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0+0/ !, L Factual I S i A I ,. i. — •VO * S b 3 H1 V sf4 0iiisinoDv G 3 I tt v a 8 I 1 V I C b 0 3 C JO A1ISM3AIN0 Z 8002- 8—09 3*flf UNIVER3J Objective VOL. 6, NO. 7 NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE JAN 6 $2 PER YEAR JANUARY, I960 Court Backs Stairstep, Clasmg Decisions Little New Segregation Legislation Proposed by Southern Lawmakers W ith more than 230 bills and resolutions pertaining to school segregation enacted since the U. S. Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation ruling, southern lawmakers have little additional legislation on the subject planned for 1960. Legislatures in eight southern and border states—Georgia, Kentucky, Lou isiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia— have sessions scheduled for early 1960. No legislation on the segregation-de segregation issue appears likely in Ken tucky, Maryland and West Virginia. Some segregation legislation is expect ed in most of the other states, but no major legislative programs have been announced. Efforts may be made to revive “mas sive resistance” in Virginia, but chances for such legislation are not regarded as strong. A federal court hearing in Atlanta has focused considerable attention on Georgia’s Legislature, which meets Jan. 11. The Georgia lawmakers are expect ed to have placed before them a pupil placement plan drawn up by the Atlanta school board in response to a federal judge’s order to produce a desegregation program. At present, all Georgia schools are segregated, and state law calls for closing any school told to de segregate. National legislators also will go into session in January. Civil rights bills are expected to stand high on the agenda when Congress reconvenes. Here’s a state-by-state summary of the legislative picture in the 17 south ern and border states and the District of Columbia: years, including many at the 1959 ses sion of the General Assembly. The next regular session is in Janu ary 1961, and so far there is no prospect of a special session before then. There was much special session talk last Aug ust, when the Little Rock school board was getting ready to reopen the high schools that Gov. Orval Faubus had closed, but none was held. At the time, some legislators commented, “What can we do that we haven’t already done?” The most important desegregation laws so far are two pupil assignment acts, now being used by both the Little Rock and Dollarway districts. One is Act 2 of 1956, adopted by vote of the people, and the other is Act 461 of 1959. They are virtually identical. Almost all of the Arkansas desegrega tion laws when attacked in court have been held unconstitutional. Exceptions so far are the pupil assignment laws, the “Bennett” ordinances adopted by cities to require disclosure of member ship and financial information of tax- exempt organizations, and Act 10 of 1958, requiring teachers under oath to list their memberships and contribu tions. Delaware There haven’t been any segregation- desegregation laws added to the books in Delaware since the Supreme Court decision-in 1954, and it appears unlikely that the 120th General Assembly will take any action. The General Assembly, faced with an ever-increasing fiscal crisis, appears content to leave the matter to federal courts. The district court in Wilmington on July 6 approved a grade-a-year de segregation plan submitted by the state Board of Education which went into effect without incident in September. When the 120th assembly convened in January 1959, many legislative leaders predicted a spate of legislation dealing with school desegregation. But not one measure has been introduced in the first 12 months. (The Assembly does not meet for any fixed period.) Previous attempts to pass legislation dealing with segregation failed in the 119th General Assembly, which met in 1956-57 and 1957-58. A proposed law, commonly called the “Little Rock Bill,” was introduced but failed to pass in the House of Repre sentatives. The bill would have forced schools to close if federal troops ap peared on school grounds. District of Columbia School desegregation and civil rights bills, which preoccupied Congress dur ing the final hours of the last session in September, stand high on the unfinished business agenda as the House and Sen ate reconvene this month. On the record in the upper chamber is Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson’s pledge that the racial measures will be (See LEGISLATION, Page 15) GEORGIA U. S. District Judge Outlines Alternatives In Atlanta Case M ajor segregation-desegregation developments occurred in the courts during December. Chief among these developments were: 1) The outlining by a federal judge of the choice given Georgia between closing public schools or desegregating. 2) The U. S. Supreme Court’s re fusal to review lower court approval of Nashville’s “stairstep” desegregation plan. This was the first high court rul ing on a desegregation plan of this nature. 3) The Supreme Court’s 8-1 vote to uphold a lower court which struck down an Arkansas school closing law invoked 16 months ago to close Little Rock high schools. States may not close some schools and leave others open to avoid desegregation, the court held. After the Atlanta hearing, the next move appeared to be up to the Geor gia Legislature, which convenes Jan. 11. An 18-point pupil placement plan drafted by the Atlanta school board would have to receive legislative ap proval, since present Georgia law calls for closing public schools ordered to desegregate. Other developments by states: Alabama Martin Luther King Jr., who will move to Atlanta to direct a South-wide fight against segregation, said steps ap parently will have to be taken in fed eral court to get Montgomery schools desegregated. (Page 9) Arkansas Two “moderates” were re-elected to their seats on Little Rock’s school board, and a white school board mem ber in the Dollarway District defeated a Negro challenger. (Page 5) Delaware The state attorney general and law yers for five school districts filed briefs in defense of a grade-a-year desegre gation plan for Delaware. Oral argu ments will be heard by the Third Cir cuit U. S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 15. (Page 8) District of Columbia The U. S. Supreme Court agreed to sneed up consideration of a lower court decision which has put a halt to Civil Rights Commission hearings on voting restraints. (Page 6) Florida School authorities face the possibili ty that all schools in Dade County (Miami) may be thrown open to Negro students. This prospect was raised by the Fifth Circuit U. S. Court of Ap peals’ ruling that Florida’s Pupil As signment Law cannot be used as an excuse to delay desegregation. (Page 14) Georgia Gov. Ernest Vandiver said Martin Luther King Jr. will not be welcome when he moves to Georgia. (Page 1) Kentucky With a new governor, Bert Combs, in office. Kentucky moved toward a constitutional convention. School de segregation, among other issues, would be excluded from the agenda. (Page 13) Louisiana New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Mor rison and former governor Jimmie Davis ran one-two in the state Demo cratic primary for governor and promptly launched drives for votes in the Jan. 9 runoff. Segregation figured prominently in the campaigning. (Page 11) Choice Lies Between Closed Schools And Desegregation, Georgians Told Maryland The Montgomery County school su perintendent sought construction funds that would make complete desegrega tion of the county’s schools possible by the fall of 1961. (Page 12) Mississippi Alabama Alabama’s Legislature met almost constantly during the first 10 months of 1959 and doesn’t have another session scheduled until 1961. To more than a score of measures adopted since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation decision, the 1959 Alabama lawmakers added two acts on the subject of school segregation. One would permit integration-threat ened schools to withdraw from state and local control and set up their own independent districts. The other authorizes the use of state funds to finance private schools. Arkansas Arkansas has adopted numerous laws related to desegregation the last three BY OVERTON JONES FARMVILLE, Va. HAT DOES A SCHOOL-LESS school board do? The answer can be found at only one spot in the United States— here in the governmental seat of Prince Edward County. And the answer here is that the board is as busy now as it was when it was running a school sys tem for 3,200 children. In fact, says Chairman L. E. An drews, the problems of a school board with no schools to operate are in some ways more perplexing than those of a board carrying out normal routine functions. Prince Edward went out of the public school business as of July 1, 1959. The action was the county board of super visors’ answer to federal court orders directing admission of Negroes to white schools. MACON, Ga. losing public schools or ac cepting integration was the choice given legislators and Geor gians by a federal court judge in Atlanta, after hearing Negroes ob ject to a pupil placement plan advanced by the Atlanta Board of Education. (See “Legal Action.”) The placement plan, as well as other proposals dealing with the impending school crisis, is expect ed to be submitted to the Legisla ture after it convenes Jan. 11. (See “Legislative Action.”) Today the school board’s No. 1 prob lem is money. The board doesn’t need much, but it doesn’t have any, except for about $3,000 which may be retrieved by the shuffling of insurance policies. NO FUNDS There’ve been no funds to pay salaries of the superintendent and the clerk. Nor have the six board members themselves been able to collect their due $20 a month plus travel expense. The board has appealed to the county supervisors for $27,500 to pay salaries and maintain the closed school build ings. The supervisors have said no. The supervisors fear that any ap propriation to the school board might jeopardize the county’s legal standing in the segregation situation. They don’t want to have even a remote connection with the public school system. The supervisors did suggest that the school board could get its hands on some money by canceling the five-year in- Various groups urged that the schools be kept open. (See “Commun ity Action.”) A Montgomery integration leader, the Rev. Martin L. King Jr., said he will move to Atlanta, but Gov. Ernest Vandiver said he would not be wel come in Georgia. (See “Miscellane ous.”) The Georgia Legislature prepared to convene Jan. 11 with the school de segregation issue squarely in its lap. It was put there by U. S. District Court Judge Frank A. Hooper, who surance policies on the schools and tak ing out one-year policies. According to the quoted figures, the board could get a $16,576 refund by canceling and then could get one-year policies for $7,747. Added to that would have to be about $5,600 in vacancy en dorsements, since the buildings are now unoccupied. The net result of all this would be that the board would be left with about $3,000 to spend. SCHOOLS WINTERIZED Despite the lack of public money, the county’s 22 schools have been winterized —water pipes drawn and the buildings otherwise prepared for cold weather— through a donation from a private con struction company. What will happen if some youthful passer-by tosses a rock through a school window, as occasionally happens? Chairman Andrews says there’s a sup ply of glass on hand and that he sup poses the former maintenance man (See PRINCE EDWARD, Page 2) gave members of the Legislature and all Georgians a clear-cut choice: Accept gradual integration of the public schools or prepare to have them all closed. “The decision of closing the schools is on the people of Georgia, and not on this court,” Hooper said at a hear ing on objections of Negro plaintiffs to a desegregation plan offered by the Atlanta Board of Education. The plan, submitted on the court’s demand by Dec. 1, is similar to the Alabama pupil placement plan, but it would apply only to the 12th grade the first year of operation and move down, reverse stairstep fashion, one grade a year thereafter. The plan does not mention race as a factor in pupil placement but, to be valid, the Legis lature would have to eliminate exist ing public school segregation state laws (See Southern School News, December 1959). Support for the plan appeared to be forming in Atlanta—which has 116,000 school children, 41 per cent of them Negroes. To a lesser degree, other support developed among legislators, most of them from urban counties. But Gov. Ernest Vandiver stated: “The people of Georgia overwhelming ly elected me governor on a platform which, among other things, made my views upon school segregation well known, clear and unmistakable. Those views have not changed.” PLEDGED SEGREGATION Vandiver pledged continued segrega tion of public schools in his 1958 gub ernatorial campaign. But his opponents were equally strong in their segrega tion views. The Atlanta board was unanimous in signing the proposed placement plan, but Dr. Rufus Clement, president of Atlanta University and only Negro member of the board, issued a clari- (See GEORGIA, Page 16) Mississippi begins 1960 with a new state administration pledged to pre serve segregation. Gov. Ross Barnett will be inaugurated Jan. 19. (Page 7) Missouri The shift of St. Louis’ Negro popu lation was reflected in a report recent ly submitted to the city’s Board of Education. (Page 10) North Carolina The Yancey County Board of Edu cation was formally made party to a suit filed on behalf of 27 Negro stu dents seeking admission to the county’s white schools. (Page 4) Oklahoma An organized neighborhood-stabili zation effort appeared in the making for Oklahoma City’s uneasy northeast residential sections. (Page 8) South Carolina Negro organizations scheduled a march on the Greenville airport to protest segregation of waiting rooms. (Page 2) Tennessee New moves to bring about classroom desegregation were made in Knoxville and Memphis. (Page 3) Texas The Dallas school board announced that it plans to take “positive action” in January toward initiating petitions for a desegregation referendum. (Page 10) Virginia A group of white residents of Prince Edward County, where public schools are closed, formed a corporation to provide private schools for the coun ty’s Negro children. First public reac tion from Negroes was negative. (Page 2) West Virginia A feud between two Charleston high school students, one white and one Negro, almost exploded into a full-scale riot. (Page 12) # # # School-less School Board Kept Busy