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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—SEPTEMBER 1958—PAGE 9
Maryland
(Continued from Page 8)
tion of secondary schools is to proceed
a grade a year through 1963.
OTHER GRADES MIXED
• Howard County, to the west of
Baltimore, opened the seventh grade of
white schools to Negro admissions this
month, having previously desegregated
the first five grades in the fall of 1956
and the sixth grade last fall.
• Anne Arundel County, lying south
of Baltimore, extends desegregation to
the fifth and sixth grades this year, after
opening the first three grades in 1956
and the fourth in 1957.
• Talbot County, which is the only
Eastern Shore county with the excep
tion of Cecil to have any mixed classes,
admitted Negroes on a selected basis
to the first three grades of white schools
in 1956. The older children advanced to
the fourth grade last year and enter the
fifth grade this fall.
CHARLES COUNTY PROGRAM
• Charles County, in southern Mary
land, began its desegregation in the first
grade in 1956, approving the admission
of five Negro pupils to white classes.
Only two of them finished the first year.
By normal progression these two would
be entering the third grade this fall
under a grade-a-year integration plan.
But testimony in federal court (see “Le
gal Action”) revealed the two young
sters repeated the first grade last year
and thus enter the second grade this
fall. Another Negro child enters the first
grade.
• In addition to the counties pro
ceeding with gradual desegregation
plans or which have been enumerated
above, four counties have all grades
open and some mixed classes under pro
grams begun in 1955. These are the cen
tral and western counties of Allegany,
Washington and Carroll and the Eastern
Shore county of Cecil. Six of the nine
Shore counties have policies under
which Negroes may apply for transfers
but had received no applications by late
August.
The school board of Dorchester Coun
ty, on the Eastern Shore, announced in
August its policy of considering Negro
applications for transfers to white
classes would be extended in the new
school year to the 10th grade. Dorches
ter began its voluntary desegregation
program with the opening of the 12th
grade in 1956 and has worked down
ward a grade a year. No transfer appli
cations were received this summer or
during the two previous years.
The Dorchester policy calls for giving
consideration to all “bona fide requests”
in the light of “present enrollments,
availability and teacher assignments.”
Desegregation from the top grade down
ward was adopted as the school board’s
policy, “since the socio-economic status
of the children at that age in the public
schools is more alike.” In five other
Maryland counties having stair-step
plans, desegregation has started in the
lowest grades.
13 TEACHERS INTEGRATED
Baltimore County school authorities
reported in August the inauguration of
mixed school staffs this fall would in
volve the assignment of 13 Negro teach
ers to eight integrated (predominantly
white) secondary schools. The teachers
are being shifted out of two Negro
schools in a move that, in effect, in
volves having Negro teachers follow
after the Negro pupils who have been
absorbed in previously all-white
schools. One of the Negro schools is the
former Carver Junior-Senior High
School in Towson which is being con
verted into a predominantly white jun
ior high. (See “Under Survey.”)
A school spokesman said the Negro
teachers making the move had been
carefully selected. Eight of the 13 have
master’s degrees, and all have from
our to 17 years of experience in county
schools.
J^ke Prince George’s County Board of
Education was asked in August to be
gin teacher integration. The request was
made by state and county representa
tives of NAACP. Principal spokesman
w f* s Tucker R. Dearing, of Baltimore,
who handles much of the NAACP legal
work in Maryland. James H. Harrison,
county school board chairman, said the
request would be taken under advise
ment.
Integration of teachers previously has
m>t been much of an issue in Maryland.
" me mixing of staffs has occurred in
altimore city and four of the 13 coun-
es that have had pupil desegregation;
1 is to start in Baltimore County this
month.
# # #
FLORIDA
One Negro Student Is Approved For Graduate Level
MIAMI, Fla.
E 1 orida children marched to
school in record numbers on
opening day without a single in
cident or a single child in inte
grated situations.
University of Florida officials
announced one of two Negroes
applying for admission to the law
school had qualified, but withheld
identity until he actually enters
classes. (See “In the Colleges.”)
Decision on integration at the ele
mentary level was postponed beyond
school opening as ruling was delayed
in a pending suit in Dade County. (See
“Legal Action.”)
Segregation remained a minor issue
in Florida’s heated senatorial primary
(see “Political Activity”), but Gov. Le-
Roy Collins called for a six month mo
ratorium on court ordered integration.
(See “What They Say.”)
As Florida’s universities prepared to
begin indoctrination classes Sept. 15
the question of whether Negro students
will attend classes with whites still was
in the air.
The University of Florida, ordered
by federal court to admit any qualified
Negro to its graduate schools, an
nounced two had applied and taken
entrance tests.
AGAIN TAKES TESTS
First to apply was Virgil Hawkins,
50-year-old Daytona Beach Negro
whose nine year fight to enter the law
school resulted in the court order. It
was the second time Hawkins took the
entrance tests. Last year he was given
a grade of 200, the minimum require
ment for admission having just been
raised to 340. Hawkins questioned his
score in a court action, but the point
was never settled.
This year Hawkins’ application was
made after the deadline, but John Mc-
Quitty, university examiner, said he
appeared with a “legitimate certificate”
from the testing service.
APPLICANT UNCERTAIN
A second Negro, Carl R. Osborne, 25,
of Jacksonville, said he was not cer
tain whether he would enter the law
school even if he successfully passes
the tests. He said he took the exami
nation from “curiosity” and had no
particular school in mind.
One of the two applicants has quali
fied but he has not been identified.
A survey of attitudes on segregation
was made among teachers and pros
pective teachers attending summer
courses at the University of Florida
College of Education. The poll was un
official, being part of the work of a
group studying caste and class in a
socio - economics foundation class.
However, the 543 returns from 1,000
questionnaires distributed “represented
a good cross-section of probable atti
tudes,” the report said.
The basic question was: “Are you op
posed to the mixing of Negro and white
students in schools?”
Answers (all in percentages) were:
At graduate level, Yes 26, No 71; Un
decided, 3; at college level, Yes 42, No
54, Undecided 4; at high school level,
Yes 62, No 34, Undecided 4; at ele
mentary level, Yes 61, No 36, Unde
cided 3.
REPLIES VARY
The questionnaire separated re
sponses according to areas of birth, and
if Floridians, areas of the state in
which they taught. Separation also was
made by levels at which the respond
ents taught.
The report pointed out increased op
position as the questions approached
the level being taught by the teacher.
Geographical factors also caused wide
variation. For example, as regards con
tinued segregation in high school,
Northeast Florida teachers voted 80
yes, 20 no, while South Florida teach
ers voted 43 yes, 60 no, and 7 unde
cided.
Other questions:
Would you continue your job as a
teacher if Negroes were admitted to the
school in which you were?
Yes, 71; No, 11; Undecided, 12.
Would you continue in your class
room even though teachers around you
were walking out?
Yes, 52; No, 13; Undecided, 35.
Would you look for some organiza
tion or organizations to join, hoping
that monetary contributions could find
legal means of removing Negroes from
your schools?
Yes, 11; No, 71; Undecided, 18.
Do you believe children should be
taught that the Supreme Court deci
sions are the law of the land and
should be obeyed?
Yes, 69; No, 12; Undecided, 19.
Would you actively join organiza
tions to improve school relations be
tween Negroes and Whites?
Yes, 56; No, 22; Undecided, 22.
Would you attend graduate school in
which Negroes are admitted?
Yes, 92; No, 7; Undecided, 1.
Would you live in the same dormi
tories with Negroes?
Yes, 61; No, 35; Undecided, 4.
As a parent, would you permit your
child to sit in the same classroom with
Negroes?
Yes, 74; No, 22; Undecided, 4.
District Judge Joseph P. Lieb in Mi
ami postponed until late September his
decision in the key test of school seg
regation in Florida. (Gibson et al v.
Board of Public Instruction of Dade
County.)
After two and one-half days of testi
mony, he granted attorneys time to
read the record and prepare briefs on
the question: Are Florida schools seg
regated by race under the pupil as
signment law?
Key witness, both for the plaintiff
and the defendant, was Dade School
Superintendent Joe Hall. He said there
is no racial segregation in the Dade
The fact that every one of Dade’s
140,000 pupils attends all-white or all-
Negro schools is due 90 per cent to ge
ographical factors, he stated, and 10 per
cent to choice.
“We build schools where the people
live,” he testified.
The superintendent detailed assign
ment procedures under state law. Prior
to adoption of this law, Dr. Hall said,
Dade schools were segregated by race.
When the law became effective in 1956,
all pupils for purposes of expediency
were assigned to schools they were at
tending at the time.
Registration forms were prepared, to
be filled out in classrooms by pupils
during spring registration, and by par-
JOHN C. BROWN
Dade County Plaintiff
ents of new pupils by calling at schools
prior to the new term. These forms
fisted the schools presently attended,
school requested, and there were pro
visions for transfer and reassignment.
Assignment was made by the central
administrative office on the basis of
these cards.
All principals were instructed orally,
several testified, that they were not to
accept applications from pupils to at
tend schools of another race, but to re
fer these promptly to the central office.
However, Dr. Hall said, no assign
ment was based on race. Factors under
the pupil assignment law were health,
safety, education and general welfare
of the individual and to “eliminate any
socio-economic class consciousness in
the classroom.”
The superintendent said in 1957 there
were 14,184 requests for assignment to
a particular school and 1,674 applica
tions for reassignment after the origi
nal assignment was made. Records
showed only 41 were denied and only
two, both white, appealed to the school
board. The board overruled one, al
lowed the administrative decision to
stand in the other.
There was no way to tell how many
of the 41 were Negroes, Dr. Hall said,
because there is no mention of races in
the records.
The suit is based on contentions of
two Negro parents, the Rev. Theodore
Gibson, Episcopal minister and NAACP
leader, and Dr. John O. Brown, a phy
sician, that their children were denied
the right to attend schools nearest their
homes because of race. They protested
the assignment to a Negro school. Dr.
Brown asked a public hearing, later
withdrew the request.
SAYS CHILD SHUNTED
One mother, Mrs. Muriel Vaughns,
testified she telephoned the school ad
ministration office from a mixed neigh
borhood and was directed to enroll her
child in a nearby white school. Upon
appearing there and announcing she
was an American Negro, she was dis
patched to a Negro school three miles
away. She testified the white principal
told her: “We are not integrated yet.”
On Aug. 26, the U.S. Fifth Circuit
Court, sitting in New Orleans, reversed
a federal district judge’s ruling in a
two-year-old school desegregation case
involving Palm Beach County schools
(Holland v. Palm. Beach County Board
of Public Instruction).
The appellate court remanded the
case to the district court which ruled
July 5, 1957 that the Negro plaintiff
had not been kept out of Northboro
school in West Palm Beach because of
his race. The appeals court said “a
completely segregated public school
system is being maintained and en
forced in Palm Beach County.”
The rival candidates for U.S. Senate,
incumbent Spessard L. Holland and ex-
Sen. Claude Pepper, continued to touch
on the segregation issue, but it has not
become paramount in this hard fought
campaign for the Democratic nomina
tion.
Latest discussion centered around the
various court rulings in the Little Rock
case.
Holland: “I greatly deplore the rul
ing ordering a resumption of mixed
classes at Little Rock.”
Striking at Pepper’s liberal record,
Holland said, “The decision [to resume
mixed classes at Little Rock, later
stayed for appeal] makes it clearer than
ever that we should not send a per
son to the Senate whose position on
civil rights is as far removed from the
thinking of the people of Florida as my
opponent.”
Pepper: “Perhaps the U.S. Supreme
Court could modify the appellate court
decision [to resume mixed classes],
“Generally speaking the Supreme
Court has given prime consideration to
the district court closest to the com
munity affected.”
KASPER FREED
Released from the federal reformatory
at Tallahassee, where he served eight
months for contempt of court in the
Clinton, Tenn., school disorders, John
Kasper, segregationist leader, an
nounced he plans to organize a “new
political force” to replace the existing
major parties. It would be dedicated
to segregation.
Segregationists from several states,
including representatives of Citizens
Councils and Ku Klux Klans, were on
hand to greet Kasper upon his release.
The welcome was billed in advance as
a demonstration of solidarity among the
various groups and the birth of a drive
to choke off school segregation.
In an effort to avoid incidents, fed
eral authorities whisked Kasper to At
lanta. Kasper returned to Tallahassee
but was denied a permit for a public
meeting.
At another level, a group of Florid
ians, including two former governors
and a former president of the American
Bar Association, has organized to “bring
about a public awareness of the situa
tion created” by the U. S. Supreme
Court decision on segregation and civil
rights.
CALDWELL IS CHAIRMAN
Chairman is former Gov. Millard
Caldwell, who served later as national
director of Civil Defense. Caldwell said
the chief goal of the group is to arouse
all states, both North and South, to “the
dangers of increasing federal control
over the states and the making of laws
by judicial decree.”
The commission was set up by the
Legislature during the Little Rock cri
sis last year and has been working
quietly since.
Members, in addition to Caldwell, in
clude former Gov. Doyle E. Carlton, of
Tampa, former ABA president Cody
Fowler of Tampa, and several members
of the Legislature.
Gov. LeRoy Collins, who is chairman
of both the National and Southern
Governors’ Conferences, proposed that
Congress call by act or resolution a
six-months moratorium on federal
court orders requiring school integra
tion. j
His statement was issued as schools
prepared to open over the South, with
GOV. LEROY COLLINS
Asks Moratorium
most attention being focused on the
Little Rock situation.
Collins said during the proposed
breathing period the Federal Civil
Rights Commission should prepare leg
islation for Congress to ease the touchy
racial situation.
The proposal, Collins said, would
not affect court orders in process of
being carried out, but would soften the
impact of new orders and head off
trouble while Congress is in recess.
GRAVE, SERIOUS CRISIS’
Collins, who said he was speaking as
an individual governor and not in either
of his roles as chairman, declared Pres
ident Eisenhower’s statement he would
again send troops to Little Rock, if
necessary, “presents a grave and se
rious crisis in our national well-being.
We must find a way to avoid the appli
cation of raw force where contrary to
the deep-seated will of the people.”
A full scale hearing in Miami by the
interim legislative committee investi
gating groups involved in racial activ
ity was called off after the Florida Su
preme Court decided to look into a legal
attack by four NAACP witnesses on
the committee’s powers.
The court hears arguments early in
September.
Mark Hawes, committee general
counsel, said NAACP legal maneuvers
had “hamstrung” the committee.
Integration of Seminole Indians into
the public school system of Florida be
came complete in August when Henry
County decided to accept them.
State School Supt. Thomas D. Bailey
said every county in which Indians five
now will assign them to the nearest
white school.
The federal government will con
tinue to maintain a school in the Big
Cypress reservation in Henry County
for the first three elementary grades.
Lack of transportation was given as the
reason.
# # *