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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—FEBRUARY—PAGE 3
Rules Committee Schedules Hearing on
Civil Rights Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C.
C ivil rights legislation re
mained in deadlock for most
of the first month of the new ses
sion of Congress. It broke Jan. 28
with the House Rules Commit
tee’s plans to hold a hearing on a
bill in early February. (See “Na
tional Affairs.”)
In his State of the Union mes
sage, President Eisenhower de
voted three paragraphs to civil
rights, and limited his remarks to
voting. (See “National Affairs.”)
The Supreme Court agreed to
decide whether Arkansas may
constitutionally require teachers
to submit sworn statements of
organizations they have belonged
to in the past five years. (See
“National Affairs.”)
A District School Board member
asked school officials to consider aband
oning their annual racial count of
pupils and teachers. (See “District
Schools.”)
Southern congressmen pressed for
legislation to stiffen tuition require
ments for non-resident students in
District public schools. (See “District
Schools.”)
A deadlock over civil rights legisla
tion in the new session of Congress
broke Jan. 28 when the House Rules
Committee announced it would hold
a hearing in early February on a bill it
had kept bottled up since last summer.
The Rules Committee was expected
to clear the bill for House consideration
early in February. A move to bring the
bill to the floor without committee
clearance has gathered more than 190
of the required 219 petition signatures.
The Rules Committee, headed by
Rep. Howard Smith (D-Va.), will
probably have another chance to block
the bill if it clears both the Senate and
House. Rules Committee clearance is
required to send the measure to a
Senate-House conference committee to
compromise differences between the
versions.
ABBREVIATED VERSION
The House bill is an abbreviated ver
sion of President Eisenhower’s “mod
erate” seven-point bill of 1959. In
addition to its voting provisions, it
would:
• Make it a federal crime to obstruct
court school orders (such as the Little
Rock mob episode).
• Make it a federal crime to cross
state lines to evade prosecution for
malicious bombings of any structure or
vehicle.
• Assure continued schools for 70,000
children of military personnel at south
ern bases if their schools are closed
by desegregation disputes.
SEEK STRONGER BILL
Civil rights supporters hope to
strengthen the bill by restoring the
President’s proposals to give financial
and technical aid to communities try
ing to desegregate schools.
They also will make another attempt
to add the so-called Part IH provision,
deleted from the 1957 Civil Rights Act,
which would empower the Justice De
partment to seek court injunctions to
order desegregation and protect other
civil rights.
But Roy Wilkins, executive secre
tary of the National Assn, for the Ad
vancement of Colored People, said
Jan. 14 that he felt there was an
“understanding” at the capital that
“the weak bill now in the House Rules
Committee will be pushed through
Congress to get the issue out of the
way before the real political campaign
gets under way.”
Wilkins was one of some 30 spokes
men for religious, racial, labor and
other groups, banded together as the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
who went to the capital to enlist sup
port for a strong civil rights bill in
this session.
Another group, the Volunteer Civil
Rights Commission, was scheduled to
hold a meeting in a Washington church
Jan. 31 to hear seven Negroes from
five southern states tell of their un
successful efforts to register as voters.
“I’m Cornin’, Chile, Halle
lujah! De Spirit Moved Me!”
—Louisville Courier-Journal
“What About The Rights Of
‘Unorganized’ Citizens?”
—Nashville Banner
Much of the congressional debate
centered on the Civil Rights Commis
sion proposal to use federal registrars
where necessary to assure that qualified
Negroes are permitted to vote in fed
eral elections.
At month’s end, the administration
came up with an alternate plan to use
referees appointed by federal courts to
register qualified persons for all elec
tions and to set up machinery to pro
tect voting rights as well as registra
tion.
After announcing his new voter ref
eree plan Jan. 26, Atty. Gen. William
P. Rogers said he had no plans “at the
moment” to seek any more civil rights
legislation in this session of Congress.
But he indicated the Justice Depart
ment is still exploring the possibility
of further action in the Mack Parker
Mississippi lynching case.
TALMADGE BILL
Sen. Herman E. Talmadge (D-Ga.)
offered a new proposal Jan. 28 for a
constitutional amendment to give the
states exclusive control over public
education.
Talmadge said his revised version
meets “groundless and special” objec
tions raised when he proposed a similar
amendment last year. That proposal
was defeated in subcommittee.
The new version, introduced with
seven southern co-sponsors, would
give the states exclusive control over
all public education. It also says that
nothing in the article should be con
strued “to authorize any state to deny
to any pupil because of race, color, na
tional origin or religious belief the right
to attend schools equal in respect to
the quality and ability of the teachers,
curriculum and physical facilities to
those attended by other pupils attend
ing schools in the same school system.”
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
In his State of the Union message
Jan. 7, President Eisenhower reminded
Congress that the civil rights program
he submitted last year had not yet
been enacted. But otherwise the Presi
dent limited his civil rights remarks
to the right to vote, which he called
“one of the strongest pillars of a free
society.”
At a Jan. 13 press conference, Mr.
Eisenhower again urged Congress to
“act decisively” on the legislation car
ried over from last year.
On Jan. 26 the President nominated
Harold R. Tyler, 38-year-old New York
lawyer and former assistant U.S. at
torney there, to head of the Justice
Department’s civil rights division.
COURT WILL RULE
The Supreme Court agreed Jan. 25
to rule whether Arkansas may require
teachers to submit sworn statements
of organizations they have belonged to
in the last five years. The case stemmed
from the Little Rock school desegrega
tion dispute.
The Arkansas Legislature passed a
package of anti-integration laws in
August 1958, including one that estab
lished the requirement of reports on
teachers’ organizational memberships
and contributions. A companion law,
passed a year ago, prohibited NAACP
members from holding public jobs in
Arkansas.
B. T. Shelton, a Little Rock Negro
teacher and admittedly an NAACP
member, refused to submit the state
ment and challenged the validity of
the law. A three-judge federal court
in Little Rock struck down as uncon
stitutional the bar against NAACP
members holding pub’ic jobs, but up
held the law requiring statements of
membership.
Shelton appealed to the Supreme
Court, arguing that the law would curb
the exercise of the constitutional free
dom of association by discouraging
teachers’ participation in organizations
thought to be unpopular with their
superiors.
In other actions, the Supreme Court:
• Refused to review another con
viction of segregationist John Kasper—
this one a six-month sentence by a
state court for inciting a crowd to riot
in September 1957 on the night a school
was dynamited.
Kasper contended his speeches
against school desegregation were pro
tected by freedom of speech. He has
served two federal sentences for dis
obeying court orders to stop stirring up
school trouble in Clinton, Term.
• Refused to hear a complaint of
Negro railroad firemen in Georgia that
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire
men and Enginemen had unfairly
given part of their work to junior
white firemen. Last year the court re
fused to decide whether exclusion of
Negroes from the union was uncon
stitutional.
• Announced it will hear oral argu
ments Feb. 23 in a Louisiana voting
case where 1,377 Negroes were ordered
restored to the voting lists.
In a letter to District School Supt.
Carl F. Hansen, School Board member
Wesley S. Williams suggested that the
system should drop its annual racial
count of pupils and teachers.
Williams, one of three Negroes on the
nine-member board, said “representa
tive groups in the community have
been growing restive because of the
continued racial census.”
He asked whether the District
schools, desegregated since 1954, are
not “at the point, if not long past it,”
where a racial census serves no use
ful purpose. He also asked how much
staff time and effort goes into the racial
count.
Hansen said he would study Wil
liams’ letter and reply to it at a later
date. But school officials noted that a
1925 statute, still on the books, re
quires the racial tally of pupils. Sev
eral years ago the School Board asked
the District commissioners to seek re
peal of the legal requirement for a
racial census, but the commissioners
took no action.
Chairman D. R. (Billy) Matthews
(D-Fla.) of a House District subcom
mittee said Jan. 14 that he expects a
favorable report on a bill to crack
down on non-resident students get
ting a “free” education in Washing
ton’s public schools.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Joel T.
Broyhill (R-Va.) would require stu
dents attending school here to live
with either a parent or legal guardian,
or pay annual non-resident tuitions
ranging from $200 to more than $900.
Broyhill introduced the measure
after declaring last spring that many
Negro families living elsewhere send
their children to Washington “to live
with aunts, uncles and distant cousins
in order to send them to local inte
grated schools.”
1,600 NON-RESIDENTS
Children may now live with anyone
in the District and receive tuition-free
education if the purpose of their being
here is not solely to attend school.
Broyhill estimates that some 1,600 non
resident students are attending public
schools now, resulting in a loss of
about $385,000 a year in tuition fees.
The District Federation of Citizens’
Assns. backed Broyhill’s bill at a pub
lic hearing held Jan. 14 by the House
District subcommittee. In earlier testi
mony, District officials suggested
amendments, including one that would
excuse non-resident students from tui
tion payments if they were living here
with persons exercising “full care, cus
tody and support,” regardless of their
status as parents or guardians.
Chairman Matthews said he would
press for action on the Broyhill bill
“at the earliest possible moment.”
WANTS PAGE EXAM
In other congressional action affect
ing District schools, Rep. William S.
Broomfie’d (R-Mich.) said Jan. 8 that
capitol pages should be selected by a
nationwide competitive examination
and removed from “the spoils system.”
He said appointment by examination
instead of through the patronage of
Congressmen would improve the Capi
tol Page School—part of the District
school system—where the youths get
their education while serving.
The school should be one of the
“most advanced” in the country be
cause of its peculiar function, Broom
field said.
He criticized as a poor “lesson in
democracy” what he called the “un
written law” against appointment of
Negro pages. Competitive examination
would end racial and religious bias, he
suggested.
Several Negro pages have been ap
pointed to duties at the Supreme Court.
One Negro youth came to Washington
last summer as a congressional page
appointee, but did not get the job be
cause the House patronage committee
ruled that congressmen with more sen
iority than his sponsor had first crack
at appointments.
BACK LUNCH PROGRAM
District officials told a Senate Dis
trict subcommittee Jan. 14 that they
will support a free lunch program for
4,800 needy elementary pupils. A “pilot
program” for 2,000 children has been
under way since last year. Subcom
mittee Chairman Wayne Morse (D-
Ore.), a strong backer of the lunch
program, said he was “thrilled” with
the results.
But school officials said they would
have to seek facilities to feed the
youngsters in their own elementary
school buildings. Pupils who now go
to nearby secondary schools for then-
free lunches are often taunted along
the way with cries of “hunger march,”
“bread line” and “march of poverty,”
the subcommittee was told.
The District school budget for fiscal
1981, submitted to Congress as part of
the federal budget, included funds for
about 200 additional teachers. They
President Eisenhower’s
Following is the portion pertaining to civil rights in Pres
ident Eisenhower’s State of the Union message to Congress
on Jan. 7:
“In all our hopes and plans for a better world we all rec
ognize that provincial and racial prejudices must be com
batted. In the long perspective of history, the right to vote
has been one of the strongest pillars of a free society. Our
first duty is to protect this right against all encroachment.
In spite of constitutional guarantees, and notwithstanding
Civil Rights Statement
much progress of recent years, bias still deprives some
persons in this country of equal protection of the laws.
“Early in your last session, I recommended legislation which
would help eliminate several practices discriminating against
the basic rights of Americans. The Civil Rights Commission
has developed additional constructive recommendations. I
hope that these will be among the matters to be seriously
considered in the current session. I trust that Congress
will thus signal to the world that our Government is
striving for equality under law for all our people.” # # #
will take care of growing enrollments,
expanded special educational services,
and further reduction of elementary
class size toward the School Board’s
30-pupil goal.
NEW BOARD MEMBER
Mrs. John L. Steele, a P-TA leader
and former teacher, was named to the
School Board Jan. 22 by the judges of
federal District Court.
The appointment was for the unex
pired term of Mrs. Manson B. Pettit,
who resigned to accompany her hus
band to an out-of-town position. The
term ends June 30, 1961.
Mrs. Steele, wife of the chief of the
Washington Bureau of Time and Life
magazines, has been active in press
ing for the P-TA’s legislative program
to improve District schools. She said
her major concern on the board will
be development of “a curriculum to
meet the varying needs of Washington
children.”
COUNCIL PRAISED
The board voted Jan. 20 to praise the
District Apprenticeship Council for its
efforts to eliminate racial discrimina
tion in apprenticeship opportunities.
“We would hope that sustained in
terest and effort by the Apprentice
ship Council will help to open all ap
prenticeship opportunities to all of our
graduates regardless of race,” the board
said.
The council reported that 200 to 250
Negroes are now serving regular in
dentured apprenticeships in District
crafts.
PRESENTS PAY PLAN
A plan to withhold automatic pay
increases from teachers who do not re
ceive a satisfactory rating in a con
tinuous review of their work was pre
sented to the board Jan. 20 by Supt.
Hansen.
He told the board that there is a
“continuing necessity for the assur
ance that the performance of every
staff member will be of acceptable
quality. This means that annual incre
ments and continued employment must
be merited.”
Hansen suggested machinery for
evaluating teachers’ work and penaliz
ing those who do not make the grade
by freezing their salary level or dis
missing them.
The board, which had asked for a
program to make pay distinctions be
tween teachers at various performance
levels, took the plan under advisement.
If approved, it would be coupled to
efforts to obtain a six-million-dollar-a-
year pay raise for teachers.
# # #
Books And
The Issue
The library at Southern Education
Reporting Service recently received
these books:
CHRISTIANS IN RACIAL CRISIS
by Thomas F. Pettigrew and Ernest Q.
Campbell. Public Affairs Press, 194 pp.,
$3.50.
An analysis of the factors bearing on
ministers and churches in Little Rock,
Ark. in segregation-desegregation ques
tions.
RACE RELATIONS AND AMERICAN
LAW
by Jack Greenberg. Columbia Univ.
Press, 420 pp., $10.
An encyclopedic treatise on the law of
race relations in the United States.
Greenburg traces changing legal inter
pretations and predicts a future course
of American law on race relations.
THE CASE FOR THE SOUTH
by W. D. Workman Jr. The Devin -
Adair Co., 302 pp., $5.00.
A descriptive appraisal of the south
erner yesterday and today by a widely
known southern newsman. The book
tells how white southerners feel about
states rights, race relations, school seg
regation and similar problems.
CRUSADER WITHOUT VIOLENCE
by L. D. Reddick. Harper & Bros., 234
pp., $3.95.
A biography of the Rev. Martin Lu
ther King Jr. by a close associate. The
book also studies new forces that are
shaping race relations in the South.
THE PUBLIC PAPERS OF CHIEF
JUSTICE EARL WARREN
Edited by Henry M. Christman. Simon
and Schuster, 237 pp., $4.50.
The major statements of Warren as
governor of California, his public ad
dresses and the decisions on issue rang
ing from desegregation to civil liberties.
# # #