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PAGE 14—FEBRUARY—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
LOUISIANA
Jimmie Davis Defeats Morrison;
Backed By Segregation Forces
Board President Prefers
Integration to Closing
NEW ORLEANS, La.
NEW ORLEANS, La.
F ormer Gov. Jimmie H. Davis
gathered Louisiana’s segrega
tion forces into his camp and
with them won the Democratic
nomination for governor, tanta
mount to election. (See “Political
Activity.”)
At Washington, the Justice De
partment filed a motion asking
the U.S. Supreme Court to re
store 1,377 Negro voters to the
registration roles in Washington
Parish (county), one of the par
ishes of Louisiana where Negroes
had been purged from the voter
lists. (See “Legal Action.”)
Atty. Gen. Jack P. F. Gremil-
lion argued before the Supreme
Court on the Louisiana challenge
to the constitutionality of the
U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
(See “Legal Action.”)
Emile A. Wagner Jr., a member of
the Orleans Parish school board, was
asked by the board for his resignation
after he became involved in the recent
state election, claiming he had a com
mitment from Jimmie H. Davis that
Davis would enjoin the board from
integrating schools under federal court
order. Wagner refused to resign. (See
“School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Jimmie H. Davis, who served as
Louisiana’s governor from 1944 to 1948,
won the Democratic nomination for a
new term beginning in May. He picked
up strong segregation support in the
Jan. 9 runoff against Mayor deLesseps
S. Morrison of New Orleans.
Davis faces States Rights candidate
Kent Courtney, New Orleans publisher,
and Republican candidate Francis C.
Grevemberg, Baton Rouge real estate
man, in an April 19 general election.
Neither was considered likely to upset
Louisiana’s traditional election of a
Democratic governor.
Davis won the Democratic nomina
tion after he gained the second pri
mary endorsement of State Sen. Wil
liam M. Rainach, principal leader of
the state’s segregation forces.
In return for the support, which
shifted 16 Rainach parishes to Davis
in the runoff, Davis will appoint Rain
ach as chairman of a state sovereignty
commission on states rights and segre
gation after taking office in May.
SUPPORT EFFECTIVE
An analysis of the second primary
returns, when a record 88 per cent of
the state’s 1,140,000 voters turned out
at the polls, indicates the effectiveness
of the Rainach endorsement and the
segregation vote.
Rainach got 143,000 votes as a candi
date for governor in the Dec. 5 Demo
cratic primary while Morrison got 278,-
000 and Davis 213,000. Rainach, the
most vocal in the first primary on the
subject of continued segregation, won
16 parishes in northern and eastern
Louisiana.
Each one of the 16 parishes voted
overwhelmingly for Davis in the run
off as Davis and Rainach campaigners
lashed at Morrison on charges that the
mayor was the candidate of the Na
tional Assn, for the Advancement of
Colored People.
THREE HURDLES
Morrison, like all of the original 11
candidates for governor, was also
pledged to segregation but in the run
off showdown he faced these hurdles:
1) As a Catholic, he was believed to
be soft on the segregation issue. This
counted heavily against him in Prot
estant north Louisiana, where race
feeling is much stronger than in the
southern portion of the state.
2) Public transportation and city
park facilities were integrated during
his current term as mayor of New
Orleans. He didn’t succeed in efforts
to explain that neither the transporta
tion nor the park was within his juris
diction.
3) He was a “big city” man while
Davis, from Shreveport, was considered
a “country boy” more favorable to the
smaller parishes of the state.
Davis bid strongly for anti-Negro
votes immediately after the first pri
mary, charging that Morrison had re
ceived the bloc vote of Negroes in the
Dec. 5 voting.
Two major newspapers—the New Or
leans Times Picayune and the Shreve
port Times—also pointed to Morrison’s
Negro vote and supported Davis on the
basis that he was better qualified to
calm the political turmoil in the wake
of Gov. Earl K. Long’s administration.
GOT LONG’S SUPPORT
Long supported Davis at the last
minute, announcing he was voting for
the man he succeeded in 1948 when
he (Long) won his first four-year term
as governor.
On the basis of an analysis of the
voting precincts dominated by Negroes,
Morrison is believed to have gotten
the vast majority of the 150,000 Negro
votes. The mayor carried 22 of the 64
parishes, including Orleans. All of them
were in the extreme southern parishes,
populated heavily by Catholics and by
Negroes.
Davis not only won the 16 parishes
that had given Rainach the first pri
mary lead, but he also won the two
parishes that had placed former Gov.
James A. Noe first in the first pri
mary and the one parish that had put
State Comptroller William J. Dodd at
the top of the Dec. 5 voting.
Both Noe and Dodd endorsed and
worked for Morrison in the second
primary.
Davis also made inroads on the Mor
rison vote in south Louisiana, captur
ing the Lake Charles and Baton Rouge
votes. Morrison had led in both of
these areas in the first primary.
NEGROES DEFEATED
Two Negro candidates for the Legis
lature were beaten in the second pri
mary. Both from New Orleans, law
yers Lawrence Wheeler and Revius O.
Ortigue were the first of their race to
get into the runoffs for the Legislature
during this century. Neither of them
had the endorsements of the major
political factions in New Orleans.
After his defeat, Rainach was given
a testimonial dinner in New Orleans
as Citizens Council and vocal segrega
tion support mounted for Davis, prin
cipally on the basis that he was the
most palatable to them in the choice
between Davis and Morrison.
Rainach said at the testimonial: “We
can (by electing Davis) salvage a great
deal we lost when I was not elected
governor of Louisiana.”
Davis’s position on segregation was
never as strong as that of Rainach.
Principally his position was this:
“I think I have been as good a friend
to the colored people as any Louisiana
governor. I am for segregation and al
ways will be. We will use all neces
sary, proper and effective means to
maintain our historic way of life and
to preserve our southern traditions.”
His platform committed him to sepa
rate but equal facilities.
In the running battle between the
state and federal governments over
Louisiana purges of Negro voters from
the registration rolls, the Justice De
partment asked the U.S. Supreme Court
to restore 1,377 Negroes to the rolls in
Washington Parish.
The department action, filed Jan. 22,
came as a surprise and Atty. Gen.
Jack P. F. Gremillion of Louisiana an
nounced immediate intention to op
pose the motion.
This is what happened:
1) Federal District Court Judge J.
Skelly Wright at New Orleans issued
a decree Jan. 11 ordering the Negroes
returned to the registration rolls, en
joining parish vote registrar Curtis M.
Thomas from giving legal effect to any
of the 1,377 challenges filed against
Negroes between February and June
of 1959.
2) The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals, also at New Orleans, stayed
the effect of Judge Wright’s decree on
Jan. 21 pending a hearing of the ap
peal filed by defendants.
3) The Justice Department action
followed the next day in Washington.
In his original ruling, Wright en
joined four individual members of the
Washington Parish White Citizens
Council from filing vote challenges
“which have as their purpose or effect
discrimination based on race or color
against any registrants of Washington
Parish . . .”
Also at Washington, Gremillion ar
gued the Louisiana case that chal
lenges the constitutionality of the U.S.
Civil Rights Commission.
The case is before the court on the
appeal of the government. Three fed
eral judges sitting in Shreveport, La.,
declared earlier that the rules of the
commission were unconstitutional.
This decision blocked the commis
sion’s attempt to conduct a public hear
ing at Shreveport, where 16 north
Louisiana voter registrars were to face
questioning on scores of complaints by
Negro voters that they had been dis
criminated against.
The Shreveport federal court said
the commission failed to provide for
having the accused registrars face their
accusers, with the right of cross ex
amination.
SAYS AUTHORITY EXCEEDED
Gremillion argued in Washington
that the commission exceeded its con
stitutional authority when it summoned
the registrars to a one-day hearing in
Shreveport. It was scheduled July 13
but never was held.
He pointed out that the state had
attempted to learn from the commis
sion the names of the 67 Negroes who
claimed that their voting rights were
denied.
“The record,” he said, “is replete
with my cooperation with the com
mission. Yet every time we turned
around we met with commission se
crecy, with authority and policy de
cision not authorized by Congress.”
Deputy U.S. Atty. Gen. Laurence E.
Walsh told the Supreme Court that
parish registrars need not fear a Civil
Right Commission hearing. He said
the commission is merely investigative
and has no judicial power.
Lloyd J. Rittiner, president of the
Orleans parish school board, disclosed
in New Orleans Jan. 8 that the ma
jority of the board had asked for the
resignation of board member Emile A.
Wagner Jr. because of Wagner’s in
volvement in the gubernatorial cam
paign.
Wagner, at the forefront of citizens
council actions, announced his sup
port of Jimmie H. Davis for the Demo
cratic nomination for governor, say
ing Davis had pledged to him to have
the state enjoin the school board from
integrating under federal court order.
The school board is under an order
from U.S. District Court Judge J.
Skelly Wright to submit to him a plan
of integration for the Orleans public
schools, which have 46,752 Negro stu
dents as compared with 39,592 whites.
RITTINER’S STATEMENT
Rittiner said Wagner refused to re
sign. The board president said in a
public statement:
“The majority of the members of the
Orleans parish school board are dis
appointed that Emile A. Wagner Jr.
persists in becoming involved in the
state political campaign. We have told
him that if he is that much interested
in the campaign, he should resign or
take a leave of absence from the board.
He has refused to do this, and as he is
an elected official, the board is power
less to do anything about it.
“However, we do not believe he is
acting in the best interests of the
Orleans public school system by per
sisting in his campaigning.
“The school board further feels that
regardless of any commitment from
any candidate, the board is better in
formed about and more capable of
handling its problems than any candi
date in the gubernatorial race.”
AGAINST FEDERAL AID
The Louisiana School Boards Assn,
met in annual session at New Orleans
and, among other actions, adopted a
resolution opposing federal aid to edu
cation.
Maximum efficiency in the school
systems, the association said, can “best
be secured only if we avoid and re
sist transfer of authority to centralized
regional or Washington levels.”
Acceptance of federal aid, said the
group, would result in a loss of “local
voice or control and certain erosion
of state sovereignty.” # # #
L loyd J. Rittiner, elected pres
ident of the Orleans Parish
(county) school board in Decem
ber, says he would rather see
public schools integrated than
closed.
Heading the state’s largest pub
lic school system, Rittiner said
his five-member board is in a
squeeze play between the federal
and state governments and prob
ably will turn back to the federal
courts for a solution.
The Orleans board is under orders
from U.S. District Court Judge J. Skelly
Wright to offer a desegregation plan by
May 16. Wright has not said when he
wants the plan implemented, but the
presumption is he wants school to be
gin integration on s
grade-by-grade basi
next September.
“The federal gov
ernment says we can
not operate segregat
ed schools,” said Rit
tiner. “The state says
we cannot operate in
tegrated schools and
has the power to close
the schools.
“We must submit a rittiner
plan to Judge Wright by May 16. We
don’t have one. If we do submit one we
cannot implement it because of the
state law. Somewhere along the line the
court is going to have to tell us what
to do.
“I am a segregationist. I think it is
to the best interest of the people of New
Orleans of both races to have separate
schools.
“If, however, I am faced with a choice
(Continued From Page 11)
board—including overcrowding, finan
cial burden for new schools, different
achievement levels, and the impact on
a predominately southern society—can
not be used for subverting constitu
tional rights, Redding says.
RELEASE DATE SET
Meanwhile, the Laurel Board of
Education has set Feb. 12 for an
opinion release on a hearing held Jan.
19 on bias charges made by Alonzo H.
Shockley Jr. over his dismissal as
principal at the Paul Laurence Dunbar
School on charges of insubordination.
The hearing was ordered bv the
Delaware Supreme Court after Shock-
ley, a Negro, charged that his dismis
sal in 1957 came about because he
tried to enroll his daughter in a white
school at Milford.
At the hearing, the Laurel Board of
Education denied charges cited by
Shockley’s attorney, Joseph H. Geoghe-
gan, that his client’s dismissal came for
racial reasons.
Shockley, through Geoghegan, ar
gued that he was not permitted to
present his evidence of anti-Negro
bias at the school board meetings in
1957 when other evidence of his al
leged insubordination was introduced.
The Supreme Court, on Dec. 12, 1959,
reaffirmed an earlier stand upholding
the Laurel board in dismissing Shock-
ley for insubordination, but ordered a
rehearing on the bias charges.
The decision by the Laurel board is
also subject to further review by the
courts.
Testifying at the hearing for the
Laurel board were Clarence Evans;
former board members Harry McAl
lister and Carlton Tyndall; Ford M.
Warrington; and Mrs. Katherine Henry,
secretary to Leon B. Elder, superin
tendent of schools
The General Assembly will be asked
by the State Youth Services Commis
sion to authorize sale of the state’s
three training schools and construc
tion of a single, coeducational, racially
integrated institution.
The merger would involve Ferris
School for Boys, Kruse School (for
Negro girls) and Woods Haven School
for Girls. The existing schools were
called “outmoded” by Donald G. Black-
bum, executive secretary of the com
mission. Estimated value of the three
schools is one million dollars.
It will be proposed to the Assembly
that the school be built outside the
of integrating or closing I am already
on record as favoring integration to the
extent that it is necessary to comply
with law.”
Rittiner, head of an engineering firm
and one of the more outspoken mem
bers of the board on the integration is
sue, said he is seeking some method of
polling voters or parents of school-age
children of New Orleans on whether to
integrate or to close public schools.
“If most of the people were in favor
of closing the schools I would support
the closing—but I think it would be a
mistake,” Rittner said. “If you have an
integrated school system the people
would have a choice.
“Those who had no objection to send
ing their children to integrated schools
could send them. But if the schools
were closed there would be no choice.
Those persons who had no objection to
integrated schools would, like the others,
have to find private schools for their
children.
“I don’t think most of the people
could afford the private schools and
don’t know what other solution there
is.”
Rittiner said he does not believe the
Orleans school board, which has fought
the issue of integration on a single suit
since shortly after the original U.S. Su
preme Court decision on segregation,
has “any more legal rope to pull on.”
The Supreme Court, he said, does not
care about the constitutionality or un
constitutionality of state laws on the
segregation-integration issue “and there
fore we can’t fall back on the state
laws.”
Under state law, Louisiana is empow
ered to close integrated schools and
support private schools. # # #
Wi'minvton metropolitan area, where
land costs are lower.
The Assemb’y also will soon receive
a building bill from the State Board
of Education, which delayed submit
ting other than emergency requests
during 1959.
At its January meeting, the state
board approved three small building
programs for Negro schools in lower
Delaware. Included was Bridge ville
220, addition to existing school of two
classrooms, cafeteria, and other im
provements, $226,000; Frankford 206,
addition to two classrooms and other
improvements, $142,000. and Mil’sboro
204, health unit, tractor, $8,200. Total
cost is $376,200.
The state board also reported prog
ress in its efforts to bring about con
solidation in some of the smaller
downstate districts, but the integration
question has stalled proposed mergers
in some cases.
This is true in the Dover and Caesar
Rodney districts, which the state board
has urged to join and build a com
prehensive high school. Dover, in 1954,
integrated at the academic level in the
high school, but Caesar Rodney did
not.
Later, the two schools suspended
athletic relations because Dover in
sisted that its Negro players be allowed
to compete whether the games were
played at Caesar Rodney or Dover.
Caesar Rodney agreed to play against
Negroes in Dover, but not at Caesar
Rodney.
Both schools, in building requests
submitted to the state board in 1959,
proposed to renovate their high schools.
But the state board has thus far re
fused to approve the requests, and in
stead has suggested a merger.
MISCELLANEOUS
The International Latex Corp. plant
at Dover has been cited by the Presi
dent’s Committee on Government Con
tracts in Washington as an example of
progress in eliminating discrimination
in employment.
The company has hired seven Negro
workers, and also has “made arrange
ments to use the facilities of Delaware
State College, where enrollment is pre
dominantly Negro, to provide advanced
training for its white laboratory tech
nicians,” the citation said.
The committee launched negotiations
with the Latex company last July after
the company had tried to hire Negroes
in its Dover plant but had been un
successful because of resistance of
white employees.
“No Negroes were employed even
though Negroes constituted 25 per cent
of the popu'ation in the area, and its
work force numbered about 2,600,” the
report said. # # #
Delaware