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PAGE 2—JANUARY—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
VIRGINIA
Corporation Organized
To Provide Negro Schools
SOUTH CAROLINA
Anti-Segregation March
Scheduled At Greenville
RICHMOND, Va.
A group or Prince Edward
County white residents
formed a corporation to provide
private schools for the county’s
Negro children, but there was no
indication yet whether Negroes
will participate. (See “Commun
ity Action.”)
A legislative committee called
on the Virginia State Bar to inves
tigate activities of Negro lawyers
in desegregation cases. (See “Leg
islative Action.”)
The State Corporation Commis
sion ordered the National Assn,
for the Advancement of Colored
People to make its membership
list available for inspection by the
state agency. The NAACP said it
would appeal to the Virginia Su
preme Court. (See “Legal Ac
tion.”)
Prince Edward County Negro chil
dren, who have been without schools
since last September, will have a private
school system by February, if plans an
nounced by Southside Schools, Inc., are
carried out.
Southside Schools, Inc., a non-stock,
non-profit organization, was chartered
by the State Corporation Commission
Dec. 15. The charter was acquired by a
group of white citizens of the county.
J. Barrye Wall Jr., the registered
agent, said letters would be sent to par
ents of every Negro child who attended
Prince Edward public schools last year
to find out how many “want schooling
and an opportunity for an education.”
He said the hope is that classes will be
gin in February.
First public reaction from Negroes
was negative.
URGES NON-PARTICIPATION
The Rev. L. F. Griffin, a Negro leader
in the county, advised Negroes not to
participate but rather to continue
pressing for reopening of the county’s
public schools. (The public schools
ceased operation as of July 1, 1959, when
the Board of Supervisors declined to
appropriate school funds after federal
courts had ordered the schools desegre
gated. Subsequently, white citizens be
gan operating a private school system
for white children.)
Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of
the NAACP, said “We don’t think Ne
groes ought to enroll.” He added that
the NAACP believes the tuition grants
law is unconstitutional and that there
fore the association would not recom
mend that Negroes make use of it.
Wilkins made his remarks following
a Christmas party for 500 Negroes at
the Farmville armory Dec. 23.
In a speech to the group, about half
of whom were children, Oliver W. Hill,
the NAACP’s chief attorney in Virginia,
said “Some benighted individuals are
trying to entice you away from your
rights by promising you a private
school.”
Hill said publicly for the first time
that Prince Edward Negro children may
lose as much as two years of schooling
while litigation is being conducted in an
effort to force reopening of the public
schools.
He told his listeners that Christ “made
the supreme sacrifice. All you will lose
will be one or two years of Jim Crow
education. But at the same time, in your
leisure, you can gather more in basic
education than you would get in five
years of Jim Crow schools.”
Robert D. Robertson of Norfolk, state
president of the NAACP, predicted that
“not more than a handful” of Negroes
would enroll in the private schools.
After its first session following incor
poration, the 10-member board of di
rectors of Southside Schools, Inc., issued
this statement:
“Due to the deep concern that we
have in the education of the Negro
children of Prince Edward County,
Southside Schools, Inc., has been estab
lished to give every child in the county
an opportunity to receive a proper
school education.
AWAITED CITIZEN ACTION
“The formation of this corporation
was delayed because it was our opinion
that responsible Negro citizens of the
county should provide the leadership.
There has been no action along this line,
however, despite public offers from nu
merous citizens of assistance to any re
sponsible Negro in establishing a system
of schools for the Negro pupils of this
county.
“This board believes that no further
time should be lost in setting up and
operating schools throughout the county
of Prince Edward.
“At the present time, our first steps
will be to make a survey, and receive
applications for admission to the schools
of this corporation. As soon as these ap
plications have been received, a deter
mination will be made as to the location
of the schools and the employment of
qualified school teachers. Committees
have been established by the corpora
tion for these purposes.
“Since tuition grants have been used
in other communities of the state, the
board of directors believe that these
scholarships should be available to pu
pils attending the corporation’s schools,
and should cover operating costs for
the February-June semester. We in
tend to open schools in February.
“Donations will be received by the
corporation, but no concerted drive for
such is expected to be made.”
TUITION GRANTS
Under state law, tuition grants of up
to $250 a year in state and local funds
are available to children who wish to
attend schools other than the public
schools to which they normally would
be assigned.
The private school system for whites
in Prince Edward is being financed by
donations, and no tuition grants are be
ing received. Operators of the system
fear that acceptance of public funds,
even through tuition grants, might
jeopardize the private status of their
school system and make it subject to
federal court desegregation orders.
In commenting on the move for Ne
gro schools, the Farmville Herald, pub
lished in the Prince Edward county seat
and edited by J. Barrye Wall Sr., said:
“The NAACP leaders who forced the
closing of the schools have done nothing
to provide education. In fact, many of
those responsible for the closing of
public schools have left the county,
leaving the residents here to suffer and
to work out their own salvation ...
“We [citizens of Prince Edward]
have been used as a pawn in a great
game of national, possibly international
politics, and the time is for us to be
Prince Edward County citizens again,
working for the betterment of our own
county, free from those who would use
us for ulterior motives, and this done,
leave us to solve the problems left be
hind.”
GOVERNOR CRITICIZED
In the second of 10 district rallies
planned in the state (See December
1959 Southern School News for back
ground), segregationists continued their
attack on Gov. J. Lindsay Almond Jr.
John W. Carter, vice chairman of the
Crusaders for Constitutional Govern
ment and a Danville city councilman,
told a rally at Charlottesville that Al
mond is “now the fair-haired boy of
the liberals and antis in this state.”
Referring to the governor’s an
nouncement that he would recommend
enactment of a sales tax in Virginia,
Carter continued:
“It has become increasingly clear in
recent days that the governor has
abandoned conservative Virginians and
joined forces with the liberals and the
antis, evidenced by his recommenda
tion for an additional tax burden for
our people in the form of a sales tax,
which has long been the theme song of
the liberal element of the state.”
LEGISLATORS ATTEND
An estimated 75 persons attended the
rally, which was sponsored by the
Crusaders and the local chapter of the
Defenders of State Sovereignty and
Individual Liberties. Both of Charlot
tesville’s representatives in the state
Legislature were present.
J. O. Hoge, president of the Blacks
burg chapter of the Defenders, said he
planned to resign from that position be
cause he does not approve of the
tactics being used by the organization.
He said that in forming the chapter
last spring, he and other organizers
wanted to find a way to preserve con
stitutional government and not to attack
Gov. Almond and others in authority
who, Hoge said, are doing all they can
to preserve segregated schools.
Charles E. Leadman, a leader in War
ren County’s anti-integration faction,
has been defeated for re-election as
business agent of the Textile Workers
Union at the American Viscose Corpora
tion plant at Front Royal. He lost 822 to
748 to Glenn Kauffman. The union in
cludes both white and Negro members.
A large portion of the financial sup
port for the private school system, set
up in Warren last September when pub
lic schools closed, came from regular
contributions from TWU members at
the plant, and Leadman was instru
mental in arranging for their participa
tion.
The week before his defeat for re-
election to the office he had held for 14
years, Leadman said that the NAACP
was sponsoring a move to oust him.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
The General Assembly’s Committee
on Offenses Against the Administration
of Justice has recommended that the
Virginia State Bar consider whether
Negro attorneys in desegregation cases
have been guilty of unprofessional con
duct. The State Bar is an official arm of
the state government.
In a report to the governor dated Dec.
14, the committee said it had examined
many of the plaintiffs in the Warren
and Prince Edward County school cases.
The report continued:
“The great majority testified that they
neither paid nor were asked to pay any
legal fees or expenses, and that their
understanding was that such payments
were all to be made by the NAACP.
They further testified that they had
never been consulted concerning the
commencement of any school litigation
or consulted as to its conduct after suit
was commenced, and that they had
never known they were plaintiffs in any
such litigation until that information
reached them from outside sources.”
A similar investigation into how the
Floyd County school case was begun
revealed that the “same pattern of
NAACP activity was present,” the com
mittee said, adding that “all counsel
fees are payable by it (the NAACP) and
not by those referred to as ‘plaintiffs,’
the litigation is fully controlled by the
NAACP, and certain of the apparent
plaintiffs have no desire to be parties
to litigation and never intended to re
tain counsel of record as their lawyer.”
Acting under provisions of a 1924
statute, the State Corporation Commis
sion on Dec. 15 ordered the NAACP to
make its membership list available for
inspection.
The 1924 law empowers the SCC to
inspect the books of any association or
corporation soliciting subscriptions or
contributions for any cause.
Oliver W. Hill, the NAACP’s chief at
torney in Virginia, said the association
would be willing to furnish a detailed
statement showing all funds received
and how the money is disbursed. But
Commissioner Ralph Catteral said that
would not constitute full compliance
with the law.
Hill argued further that the same is
sue—disclosure of NAACP members
and contributors—is being litigated in
state and federal courts. These cases
involve laws enacted in 1956.
Catterall said he didn’t see how those
cases would affect a 1924 statute.
On petition of the NAACP, Federal
District Judge Albert V. Bryan of Alex
andria made the SCC a defendant in a
case involving the NAACP membership
list.
Hill said the SCC’s order of Dec. 15
would be appealed to the state Su
preme Court.
BOARD DUTY REMOVED
Federal District Judge Walter E.
Hoffman on Dec. 9 issued an order re
lieving the Norfolk school board of any
responsibility to deal with the State Pu
pil Placement Board. (Beckett v. School
Board of the City of Norfolk.)
In November, the state board, in order
to avoid a contempt citation by Judge
Hoffman, assigned four Negroes to
predominantly white schools in Norfolk,
the first such assignments it had ever
made. (See December 1959 Southern
School News.)
In his latest order, Judge Hoffman
said that the Placement Board’s ad
mitted policy of denying interracial
school transfers was unconstitutional.
“Thus the melody of massive resist
ance lingers on,” he said. “To require
... local school boards to adhere to their
constitutional duties would be futile
when the exclusive power of place
ment and enrollments vests in the Pu
pil Placement Board.
“The school board of the city of Nor
folk, having endeavored since August,
1958, to meet the great problems of ra
cial mixing in the public schools in the
face of adversity, and having had re
markable success in such efforts, should
no longer be hampered by a statute
constitutional on its face, but uncon
stitutionally applied, wherein the
(placement) board admittedly has no
intention of performing its duties in a
constitutional manner.”
In another action, Judge Hoffman dis
missed the Newport News’ pupil place-
COLUMBIA, S.C.
egro organizations in Green
ville and elsewhere, backed
by the state organization of the
National Assn, for the Advance
ment of Colored People, were
preparing in December for a New
Year’s Day protest march on the
Greenville airport. The “pilgrim
age” was being arranged to protest
racial segregation of passengers at
the airport and in particular an
October incident involving Jackie
Robinson, appearing in Greenville
as a speaker before an NAACP
rally. (See “Community Action.”)
Reports continued to emanate
from Washington that the Civil
Rights Commission was about to
announce the members of a South
Carolina advisory committee, but
nothing official had been disclosed
by late December. (See “Miscel
laneous.”)
A mass march predicted to involve
some 5,000 Negroes was scheduled to
be held in Greenville on Jan. 1 as a
protest against racial separation in
waiting rooms at Greenville Municipal
Airport.
The incident which prompted plans
for the protest march occurred Oct. 25,
when Jackie Robinson, one-time Negro
baseball player and now a business ex
ecutive, was asked to leave the white
waiting room at the airport and to wait
in the facilities provided for Negro
passengers. He was in Greenville at the
time to address a statewide conference
of NAACP members.
Another incident involving racial
segregation at the airport is now in
federal court. A suit was brought
against the Airport Commission by
Richard B. Henry, Michigan Negro em
ployed by the Air Force at Self ridge
Field, after he had been requested to
wait in the Negro waiting room at the
Greenville airport. His suit was dis
missed by District Judge George Bell
Timmerman but is on appeal.
The New Year’s Day march on the
airport is being sponsored by the
Greenville Ministerial Alliance (Negro)
and the local unit of the Committee on
Racial Equality, known as CORE. The
Rev. J. S. Hall is chairman of CORE
in Greenville and is pastor of Spring-
field Baptist Church, where the “pil
grimage” was slated to start. Negro
participants were expected to drive to
a point some distance from the airport
terminal building, walk from that point
to the building, read a resolution and
have prayer inside the building, and
then disband.
DECLINE COMMENT
Greenville authorities and police offi
cials thus far have declined comment
on the march except for a suggestion
ment plan as “nothing short of con
temptuous.” He directed the school
board to submit a new plan by March
15. (Adkinson v. School Board of New
port News.)
The Newport News plan simply pro
vides that pupil assignments be left to
the state Pupil Placement Board.
Judge Hoffman said the new plan must
show what procedures are to be fol
lowed by the school board and superin
tendent in considering pupils’ applica
tions.
Federal District Judge Albert V.
Bryan indicated on Dec. 3 that he would
not order the Alexandria school board
to adopt a positive desegregation plan.
(Jones v. School Board of the City of
Alexandria.)
Frank D. Reeves, attorney for 17 Ne
gro children seeking admission to white
schools, asked the judge to order the
board to adopt a plan presenting
“specific steps” toward desegregation.
But Judge Bryan said that a general
plan would not “guarantee a lack of
discrimination any more than the
method now in effect.” That method is
the handling of each application sep
arately, on the basis of a six-point pupil
assignment plan.
However, the judge did not issue a
formal ruling, but rather took the mat
ter under advisement, along with an
other request from Reeves that Alex-
(See VIRGINIA, Page 9)
(from Police Chief P. P. Oakes) that
many legal aspects are involved in the
proposal.
The pilgrimage was scheduled to start
at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 1 with a talk by Mrs.
Ruby Hurley of Atlanta, southeastern
regional secretary of the NAACP.
The Rev. Mr. Hall’s statement con
cerning the march included these ob
servations:
“We hope the pilgrimage to the air
port will hasten the day when we will
beat our political swords into pruning
hooks, and our political spears into
plowshares. We hope we will soon be
able to sing ‘My Country ’Tis of Thee’
when the words will be applicable to
every citizen.”
The march on the airport is the first
mass demonstration of its kind sched
uled by Negro groups in South Caro
lina. It has the endorsement of the state
conference of the NAACP, according to
a statement issued Dec. 9 by the Rev.
I. DeQuincey Newman of Spartanburg,
president of the state NAACP confer
ence.
Jackie Robinson apparently will not
take part in the protest march. He told
United Press International in early De
cember that he planned to spend New
Year’s Day with his family but com
mented that it was “encouraging” to
learn of a protest march against “in
justice.”
LEADERSHIP CHANGES
State leadership of the NAACP
changes hands Jan. 1, effective date oi
the resignation of Newman.
The Spartanburg minister, pastor of
Silver Hill Methodist Church at Spar
tanburg, announced Dec. 12 that he is
relinquishing the state presidency of
NAACP branches to become a staff
member of the national organization of
the NAACP. He likewise is resigning
as pastor of his Spartanburg church.
Another minister, the Rev. Horace P
Sharper of Florence, pastor of Trinity
Baptist Church, is expected to step up
from the post of first vice president to
succeed Newman within the state
NAACP organization.
(See SOUTH CAROLINA, Page 7)
Prince Edward
(Continued From Page 1)
would be willing to put the glass in “and
hope to get paid sometime.”
The board’s two present employes—
Supt. T. J. Mcllwaine and a clerk—
haven’t been paid since July. However,
they’re still on the job in the board’s
office in the Prince Edward courthouse.
The two also are employes of the
school board of adjacent Cumberland
County, since the two districts have the
same superintendent, clerk and office.
But Cumberland is a county of much
smaller population than Prince Edward
and pays only about a third of the total
salaries of the school employes who
serve both counties.
Even though Prince Edward schools
are closed, the office continues to handle
many requests for transcripts and for
information about former students. The
1,500 former white pupils are attending
a private school system set up by segre
gationists, but the 1,700 Negro children
have no schools.
BUILDINGS FOR SALE
As for the school board itself, Chair
man Andrews says that service on that
body is taking more time now than
formerly, what with the financial and
other problems. Among those other
problems, for example, is what to do
with funds left in the treasuries of num
erous school clubs when the public
schools ceased operation. The board also
is trying to sell two small school build
ings that that were abandoned several
years ago.
How do the four farmers, one doctor
and one retail lumberman who consti
tute the board feel about the closing of
schools?
Chairman Andrews (the lumberman)
says they don’t express themselves on
the subject publicly. He also says that
as far as he knows, they all plan to
continue serving despite the curious
situation in which they find themselves.
Meanwhile, the county's chapter of
segregationist Defenders of State Sover
eignty and Individual Liberties has
adopted a resolution hailing the super
visors’ “unyielding representation of the
expressed will of the people in refusing
to appropriate any funds for public
schools in the county.” The resolution
adds that the supervisors’ stand “is in
promotion of the peace and good order
of the general welfare of all of the peo
ple” of Prince Edward County.