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PAGE 16—MARCH I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Extended Sessions Ordered for Debate on Civil Rights
WASHINGTON, D. C.
ONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITY On Civil
rights moved into high gear
with expectations that both houses
might pass voting and school de
segregation measures in March.
After six months of delay, the
House Rules Committee cleared a
civil rights bill for floor debate
starting March 10. The Senate
started full-dress debate Feb. 15
and moved into extended sessions
at month’s end. (See “National
Affairs.”)
As the battle was joined, a mem
ber of President Eisenhower’s Civil
Rights Commission said southern com
pliance with the Supreme Court’s six-
year-old school desegregation ruling
has been unimpressive. (See “National
Affairs.”)
Acting in response to southern con
gressmen’s charges that large numbers
of Negro children come to the District
to attend desegregated schools, the
House passed a bill stiffening tuition
payment requirements for non-resident
pupils. School officials face court suits
filed by students protesting the tuition
charges. (See “District Schools.”)
The House Rules Committee ended
a six-month blockade of civil rights
legislation Feb. 18. Chairman Howard
W. Smith (D-Va.), a strong foe of civil
rights action, let go of the bill only
after being outvoted seven-to-four as
the result of a Republican vote swing.
Smith announced, however, that the
bill will not be called up on the House
floor until March 10 under a rule per
mitting 15 hours of general debate and
unlimited House amendments.
It was regarded as unlikely that the
House could complete action before
March 20—well past the half-way mark
in this election-year Congress.
‘WATERED-DOWN’
The House bill, described as a “wa
tered-down bill with very little teeth”
by Judiciary Committee Chairman
Emanuel Celler (D-NY), is an abbre
viated version of President Eisen
hower’s 1959 proposals. It would make
it a crime to oppose court desegrega
tion orders by force or threats; require
preservation of local voting records;
crack down on “hate” bombing; and
provide continued schooling for chil
dren of servicemen in areas where
public schools close in desegregation
disputes.
The Rules Committee also cleared
Atty. Gen. William P. Roger’s new
plan for court-appointed voting ref
erees to protect Negro suffrage.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Lyn
don B. Johnson (D-Texas) kept his
promise to bring civil rights to the floor
by Feb. 15. He announced that a minor
“This Ain’t Easy, Pardner .. .
Even For A Texan!”
Greensboro Daily News
House-passed bill leasing Army land
to a Missouri public school district
would be the “vehicle” for civil rights
amendments.
The maneuver was necessary since
no House-passed civil rights bill was
before the Senate and no Senate bill
had been cleared by committee. John
son’s parliamentary device was de
nounced by southern senators, led by
Sen. Richard B. Russell (D-Ga), who
called it “hell-hacking the South” and
“lynching of orderly procedure.”
Southern Democrats, Russell charged,
“are apparently the only minority
without any minority rights.”
Johnson said he hoped all interested
senators would offer, “in a spirit of
constitutional, responsible and non
partisan dedication to human rights,
the proposals they believe will best
serve the needs of protecting the con
stitutional rights of American citizens.”
ADMINISTRATION PACKAGE
Minority leader Everett M. Dirksen
(R-IU) asked the Senate to approve
the seven-point civil rights package
proposed by the administration last
year.
In addition to the provisions of the
House bill, it would define the Supreme
Court’s desegregation ruling as the
“law of the land,” authorize fiscal
and technical assistance to com
munities trying to desegregate their
schools, and give statutory authority to
a Commission on Equal Job Opportun
ities, similar to one now headed by
Vice President Nixon.
Dirksen said the administration will
not seek the so-called Title III power
this year. The controversial title,
knocked out of the 1957 Civil Rights
Act, would empower the attorney gen
eral to institute civil suits in support of
individuals’ constitutional rights.
Chairman Thomas C. Hennings (D-
Mo) of the Senate Rules Committee
accused the administration of “back
ing away” from its support of Title III
in 1957. He said:
“This might be a good time, when
the attorney general is discussing pow
ers of federal courts, for him to com
ment on the possibility of similar func
tions in cases of constitutional rights
other than voting.”
POSES SCHOOL QUESTION
Referring to the administration’s vot
ing referee plan, Hennings wondered
why the attorney general “does not
consider appointment of special mas
ters in chancery or referees by federal
district courts to assist in drawing up
public school desegregation plans.”
There were indications that northern
liberals in both houses would try to
amend civil rights measures to include
the Title III proposals and other
strengthening provisions. Sens. Paul
H. Douglas (D-Ill) and Jacob K. Javits
(R-NY) announced they will introduce
a comprehensive new civil rights bill
covering many of the points put for
ward by a 15-member liberal bloc last
session.
Sen. Harry F. Byrd (D-Va) charged
Feb. 19 that civil rights advocates were
trying to “use confusion for enactment
of punitive, vindictive and unconstitu
tional legislation.”
Byrd complained that the proposal to
provide federal aid for school desegre
gation would “appropriate funds for
use in attempts to bribe state and local
officials to accept the Supreme Court’s
school decision.”
As the debate unfolded, it was un
certain whether the Senate would pass
its own bill and send it to the House,
whether the Senate would wait to act
on a House-approved measure, or
whether both houses would act inde
pendently and then try to resolve then-
differences in conference. The last of
these courses is often hazardous to
controversial legislation.
HITS COMPLIANCE
George M. Johnson, a member of the
Civil Rights Commission and former
law school dean at Howard University,
added some fuel to the civil rights de
bate Feb. 21. He said southern compli
ance with the Supreme Court’s school
desegregation decision leaves much to
be desired.
In the 11 states, plus the District of
Columbia, where there has been some
compliance, he reported, 15 per cent of
the Negro students were in desegre
gated schools as of last May 5.
Robert S. Rankin, chairman of the
political science department at Duke
University, was nominated by the
President Feb. 18 to be a member of
the Civil Rights Commission, succeed
ing former Gov. John S. Battle of Vir
ginia, who resigned.
AID BILL PASSED
The Senate voted 51 to 34 Feb. 4 to
pass a 1.8 billion dollar school aid bill,
which administration leaders said
would run into a certain presidential
veto. Nine Republicans joined 42 Dem
ocrats in voting for passage; 11 Demo
crats and 23 Republicans were opposed.
The measure, more modest than a
school aid bill now pigeonholed in the
House Rules Committee, would pro
vide federal funds for classroom con
struction and teachers’ salaries at the
rate of 917 million dollars a year for
two years.
It is not as far-reaching as many
liberal Democrats wanted. But it goes
further than President Eisenhower and
Republican leaders said was acceptable.
POWELL UNDER FIRE
Announcement by Chairman Graham
Barden (D-NC) of the House Labor
and Education Committee that he plans
to retire this year put Rep. Adam
Clayton Powell (D-NY) in line for
the chairmanship.
The Negro congressman was de
nounced as an “extreme racist” by
some newspapers and congressional ob
servers. In a Feb. 7 statement, Powell
challenged his colleagues in Congress
“to demonstrate a more democratic
non-racial attitude than I do.”
“I represent a district that is 90 per
cent colored and 90 per cent Protes
tant,” Powell said. “Yet my Washing
ton staff is one-half non-colored and
one-half Roman Catholic.”
The District branch of the National
Assn, for the Advancement of Colored
People deplored what it called “intem
perate attacks” on Powell and assailed
“a deliberate and calculated attempt to
discredit (him) solely for his articulate
and forthright stand against all badges
of second-hand citizenship . . .”
ROGERS PLEASED
Atty. Gen. Rogers said Feb. 18 that
he thinks the nation’s rate of school
desegregation is “surprisingly good
when compared with the legal prob
lems involved.” His comment came
during an informal discussion with
leaders of the National Organization of
Women for Equality in Education,
which sponsored a “NOW for Equality”
conference in the capital.
Rogers cited desegregation in parts of
Virginia, Arkansas and Florida.
“But there are many practical prob
lems,” he warned. “One is that the
states simply don’t have to have public
schools.”
Vivian Mason, past president of the
National Council of Negro Women,
asked Rogers what his department
would do if there were a mass closing
of public schools throughout the South
next fall.
“I don’t want to say, because I hope
we won’t have any experiences like
that,” he replied. “But obviously if that
becomes widespread, something will
have to be done.”
ATTACKS SEGREGATION
At another session of the three-day
conference, Kenneth Clark of New
York’s City College charged that “un
equal and segregated education is un
realistic for the white child. By invol
ving him in a violation of democratic
principles, it can make him ethically
flabby on all moral issues.”
Eleanor Roosevelt, who also spoke at
the women’s conference, said the gov
ernment is not doing “everything in
every state that could be done” to
eliminate discrimination and denial of
civil rights. She suggested that if the
government investigated alleged dis
crimination and made the findings
public, it would “go a long way toward
getting public action” to correct the
situation.
Col. Lynn F. Woodworth, principal of
the District’s Eastern High School, told
the women’s groups that “we’ve been
living integration up to the hilt in
Washington for the past six years.” He
said “there have been tensions in only
three schools—and no violence.”
DISTRICT SCHOOLS
The director of attendance for Dis
trict public schools told Supt. Carl F.
Hansen that increasing numbers of
children are coming to Washington
from southern states to live with
friends or relatives and go to school
here.
In a memorandum to Hansen, Alice
C. Sheldon called for “stricter control
of reserving free District education for
bona fide District residents.”
She suggested that children whose
parents live elsewhere should be re
quired to have legal guardians in the
District or pay non-resident tuitions
ranging from $222 a year for elemen
tary pupils to $913 for pupils in crip
pled children’s classes.
BROYHILL BILL PASSES
Mrs. Sheldon’s proposal was in line
with a bill sponsored by Rep. Joel T.
Broyhill (R-Va), which the House
passed earlier in February. There has
been no action in the Senate.
When Broyhill introduced the bill
last year, he charged that many Negro
children were being sent to Washing
ton by their families “in order to send
them to integrated schools.” The meas
ure to stiffen tuition requirements was
opposed by the school board.
Under present law, pupils are ex
empted from tuition payments if they
are not in Washington primarily to at
tend school and if they live here with
adults who support them and exercise
control over them.
MEMO DISCLOSED
Mrs. Sheldon’s memorandum to Han
sen came to light at a School Board
committee meeting Feb. 11 when board
member Wesley S. Williams charged
that “there are many things in it that
don’t make sense to me.”
Williams said children of “serfs” and
sharecroppers are living with relatives
here, and asked:
“Should they stay down on the plan
tation and starve?”
SUIT COPIES SERVED
At a Feb. 17 board meeting, Hansen
said Mrs. Sheldon’s report had not
changed his basic opposition to the
Broyhill bill. In the course of the
meeting, the board and Hansen were
served with copies of the second suit
filed here by students protesting non
resident tuition charges.
In the suit, a 17-year-old Roosevelt
High School senior and her aunt
charged that they were unfairly billed
for tuition. Williams complained that
tighter residence standards were being
applied in anticipation of enactment
into law of the Broyhill bill.
Board President Walter N. Tobriner
said each pupil has a right to appeal
Louisiana
(Continued From Page 5)
court drop an injunction which has
prevented enforcing segregation on
streetcars and busses.
He said state laws on which the in
junction rests have been repealed by
the Legislature. Irwin told Southern
School News that the city and Public
Service had submitted his request to
their attorneys for study and the
Citizens Council would wait a “reason
able period” before making another
move.
Public transportation has been inte
grated in New Orleans since May 31,
1958, and there have been only scattered
reports of friction between the races.
VOTERS RESTORED
On Feb. 29, the U.S. Supreme Court
restored voting privileges to 1,377 Ne
groes whose names were stricken from
registration rolls of Washington Parish.
The state had appealed a lower court
decision.
At issue was the Louisiana law which
says a person can be striken from the
rolls for even a minor flaw in his regis
tration.
The appeal was from a decision of
federal court at New Orleans that the
voter registrar at Washington parish
would have to return 1,377 Negroes to
the voting rolls. They were among hun
dreds of others in the state knocked
from the rolls in Louisiana’s continuing
purge of its voters. The purge has been
directed particularly at Negroes, though
this has been denied.
Despite the purge, a state report on
voter registration showed a 6,000 in
crease among Negro voters during the
last three months. The total number of
Negroes registered is now 156,938. This
represents 15.9 per cent of the total
registration in the state.
Dr. George Iggers, Dillard University
professor, prepared a report on New
Orleans public school enrollments and
submitted it at meeting of the Frontiers
of America. His principal complaint is
that “the policy of segregation has arti
ficially created a lack of space.”
In 1959, he reported, white school ca
pacity utilization was 73 per cent and in
Negro schools it was 114 per cent.
A total of 1,687 Negroes were on
ilf-day sessions. No white children
to the school board if he is adversely
affected by a new non-resident classi
fication. But Hansen said such appeal
procedures would “overwhelm” the
board because there are 1,920 cases
now under review.
RATING PLAN APPROVED
The School Board gave its approval
Feb. 17 to a plan to put District teach
ers’ job performance under a contin
uing review and to dismiss those who
receive unsatisfactory ratings. The
plan’s major features were endorsed by
teachers’ organizations at a public
hearing Feb. 3.
Ruth B. Spencer, a School Board
member since 1956, announced Feb. 17
that she was resigning because of ill
health. One of three Negro members
on the nine-member board, Mrs. Spen
cer inaugurated her service by taking
a firm stand against the maintenance
of school records based on race.
In accordance with statute, a succes
sor will be selected by the judges of
the Federal District Court here.
BOUNDARIES ANNOUNCED
Boundaries for the new Ballou Sen
ior High School, which will open next
fall in southeast Washington, were an
nounced at a Feb. 12 press conference
by Supt. Hansen. He said students liv
ing in an optional zone, which encom
passes the Southwest redevelopment
area, will be given a choice of attend
ing either Ballou or Cardozo Senior
High in northwest Washington.
Hansen said the optional zone was
devised after conferences with city
planners and real estate developers
who “want to establish a balanced
community—not all Negro and not all
white” in the urban renewal area.
“There must be some assurance that
school opportunities will also be bal
anced,” Hansen said. “Ballou will not
be an all-white school by any means,
but it will be better balanced than
Cardozo.” When District schools made
their annual racial count last fall, Car
dozo had two white students and 1,208
Negroes. # # #
were on such half-day program, Iggers
said.
“The present New Orleans public
school plant is large enough to house
all public school children. The system
of segregation has resulted in a dis
criminatory and wasteful use of the
school plant which has resulted in extra
costs and in retarding the education of
Negro children.”
The Orleans Parish school board is
under federal court order to produce
an integration plan by May 16. The
board is still studying laws to deter
mine whether it will submit such a plan
to Judge J. Skelly Wright.
Louisiana’s growing budget for the
board of education is a recommended
239 million dollars for the coming fiscal
year—203 million of it for elementary
and high schools. The budget must be
approved by the Legislature in May.
Loyola University of Chicago, with a
Negro player from New Orleans on the
team, met Loyola University of the
South in a basketball contest in New
Orleans. It was the first inter-racial
sports meet since federal court ruled
last year against Louisiana’s ban on in
ter-racial sports contests.
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
Camille F. Gravel Jr., Louisiana na
tional Democratic committeeman, said
he now anticipates no further action
will be taken to remove him from office
before the July Democratic national
convention.
He made the statement after a meet
ing of the state Democratic Central
Committee to certify Jimmie H. Davis,
Shreveport, as the Democratic nominee
for governor. The committeeman was
voted out of the post in 1959 because of
his moderate views on segregation but
the national committee overruled the
state body and retained Gravel.
Meanwhile, Davis forces kept an eye
on the April 19 general election though
they did no campaigning. Davis’s nom
ination by the Democrats is considered
tantamount to election. But he faces
both a Republican and States Rights
candidate.
Kent Courtney, States Righter, and
Francis C. Grevemberg, Republican, are
making limited stumping appearances in
the state but Republicans say they will
increase the pace. # # #