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PAGE 6—APRIL I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Files Desegregation Policies; Faubus to Run
Arkansas
Segregation -Desegregation Status
Number of districts, 422: 228 biracial; 9 desegregated.
Total state enrollment: 315,806 white; 104,205 Negro.
Enrollment of desegregated districts: 50,272 white; 9,750 Negro.
Enrollment of 14 desegregated schools: 8,092
white; 98
Negro.
Enrollment by desegregated districts and by schools:
White
Bentonville
1,440 white, 2 Negro
Wing Elem. & Jr. High 730
Negro
2
Van Buren
2,410 white, 67 Negro
Van Buren Sr. High
603
9
Van Buren Jr. High
434
14
Fort Smith
9,653 white, 1,049 Negro
DuVal Elem. School
244
4
Little Rock
13,949 white, 5,366 Negro
Central High
1,510
5
Hall High
730
3
Pulaski County (Rural)
12,780 white, 2,251 Negro
Little Rock AFB Elem.
828
10
Charleston
600 white, 8 Negro
Elem., Jr. and Sr. high
600
8
Hot Springs
5,058 white, 901 Negro
Adult class in mechanics
8
4
Fayetteville
3,441 white, 98 Negro
Fayetteville Jr. High
612
21
Fayetteville Sr. High
925
10
Hoxie
941 white, 8 Negro
Hoxie Elem.
397
4
Hoxie Sr. High (Grades 7-12)
371
4
TOTALS
8,092
98
ARKANSAS
Dollarway
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
he Dollarway School Board
filed a statement of affirmative
policy on desegregation, as re
quired by a federal judge. It ap
parently means that the board will
allow desegregation to begin only
in the first grade. (See “Legal Ac
tion.”)
During a two-day hearing on the
Little Rock School Board’s use of
the state pupil assignment law,
school officials testified that the
Negroes are “isolated” and
“shunned” by the white students.
(See “Legal Action.”)
Gov. Orval E. Faubus, who
swept to an overwhelming third-
term victory two years ago
on the strength of his resistance
to school desegregation at Little
Rock, announced as a candidate
for a fourth term as governor.
(See “Political Activity.”)
The Arkansas Methodist Stu
dent Movement called for Hen
drix College, a Methodist school
for white students, at Conway, to
eliminate all racial barriers. (See
“Community Action.”)
The Arkansas Education Assn, has a
lot of doubts about the wisdom of a
constitutional amendment, proposed by
Gov. Faubus, to be voted on in Novem
ber. It would give school districts a way
to disband their school systems to avoid
desegregation. (See “School Boards
and Schoolmen.”)
Negro students at Philander Smith
College at Little Rock began staging
lunch counter sit-downs in downtown
stores. Five of them were arrested and
fined. (See “Miscellaneous.”)
Gov Orval E. Faubus, 50, filed Mar.
16 for nomination as a candidate for a
fourth term as governor. He is the sec
ond governor in the history of the state
to serve three terms and is the first in
history to try for a fourth.
The fourth-term try does not scare
him. He said he had already gone over
two hurdles bigger than that one—the
first in 1954 when he was elected over
a governor who was trying for the al
most-automatic second term, and the
second in 1958 when he won his almost-
unprecedented third term. Besides he
had had a public opinion poll made and
it showed, he said, that his voting
strength was just as strong or stronger
than it was two years ago when he
smashed two opponents and carried all
75 counties. He was smiling and happy
as he made the announcement.
He already has one opponent, state
Atty. Gen. Bruce Bennett, and there is
talk that one or two others may get
into the race.
NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT
Three days later the States Rights
Party held a convention at Dayton,
Ohio, and nominated Faubus and Adm.
John G. Crommelin of Alabama for
president and vice president respec
tively.
Up to that time the governor had
avoided committing himself on whether
he was available for a third party
movement.
In announcing for a fourth term he
had said that that should discourage
those who had been booming him for
president, but he was referring to the
Democratic nomination then for he
went on to say, “It should be evident
that I’ve never given any serious con
sideration whatsoever to being a candi
date for president. . . The machinery at
the Democratic convention will be so
well-controlled that a person like my
self will have only a look-in.”
A few days later he cancelled an ap
pointment to speak on April 1 at a Fau
bus for President rally at Los Angeles,
Calif. He said the television stations out
there had refused to sell time to his
sponsors for Faubus. Also, the Los An
geles Examiner, digging into the back
ground of the Faubus sponsors out
there, was trying to show they were
linked with Gerald L. K. Smith. Faubus
called this just a smear of “guilty by
association.”
Late in February it became known
that John F. Wells of Little Rock had
asked Rep. Dale Alford of Little Rock
(D-Ark) whether he was going to run
'or renomination this year. If so, the
letter said, Wells would contest Alford’s
right to rim in the Democratic primar
ies on the ground that Alford had dis
qualified himself in 1958 by running
against the party nominee, Brooks
Hays.
Alford did not bother to answer
Wells’ letter but Wells got an answer of
another kind within a week. The Dem
ocratic State Committee was called to
gether and adopted a resolution that
expressly forgave Alford and any Dem
ocrat who voted for him in the general
election of 1958, restoring them all to
the good graces of the party. There were
only a few protests in the committee.
“You have to be practical,” said one
of the party stalwarts. “The ins make
the rules and the outs complain.”
Alford won the 1958 congressional
race by running as a staunch segrega
tionist against Hays’ position of mod
eration.
During the civil rights debate in
Congress, Alford fired off a letter to
U.S. Atty. Gen. William P. Rogers, tak
ing Rogers to task for constantly refer
ring to Little Rock in his appeals for
civil rights legislation.
The Arkansas Methodist Student
Movement has called for an end to ra
cial segregation at Hendrix College at
Conway and a more complete accep
tance of it at Philander Smith College
at Little Rock and in the state-support
ed colleges. The resolution was adopted
at a meeting of the Student Movement
in February but not made public until
March 9.
Hendrix and Philander Smith are
owned by the Methodist Church. Hen
drix is for white students. Philander
Smith is for Negro students but has had
white students from time to time and
has had white members on its faculty.
A statement issued with the resolu
tion said that it was adopted unanimous
ly. Dr. A. W. Martin, director of the
Wesley Foundation at the University of
Arkansas, Fayetteville, said that about
150 students attended the meeting, rep
resenting all the state-supported col
leges, plus Hendrix and Philander
Smith.
The resolution said the students were
“firmly convinced that all people, re
gardless of race, color or creed, are
equal in the sight of God and, therefore,
are brothers.” It said that as Methodists
they were “acutely aware that our ac
tions and practices, both individual and
group, concerning racial matters fre
quently contradict directly our publicly
announced policies and doctrines.”
It noted that there was “partial and
incomplete acceptance of equality in
our state schools” and that the boards
of the colleges had “considered serious
ly the problems involved in removing
these racial barriers.” It urged the Hen
drix Board to “take definite steps re
moving all racial barriers, lest the
Church be the last institution to grant
equal rights to all of the children of
God.”
URGE STRONG BILL
At the annual meeting of the Arkan
sas Christian Movement, resolutions
were adopted calling for Congress to
adopt a strong civil rights bill and for
Negroes to vote in this summer’s Dem
ocratic primaries.
The Movement is an organizaion of
Negro ministers, formed in 1957 to car
ry on a lawsuit against the four segre
gation laws adopted by the Legislature
that year. Through this lawsuit the ef
fectiveness of the State Sovereignty
Commission was reduced to virtually
nothing. Rev. Roland Smith of Little
Rock, president, said the Movement
had no further litigation in mind.
Some of the doubts that the organ
ized school forces have about a pro
posed amendment to the Arkansas con
stitution were expressed by Forrest
Rozzell, executive secretary of the Ar
kansas Education Assn, in a speech to
the Women’s Emergency Committee for
Public Schools, at Little Rock.
Proposed Amendment 52 is part of
the package offered by Gov. Faubus
and approved by the 1959 Legislature.
It is designed to give a school district
when threatened with court-ordered
desegregation the opportunity by local
option election to disband its public
school system and to distribute school
money equally among all pupils in the
district.
Rozzell said the proposed amendment
had implications for school people that
went far beyond the desegregation is
sue. In his speech he put his doubts
about the proposal in the form of
questions about it. Some of them fol
low:
What would it do to the present con
stitutional guarantee that “the state
shall ever maintain a general, suitable
and efficient system of free schools?”
Since the proposal would have school
money distributed among all students
in the districts—apparently taking in
parochial school students—would this
violate the federal constitutional doc
trine of church-state separation? What
would become of the existing public
schools and equipment? What would
happen to teacher contracts? What
would happen to teacher retirement
systems: If teachers are paid under
their contracts and since most school
districts spend about 70 per cent of
their budgets on teacher pay, where
would the money come from to pay
the students? Since this amendment
would allow other amendments to be
voted on at special elections any time,
instead of only at general elections bi
ennially as now, would this diminish
constitutional stability and rational"
changes in the constitution?
Other questions dealt with taxes,
bonds and interest rates.
The Board of Trustees of Arkansas
AM&N College (for Negroes) at Pine
Bluff met with the Legislative Council
in March and asked that the Legislature
make a decision on whether the college
is to have exclusive responsibility for
Negro undergraduate work.
The board recommended that the col
lege be furnished enough money to
offer a complete university-type selec
tion of undergraduate courses. Other
wise, it said, it will have to operate as
just another state-supported college.
Behind this is the theory that if AM&N
offers everything, there will be fewer
Negro applications for admission to the
white colleges and the University.
WON’T SEEK FUNDS
Meeting without notice to the press
or public, the Little Rock School Board
decided by a vote of 4 to 2 not to file
suit to try and recover any of the $187,-
768 of Little Rock’s state aid given by
the state to other schools during 1958-
59 when the four Little Rock high
schools were closed. The board had
asked its attorneys for advice.
Everett Tucker Jr., board president,
said the attorneys had found that the
board probably had a legal claim to the
money but that the weight of their
recommendations was “negative.”
The schools were closed by Gov.
Faubus and the money was withheld
and paid to other schools under Acts 4
and 5 of 1958, both of which had been
held unconstitutional by the federal
courts. Of the amount paid to other
schools, $71,907.50 went to the Little
Rock Private School Corp., a fact that
had its effect on the board’s decision.
Tucker said the board felt that it might
work a hardship on the 124 public
school districts that received money, if
they were sued, and that it might be in
consistent if the board sued only the
Private School Corp.
FIRST PAYMENT
The State Board of Education ap
proved a payment of $5,000 to the Dol
larway School District to cover some
of the legal expenses of defending itself
against a desegregation lawsuit. Dollar
way had made the request in June 1959.
This is the first payment made out of
$100,000 appropriated by Act 358 of
1959 to help school districts resist de
segregation suits.
Five of the nine board members were
present and they all voted for the mo
tion made by Chairman Marvin E. Bird
of Earle.
“I think this is of direct concern not
only to Dollarway but to Earle, Forrest
City and other school districts,” Bird
said. “It concerns all of us who are
concerned with integration”
Dollarway is represented by the firm'
of Mehaffy Smith & Williams of Little
Rock.
There were anonymous bomb threats
at Little Rock Catholic High on March
10 and at Little Rock Central High on
March 16. No bomb was found in either
case.
About 50 young Negroes entered the
F. W. Woolworth Co. store in downtown
Litte Rock about 11:30 am. March 10,
and about 23 of them obtained seats at
the lunch counter which serves food to
white people only. While they sat there
without receiving service, the assistant
manager of the store went to the tele
phone and called the district Woolworth
office at St. Louis and received instruc
tions to close the food counter but not 1
to order the Negroes to leave.
While the call was going through,
some unidentified person called the
police, and a throng of officers headed
by Police Chief Eugene G. Smith
quickly arrived. Smith spoke to the as
sistant manager, J. L. Bailey, and Bailey
ordered the counter closed. Smith and
other officers then walked along the
counter which has seats for 59 persons
and told the Negroes that it was closed
and asked them to leave.
All but five got up and left. Those
five were arrested, on charges of loiter
ing, under a city ordinance, and were
released under bonds of $100 each,
posted by the National Assn, for the
Advancement of Colored People. After
they were released, Chief Smith called
the offices of both the prosecuting at
torney in the courthouse and the state
attorney general in the capitol, then
charged them with violating two state
laws, Act 17 of 1958 and Act 226 of
1959.
These are two of four state laws
adopted in 1958 and 1959, all sponsored
by Atty. Gen. Bennett and inspired by
the Negro sit-downs in Oklahoma in
the summer of 1958. The bills were de
signed to cope with attempts by Ne
groes to gain service usually reserved
for whites in stores. Acts 17 and 226 are
phrased in general terms which make a
crime of any conduct that breaches or
threatens to breach the public peace.
The other two laws, Acts 14 and 169 of
1959, cover the same situation but under
them the crime is for the Negroes to
refuse to leave a store when the mana
ger or owner asks them to.
POST BONDS
In Municipal Court next morning,
the defendants posted additional bonds
of $500 each on each of two new
charges. They were identified as stu
dents at Philander Smith College.
They said the demonstration had de
veloped spontaneously among students
at the college, after reading about sit-
downs at other places in the South, and
that they finally decided to go through
with it only the morning of the sit-
down. They said that before leaving
their dormitory, they telephoned Mrs.
L. C. Bates of Little Rock, state presi
dent of the NAACP, and told her of
their plans. When they were taken to
headquarters after their arrest, L. C.
Bates, field secretary for the NAACP,
and a Negro bondsman were waiting,
to bail them out.
A week later the five students were
tried in Municipal Court and convicted
of violating Act 226. Judge Quinn Glo
ver, after dismissing the other two
charges for fear of possible double
jeopardy, fined them $250 each and sen
tenced them to 30 days in jail each.
They served notice of appeal.
TOOK SEATS
Leaving the courtroom about 25 to
40 young Negroes, including some girls
this time and apparently all students,
marched to Main Street half a mile
away and in succession took seats at five
lunch counters. All the stores closed
their counters; none of them asked the
Negroes to leave. As the police swarmed
along the street, the Negroes left. There
was no trouble and no arrests.
Reactions to the sit-downs included
the following:
The NAACP at a membership rally
volunteered to support the Negro stu
dents and to help finance an effort to
test the validity of the anti-sitdown
laws.
Amis Guthridge, counsel for the Cap
ital Citizens Council, charged that Mrs.
Bates was directing the demonstrations
and demanded that she be charged and
arrested.
The Board of Trustees of Philander
Smith College said that it neither ap
proved nor disapproved the students’
action, remembering that the students
were entitled to express their opinions
“so long as they act within the frame
work of the law.”
Gov. Faubus said Little Rock was in
consistent by accepting integration in
its schools but rejecting it in the Main
Street stores.
At East Lansing, Mich., Ernest Green,
the first and only Negro graduate of
Little Rock Central High, now a stu
dent at Michigan State University, led
a protest line in front of the S. S. Kresge
store. The East Lansing store serves
Negroes at its lunch counter but south
ern Kresge stores do not.
CHIEF SHOOTS SELF
Little Rock Police Chief Eugene G.
Smith, 47, famous since last Aug. 12
when police and firemen under his com
mand broke up a segregationist march
on Central High School, shot his wife
to death, then killed himself the night
of March 18 at their home.
No note was left and the motive was
not known.
Smith received much praise for his
handling of the situation at Central
High last August but segregationists
hated and reviled him and never let
up in their condemnation of him. Smith
as assistant chief then, had been in
(See ARKANSAS, Page 7)