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PAGE 12—JULY 1959—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DELAWARE
Federal Body Turns Down
Change In Statewide Plan
DOVER, Del.
A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT judge
-*■*- has rejected a plea by the
state Board of Education to in
clude an attendance area para
graph in the 12-year desegrega
tion program. (See “Legal Ac
tion.”)
A statewide registration of pre
school children showed 25 Negro
children applying to attend white
schools in Kent and Sussex coun
ties, where only the Dover school
is desegregated. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
The state board on June 23
filed its amended desegregation
program with the district federal
court, including a paragraph deal
ing with children of migrant
workers. (See “School Boards
and Schoolmen.”)
LEGAL ACTION
U. S. Dist. Court Judge Caleb R.
Layton III has rejected a petition from
the state Board of Education to restore
an attendance area provision to the
12-year desegregation program which
was earlier approved by the court. De
segregation is scheduled to start in Sep
tember.
“It is time now to get down to the
serious business of integration,” Judge
Layton wrote in his supplemental opin
ion in which he rejected the state
board’s argument of May 28.
Surely, it is within the wisdom
and ingenuity of the members of the
state board to devise a regulation deal
ing with attendance areas which will
prevent an immediate and unwarranted
overcrowding of the facilities of the
white schools and at the same time,
upon the showing of good cause, per
mit a limited number of Negro stu
dents to transfer to a white school.”
TWO POINTS STRICKEN
In approving the plan in general last
April, Judge Layton had stricken par
agraph four, dealing with attendance
areas, and paragraph five, dealing with
registration, both proposed by the state.
Judge Layton, in effect, said the para
graphs were discriminatory.
In his supplemental opinion, Judge
Layton continued:
“Had paragraph four stated merely
that Negro students must abide by the
regulations of the state school board
as to attendance areas provided such
areas were not established in such
fashion as to discriminate against the
colored race, there could have been no
possible objection. But the paragraph
said no such thing.
“Read against a background of geo
graphical facts of which judicial knowl
edge may be taken, it provided that in
many localities no colored student
could ever attend a white school un
less his parents thereafter changed
their residence to a point closer to the
white school than the colored school.
“Moreover, the paragraph was dis
criminatory because a white student
who lived closer to the colored school
than the white school could, neverthe
less, thereafter attend the white school.
“Nor, contrary to the argument of
the petitioners, is it essential that the
plan contain a provision providing for
uniform attendance areas. . . .
"The state Board of Education has
the clear power to establish attendance
areas by regulations and all Negro stu
dents must abide by any such regula
tion provided it is non-discriminatory in
character and fairly administered.
PROBLEMS AHEAD
“In conclusion, it may be said that
many problems will arise from time to
time as the result of integrating the
public school system which can only be
solved by patience, wisdom and toler
ance. The question of the establish
ment of uniform attendance areas may
constitute a major problem in the fu
ture, although, contrary to the con
tentions of the state board, no such
problem presently exists.”
Judge Layton, who had directed the
state board to submit statistics on the
result of a statewide registration for
first graders in June, noted that the
state board had predicted “chaos.”
But he pointed out that only 25 Ne
gro children in the entire state (ex
cluding Wilmington, long integrated)
made application to transfer to a white
school.
Earlier in the month, the first state
wide registration of first graders, in
cluding Negroes, went off without inci
dent.
The registration was well publicized,
at the direction of Judge Layton.
In addition to frequent newspaper
articles, and radio broadcasts, each
school was ordered to post notices of
registration in at least five conspic
uous places, including schools.
The 25 Negro applicants to attend
white schools were as follows:
Smyrna, six; Caesar Rodney, three;
Milford, six; Clayton, four; Rehoboth,
one; Lewes, one; Bridgeville, one;
Frederica, one, and Odessa, two. Odessa
is in New Castle County, the rest in
Kent or Sussex, where Dover is the
only school district with a desegregation
program.
The student who registered at Lewes
—the name was not made public—later
withdrew.
DOVER REGISTRATION
Meanwhile, the Dover district, not a
party of the court suit, held a regis
tration for first graders on its own, and
six Negroes enrolled.
Supt. David M. Green said the Ne
gro children were enrolled in April, but
that the school board has not taken
any action on assignment.
Green declined comment “because
the board hasn’t even discussed the
matter.”
But if present policy is followed, the
pupils would be assigned to the Booker
T. Washington school, a Negro elemen
tary school within the Dover district.
Dover has a desegregation program in
its high school academic course, not
available at the county Negro high
school.
A suit challenging the district’s plan
was filed in August 1957 and is pend
ing before the federal court in Wil
mington.
Otherwise, Negroes registered at only
two (Milford and Clayton) defendant
districts in the original suit that dates
back to 1956. The other five defendants
are Laurel, Seaford, Greenwood, Mil-
ton, and John M. Clayton, which serves
Frankford-Dagsboro.
FINAL PLAN
The state board, apparently at the
end of the legal trail, on June 23 filed
with the U. S. district court in Wil
mington what may well be its final
desegregation plan.
Because paragraphs four and five
were stricken by Judge Layton, the
final version contains five instead of
seven paragraphs.
In addition to covering admission of
Negroes to white schools, one para
graph is devoted to children of migrant
workers. The state board will have, in
effect, mobile classrooms, taking the
teachers to the pupils. The paragraph
states:
“Transfers will be considered only
for those pupils who are legally domi
ciled in Delaware. All migrants will
be admitted only to ungraded classes
to be established by the state Board
of Education. Any child who is not
legally domiciled in the district in
which admission to school is sought
will be considered a migrant.”
The classes in the migrant camps
start in September.
# # #
LOUISIANA
Immediate Action Sought
On New Orleans Lawsuit
NEW ORLEANS, La.
A ttorneys representing Ne
groes who seek admission to
New Orleans public schools
moved suddenly in mid-June to
force the Orleans Parish (coun
ty) School Board to advance an
immediate plan of desegregation.
A hearing on the motion filed
by A. P. Tureaud, NAACP coun
sel, was set July 15 before U. S.
District Judge J. Skelly Wright.
(See “Legal Action.”)
July 13 was set by the Civil Rights
Commission for what was described as
a full scale inquiry into voter registra
tion in Louisiana. A new purge of
voters opened in June while vote regis
trars stood steadfast against answering
a Civil Rights Commission question
naire and the U. S. Justice Department
filed suit to halt the purge. (See “Legal
Action.”)
GOVERNOR’S RACE
Gov. Earl K. Long, confined to men
tal institutions from May 30 to June 26
on commitments signed by his wife,
won freedom and immediately resumed
talk that he will run for re-election.
Segregationist state Sen. William M.
Rainach, who dealt Gov. Long severe
setbacks during legislative meetings of
May, is expected to open his campaign
for governor early in July. (See “Polit
ical Activity.”)
A $6,800,000 state grant for construc
tion at the integrated branch of Louis
iana State University at New Orleans
was protested by the Citizens’ Council
of Greater New Orleans, which said
that Negroes plan to attend LSUNO ra
ther than a branch of Southern Univer
sity (Negro) now under construction
near the LSU campus. (See “In the Col
leges.”)
The Kenner Citizens Council pro
tested the attendance of Negroes and
whites (10 Negroes and 100 whites) in
summer catechism classes at Our Lady
of Perpetual Help school. (See “What
They Say.”)
Formal complaints from 68 persons in
seven north Louisiana parishes are be
fore the commission for action.
The hearing is expected to rival the
widely publicized investigation last fall
in Montgomery, Ala., with Gremillion
giving every advance indication of
strong opposition to commission action.
Originally a Lousiana hearing was to
be conducted in May, but that plan
was dropped when it appeared the com
mission would obtain information from
Gremillion and vote registrars to in
vestigate the complaints..
315 QUESTIONS
In June, however, Gremillion
brushed aside a 315-question question
naire sent to him as legal representative
of the seven parish registrars. The
commission said he had agreed to for
ward them to the registrars.
His principal objection to the federal
inquiry, he has said repeatedly, is that
the government refuses to give Louis
iana officials the names of the com
plaining persons.
Meanwhile, state Sen. William M.
Rainach, chairman of the joint legisla
tive committee on segregation, moved
ahead with his purge of voters from
the rolls, a purge intended to knock
down 100,000 of Louisiana’s 130,000 reg
istered Negroes.
He moved into Opelousas, seat of
St. Landry Parish, but after initial
jockeying the purge geared down to a
slow pace.
700 OF 7,000 QUALIFIED
Rainach said his purge in Opelousas
is a test of what he will do elsewhere.
He said only 700 of the 7,000 Negroes
registered in the parish were qualified
to vote.
The state senator said he had re
ceived requests from 15 other parishes
for purges similar to the one under
way in St. Landry, which had a large
percentage of Negro voters. The May
31 records showed 16,360 white and 7,874
Negroes.
On June 29, the U. S. Department of
Justice filed suit in federal district court
at New Orleans to halt the removal of
Negroes’ names from the voting list in
Washington Parish. The Citizens Coun
cil and four of its members were named
in the suit.
e Oak Ridge High School is one of 12 modem educational plants to be included in the transfer of jurisdiction from the
tonne Energy Commission to a local school board operating under Tennessee law. The school system in 1955 ended seg
regation. Negroes have attended junior and senior high school ever since on an integrated basis, though by virtue of resi-
dence there has been no desegregation at the elementary level.
Oak Ridge
(Continued From Page 1)
money and administrative policies have
come from Washington.”
HIGHEST PAID
Oak Ridge teachers, highest paid in
the state with a $3,570 beginning mini
mum and automatic annual raises for 14
years, are assured they will not suffer
under the new setup. Obviously, they
helped comprise the 14-to-one majority
vote cast for incorporation on May 5.
If administrative policies are not ex
pected to be troublesome, the money
situation might. “It looks as if we’U
continue to be quite dependent on the
federal government for a while,” Cush
man said.
Under Tennessee’s general education
bill of 1959, a new or reactivated school
district could become eligible for state
aid during the next biennium only if it
was certified to the commissioner of
education before March 1. Oak Ridge,
its incorporation not yet approved, was
unable to do so.
And with relatively little taxable
high-value property, sufficient local tax
money to fill the needs might be ex
tremely hard to come by except for
congressional provision that the AEC
may continue to give a financial lift to
Oak Ridge for at least 10 more years.
This aid is expected to total some
$2 million a year. Although it is a tidy
sum, Oak Ridge has some of the finest
municipal facilities in the nation to
maintain. Every available dollar will
be needed.
# # #
Tennessee
(Continued From Page 11)
tion, said he also would run for the city
commission, probably for commissioner
of fire and police.
Memphis has no Negro officeholders,
nor do most other Tennessee cities.
However, Nashville has two Negro city
councilmen and one Negro on its school
board.
IN THE COLLEGES
The committee on higher education
of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church recommended to its General
Assembly at Springfield, Mo., that Beth
el College at McKenzie in West Ten
nessee be opened to Negro ministerial
students.
Trustees of the small college, in the
midst of a strongly pro-segregation ru
ral area, were urged to propose a plan
at next year’s assembly in Nashville
following the “spirit and objectives of
a request . . . by the Oklahoma synod
to admit qualified ministerial candi
dates . . . irrespective of race or creed.”
Bethel President Roy Baker said the
college would begin work late this
summer on such a plan, but he de
clined to speculate on whether this
means eventual desegregation.
# # #
Judge J. Skelly Wright will conduct
a hearing July 15 in federal district
court at New Orleans on the motion of
Negroes who seek to have the Orleans
Parish School Board comply with the
Feb. 15, 1956, order to proceed with
desegregation with all deliberate speed.
The motion asking that the board be
forced to define a plan to end segrega
tion as soon as possible was filed June
18, eight days after the U.S. Fifth Cir
cuit Court of Appeals turned down for
the third time appeals by the school
board.
A. P. Tureaud, attorney for the Ne
gro plaintiffs in the five-year-old case,
said in his motion that Judge Wright
had issued a preliminary injunction in
1956 enjoining the school board from
requiring and permitting segregation.
NO PLAN OFFERED
But, he pointed out, though the in
junction was affirmed three times by the
court of appeals and twice by the U. S.
Supreme Court, nothing has been of
fered as a plan of desegregation.
Tureaud said the order of desegre
gation by the Supreme Court was made
final Oct. 23, 1958.
He said Negro plaintiffs have re
frained in the past from seeking further
relief so that the school board could
have a reasonable time to come up
with arrangements to end segregation.
"It is apparent,” his motion stated,
“that the defendant has not made ar
rangements as required by the court
order.”
DISMISSAL DENIAL UPHELD
The court of appeals on June 10 had
upheld Judge Wright’s 1956 decision
and denied the school board motion to
dismiss the decision on contention that
the board was not a proper party to the
suit and that Act 319 of the 1956 Legis
lature should prevail.
The act, which applied only to New
Orleans, provides that the Legislature
shall designate which schools are for
whites and which for Negroes.
The Civil Rights Commission, which
has been engaging in a war of letters
with Louisiana Atty. Gen. Jack P. F.
Gremillion, announced in Washington it
would open a vote probe in Shreve
port July 13.
Gov. Earl K. Long and Sen. William
M. Rainach, who fought bitterly dur
ing the weeks prior to Long’s confine
ment in mental institutions, appear
headed into new battles in the guber
natorial race.
Rainach’s campaign will depend
principally on the issue of segregation-
desegregation. With Long now out of
the hospital and declaring that he in
tends to run for re-election despite a
law against succession in office, Rain
ach may have a stronger peg on which
to hang his fight.
Long attemped to halt Rainach’s
purge of Negro voters from the rolls in
Louisiana with two legislative bills put
before the recent 30-day session of the
Legislature. Rainach beat both bills by
claiming they would undermine the
fight to preserve segregation and return
Louisiana to carpetbagger days.
Louisiana State University’s branch
at New Orleans was granted $6,800,000
from expected oil lease revenues and
announced plans for expanding the in
stitution, now housed in temporary fa
cilities.
The Citizens’ Council of Greater New
Orleans, pointing out that the branch
already has Negro students (there are
some 70 Negroes among 1,450 students,
said a petition had been signed by 3,500
Negroes saying they intended to go to
LSU rather than the nearby branch of
Southern University.
The Kenner Citizens Council in a
New Orleans suburb scored a Catholic
parish for what it said was the mixing
of white and Negro pupils in a cate
chism class.
Robert A. Pitre, president, said the
Rev. Jerome Drolet, pastor of Our Lady
of Perpetual Help parish, had charged
the Citizens Council group with at
tempting to bring about discontinuance
of the classes.
# # #