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PASE 8—JUNE 1959—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Major Fight In Prospect
On Schools,
WASHINGTON, D.C.
NOTHER MAJOR BATTLE Over
school desegregation and
civil rights bills shaped up in
Congress as Senate and House
subcommittees wound up hear
ings on various legislative pro
posals. In the Senate there were
indications an extended civil
rights debate could prolong the
session far into the summer. (See
“National Affairs.”).
Rep. James C. Davis (D-Ga.), who
conducted an investigation of deseg
regation in Washington’s public schools
three years ago, clashed publicly with
School Supt. Carl F. Hansen and ac
cused Hansen of “going out of Washing
ton apparently promoting integration
in schools where they don’t have it.”
(See “District Schools.”)
The District Board of Education put
the four-track system of ability group
ing on a permanent basis in Washing
ton high schools and considered pro
posals to establish a three-track pro
gram on the elementary and junior
high levels.
Senate and House subcommittees
completed hearings on civil rights bills
and there were predictions in each
house of legislation in this session of
Congress.
Senate hearings ended May 29. Min
ority Leader Everett M. Dirksen (R-
111.) predicted a “concerted effort” in
June to draw up a bill that will go fur
ther than the “moderate” recommen
dations of the Eisenhower administra
tion.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Earlier in the month, Majority Lead
er Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Tex.) listed
a civil rights bill as one of the major
legislative objectives of this session.
His decision dashed the hopes of south
ern Democrats that they could avoid a
showdown on civil rights this year—
and in the election year 1960.
Johnson is author of a middle-of-the-
road measure which would set up a
federal conciliation service—similar to
the one which functions in labor dis
putes—to meditate in local racial con
troversies.
He was reported hopeful of a Judi
ciary Committee bill which would not
spark a southern filibuster. But there
was speculation that even a “moder
ate” bill would set off prolonged debate
and carry the session far into the sum
mer months.
‘UNACCEPTABLE’
Johnson’s bill was assailed as “a
fraud and a deception” May 2 by Roy
Wilkins, executive director of the Na
tional Association for the Advancement
of Colored People.
“Since no Negro in his right mind in
tends to submit his citizenship rights
to a conciliation board instead of a
court, why should the NAACP or any
one else pretend . . . that the Johnson
bill might be acceptable? In its present
form it is unacceptable,” Wilkins de
clared.
Wilkins urged passage of stronger
bills, such as those sponsored by Sen.
Paul H. Douglas (D-Ill.) and Rep.
Emanuel Celler (D-N.Y.).
PART III
These would grant the attorney gen
eral the power to initiate court suits
and use the injunction process to en
force school desegregation. Such a pro
vision was proposed as Part III of the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 and had the
backing of the administration, but was
not enacted.
The administration is not supporting
Part IH legislation this year. Instead it
has called for strengthening of the laws
dealing with obstruction of court orders
in school cases; extension of the life of
the Civil Rights Commission, which is
due to wind up its work this fall; broad
ening of the attorney general’s power
to inspect election records, and exten
sion of federal financial aid to states
and localities in working out their
school problems.
The “moderate” approach of the John
son and administration proposals was
Civil Rights
questioned May 25 in a New York
speech by Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-
Minn.).
He said it was “folly” to evade the
issue by “substituting for responsible
legal action presidential counsels of
patience’ and ‘education’ or even legis
lative gestures limited to ‘conciliation,’
or to other forms of exhortation not
backed by the equal protection of the
law guaranteed by the Constitution.”
DOUGLAS COMMENTS
Congressional demands for action in
the civil rights field were spurred by
the lynching incident in Poplarville,
Miss. Sen. Douglas told a reporter he
was sure “the decent elements in the
South are just as indignant about the
Poplarville affair as we are in the
North.” But Douglas added:
“The tragedy does indicate the need
for added protection of the colored
population beyond that which local au
thorities are either willing or able to
give.”
Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R-N.Y.) an
nounced May 26 he would try to in
clude a federal anti-lynching amend
ment in any civil rights legislation en
acted this year.
HEARINGS OVER
On the House side, two months of
civil rights hearings ended May 1 with
strong statements of the northern and
southern views.
W. Scott Wilkinson, Shreveport, La.,
attorney, called all the bills “unwar
ranted and unconstitutional invasions”
of states’ rights and added that the
South would prefer no schools to de
segregated schools.
Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., Washington law
yer making a rebuttal statement for 20
civil rights groups, said the testimony
of southern officials “made the case
for civil rights legislation in a way that
its proponents never could.”
“They have made clear they will
never act until Congress does,” Rauh
asserted. “The time has come to stop
arguing the merits of the Supreme
Court decision and start enforcing it.”
Chairman Celler of the Judiciary
Committee said he hoped to get a civil
rights bill to the House floor in June.
Rep. George Huddleston Jr. (D-Ala.),
whose district includes the city of Bir
mingham, said May 14 a highly ex
plosive situation could develop there if
racial tensions continued to increase.
SAYS WALL DIVIDES RACES
Huddleston told the Senate civil
rights subcommittee a wall has been
built up between the white and Negro
races since the Supreme Court handed
down its desegregation decision in 1954.
Leaders of the two races no longer are
able to meet and discuss problems, he
said.
“You’re not going to get people to sit
down and discuss their problems if
someone is looking over their shoulder
and pushing them,” Huddleston added.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Lawrence E. Walsh
praised the NAACP May 11 for “dem
onstrating to communities of doubting
people the inevitability of complying
with the law of the land.”
Walsh told a religious leadership con
ference of the President’s Committee
on Government Contracts the NAACP’s
work in behalf of school litigants is one
of “the finest political education activ
ities that has been conducted in our
lifetime.”
Walsh restated the administration’s
position that school desegregation cases
should be initiated not by the govern
ment but by individuals and organiza
tions such as the NAACP. “The wisdom
of this conclusion,” he said, “is under
lined by the success of integration in
Virginia.”
WATCHING SOUTH
But Walsh added the government
may have to change its position if cur
rent anti-NAACP legislation in south
ern states curtails the organization’s
power to act. “We are looking out for
this development,” he said.
The House Education Committee ap
proved a $4.4 billion federal aid bill for
school construction and teacher salaries
after rejecting an amendment by Rep.
Phil Landrum (D-Ga.) specifying the
funds could not be withheld solely be
cause a state practiced race segregation.
Landrum said he would offer the
amendment again on the House floor.
Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D-N.Y.)
announced he would offer a floor
amendment denying federal funds to
any school district not complying with
the Supreme Court’s desegregation de
cision.
Rep. Carl Elliott (D-Ala.), author of
the 1958 National Defense Education
Act, warned that passage of some of the
proposed civil rights bills would lead to
the “collapse” of federal aid-to-educa-
tion programs.
He said the science-education law
and federal aid for “impacted” school
districts “met with great public accept
ance” because they avoided any fed
eral interference in local school affairs.
But he said some of the civil rights pro
posals would use the U. S. Office of Ed
ucation, which administers federal edu
cation aid, to encourage school integra
tion and would thus identify the office
with federal interference.
SEES DESTRUCTION
Public education will be destroyed in
many areas of the South unless the
states are guaranteed control of their
schools, Sen. Herman E. Talmadge (D-
Ga.) said May 12. He urged approval
by a Senate judiciary subcommittee of
a proposed constitutional amendment
to give the states exclusive control over
their public schools.
Attacking what he called the illegali
ties of the Supreme Court’s desegrega
tion decision, Talmadge called for ac
tion to nullify or modify it. He and
eight other southern senators are spon
soring the proposed amendment.
“Whether one likes it or not,” Tal
madge said, “the overwhelming major
ity of the people of the south will neith
er accept nor submit to the forced im
plementation of that decision and there
is no prospect of any change in that
position within the foreseeable future.”
Atty. Gen. William P. Rogers, an
nouncing the Justice Department’s
“strong opposition” to the proposed
amendment, commented May 14 it
would free states from the obligation to
provide even “separate but equal”
schools and would remove public edu
cation from the free speech and reli
gion protection of the Fourteenth
Amendment’s due process clause.
STEWART CONFIRMED
The Senate voted 70 to 17 May 5 to
confirm the nomination of Potter Stew
art, 44, an Ohio Republican, to be an as
sociate justice of the Supreme Court.
The dissenting votes were cast by
southern senators. Potter had been
serving on the court since last October
under a recess appointment.
In a report opposing Stewart’s con
firmation, Sens. Olin D. Johnston (D-
S.C.) and James O. Eastland (D-Miss.)
said they would not approve his ap
pointment “because it is evident from
the hearings that Justice Stewart thinks
the Supreme Court has the power to
legislate and to amend the Constitution
of the United States.” Stewart had stat
ed specifically that he was certain the
court lacked such power.
The two senators complained about
the practice of giving recess appoint
ments to federal judges and asked the
Senate not to confirm such appointees
in the future.
The Supreme Court agreed May 18
to decide whether Little Rock, Ark.,
can, ostensibly for tax reasons, force
the NAACP to turn over its member
ship list.
NAACP CHALLENGES
Last year the court ruled Alabama
could not force the NAACP to produce
its lists and expose members to possi
ble retaliation, because the state had
no “overriding interest” in the names.
Little Rock and North Little Rock have
passed ordinances requiring all organi
zations to produce membership lists to
help determine whether the city is los
ing revenue from organizations im
properly given tax-exempt status. The
NAACP is challenging the ordinances.
GEORGIA CASE
The Justice Department told the Su
preme Court May 12 a federal district
court in Georgia went far afield in
April when it held parts of the 1957
Civil Rights Act unconstitutional. The
Supreme Court was asked to accept a
direct appeal in the case, skipping the
usual review by a circuit court.
The case was the first action brought
by the Justice Department under the
1957 Act to protect voting rights. Filed
at Macon, Ga., last September, the pe
tition alleged that the voting registrars
of Terrell County consistently discrim
inated against qualified Negro voters
seeking to register.
Dist. Judge T. Hoyt Davis dismissed
the action April 16, asserting portions
of the act are invalid because they give
the attorney general the power to seek
injunctions not only against state offi
cials but against private citizens as well.
In seeking the Supreme Court re
view, the Justice Department said the
act, “properly construed,” applies only
to official actions and that no private
citizen is involved in the Macon suit.
The House elections subcommittee
announced it will go to Little Rock ear
ly in June to start a two-stage investi
gation of the election of Rep. Dale Al
ford (D-Ark.). Alford, a write-in can
didate who formerly served as a seg
regationist member of the Little Rock
School Board, defeated the veteran
Democratic incumbent, Brooks Hays, in
last November’s election. There have
been charges of irregularities in the
election.
Chairman Robert T. Ashmore (D-
S.C.) announced that his subcommittee
would examine some 60,000 ballots
about June 22.
DISTRICT SCHOOLS
Dist. School Supt. Hanson engaged in
a sharp exchange with a Georgia con
gressman who has been critical of
school desegregation in the Capital.
Hansen appeared before a House Dis
trict of Columbia subcommittee May 8
to testify on a teacher pay bill. When
he concluded his testimony he was
questioned by Rep. James C. Davis,
who headed an investigation of District
schools in 1956. The investigation re
port, which recommended a return to
segregation, has been widely distribut
ed in the South.
‘WHO PAID?’
“I notice you have been going out of
Washington apparently promoting in
tegration in schools where they don’t
have it. Who paid for these trips?” Da
vis asked.
Hansen said he had accepted an in
vitation to appear before the federal
Civil Rights Commission at a hearing
in Nashville, Tenn., and the commis
sion had paid his expenses. He said he
had also been to Atlanta, in Davis’s dis
trict, to appear on a television program
sponsored by the Georgia Council on
Human Relations, which picked up the
tab.
“I went down to talk about the Wash
ington schools. I did not go down to
support integration,” Hansen said. He
described the Georgia council as “high
ly reputable people” who are trying to
“improve the capacity of the citizens
of our country to live better with one
another.”
“Stripped of all that fancy language,
what it means is people who are pro
moting integration,” Davis declared.
Hansen replied: “That is one of their
goals. But the larger goal is to promote
the rights of fellow citizens. I subscribe
to that wholeheartedly.”
“The goal you subscribe to is race
mixing, isn’t it?” Davis asked. Hansen
said he would rather not answer that
question.
“I’d rather put it in other terms,” he
said. “There should be no discrimina
tion based on race—in any public insti
tutions, at any rate. We should get
away from it.”
SWAP REMARKS
Davis said that apparently Hansen
was not content to stay in the District
and run his own school system. Han
sen replied it was part of his job to
help alter the attitudes held by some
people concerning the condition of the
District schools.
Under further questioning by Davis,
Hansen acknowledged he recently re
fused to give Davis the name of a Ne
gro youth and a white girl—both for
mer District students—who have left
school and are now married. Hansen
had disclosed details of the affair dur
ing his appearance before the Civil
Rights Commission in Nashville. He
said he would not give the names to
Davis because it was not a proper in
quiry and because publicity would only
help “hate mongers and others who use
this information.” Hansen added: “This
I’ll have no part of.”
“I wonder if you are simple-minded
enough to think I couldn’t have gotten
the information if I wanted it?” Davis
asked. He added that he had known
the names for some time.
Hansen was praised by Rep. John R.
Foley (D-Md.), another member of the
House District subcommittee, for “ex
ercising the right of a free citizen to go
anywhere and speak and say” anything
he feels. Immediately after the session
Hansen left for South Bend, Ind., to
take part in a seminar on race relations
at Notre Dame Law School.
ATTACK RENEWED
Davis renewed his criticism of Dis
trict schools May 26 in a speech to the
Rotary Club in Alexandria, Va. He said
results of desegregation in the capital
are “almost directly opposite” to the
progress reported by Hansen. Davis re
viewed the investigation he conducted
in 1956 and said the situation has not
improved.
In his Atlanta television appearance
May 3, Hansen said integration has been
good for the Washington schools. He
said educational opportunities have
been improved, juvenile delinquency
among Negroes has dropped significant
ly and teacher recruitment standards
are among the highest in the Nation.
“We are definitely assured in our
minds that where there is competence,
children soon forget whether teachers
are Negro or white,” Hansen declared.
Desegregation at first “tended to accen
tuate the problem of discipline,” Han
sen said, “but by and large these were
just the problems of children.”
ASKS RESTRICTIONS
In a May 21 speech at Howard Uni
versity, Hansen scored individuals who
use racial prejudice as an excuse for
their own shortcomings and suggested
that “it is time to restrict the use of
this scapegoat device.”
He said he would tell people who
want to improve themselves here that:
“You have the time, you have the
schools, you have the books, you have
the opportunity, you have the means to
self-improvement . . . Why not use the
means rather than litter the roads you
are following with the opiates of self-
pity . . . and self-indulgent explanation
for lack of effort.”
Hansen conceded that equality of job
opportunities for Negroes has not yet
been achieved in the capital. But he
said Negroes formerly suffered psycho
logical handicaps in segregated schools
and these handicaps are now being
overcome.
GIVEN AWARDS
An organization of Negro doctors at
Howard presented Hansen with a
plaque and praised him as an “impar
tial educator and administrator, believ
er in the principle of equal opportunity
for all students according to ability.”
Addressing the District Congress of
Parents and Teachers May 4, Hansen
put Washington parents on notice their
schools will be making greater demands
on students—and on teachers. He
spelled out a first-things-come-first ap
proach to the future development of
education in the Capital.
Hansen criticized the “postponement
theory” in education which holds that
tough subjects should not be intro
duced early in the curriculum. “That
approach, he said, “has been, I believe,
wrongly adduced from the studies of
child growth and development.”
Citing recent gains in pupil achieve
ment levels, Hansen said the District
school system is “writing educational
history that is now eliciting the favor
able attention of the entire Nation.”
But he added “the struggle for the im
provement of education has only really
begun.”
He called for increased stress on the
basic subjects, constant re-examination
of curriculum content, improvement of
textbooks, emphasis on “order, preci
sion and routine” in the classroom and
expansion of special educational serv
ices for pupils with educational handi
caps.
4-TRACK PLAN
At a May 20 meeting, the District
school board put its stamp of approval
on the three-year-old four-track sys
tem of grouping high school students
by ability level and established the
four-track approach as a permanent
part of the school program.
The four-track plan, introduced as
an experiment at the 10th grade level in
1956 and extended each year since, in
cludes a tough honors sequence for
gifted students, a regular college pre
paratory program, a general course for
students not planning to go to college,
and a remedial basic sequence.
School officials have reported that
students at each ability level have made
notable gains because courses could be
geared to their specific needs under the
four-track system.
In approving the four-track idea, the
school board tightened academic re
quirements up and down the line and
ordered uniform administration of the
system in all 11 senior high schools.
There had been complaints during the
experimental phase that practices of
assigning and grading students in the
various tracks differed substantially
from school to school.
A report submitted by Hansen and
approved by the board gave high pri
ority to the “upgrading aim of the basic
curriculum.” It stated: “It has been en
couraging that students in the basic
curriculum have moved into the regular
program, and it is felt that with in
creased emphasis and further in-serv
ice training of teachers, this feature of
the program can be even more success
ful.”
PLAN EXTENTION
Pending before the school board for
action in June is a proposal by the su
perintendent to extend a modified form
of the track system down into the jun
ior high and elementary schools. R
would provide for a basic program for
mentally retarded pupils and slow
learners, a regular course for students
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