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MISSISSIPPI SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—OCTOBER 1959 PAGE 3 Legal Action Studied Following School Enrollment Rejection JACKSON, Miss. hief Counsel Thurgood Mar shall of the National Asso ciation for the Advancement of Colored People said in Akron, O., his organization contemplates early filing of a suit against segre gation in Mississippi. It followed closely refusal of the all-white senior state-owned Mississippi Southern College at Hattiesburg, to admit Clyde Kennard, 30-year- old Mississippi Negro farmer and war veteran, because of asserted “deficiencies and irregularities in his application.” (See “In the Col leges.”) Ross R. Barnett, who becomes gov ernor of Mississippi on Jan. 19, 1960, said the only way to defeat “the enemy of our southern heritage is to destroy them before they destroy us” as he outlined plans for legislative regula tion of the NAACP. It was in his first post-election address before a $25-a- plate dinner sponsored by the Jackson Citizens’ Council. (See “Community Action.”) Negro Editor Percy Greene said southern Negroes do not want public school integration as Jackson Negroes won a fight against a white family moving into their all-Negro commun ity. (See “Community Action.”) The reporter-son of Pulitzer prize winner Hodding Carter said in his book, “The South Strikes Back,” that the Citizens’ Councils face self-de struction because they comprise what he calls a negative movement. (See “What They Say.”) Editor Oliver Emmerich and Attor ney Thurgood Marshall of NAACP de bated the desegregation issue on a Methodist Church panel in Dallas, Tex., while Clennon King, Negro pro fessor-minister who was denied en trance to the all-white University of Mississippi, asserted there is “more genuine bilateral concurrence in Mississippi than the current racial propaganda admits.” (See “What They Say.”) The state Sovereignty Commission, Mississippi’s segregation “watchdog” agency, for first time disclosed some of its methods of quieting racial is sues without fanfare and through co operation of Negro leaders. (See “Mis cellaneous.”) The Mississippi American Legion de partment named a committee to study 44 state public school textbooks the Daughters of the American Revolution charge are unsatisfactory, including asserted promotion of desegregation. (See “Miscellaneous.”) Close on the heels of Negro Clyde Kennard’s unsuccessful effort to enroll in Mississippi Southern College at Hat tiesburg, NAACP Attorney Thurgood Marshall said in an address before the 50th anniversary convention of his or ganization in Akron, O., on Sept. 21 that a suit will be filed soon against segregation in Mississippi. “The NAACP has at least one law suit against segregation going in every state except Mississippi,” he said. “And i promise you, it won’t be long before Mississippi rejoins the Union. And were going to help it happen.” The Associated Press quoted Mar- suMl as saying that “as long as one e §ro in the south comes to us and ^ys- ‘I need your help,’ he’s going ,° that help. And I don’t give a aarn who doesn’t like it.” Stating that Marshall was critical ° k .Y hite s y m P a thizers who want to subdue the fight for integration, the story quoted him as follows: ., Dne very important man has said e NAACP should go slower. A news commentator recently said the NAACP a ould g 0 out business. But, who pi take up the struggle if we stop?” r LANS UNCERTAIN Meanwhile, Kennard remained un certain as to his next step in the ofiege entrance effort. However, he ?. he will fight charges filed against c lm hy Forrest County (Hattiesburg) onstables accusing him of speeding d having five half-pints of assorted ^9Uor, which is illegal in dry Mis- ssippi, in his car, which was parked 11 the college campus. Kennard was arrested after he left id 6 °® ce °t Dr. W. D. McCain, pres ent of Mississippi Southern. *ack Van Landingham, chief inves tigator of the state sovereignty com mission, who was in Dr. McCain’s office when Kennard was interviewed, denied any advance knowledge of plans to arrest Kennard. That was also the statement of highway patrolmen sent to Hattiesburg by Gov. J. P. Coleman to prevent possible disturbances. VanLandingham said “the sovereign ty commission took no part in the ar rest but had prepared itself to assist the attorney general’s office in any way in defending the case in court in case Kennard filed suit to enter Mississippi Southern.” “We believe that under the circum stances, any such suit could have been beaten, and no entry gained,” he said, RENEWED APPLICATION Kennard went to Mississippi South ern from his home in nearby Eaton- ville community on Sept. 15 to renew his application for entrance. He had previously filed it but did not push the effort last fall. He had announced in advance he would appear on the campus to register for the fall classes. Officers Lee Daniels and Charlie Ward said their action had nothing to do with his efforts to enter the school. Kennard, who attended the Univer sity of Chicago from 1952 to 1955 as a political science major, drove to the campus in his late model station wag on shortly after registration began. He had planned to go directly to the reg istrar’s office, but Dr. McCain had called him the night before requesting a personal interview in his office. Kennard said he conferred with Dr. McCain and VanLandingham about 12 minutes then returned to his car where he found the two constables. In a brief statement, Dr. McCain said Kennard “was denied admission be cause of deficiencies and irregularities in his application papers.” He said the college was forbidden by law to reveal the contents of applications filed with the registrar but that “hundreds of students are refused admission every year for the same reason listed in Kennard’s rejection.” Kennard has employed R. Jess Brown, Negro attorney of Vicksburg, who has handled litigation for the NAACP, to handle the speeding and whisky charges. Kennard a 30-year-old bachelor, said he wants to complete his educa tion but cannot afford to leave his farm near Hattiesburg to attend an all- Negro school or an integrated school in the north. Mississippi has three Negro senior colleges. Kennard said the NAACP had noth ing to do with his integration attempt, but that if the issue goes to the court, “I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to use NAACP funds and attorneys.” NAACP officials in Jackson said they are “keeping in touch with the situation.” In a statement to United Press In ternational, Kennard was quoted as saying “the state should let one or two Negroes into white colleges each year. Then the federal government would not interfere and the state could maintain control. “If I don’t get in now somebody else will pretty soon and it might be someone who doesn’t care about Mississippi. I love Mississippi.” ANOTHER TRIED The only other Negro who tried to enter a white college in Mississippi by appearing on the campus to register was Clennon King, a former professor in the state’s Alcorn A. & M. College for Negroes. When King showed up for the summer school at the Univer sity of Mississippi in 1958, he was ar rested on the campus by state highway patrolmen and taken to jail. He later was placed in the state mental hospital at Whitfield by court order. He subse quently was adjudged sane by psychia trists and was released. He now lives in Los Angeles, Calif., after leaving Mississippi following abandonment of an effort to enroll his small daughter in the white public school at Gulfport. ii nji i ■ i ' XJ COMMUNITY ACTION Governor-elect Ross Barnett told the more than 1,000 attending the Sept. 8 fund-raising dinner of the Jackson Citizens’ Council that “Mississippi faces troubled times during the next four years.” He is a member of the organization which is dedicated to “preservation of segregation, constitu tional government and states rights.” “Our laws, customs and traditions will come under assault as never be fore,” the 61-year-old Jackon attor ney said. “I promise you that I will exert every effort to give Mississippi the leadership needed if we are to win this mortal struggle.” Gov. J. P. Coleman, who has worked outside the Citizens Councils during his administration, was invited to the dinner but had a previous commit ment. The governor has been termed in some circles a “moderate.” How ever, his administration has preserved segregation without any disturbance. TWO-FOLD PROBLEM Barnett said the South’s problem is two-fold: 1) to separate the South’s true voices from the false; and 2) to find ways of making the South’s true voices heard throughout our nation— GOV.-ELECT ROSS BARNETT No Room For Moderates and that is what Ross Barnett wants to do.” “The way things are today, the South’s false prophets are held in high regard in certain sections of our na tion,” he said. “We hear a lot now adays about ‘moderates.’ In fact, this has become almost a sacred word with the northern press. They keep telling us that if all of us segregationists would shut up, then the ‘moderates’ could sneak in and take over, and ev erything down South would be fine. “These ‘moderates’ we’ve been hear ing so much about are nothing more than southern burglars. They want to rob us of our priceless heritage, and they tell us that we shouldn’t com plain, as long as they steal it a little bit at a time. “Another expression we’re being bombarded with these days is ‘token integration.’ The people who control the big newspapers and magazines and television and radio networks keep their best brains busy, plotting new ways to hide and twist the truth about the South. ‘PLOTTERS’ “These plotters aren’t content with painting a totally false picture of the South in the minds of the people in the rest of the country. No, the north erners are also being brainwashed sys tematically about what is going on in their own back yards. “I dare say that here in Mississippi we have heard and read more about the teenage gangs of Washington and New York than the residents of those two cities. Well, folks in New York City are finally finding out that they’ve got a big problem on their hands.” Barnett said, “In spite of all the propaganda the race-mixers can pro duce, in spite of all the phony ‘bro therhood’ being advocated, the fact re mains that the average white Amer ican, wherever he lives, doesn’t want to integrate.” “To win this life-or-death fight, we must start with a total mobilization of all our resources. This has been de layed too long already. There is no room for halfway measures. “All our resources—both public and private—must be fully utilized. There are certain fields where private agen cies—such as the Citizens Councils— can be more effective. There are other activities that the people should un dertake through their state govern ments. “Our leaders must get in step with the people. ‘MUST MOBILIZE’ “We must mobilize our physical re sources. Physical courage is a trait sadly lacking in altogether too many of the South’s so-called leaders. We must separate the men from the boys. We must identify the traitors in our midst. We must eliminate the cowards from our front lines. “No victory can ever be won if we sit back and wait for our enemies to attack us. Our enemies wish we would continue such a policy. “The left-wing elements in this na tion must be completely and utterly crushed—and that’s just what we in tend to do, using as our chief weapon the impact of nationwide public opin ion.” Barnett said the South must also stand united in the field of national politics. “The South must go to the Demo cratic national convention united—and the South must remain united, either in the convention or out,” he said. “By forceful, determined and courageous leadership, the South must act boldly to preserve the self-respect of a proud and honorable people.” Barnett added, “As far as national policies are concerned, I am a Mis sissippi Democrat and when I go to the national convention in Los Angeles next year, I will conduct myself at all times as a Mississippi Democrat.” “I will remember at all times that as governor of Mississippi, I am at that convention representing you—the peo ple of our great state. The racial integ rity of our people is not for sale on the political auction block.” Barnett said if the federal Civil Rights Commission’s recommendation that federal officials be appointed to conduct a wholesale registration of Ne gro voters in the South is adopted “then the NAACP would be in virtual control of Mississippi’s political affairs.” “We must meet this challenge in advance,” the governor-elect said. “I shall have specific recommendations to the legislature about regulating the NAACP and other similar organiza tions in Mississippi.” Declaring that “the day of the artful dodger in Mississippi is ended,” Barnett said “the time of the apologist is gone. Rose Barnett is a Mississippi segrega tionist and proud of it.” “And, as your governor, I will do everything within my power to pre serve our sacred heritage, and to unite the South behind a bold and deter- minded program that will breathe new vitality into the words ‘Solid South.’ “The ‘Solid South’ -will again become a force to be reckoned with and I as sure you its voice will be heard throughout the nation,” he said. EVERS SPEAKS Meanwhile, Medgar Evers, Mississippi NAACP field representative, said in a speech at Panama City, Fla., that Barnett’s acceptance of the invi tation to address the Jackson Citizens Council fund-raising dinner put him in position of agreeing to help spread race hatred. Evers charged that the money to be raised “will be used to spread race hatred and dissemination of vile prop aganda and to arouse the emotions of the illiterates and borderline whites who thrfive on bigotry and race pre judice.” He described the councils as “fascist like,” and charged that Barnett “showed his true colors when he agreed to address the segregationists.” EDITOR’S COMMENT Negro Editor Percy Greene said in his weekly Jackson Advocate that “there never had been a spontaneous effort by a Negro family in the South to integrate a white school.” “Every movement to put Negro chil dren in white schools in the South has been urged by the NAACP and usually with some financial guarantee to the family of the child or children involved,” he said. “The southern Ne groes do not want public shool in tegration.” At Jackson, Negroes in the Van Win kle community of Hinds County were successful in keeping a white store owner from building his home in the all-Negro neighborhood. PETITION FILED As the result of a petition signed by 82 Negro residents, W. J. Garrett abandoned his plan to build a home for himself and three daughters in the Negro section. The petition, filed with the Hinds County Board of Supervisors stated: “We believe the races should be segregated as far as possible, and for these purposes this petition is re spectfully submitted. “It would be our impression that if the situation were reversed you would some way prevent a colored person from doing the same thing in an ex clusively white neighborhood. “Some of us have our homes paid for. We are proud of our homes and our community. “Mr. Garrett has three teen-age daughters, and, of course, there are a lot of young colored boys in this area. We do not want anything to happen which would cause any trou ble.” In his next book, ’’The South Strikes Back,” Hodding Carter, m, son of the Greenville editor and reporter on his father’s newspaper, the Delta Democrat Times, asserted the Citizens Councils face self-destruction because they com prise a negative movement. In the final chapter of the book which deals with the history of the all- white organization, Young Carter said: “The basic factor which will ulti mately destroy the council is the fact that it is essentially a negative move ment, founded on the defense of the status quo and dedicated to its pres ervation, and dependent on the exist ence of a similarly negative outlook among the white population. “Defense of the status quo is an arduous task at best. When, in a de mocracy such as ours, it involves the repression of a minority, it becomes an impossibility.” The book, published by Doubleday and Co., Inc., is based largely upon newspaper accounts of the councils. PANEL DISCUSSION Editor Oliver Emmerich of the Jack- son State Times and McComb Enter prise, and Attorney O. B. Triplett of Forest, participated in a panel discus sion at a Methodist Church conference on human relations at Southern Meth odist University at Dallas, Sept. 2 Emmerich, taking the side of segre gation, argued the issue with Thurgood Marshall, general counsel of the NAACP. Emmerich stressed asserted advantages of voluntary segregation, especially in Mississippi where it re mained unchallenged. Marshall contended it was not possi ble for a Negro to study law at the expense of the state of Mississippi. Emmerich said there is a law which permits Negroes to study any subject at out-of-state schools if the courses are not made available to them in the state. Marshall said Negroes had attempted to enter Mississippi high schools and had been run out of town. Emmerich denied the assertion. Triplett said “the overwhelming ma jority of people in the South—both whites and Negroes—do not favor in tegration.” In a letter to friends in Mississippi, Negro Clennon King, who failed to gain entrance to the University of Mississippi, wrote that racial condi tions in California are “far worse than in Mississippi but without any national or international alarmed concern.” King, now living in Los Angeles, wrote: “My brief experience in Mississippi soundly taught me one thing—that de spite all the hullabaloo there is far more genuine bilateral concurrence there in Mississippi than the current racial propaganda admits. “Unfavorable racial matters and dis liked racial thinking are more hush- hush in California, while soiled reports from the South get predominant bill ing.” King also pointed out that Los An geles has the highest per capita rate of major crime in the nation and that most of it is committed by Negroes. “My resented observation is hypoc risy,” he said. “How, for instance, the excessive crime figures of liberal and progressive California compare with those of reactionary and backward Mis sissippi. Even among my own people, the Mississippi figures don’t come any thing near those in California.” A look into the heretofore secret files of the Sovereignty Commission, the state’s segregation “watchdog” agency has been given by Chief In vestigator Zack VanLandingham to Robert Webb, associate editor of the Jackson State Times. It was the first time officials of the agency, created in 1956, had been willing to discuss op erations of the commission. The former FBI special agent dis closed that his files cover a wide range of headings from “individual” to “crim inal cases.” They include other sub heads such as integration organizations, school integration cases, complaints, (See MISSISSIPPI, Page 4)