Newspaper Page Text
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Factual
Southern
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VOL 6, NO. 10
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Objective
$2 PER YEAAPR
6 Per Cent of Negroes
In Integrated Classes
APRIL, I960
C IX PER CENT of the three mil-
^lion Negroes enrolled in the
South’s public schools are attend
ing classes with whites this school
year.
In the sixth school term since
the U.S. Supreme Court declared
school segregation unconstitution
al, 524,425 of the Negro students
are in integrated school districts.
An estimated 182,104 actually at
tend classes with whites.
The 17 southern and border states,
plus the District of Columbia, have
3,039,133 Negroes and 9,901,310 whites
enrolled.
A survey by Southern School News
found the status of segregation-desegre
gation in the region to be this way:
The District of Columbia and West
Virginia have complete integration in
their school systems. Six other states
have substantial integration, five have
partial integration and the remaining
five maintain complete segregation.
Seventy-seven per cent of the Ne
gro students are enrolled in the schools
of the states with the least desegrega
tion—the five with partial integration
and the five with complete segregation.
21 NEGRO SCHOOLS
The District of Columbia, which has a
current enrollment of 90,403 Negroes
and 27,481 whites, adopted complete
integration in 1954. The District still has
21 all-Negro schools, with an enroll
ment of 16,161. Three schools are all-
white.
All of West Virginia’s 24,010 Negro
students are in integrated school dis
tricts. An estimated 12,000 Negroes at
tend schools with whites.
The six states with substantial inte
gration are Delaware, Kentucky, Mary
land, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
southern or border state. Thirty-four
Negroes attend formerly all-white
schools in the Tar Heel state—the
lowest number of any state desegregat
ing.
The Negro enrollment figures for the
five partially integrated states are:
May Court Dates
For Dallas and Atlanta;
Houston Action Indicated
Negroes
In Inte
In
Enrolled
grated
Districts
Schools
With
Whites
Arkansas
104,205
9,750
98
Florida
192,093
25,881
512
North Carolina
302,060
43,506
34
Tennessee
146,700
13,576
169
Virginia
203,229
21,743
103
The five Deep South states with com-
plete segregation—Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi and South Caro
lina—have a total Negro enrollment of
1,391,921, representing 46 per cent of the
region’s total. Georgia has the largest
Negro enrollment of any southern or
border state: 310,753. # # #
these states:
Negroes
In Inte
In Schools
Enrolled
grated
With
Delaware
14,277
Districts
7,576
Whites
6,328
Kentucky
42,778
32,000*
12,000*
Maryland
126,678*
118,500
28,072
Missouri
82,000*
74.480*
35,000*
Oklahoma
39,405
30,000*
10,246*
Texas
279,374*
33,000*
3,300*
(* Estimated)
Several border states have discon
tinued listing students by race and the
racial statistics must be estimated.
Five states—Arkansas, Florida, Geor
gia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Vir
ginia—have a combined Negro enroll
ment of almost one million. Desegrega
tion in these states has re ulted in 916
Ne-roes entering formerly all-white
schools. (See the individual reports in
this issue for a state breakdown by dis
trict and school.)
North Carolina’s Newo enrollment of
302,030 ranks the second highest cf any
SERS Directors
Re-Elect Ahlgren;
Slate Fall Meeting
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
D irectors of Southern Edu
cation Reporting Service
re-elected board officers and
four board members at the an
nual meeting here March 27.
Frank Ahlgren, editor of the
Memphis Commercial Appeal,
will continue as board chair
man and Thomas R. Waring,
editor of the Charleston News
and Courier, Charleston, S.C.,
as vice chairman.
A special meeting will be held in
the fall to discuss future SERS
operations.
The board members re-elected at
the meeting were Waring; Edward
D. Ball, editor of the Nashville Ten
nessean; Charles Moss, executive
editor of the Nashville Banner; and
Henry I. Willett, superintendent of
schools, Richmond, Va. They will
serve for three years.
Other board members are Henry
H. Hill, president of George Pea
body College; Chancellor Harvie
Branscomb, Vanderbilt University;
Dean George N. Redd, Fisk Uni
versity; C. A. McKnight, editor, the
Charlotte Observer; Luther H. Fos
ter, president, Tuskegee Institute;
Don Shoemaker, editorial page edi
tor, the Miami Herald; and Bert
Struby, general manager, Macon
Telegraph and News, Macon, Ga.
Marvin Wall will continue as act
ing executive director of SERS.
CRC Hears
School Heads;
Widens Scope
By GARRY FULLERTON
GATLINBURG, Tenn.
T he U.S. Civil Rights Com
mission added a new dimen
sion to its work when it an
nounced at its March 20 meeting
in Gatlinburg, Tenn., that it will
probe alleged discrimination in
the fields of law enforcement and
the administration of justice.
The announcement was the
main news development at a two-
day conference on school deseg
regation problems attended by
superintendents from 10 southern
and border states.
Dr. John A. Hannah, president of
Michigan State University and chair
man of the commission, told reporters
the civil rights group has received
complaints indicating that “in some
areas justice is not administered
equally.”
He declined to name the areas, but
said a pilot study made by the commis
sion’s staff indicated that a full-fledged
investigation would be worthwhile.
Under the 1957 act that created it, the
commission is required to probe denial
of voting rights and is permitted to in
vestigate denial of rights in other areas,
provided that the discrimination is
based on race or religion and involves
governmental action of some sort.
The commission is already probing
discrimination in housing and education
as well as voting.
JOB DISCRIMINATION
Hannah said the possibility of in
vestigating job discrimination was also
discussed but no decision was reached
on that. However, the Tennessee state
advisory committee to the commission
announced it plans a study to determine
whether there is job discrimination in
Tennessee in federal government
agencies and in private companies with
federal contracts.
Both individual members of the
commission and chairmen of 17 state
(See CIVIL RIGHTS, Page 3)
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Senate Gets ‘Moderate’ Rights Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C.
T he House of Representatives
Passed and sent to the Senate
a “moderate” civil rights bill
keyed mainly to an election-ref
eree provision. Omitted was an
administration recommendation
°f federal aid to communities that
desegregate their schools.
Senate liberals hoped to
strengthen the House measure
w hen it reached the floor March
30, and southern senators planned
to resume their filibuster. But the
leadership was confident that
Congress might complete action
on a measure along the lines of
the House bill before the Easter
recess in mid-April. (See “Na
tional Affairs.”)
President Eisenhower said sit-
down strikes and demonstrations
m the South were mainly a local
problem, and called for “bi-racial
conferences in every city and
every community of the South-”
Civil rights lawyers pledged all-
out aid for the demonstrators.
(See “National Affairs.”)
Washington School Supt. Carl F.
Valley Forge, 1960
Hansen said the school system should
continue to keep racial statistics on
pupils and teachers for the time be
ing to avoid the impression of secrecy,
(See D. C., Page 2)
Advance on Political
Gettysburg—1960
Baltimore Sun
Judge Suggests Referendum;
Georgia Group Tours State
r F'WO MAJOR SOUTHERN cities with segregated school systems—
Dallas and Atlanta—received orders in March to report to federal
courts in May on their school desegregation plans.
And a third city—Houston, the nation’s largest segregated school dis
trict—had indications a federal judge would order district-wide deseg
regation unless the school board comes up with a plan by September
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap
peals at New Orleans ordered Dallas of
ficials to produce a desegregation plan
by May 21. For more than two years the
district has been under a federal court
order to desegregate “with deliberate
speed.”
The dilemma confronting Dallas is
that state law calls for withdrawal of
state aid if integration is ordered with
out voter approval. U.S. District Judge
T. Whitfield Davidson, who originally
ordered the desegregation, suggested
the district hold a referendum on inte
gration.
A special school study commission
established by the Georgia Legislature
sampled public opinion on school de
segregation in each of the state’s 10 con.
gressional districts during March. The
Sibley commission will report to the
governor and legislative leaders by May
1.
Georgians have a legal dilemma over
school desegregation since state law re
quires schools to close if ordered to de
segregate.
U.S. District Judge Frank Hooper at
Atlanta said he would wait until after
the commission’s report to decide
whether to order the Atlanta desegrega
tion plan into effect this fall. Hooper has
set a new hearing for May 9.
The attorney for the Houston school
board, Joe Reynolds, told its members
that U.S. District Judge Ben C. Con-
nally had given him the impression “the
court expects us either to come forward
with a definite plan of desegregation,
naming a definite date, or else the court
would be required to order district-wide
desegregation.” Reynolds added that the
judge indicated a September deadline.
In another development during
March, 13 Negroes applied to enroll at
the University of Alabama’s Extension
Service Center at Montgomery. One of
the students was among nine expelled
from Alabama State College (for Ne
groes) for taking part in a segregation
protest demonstration.
Other students at Alabama State who
participated in the demonstrations were
placed on probation. The Alabama
Board of Education directed the college
to fire any faculty member who en
courages student protests.
State-by-state developments during
March included:
Alabama
A series of protests begun by Negro
students reached a climax March 6 with
more than 400 law enforcement officers
having to break up what threatened to
be a dangerous race riot by some 5,000
whites and some 750 Negroes. (Page 9).
Arkansas
The Dollarway School district com
plied with a federal court order to file a
statement of affirmative policy on de
segregation. (Page 6).
Delaware
Delaware’s Board of Education ap
proved two-and-one-half million dol
lars construction for Negro schools.
(Page 11).
District of Columbia
The House-approved civil rights bill
forwarded to the Senate did not include
the administration recommendation of
federal aid to communities desegregat
ing schools. (Page 1).
Florida
Dade County officials followed a
court-approved program by notifying
parents of their rights to seek admis
sion of their children to any school,
regardless of race. (Page 16).
Georgia
The Sibley school study commission’s
hearings on school desegregation showed
that opinion on the issue is sharply di
vided in Georgia. (Page 3).
Kentucky
Acts approved by the Kentucky Legis
lature included one setting up an 11-
member State Commission on Human
Rights “to encourage fair treatment for
. . . and to discourage discrimination
against any racial group or its mem
bers.” (Page 14).
Louisiana
The Orleans Parish court of appeals
ruled that the Legislature, not school
boards, had the right to say whether
schools are segregated or integrated.
(Page 15).
Maryland
New data show that the number and
proportion of whites in Baltimore’s bi-
racial public schools have declined in
one year’s time. (Page 12).
Mississippi
Negro teachers urged the governor
and other top leaders to start a move
ment for more effective communication
between the races on problems of com
mon interest. (Page 7).
Missouri
Diverse racial and economic patterns
are believed to have helped defeat the
St. Louis Board of Education’s school
construction and fire-safety bond issue
proposals. (Page 15).
North Carolina
Gov. Luther Hodges called on officials
of state-supported colleges to help stop
the protests by Negro students against
segregation. (Page 13).
Oklahoma
The dwindling ranks of Negro high
schools in Oklahoma will lose at least
one more member with the closing of
Booker T. Washington of Enid this fall.
(Page 10).
South Carolina
Anti-segregation demonstrations by
Negro students resulted in action by the
General Assembly, the governor and
school officials. (Page 4).
Tennessee
The Chattanooga Board of Education
rejected demands for total, immediate
school desegregation, making it prac
tically certain a suit will be filed. (Page
5).
Texas
A Negro member of the Houston
school board accused it of stalling in
complying with federal court orders to
desegregate. (Page 11).
Virginia
Efforts to revive the policy of “mas
sive resistance” to integration were
narrowly defeated in the Virginia Gen
eral Assembly. (Page 8).
West Virginia
Students from Bluefield State College
picketed theaters and lunch counters to
protest racial discrimination at public
places. (Page 10).
Also in This Issue
A report on the number of Negroes
attending school with whites (Page 1),
the southwest regional meeting of the
National Assn, for the Advancement of
Colored People (Page 14), and the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights education
conference (Page 1). # # #
