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PAGE 8—APRIL I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
VIRGINIA
New ‘Massive Resistance’ Proposal Narrowly Defeated
Virginia
Segregation -Desegregation Status
Number of districts, 129: 128 biracial; 6 desegregated.
Total state enrollment: 617,349 white; 203,229 Negro.
Enrollment of desegregated districts: 74,606 white; 21,735 Negro.
Enrollment of 19 desegregated schools: 21,383 white; 103 Negro.
Enrollment by desegregated districts and by schools:
White
Negro
Alexandria
11,466 white, 1,879 Negro
Hammond High
1,827
3
Wm. Ramsay Elem.
592
6
Theo. Ficklin Elem.
244
2
Minnie Howard Elem.
500
5
Arlington County
21,696 white, 1,756 Negro
Washington-Lee High
2,489
4
Stratford Jr. High
1,047
17
Patrick Henry Elem.
640
2
Charlottesville
3,053 white, 1,180 Negro
Lane High
750
3
Venable Elem.
450
8
Floyd County
2,314 white, 118 Negro
Floyd High
355
9
Check High
201
4
Norfolk
33,517 white, 16,509 Negro
Norview High
2,151
7
Granby High
2,361
1
Maury High
2,206
3
Norview Jr. High
1,604
5
Blair Jr. High
1,263
2
Northside Jr. High
1,559
1
Suburban Park Elem.
727
2
Warren County
2,560 white 293 Negro
Warren Co. High
417
19
TOTALS
21,383
103
RICHMOND, Va.
fforts to revive the policy of
“massive resistance” to inte
gration were narrowly defeated in
the Virginia General Assembly.
(See “Legislative Action.”)
The 35-year-old Byrd organiza
tion split during the legislative
session in a fight over Gov. Lind
say Almond’s fiscal recommenda
tions. Those who fought the gov
ernor this time were substantially
the same group who opposed his
“freedom of choice” school pro
gram last year. (See “Political Ac
tivity.”)
The General Assembly adopted laws
to facilitate the operation of private
schools and it called for a federal con
stitutional amendment to give states full
authority over public schools. But the
Assembly defeated by a two-vote mar
gin an effort to resurrect the policy of
“massive resistance.”
The crucial vote was on a bill intro
duced by Del. James M. Thomson of
Alexandria. Here is the background:
When the General Assembly met in
special session last summer to consider
the segregation crisis, Gov. Almond told
the legislators that there was no way to
maintain total segregation except by
closing the public schools, which he said
the people of Virginia did not want to
do.
He recommended a local option plan,
which, among other things, would allow
localities to take themselves out from
under the control of the State Pupil
Placement Board and to set up their
local placement boards if they so de
sired.
OPPONENTS DELAY
That recommendation passed the
House of Delegates last year 53 to 46
and got through the Senate without a
vote to spare—20 to 19. Opponents were
strong enough to delay the effective
date of the law until March 1,1960, hop
ing that the General Assembly, which
would then be in session, might reverse
last year’s vote. (See Southern School
News, May 1959).
The Thomson bill represented the ef
fort to reverse the earlier vote. It would
have delayed the law’s effective date
for two years.
The measure squeaked through the
House 50 to 49, and it came out of a
Senate committee 10 to 6. But it was
killed on the Senate floor.
Democrats in the Senate split 19 to 19
on the bill. The two Republicans in the
Senate held the balance of power and
they voted against it.
Some observers took the view that
passage or defeat of the bill actually
was not of great practical importance,
since integration has occurred by fed
eral court order in six Virginia localities
—and presumably would occur in the
future in other localities—despite the
State Pupil Placement Board’s attempt
to maintain total segregation. These ob
servers viewed the fight over the bill as
primarily a test of political power (See
“Political Activity”) and as primarily
involving a symbolic expression of state
policy.
LOCAL BASIS
In any event, localities that don’t like
the state board’s rigid segregation stand
now may get out from under the con
trol of that body and assign pupils on a
local basis, even in the absence of court
integration orders.
However, because of the time required
to get a local assignment plan in opera
tion, it appeared that no localities would
be likely to have such a plan ready in
time to handle assignments for the 1960-
61 school year. Apparently the state
board will continue in full control (sub
ject to by-passing by federal courts) for
another school year.
OTHER ACTIONS
Other actions by the Assembly in
cluded:
• Adoption of a bill authorizing local
governing bodies to appropriate money
to private school groups “for educational
purposes.”
• Adoption of a bill authorizing lo
calities to permit taxpayers to deduct
contributions to nonsectarian private
schools from real estate and personal
property tax levies, with a maximum
OPPOSE TAX
State Sens. Godwin and Byrd
deduction of 25 per cent of the tax due.
• Adoption of a revised system for al
locating state funds as tuition grants for
children attending schools other than
the ones to which they normally would
be assigned. Under the new law the
state will put up $125 for eligible ele
mentary pupils and $150 for eligible high
school pupils. For most localities, the
new system means more state money
than under the old formula, which va
ried from locality to locality.
• Amending the “blank paper” voter
registration law, which precipitated
such a fight in the 1958 session of the
Assembly. (See Southern School News,
March 1958.)
This law, as enacted two years ago
for the purpose of making it difficult
for Negroes to register, provided that
would-be registrants would simply be
handed a blank sheet of paper and that
they would have to write down in prop
er order all the information required by
law. However, the law boomeranged in
that Negro organizations instructed Ne
groes in how to provide the information,
while many whites found the law a bar
to registering. As amended in the recent
session, local registrars may now pro
vide forms with printed questions to be
answered by applicants, although lo
calities may continue using the blank
paper system if they wish.
• Allocation of funds for a $350 pay
raise for teachers—$150 next year and
$200 additional the following year.
• Adoption of a resolution asking
Congress to call a convention to consid
er a constitutional amendment that
would spell out the right of states to
control their public school systems.
• Killing of a resolution seeking to
nullify the Supreme Court’s desegre
gation decision of 1954. The measure
was approved by the House 49 to 46 but
died in a Senate committee.
• Killing of a bill under which the
General Assembly itself would have
taken over pupil assigning for the en
tire state.
• Killing of a bill which would have
created a state interracial commission.
Democratic legislators who normally
stand side-by-side as members of the
unofficial political organization headed
by U.S. Sen. Harry Byrd, broke into
two sharply opposing camps in a fight
over Gov. Almond’s fiscal program dur
ing the recent Assembly session.
Prominent in the anti-Almond faction
was State Sen. Harry Byrd Jr., of Win
chester.
The governor said that “the composi
tion of the vote and the leadership
shows a direct correlation between the
revenue fight and the school issue.”
The anti-Almond group succeeded in
killing the governor’s recommendation
for a general sales tax, but they failed
in an effort to reduce the size of his
recommended budget.
The governor charged that the oppo
sition to his program was led by State
Sen. Byrd, Sen. Mills E. Godwin Jr. of
Suffolk, and Speaker of the House E.
Blackburn Moore.
He said that this faction had “ruth
lessly trampled upon the rights of the
people” and that they had tried “a po
litical power thrust” which failed.
BYRD ANSWERS
In answer, State Sen. Byrd said, in
part:
“The governor seems to think that
legislators are elected to take orders
from him. As I see it, my duty as a
senator is to study carefully the pro
posals submitted to the Legislature and
then to vote my convictions. I have an
obligation to those whom I represent.
Those who elected me to the Senate
were overwhelmingly opposed to the
Almond general sales tax and so indi
cated to me. This was also my individual
judgment.”
Sen. Godwin said that judging from
the Almond comments, “it is apparent
the governor dislikes for anyone to dis
agree with him.” He said he had “no
apology to offer for my part in defeating
his (Almond’s) sales tax proposals.”
The governor also issued a charge—
later retracted—that the resignation of
the three members of the State Pupil
Placement Board (See Southern School
News, March 1960) was timed to influ
ence legislators to vote for Del. James
M. Thomson’s bill to delay the effective
date of the law permitting localities to
withdraw from under the board’s con
trol.
He said that Thomson admitted dur
ing the debate in the House that no as
signment board could overrule a federal
court order. He added that when he
(Almond) made a similar admission be
fore the General Assembly last year he
was called a “traitor.”
DELAY RESIGNATIONS
A week after making the charge con
cerning the Placement Board resigna
tions, Gov. Almond met with the three
members and then announced that all
three had agreed to remain in their
posts until June 1, at which time the
resignations would be accepted.
He also issued a statement saying, in
part:
“I was in error in ascribing any mo
tive to the board other than a desire on
the part of each and every member to
be relieved of the heavy duties and re
sponsibilities which have been incum
bent upon them.”
The board, meanwhile, continued
making pupil assignments, all of them
on a segregated basis.
Virginia Negroes stepped up their
campaigns for desegregation of various
types of facilities, with these results:
PETERSBURG
Petersburg Negroes directed their ma
jor efforts at desegregating the city’s
public library.
The library was given to the city in
1923 by Mrs. Clara J. McKenney. The
deed stipulated that the basement was
to be used exclusively by Negroes and
the first and second floors by whites,
and that the property would revert to
the donor or her heirs if this arrange
ment were not followed.
The library was closed for the first
three days of March after 140 students
from Virginia State College and Pea
body High School demonstrated there
for desegregation.
During the period when the library
was closed, City Council rejected the
students’ request for desegregation and
then adopted an ordinance prohibiting
trespassing on city-owned or adminis
tered property.
On March 7, 11 Negroes attempted to
use sections of the library reserved for
whites and were arrested under the new
ordinance.
On March 15 they were found guilty
in Municipal Court. Two clergymen and
a student received fines and jail sen
tences and the other eight received fines
only. All were released on bond pend
ing hearing of their cases on appeal in
April.
SUFFOLK
The Woolworth store in Suffolk be
came the first store in the state to de
segregate its lunch counter in the wake
of Negro demonstrations.
The counter was open to persons of
both races after the seats hdd been re
moved.
WITHOUT SCHOOLS
About 600 Negro teachers of the fourth
district of the Virginia Teachers Asso
ciation, meeting in Petersburg, called
upon the federal government “to pro
vide adequate education for all chil
dren” in Prince Edward County. Negro
pupils in the county are currently with
out schools.
Four of the projected 10 training cen
ters for Negro children in Prince Ed
ward County were in operation by the
end of March. Negro leaders said they
expected additional centers to open
soon.
Most Negro children in Prince Ed
ward have been receiving no formal
education this school year, as the coun
ty’s public school system was aban
doned by the Board of Supervisors last
year to avoid integration. The training
centers provide instruction in certain
basic academic subjects, along with
recreation, but they are not intended
to serve as schools, Negro leaders ex
plain.
Two top administrators of Charlottes
ville’s segregated private school system
were fired March 26. Both men had re
signed earlier, effective Aug. 31, because
of dissatisfaction with proposed changes
in the program next year.
Dismissed were Arthur D. Barfield,
Jr., education director for the Char
lottesville Educational Foundation, and
Arthur L. Ribble, director of instruction
at the Rock Hill Academy.
According to President Henry B. Gor
don of the CEF, Barfield engineered a
press release in which Ribble and Prin
cipal Walter Flora announced their res
ignation on grounds that they were dis
satisfied with next year’s proposed
school program. Flora later said he
would reconsider his resignation, and
the board Saturday praised his work.
Barfield denied giving reporters the
story of Ribble’s and Flora’s resigna
tions.
Rock Hill Academy has an enrollment
of 314 students, who pay an annual tui
tion fee of $250.
LEGAl ACTION
Eighteen Negro students have filed
suit for admission to Pulaski High
School in the far western part of the
state.
The students, who now attend Chris-
tiansburg Institute, applied for enroll
ment at Pulaski High for the 1959-60
year but their applications were turned
down, according to the petition filed
with U. S. District Judge Roby C.
Thompson. # # #
NEGRO TRAINING CENTERS OPEN AT PRINCE EDWARD
The Rev. L. F. Griffin Watches Children in Farmville Church Basement
