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PAGE 16—APRIL I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
FLORIDA
Parents Told of Appeal Rights
Florida
Segregation -Desegregation Status
Number of districts, 67: 67 biracial; 1 desegregated.
Total state enrollment (estimated): 789,140 white; 194,431 Negro.
Enrollment of desegregated district (no longer kept racially): 155,834
Enrollment by desegregated districts and by schools:
Dade County White Negro
155,834
Orchard Villa 8 490
Homestead Air Base School 745 22
TOTALS 753 512
MIAMI, Fla.
ade County parents received
notice of their rights to seek
admission of their children to any
school in the system, regardless of
their race. This was done under a
court-approved program toward
compliance with previous court
mandates. (See “School Boards
and Schoolmen.”)
Negro college students led dem
onstrations against segregated lunch
counters. Students at both white
and Negro universities were urged to
refrain from the demonstrations.
In a special broadcast, Gov. LeRoy
Collins said Florida businesses have a
legal right to exclude Negroes but a
moral obligation to serve them. The
governor also set up a bi-racial state
advisory committee and urged all lo
cal communities to do the same. (See
“What They Say.”)
A basketball tournament game be
tween teams representing white and
Negro Catholic schools was broken up
by police in Hialeah. (See “Miscella
neous.”)
Acting under a federal court order
to allow pupils a reasonable oppor
tunity to attend the school of their
choice, the Dade County school board
announced a new plan. During the
month, letters were sent to all par
ents pointing out their right to appeal
assignments made under the state law.
“If you wish to exercise your right
of preference,” said the letter, “you
must go to the school your child is
now attending and sign a Parent
School Preference Card during the
week of April 18-22. If you do not
sign a card by April 22, the school
administration will assume your choice
is the school which normally would
be recommended for your child.”
The letter assured parents they will
have “a reasonable opportunity to ask
admission to any school for which
your child is eligible and to have the
choice fairly considered by the board.”
The numerous criteria for assignment
set up in the pupil assignment law
were noted.
Should the request for transfer be
denied, the board promised to give no
tice in writing before the opening of
the fall term.
FORM APPROVED
The form of this letter was ap
proved by District Judge Joseph P.
Lieb in a suit (Gibson et al v. Board
of Public Instruction of Dade County)
that has been in the courts over three
years. He acted under a mandate from
the Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case came up for final action
under this mandate. Judge Lieb re
jected a plan submitted by the school
board merely to notify all parents of
the terms of the assignment law.
Robert Carter, attorney for the chil
dren in the suit, objected this was not
enough. Carter insisted that the court
require a procedure that would break
up the pattern of segregation. The al
ternate plan was then submitted and
approved.
Gov. LeRoy Collins went on a state
wide radio and television network to
urge an end to demonstrations to
eliminate segregated eating facilities.
In a speech that attracted national at
tention, he said such a denial of serv
ice to one group was legally sanc
tioned but morally wrong.
“If a man has a department store
and he invites the public generally
to come in and trade, I think it is un
fair and morally wrong for him to
single out one department and say he
does not want or will not allow Ne
groes to patronize that one depart
ment,” the governor said.
“Now he has a legal right to do this
but I still don’t think he can square
it with moral, simple justice,” Collins
added.
Collins had some definite proposals:
“How are we going to work and
what are we going to do? Next week
I am going to announce the appoint
ment of a bi-racial committee for this
state. And I want local committees
formed. I appeal to those communi
ties—all communities—here and now
to establish bi-racial committees that
can take up and consider grievances
of a racial character and that can
honestly and sincerely and with a de
termined effort try to find solutions.”
Response was widespread. President
Dewey Johnson of the Florida Senate
and House Speaker Thomas D. Beas
ley said they were considering a move
for a self-convened special session of
the Legislature to tighten racial laws.
Both have been leaders in the move
for stronger segregation measures.
Under law the Legislature may con
vene itself by petition of two-thirds
of its members. There seemed little
likelihood that this proposal would de
velop sufficient support. The gover
nor’s proposals did, however, inject a
strong issue in the race for his suc
cessor, which is just getting up steam.
So far, emphasis on segregation has
been lacking, but now becomes a ma
jor point.
PLAN TO CONTINUE
Negro leaders at Tallahassee, where
the most serious demonstrations have
occurred, said they will continue their
efforts and might extend the “sit-in”
technique to fields other than lunch
counters. Leon Holt of Norfolk, Va.,
general counsel for the Congress of
Racial Equality, was in Tallahassee
working with local groups when the
governor’s address was made. Holt
said Collin’s approach was “com
mendable” but failed to go far enough.
Tallahassee white leaders were un
impressed. Mayor George S. Taff said
Collins provided no answers and that
little would be accomplished by bi-
racial committees. Spencer Burress,
president of the Chamber of Com
merce, said his organization had
previously rejected such a plan as use
less.
In Tampa Mayor Julian Lane said
he would take no action.
The city already has a bi-racial
committee on racial matters.
In Miami, Mayor Robert King ap
proved Collin’s proposal for a bi-racial
advisory committee. He called a meet
ing of leading white and Negro citi
zens for a preliminary discussion and
said planning would proceed. Two of
the four city commissioners also ap
proved heartily.
PICKS COMMITTEE
Carrying out his intention to name
a statewide committee, Collins picked
Cody Fowler of Tampa as chairman.
Fowler, past president of the American
Bar Assn., already heads a similar
group in Tampa. He said a better
spirit has been created in Tampa by
its work.
“The direct method of contacting
leaders of both races at least provides
a forum for airing their views, if
nothing more,” he said. “We feel this
has been very helpful.”
The latest series of demonstrations
began at Tallahassee, where on five
successive Saturdays Negroes sought
service in downtown stores. But it was
at Tampa that the demonstrations
reached their largest size. Several
hundred Negroes paraded the down
town streets in support of smaller
demonstration groups.
In Tallahassee, however, the situa
tion reached serious proportions. State
troopers on one occasion broke up a
march of Florida A&M University stu
dents in downtown Tallahassee, using
tear gas to disperse the group.
This was a climax to previous dem
onstrations. Gov. Collins summoned
university officials to a conference. He
told the executive secretary of the
Board of Control, which administers
the university system, to notify Dr.
George Gore, FAMU president, to con
fine students on the campus as ef
fectively as possible. Collins also said
he expected local police to disperse
promptly other student groups, which
“had become extremely agitated.”
“Other ways must be found for the
airing of grievances and the resolving
of racial antagonisms,” he said.
Earlier that day, white and Negro
by-standers watched while a group of
Negro students sought service at the
F. W. Woolworth store. Threats and
insults were exchanged. Police ar
rested 29 demonstrators. Among them
were white students from Florida State
University who sat with the Negroes.
Still earlier, 11 FAMU students had
been arrested on charges of disturbing
the peace.
The application of Alan Breitler,
white student at Florida State Uni
versity, to attend the all-Negro Flor
ida A&M University was not con
sidered by the Board of Control at its
March meeting, as scheduled.
Dr. J. Broward Culpepper, execu
tive secretary, said other urgent busi
ness prevented consideration. There is
no urgency about the matter, he said,
since the courses Breitler wants to
take will not be available until Sep
tember.
Semi-finals in a Catholic junior high
school basketball tournament were
disrupted in a public park at Hialeah,
in Dade County, by police. One of the
teams was composed of Negroes.
The Negro boys represented the
Holy Redeemer Church in Liberty
City, a Negro residential area in Mi
ami. They had played their way into
the final eliminations and were meet
ing a white team representing the St.
Rose of Lima church school.
Father Robert de Grandis, assistant
pastor of the Holy Redeemer Church,
said a police sergeant and Hialeah’s
Mayor Henry Milander arrived in a
police car during the game’s progress
and were met by Police Chief Her
bert U. Warner.
“The next thing I knew, the super
intendent of the park took the ball
and said the game couldn’t continue,”
said Father de Grandis.
There was no interference with the
other semi-final game between two
white teams.
NORMAL DUTIES
James Goodlet, city clerk, said he
ordered the entire park shut down be
cause adequate supervisory personnel
was not available. He denied summon
ing police.
“If the police were there it was in
the normal pursuit of their duties,” he
said. “The city was liable for what
goes on in the park whether it is su
pervised or not.”
Chief Warner was quoted by Fa
ther de Grandis as saying he was
“afraid some hothead would start
something.”
The Voice, weekly newspaper of the
Miami Catholic diocese, called the ac
tion “wholly unjustified and unwar
ranted. Thousands of spectators have
seen interracial sports contests here
in the past. These brought neither
storms of public indignation nor police
action. Why single out mere school
boys now?” # # #
NAACP Meeting
(Continued From Page 14)
liberals are much use any more to the
Negro cause.”
Mrs. Daisy Bates, Arkansas state
NAACP leader, was quoted as saying:
“The time has passed when we need
white men to speak for us.”
Kenneth F. Holbert, a Dallas lawyer,
said that Negroes should use their vot
ing rights to obtain faster integration
of schools. He mentioned lawsuits at
Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and Gal
veston as failing to produce integration
despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s opin
ions.
Several speakers issued calls to ac
tion. Adult Negroes were exhorted to
assist younger ones in combatting seg
regated practices.
“You have to be willing to die for
these young people,” the Rev. S. J.
Sykes of Oklahoma City was quoted
as saying. “If you want democracy in
America today, somebody’s got to die
for it. Here’s one.”
“Here’s two!” replied the audience.
WEARY OF ‘RUN-AROUND’
Roy Wilkins said NAACP is “weary
of the run-around” he claims it is re
ceiving in school desegregation in
Texas.
“It’s coming, just as sure as God
made little apples,” said Wilkins. “Seg
regation is inevitable, and it might as
well happen in 1960 as in ’61, ’62 or
’63.
Wilkins specifically criticized the
Dallas school board for failing to order
desegregation.
New Orleans was selected over Al
buquerque for the 1961 regional
NAACP meeting, a victory for mem
bers who wanted to meet in the segre
gated South rather than a western city
without racial bars.
RUSSELL CRITICIZED
U.S. Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia,
leader of the civil rights bill filibuster,
drew criticism here from Clarence A.
Laws, field secretary of NAACP at Dal
las. Laws termed it untrue that res
taurant sit-downs were inspired by
non-southerners.
Meanwhile, a Houston NAACP meet
ing was told by a Negro educator to
avoid bitterness.
“American free enterprise cannot
succeed in confusion and unrest,” said
Dr. Fred Patterson, former president
of Tuskegee Institute and now head
of the United Negro College Fund.
^* or God s sake don’t have any bit
terness against any race. It’s just as
wrong for us as Negroes to be mad at
all white people as it is for all whites
to be mad at us.”
# # #
Texas
(Continued From Page 11)
not my aim in announcing for the
board,” said Mrs. Groce.
The teachers’ pay-raise question
continued lively in state political races.
Gov. Daniel said he would not call a
special session on the matter before
the May 7 Democratic primary but
would make a pay increase one of his
main objectives for the near future.
Alvin A. Burger, director of the
Texas Research League, said 75 million
to 100 million dollars a year new rev
enue will be required for the state
government in 1961-1962. This did not
include higher pay for teachers, but
would provide for increased enroll
ment, which will mean an estimated
$15,400,000 increase for next year over
the current year.
Liberal Democrats failed in an effort
to have party members vote March 7
on proposed repeal of the poll tax.
This qualification for voting is a sub
stantial supporter of public schools,
since each poll tax payer pays $1 to
that purpose, along with 75 cents for
other purposes.
Tennessee
(Continued From Page 5)
Vanderbilt for dismissing Lawson and
praised the students and faculty mem
bers who had upheld him.
• Yale added its name to the list
of institutions that have offered Lawson
scholarship aid. Others included Chi
cago and McCormack Theological
seminaries, Chicago; Iliff School of The
ology, Denver, Colo., and the Pacific
School of Religion, Berkeley, Calif. In
addition, the Presbyterian Board of
Christian Education (Presbyterian
Louisiana
(Continued From Page 15)
gation, Economy, Responsibility.” It
was a rewording of the campaign slo-
govemor, William M. Rainach, which
read “Segregation, Economy, Responsi-
gan of a segregationist candidate for
bility.” Rainach was a first primary
loser in December.
The protest came two days after
Rainach declared in a speech at Alex
andria that classes were being con
ducted at Dillard and Xavier universi
ties to teach students how to march on
segregated lunch counters.
“I don’t have the information that
the schools themselves are conducting
the classes, but they (the classes) are
being conducted out there,” Rainach
said.
The protest did not spread to Xavier
University, a Catholic Negro institu
tion also at New Orleans.
Four white youths, ages 17 to 20,
were arrested and booked with dis
turbing the peace after they burned a
cross in front of Dillard and posted
signs which read “There Will be No
Integration—The White Youth Speaks,”
and “NAACP, Integration Is Com
munism, USSR.”
PASS ORDINANCE
The city council of New Orleans
passed an ordinance to block Negro
demonstrations at lunch counters.
The ordinance supplements the city’s
criminal trespass law. A person vio
lates the new section if he fails or re
fuses “to vacate the premises of any
privately owned business or establish
ment when requested to do so by the
proprietor or his agent.”
Leander H. Perez, district attorney
of St. Bernard and Plaquemines par
ishes and a state segregation leader,
identified Negro student leader Kin-
chen as participant in the Com
munist-sponsored Youth Festival in
Vienna last summer.
Kinchen said he went with other
“loyal Americans” to counteract Com
munist propaganda and to let people
of the world see “both sides of the
picture.”
The State Board of Education, meet
ing behind closed doors, pledged to
back “to the limit” the presidents of
state colleges who take firm measures
in dealing with any incidents in their
schools.
Negro students of Southern Univer
sity at Baton Rouge staged a sit-down
at a Kress store March 28 and were ar
rested by city police. After being jailed
on charges of disturbing the peace, they
were released on $1,500 bond. It was the
state’s first lunch counter demonstra
tion.
Louisiana’s general election is sched
uled April 19 but the Democratic can
didate, Jimmie H. Davis, has done lit
tle campaigning against a States-
Rights and a Republican opponent.
Kent Courtney, New Orleans pub
lisher and nominee of the States-
Righters, charged that Davis is in the
clutches of northern Democrats and
that segregationists have lost their
grip on the Democratic nominee.
Republican candidate Francis C.
Grevemberg, Baton Rouge, continued
his efforts to convince Democratic
Louisiana that it needs a two-party
system.
BIGGEST BLOC
Gov. Ross Barnett of Mississippi,
speaking at a Citizens Council rally in
New Orleans, said that the South
would represent the biggest minority
bloc if it is united and could with
hold its 128 electoral votes from any
candidate for the presidency “not ac
ceptable to the South.
“A united South, by withholding its
electoral votes, could prevent any
candidate from getting a majority of
the electoral college, and thereby
throw the election into the House of
Representatives, where every state has
just one vote,” Barnett said.
“This, of course, could result in the
election of a southern compromise
candidate to the presidency,” he said.
# # #
Church, USA) has offered to pay half
Lawson’s moving expenses, should he
decide to accept one of the scholarship
offers.
At the end of the month, Lawson had
not made up his mind but said he would
like to remain in Nashville. Meanwhile,
the Vanderbilt board of trust said it will
discuss the action of its executive com
mittee at its regular spring meeting in
a y- # # t?