Newspaper Page Text
ho-12
Factual
SflUIflE
^-^UNIVERSITY of georwa
N 0 I S I A I 0
VOL 5, NO. 12
mh *59
V I
3 0 J
VO ‘S N3 HiV
o i i i s i n o o v
S 3 i a v a a i i
Aii3a3Aifjn
fly03-a-6S 3 u n r
il News
Objective
$2 PER YEAR
JUNE, 1959
LIBRARIES
^J-gctd On
SERS Library Available
In Microfilm Form
N ewsmen from New York, a scholar
from Southeast Asia, a churchman
from home base here in Nashville and
a clubwoman from New Jersey were
among the many users of the Southern
Education Reporting Service Library
last month.
Daily by mail, by wire and by tele
phone this unusual collection of data
has been tapped by persons interested
in the school segregation-desegregation
question.
While those who made use of the
SERS library for the past four and a
half years have brought their questions
to Nashville, something brand new now
makes this unique collection available
anywhere. For the entire library, over
150,000 items, has been placed on micro
film and is available on a non-profit
basis, to libraries, newspapers and oth
er organizations. Entitled Facts on Film,
the series includes 44 rolls of 35 milli
meter film and eventually will be twice
that volume.
Among the initial buyers of the
microfilmed collection have been the
U.S. Civil Rights Commission, the Uni
versity of South Carolina, New York
PublicLibrary,Dartmouth College,Mem
phis State University, Cornell Univer
sity, Southern Regional Council, Tuske-
gee Institute, Northwestern State Col
lege of Louisiana, Southern Illinois Uni
versity, Virginia State College, Fisk
University, Johns Hopkins University,
the University of Arkansas, North
Carolina College at Durham, Ohio State
University, North Texas State College,
the University of Pennsylvania, Win-
throp College, the University of Geor
gia and the University of Illinois.
LIBRARY CONTENTS
Since SERS is essentially a news or
ganization, its library is patterned some
what like a newspaper “morgue.” Clip
pings from some 50 daily newspapers—
regional and national—make up the
central portion of the collection. In
cluded from this source are news stor
ies, editorials, factual and opinion col
umns, editorial cartoons and letters to
the editor—all bearing on the school
segregation-desegregation subject di
rectly or indirectly. In addition the col
lection contains articles from profes
sional journals and general circulation
magazines, volumes of current note and
texts of speeches on the subject. Texts
of decisions of state and federal courts,
legislative enactments, reports of offi
cial and unofficial committees, published
and unpublished papers round out the
collection.
The very timeliness of the topic has
raised many problems both in collect
ing and arranging the materials and in
filming them. A staff of librarians has
kept the collection current since the li
brary was established in September
1954. Under the supervision of Mrs.
Imogene Morgan McCauley, head li
brarian, a regular list of daily news
papers is searched and clipped, maga
zines and periodical guides are sur
veyed, and a constant flow of corre
spondence goes out requesting texts of
speeches and studies.
CATALOGUE AND INDEX
All of the materials are catalogued
Virginia And Little Rock
Issues Hold Spotlight
T he state of Virginia and the city of Little Rock, two continuing centers of controversy over segrega
tion-desegregation, provided the South’s major developments on the issue in May.
In Virginia the U. S. Fourth Court of Appeals ordered Prince Edward County to admit qualified Ne
groes to its high school this fall. It overthrew a previous decision by a federal district court which had
given the county until 1965 to begin desegregation. There were suggestions Prince Edward County m
ight abandon its public schools rather than desegre
gate.
Dr. H. I. Willett, superintendent of
Richmond, Va., schools, and Dr. Luther
Foster, president of Tuskegee Institute,
examine “Facts on Film,” the SERS li
brary on microfilm. Both are members
of the SERS board of directors.
and cross-indexed, by subject, by
source and by author. This card index
fills four of the 44 film rolls which
make up the first installment of Facts
on Film. Also included with the film to
supplement the card catalogue is a
printed index which serves as a guide
to the general location of broad sub
jects.
On the basis of this arrangement of
the materials, preparation of the micro
film was done by James Pike, micro
film specialist for the Tennessee State
Archives Department.
The first portion of the film, ready
for delivery now, covers the period
May 1954 (when the Brown decision
came) through June 1958. Annual sup
plements are assured through June 1961
with additional ones beyond that date
depending on whether the SERS grant
from the Ford Foundation is extended.
Cost of the series through 1961 is
$1,750 payable $700 on delivery of the
first installment and $350 on delivery of
each of the annual supplements.
HISTORICAL VALUE
Assessments of the value of the film
have been given by scholars and news
men. Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr., Har
vard University historian, called Facts
on Film “an invaluable source for fu
ture historians.”
Executive Editor Charles Moss of
the Nashville Banner summed up both
its current and its historic value when
he said: “Certainly, never in the course
of mankind has a continuing crisis in
a nation (with ramifications all over the
world) been X-rayed in depth, so to
speak, on a day to day basis, then
wrapped up in a neat package for dis
tribution to the world, while history
waits.”
Arna Bontemps, Fisk University li
brarian. said of the collection, “Cer
tainly this material constitutes the best
and most complete source record of de
segregation, its fits and starts, that will
ever be available, a record that is bound
to be examined and re-examined with
amazement in the future.”
At Little Rock, three strong segrega
tionist members of the school board
who had tried to fire 44 teachers and
school employes were ousted in a recall
election. The board’s other three mem
bers, who oppose desegregation but are
not willing to abolish the school sys
tem, were retained in the same elec
tion.
The next move is up to the Pulaski
County Board of Education which un
til now had not figured in the news
and whose views on the issue have not
been aired publicly.
Other developments by states:
Alabama
Gov. John Patterson proposed an an
nual education budget increase of $42
million, and at the same time asked the
Legislature for authority to close any
public schools facing desegregation.
Arkansas
The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld
Act 5 of 1958 ; the student transfer aid
law, and a companion measure, the
school closing law, which are under
consideration by a federal district court.
Delaware
Federal District Judge Caleb R. Lay-
ton III deferred until after the June
registration a decision whether to in
clude an attendance area plan in the
state’s 12-year desegregation program.
District of Columbia
A new congressional battle over
school desegregation and civil rights
legislation appeared building up after
House and Senate subcommittees com
pleted hearings on various proposals.
Florida
The State Legislature, moving into its
final days, had passed one of many seg
regation bills introduced—this one pro
viding for the mechanics of setting up
a private school system.
Jl fU Su
rvcij
Consolidations Reduce
Total School Districts
C onsolidation of school dis
tricts and migration of Negro
families has resulted in a reduc
tion of the total of desegregated
school districts from 819 to a mini
mum of 742 in southern and bor
der states.
Perhaps as many as 40 more
school districts are in compliance
with the U.S. Supreme Court’s
desegregation decision in Okla
homa where school boards have
made decisions to end segregation
but without actual classroom
integration resulting because of
no Negro applicants.
Thus, while 819 different local school
boards throughout the region have made
decisions to desegregate schools under
their jurisdiction since 1954, at present
not more than 782 districts are deseg
regated in practice or policy.
By latest count, there was a total of
7,874 schools districts in the region
which includes 17 states and the District
of Columbia. Of these, 2,875 are believed
to have both white and Negro children
of school age, residing within their
boundaries. And of the bi-racial dis
tricts, 742 are known to have begun or
completed the process of desegregation.
CONSOLIDATED, ANNEXED
Uncertainty arises over the number of
school districts in the region because of
Segregation—Desegregation Status
STATE
Number
of School
Districts
Enrollment
In Integrated
Public Schools
Total Biracial
Deseg.
White
Negro
%
Negro
Situations
White
Negro
Alabama
113
113
0
497,700
292,300
37.0
0
0
Arkansas
422
228
8
315,806
104,205
24.8
25,133
2,209
Delaware
97
51
17
59,765
13,118
17.8
29,158
6,209
District of Columbia ....
1
1
1
29,569
84,650
74.1
29,569
84,650
Florida
67
67
0
708,138
187,742
21.1
0
0
Georgia
198
196
0
667,781
310,753
31.6
0
0
Kentucky
215
175
123
572,814
41,793
6.8
370,234
31,768
Louisiana
67
67
0
415,740
260,260
38.5
0
0
Maryland
24
23
22
417,714
116,478
21.8
407,902
113,451
Mississippi
151
151
0
276,326
268,905
49.3
0
0
Missouri
2,890
237
203
705,600
78,400
10.0
74,480
North Carolina
174
174
4
755,282
319,613
29.6
50,029
27,782
Oklahoma
1,365
250
186
502,287
38,146
7.0
258,834
25,843
South Carolina
107
107
0
334,513
249,770
42.7
0
0
Tennessee
153
142
3
651,900
143,100
18.0
31,794
11,630
Texas
1,646
722
125
1,702,141
266,168
13.5
575,000
25,000
Virginia
129
128
4
605,090
198,629
23.5
70,401
18,873
West Virginia
55
43
47
440,195
25,127
5.4
413,459
25,127
Region
7,874
2,875
742
9,658,361
2,999,157
23.7
2,261,513
447,022
the continuing process of consolidation
and annexation in some states. For ex
ample, since 1954, the year of the Brown
v. Board of Education decision, Mis
souri has reduced its total of school
districts from 4,022 to 2,890, Mississippi
from 971 to 151, Oklahoma from 1,799
to 1,365, and five other states by lesser
figures.
At the same time it was disclosed that
the 114 figure used for so long as repre
senting the number of districts in Vir
ginia actually represented the number
of district superintendents. With 15
superintendents serving two districts,
the number of school districts in that
state is 129.
Uncertainty over the number of bi-
racial school districts—with both whites
and Negroes of school age living in
their boundaries — arises from sev
eral sources. First, the statewide con
solidation referred to above logically
has taken its toll from among bi-racial
districts as well as from districts which
serve either all-white or all-Negro
communities. Or by combining white
and Negro districts new bi-racial dis
tricts may have been created where
none existed before.
NO RACIAL STATISTICS
In some border states, where school
statistics are no longer kept by race
the problem of identifying bi-racial dis
tricts is intensified. And then in a state
such as Delaware, or Mississippi before
consolidation was completed, school dis
tricts serving one race often overlap or
coincide with districts serving the other
race.
The variety and constant change
among school districts may be under
stood by explaining, first, what con
stitutes a school district.
A school district, a “quasi-corpora
tion” as distinguished in law from a
“municipal corporation,” says Newton
Edwards in “The Courts and the Schools
(University of Chicago Press, 1955) “is
purely a political or civil division of the
state; it is created as an instrumentality
of the state in order to facilitate the ad
ministration of state government. While
in territorial extent it may be identical
with a municipal corporation proper, its
duties are not essentially local. Its func
tion is the execution of state policy . . .”
For purposes of keeping tabs on
school segregation - desegregation,
Southern School News has worked on
the basis that a system of schools un
der jurisdiction of a local board, acting
on authority from the state to admin-
(Continued On Page 4)
Georgia
Hearing was set to start June 5 be
fore two federal judges on a suit aimed
at desegregation of Atlanta’s public
schools.
Kentucky
Gov. A. B. Chandler’s faction lost
control of the Democratic Party in a
state election which administered a se
vere blow to Chandler’s ambitions for
the presidential nomination as a peace
maker between North and South on ra
cial issues.
Louisiana
Segregation leaders thwarted a leg
islative move by state administration
forces to ease Louisiana’s voter regis
tration laws.
Maryland
Three counties announced expanded
desegregation plans for the fall term,
bringing to seven the number of coun
ties which have signified such inten
tions.
Mississippi
A warrant was sworn out, but not
served, naming Roy Wilkins, executive
secretary of the NAACP, when Wilkins
spoke at a Jackson meeting observing
the fifth anniversary of the Supreme
Court desegregation decision. The war
rant was issued under a 1955 state law
making it illegal to advocate overthrow
of the state’s segregation laws.
Missouri
A survey showed Missouri public
schools to be substantially desegregated
except in the state’s southeast section
known as the “boot-heel.”
North Carolina
A white and a Negro school, which
adjoin and which are involved in fed
eral court litigation, were ordered
merged by the Greensboro school
board.
Oklahoma
Sixteen school districts have been
added to the state’s desegregated dis
tricts, making the total 186.
South Carolina
The General Assembly completed its
session without passage of additional
school segregation laws.
Tennessee
Clinton High, whose school plant
was heavily damaged by dynamite
blasts last fall, quietly ended its third
year of desegregation with commence
ment exercises for 143 white seniors.
None of the school’s eight Negroes were
seniors this year.
Texas
The NAACP asked federal courts in
Dallas and Houston to order immediate
desegregation of public schools in the
two cities.
Virginia
With token integration in four Vir
ginia communities, Negroes applied for
admission to white schools in scat
tered localities throughout the state.
West Virginia
A poll showed the state’s congression
al delegation to be divided on the ques
tion of strengthened civil rights laws.
Index
State Page
Alabama 12
Arkansas 2
Delaware 4
District of Columbia 8
Florida 7
Georgia 16
Kentucky 13
Louisiana 5
Maryland 10
Mississippi 15
Missouri 13
North Carolina 11
Oklahoma 16
South Carolina 9
Tennessee 5
Texas 14
Virginia 6
West Virginia 14