Newspaper Page Text
Factual
VOL. 6, NO. 2
• V d ‘ \ 3 h j. v
V I 0 b 0 3 0 JO •Aid')
30 31T0D 01O iO£
3 N . • i • y
2 I I 0 I -y-6g- 3Nnf
NASHVILLfc,
J
hool News
TENNESSEE
$2 PER YEAR
Objective
AUGUST, 1959
Half Dozen Districts To
Desegregate This Fall;
South’s Enrollment Up
Dallas Petition Declined;
New Orleans, Atlanta Get
Time Limit Set On Plans
D esegregation of at least six
school districts and exten
sion of desegregation programs in
12 others are in prospect for the
1959-60 school year beginning late
this month and early next.
A slight increase in enrollment
also is expected across the 17-
state southern region.
Plans for desegregation for the first
time have been announced in Dade
County (Miami). Fla., Craven County,
N. C., Alluwe, Okla., and Charlottes
ville, Va. In addition, Little Rock’s
newly constituted school board has an
nounced the high schools there, closed
last year to avoid integration, will be
re-desegregated. And in Oklahoma,
school authorities disclosed for the
first time that the Ardmore district has
been desegregated in principle for
some time.
STATEWIDE PLAN
In Delaware, 39 school districts came
under the statewide grade-a-year de
segregation plan formulated by the
state Board of Education and approved
by the federal district court. The plan
is scheduled to take effect this fall.
However, it is not anticipated that Ne
groes will apply at white schools in
all the districts.
If all 45 districts carry out their
announced plans, the total of desegre
gated school districts will advance to
779 in the 17 southern and border states.
Extension of present desegregation
nrograms has been announced for Fort
Smith, Ark.; Dover, Del.; Daviess and
Owen counties, Ky.; Anne Arundel
County, Md.; Oklahoma City, New
Model and Chickasha, Okla.; Nashville,
Tenn.; Victoria, Texas; Norfolk and
Arlington County, Va.
ANTICIPATED ENROLLMENT
Anticipated fall enrollments for the
17 states and the District of Columbia
are expected to total 13,040,400. The
racial breakdown is estimated at 9,-
984,600 white pupils and 3,055,800 Ne
groes with the latter representing 23.4
percent of the total.
In prospect for the region are the
following:
Alabama—Enrollment is anticipated
at 790,000, including 497,700 white pu
pils and 292,300 Negroes. All 113 of the
state’s school districts will continue to
operate on a segregated basis. Applica
tions for admission of Negroes to two
white schools have been submitted in
Birmingham. All were rejected.
Arkansas—Enrollment is expected to
remain at about 419,000 as it has for
the past several years. This figure has
included some 316,000 white pupils and
103,000 Negroes. With Little Rock
planning to re-open the four high
schools closed by Gov. Orval Faubus
last fall, the number of school districts
desegregated will be nine. Fort Smith
district is expected to extend its de
segregation program to the third grade.
No change is anticipated in the other
desegregated districts — Van Buren,
Charleston, Hoxie, Bentonville, Fay
etteville and Hot Springs.
attitudes and incidents
At Ozark, which has had a policy of
desegregation since 1957, a third at
tempt probably will be made to admit
Negro pupils. This has been done for
the last two years, but each time in
cidents and attitudes within the school
have caused withdrawal of the Negro
Pupils.
Delaware—Enrollment is expected to
reach 76,923, including 14,231 Negroes,
°r 18 per cent, and 62,692 white pupils.
Under a federal court-approved
gradual desegregation plan, 39 segre
gated school districts were directed to
admit this fall Negroes who apply for
first grade enrollment. It is not anti
cipated they will apply in all 39 dis
tricts. A 40th district—Dover, with
some desegregation at the high school
level—voted to go along with the state
wide plan although it was not a party
to the litigation from which the court
order resulted. This would represent
extension of Dover’s current desegre
gation policy.
12 PREVIOUSLY DESEGREGATED
There are 51 biracial districts in the
state, of which 12 previously had begun
desegregation. Districts affected by the
stairstep plan include:
In New Castle County—Townsend,
Odessa and Middletown.
In Kent County — Harrington, Mil
ford, Caesar Rodney, Smyrna, Clayton,
Farmington, Felton, Frederica, Hartly,
Houston, Kenton, Leipsic, Little Creek,
Magnolia, Oak Point, Rosa Valley and
Wiley’s.
In Sussex County — Georgetown,
Laurel, Lewes, Rehoboth, Seaford,
Bethel, Blades, Bridgeville, John M.
(Continued On Next Page)
. . Abraliain Offered the
Ram Instead of His Son’
—Atlanta Constitution
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
WASHINGTON, D.C.
he House Judiciary Commit
tee on July 28 struck the Part
III injunction power from the
House civil rights bill.
The Senate had previously de
leted the Part III section from its
civil rights bill. It would have
empowered the attorney general
to initiate court suits to protect
all civil rights, including desegre
gated schooling. (See “National
Affairs.”)
President Eisenhower, break
ing a long silence on his per
sonal views on racial segregation,
said it is “morally wrong” to deny
equality of opportunity in the eco
nomic and political fields.
The President wished the Na
tional Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People
“continued success” in its fight for
civil rights, but was criticized at
the NAACP convention for insuf
ficient action in behalf of integra
tion.
District School Supt. Carl F. Han
sen called for “a concerted drive” to
raise the achievement levels of high
school students who are scoring below
national norms on standardized tests.
The District school board approved
a budget totaling almost $51.2 million
for fiscal 1961—an increase of $4.3 mil-
T he refusal of a federal judge
to order integration of Dallas
schools, the setting of deadlines
for New Orleans and Atlanta to
offer desegregation plans and a
new attack on Nashville’s grade-
a-year schedule highlighted seg
regation-desegregation develop
ments in the South during July.
In denying a petition for integration
at Dallas on July 30, Judge T. Whit
field Davidson said “A year from now
may be sufficient time to integrate . . .
We will not name any date or issue any
order.”
On July 15 Federal Judge J. Skelly
Wright at New Orleans ordered the
The Camel’s Nose
—Birmingham News
lion over this year. Much of the in
crease would provide added teachers.
(See “District Schools.”)
TWO-PARTY ACTION
The Part III section, previously de-
struck from the House civil rights bill
July 28, when most Republicans on the
House Judiciary Committee joined
with southern Democrats to oppose the
controversial section.
The Part II section, previously de
leted from the Senate’s civil rights
bill, would empower the attorney gen
eral to initiate court suits to protect
all civil rights, including desegregated
schooling. School suits can now be
filed only by private citizens.
The administration supported Part
III two years ago as part of the civil
rights bill of 1957. It was approved in
the House but defeated in the Senate.
This year the administration opposed
the section on the grounds that such
federal intervention might stiffen op
position to desegregation, which it said
was softening in some areas.
TRY TO RESTORE IT
Judiciary Committee Chairman
Emanuel Celler (D-N.Y.) said he
would try to restore Part IH on the
House floor, but it was given little
chance in the Senate even if approved
in the House. The House committee
met in closed session daily during the
last week of July to hammer out the
civil rights bill. Besides Part III, it
eliminated a section which would have
given permanent statutory basis to the
school board to have a desegregation
plan drawn up by March 1, 1960 and in
Atlanta Federal Judge Frank Hooper
gave the school board until Dec. 1 to
present such a plan.
In Nashville, attorneys for Negro
parents announced on July 30 they
would ask the United States Supreme
Court to rule on their demand for im
mediate and total desegregation in place
ot the lower court-approved stairstep
plan.
Other developments by states:
Alabama
Two Alabama schools—one urban,
one rural—will be converted from
public to private operation this fall to
demonstrate, an official said, the feasi
bility of such a changeover in the event
it becomes necessary later on on a large
scale.
Arkansas
The Little Rock school board went
ahead with plans to reopen the city’s
high schools through use of a pupil as
signment law.
Delaware
Dover moved to join in the statewide
gradual desegregation plan, although it
was exempt from the federal court-ap
proved 12-year-plan.
District of Columbia
President Eisenhower, breaking his
long silence on segregation, said it is
“morally wrong” to deny equality of
opportunity in the economic and politi
cal fields.
Florida
Developments were followed closely
in Miami where the Orchard Villa ele
mentary school is scheduled to be de
segregated this fall—the first public
school in the state to make the move.
President’s committee seeking to elim
inate job discrimination by govern
ment contract firms.
The committee, headed by Vice
President Nixon, was created by exec
utive order. Though the civil rights
bill would have given it no enforce
ment powers, southerners feared it
might lead to creation of a Fair Em
ployment Practices Commission.
The committee approved sections
which would:
• Extend the life of the Civil Rights
Commission to September 1961.
• Require states to preserve voting
records and let the Justice Department
inspect them to check complaints of
racial discrimination.
• Make it a crime to interfere with
court school desegregation orders
through mob action.
• Provide school facilities for chil
dren of military personnel in any state
which closes its public schools to avoid
desegregation.
• Make it a federal crime for a per
son to cross a state line to escape
prosecution for bombing or setting fire
to any type of property.
AWAITING ACTION
Still awaiting committee action were
provisions to give financial and tech
nical aid to communities trying to de
segregate their schools.
The committee also was still to act
on a clause defining the Supreme
(Continued On Next Page)
Georgia
The Atlanta Board of Education ap
pealed a federal court order to have a
desegregation plan drawn up by Dec. 1.
Kentucky
School officials anticipated a slight
expansion in the state’s integration pro
gram entering its third year.
Louisiana
A federal judge directed Orleans
Parish to offer a desegregation plan for
New Orleans schools by March 1, 1960.
Maryland
A survey showed Baltimore’s “chang
ing neighborhoods” are being reflected
in the schools with enrollment under
going drastic racial shifts.
Mississippi
The state Board of Trustees of State
Institutions of Higher Learning gave a
vote of confidence to University of Mis
sissippi faculty members accused of ad
vocating integration.
Missouri
The National Education Association
voted down efforts to obtain a strongly-
worded resolution in favor of public
school integration.
North Carolina
Craven County became the fifth
school district to desegregate with a
decision to admit Negro pupils to two
elementary schools.
Oklahoma
Integration of two or three more
schools in Oklahoma City appeared
likely this fall.
South Carolina
The fourth anniversary of the U. S.
Supreme Court’s 1955 implementing
decision passed without apparent
notice in Clarendon County, which was
involved in the original desegregation
case and which still is segregated.
Tennessee
Memphis State University announced
it would enroll qualified Negroes this
fall.
Texas
With Dallas and Houston involved in
desegregation litigation, the NAACP an
nounced it plans to start court action to
integrate schools at Galveston.
Virginia
Gov. J. Lindsay Almond’s anti-mas
sive resistance forces appeared to have
strengthened their hand as a result of
the July 14 Democratic primary.
West Virginia
Five counties—Raleigh, McDowell,
Mingo, Logan and Mercer—were
threatened with court action by the
NAACP which charged them with
failure to comply with desegregation
decisions.
Index
Alabama 15
Arkansas 6
Delaware 3
Dist. of Columbia 1-2
Florida 3
Georgia 4
Kentucky II
Louisiana 8
Maryland 5
Mississippi 11
Missouri 8
North Carolina 14
Oklahoma 14
South Carolina 16
Tennessee 10
Texas 12
Virginia 13
West Virginia 9
House Committee Drops Part Three
Injunction Power From Rights Bill