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Objective
VOL. 5, NO. 6
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
$2 PER YEAR
DECEMBER, 1958
Lasl Days? ‘Johnny CAN Read!’
—Atlanta Journal —Atlanta Constitution
Three New Court Rulings;
Virginia Debates Policy
T he South moved toward year’s end with three newly-issued federal court decisions on segregation-
desegregation and with one southern state debating whether to revise its massive resistance stand
against school integration.
While these provided the main spot developments in November, some Deep South states prepared to
buttress their pro-segregation stand with new statutes when their assemblies meet in 1959, a survey by
Southern School News indicated. (See Legislative Roundup this page.)
Latest legal rulings included:
New Segregation Statutes In Prospect
For 1959Amid Deep South Assem blies
T he legislatures of 15 southern
and border states will meet
next year in regular and special
sessions with the results expected
to be additions to the 200-odd seg
regation measures in some of the
resisting states, a stand-pat atti
tude in others and a continued
aloofness toward the issue in the
desegregating states.
Regular sessions of lawmakers
are scheduled for 14 states—Ala
bama, Arkansas, Delaware, Flor
ida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland,
Missouri, North Carolina, Okla
homa, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas and West Virginia. Special
sessions are anticipated in January
in Virginia, where the regular ses
sion is not due until 1960, and in
Alabama where the 1959 regular
session will not convene until
May.
Most of the others convene in regular
session in January. Besides Alabama
the exceptions are Florida, where the
lawmakers will meet in April, Louisiana
in May, and North Carolina in February.
OFFICIALS QUERIED
For a legislation preview, Southern
School News correspondents contacted
administration and legislative officials in
their various states. In sum, they found
new legislation designed to further pre
vent or control desegregation is almost
certain to be enacted next year in Ala
bama, Arkansas, Florida, and in Vir
ginia if a special session is held.
Such legislation may be introduced in
the assemblies of Georgia, South Car
olina, Tennessee and Texas. But since
all these states have segregation laws,
new proposals may or may not have
the sponsorship or support of legisla
tive and administration leaders neces
sary to secure their adoption.
No new bills along this line are
planned in Louisiana or in North Caro
lina, where the Pearsall Plan (adopted
M 1956) is undergoing court test. Nor is
legislation either for the purpose of cur
tailing or fostering desegregation likely
w the border states of Delaware, Mary
land, Missouri, Oklahoma or West Vir
ginia.
A state-by-state recap follows:
Alabama—Gov.-elect John Patterson
said he will call a special session soon
after taking office in January. Top pri-
0r ity will be given the state road pro
gram. Consensus among legislators and
administrative officers is that the reg-
u ^ ar session in May will be soon
enough for new segregation measures.
school closing ideas
Patterson favors a stronger law to
require a school threatened with deseg
regation to close. The present school
posing legislation permits a degree of
°eal option on this matter. Some legis-
ators go still farther and suggest laws
c °sing all schools, white and Negro, in
any school district threatened with de
segregation. They have intimated they
"dll offer such legislation in May or
ev en i n the earlier special session.
MacDonald Gallion, newly elected at-
rney general, said a plan for refund-
j 8 school tax money may be proposed
^ districts where schools close because
a desegregation order. Under his pro-
sal taxes would be rebated to parents
on a pro rata basis, the money to be
used for education of their children in
private schools, or for any other pur
pose.
Gallion also has promised to estab
lish a special staff in the attorney gen
eral’s office to handle segregation mat
ters. Presumably, this will require at
least legislative appropriations.
MAJOR PROBLEMS
Arkansas—School segregation-deseg
regation will be one of the two major
problems facing Arkansas lawmakers in
January. Leading members of the as
sembly and top administration officers
expect segregation measures to be in
troduced and at least one influential
representative expects some desegrega
tion measures, though the form such
bills would take is uncertain.
In general the pro-segregation meas
ures likely will deal mainly with school
financing. A bill or bills is expected to
provide for tax money to be diverted to
private schools or to private school stu
dents or both, in the same way the fed
eral GI bill of veterans’ educational
benefits operated. Another possibility
would be to make legal payment to out-
of-state schools for the education of stu
dents whose home schools are closed by
the segregation-desegregation crisis.
Also mentioned is a bill to relieve
school district taxpayers of financial
burdens where schools are closed. One
suggested remedy would be to allow
credit on state income taxes. Another
proposal would provide tax relief to
persons contributing to the support of
private schools by making such con
tributions deductible for state income
tax purposes.
NONE EXPECTED
Delaware—There have been no sug
gestions for legislation to promote seg
regation or desegregation, either from
legislators or administrative officers.
Both the chief sponsor and the chief
opponent of the “Little Rock” bill in
troduced earlier this year were de
feated in recent elections.
Chances for introduction of bills deal
ing with the school issue exist in (1)
independent action of individual legis
lators to accommodate a constituent, and
(2) the court-ordered state Board of
Education desegregation plan, which
may or may not require implementing
legislation.
Florida—Temper of the legislators, as
indicated by pre-session talks, foreshad
ows some stringent new laws. Rep. Tom
Beasley, speaker of the House, said, “We
must do everything possible, by all
honorable and legal means, to prevent
integration against the will of the peo
ple.” But he had no specific legislation
to suggest.
PRIVATE PARTICIPATION
Dewey Johnson, president-designate
of the state Senate, said, “Plans are be
ing worked out to provide a parallel
system [of education] where private en
terprise can help.” Other legislators have
proposed renewal of the fight for enact
ment of the “last resort” measure, ve
toed in 1957, which would allow local
ities to close schools threatened with
integration.
Atty. Gen. Richard W. Ervin said his
staff has been working with various
legislators discussing and preparing
segregation measures. He listed five
areas for legislative consideration: (1)
to permit “token” desegregation in se
lected schools under the pupil assign
ment law; (2) to segregate by sex; (3)
to establish “voluntary” integrated
schools open to all pupils on the choice
of their parents; (4) to amend the state
constitution to permit state support of
private schools; (5) to strengthen laws
permitting the state to close schools to
avoid violence.
Georgia—Gov.-elect Ernest Vandiver
has been conferring with “some of the
most eminent constitutional lawyers in
the state relative to our legal position”
on the school segregation-desegregation
issue. From these conferences, he said,
are expected to come recommendations
for the Legislature when it convenes in
January. The nature of legislation un
der discussion has not been disclosed.
PLANT, DEBT PROPOSALS
Two possible bills have been dis
cussed among legislators. One would
permit publicly-owned school facilities
to be sold if closed for any reason. The
other would permit the state to assume
the State School Building Authority’s
bond obligations. Some opposition to the
school-sales proposal can be expected
from the Fulton County (Atlanta) del
egation. Also, Mayor William B. Harts-
field of Atlanta has urged a local ref
erendum on school property disposal
and other educational questions in that
city, a demand which presumably would
require legislation.
Louisiana—The legislative session
scheduled for May is a fiscal session,
and a three-fourths vote of both houses
would be required before “emergency”
legislation on matters other than fiscal
could be discussed. State Sen. William
Rainach, who has been the leading seg
regation spokesman and sponsor in the
Legislature, says no additional bills have
been drafted for the 1959 session, and
unless some unforeseen circumstance
occurs in Louisiana no new segregation
measures will be offered before the
regular general session in 1960.
Maryland — Segregation-desegrega
tion is not expected to become an issue
when the Maryland General Assembly
meets for its long (90-day) session. Del
egate Jerome Robinson, who in the past
has advocated various types of civil
rights legislation, said, “I couldn’t imag
ine the desegregation issue arising at the
coming session.” Nor does he anticipate
any pro-integration activity.
NOTHING ANTICIPATED
State Sen. George W. Della who has
been identified with segregation senti
ments in the past, said he has not heard
of, nor does he expect, any segregation
proposals to be made.
C. Maurice Weidemeyer, who in the
past prepared and lobbied for segrega
tion bills on behalf of the Maryland
Petition Committee, reported there are
no plans in that group as yet for legis
lative action. He said, however, that
whatever else the committee may do,
it surely would actively oppose any in
tegration bills that might be introduced.
Missouri—No legislation bearing on
the subject is expected. The Missouri
assembly in 1957 formally repealed laws
requiring segregation in the schools—
laws viewed as unenforceable since 1954.
North Carolina—Both the state ad
ministration and the Pearsall Commit
tee, the continuing body which designed
North Carolina’s 1956 segregation pro
gram, have indicated they will await
the outcome of court tests of this pro
gram before considering other legisla
tive steps. None is anticipated this year.
Nor have foes of the “token” integra
te LEGISLATION. Page 2)
1) The Supreme Court held on Nov.
24 that Alabama’s Pupil Placement Law
was constitutional on its face.
2) A three-member federal court in
New Orleans on Nov. 26 held unconsti
tutional the 1956 Louisiana legislative
act prohibiting athletic competition
among whites and Negroes.
3) A U. S. district court on Nov. 19
ordered the Delaware state Board of
Education to submit a plan for general
statewide desegregation by March 3.
OLD DOMINION WATCHED
Virginia, with schools still closed in
three communities rather than obey fed
eral integration decrees, was the center
of speculation over whether its general
assembly might be called into a special
January session to draft new laws in its
stalemated resistance program.
The Southern School News survey
showed 15 of the 17 southern and border
states will hold 1959 legislative sessions
with new anti-integration measures
slated to be added to the more than 200
already on the books.
Regular legislative sessions will begin
next month in Arkansas, Delaware,
Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and
West Virginia. Regular sessions also
will be held in North Carolina in Feb
ruary, Florida in April, Alabama and
Louisiana in May.
In addition, special sessions probably
will be held next month in Alabama and
Virginia.
Since 1953, the year before the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled school segregation
unconstitutional, 11 states have enacted
more than 200 new measures designed
to prevent or control desegregation of
the public schools.
Other developments by states:
Alabama
Democrats won statewide races, as
usual, in the Nov. 4 general election but
the vote was more lopsided. Democrats
and Republicans agreed this represent
ed a strong protest by white voters
against the Eisenhower administration’s
intervention at Little Rock in particular
and racial developments in general.
Arkansas
Dr. Dale Alford, a last-minute write-
in candidate, upset veteran Rep. Brooks
Hays in a congressional election in
which desegregation was the only issue.
Hays has been a “moderate” in the seg
regation _ desegregation controversy,
Alford a staunch segregationist.
Delaware
The state Board of Education meeting
a day after the district court ordered it
to submit a desegregation plan, an
nounced it would comply and set an
other meeting for Dec. 6.
District of Columbia
District schools reported a record en
rollment, including 84,650 Negroes and
29,569 white pupils. Negro enrollment
increased to 74.1 per cent.
Florida
With a legislative session approaching
in 1959, indications were that pressure
is growing for stronger segregation
measures.
The state Parent-Teacher Association
convention rejected an effort by segre
gationists to win endorsement of private
segregated schools.
Georgia
The demand of Atlanta’s Mayor Wil
liam B. Hartsfield for a local option vote
on the question of school closings in the
face of desegregation sparked debate
throughout Georgia.
Kentucky
Louisville for the first time in history
elected a Negro to the city Board of
Education.
Louisiana
Voters overwhelmingly approved a
state constitutional amendment aimed
at preserving segregation through pub
lic fund contributions to private schools.
Maryland
Fall enrollment figures showed more
than one-fourth of Maryland county
schools now enroll both white and Ne
gro pupils.
Mississippi
Gov. J. P. Coleman, taking cognizance
of mounting agitation on the segrega
tion-desegregation question, urged the
people to “keep clear heads and calm
minds.”
Missouri
A public housing project in St. Louis
County developed into a political issue
with a racial undertone. Residents of
Jefferson Barracks area organized to
oppose proposed multimillion dollar de
velopment.
North Carolina
North Carolina officials reacted with
expressions of satisfaction at the U. S.
Supreme Court ruling that Alabama’s
Pupil Placement Law is valid on its face.
North Carolina has a law patterned
pretty much along the lines of Ala
bama’s.
Oklahoma
Oklahomans were told their state was
well on the road to compliance with de
segregation and that the question would
occupy a role of only minor importance
in the 1959 legislature.
South Carolina
Farm Bureau and Citizens Council
groups at separate meetings proposed
that the state get on with plans for pri
vate schools in the event of closures re
sulting from forced integration.
Tennessee
A Nashville jury sentenced John Kas
per to six months imprisonment and
fined him $500 for his part in disturb
ances at the opening of integrated city
schools in 1957. He continued at liberty
under bond pending an appeal.
Texas
Dallas prepared an appeal from a state
district court’s dismissal of its suit seek
ing clarification of its status under new
state laws.
Virginia
Gov. J. Lindsay Almond said that if
and when the state’s present anti-inte
gration laws are nullified he would ap
point a legislative commission to look
into suggestions he would make.
West Virginia
Officials, mystified at the dynamiting
of the integrated school at Osage, said
they still were without clues as to the
reasons behind it.
# # #
Alabama 3
Arkansas 12
Delaware 9
Dist. of Columbia , . 7
Florida 5
Georgia 15
INDEX
Kentucky 8
Louisiana 8
Maryland 2
Mississippi II
Missouri 16
North Carolina .... 10
Oklahoma 14
South Carolina ... 16
Tennessee 13
Texas 14
Virginia 6
West Virginia .... 4