opponents in a Democratic primary dominated by the racial issue.
In Texas, moderates won easily. Gov.
Price Daniel and U.S. Sen. Ralph W.
Yarborough were victorious in Demo
cratic primary bids for renomination.
Nomination in Arkansas and Texas,
where Democrats outnumber Repub
licans, usually means election.
OTHER CAMPAIGNS
Political campaigns moved on toward
a climax in Tennessee and Georgia.
Tennessee ballots Aug. 7 in a Demo
cratic primary which, for the first time,
has had segregation-desegregation as a
top campaign issue. Georgia votes Sept.
10 in a Democratic primary in which
the racial question has been paramount.
In Virginia, “massive resistance” ver
sus federal authority edged toward the
day of decision.
An opinion by Gov. J. Lindsay Al
mond appeared to diminish possibility
of disorders such as have occurred else
where. Almond expressed the view
that physical presence of a Negro pupil
at a white school would not be neces
sary to close the school. He held that
under Virginia law the mere assign
ment of a Negro pupil would be suf
ficient cause.
LEGAL ACTIVITIES
Legal activities in July included fed
TEXAS’ GOV. DANIEL
ARKANSAS’ GOV. FAUBUS
Winners in Democratic Primaries
The House approved and sent to the
Senate a bill to raise pay of Washington
teachers an average of 13.7 per cent.
would be against eight Negro teachers
who went to the courts after losing
their jobs in the desegregation of the
Moberly, Mo., schools.
eral district court decisions in Louisiana
and Missouri and preparations for hear
ing the appeal in the Little Rock case.
The appeal from the two and a half year
delay order of Little Rock desegregation
will be heard Aug. 4 by the entire sev
en-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit
Court in St. Louis.
In the Louisiana case, a law vesting
a legislative committee with authority
to designate white and Negro schools
was declared unconstitutional. And in
Missouri, the court found no discrim
ination in the hiring practices of the
Moberly school board.
Other major developments by states:
Alabama
The first serious challenge to Ala
bama’s public school segregation may be
ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court in
October. The high court has before it
an appeal from a three-judge federal
court decision that the state’s Pupil
Placement Law is not unconstitutional
“on its face.”
Arkansas
Rep. Brooks Hays, a moderate, de
feated a segregationist opponent in the
same primary in which Gov. Faubus
won. Both sides in the court contest
over the two-and-one-half year delay
in desegregation at Little Rock Central
High prepared arguments for presen
tation before the U. S. Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals at St. Louis, Aug. 4.
Delaware
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals
granted the Delaware Board of Educa
tion time to appeal to the U. S. Supreme
Court a court order to formulate a
general desegregation plan. The board
has until mid-August to file its petition.
A survey disclosed that 48 per cent of
the state’s public school enrollment is
in “desegregated situations.”
District of Columbia
A Senate committee asked the Jus
tice Department for all inside memor
anda involved in the presidential de
cision to send troops to Little Rock last
fall. The District school board approved
a $58 million school budget for 1959-60.
Florida
The University of Florida made prep
arations to receive its first Negro stu
dents at the fall term opening. Univer
sity officials predicted desegregation
would be accomplished without dis
order.
Georgia
The Georgia Commission on Educa
tion, organized in 1954 to seek methods
of circumventing the school segrega
tion decisions, became involved in a
controversy over the gubernatorial
campaign. The secretary resigned fol
lowing charges the commission was be
ing used to aid a candidate.
Kentucky
Gov. A. B. Chandler demanded the
resignation of the state superintendent
of public instruction following an
nouncement the education official would
manage the campaign of a guberna
torial candidate. The superintendent,
Dr. Robert R. Martin, said he would
not resign.
Louisiana
Gov. Earl K. Long signed five new
school segregation bills. They give him,
among other things, power to shut down
schools and sell the buildings to pri
vate groups rather than permit deseg
regation.
Maryland
Both Democratic and Republican
campaign platforms call upon all
Maryland counties to comply with the
Supreme Court’s school desegregation
decision. With the new school year,
Baltimore County will integrate teach
ers.
Mississippi
A legislative committee opened its
inquiry into the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored Peo
ple. A three-judge federal court took
under advisement a suit attacking the
state’s voter-registration statute as be
ing discriminatory against Negroes. The
Rev. Clennon King said he had aband
oned his efforts to enter the University
of Mississippi.
Missouri
U. S. District Judge Roy W. Harper
at St. Louis handed down a memor
andum opinion indicating a decision
North Carolina
Parents of white children in Char
lotte moved to put to use the “Pearsall
Plan” to prevent their children going
to mixed schools, raising questions in
areas not heretofore defined in the plan.
Oklahoma
Langston University, Oklahoma’s only
Negro college, received assurances of
its continued operation. Seven more
school districts were reported to have
desegregated during the past two years
bringing to 229 the number integrated
in this state.
South Carolina
A Cherokee County court acquitted
two men accused of the Nov. 17, 1957,
dynamiting of the Gaffney residence of
a doctor’s wife. She wrote an article
published in a booklet of “moderate”
statements on race relations.
Tennessee
The president of Memphis State Uni
versity said Negro applicants—number
undetermined—had passed pre-entrance
exams and probably would be enrolled
as students for the first time this fall.
Also for the first time, segregation-de
segregation issues were major elements
in statewide political campaigns.
Texas
Moderates won the Texas Democratic
primary, defeating the more ardent
candidates on the segregation-desegre
gation issue all down the line. No new
desegregation was planned in the state
for the fall, but several districts an
nounced plans for extension of existing
programs, including Austin which will
integrate its ninth grade.
Virginia
“Massive resistance” versus federal
authority is expected to come to a
showdown in Virginia with the opening
of the fall school term.' Possibility of
disorders lessened somewhat with Gov.
J. Lindsay Almond’s view that assign
ment of a Negro to a white school would
be sufficient to prevent the school open
ing. He said actual presence of the
pupil at the school would not be neces
sary to bring the Virginia school-closing
law into operation.
West Virginia
The state school superintendent an
nounced a new program to be inaugur
ated this fall to create better under
standing among the races on school de
segregation.
# # #
Alabama II
Arkansas 8
Delaware 13
Dist. of Columbia 9
Florida 14
Georgia 16
INDEX
Kentucky 2
Louisiana 3
Maryland 7
Mississippi 13
Missouri 12
North Carolina 15
Oklahoma 2
South Carolina .5
Tennessee 10
Texas 4
Virginia 6
West Virginia 5