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PAGE 4—MAY 1959—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Southerners Blast Rights
Bills Before Congress
Southern School News
Southern School News Is the official publication of the Southern Education
Reporting Service, en objective, fact-finding agency established by southern
newspaper editors and educators with the aim of providing accurate, unbiased
information to school administrators, public officials and interested lay citizens
on developments in education arising from the U. S. Supreme Court opinion of
May 17, 1954 declaring segregation in the public schools unconstitutional. SERS
is not an advocate, is neither pro-segregation nor anti-segregation, but amply
reports the facts as it finds them, state by state.
Published monthly by Southern Education Reporting Service at 1109 19th Ave.,
S., Nashville, Tenn.
Second class mail privileges authorized at Nashville, Tenn., under the authority
of the act of March 3, H79.
OFFICERS
Frank Ahlgren Chairman
Thomas R. Waring Vice Chairman
Edward D. Ball Executive Director
Patrick McCauley, Assistant to the Executive Director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Frank Ahlgren, Editor, Memphis Com- C. A. McKnight, Editor, Charlotte Ob-
mercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn. server, Charlotte, N.C.
Edward D. Ball, Exec. Dir., Southern Ed- Char , les B Moss ' J ditor ' Nash ’
D .. _ c . vine Banner, Nashville, Tenn.
ep ing ervice. George N. Redd, Dean, Fisk University,
Harvie Branscomb, Chancellor, Vander- Nashville, Tenn.
bilt University, Nashville, Tenn. Don Shoemaker, Editorial Page Editor,
Luther H. Foster, President, Tuskegee M!ami Herald, Miami, Fla.
Institute, Tuskegee, Ala. Bert Struby, General Manager, Macon
_ , . „ .... , ... Telegraph and News, Macon, Sa.
Coleman A. Harwell Editor, Nashville ThomJJ R . Wari Editor, Charleston
Tennessean, Nashv.lle, Tenn. News & Cour ; er cwi.ston, SC .
Henry H. Hill, President, George Pea- Henry I. Willett, Superintendent of
body College, Nashville, Tenn. Schools, Richmond, Va.
CORRESPONDENTS
ALABAMA MISSOURI
William H. McDonald. Assistant William K. Wyant Jr., Staff Writer,
Editor, Montgomery Advertiser St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ARKANSAS
William T. Shelton, City Editor, Ar- NORTH CAROLINA
kansas Gazette Noel Yancey, Special Correspondent,
DELAWARE Raleigh, N.C.
James E. Miller, Managing Editor, OKLAHOMA
n,rro„ Leonard Jackson, Staff Writer. Okla-
“ISSfcS. SfwSir. Washing- O* 1 ""-™""
ton Post & Times Herald SOUTH CAROLINA
FLORIDA W. D. Workman Jr., Special Corre-
Bert Collier, Editorial Writer, Miami spondent, Columbia, S.C.
TENNESSEE
Joseph B. Parham, Editor, The Macon F,eke ' Sfaff Wr!ter - Nashville
News Banner
KENTUCKY Garry Fullerton, Education Editor,
Weldon James. Editorial Writer, Nashville Tennessean
Louisville Courier-Journal TEXAS
LOUISIANA Richard M. Morehead, Austin Bureau,
Emile Comar, Staff Writer, New Or- Dallas News
leans States & Item uib/«iuia
MARYLAND VI £®'^' A , ... c ...
Edgar L Jones, Editorial Writer, CWun Jones, A,locate Ed,tor.
Baltimore Sun Richmond Times-D,.patch
MISSISSIPPI WEST VIRGINIA
Kenneth Toler, Mississippi Bureau, Thomas F. Stafford, Assistant to the
Memphis Commercial Appeal Editor, Charleston Gazette
MAIL ADDRESS
P.O. Box 6156, Acklen Station, Nashville 12, Tenn.
Return Postage Guaranteed
WASHINGTON, D.C.
ongressional committees con
sidering civil rights bills heard
them described as “civil strife
bills” by a parade of southern gov
ernors and other state officials.
Some witnesses said they would
favor liquidating public school
systems rather than submit to de
segregation. But there was specu
lation the abduction of a Negro
prisoner from a Mississippi jail at
month’s end would intensify the
drive for civil rights legislation.
(See “National Affairs.”)
President Eisenhower told a students’
group which called for speedy desegre
gation, “We will never be satisfied until
the last vestige of discrimination has
disappeared.”
GAINS REPORTED
District school officials reported sub
stantial gains scholastically since
the four-track system of grouping high
school students by academic ability was
instituted in 1956. The school adminis
tration said the plan has proved its
value and could profitably be adopted
by other communities. (See “District
Schools.”)
Congressional study of proposed de
segregation and civil rights bills moved
into high gear as hearings continued
in both House and Senate. On the House
side, Chairman Emanuel Celler (D-
N.Y.) of the Judiciary Committee said
he planned to conclude hearings about
May 1 and have a bill ready for House
action by June. No Senate timetable
was announced.
Southern congressmen, commenting
on the abduction of a Negro prisoner
from a jail in Pearl River County, Miss.,
said they hoped the action of a group of
masked men would not be taken as a
sign of needed civil rights legislation,
but there was speculation the incident
would inevitably spur efforts for a
strong bill.
WON’T SUBMIT
Gov. John Patterson of Alabama, tes
tifying April 22 before House and Sen
ate subcommittees, said the citizens of
his state “will scrap their public school
system rather than submit to integra
tion of the races.”
“There is not enough money in the
world to get us to integrate our public
schools,” he declared, referring to fed
eral aid provisions in the pending civil
rights bills.
Patterson and other southern wit
nesses denounced the school bills as at
tempting to “ram integration down our
throats” and “gagging” any who pro
test, by making it a crime to obstruct
court desegregation orders. He said
court decisions on schools have brought
race relations in Alabama to a new low.
“The breach is widening every day
and there is no longer any common
ground upon which the leaders of the
races can meet and work out their
difficulties,” Patterson said. He opposed
all the measures under consideration
except one—a bill which would let fed
eral officers intervene in bombing cases.
JOHNSON BILL
One of the bills under study is spon
sored by Senate Majority Leader Lyn
don B. Johnson (D-Tex.) and would
set up a civil rights conciliation service
to try to re-establish communications
between the races. The major bill being
backed by congressional liberals but op
posed by the administration would en
able the Justice Department to initiate
court suits to force desegregation.
All pending bills were opposed April
14 in testimony by Gov. Ernest F. Hol
lings of South Carolina, who told Con
gress southern leaders of both races
“realize that integration is unwise, im
practical and will never be accom
plished.”
LEGALITY QUESTIONED
Hollings said the Supreme Court ille
gally amended the Constitution by its
1954 desegregation decision. Until the
Constitution is properly amended to
end segregation, he added, he would
resist the court decision without violat
ing his oath to support the Constitu
tion.
Enactment of any laws to help carry
out the school decisions would amount
to “inappropriate approval” by Con
gress of the court’s “violation of its
duty,” Hollings asserted.
Ralph E. Odum, assistant attorney
general of Florida, filed a statement
with the Senate subcommittee also op
posing all civil rights legislation. He
said his state, which may begin deseg
regation at Miami next fall, doesn’t
know the answer to the school problem,
“but it may be a combined system of
public and private schools.” Florida
does feel that none of the proposed civil
rights bills will help and is sure some
will do harm, Odum said.
CIVIL STRIFE BILL’
The civil rights bills “will prove to
be civil strife bills,” Atty. Gen. Joe T.
Patterson of Mississippi testified April
23. He said the legislation, if enacted,
would destroy a model school system
in Mississippi and harm Negro teachers
and students.
Patterson contended one provision of
the pending bills would give the secre
tary of health, education and welfare
huge funds with which to “buy” the
southern states into accepting desegre
gation.
NOT FOR SALE
“If these were billions instead of mil
lions of dollars,” he said, “the money
would not accomplish that purpose.”
Similar testimony came from other
southern officials. Some militantly op
posed any civil rights legislation, while
others merely asked for a “breathing
spell” at least until the Civil Rights
Commission presents its report this
fall. But C. R. Darden, head of the Na
tional Association for the Advancement
of Colored People in Mississippi, told
the House subcommittee April 24:
“The Mississippi Negro can expect no
justice, freedom or equality from the
state and local officials in Mississippi.
Therefore, we must look to the Congress
to enact the necessary legislation to
guarantee equal protection under the
law.”
All civil rights bills were character
ized as “unnecessary” April 10 by Sen.
John J. Sparkman (D-Ala.). He also
opposed extending the life of the Civil
Rights Commission beyond its sched
uled expiration in September.
‘SUSPICION AND FEAR’
Further federal civil rights activity
would increase “suspicion and fear”
which has replaced “trust and mutual
confidence” between the races in the
South since the Supreme Court deseg
regation decision, Sparkman declared.
Sen. Herman E. Talmadge (D-Ga.)
urged Congress April 7 to end “judicial
lawmaking” by denying the federal
courts any jurisdiction over the admin
istration of public schools. He offered
a bill which would provide that no fed
eral judge could “hear, determine or re
view” any case growing out of admin
istration of the public schools by states
or localities.
Talmadge is also author of a proposed
constitutional amendment to let states
or local communities continue school
segregation if they choose to. Sen. Estes
Kefauver (D-Tenn.), chairman of the
Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional
Amendments, said hearings on the Tal
madge proposal would open May 12.
Kefauver said the Supreme Court’s de
cision “has brought about many com
plex and difficult problems.”
School desegregation in the United
States is part of a “world process” with
parallels in many other nations, Sen.
John Kennedy (D-Mass.) said April 12.
Addressing a convocation of the United
Negro College Fund in Indianapolis,
Kennedy said:
“The Supreme Court five years ago
tolled the end of the era of segregated
facilities. This requires the Negro col
leges and universities to transform
themselves into just American institu
tions of higher learning.”
Senate Democratic Leader Johnson
was accused April 8 of trying to sweep
the desegregation issue “under the rug”
until after the 1960 elections. The charge
was made before the Senate Constitu
tional Rights Subcommittee by Joseph
L. Rauh Jr., an officer of Americans
for Democratic Action.
DENOUNCES BILL
Rauh also complained that the admin
istration has “thrown in the towel” on
civil rights. He said Johnson’s civil
rights bill was “definitely a step back
wards” because it fails to tackle the
specific issue of school desegregation.
Rauh was joined in his complaint by
Roy Wilkins, NAACP executive secre
tary, who said Johnson’s program “sug
gests that constitutional rights may be
bargained away under a so-called con
ciliation program.”
STUDENTS MARCH
A student delegation calling for the
administration to press for speedy
school desegregation was told by the
White House the President shared their
desire to eliminate racial discrimination.
The students, representing more than
25,000 persons from all parts of the na
tion who met here April 18 to demon
strate public support for faster imple
mentation of the Supreme Court deci
sion, received the assurance from Ger
ald D. Morgan, deputy assistant to the
President. Morgan read the delegates a
statement declaring:
“The President is just as anxious as
you are to see an America where dis
crimination does not exist . . . We have
a long way to travel, but in the past
six years we have also come a long way
... We will never be satisfied until the
last vestige of discrimination has disap
peared.”
NO EXTREMES
In an April 18 address to the Ameri
can Society of Newspaper Editors, Vice
President Richard M. Nixon denied the
administration seeks “immediate total
integration.” On the contrary, he said,
it has tried to take a firm position in
behalf of progress avoiding extremes.
Large cities of the Deep South will
hold the spotlight in the next round of
school desegregation activity, represen
tatives of civil liberties organizations
were told here April 17. Harold C.
Fleming, executive director of the
Southern Regional Council, listed At
lanta, New Orleans, Miami and Knox
ville among “places where a decision is
not too far off.”
In each of these cities, Fleming said,
community sentiment may be ready for
at least token desegregation, but faces
obstructive state laws.
“Most observers would agree that we
are in for some more closings of
schools,” Fleming told the 11th annual
conference of the National Civil Liber
ties Clearing House. But he added that
experience with Virginia’s “massive re
sistance” laws has left advocates of de
segregation better prepared to “muster
legal resources for school reopenings.”
STEWART CONFIRMED
The Senate Judiciary Committee vot
ed 12-3 April 20 to approve President
Eisenhower’s nomination of Potter
Stewart to be an associate justice of the
Supreme Court. The negative votes
were cast by southerners who apparent
ly were dissatisfied with Stewart’s an
swers during prolonged questioning on
the desegregation decision.
The no votes were cast by Chairman
James O. Eastland (D-Miss.) and Sens.
Olin D. Johnson (D-S.C.) and John L.
McClellan (D-Ark.). Two other south
ern Democrats—Estes Kefauver (Tenn.)
and Sam J. Ervin Jr. (N.C.)—joined
five other Democrats and the commit
tee’s five Republicans in voting for the
confirmation.
Stewart has been serving under a re
cess appointment since the President
picked him last October to succeed
Justice Harold H. Burton, who retired.
An evaluation of the District’s four-
track system of ability grouping shows
that Washington high school students
“have responded magnificently to edu
cational opportunities,” School Supt.
Carl F. Hansen told the board of edu
cation April 15.
Standardized test scores indicate the
city’s high schools offer a “vastly su
perior” rate of progress in most areas
of instruction, Hansen said. Noting that
the four-track plan was instituted
shortly after schools were desegregated
here, Hansen declared that scholastic
standards have improved substantially.
Hansen’s comments accompanied a
detailed report on the four-track sys
tem now in its third year. The report
was based largely on a survey by an
employe of the House District Commit
tee who studied the plan to qualify for
a doctorate in education at the Univer
sity of Maryland.
Hansen said the findings showed the
four-track plan was not limited to spe
cial conditions in Washington but could
profitably be adopted by any school
system.
The system includes a tough honors
program for gifted students, a regular
college-preparatory course, a general
track for those not planning to go to
college and a remedial basic program
for slow learners. This year’s high
school enrollment includes 892 students
in the honors track, 3,884 in college
preparatory, 5,575 in general and 3,026
in basic.
Hansen said he would give the school
board recommendations in May to deal
with “areas of weakness or difficulties”
in the four-track system. Among these
are inadequate progress in natural sci
ence subjects, failure on the part of
many qualified students to elect the
tough honors course, and a continued
high rate of school drop-out among
students in the lower two tracks.
TEST SCORES IMPROVE
At an April 30 press conference,
Hansen cited “dramatic” achievement
gains of sixth grade pupils as “definite
proof that integration here is benefi
cial to the student.”
He released the first of this year’s
results, covering the performance of al
most 8,000 sixth graders on the Stan
ford Achievement Test.
The scores showed District young
sters are now at or above national
standards in five of the six subjects
covered by the test. Last year sixth
graders met national norms in only one
subject. Two years ago they were be
hind in all areas tested.
The national median score for each
subject is 6.6. Washington medians this
year were: Paragraph meaning—6.2;
word meaning—6.7; spelling—6.6; lan
guage—6.6; arithmetic reasoning—6.7;
arithmetic computation—6.6.
Gains ranged up to .5 over last year’s
scores and up to .9 over the first year of
testing, 1956.
Hansen said the gains were made in
the face of a “continuing increase in
the proportion of Negro children” and
demonstrate that “with good teaching
they can achieve at the national level.”
Noting that the current crop of sixth
graders were entering the second grade
when District school desegregation be
gan, Hansen said the test scores “dem
onstrate the importance of unifying the
school system.” He credited conscien
tious teaching, improved programs and
the efficiency of a single school admin
istration.
Hansen said he did not know to what
extent the gains would be reflected in
teaching at other grade levels. Scores
are being tabulated and will be released
later.
CHANGE CITED
Washington’s desegregated school sys
tem is receiving more “constructive” at
tention than ever before, Supt. Hansen
told reporters April 3. He said there
has been a “substantial change in the
tone of the questions” asked about the
District schools in other parts of the
nation—and particularly in the South.
Where inquiries formerly simply
sought “ammunition” for preserving
segregation, current queries look to the
District for practical guidance in imple
menting desegregation, Hansen said.
Many mail requests for information are
being received, he reported, and nu
merous visitors inspect the schools each
year.
CHARGES LAXITY
Rep. Joel T. Broyhill (R-Va.) charged
April 6 that many Negro families living
elsewhere are sending their children to
Washington “to live with aunts, uncles
and distant cousins in order to send
them to local integrated schools.” In a
statement issued to the press, Broyhill
accused District officials of being “ex
ceedingly lax” in enforcing the collec
tion of tuition payments from non-resi
dent public school students.
Broyhill said tuition fees are being
paid by only 114 of the 1,645 non-resi
dent pupils attending the schools. The
remainder should pay tuitions totaling
$384,715, he estimated.
Hansen commented that “children
must be educated wherever they may
be residing.” The school system’s han
dling of non-resident pupils is based on
a ruling by the city’s corporation coun
sel and on many court decisions, Han
sen said. He agreed the school rolls in
clude 1,645 youngsters who are living
here with persons who are not their
parents or legal guardians. The number
includes both Negro and white pupils-
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