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PAGE 8—SEPTEMBER 1959—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Rights Bill Still Held In Committees;
May Cause Delay In Adjournment Plans
Washington, D.C.
M onth-long efforts by back
ers of civil rights legislation
and school desegregation failed to
dislodge bills bottled up by hostile
committees in both houses of Con
gress. There was speculation that
a civil rights debate might delay
adjournment until the end of Sep
tember, or later, but some observ
ers said hopes of passage were
dead for this session.
In the House, the Judiciary Com
mittee stripped from a civil rights bill
a statement defining the Supreme
Court’s 1954 school desegregation de
cision as “the supreme law of the land.”
A clause offering federal aid to de
segregating school districts was also
eliminated. The scaled-down measure
was stalled in the powerful Rules Com
mittee headed by Rep. Howard W.
Smith (D-Va.).
On the Senate side, civil rights pro
ponents launched efforts to bypass the
Judiciary Committee headed by Sen.
James O. Eastland (D-Miss.). (See
“National Affairs.”)
District school officials, preparing for
the sixth year of desegregated school
ing, cited gains in pupil achievement
since desegregation but announced
plans for redoubled stress on “direct,
systematic, persistent teaching of fun
damental subjects.” (See “District
Schools.”)
Prodding by President Eisenhower
and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B.
Johnson (D-Tex.) to produce a civil
rights bill in this session of Congress
evoked little positive action in either
House. As Congress sped toward ad
journment, this was the status of legis
lation in the House and Senate:
Chairman Emanuel Celler (D-N.Y.)
of the House Judiciary Committee filed
a petition Aug. 26 to take a civil rights
bill out of the hands of the Rules Com
mittee and send it to the floor for a
vote. Celler said it was clear that the
committee intended to pigeonhole the
bill.
The discharge petition would require
the signatures of 219 members, a ma
jority of the House, to be effective. It
was doubtful that the necessary signa
tures could be obtained in time for
action this year. Chairman Smith of
the Rules Committee said Aug. 25 that
he had no plans to hold a meeting
on the five-point bill awaiting his at
tention.
PROVISIONS
The measure is a scaled-down ver
sion of the “moderate” seven-point bill
proposed early this year by the ad
ministration. It would:
• Extend the life of the President’s
Civil Rights Commission for two years
to September, 1961.
• Require states to preserve voting
records for two years and let Federal
officials examine them to check com
plaints of racial discrimination.
• Make it a Federal crime to ob
struct court school orders (as occurred
in Little Rock).
• Make it a Federal crime to cross
state lines to evade prosecution for
malicious bombings of any structure or
vehicle.
• Assure continued schooling for
70,000 children of military personnel at
southern bases if their schools are
closed by desegregation disputes.
Meeting in closed session Aug. 4, the
House Judiciary Committee eliminated
from the bill a section defining the Su
preme Court’s desegregation decision as
“the supreme law of the land.”
President Eisenhower had asked for a
policy statement to that effect from
Congress so that states and communi
ties would feel “obligated to take steps
toward the elimination of segregation
in their public schools.”
CROSSED PARTY LINES
The vote to eliminate the section re
portedly crossed party and sectional
lines. Southerners opposing the state
ment drew support from some who
were annoyed at the Supreme Court
for other reasons. Some others said it
came too close to what they considered
a bad precedent of having Congress
approve a Supreme Court decision.
Some “liberals” considered the policy
statement the most important part of
the bill next to the so-called Part HI
injunction section, which was cut out
by the committee in July. (See South
ern School News, August, 1959.)
They felt the statement would have
helped demolish a segregationist argu
ment that the Supreme Court school
decision was not the law and need not
be obeyed.
Chairman Celler said the statement
would have given “a psychological
lift” to persons trying to obey court
orders.
The House bill was further curtailed
Aug. 5 when the Judiciary Committee
voted 18 to 13 to cut out a program
providing about $3 million a year for
two years in Federal aid for Southern
communities under court order to work
out school desegregation plans.
Celler blamed the loss of the aid sec
tion on an “unholy alliance” of Repub
licans and Southern Democrats, but at
least two Northern Democrats—Reps.
Francis E. Walter (Pa.) and Roland V.
Libonati (Ill.) also helped strike it out.
The vote of all members was not made
public.
HOPED TO BY-PASS
Also eliminated from the bill was the
President’s request that his committee
to eliminate job discrimination in gov
ernment contract plants be given per
manent status by law.
Rep. William M. McCulloch (R-
Ohio), senior Republican on the Ju
diciary Committee, said he would try
to restore stricken parts of the bill on
the floor. But he called the version ap
proved by the committee “a construc
tive step forward . . . toward equality
under the rule of law.”
Rep. E. L. Forrester (D-Ga.), a com
mittee member, said: “Considering the
subcommittee bill [which included the
stricken sections] as a skunk, I think
we deodorized it as well as could be
done.”
On the Senate side, civil rights back
ers had hoped to bypass Sen. East
land’s Judiciary Committee by bring
ing a House-passed measure to the
floor for a vote. But the hope faded
when the House bill was stalled in the
Rules Committee. The technique of ap
proving a House bill was used in the
Senate to pass the Civil Rights Act of
1957.
Two Republican senators tried Aug.
26 to take the civil rights bill away
from the Judiciary Committee. Sens.
Jacob K. Javits (N. Y.) and Clifford P.
Case (N. J.) sought a vote on their
petition during the “morning hour”—a
two-hour period usually devoted to the
introduction of bills and speeches.
GATHER FORCES
Southerners who oppose the legisla
tion gathered in force as the Senate
met and began a long series of speeches
that consumed the time, preventing a
vote.
Under Senate rules, this put the dis
charge motion on the Senate’s legisla
tive calendar, along with many other
bills. The action left Majority Leader
Johnson free to call up the issue for
Senate debate any time he desired, but
the debate would deal only with by
passing the Judiciary Committee and
could lead to protracted discussion.
Efforts to by-pass the Judiciary Com
mittee began when the group let more
than a month pass without acting on a
mild two-part bill before it. The meas
ure would extend the life of the Civil
Rights Commission and require states
to preserve voting records and produce
them for federal inspection.
Sen. Thomas C. Hennings Jr. (D-Mo.)
formally served notice on the Senate
Aug. 17 that he would try to force a
floor fight on civil rights legislation. In
stead of the Javits-Case discharge
maneuver, he proposed to introduce a
strong civil rights bill as amendments
to a non-controversial measure await
ing Senate action.
LITTLE CHANCE
Hennings’ proposals were given lit
tle chance to pass intact. They include
the strong Part HI injunctive power
which is backed only by the staunchest
civil rights supporters. But if Hennings
forces the issue, it is expected that Sen
ate leaders will move in and try to
work on the “moderate” bill they have
said should be passed.
Sen. Sam. J. Ervin (D-N. C.) de
nounced Hennings’ program as “the
most drastic, far-reaching and inde
fensible proposal in this field that had
ever been made since Thaddeus Stevens
descended to his grave.” Stevens led
the post-Civil War campaign to impose
harsh Reconstruction laws on the
South.
Paralleling Hennings’ efforts, Sen.
Kenneth B. Keating (R-N. Y.) said
Aug. 19 that he would offer a civil
rights bill as an amendment to a
Southern-backed measure to protect
peanut growers. Sen. Richard B. Rus
sell (D-Ga.) protested that the move
was “peanut politics” and another
Southerner, Sen. Olin D. Johnston
C.), called it “a rank display of
ruthlessness which will go down as one
of the worst examples of poor sports
manship in legislative history.”
Keating said Aug. 23 the civil rights
issue might turn this session into “one
of the most protracted windups in re
cent Congressional history.” While
members talked of adjournment by La
bor Day, Keating said he thought the
end might not come until about Oct. 1.
AVOIDING FILIBUSTER
A civil rights opponent, Sen. Allen J.
Ellender (D-La.) declared: “For my
own part, I am prepared to remain in
Washington and to participate in Sen
ate debate until January of next year
if it becomes necessary.” Ellender
pledged Aug. 2 to do “all I can” to
block passage of any civil rights legis
lation this year.
Southern senators have let it be
known that they have speeches of 500
pages or more ready for delivery if
civil rights is called up. Sen. Johnson,
who hopes to avoid a showdown on the
issue in the 1960 election year, has been
attempting to get agreement on a bill
that would not set off a filibuster. His
proposal would strengthen voting pro
tections, extend the life of the Civil
Rights Commission and assure school
ing of children of military personnel
in the South.
President Eisenhower included civil
rights on several lists of “must” bills
he issued during the summer. But there
was speculation that the administration
might prefer to see the issue carried
over until next year, when it might
split the Democrats just prior to an
election.
Rep. Celler complained Aug. 9 of
“very little leadership from the White
House.” He said the President “doesn’t
seem to have his heart in civil rights.”
A bill creating a Federal elections
commission to guarantee voting rights
of qualified Negroes was introduced
Aug. 12 by Sen. Philip A. Hart (D-
Mich.).
The commission would be an arm of
Tennessee
(Continued From Page 7)
ities with pluralities over several can
didates.
Hooks, the Negro loser for juvenile
court judge, summed up the outcome
this way: “People were afraid of the
Negro, and they betrayed their favorite
sons—the candidates they really liked
—to vote for the favorite and defeat the
Negro.”
Court efforts were in progress to pad
lock controversial Highlander Folk
School in the mountains of Grundy
County following a raid on the premises
by state and county officers led by Dist.
Atty. Gen. A. F. (Ab) Sloan. They made
four arrests for alleged violation of
liquor laws in a dry county.
Mrs. Septima P. Clark, 61-year-old
Negro who is director of education at
the school, was held to the November
grand jury on a whisky possession
charge. Three young men, two of them
from California and one from New
York, also were “bound over” to the
grand jury on charges of public
drunkenness, interfering with officers
and resisting arrest.
The raid was made during a banquet
as 30 or more Negroes and about 10
white persons watched a movie, “The
Face of the South,” a documentary film
featuring James Mitchell.
Following a heated magistrates’ hear
ing for Mrs. Clark, during which at
torneys argued at length over validity
of a search warrant under which some
whisky and gin was reported found, the
attorney general said he would ask a
court order to close the school as “a
public nuisance.”
In his petition for an injunction,
Sloan charged that Highlander “has a
reputation of being a place where peo-
Congress, empowered to register voters
and conduct Congressional elections in
any district when it determines that
qualified persons “are likely to be
denied” voting rights.
WOULD REGULATE
Hart said in a statement that it is
the duty of Congress to “see to it that
those who sit as its members are elected
by all the people. The buck on this issue
stops here.” He noted that the Constitu
tion authorizes Congress to regulate the
“manner of holding elections” of its
members.
Hart said he would not press for im
mediate congressional action on his pro
posal.
In another attack on franchise restric
tions, Sen. Spessard L. Holland (D-Fla.)
reintroduced his constitutional amend
ment to ban the poll tax as a condition
for voting. This is the sixth successive
Congress in which he has offered the
proposal, but its chances appear bright
in this Congress, for 49 other senators
have joined Hart as co-sponsors.
Holland said he was sure the required
38 states would ratify the amendment
if Congress were to submit it to them.
Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, a
co-sponsor, urged quick action on the
proposal. He said the poll tax has been
a hindrance to voting in Texas. Sen.
Everett M. Dirksen (R-Ill.), the mi
nority leader, also was a co-sponsor.
District public school officials, pre
paring for the sixth year of operations
in accordance with the Supreme Court’s
desegregation ruling, cited gains in pupil
achievement but called for further ef
forts to upgrade the school system.
School Supt. Carl F. Hansen told re
porters Aug. 20 that teachers have been
instructed to concentrate on developing
“personal responsibility” and good work
habits in their students. He said there
will be more emphasis on systematic
textbook instruction and students will
be held responsible for completing spe
cific assignments promptly.
These efforts will result in a “rea
sonable increase” in homework and a
reduction in free activity periods in the
schools, Hansen said.
In an Aug. 19 address to a Rotary
group, Hansen declared that the capi
tal’s public schools are suffering from
“apathy and a well-it-doesn’t matter-
anyhow attitude” on the part of Wash
ington’s business leaders.
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT
Hansen chided the businessmen for
believing the schools are a “world of
pie drink and engage in immoral, lewd
and unchaste practices.”
Mrs. Clark, leading the school during
the absence of director Myles Horton,
who was in Germany as co-chairman
of a conference on residential adult
education and head of a U.S.-Canadian
delegation, said “the charges are pre
posterous. . . . The real complaint is
the fact that Highlander is an inte
grated school and has in recent years
placed its emphasis on racial relations.”
Horton, returning from Europe, said
in Nashville: “I think just about every
newspaper in Europe carried the
story.” He added: “I was there telling
them (the conference) about the free
dom we enjoy in this country, and then
had to hurry back to defend my own.”
CLAIM TRUMPED-UP CHARGES
An attorney for the school, Jordan
Stokes III of Nashville, called the raid
“a Gestapo-type act with trumped-up
charges.” He said the “small quantity”
of alcoholics was found in Horton’s per
sonal home, not in the school area itself.
“The raid was planned and staged for
the purpose of closing the school,” he
charged, “and those who were arrested
were not drunk.”
Dist. Atty. Sloan was quoted by the
Nashville Tennessean as agreeing that
the raid was staged as a means to close
the school as suggested by a legislative
committee which investigated it earlier
this year on charges of “subversive” ac
tivities. “I thought maybe this was the
best shot,” he was quoted as saying.
But the Associated Press quoted Sloan
later as saying that Highlander’s inter
racial practices and previous charges
against it had nothing to do with the
raid. “We do not trump up charges in
Tennessee,” . . . “Everything we charge
will be open,” he said.
Sloan made this statement: “I am not
worried about communism there or the
issue of integration. The FBI has looked
into the communism angle, and if the
FBI is satisfied, so am I. Ike Supreme
Court has ruled on the matter of in-
DISTRICT SCHOOLS
women and children, a comfortable,
quiet incubator for growing between
infancy and adulthood, a kind of un
realistic way of life, a place of music,
dancing, games, where all is sweetness
and light.”
Because the future of the nation is
being shaped in the classrooms, Hansen
declared that the apathy of Washing
ton’s “highly organized power units” is
“strangely out of focus with the facts
of life.”
Hansen said the District school system
has the objective of providing “maxi
mum educational opportunity for every
child.” He added: “We fully intend to
let you know what we need to do the
job.”
High on the superintendent’s priority
list was community consideration of
salary increases for teachers unless the
public wants to see education “deterior
ate into a custodial operation.”
He also called for an end to “neglect”
of elementary schools. During the next
fiscal year, Hansen said, the schools will
seek funds for counselors, additional
clerks, more foreign language teachers
and extended free lunch services for
needy pupils in the grade schools.
CITES NEEDS
Hansen stressed the need for fostering
“personal responsibility” among stu
dents instead of “smothering them with
personal attention.” Classroom teaching,
he said, must be geared to community
needs, to the realities of the “work-a-
day world, job getting and job holding.”
Other goals of the school system,
Hansen said, are more classroom space
to eliminate part-time instruction; a re
duction in the pupil-teacher ratio; the
extension of ability grouping to all
grade levels, and the “direct, system
atic, persistent teaching of fundamental
subjects.”
All these steps, he said, are aimed at
raising achievement levels which have
been raised steadily since desegrega
tion but which, for large number of
students, still fall short of national
norms. Hansen warned that there can
be no complacency if further gains are
to be made.
The superintendent reported Aug. 20
that remedial reading classes for ele
mentary pupils were so “phenomenally
successful” this summer that some chil
dren made reading gains of nine months
in a five-week period.
CAN BE TAUGHT
Hansen called for the “wide applica
tion” of concentrated reading tech
niques and the grouping of children by
reading abilities during the regular
school year. Progress recorded by the
1,996 children enrolled in the summer
program topped gains made last sum
mer in three of the four reading levels
of instruction, Hansen reported. He said
the program demonstrated that such
children, retarded at least one to two
years in reading ability, “can be taught
to read.”
# # #
tegration. Neither is a state matter. My
concern is whether the school has vio
lated state law to the extent that it has
become a public nuisance. If that is
true, it is my duty to ask the court
to abate it.”
PROTEST NEGRO SCHOOL
The East Memphis Civic Club pro
tested a plan by the city board of edu
cation to build a high school for Ne
groes in the midst of an all-white neigh
borhood where homes average $20,000
in value.
One of the protesting group told John
Freeman, assistant superintendent of
business affairs for the school board:
“Now our property won’t be worth any
thing.” Freeman replied: “It’s not the
responsibility of the board of educa
tion to determine the quality of neigh
borhoods.”
The school is to be on the site of a
former Negro elementary school. It was
chosen, officials said, for a lack of other
suitable sites in the area.
Two Memphis policemen became in
volved in a melee with a crowd of some
25 Negroes as they sought to make ar
rests in connection with a neighbor
hood quarrel. The crowd gathered and
became angry when charges were made
that arrested persons had been mis
treated.
Three girls involved in the original
dispute testified in city court that fight
ing started after they refused to be ar
rested by Patrolmen W. E. Pierini and
F. K. Henry. Pierini denied any mis
treatment. Three members of one Ne
gro family were fined for resisting and
attacking Pierini, and charges were dis
missed against three others.
Police Chief James C. MacDonald said
the police used “good judgment” in
handling the situation and said: “This
is the sort of thing that happens in New
York, but we don’t intend letting it get
started in Memphis. We’re going to deal
with this sort of thing firmly, whether
Negro or white.”
# # #