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PAGE 4—JULY 1959—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Enforcement Power Rejected In New
Committee-Approved Civil Rights Bill
WASHINGTON, D. C.
4 House Judiciary subcommit
tee approved a civil rights bill
which would recognize the Su
preme Court’s 1954 desegregation
decision as “the supreme law of
the land” and give the attorney
general the power to seek injunc
tions enforcing school desegrega
tion.
But the “Title III” enforcement
power was voted down by a Sen
ate subcommittee and had little
chance of restoration in any Sen
ate civil rights measure. (See
“National Affairs.”)
Standardized achievement testing of
District pupils showed a predominant
pattern of gains over last year, though
scores still fell short of national stand
ards. School Supt. Carl F. Hansen said
test results demonstrate what he de
scribed as the benefits of school deseg
regation.
A “three-track” plan of ability group
ing starting at the grade school level
was approved by the District Board of
Education. (See “District Schools.”)
A civil rights bill which would give
congressional recognition to the Su
preme Court’s school desegregation de
cisions as “the supreme law of the land”
was approved June 17 by a House Ju
diciary subcommittee.
Chairman Emanuel Celler (D-N.Y.)
called the measure “a strong bi-parti-
san compromise.” It would combine the
broad “Part III” enforcement power
with President Eisenhower’s more mod
erate civil rights program.
NOT ASKED AGAIN
Part IH, so called because that was
the position it occupied in the 1957 civil
rights bill, would give the Justice De
partment power to initiate court suits
to enforce school desegregation and
protect all other civil rights denied be
cause of race. The Part IH provision
was sought by the administration two
years ago, but was not included in the
Civil Rights Act of 1957. The President
has not asked for its passage this year.
Republicans on the House subcom
mittee accepted the Part IH provision
in exchange for Democrat approval of
the administration program, and also
succeeded in knocking out of Celler’s
original proposal a provision calling
for massive federal school funds to aid
integration.
ITS PROVISIONS
The administration program incor
porated into the bill would:
• Make it a crime to interfere with
court school desegregation orders.
• Make it a crime to cross state
lines to avoid prosecution for hate
bombings.
• Require states to preserve voting
records for three years and make them
available for inspection by federal offi
cials.
•Extend the life of the Civil Rights
Commission for two years beyond its
scheduled expiration this fall.
• Give congressional approval to the
President’s committee seeking by per
suasion to end job discrimination by
firms holding government contracts.
• Provide for the education of chil
dren of military personnel where
schools are closed by desegregation
conflicts.
• Provide about $2 million in tech
nical help to communities attempting
to desegregate their schools.
ACTION DELAYED
On the same day the House group
approved a bill including the Part ni
enforcement power, the Senate Constit-
tutional Rights subcommittee killed
Part IH by a 5 to 3 vote and then
agreed to put off further action on
writing a civil rights bill.
Three southerners on the Senate
subcommittee were joined by Sens. Jo
seph C. O’Mahoney (D-Wyo.) and Ro
man L. Hruska (R-Neb.) in voting
down Part III. It could be offered as an
'amendment later, but is given little
chance of passing the Senate. It died
there in 1957.
Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B.
Johnson (D-Tex.) again gave high pri
ority to a civil rights bill June 9 when
he listed legislative goals for this ses
sion of Congress. Johnson is author of a
measure which would set up a “concil
iation” service for racial disputes sim
ilar to the federal agency which medi
ates labor conflicts.
Johnson said he expects Congress to
pass a civil rights bill “which will ap
peal to free men who wish to make
progress rather than make an issue.”
DEMOCRATS’ STAND
The Democratic Advisory Council,
consisting primarily of non-congres-
sional party leaders, issued a statement
June 14 calling for a law which would
provide “assistance to the states in the
transition to desegregated schools and
provisions to strengthen the federal
protection of civil rights generally.”
Democratic National Chairman Paul
M. Butler said the council, which en
dorsed no bill by name, favored the
broad measures backed by Celler and
Sen. Paul H. Douglas (D-fll.) over
Johnson’s conciliation proposal.
Mrs. Benjamin Bryan Everett, Dem
ocratic national committeewoman from
North Carolina and the only southern
member of the council present, dissent
ed from the civil rights declaration,
Butler said. Otherwise the statement
was unanimous, with former President
Harry S. Truman concurring by tele
phone from his home in Independence,
Mo.
House Republicans, ignoring strong
administration opposition, teamed up
with southern democrats June 24 to
pass the states’ rights bill titled HR-3.
The brief but significant bill is designed
to prevent federal laws from striking
down state laws in the same field
where there is no irreconcilable con
flict.
MEASURE OKAYED
The House vote was 225 to 192, with
30 Republicans and 162 Democrats op
posed and 114 Republicans and 111
Democrats in favor. The same bill
passed the House last year but lost by
one vote in the Senate.
The bill declares the courts shall not
construe an act of Congress as pre
empting a field (thus preventing state
action) unless the act so states or un
less there is a “direct and positive” con
flict between federal and state law.
DISCUSSES CLOSINGS
Arthur S. Flemming, secretary of
Health, Education and Welfare, held a
news conference June 22 to discuss
the effects of southern school closings
in the academic year just ended. Last
fall, nine schools in Virginia and four
in Arkansas were closed to thwart de
segregation, Fleming noted. But he said
“the situation has improved markedly”
since Virginia’s schools reopened in
February.
Flemming described as “a heartening
development” Virginia Gov. J. Lindsay
Almond’s recent appeal for public sup
port to preserve the state’s public edu
cation system. Flemming added:
“Certainly Gov. Almond was abso
lutely correct when he said that pub
lic education is ‘indispensable to the
strength and security of the nation.’
I sincerely hope Gov. Almond’s counsel
will prevail in Prince Edward Coun
ty.”
That county’s Board of Supervisors
voted to abandon public schooling next
fall to avoid compliance with a federal
court’s desegregation order. White resi
dents plan to finance private segregated
schools through public donations.
Flemming declared, “There must be
no gradual collapse of the public educa
tion system in any of our states. Prop
erly established and fully accredited
private schools have played and will
continue to play an important part in
our nation’s total educational program.
They must never become a substitute
for a public system of education staffed
with competent instructors and pro
vided with adequate facilities, equip
ment and libraries.”
HOPES AGAINST COLLAPSE
Asked whether he agreed with Al
mond’s position that the federal gov
ernment will step in if the state steps
out of public education, Flemming re
plied:
“That is a bridge I hope we will not
be compelled to cross. If we have to
cross it, then I will have some views
on it. But the steps in the last few
months point in the right direction, and
I hope we won’t have a collapse of
the public school system in any state.”
Flemming reported 1,800 of the 16,300
students affected by school closing in
Virginia and Arkansas received no edu
cation during the school year.
“For them it has clearly been a lost
year for intellectual growth and devel
opment,” he said.
Instruction for the remaining stu
dents was “inadequate,” he commented,
and “time alone will make it possible
to appraise the results.” Effects of school
closings point to one conclusion, Flem
ing said:
“We cannot and must not slam shut
our school doors in the faces of our
children and young people.”
‘MORAL’ OR STATUTE LAW
President Eisenhower reiterated his
conviction that efforts to end racial
discrimination must rely more on an
appeal to “moral law” than “statutory
law.” Greeting a June 9 conference of
the Civil Rights Commission’s state ad
visory committees, the President said:
“The progress that you are going to
achieve is that of education, promoting
understanding to see that we come
nearer to achieving our ideals without
necessarily, or maybe even wisely, try
ing to place on our statute books too
many punitive laws.”
The President said Americans “have
not reached perfection” in providing
equal opportunities for all citizens, but
“the important thing is . . . that we
make progress. This does not necessarily
mean revolution. In my mind it means
evolution.”
State advisory committees to the Civil
Rights Commission have been created
in every state except South Carolina
and Mississippi to help assess the status
of civil rights and the need for any
additional legislation. The two-day con
ference in the capital was attended by
one or more representatives from each
state. Most of the discussions were
closed. The commission said the reason
was to prevent premature disclosure of
material to be included in the report
it must submit to the President and
Congress by Sept. 9.
Law and order have deteriorated sub
stantially in the South and “a wide
spread erosion of individual liberties”
has taken place, according to a report
titled “Intimidations, Reprisal and Vio
lence in the South’s Racial Crisis” is
sued July 15 by three organizations.
The report, listing 530 incidents in 11
southern states in the past four years,
was published by the Southeastern Of
fice of the American Friends Service
Committee, the Department of Racial
and Cultural Relations of the National
Council of Churches, and the Southern
Regional Council.
TALMADGE RAPS REPORT
The report and its sponsoring organi
zations were denounced June 23 by Sen.
Herman Talmage (D-Ga.), who called
it “an irresponsible, unfounded and
slanderous attack upon the good name
of the people of the South.”
The report, limited to incidents di
rectly attributable to increased tensions
following the Supreme Court decisions,
stressed that it described only the “an
gry, violent side of the picture,” and
not the “patience, responsibility, cour
age and good will” shown by whites
and Negroes in other instances.
“But we feel an obligation to call at
tention to the dangers posed by the
record that follows—dangers for which
all of us, through silence or inaction,
must share the responsibility,” the pub
lishers said.
Washington pupils’ performance on
standardized achievement tests this
year topped last year’s scores in 15 of
the 27 subjects tested, School Supt. Carl
F. Hansen reported June 25. Results of
the 1958-59 testing program matched
1957-58 scores in three other subjects
and trailed in nine, Hansen said.
Noting a “significant upward trend”
in the test scores since 1955, Hansen
said they show “it is possible to over
come educational lags, though teaching
must be extremely competent, forceful
and demanding.”
The gains were made in the face
of a steady increase in the city’s pro
portion of Negro pupils, Hansen said.
Southern School News
Southern School News is the official publication of the Southern Education
Reporting Service, an 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 simply
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, 1879.
OFFICERS
Frank Ahlgren Chairman
Thomas R. Waring Vice Chairman
Edward D. Bali Executive Director
Patrick McCauley, Assistant to the Executive Director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Frank Ahlgren, Editor, Memphis Com
mercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
Edward D. Ball, Exec. Dir., Southern Ed
ucation Reporting Service.
Harvie Branscomb, Chancellor, Vander-
bilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
Luther H. Foster, President, Tuskegee
Institute, Tuskegee, Ala.
Coleman A. Harwell, Editor, Nashville
Tennessean, Nashville, Tenn.
Henry H. Hill, President, George Pea
body College, Nashville, Tenn.
C. A. McKnight, Editor, Charlotte Ob-
server, Charlotte, N.C.
Charles Moss, Executive Editor, Nash
ville Banner, Nashville, Tenn.
George N. Redd, Dean, Fisk University,
Nashville, Tenn.
Don Shoemaker, Editorial Page Editor,
Miami Herald, Miami, Fla.
Bert Struby, General Manager, Macon
Telegraph and News, Macon, Ga.
Thomas R. Waring, Editor, Charleston
News & Courier, Charleston, S.C.
Henry 1. Willett, Superintendent of
Schools, Richmond, Va.
CORRESPONDENTS
ALABAMA
William H. McDonald, Assistant Edi
tor, Montgomery Advertiser
ARKANSAS
William T. Shelton, City Editor, Ar
kansas Gazette
DELAWARE
James E. Miller, Managing Editor,
Delaware State News
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Erwin Knoll, Staff Writer, Washing
ton Post & Times Herald
FLORIDA
Bert Collier, Editorial Writer, Miami
Herald
GEORGIA
Joseph B. Parham, Editor, The Macon
News
KENTUCKY
Weldon James, Editorial Writes
Louisville Courier-Journal
LOUISIANA
Emile Comar, Staff Writer, New Or
leans States & Item
MARYLAND
Edgar L. Jones, Editorial Writer,
Baltimore Sun
MISSISSIPPI
Kenneth Toler, Mississippi Bureau,
Memphis Commercial Appeal
MISSOURI
William K. Wyant Jr., Staff Writer,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
NORTH CAROLINA
L. M. Wright Jr., Staff Writer, Char
lotte Observer
OKLAHOMA
Leonard Jackson, Staff Writer, Okla
homa City Oklahoman-Times
SOUTH CAROLINA
W. D. Workman Jr., Special Corre
spondent, Columbia S.C.
TENNESSEE
Tom Flake, Staff Writer, Nashville
Banner
Garry Fullerton, Education Editor,
Nashville Tennessean
TEXAS
Richard M. Morehead, Austin Bureau,
Dallas News
VIRGINIA
Overton Jones, Associate Editor,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
WEST VIRGINIA
Thomas F. Stafford, Assistant to the
Editor. Charleston Gazette
MAIL ADDRESS
P.O. Box 6156, Acklen Station, Nashville 12, Tenn.
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This year, Negroes constituted 74.1 per
cent of the District school population.
CHILDREN BENEFIT
“These children are demonstrating
their educability and benefiting from
stepped-up education in an integrated
school system,” the superintendent de
clared.
But he conceded the District’s urban
population, handicapped by economic
and social shortcomings, is likely to
continue to be reflected in an “atypical
distribution” of achievement test scores
as compared to national standards.
Most notable gains made this year
were in the sixth grade test results,
which were released two months ago.
The local sixth grade median scores
matched or exceeded national stand
ards in five of the six subjects tested.
On the other hand, fifth grade pupils
trailed behind last year’s performance.
Median scores lagged six months to
one school year behind the national
norms.
ALL GRADES UP SINCE 1956
However, median scores at all grade
levels showed substantial gains since
the first citywide achievement tests
were administered in the 1955-56 school
year, a year after District schools were
desegregated.
Hansen also released results of a
“Metropolitan Readiness Test” admin
istered to first graders when they
entered school last fall. The local me
dian score was 64, compared to a na
tional median of 70.5. Hansen said this
was evidence that further school and
community efforts need to be made to
overcome home conditions which in
terfere with children’s educational
progress.
The district school board gave its ap
proval June 24 to Hansen’s three-track
plan for ability grouping of elementary
and junior high school students. The
board authorized Hansen to put the
plan into effect next fall, and asked for
complete progress reports at the end
of the fall and spring semesters.
ABILITY GROUPING
The three-track program is an effort
to extend down to the grade school
level the principle of ability grouping
introduced in District senior high
schools three years ago.
Starting at the first grade, slow-
leaming pupils will be assigned to a
remedial “basic” track. Hansen said
basic classes, limited to 18 pupils each,
will enroll a total of about 3,300 next
year.
Beginning at the fourth grade, the
brightest students will be placed in
fast-moving “honors” classes. Some
1,200 are expected to enter this program
next fall, Hansen said.
A regular track will accommodate the
pupils who fall between the two ex
tremes of ability.
COMPLAINTS ANSWERED
Some school board members com
plained that the plan might result in
premature and rigid “stratification” of
children, but Hansen told the board
that American education “has been vic
timized by an objective that is impossi
ble to attain. This is that every child
regardless of his characteristics should
be taught all subjects by one teacher
in a self-contained classroom.”
The school board voted June 24 to
oppose a bill by Rep. Joel T. Broyhill
(R-Va.) that would require 1,645 pu
pils whose parents do not live in the
District to pay non-resident tuitions.
The present practice is to require
tuition payments from children who
were sent to Washington for the sole
purpose of attending school, but to
consider as District residents children
living here with relatives or other per
sons who support them and exercise
control over them. Broyhill has charged
that District taxpayers are burdened
by education costs of many Negro chil
dren sent to the capital to attend inte
grated schools.
While opposing Broyhill’s bill, board
members voted to support legislation
providing punishment for falsification
of affidavits of children’s residency.
Federal district court judges reap'
pointed three incumbent school board
members to new three-year terms. The
reappointments of Rowland F. Kirk s >
Carl C. Smuck and Ruth B. Spencer
maintained the board’s traditional com'
position of six white and three Negr°
members.
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