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LOUISIANA
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—AUGUST 1958—PAGE 3
Gov. Long Signs Five New Segregation
Measures Empowering School Closing
oCeffcid drti^ice
Court Voids Louisiana Law
Here is the text of the July 1 decision by U.S. District Judge J. Shelly Wright
in the case of Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board:
This litigation is long standing. On Feb. 15, 1956 this court, after declaring
certain state laws compelling segregation in the public schools of the state of
Louisiana unconstitutional, restrained and enjoined this defendant, and persons
acting in concert with it, from “requiring and permitting segregation of the races
in any school under their supervision, from and after such time as may be neces
sary to make arrangements for admission of children to such schools on a racial
ly nondiscriminatory basis with all deliberate speed as required by the decision of
the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, supra.
In order to avoid the effect of the ruling of this court in this case requiring de
segregation in the public schools of the city of New Orleans, the legislature of the
state of Louisiana passed Act 319 of 1956. Relying on Section 3 of that act, the
defendant herein has moved to vacate this court’s injunction and dismiss the liti
gation on the ground that, by reason of this section, the defendant herein, Orleans
Parish School Board, no longer controls the classification of public schools as be
tween Negro and white children.
It would serve no useful purpose to labor this matter. The Supreme Court has
ruled that compulsory segregation by law is discriminatory and violative of the
equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Brown v. Board of Educa
tion of Topeka, 349 U.S. 294. Any legal artifice, however cleverly contrived, which
would circumvent this ruling, and others predicated on it, is unconstitutional on
its face. Such an artifice is the statute in suit.
Motion to dismiss denied.
NEW ORLEANS, La.
( "'i ov. Earl K. Long’s signature
T went on five new school seg
regation bills. When public schools
reopen for the fall term, he will
have the power to shut them
down and sell buildings to private
groups rather than permit a school
to be desegregated. (See “Legis
lative Action.”)
A new federal court decision in
the test case for Louisiana schools
resulted in another victory for
Negroes seeking desegregation.
Judge J. Skelly Wright invali
dated a 1956 act making the legis
lature the authority for school
race policies. He also re-affirmed
his 1956 injunction against school
segregation in New Orleans. (See
“Legal Action.”) However, inte
gration in the state’s largest
school district did not seem im
minent.
Two new school desegregation suits
were filed in federal court here July
29. They are listed as Jamesetta Henley
et al v. LSU Board of Supervisors and
Ed Samuel Allen et al v. State Depart
ment of Education.
Mrs. Henley and 10 other Negro
plaintiffs seek admittance to the LSU
branch at New Orleans which opens in
September with its first freshman class.
They charge LSUNO Registrar W. R.
Burleson turned them down on grounds
state laws forbade their admission.
LSU’s Baton Rouge campus currently is
desegregated by federal court order.
Allen and others seek admission to a
white state trade school at Shreveport.
A desegregation suit against five other
trade schools is pending. No hearing
dates have been set for the new cases.
The three investigations of “pro
integration” and “subversive” influences
at state colleges slowed down, but
probe leaders promised action before
the fall school term begins. (See “In
the Colleges.”)
Five new school segregation bills be
came part of state law over the signa
ture of Gov. Long.
These bills give him the power to
close down schools ordered desegre
gated—and either leave them closed,
reopen them on a segregated basis if
possible, or turn public schools into
“private” segregated, state-financed in
stitutions.
A sixth school bill which passed both
houses would amend the state constitu
tion. It must secure voter approval.
PACKAGE SCHOOL PLAN
As with the 1954 and 1956 segregation
laws, the new ones form a “package”
JUDGE J. SKELLY WRIGHT
embracing parts of an overall plan.
They are:
Act 187 (originally House Bill 941)
authorizes continued pay for school
employes idled by a close-down of
schools to avoid integration.
Act 256 (originally H-942) permits
the governor to shut down any school
in a district in which one school is or
dered integrated; also to authorize sale
of school properties to groups which
would operate them as segregated pri
vate facilities.
Act 257 (originally H-943) sets rules
for “cooperatives” among parents,
which would operate private schools on
former public school properties.
Act 258 (originally H-944) provides
grants from the state to pay for edu
cating children at cooperative schools.
Act 259 (originally H-945) sets up
criteria (other than race) for pupil as
signment by district superintendents.
The constitutional amendment (orig
inally H-948) invests in the Legislature
the authority for providing education
for Louisiana’s school-age children,
either in public or private schools.
In other legislative action affecting
segregation:
VOIDS FUND BILL
1) Gov. Long vetoed a bill which
would have provided a $20,00 fund for
the state attorney general’s office to be
used for defense expenses in segrega
tion suits. He said a separate appro
priation was unnecessary, and the at
torney general could apply to the board
of liquidation of the state debt for
segregation defense money when it is
needed.
2) The governor vetoed a bus seg
regation bill. It would have given the
first person in a two-place bus seat the
right to choose who may sit next to
him. He said he did it mainly because
the White Citizens Councils in New
Orleans, the city which got the state’s
first transit desegregation last June 1,
opposed the bill. Dr. Emmett Lee Ir
win, chairman of the Councils, said the
bill would “cause humiliation and em
barrassment to white persons.” State
Sen. William Rainach supported the
bill.
3) Long signed a bill requiring the
labeling of blood plasma according to
the race of the donor, except in emer
gencies and in disaster areas.
Federal District Judge J. Skelly
Wright turned aside a bid by the Or
leans Parish (County) School Board to
be removed from participation in the
marathon desegregation suit involving
New Orleans public schools. (Bush v.
Orleans School Board.)
Judge Wright ruled that the school
board is a proper defendant to the suit.
In doing so, he rejected the contention
by school board attorney Gerard A.
Rault that Act 319 of 1956 substituted
the state legislature for school boards
as the correct defendant in segregation
suits. The judge then declared Act 319
unconstitutional. (See text of the deci
sion elsewhere on this page.)
If Judge Wright had ruled in favor
of the school board, the effect would
have been nullification of the entire
case—including the temporary injunc
tion against school segregation in New
Orleans which he handed down Feb.
15, 1956.
NEW DATE FOR HEARING
Attorney Rault immediately an
nounced he would request a rehearing
on the ruling, and Aug. 5 was the day
set for hearing his arguments.
Act 319 was written as strictly a
“New Orleans” measure. It was phrased
to apply only to cities with populations
Southern School News wishes to
correct a report published last month
that Prof. H. W. Ibser of Northwestern
(Louisiana) State College was dis
missed for “insubordination” in con
nection with his circulation of a
Louisiana Civil Liberties Union peti
tion opposing pending school segrega
tion legislation. Commenting on this re
port, Dr. John S. Kyser, president of
the college, said:
“Nobody was dismissed from our fac
ulty because of the petition. Nobody
even came close. The ACLU issue was
not raised with Prof. Ibser here. He
and one other faculty member had
signed it. . . . Should Dr. Ibser take a
position elsewhere, it is because the
new position affords an opportunity to
do even more high level research in his
field, physics.”
Subsequently, Dr. Ibser said he has
accepted a position, beginning in the
fall, at Lincoln University, Jefferson
City, Mo., as associate professor and
head of the department of physics. He
said negotiations for this job began
early in April.
# # #
of 300,000 or more—New Orleans is the
only such in the state.
The widely held opinion around New
Orleans and the state is that desegre
gation in public schools will not begin
this fall, even if the court should make
its injunction permanent and operative.
Public school officials have stated they
have undertaken no “just in case” plan
for school integration. They also have
said the reorganization of the school
system along integrated lines “would
take months, perhaps years.”
The rush of the legislature to ad
journ at mid-month obscured the three
investigations of state colleges ordered
during the session. But the chairmen
of these probes said they would push
for action during the fall.
In addition to the three investiga
tions, colleges were affected by a rul
ing from Atty. Gen. Jack Gremillion.
He declared that every member of the
Louisiana State University faculty
must sign the “loyalty oath” prescribed
by a 1950 state act. Segregation com
mittee members had asked Gremillion
whether professors hired before the
1950 oath was passed had to comply
with the law, as well as those employed
after 1950. Gremillion replied that all
faculty members had to swear they
were loyal to the U. S. government.
PROBES ON THREE FRONTS
The three investigations, and results
so far:
1) A 10-man committee under Sen.
Rainach probed for pro-integration
sentiments at LSU, where 66 faculty
members had signed a petition urging
defeat of the Rainach committee’s
school segregation proposals. This in
vestigation was begun June 10. On
July 3, Rainach announced his inves
tigators found no LSU teachers ex
pounding desegregation in classrooms.
But he said he found five who openly
advocated integration outside the class
rooms and 10 more who believe in
race-mixing.
Rainach said the commitee will make
a full report before the LSU fall term
begins.
2) A seven-man committee was
formed under Rep. Lester Vetter of
Red River Parish to make an investi
gation of desegregation sentiments at
all other state universities. This com
mittee apparently has been inactive.
3) Sen. F. E. Cole set out, with a
seven-man committee, to look for un-
American activities at all state colleges,
including LSU. He scheduled a public
hearing Aug. 29 in Baton Rouge.
Cole said he had “no specific knowl
edge” of subversive influence at the
colleges and didn’t expect to find much,
if any. He added his committee’s pur
pose is to show parents disturbed by
developments at LSU that “our cam
puses are clean, and they can stop
worrying.
“If there are isolated instances [of
Communist influence],” he said, “then
they can be brought to the attention
of the proper college officials.”
Gov. Long and Sen. Rainach had
their first public clash during a budget
committee hearing. Their hotly-flung
words may have a bearing on the 1960
governor’s race, in which Rainach is a
likely candidate and a Long-picked
hopeful will be running with adminis
tration blessing.
“I’m 1,000 per cent for segregation,”
Long said. “Just as much for it as Mr.
Rainach. But I don’t think you should
use the race question to run for office
on.
Turning to Rainach, the governor
said, “Every time you say nigger (sic)
you scare everybody in the state to
death... A lot of people aren’t with
you, but they’re scared not to be.”
Rainach made no reply. Then Long
said he wasn’t referring specifically to
Rainach when he talked about running
for governor on a race platform, add
ing, “I believe Sen. Rainach has a
kindly feeling toward the Negro.”
# # #
Oklahoma
(Continued From Page 2)
groes in the district live about seven
miles away. Some years ago their
school, Rosenwald, was annexed to the
Henryetta district. Besides pupils in the
immediate vicinity, it served Negroes
from Nuyaka, Rocky Hill, Schulter and
Wilson, also in the southern part of the
county. The school had an enrollment
of 71 in 1955-56.
Institution of the new state aid and
transportation policies forced the other
districts to keep their Negro pupils at
home. As a result, Rosenwald’s enroll
ment dropped too low for the school
to remain in operation. The seven or
eight Negro students left were taken
mto the Henryetta schools.
We explained the situation to our
people for two or three years and pre
pared them for what we could see
coming,” Dr. Battles said, “So, when it
was necessary to transfer the Negroes
rom Rosenwald into town, we had no
Problem or argument or discussion at
all.”
first negro graduate
. superintendent said a Negro girl
! n 1958 senior class was the first of
er race to graduate from Henryetta
Hl §h School.
, ^’ e two Negro pupils who enrolled
m the Moore schools in 1957-58 came
a family which moved into the
strict, some 15 miles east of town,
u Ph Paul E, Jordan said. They are
both of elementary age. Moore, located
about six miles south of Oklahoma
City, has no Negroes within its city
limits.
Milbum is the only “Little Dixie”
school of the seven districts newly
listed as desegregated. Gans is in a
county bordering on “Little Dixie”—
that area of southeastern Oklahoma
most opposed to integration—but the
others are located in the eastern, cen
tral and southwestern portions of the
state.
With the seven districts added to the
desegregation list in July, plus six more
in June, the total for Oklahoma now
stands at 229. All the annual statistical
reports from superintendents have not
been turned in, however, and it is pos
sible a few more instances of integra
tion may be disclosed.
HASSLE OVER RECORDS
A hassle in Okmulgee County over
inspection of transfer records had no
further repercussions in July. But the
county superintendent, Doyle Sullivan,
in whose office the records are kept for
dependent school districts, explained
his interpretation of a ruling issued in
June by County Atty. Harry D. Pitch-
ford.
Representatives of the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Colored
People had appealed to Pitchford for an
opinion after Sullivan refused them
permission to inspect the transfer
records. John B. White, state youth di
rector for the NAACP, said he was
investigating complaints Negro students
were forced to travel 21 miles through
two segregated school districts to at
tend class.
Pitchford ruled that school records of
the county are to be open for public
inspection at any time to taxpayers and
citizens of the state.
Sullivan said that, after the county
attorney’s ruling, he allowed the
NAACP representatives to see the
transfer applications of the 36 Negro
high school students involved. The
pupils are to be transferred from Lib
erty, which is still segregated, and
Preston, desegregated on court order
last autumn (SSN, October 1957), to
Negro schools at Hoffman (Grayson)
and Wheatley, respectively.
“They [the NAACP representatives!
want to look at the white transfers,
too,” Sullivan said. “I told them
it was none of their business. The
county attorney backed me up. He said
they could see the records as long as
they were proper parties. And I didn’t
figures those [Negroes] were proper
parties to look at white transfers.”
The upshot was that Sullivan per
mitted the NAACP to look at transfer
applications covering Negro children
but not those for white students. He
said the NAACP has made no further
attempt to inspect the records.
Oklahoma’s National Guard units will
go to Fort Hood, Texas, Aug. 10-24 for
their annual summer encampment. It
will be the Guard’s first integrated en
campment in its peacetime history, a
result of the enlistment of 166 Negroes
following removal of a racial ban last
March. The total strength of the Guard
at last count was 8,032.
“We don’t anticipate any trouble and
we’re planning no extra precautions,”
said Lt. Col. John H. McCasland, exec
utive officer to the adjutant general.
“We don’t entertain any idea along that
line at all. We’ve had no objections [to
acceptance of Negroes] so far, and
we’re pleased with the way the pro
gram is going.”
A precedent to integration of the
National Guard was set during the
Korean War when it was federalized
as the 45th Division. Negroes served
beside white youths on active duty at
that time, Col. McCasland said, and
about 17 per cent of the offiers and men
now in the National Guard were in the
45th in Korea.
The executive officer said Negro en
listments came from widely scattered
points in the state. As a matter of fact,
he went on, the Negroes did not re
spond to the lowering of the racial bar
rier as enthusiastically as expected.
While processing of enlistment appli
cations is done by unit commanders, it
would be hard for them to reject any
prospective Guardsmen on account of
race because all papers are forwarded
to the state headquarters “and we
would have heard if there had been
any complaints of discrimination,” Col.
McCasland said.
Although Oklahoma has gone about
as far as any other southern or border
state in complying with the Supreme
Court desegregation rulings, there still
is considerable anti-integration senti
ment in the state. A Sand Springs
(Tulsa County) school official gave
evidence of this recently (SSN, July
1958). Further evidence came last
month from Supt. Doyle Sullivan as he
discussed the controversy over NAACP
efforts to inspect pupil transfer records
(see above).
“I’m told Okmulgee County is the
slowest county in Oklahoma to inte
grate,” he said, “and I’ve been blamed
for it. I’m willing to accept that blame.
I don’t know if I’m the entire cause of
it, but I’m to blame all I can be. I’m
conscientiously opposed to integration.”
Actually, Okmulgee County is not
the “slowest to integrate.” At least four
of its school districts have been de
segregated. As far as can be deter
mined, no integration has occurred in
any of the public schools of Atoka,
Carter, Choctaw or McCurtan counties,
all in “Little Dixie.”
# # #