Newspaper Page Text
Factual
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
$2 PER YEAR
New Orleans, Dallas Plans
Segregation-Desegregation Status
School Districts
Total
Bi-racial
Deseg.
Alabama
113
113
0
Arkansas
422
228
9
Delaware
94
51
19
District of Columbia
1
1
1
Florida
67
67
1
Georgia
198
196
0
Kentucky
212
172
123
Louisiana
67
67
0
Maryland
24
23
23
Mississippi
151
151
0
Missouri
2,143
214*
200*
North Carolina
174
174
7
Oklahoma
1,323
251
187
South Carolina
108
108
0
Tennessee
154
143
4
Texas
1,581
720
126
Virginia
129
128
6
West Virginia
55
43
43
Total
7,016
2,850
749
*Estimated
fMissouri not included
White
Enrollment
Negro
In Integrated
Districts
White Negro
Negroes
In Schools
with Whites
508,722
267,259
0
0
0
315,806
104,205
50,272
9,750
98
63,088
14,063
38,898
7,399
6,196
27,136
89,451
27,136
89,451
73,290
761,819
201,091
129,186*
26,648*
512
628,131
306,158
0
0
0
568,360*
42,778*
388,000*
32,000*
12,000*
412,563
261,491
0
0
0
442,244
130,076
406,286
114,682
28,072
283,502
271,761
0
0
0
738,000*
816,682
82,000*
302,060
76,608
74,480*
43,506
35,000*
34
485,996*
39,405*
261,840*
30,000*
10,246*
344,893
255,616
0
0
0
668,300
146,700
38,325
13,752
169
1,783,737*
279,374*
632,000*
33,000*
3,300*
617,349
203,229
74,606
21,735
103
427,864
24,010
427,864
24,010
12,000*
9,894,192
3,020,727
2,551,021f
520,413
181,020
Jl fU Sc
urvey
749 Districts Reported
Desegregated
T he current school year end
ed with 749 public school dis
tricts desegregated in the south
ern region, according to the latest
edition of Southern Education
Reporting Service’s “Statistical
Summary.”
The desegregated districts
amount to one-fourth of the 2,850
bi-racial districts in the 17 south
ern and border states, plus the
District of Columbia. Altogether,
the region has 7,016 school dis
tricts.
The summary, which lists per
tinent data on enrollment, teach
ers, colleges, litigation and legis
lation, noted little change from
the statistics recorded in the
January edition.
Two more districts desegregated in
the five-month period: Andice, Tex.,
and Floyd County, Va. The Texas dis
trict voluntarily ended racial separa
tion in schools and the Virginia district
opened two formerly all-white schools
under court order.
The area’s enrollment of 12,914,919
was down slightly from the previously
reported figure of 12,940,443, due pri
marily to the more accurate figures
available later in the school year. The
regional enrollment was divided on the
same ratio of 23 per cent Negro, or
3,020,727 Negroes, and 9,894,192 whites.
INTEGRATED DISTRICTS
Over two and one-half million whites
and one-half million Negroes attended
schools in integrated districts—those
with schools desegregated in practice
or principle. The area had an estimat
ed 181,020 Negroes actually attending
schools with whites.
Twelve states and the District of
1 Columbia had some degree of public
school desegregation. Alabama, Geor-
| gia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South
Carolina had none. Florida was the
I only state to desegregate during the
school year for the first time.
Twenty per cent of the region’s 471,-
736 school teachers are Negro. Nine
states had segregated faculties and
eight others, plus the District of Co
lumbia, had some degree of integration
among their teachers in bi-racial
schools.
SOUTHERN COLLEGES
The southern region has 205 colleges
and universities that are predominant
ly white, of which 123 in 13 states are
desegregated in practice or principle.
Eighteen of the 39 predominantly Ne
gro institutions of higher learning will
accept students of another race.
The number of students, white and
Negro, involved in the desegregation at
this level is unknown since most of
the border states no longer report en
rollment by race.
COURT CASES
An estimated 200 court cases have
been filed in federal and state courts
on segregation-desegregation and re
lated issues. The SERS summary lists
163 cases bearing directly on the sub
ject.
The summary also lists almost 250
laws and resolutions adopted by the
legislatures of 15 states to prevent, re
strict or control school desegregation.
P UBLIC SCHOOL OFFICIALS in 13
of the southern and border
states are confronted with 46 ac
tive court cases concerning school
desegregation, some dating back
to before the U. S. Supreme
Court’s 1954 decision.
Over half of the cases seek
desegregation for the first time.
Others request the courts to
speed up a desegregation process
already under way. A few remain
on the court dockets until pro
posed plans for integration can be
completed.
Correspondents for Southern
School News reported for this
LOUISIANA
New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS, La.
ederal District Judge J.
Skelly Wright ordered the Or
leans Parish (county) school
board to desegregate public
schools beginning with the first
grade in September.
The integration plan was his
own, since the board refused to
submit a desegregation proposal
as ordered by Wright. (See “Le
gal Action.”)
Judge Wright on May 25 or
dered desegregation in public
Most of them were added to the statute
books after the U.S. Supreme Court’s
1954 decision.
Only Oklahoma has taken legislative
action to encourage desegregation. The
Missouri and West Virginia legislatures
removed racial designations from their
school laws. In 1959, Maryland ratified
the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, giving approval to the
amendment on which the desegregation
decisions were based.
The statistical summary is available
from SERS for one dollar a year.
# # #
survey that developments are ex
pected in several of these cases
during the summer months.
The U. S. Third Circuit Court
of Appeals at Philadelphia is ex
pected to announce its verdict
during June on a petition to sub
stitute complete integration in
Delaware schools for a gradual
grade-a-year plan.
U. S. District Judge Wilson Warlick
in Western North Carolina will hold a
hearing on the Yancey County de
segregation suit on July 11. The par
ents of 33 Negro children—the entire
Negro school-age population of the
county—are trying to get a decision on
Ordered To
schools of St. Helena and East
Baton Rouge parishes and in six
state-operated trade schools. The
order called for “all deliberate
speed” but set no specific date for
compliance. (See “Legal Ac
tion.”)
Three weeks prior to the Orleans
integration order an organization dedi
cated to keeping the public schools
open was chartered in New Orleans. It
was the first citizen move in this di
rection. (See “Community Action.”)
Gov. Jimmie H. Davis, inaugurated
May 10, took the lead in segregation
legislation. His administration intro-
46 Desegregation Cases
Listed in 13 Southern States
(See LITIGATION, Page 14)
Houston Postponement Denied;
Atlanta Given Another Year
T wo federal judges took unprecedented action in May by produc
ing their own school desegregation plans in long-pending suits
against the New Orleans and Dallas public school boards.
U. S. District Judge J. Skelly Wright ordered the Orleans Parish
board to desegregate its schools, beginning with the first grade in Sep
tember. The integration plan was the judge’s own since the board had
refused to submit a desegregation
The Dallas school board, which has
been under order to desegregate since
1956, offered a grade-a-year desegre
gation plan to begin in September 1961,
but U.S. District Judge T. Whitfield
Davidson gave the board 20 days to
produce one not as broad. At the judge’s
suggestion, the board decided to pro
vide integrated schools only for the
children of parents who want the bi-
racial schools. Segregated schools will
be available for those who want them.
At Houston, U.S. District Judge Ben
C. Connally denied the Houston school
board’s request to postpone his June 1
deadline for submitting a plan. Earlier,
the judge had indicated that unless the
board produced a plan to begin deseg
regation this September, he would write
his own.
Judge Wright at New Orleans also
ordered desegregation in public schools
of St. Helena and East Baton Rouge
parishes (counties) and in six state-op
erated trade schools. The order called
for “all deliberate speed” but set no
specific date for compliance.
Atlanta received a one-year reprieve
in its school crisis. U.S. District Judge
Frank A. Hooper, in what he described
as a “last chance,” ruled that Atlanta’s
school desegregation plan would have
to start in 1961, giving the Georgia
Legislature another opportunity to con
sider conflicting state laws. However,
the judge said that both the 12th and
11th grades must be desegregated in
September 1961, no matter what the
legislators do or fail to do.
The U.S. House of Representatives
passed a billion dollar school construc
tion aid bill on May 26 but an amend
ment threatened to set off a legislative
battle that could kill the measure. The
amendment by Rep. Adam Clayton
Powell (D-NY) would deny funds to
segregated schools.
State by state, the major develop
ments in May were:
Alabama
Two Negroes made a second attempt
to enroll at the all-white University of
Alabama extension center in Mont
gomery. (Page 4)
Arkansas
Federal court approved the Dollarway
board’s statement of policy on the ad
mission of Negroes. Three Negroes
registered at an all-white school but
assignments have not been made yet.
(Page 6)
Delaware
Delaware Court of Chancery may be
asked to abolish a Negro school district
that has the same boundaries as a
white district. (Page 9)
proposal in the eight-year-old suit.
District of Columbia
A human relations conference heard
charges that job discrimination against
Negroes is a major cause of educational
problems in the city’s desegregated
school system. (Page 9)
Florida
Farriss Bryant, who campaigned on a
promise to work for continued segre
gation, was nominated for governor in
the Democratic runoff primary. (Page
5)
Georgia
A potentially explosive racial situa
tion was defused in Atlanta when more
than 2,000 marching Negro students by
passed the state capitol, where armed
troopers were stationed. (Page 16)
Kentucky
The burning of the Kentucky State
College gymnasium followed a series of
student demonstrations. Police blamed
arson for the fire. (Page 13)
Louisiana
Gov. Jimmie H. Davis took the lead
on segregation legislation as his new
administration introduced 21 of the first
29 bills on the subject in the 1960 Leg
islature. (Page 1)
Maryland
Three Maryland counties will close a
Negro school each this month, with pu
pils and teachers to be reassigned to
predominantly white schools in the fall.
(Page 8)
Mississippi
The biennial session of the Legisla
ture adjourned after passing several
laws designed to preserve segregation.
(Page 10)
Missouri
For the second time this year, St.
Louis voters defeated a 29 million dol
lar bond issue for school construction
and fire safety in schools. (Page 8)
North Carolina
The school segregation issue played
a major part in the Democratic pri
mary in which two gubernatorial can
didates were picked for a runoff. (Page
13)
Oklahoma
The Oklahoma City school board
decided to replace white faculties with
Negro teachers at two schools where
student bodies are almost entirely Ne
gro now. (Page 7)
South Carolina
State legislators agreed to change
certain pro-segregation statutes after
being assured that it would not relax
the state’s strong stand against integra
tion. (Page 10)
Desegregate
duced 21 of the first 29 bills dealing
with segregation during the opening
days of the 1960 Legislature. (See “Leg
islative Action.”)
LEGAL ACTION
In the eight-year-old New Orleans
public school integration suit, Judge
J. Skelly Wright of the Eastern Dis
trict of Louisiana ordered desegrega
tion to begin in September.
The Orleans Parish school board,
made up of five elected members, re
fused to submit to Judge Wright a
(See LOUISIANA, Page 2)
Tennessee
The Memphis Board of Education
cited its right to operate under the
state’s pupil assignment law in asking
dismissal of a desegregation suit. (Page
7)
Texas
Voters in Lubbock County’s Fren-
ship District approved desegregation to
begin next September. (Page 3)
Virginia
The Prince Edward County Board of
Supervisors took steps under new Vir
ginia laws to make public funds avail
able to private schools. (Page 12)
West Virginia
The West Virginia NAACP confer
ence pledged moral and financial sup
port to Negro college students demon
strating against segregation. (Page 5)
# # #
