About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1960)
ALABAMA SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—APRIL I960—PAGE 9 Protest Demonstration Stopped; Negroes Apply at Extension Center MONTGOMERY, Ala. "|Y/|" ORE THAN 400 STATE, COUnty -L'-*- and city law enforcement officers broke up what threatened to be a dangerous race riot near the state capitol March 6. Some 750 Negroes gathered at a Negro church a block west of the capitol early Sunday afternoon. They were permitted to assemble there but when they attempted to march on the capitol, police stopped them. A mob of 5,000 whites—some angry, some curious—surged for ward and it was only the quick use of mounted deputies and fire trucks that prevented almost cer tain violence. The incident was the climax, but not the conclusion, of a series of racial demonstrations that began in Mont gomery Feb. 25 (Southern School News, March 1960) when 25 Negro students from Alabama State College converged on a snack bar in the county courthouse and demanded service. Nine of the students were later expelled, others put on probation. For participation in later protests, 35 stu dents and a faculty member were ar rested. (See “Community Action.”) On March 22-24, at least three, prob ably more, of the Negro students who figured in the demonstrations applied for registration at the Montgomery Center of the University of Alabama Extension Service. In all, 13 Negroes applied during the three-day period. (See “In The Colleges.”) A race riot was narrowly averted in Montgomery March 6 after Negroes attempted to march on the state capitol for a mass demonstration protesting the expulsion of nine Alabama State College students. The nine were expelled by the State Board of Education March 2 for their part in the Feb. 25 action protesting segregation at a snack bar in the coun ty courthouse. Twenty other students were put on probation. The March 6 incident was the cli mactic one in the series of demonstra tions and protest picketings. Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, who succeeded the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as head of the Montgomery Improvement Assn., an nounced March 4 that a prayer meet ing would be held on the capitol steps at 1:30 p.m. Sunday as a “protest by the adult Negro community” to the expulsion of the students. SERVED NOTICE Montgomery Police Commissioner L. B. Sullivan served notice that the meeting would not be allowed. In a prepared statement, printed in full on the front page of The Montgomery Advertiser Sunday morning, March 6, Sullivan said: “Apparently it is the desire and pur pose of the Negro troublemakers to further incite the tense situation that exists in Montgomery by their stated intent to congregate at the state capitol Sunday under the guise of a religious service. “No one wants to deprive any hu man being of the privilege of wor shipping God. However, we feel that the Negroes, like the white people, have their churches for this purpose. Further, if the Negroes want to hold a combined service, they have the campus athletic field and facilities at Alabama State College for such use. “In view of the situation that exists in Montgomery, if the Negroes persist in flaunting their arrogance and defi ance by congregating at the capitol Sunday, the police will have no alter native but to take whatever action that might be necessary to disperse them... “We are not going to have any fur ther demonstrations by white or Negro in the city of Montgomery that would tend to create further racial tensions, today, tomorrow, next week or here after, and any attempt by any person, white or Negro to do so will be dealt with according to law.” There were obvious indications that tension had been mounting in the city since the first snack bar incident. The Saturday following that, a group of some 25 men, carrying newly pur chased miniature ball bats in paper bags, had patrolled the city. One of them clubbed a Negro woman down town after an alleged shoving inci dent. Many Montgomerians who had lived through the sometimes tense days of the bus boycott expressed the opinion that feeling was running higher than during that period. By noon on Sunday, March 6, whites had begun to gather at the state capi tol, which was completely encircled by highway patrolmen. Arrayed in front of them and down historic Dexter Ave nue were city police, Civil Defense workers wearing arm bands, county officers and other elements of law en forcement—some 400 in all. After 1 p.m. Negroes began to as semble at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, a block west of the capitol. This was Dr. King’s church before he moved to Atlanta. The announced hour for the march passed with the Negroes still inside. The crowd of whites had swelled to around 5,000. The Negro group in the church and on the steps outside to taled about 800. Most of them appar ently were Alabama State College stu dents, despite Rev. Abernathy’s state ment that it was to be a protest by the adult community. CROWD RESTIVE The crowd, now restive and jeering, began to close in on the church. One man, whom some identified as a po liceman, shouted to the assembled Ne groes: “Can’t you tell time? It’s 2 o’clock. Somebody loan ’em a watch.” Several policemen squared off to face the marchers at the intersection near the church. A few minutes after 2 p.m. the Rev. Robert E. DuBose Jr. and the Rev. Abernathy moved out to lead the procession. When they reached the curb, Bibles in hand, po licemen ordered them back. With that the whites began edging forward. Rev. DuBose and Rev. Abernathy walked on, headed directly for the mob. Police Capt. D. H. Lackey, in charge of this element of police, threw a body-block at DuBose; then he and others pushed the clergymen and their followers back to the curb. One Negro fell and a white man rushed up to kick him but was restrained by a po liceman. There were a few flurries of fists, with little apparent damage. But as the Negroes stood on the curb and on the church steps, the white crowd closed in tighter. There were cries of “get them.” For a brief period it appeared the policemen at this po sition could not control whatever was to happen, despite their efforts to keep the groups separated. Then two fire trucks, sirens scream ing, pushed through the mob, connect ed hoses and threatened to use water on either side if necessary. Almost simultaneously a surprise force of 19 mounted deputies, armed and swing ing clubs and lariats, galloped from concealed positions behind one of the state office buildings. They were led by Montgomery County Sheriff Mac Sim Butler. Dressed in denim, wearing cowboy hats and deputy sheriff arm bands, the horsemen quickly forced the whites back. Public Safety Director Floyd Mann, Montgomery Police Commis sioner Sullivan and Sheriff Butler ap pealed to the crowd by public address systems, assuring them that it was all over and that they could handle any eventuality. SING HYMNS At first neither whites nor Negroes gave ground. Then the Negroes moved into the church where they sang hymns and patriotic songs, sometimes inaudible above the noise outside. Slowly, in small groups, whites began to walk away. The Negroes remained for about an hour, leaving in small groups, just as they had arrived, under the surveillance of officers. Of this and the events to follow, national Negroes protested that a cli mate of terror existed in Montgomery. Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the NAACP, wired President Eisen hower to intervene. Similar protests were wired by Dr. King, who heads the Southern Chris tian Leadership Conference out of At lanta, and by labor leaders. Answering these charges, Mrs. Tom Abemethy, Republican National Com- mitteewoman for Alabama, wired the President that the allegations were “false and ridiculous.” Mrs. Aber- nethy’s wire said: “The simple truth of the matter is that a relatively small number of Ne groes in Montgomery and elsewhere through the South have engaged in demonstrations with obvious intent to provoke incidents. . . “Any fair-minded person familiar with the happenings of the past few weeks would acknowledge that the white community of Montgomery has behaved with amazing restraint and moderation in circumstances of ex treme difficulty and resulting solely from the work of agitators.” Nine Negro students were expelled from Alabama State College by the State Board of Education March 2 for their part in the Feb. 25 protest dem onstration in the Montgomery County courthouse snack bar. Twenty other students were placed on probation. The expulsions had been urged by Gov. John Patterson on the day of the incident and in subsequent statements. The board took action under a regula tion that empowers school authorities to expel any student for conduct detri mental to a college. Patterson con tended that the demonstration threat ened to cause bloodshed in Montgom ery. The Feb. 25th demonstration led a chain of incidents. The next day, about 250 Negro students, men and women, reappeared at the courthouse, this time to protest—they said—the trial of one of their fellow students for perjury in connection with a voting application. (He pleaded guilty to attempted per jury.) The following Tuesday, March 1, be tween 750 and 1,000 Negroes, mostly students, held a protest meeting on the capitol steps—a privilege they had enjoyed in previous demonstrations but one which was denied in the planned demonstration March 6. In meetings following the expulsion order, students vowed to quit in a body in retaliation for the board’s ac tion. Some threatened to apply for en rollment at Auburn University. There were student predictions that enroll ment for the spring quarter would be cut to near zero. After registration in mid-March, however, it appeared that normal spring enrollment was down only about 200. SOME WITHDRAW Dr. H. Councill Trenholm, college president, said some of these had de cided to withdraw for financial rea sons, some withdrew under pressure from the parents either to cease the demonstrations or quit school, and some were intimidated into leaving. One college official said the drop-outs brought the total enrollment of 1,540 closer to the ideal of 1,000 considered optimum “to raise eligibility standards, which we have been working on for two years.” Dr. Trenholm, ordered by Patterson to investigate the Feb. 25 demonstra tion, reported his findings with a rec ommendation that the punishment for all should be probation. The governor rejected this and the board unanimous ly supported his position that the dem onstration threatened public safety in Montgomery. In answer to student threats to walk out and enroll at Auburn, Patterson told the board: “If we bow to a mob, we are on the way out. That could only lead to worse. We ought not to do any thing as a result of a threat. The ring leaders ought to be expelled without further hesitation.” The nine expelled were: Bernard Lee, Norfolk, Va., identified as the leader of the group; St. John Dixon, National City, Calif.; Edward E. Jones, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Leon Rice, Chi cago, Ill.; Howard Shipman, New York City; Elroy Emory, Ragland, Ala.; James McFadden, Prichard, Ala.; Jo seph Peterson, Newcastle, Ala.; and Marzette Watts, Montgomery. Gov. Patterson also ordered an inde pendent investigation conducted by State Public Safety Director Floyd Mann. The courthouse snack bar, site of the incident, was closed but later reopened NEGROES APPLY FOR UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA CENTER Dr. W. W. Kaempfer, Center Director, Stands At Rear Watching Students with patronage restricted to county em ployes and their invited guests. Identi fication cards were issued for this pur pose. On March 25, the State Board of Edu cation directed Dr. Trenholm to fire any Alabama State faculty member who en courages student protests. State School Supt. Frank Stewart said an investiga tion revealed that 11 faculty members “have not been loyal to the school.” It was made plain to Dr. Trenholm that he was expected to “clean up” the college or the board would find a new president. He said he would work with Stewart to purge the college of any “disloyal” personnel. He also agreed to put on probation all students convicted in Montgomery for their part in recent protests. The board’s action came on a motion by Gov. Patterson, ex-officio chairman of the state board. The end, temporarily at least, of the Alabama State College student revolt came March 7 when police arrested 35 students carrying signs in a demonstra tion near the campus. Also arrested were a faculty member and her phys ician husband. A Negro guard at the college sum moned police after students had rough ed up a building superintendent. Some of the students carried signs protesting expulsion of the nine who had been charged with leading the march on the courthouse snack bar. Among the pla cards were some reading “Alabama vs. Constitution,” “Nine Down and 2,000 To Go,” and “We Want Justice.” E. B. Campbell, building superinten dent, said one or two of the group that had started this incident displayed knives. Campbell said he told the group that signs and marches had been banned on the campus and that city officials had banned off-campus demonstrations. . . They surrounded me and push ed me some,” he said. “One or two had knives.” A campus guard, Robert Reynolds, fired a shot in the air and police were summoned. Police said that when they arrived the demonstrators had blocked the street and sidewalks near an inter section of the campus. “They were waving signs and when we came up, they started hollering, ‘You can’t put us all in jail,’ ” one officer said. He said the demonstrators, boist erous and cursing, disobeyed orders to desist. “We then surrounded the group and placed them under arrest,” he said. The 35 students, plus the faculty member and her husband, were tried in Montgomery County court March 11 on charges of disorderly conduct and fail ure to obey the command of an officer. FINED $100 Fines of $100 and costs on each of the counts were assessed against 33 stu dents; a $10 fine against the faculty member, Mrs. Alene H. Underwood, who had shouted at the arresting officers, ac cording to testimony; and a $1 fine against Mrs. Underwood’s physician husband for failure to obey an officer. Three students were acquitted. All but Dr. and Mrs. Underwood appealed. City Judge Eugene Loe found that “duly constituted authority has been deliberately defied in the massing for the purpose of making a protest demonstra tion.” The arrests and the beginning of the spring quarter seemed to subdue most of the students. Dr. Trenholm said there was no such organization as “the Student Executive Committee” Bernard Lee said he headed and that most of the students decided, after a meeting with members of the Montgomery Negro community to “re turn to their classes and disassociate themselves from any future demonstra tions.” The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a 1957 Alabama law, which gerrymandered virtually all Tuskegee Negroes outside the city limits. Some 400 Negro voters were thus excluded from city elections. The U.S. District Court in Mont gomery refused to declare the action unconstitutional, as did the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with the observation that “an intrusion of national courts” might prove more serious “than the partial disenfranchisement of plain tiffs.” A total of 13 Negroes filled out en rollment applications March 22-24 at the University of Alabama’s Extension Service Center in Montgomery. At least three of the applicants fig ured in the Alabama State College demonstrations, which led to near-viol ence March 6. They were identified as Marzette Watts, expelled with eight other Negroes for taking part in a “sit- in” demonstration at the county court house snack bar Feb. 25 (Southern School News, March, 1960); and Floyd Willis Coleman and Theophilus Moody, both put on probation for their part in the same demonstration. Other Alabama State students were among the applicants, but the center di rector, Dr. W. W. Kaempfer, said it was contrary to university policy to release identities until the applications had been acted upon at the main campus in Tuscaloosa. The Negroes were told that before the applications could be approved, they must furnish transcript from previous schools they had attended. On the first day of the appearances, center officials notified police as a “pre cautionary measure.” There were no incidents and Dr. Kaempfer commented: “I would like to emphasize that there is no suggestion whatsoever that these persons were trespassing. They were not.” UNDER ORDER The university is still under a federal court order prohibiting it from denying admission to any applicant because of race. The order, though it applies gen erally, opened the doors of the all-white university to Artherine Lucy, who was driven from the campus by rioting in 1956. (She later was expelled for her ac cusations that the university conspired with the mob. A white student was also expelled, but for criticism of an opposite nature.) No other Negroes have been admitted since. No immediate action was taken on the applications of the 13. Another Negro student, appearing with the first-day group, tore up his application before leaving the center. He gave no explana tion. The Montgomery center is one of six in the state offering night classes for credit in degree subjects, though these are chiefly freshman and sophomore, courses. Admission to the center is con sidered admission to the university proper, provided students undertake to complete all their credit courses and spend their final year of study in resi dence at Tuscaloosa. University officials in Tuscaloosa is sued a statement on admission proce dure March 23, in which it was explain ed that applications for enrollment, together with transcripts of academic qualifications, would be forwarded to the university, where the determination of eligibility would be made. Dr. Kaempfer said none of the appli cations would be sent to Tuscaloosa un til all data had been collected from the students. # # #