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ZLO/ 5 7^7 /5 Factual * » 0 ‘S* 3K1V HOI SI AI 0 N0111 § I ft0 3? S 3 I b V H H | 1 v i o fc c 3 o j: A11 S b 3 A i NO coc<:- -09 3' nr NEWS Objective VOL. 6, NO. 9 TENNESSEE UWVEESiiY Of ZEOhGlA MAR-5 ’GO $2 PER YEAR MARCH, I960 New Petitions Filed For Desegregation Lunch Counter Protests Spread U. S. Courts Call for Plans In Dollarway And Knoxville TJ ressure to desegregate public schools increased in six southern and border states during February, generally through federal courts. In Arkansas’ Dollarway desegregation case, a federal district judge refused to overrule a pupil assignment law and order three Negroes ad mitted to an all-white school. However, the judge instructed Dollarway T> rotest demonstrations by Negroes at white lunch coun ters and restaurants swept the South during February, increasing racial tension and in some in stances breaking out into violence. The first “sitdown” began almost unnoticed when four Negro fresh men from North Carolina A&T College entered a Greensboro va riety store at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 1 and sat down at a lunch counter re served for whites. The group remain quietly during the last hour before the store closed. They were not served. The college students returned in larger numbers the following day. Their action sparked a series of pro tests by hundreds of Negroes, spread ing throughout North Carolina, jump ing into seven other southern states and touching off sympathy demonstrations in the North. The “sitdowns”—mostly at chain variety, drug and department stores— were greeted at first with silent refusal NASHVILLE, Tenn. DEMAND FOR DESEGREGATION of Chattanooga public schools came in the midst of a series of “sit-downs” there by Negro dem onstrators at variety store lunch counters. Violence erupted in the downtown business section. Similar demonstrations in Nash ville led to three incidents cul minating in 79 arrests over a four- hour period. General fighting was averted among hundreds of spec tators on a busy Saturday after noon. After four afternoons of demon strations in Chattanooga, marked by conflicts among Negro and white youths in stores and on streets, a “crackdown” led by Mayor P. R. Olgiati halted the dis orders at least temporarily. Meanwhile, three Negro pa rents led by the Chattanooga presi dent of the National Assn, for the Advancement of Colored People, told the city school board they would be “forced to take legal action” unless the board approves immediate school integration. (See “Community Action.”) A circuit court judge ordered the charter of integrated Highlander Folk School revoked and held Tennessee’s school segregation law still constitu tional in its application to private schools. (See “Legal Action.”) The Knoxville Board of Education was given until April 8 to submit to federal court a plan for school desegre gation, with indications that it or some other plan will be made effective next September. (See “Legal Action.”) The Memphis school board, mean while, said it plans to use the state school placement law of 1957 in con sidering applications for pupil enroll ment or transfer. (See “School Boards and Schoolmen.”) COMMUNITY ACTION “Sit-downs” by groups of young Ne groes seeking service at variety store lunch counters led to violence and ex treme tension in Chattanooga, where Negro parents had just sought to enter four children in an all-white school. After milling, boisterous crowds in thwarted the protests by closing coun- of service. Then the businesses ters or entire stores. Police began mak ing arrests, usually on charges of tres passing and loitering. Violence cropped up at some “sit downs” when whites staged opposing protests or tried to occupy the seats be fore Negroes. Four days of demonstrations in Chat tanooga, Tenn., resulted in the most violence reported. The “sitdowns” there occurred the same day several Negro parents began efforts to enter their children in white schools. Violence also occurred in Nashville where 79 were arrested. College students, often joined by high school students, sparked most of the protests, which they insisted were spon taneous. School officials denied spon soring the movement and announced class attendance would be required. Store officials said it was policy to “abide by local custom” in segregating lunch counter seats. Several stores op erated stand-up counters for both races. Three states with legislatures in ses sion considered bills against the “sit downs.” The Georgia and Virginia leg- downtown Chattanooga had been quelled by police and firemen using fire hoses on the fourth day of the “sit- down” campaign there, Knoxville Ma yor John Duncan conferred with Ne gro leaders in an effort to prevent such demonstrations in that city. But three days after things had sub sided in Chattanooga, Nashville had demonstrations that led to arrest of 79 persons—74 of them Negro college stu dents who refused to leave seats at lunch counters. Three altercations in volved individuals, but there was no mass fighting—only pushing and shov ing. In Chattanooga, the “sit-down” series started on Feb. 19 when a group of Ne gro high school students sought service at Woolworth and McClellan lunch counters. The counters were closed rapidly and the incident was over in a half-hour. There was no violence. HOME DYNAMITED Next day, a Negro home was rocked by a dynamite blast. Police investigated without indicating whether the dyna miting involved racial feeling. Two days later, on Washington’s Birthday, three Negro parents presented four of their children for admittance to white Glenwood School. They were turned down, and a written demand for immediate school integration was sent to the Board of Education Feb. 26 with the likelihood of a federal court suit being filed. One of the parents was James R. Mapp, president of the Chattanooga chapter of the NAACP. The others were the Rev. H. H. Kimon and Mrs. Jose phine Maxey. The three said they would be “forced to take legal action” if the board failed to produce an integration program within 24 hours. But School Supt. John W. Letson said no decision would be announced by the board before its next regular meeting March 9. In the past, the board has declined desegregation requests. Kirnon, pastor of Cleage Chapel AME Zion Church, said he and the other pa rents received threats of bombing, lynching and being run out of town. He said he got 18 threatening telephone calls, adding that he also received seven or eight messages from white people expressing support. On the same day the Negroes applied for school desegregation, some 200 Ne gro students staged sit-down demon strations at four variety stores—Wool- (See TENNESSEE, Page 2) islatures passed stronger trespassing laws. A similar bill was introduced in South Carolina. Tennessee and Alabama laws forbid integrated eating establishments. North Caro'ina used its trespassing law to ar rest numbers of Negroes at the “sit downs.” North Carolina had more protests than any other state, first at Greens boro and then Durham, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Raleigh, Eliza beth City, High Point, Shelby and Con cord. The first arrests for trespassing at Raleigh where 41 students were charged in one day and two the next. ISOLATED INCIDENTS The next state affected, South Caro lina, had no violence during a demon stration at Charleston and only a few isolated incidents at Rock Hill. The first sitdown in Florida, at De land, was conducted without incident. Demonstrations at Tallahassee stores resulted in 11 Negro students being charged with disturbing the peace. Several Virginia cities experienced the lunch counter protests—Ports mouth, Norfolk, Hampton, Richmond, Newport News, Petersburg, Suffolk, and Whaleyville. White and Negro teen agers clashed during a brawl at a Portsmouth store. A Richmond depart ment store had 37 Negroes arrested for trespassing. Demonstrations by Negro students at Montgomery led Alabama Gov. John Patterson to threaten to expel them from Alabama State College. The stu dents answered with a threat they would try to enroll at all-white state colleges. Maryland had one day of demon strations by Johns Hopkins University students—most of them white. A group of Yale students in Connecticut passed out leaflets supporting the southern movement. Negroes picketed two Har lem variety stores owned by chains operating in the South. At month’s end, the demonstrations continued; none of the stores in the southern states had changed their seg regation policy. Some stores left lunch counters closed, others quietly re opened them to whites only. A few removed the seats and served both races standing up—a policy they previ ously had followed. Several Negro groups announced they would halt the demonstrations and boycott the businesses. # # # N ine southern and border states offer some degree of in tegrated schools for children of military personnel, a survey by Southern School Ne ws showed. In five of these states, the pres ence of the military contributed di rectly to desegregation. In Georgia and South Carolina, a single on- base school operated by the federal government represents the state’s only integration. Three Deep South states—Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana—have no de segregation in any grade schools, mili tary or civilian. The armed services follow a strict policy of integrated schools for chil dren of service personnel at all schools operated on military installations. But where military dependents at tend off-base schools, a Pentagon spokesman in Washington said, the Armed Forces follow “customs and de cisions of local agencies in the areas of the military installation.” This acceptance of local school segre gation extends to federally financed schoo’s—if they are not located on fed eral property. In some cases, military p-rents have desegregated these schools through court action. Segregation at military post schools board to submit within 30 days a plan to eliminate segregation. For the fourth time in a five-year-old suit, the National Assn, for the Ad vancement of Colored People asked the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans to order Dallas to produce a desegregation plan by September. Federal Judge Robert L. Taylor at Knoxville, Tenn., instructed the city Board of Education to submit a de segregation p'an by April 8 “or we’ll see what happens.” An NAACP leader in Chattanooga, Tenn., said Feb. 23 he was “ready now” to file a desegregation suit. The same day, the city’s first racial rioting in over 30 years broke out during a Negro protest of segregated lunch counters. The brawl was the most vio lent of any that accompanied the dem onstrations throughout the South dur ing February (see story, this page). A suit filed in federal district court at Pensacola, Fla., challenged school segregation of Escambia County schools. The county is located in Flor ida’s northwest panhandle, where seg regation sentiment is strong. In Georgia, the Legislature created a special school study commission and adjourned without taking any action on the school desegregation issue. An NAACP attorney then announced plans to ask federal court to permit the At lanta Board of Education to start its pupil placement plan. NAACP lawyers in Maryland filed in U.S. District Court their long-ex pected suit challenging anew Harford County’s pupil placement plan. Congressional activity on civil rights proposals reached a high peak. After a six-month delay, the House Rules Committee released a civil rights bill for floor debate starting March 10 and the Senate moved into extended ses sion to debate civil rights. Other developments by states: Alabama Gov. John Patterson’s position that Alabama’s public schools should be run by the federal government ended in 1953. Two years later, the Defense Department ordered an end to segre gation in schools operated by local school authorities on federal installa tions. In a number of cases, the order made it necessary for the government to take over operation of the school, through the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Threats of possible school closings to avoid integration have brought de mands that the government take steps tn insure continued schooling for some 70,000 children of military personnel attending off-base classes in the South. A provision for federally operated schools in such an emergency is a fea ture cf the civil rights proposal now before the House of Representatives. Situation in 17 southern and border states is as follows: Alabama r J 1 HEEE are no integrated public schools on or near any military base in Alabama, according to the State De partment of Education. In a number of cities—Huntsville, Anniston, Montgomery, Selma, Dothan and Mobile—children of military and civilian base personnel attend local (See POST SCHOOLS, Page 8) closed before yielding even to token integration was challenged. (Page 6) Arkansas Police charged two Negroes in the Feb. 8 dynamiting of the home of Car- lotta Walls, one of the Negroes attend ing Little Rock’s Central High School. (Page 12) Delaware The State Board of Education denied a Negro group’s charge that expansion of existing Negro schools meant a pol icy to “perpetuate desegregation.” (Page 9) District of Columbia Southern congressmen’s charges that Negro children come to the District to attend desegregated schools brought a move to stiffen non-resident pupils’ tui tion. (Page 16) Florida Florida’s first Negro student in a white university was dropped because of grades. (Page 14) Georgia The Legislature approved a measure stiffening penalties for barratry—incit ing or promoting litigation—in a move reportedly aimed at the NAACP. (Page 15) Kentucky Democratic Gov. Bert Combs won legislative and court approval of his “limited” constitutional revision pro posal. (Page 10) Louisiana Three federal judges ruled the NAACP need not file its membership list with the Louisiana secretary of state. (Page 5) Maryland Baltimore showed its smallest in crease in Negro enrollment at formerly all-white schools in four years. (Page 13) Mississippi Mississippi’s biracial advisory com mittee to the Civil Rights Commission announced plans to investigate alleged voter discrimination. (Page 7) Missouri The St. Louis Board of Education voted to submit two big school bond issues to meet an increasing school population, caused in part by Negroes newly immigrated from the South. (Page 14) North Carolina The Mecklenberg County desegrega tion suit was postponed for one year at the request of the school board and with the consent of attorneys for nine Negro students. (Page 3) Oklahoma Integration plans for the coming year were revealed by two southeastern Ok lahoma school districts. (Page 11) South Carolina Negro organizations protested the lack of Negro trustees on the board for South Carolina State College. (Page 4) Tennessee A circuit court judge revoked the charter of Highlander Folk School, an inter-racial adult education center. (Page 1) Texas A federal judge ordered a Negro student admitted to West Texas State College. (Page 10) Virginia Negroes entered another formerly all-white school in Alexandria, making 19 desegregated schools in Virginia. (Page 5) West Virginia Gov. Cecil Underwood considered calling a special legislative session to unravel a problem over a state mental health chief. (Page 13) # # # TENNESSEE Violence In Chattanooga; Desegregation Demanded School Pattern Varies For Military Children