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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