Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—MAY I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
MISSISSIPPI
Governor Signs New Bill Extending
Closing Authority to Local Trustees
Southern School News
Southern School News is the official publication of the Southern Education
Reporting Service, an objective, fact-finding agency established by southern
newspaper editors and educators with the aim of providing accurate, unbiased
information to school administrators, public officials and interested lay citizens
on developments in education arising from the U. S. Supreme Court opinion of
May 17, 1954 declaring segregation in the public schools unconstitutional. SERS
is not an advocate, is neither pro-segregation nor anti-segregation, but simply
reports the facts as it finds them, state-by-state.
Published monthly by Southern Education Reporting Service at 1109 19th Ave.,
S., Nashville, Tenn.
Second class mail privileges authorized at Nashville, Tenn., under the authority
of the act of March 3, 1879.
OFFICERS
Franlc Ahlgren Chairman
Thomas R. Waring Vi ce Chairman
Marvin D. Wall Acting Executive Director
Jim Leeson, Assistant to the Executive Director
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Frank Ahlgren, Editor, Memphis Com- Charles Moss, Executive Editor, Nash-
mereial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn. ville Banner, Nashville, Tenn.
Edward D. Ball, Editor, Nashville Ten- George N. Redd, Dean, Fisk Univer-
nessean, Nashville, Tenn. sity, Nashville, Tenn.
Harvie Branscomb, Chancellor, Van- Don Shoemaker, Editorial Page Editor,
derbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. Miami Herald, Miami, Fla.
Luther H. Foster, President, Tuskegee Bert Struby, General Manager, Macon
Institute, Tuskegee, Ala. Telegraph and News, Macon, Ga.
Henry H. Hill, President, George Pea- Thomas R. Waring, Editor, Charleston
body College, Nashville, Tenn. News & Courier, Charleston, S.C.
C. A. McKnight, Editor, Charlotte Ob- Henry I. Willett, Superintendent of
server, Charlotte, N.C. Schools, Richmond, Va.
CORRESPONDENTS
ALABAMA MISSOURI
William H. McDonald, Assistant Edi- William K. Wyant Jr., Staff Writer,
tor, Montgomery Advertiser St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ARKANSAS
William T. Shelton, City Editor, Ar- N ? R L H NA * • *. rj-
kansas Gazette L M - Wight Jr.. Assistant City Ed.-
DELAWARE tor, CnarloTte Observer
James E. Miller, Managing Editor, OKLAHOMA
Delaware State News Leonard Jaclcson, Staff Writer, Okla-
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA homa City Oklahoman-Times
Erwin Knoll, Staff Writer, Washing- crmTU rADniiMA
ton Post & Times Herald SO “™ CAROLINA c
FLORIDA Workman Jr., Special Corre-
Bert Collier, Editorial Writer, Miami spondent, Columbia, S.C.
Herald TENNESSEE
GEORGIA Tom Flake, Staff Writer, Nashville
Joseph B. Parham, Editor, The Ma- Banner
eon News Garry Fullerton, Education Editor,
KENTUCKY Nashville Tennessean
Weldon James, Editorial Writer, TCVAC
Louisville Courier-Journal TEXAS
LOUISIANA Richard M. Morehead, Austin Bu-
Emile Comar, Staff Writer, New Or- reau, Dallas News
leans States & Item VIRGINIA
MARYLAND Overton Jones, Associate Editor,
Edgar L. Jones, Ed,tonal Wnter, R!chmond Jimes-Dispatch
Baltimore 5un
MISSISSIPPI WEST VIRGINIA
Kenneth Toler, Mississippi Bureau, Thomas F. Stafford, Assistant to the
Memphis Commercial Appeal Editor, Charleston Gazette
MAIL ADDRESS
P.O. Box 6156, Acklen Station, Nashville 12, Tenn.
JACKSON, Miss.
uthority previously reserved
to the governor to close pub
lic schools on threat of integra
tion was extended to local trus
tees in a bill passed at the current
biennial session of the Mississippi
Legislature.
The bill was identical to one ap
proved at the 1958 session but
vetoed by then Gov. J. P. Cole
man.
Eight other bills with racial
angles this session apply to public
schools, voter registration, text
books, false testimony and the
State Sovereignty Commission.
(See “Legislative Action.”)
Negroes on the Mississippi Gulf
Coast protested the segregated 29-
mile man-made sand beach and
violence broke out between
whites and Negroes. (See “Com
munity Action.”)
Conflicting appraisals were given as
to the “success” of an Easter boycott
of Jackson’s white department stores
by Negro students in protest to seg
regation. (See “Community Action.”)
The Mississippi Legislature adopted
a resolution commending the govern
ment of the Union of South Africa in
maintaining its segregation policy.
(See “Legislative Action.”)
Citizens Councils offered a family
group insurance plan in a move to in
crease membership. (See “Miscellane
ous.”)
Gov. Ross Barnett has signed into
law a bill authorizing trustees of any
school district to close any one or all
schools in any school district.
Any school closed would remain
closed until further order of the board.
However, if a petition to re-open
should be filed by three-fifths of the
qualified electors of the district and
three-fifths of the qualified electors
who reside in the territory compris
ing the attendance area, it would be
mandatory for the board to consider
re-opening.
The statute adds several other quali
fications, including the requirement
that all petitions must be signed in
person with the following information:
post office and street address; the name
in which registered upon the county
registration books; occupation and
where employed; voting precinct; the
municipality of the circuit clerk’s office
where registered; and relation to chil
dren in a school of the district.
The school board would have 45 days
to complete its investigation of the
qualification of the petitioner. If the
petition were in order, the board would
have to order the reopening of schools
within one week.
If the board failed to comply, 10 of
the electors who signed the petition
could appeal to chancery court. Pend
ing a hearing, the schools would re
main closed.
The statute also states that the
authority vested in the local boards
shall not be affected by the authority
given some other person or officer or
board. That provision is in the bill in
view of the previous authority given
the governor to close public schools or
colleges and universities.
OTHER LEGISLATION
Other racial legislation and its sta
tus:
1) Requires minor children seeking
entrance to school to be accompanied
by parent or guardian; passed and
signed by the governor.
2) Prohibits a child from transfer
ring to a school outside his district of
residence; passed and signed.
3) Persons making false statements
to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission or
any federal agency or judiciary, chal
lengeable by only one person, upon
conviction would face a maximum fine
of $1,000 and five years in prison;
passed and signed.
4) Repeals the law requiring county
registrars to preserve applications and
answers to examinations of those seek
ing to register as qualified electors;
passed and signed.
5) Amends the state constitution of
1890 to remove mandatory provision
for the state to provide a free educa
tional system; pending (and also
would be subject to public referen
dum).
6) Amends the state constitution to
make “good moral character” a pre
requisite to qualify as an elector, to be
determined by the county register;
pending (and also subject to public
referendum).
7) Enlarges the duties of the State
Sovereignty Commission, the state’s
segregation “watchdog” agency, to in
clude aiding and encouraging persons
dissatisfied with their economic and
social status in the state to become a
resident of another state; pending.
8) Reorganizes the State Textbook
Purchasing Board and the Textbook
Rating Commission; pending. The bills
stem from charges of the state Daugh
ters of the American Revolution and
the General Legislative Investigating
Committee that some books in use ad
vocated socialism and integration.
VOTING BILL
Senate Bill 1921 was passed in an
ticipation of a federal investieation of
alleged discrimination against Negroes
in securing qualified-elector status. Its
introduction followed an announcement
by the state advisory committee to the
U. S. Civil Rights Commission that it
was open for complaints from persons
denied the right to register.
The bill would make it unlawful for
any person to make certain sworn false
statements to any agency of the U. S.
government with the intent to deceive
or cause an investigation.
Corroboration or proof by more than
one witness to establish the falsitv of
statements under oath is not required
in prosecution of the act.
Senate Bill 1883 anticipated Civil
Rights Commission action on com
plaints from Negroes of their alleged
inability to register. It eliminated from
a 1955 law a provision for permanent
records of the application forms from
voters and of their answers to questions
regarding a reasonable interpretation
of the state constitution and a demon
stration to the countv registrar of a
“reasonable understanding of the du
ties and obligations of citizenship.”
The new law was signed bv Gov.
Barnett a few days prior to approval
of the new civil rights law, which re
quires that these records be preserved
for 22 months. It was rushed through
both branches as an “emergency.”
LEADS TEXTBOOK FIGHT
Sen. Hayden Campbell of Jackson, a
state leader in the Citizens Councils, Is
leading the fight against two proposals
dealing with textbooks. He said passage
of Senate Bill 1951 and Senate Bill
1979, reorganizing commissions for pur
chase and adoption to give Gov. Bar
nett control, would be “contributing to
a great textbook scandal.”
The bills stemmed from charges that
some books now in use are “obiection-
able” and contrary to the Mississippi
“way of life.” The House has passed its
own proposal reorganizing the pur
chasing board, but it has not cleared
the Senate.
Former Gov. J. P. Coleman, now a
member of the House from Choctaw
County, opposed the bill passed by the
House. He was chairman of the pur
chasing board and said some objection
able books had been turned down and
eliminations suggested in others.
He said he was advised by some book
publishing companies they could not
change plates just to satisfy Missis
sippi because it was just one of the
many states in which the books were
offered and they preferred to lose Mis
sissippi’s business rather than injure
themselves elsewhere.
COMMENDS SOUTH AFRICA
The Mississippi Legislature com
mended the “determined stand of the
government of the Union of South Af
rica in maintaining its firm segregation
policy.”
The resolution, authored bv 23-year-
old Rep. Phillip Bryant of Oxford, said
South Africa “has been subjected to
external interferences in its internal
affairs by the State Department of the
United States and other foreign coun
tries which have contributed to South
Africa’s internal disorder.”
The resolution said “there exists a
definite parallel between events in that
country and recent disorders in the
southern states of the United States.”
COMMUNITY ACTION
The first open racial clash in Mis
sissippi occurred on the Mississippi
Gulf Coast.
Negroes have for several years
sought bathing privileges along the
shoreline of the 29-mile man-made
sand beach. The dispute flared several
weeks ago when Dr. Gilbert Mason, a
Negro physician of Biloxi, was ar
rested for swimming off the beach.
On April 24, open violence resulted
when about 100 Negroes attempted to
swim along the beach in Biloxi. One
group attempted to enter the water in
front of the MacArthur Biloxi hotel,
and the other a mile away in front of
the Biloxi Hospital.
Mason was one of the swimmers at
tacked April 24 by white persons.
There is no law excluding Negroes
from the beach, but Mason said officers
have forbidden them from swimming
along the beach. The beach was de
veloped and is maintained with public
funds, but is owned by persons hold
ing titles to lands fronting the beach.
The beach incident caused racial ten
sions throughout Biloxi. Fifteen per
sons were injured in the citv and
groups of whites were reported to have
chased Negroes out of the business
district. One white man and 22 Ne
groes were fined.
STORES BOYCOTTED
There were no demonstrations in a
planned Easter-week Negro boycott of
white stores in Jackson. Negro leaders
differed as to whether the boycott was
effective.
Dean Charles A. Jones of Camnbell
College’s seminary in Jackson, one of
the boycott’s promoters, said the boy
cott “exceeded our exDectations.”
Medlar Evers, field secretary of the
state NAACP. said “an average of 70
per cent of Jackson’s Negroes took part
in the student-initiated sacrifice for
human dionitv.” Students decided to
wear shoddv clothes on the camaus to
protest segregation rather than natron-
ize stores for new Easter toggery.
Dean Jones said he honed the boy
cott would ‘Venerate constructive bi-
racial conversations, more and varied
opoortunities and more courteous
treatment for Negroes by white mer
chants.”
However. Percy Greene, Negro edi
tor of the Jackson Advocate and a rep
resentative of a conservative element,
said “the boycott was a complete fail
ure.”
Charles H. Taylor of Christchurch,
New Zealand, director of Rotary Inter
national, addressed a district confer
ence in Jackson and commended Jack-
son for its “racial peace and progress.”
While here, he visited state-owned
Jackson State College for Negroes,
where he said he got an inspiration for
his address.
“I see no fear, feel no tension here,”
he said. “Certainly I carried with me
a picture of what the distorted press
had given when I went out to Jackson
State College, where I talked with stu
dents.”
“I saw no fear in the eyes of those
Negroes,” he said in a press interview.
“They were fine looking boys and girls.
Clean, neat, serious . . . and happy.
“Some wonderful things are being
done for colored people here.
“The Little Rock story was heard
around the world, and now I’m going
to tell the Jackson story.
“It’s a story completely different
from what people elsewhere have been
led to believe. It’s one of friendship.”
ISSUES STATEMENT
In a statement in the Mississippi
Methodist Advocate, John Satterfield of
Jackson, president of the American Bar
Assn., said “the nation should realize
that segregation is consistent with the
principle of Jesus Christ.”
“Our bishop, our ministers and our
laymen stand solidly for the southern
way of life which has permitted Meth
odists of both races to work for the
best interests of the church for many
years in their own congregations, or
ganizations and churches,” he said.
“I have complete faith in the good
intentions of Methodists everywhere.”
MISCELLANEOUS
The Jackson Assn, of Citizens Coun
cils is offering a family group insur
ance policy to members to spur mem
bership.
The plan is to encourage entire fami
lies to join the council. # # #
Alabama
(Continued From Page 3)
face of the state system’s “bleak finan
cial prospects.”
MONEY RELEASED
The Alabama Education Authority
has released the first 18 million dollars
of a total 100 million dollars in new
school construction money.
The initial allocation came from the
sale of school bonds sold in New York.
Included in the first allocations was
$435,000 for the construction of a new
Negro trade school at Mobile (see
above).
Despite the school segregation con
troversy and the uncertainty of public
education in the state, the bonds were
sold at one of the most favorable inter
est rates the state has received in years.
The 100-million-dollar bond issue,
biggest for any purpose in the state’s
history and the first state issue ever
for school construction, was authorized
by the 1959 Legislature. The balance—
80 million dollars—is yet to be sold.
LEGAL ACTION
Twenty persons, including an Illinois
sociology professor and 10 of his stu
dents, were fined in Montgomery Re
corder’s Court April 1 for attending an
integrated luncheon.
Judge Eugene Loe found the defend
ants, white and Negro, guilty of cre
ating a situation “calculated to create
a breach of the peace.”
The professor and his student group
were, they said, on a study trip of racial
conditions in the South. They were ar
rested at a Negro restaurant during an
inter-racial luncheon.
Among the Negroes present was the
Rev. Robert Earl DuBose, a leader in
the March 6 demonstration near the
state capitol (SSN, April 1960). An
other Negro in the group arrested and
fined was Marzette Watts, expelled
from Alabama State College for taking
part in a March 25 demonstration pro
testing segregation of a snack bar in
the county courthouse.
Leader of the MacMurray College
group, from Jacksonville, Ill., was Prof.
Richard D. Nesmith. He was accom
panied by his wife, who was also ar
rested and fined. All have appealed.
SUE NEW YORK TIMES
Suits against The New York Times
have been filed or threatened by the
cities of Montgomery, Birmingham and
Bessemer and by the Alabama State
Board of Education.
Two separate grievances prompted
the moves. Montgomery city commis
sioners, as individuals, ask 1.5 million
dollars damages for a full-page ad,
“Heed Their Rising Voices,” which ap
peared in the Times March 29, appeal
ing for contributions for the commit
tee to “Defend Martin Luther King and
the Struggle for Freedom in the South.”
Signed by Eleanor Roosevelt, Nor
man Thomas, Marlon Brando, Dr. Har
ry Emerson Fosdiek and others, the ad
charged that after students from Ala
bama State College demonstrated in
Montgomery recently, “their dining
room was padlocked in an attempt to
starve them into submission.”
State, city and college authorities de
nied the truth of this and other state
ments in the ad. City commissioners de
manded a retraction. Getting none, they
filed suit.
OBJECT TO ARTICLES
Birmingham’s city commissioners an
nounced plans to sue the New York
newspaper for articles on racial condi
tions there. Harrison Salisbury re
ported a reign of terror in Birming
ham, a city “filled with the emotional
dynamite of racism,” where tele
phones are tapped, mail is intercepted
and opened and where the “eavesdrop
per, the informer, the spy have be
come a fact of life.”
Mayor James W. Morgan said he and
the other commissioners would sue as
individuals, underwriting all court
costs.
Alabama Atty. Gen. MacDonald Gal-
lion recommended April 20 that the
State Board of Education file a “multi
million-dollar” suit against the Times
for the March 29 ad.
Bessemer city officials demanded a
retraction of references in the Salis
bury stories to their city, directing the
city attorney to file suit. # # #