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PAGE 16—SEPTEMBER 1958—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
SOUTH CAROLINA
Status Quo Prevails; Two
More Petitions Filed
KENTUCKY
Three More Districts End
School Segregation
COLUMBIA, S .C.
n the eve of the 1958-59
school year opening, South
Carolina’s pattern of segregated
schools remained unchanged, the
only apparent ripple being the
filing of two integration petitions
in Clarendon County. (See
“School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Reaction of the Clarendon school
officials was to cite state law which
requires racial segregation in pub
lic schools.
South Carolinians in and out of pub
lic office commented favorably on the
re-election of Arkansas’ Gov. Orval E.
Faubus and unfavorably on the action
of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
in overruling a district court order sus
pending integration. South Carolina’s
office holders also were critical of
President Eisenhower’s statement indi
cating use of federal troops again to en
force federal court decrees. (See “What
They Say.”)
Two more petitions requesting the
elimination of school segregation in
Clarendon County have been filed with
school boards of Districts 2 and 3, but
no further legal action had been ini
tiated by the end of August.
Clarendon County’s District One
(Summerton) provided one of the five
cases ruled upon by the U.S. Supreme
Court in its May 17, 1954 decision ban
ning enforced segregation. That orig
inal case, Briggs v. Elliott, resulted in a
subsequent order from a three-judge
district court that the schools be de
segregated “with all deliberate speed,”
but there has been no integration in the
district.
The latest petitions were aimed at the
school authorities of the Manning and
Turbeville sections of Clarendon Coun
ty. The Manning petition, signed by six
Negroes, and the Turbeville petition,
signed by one, asked for reorganization
of the districts on a racially non-dis-
criminatory basis and cited the Su
preme Court decisions as grounds for
the requests.
SAME REPLIES
Lincoln C. Jenkins, Negro attorney of
Columbia who represents the peti
tioners, told Southern School News in
late August that identical replies had
been received from the two school
boards affected. Both said the schools
were being operated in accordance with
existing law and the school officials did
not think it wise to make any change.
The replies also said the prevailing
operation of the schools (on a segre
gated basis) was to the advantage of
the children of both races.
Jenkins said further action was
planned in behalf of the petitioners, but
he declined to say what it was or when
it would be forthcoming.
INDICATES NAACP NOT INVOLVED
Jenkins also reported he represented
the petitioners as individual parents,
conveying the impression that the peti
tions were not actively sponsored by the
National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People. The NAACP
carried the Summerton case through the
courts to its successful conclusion be
fore the U. S. Supreme Court.
Receipt of the petitions apparently
caused little excitement. Superinten
dent of Education L. B. McCord said: “I
don’t anticipate any trouble in Claren
don County.” The names of the peti
tioners, which were withheld initially
by the school boards, subsequently
were published in the News and Cou
rier (of Charleston) and other news
papers.
OFFICIALS ACCUSED OF
APPEASEMENT
Before the names were released, S.
Emory Rogers, Summerton attorney
and Citizens Council official, accused
school officials of the Manning and
Turbeville districts of “appeasement” in
withholding the names. He added that
the existence of active Citizens Councils
in the two districts would have pre
vented the filing of such petitions. Rog
ers was one of the lawyers who defended
the Summerton school board in the
Briggs v. Elliott case.
Officials of the two school districts
discussed the situation with the state’s
Special Segregation Committee. There
after, the committee chairman, State
Sen. L. Marion Gressette, of Calhoun
County, said: “We are confident that
they will handle the situation as it
should be handled.”
Meanwhile, public schools throughout
the state began the 1958-59 school year
on the segregated basis required by
South Carolina law. Since 1953, the
South Carolina General Assembly has
enacted numerous statutes aimed at
strengthening the state’s pattern of
racially segregated schools.
FACILITIES AT PEAK
School facilities in the state are at an
all-time high in terms of physical plants,
due to the expenditures made since 1951
under the state’s school equalization and
expansion program. That program, sup
ported by a three per cent general sales
tax, has resulted in the allocation of
more than $187 million for school con
struction and improvement through
Aug. 15. The distribution has been al
most 59-50 between white and Negro
schools, although early disbursements
were predominantly for Negro schools.
Population shifts within some of the
larger cities have resulted in redistribu
tion of school facilities. One such change
becomes effective this fall with the
switch of Courtenay Elementary School
at Charleston from white to Negro
occupancy. Negro school enrollment in
Charleston has increased at a fast rate
due in part to the continuing movement
of white Charlestonians to suburban
areas, and a decline in white enrollment
in parts of the city.
Developments in the Little Rock, Ark.,
school case continued to draw comment
from prominent South Carolinians.
Election of Gov. Orval E. Faubus to a
third term in Arkansas was described
by S. C. Atty. Gen. T. C. Callison
as clearly vindicating the Arkansas gov
ernor and “demonstrates the fact that
the people of Arkansas are not ready to
accept the theory that the federal courts
may enforce their own decrees.”
Former Gov. James F. Byrnes said:
“It is evident the voters of Arkansas
registered their disapproval of the use
of federal troops in the Little Rock
school.”
South Carolina newspaper editors
commented unfavorably on the decision
of the Eighth Circuit Court in over
ruling District Judge Harry J. Lemley’s
suspension of integration at Little Rock.
EISENHOWER CRITICIZED
Later in the month, when President
Eisenhower indicated that he might
again dispatch federal troops to enforce
integration orders at Little Rock, South
Carolina congressmen severely criti
cized his statement. Sen. Olin D. John
ston said: “The President has lost sight
of the fact that we all are solemnly
pledged to uphold the Constitution of
the United States [which] says nothing
whatever about the federal courts run
ning the public schools of the state.”
Sen. Strom Thurmond said: “I am ex
tremely disappointed with the President.
It seems that he will never learn that
the traditions of a people cannot be
changed through the application of raw
force.”
Differing views were expressed
earlier by ministers attending the 13th
Annual Connectional Christian Educa
tion Congress at Allen (Negro) Univer
sity at Columbia. The Rev. W. L. Hilde
brand of South Boston, Va., told the
African Methodist Episcopal ministers
at the Congress:
“The age of integration is upon us,
Gov. Faubus, Gov. Timmerman, and
Sen. Byrd notwithstanding. . . . Integra
tion is not a far-off event. We are on
the stage whether we like it or not. Our
only choice is will our role be active or
passive?”
The Rev. H. M. Nelson, of St. Peters
burg, Fla., said: “Our church must lead
this fight for total integration.”
County Judge J. Segar Gravatt of
Virginia addressed the Fairfield Citizens
Council on Aug. 14, saying: “The
country faces a great crisis in constitu
tional government because of the
usurpation of power by the Supreme
Court.”
Democratic party leaders from all
states of the Southeast met in Columbia
Aug. 9 and 10 in what was described as
“a work conference” aimed at develop
ing liaison between the southern Demo
crats and exchanging ideas on party
organization. The meetings were closed,
but at a press conference Aug. 10, Hugh
Clayton, national committeeman from
Mississippi, termed the gathering a suc
cessful effort to bring Democratic lead
ers together for the good of the party.
No mention was made of third party
talk or of any possible defection from
the national party. There was some
acknowledgment, however, that anti-
southem statements from National
Chairman Paul Butler and the Demo
cratic Advisory Council hampered party
activities in the South.
BETTER LIAISON AIM
The meeting was an outgrowth of ef
forts by South Carolina’s new state
chairman, Thomas H. Pope, to achieve
closer cohesion among Democrats of the
southern states between now and the
1960 presidential election year. Those
in attendance at the Columbia confer
ence were “regulars” in the sense of
having stood by the Democratic party
in the face of considerable defections
by some Democrats for Eisenhower in
1952 and 1956.
If racial matters were discussed, they
were not disclosed to the press.
James McBride Dabbs, a South Caro
linian who heads the Southern Regional
Council, is the author of a new book
which raps segregation as an unnec
essary and unsavory vestige of bygone
days. The book was published Aug. 18
by Alfred A. Knopf.
Dabbs places heavy stress on the
economic aspects of segregation, ascrib
ing much of its inception and perpetua
tion to economic factors. He belittles
southern fears that the end of segrega
tion would bring an end to southern
culture and scoffs at fears that any
appreciable inter-breeding or lowering
of scholastic standards would result
from integration.
Dabbs is a one-time college professor
who now farms in the Mayesville com
munity of Sumter County.
# # #
West Virginia
(Continued From Page 14)
behind the national educational aver
age.
Kanawha County completed its pro
gram of desegregation two years ago.
West Virginia colleges, which en
rolled approximately 26,000 students
last year, anticipated a total part-time
and full-time enrollment this fall of
29,000 students.
H. K. Baer, executive secretary of the
state Board of Education, cited a 20.4
per cent increase in summer students
at state colleges as evidence that more
West Virginians are seeking a higher
education.
In Kanawha County, where privately-
endowed Morris Harvey College is
segregated and state-supported West
Virginia State is desegregated, college
enrollment was expected to go above
4,000. State anticipates a total enroll
ment of 2,200 whites and Negroes;
Morris Harvey 2,000 whites.
The Charleston area will have a new
institution of higher learning this fall—
the Graduate Center of Science and
Engineering, a branch of the Univers
ity. It opens Sept. 12 on the West Vir
ginia State campus.
Like other state-operated institutions,
it will be desegregated. The center was
created by act of the last Legislature
and must be self-supporting.
Another West Virginia college,
Storer, appears closed for good. Opened
after the Civil War at Harpers Ferry as
a private Negro college, Storer re
mained in existence until the Legisla
ture withdrew its state subsidy in 1955.
The Legislature felt it could no
longer support a segregated college—
even to the extent of the $20,000 Storer
got each year—after state colleges were
desegregated.
Bluefield State College, in difficulty
since it was changed in 1954 from a
Negro to a desegregated college, ex
pects enrollment this fall to be 100
above the 425 enrolled last year. In
1957-58 Bluefield had 75 white and 350
Negro students.
In answer to an SSN questionnaire.
West Virginia college presidents said
they have no new plans this fall in the
desegregation field. Their schools are
open to students of all races, they said
in effect, and nothing more can be done.
# # #
LOUISVILLE, Ky.
ENTUCKY BEGAN ITS 1958-59
school year with four added
high schools and three new dis
tricts enrolling Negroes for the
first time this September. There
were no incidents.
It was the fourth successive
year in which the state’s official
program of compliance has been
expanded.
The schools enrolling Negroes for the
first time were:
Fulton City, in Southwest Kentucky,
where 20 Negroes were enrolled along
with 161 white children; Bardstown
Independent, in Central Kentucky,
where six ninth grade Negroes were
admitted with 225 whites; and two
Nelson County high schools nearby—
Bloomfield and Old Kentucky Home,
the former enrolling 11 ninth grade
Negroes and 179 white children, the
latter enrolling three ninth grade Ne
groes and 322 white pupils. The Nel
son County development followed
elimination of the ninth grade at the
Bardstown Training School for Ne
groes.
In addition, Owen County High,
under court orders planned to add
eight Negroes to its 356 white students
on Sept. 8.
At Sturgis High, where National
Guardsmen were called out to put
down disorders in 1956, 25 Negroes re
turned without incident on Sept. 2.
None appeared at nearby Clay, where
the courts ordered the school opened
to Negroes last year.
SCHOOL STATISTICS
New-year statistics (and estimates)
at a glance:
Total public school enrollment:
560,000 whites, 40,000 Negroes (from a
school-age census showing 680,595
whites, 46,920 Negroes). Census increase
over last year, reflected in the enroll
ment estimate is 9,357.
Total school districts: 215. Districts
with no school-age Negroes: 44. Bi-
racial districts: 171. Desegregated dis
tricts (with programs ranging from one
or two to all grades, though 20 in this
announced classification last year ac
tually had no mixed classes): 117. Dis
tricts with no announced plans: 54.
No districts are planning to “re
segregate” to the knowledge of Dr.
Robert R. Martin, state Superintendent
of Public Instruction.
MORE MONEY
Total state-and-local school budget
for the new year is $132 million—$100.6
million from state-aid and local min
imum-tax yields, an increase of $6
million over last year, and about $32
million from school taxes in excess of
minimum legal requirements.
Overcrowding will still exist in some
schools, but will be lessened by the
building of 700 additional classrooms in
each of the past two years (under local
district revenue-bond financing totaling
$22.3 million in 1956-57—double that of
the year before—and $17.1 million in
1957- 58.) A similar increase of about
700 new classrooms is expected in
1958- 59.
The three new districts desegregating
this fall, all at the high school level,
are Fulton City and Owen County (both
under federal court orders), and
Bardstown Independent.
Fulton, in southwestern Kentucky,
has a total school-age population of 602
whites, 131 Negroes. Its high school
last year enrolled 198 white pupils. By
board announcement, following federal
district court orders previously re
ported in Southern School News, it
planned to enroll 23 Negro pupils on
Sept. 2.
DESEGREGATES
Owen County, in north-central Ken
tucky, has a total school-age popula
tion of 1,704 whites, 91 Negroes. Last
year the Owen County High School
enrolled 356 white pupils. In a pattern
similar to that at Fulton—court orders
after suit by the NAACP—school Supt.
Howard Smith said late in August he
anticipated enrollment of eight Negro
pupils on Sept. 8.
The Owen County school board was
also ordered last February to make “a
prompt and reasonable start” toward
integration of elementary grades. Coun
ty voters will be asked in the Novem
ber election to approve a tax increase
to finance new elementary school con
struction. If they fail to do so, James
Crumlin, Louisville attorney and Ken
tucky NAACP head, said on Aug. 21 his
organization “probably would press for
integration in present facilities.”
Supt. Ted Crosswaite of Bardstown
last spring announced September would
bring the first “formal” integration in
Bardstown High School—at the ninth
grade level. The high school last year
enrolled 219 white pupils and this year
expected several Negro pupils to trans
fer from the Bardstown Training
School, which last year had a total
high school enrollment of 83 but which
no longer will have a ninth grade.
This “formal” program follows what
Crosswaite termed “a four year period
of gradually effecting integration.” The
earlier steps included opening gyms and
playgrounds of white schools to Negro
students, and the “partial integration”
of individual classes at Bardstown High
in such subjects as typing and indus
trial arts—a program extended this
month to mathematics and science.
EXTENDED PROGRAMS
Districts with announced plans to ex
tend established integration programs
this year included Wayne County, Hop
kinsville and Owensboro.
Wayne County, under Supt. Ira C.
Bell, was the first Kentucky district
to announce and initiate a desegrega
tion program—in the summer of 1955.
Last year Wayne County High School
enrolled 581 white and seven Negro
pupils, and two county elementary
schools with a white enrollment of 170
each enrolled two Negro pupils.
On Aug. 18 the county system opened
a new $400,000 elementary school at the
southern city limits of the county seat,
Monticello (an independent district
whose high school last year had 265
white and 17 Negro pupils). The new
school’s enrollment, which permitted
the abandonment of 18 small rural
schools, is 751 whites, 20 Negroes.
THIRD GRADE MIXED
In Hopkinsville, which has a school-
age population of 2,071 whites and 928
Negroes (in the elementary system,
1,468 whites and 642 Negroes), the
board of education on Aug. 16 an
nounced plans to integrate third grade
pupils in September.
This follows first grade integration in
1956, second grade integration in 1957,
under a system largely prevalent in
Kentucky whereby parents of pupils in
integrated classes can transfer them to
other schools with the superintendent’s
permission.
The board statement indicated that
the rate of future integration “will be
determined each year in terms of what
will appear a practical and workable
solution.”
OWENSBORO PROGRAM
An example of the gradual and “vol
untary” planning common to many
Kentucky districts is that of Owens
boro, which prepared to end all com
pulsory segregation in the city system
in September.
In September 1955, the board of ed
ucation permitted Negroes at Western
High School to take courses at Senior
and Owensboro Technical High schools
not available at Western.
In September 1956, the board opened
its three high schools to students of any
race.
In September 1957, junior high
schools, grades 7 through 10, were
opened to all students.
LOWER GRADES INVOLVED
In May 1958, the all-white board by
unanimous vote announced the Septem
ber opening of Grades 1 through 6 in
any school to all children, a step rec
ommended by its racially mixed Inte
gration Committee, with the whole pro
gram capped by this declaration:
“No child in Owensboro from grades
1 to 12 shall be denied enrollment in
any public school of this city because
of his race.”
Emphasis on free choice and per
missive features of the program so far
has met with an absence of friction—
and a high degree of voluntary segre
gation. Owensboro has a total school-
age population of 7,551 whites and 567
Negroes (in the elementary schools,
3,440 whites and 362 Negroes). Last
year Owensboro High enrolled 756
whites and 21 Negroes; Technical High
enrolled 173 whites and 8 Negroes.
# # *