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PAGE 10—JUNE I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
SOUTH CAROLINA
Legislature Approves
In School Segregation
Changes
Measures
COLUMBIA, S. C.
S outh Carolina legislators
agreed to change certain seg
regation statutes during May
after being assured that the
change would not relax the state’s
stand against integration. (See
“Legislative Action.”)
Anti-segregation demonstrations
of Negro students remained in
the public eye during May,
through court trials and a contin
uation of demonstrations. (See
“Legal Action.”)
Negro leaders in upper South
Carolina are seeking establish
ment of a state-supported junior
college for Negroes in the area.
(See “In The Colleges.”)
The South Carolina General Assem
bly approved, after serious and some
times bitter debate, a modification of
the state’s anti-integration laws. The
approval came after Gov. Ernest F.
Hollings and the state’s Special Segre
gation Committee both had assured
the Legislature that no change was
being made in South Carolina’s basic
policy of resistance to school integra
tion.
The issue revolves about the in
clusion of the words “for racially seg
regated schools only” in a number of
educational items appearing annually
in the state’s general appropriations
bill. The legal staff of the Special Seg
regation Committee, headed by Sen. L.
Marion Gressette of Calhoun County,
recommended that those words be de
leted.
Representatives of the committee ap
peared before both House and Senate
in closed sessions to explain the rea
sons for the proposed change. There
after, the Senate approved the change
without opposition of record and the
House overwhelmingly followed suit.
The purpose is to strengthen laws
enacted in 1956 requiring that appli
cants for reassignment pursue an ad
ministrative procedure before going
into the courts. The laws border on but
are not actually pupil placement laws.
The essence of them is the requirement
that pupils proceed individually in
tiieir bids for transfer to other schools.
These laws tend to forestall class ac
tions whereby plaintiffs in a law suit
could act “for others similarly situ
ated” and seek to nullify the entire
pattern of racial segregation.
ALTER BILL
To change the law, the general ap
propriations bill for 1960-61 was al
tered to delete the words “for racially
segregated schools only” in line items,
and to put that same restriction in one
paragraph applying to the various line
items of appropriations. Subsequently,
another bill repealing that particular
paragraph was approved by both House
and Senate and went to the governor
ln the closing moments of the 1960
session. Gov. Hollings, therefore, can
postpone action on the bill until the
convening of the 1961 session. Mean
while, he can sign or veto it, depend
ing on circumstances.
The proposed change was bitterly
fought by S. Emory Rogers, a Sum-
merton lawyer who was one of the de
fense lawyers in the Clarendon County
case, which went to the U. S. Supreme
Lourt and resulted in the May 17, 1954
desegregation decision. Also fighting
the change were three politically ac
tive brothers of Florence, Sol. Richard
G. Dusenbury, Rep. Bernard D. Dusen-
bury, and former Rep. Julian Dusen
bury, until recently chairman of the
Florence County Democratic Executive
Committee.
These individuals and a few other
legislators who subscribed to their
point of view feared that removal of
the words “for racially segregated
schools only” might invite integration
of schools in areas where school boards
might be “soft” on segregation. Some
of the opponents of the change ex
pressed willingness to begin immediate
ly a system of private schools.
Some fears of “local option” action
by school boards were allayed by a
provision within the revised appropri
ations bill vesting the State Budget and
Control Board with supervision over
the expenditure of funds earmarked for
educational purposes.
Another and permanent state law
still requires the closing of any schools
involved in the transfer of pupils by
court order. The effect of this law will
be to close the white school to which
a Negro student is assigned by court
order and simultaneously to close the
Negro school from which he came.
Also enacted during the closing days
of the 1960 session was a long-pending
bill aimed at curbing Negro demonstra
tions in business establishments. The
law, sponsored by Rep. Rex L. Carter
of Greenville, makes it illegal for a
person to refuse to leave a place of
business when asked to do so by the
management. Violations would carry
fines up to $100 or jail terms of up to
30 days.
m xi
LEGAL ACTION
The South Carolina Advisory Com
mittee to the U. S. Civil Rights Com
mission on May 19 heard complaints
from Negro students involved in a
March 15 mass demonstration at Or
angeburg.
At the conclusion of the hearing,
Chairman E. R. Mclver said the police
had acted “with constraint” in dis
persing the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, trials continued through
out much of May for Negro students
charged with trespass and other of
fenses connected with a series of anti
segregation demonstrations conducted
in February, March, April and con
tinuing into May.
At Orangeburg, 91 Claflin and State
College students were convicted of
breach of the peace charges May 7,
and were fined $50 or 30 days in jail.
This made a total of 329 defendants
tried and convicted for participation in
the March 15 mass demonstration.
At Rock Hill, 10 demonstrators were
convicted of breach of the peace on
May 5. Ten others had been convicted
the preceding week, at which time
trespass charges were dropped against
five others.
In nearby Lancaster, 15 white youths
were fined $100 or 30 days in jail on
charges of disorderly conduct after the
youths created a disturbance in a Ne
gro section of town.
At Spartanburg, both whites and
Negroes were sentenced for participa
tion in a racial scrap involving some
50 to 60 youths.
The Rev. I. DeQuincey Newman,
state secretary of the NAACP in South
Carolina, told the Negro Baptist Edu
cational and Missionary Convention at
Greenville that the 41 demonstrations
by Negro students in the last three
months in South Carolina “have been
the most meaningful, most moving,
most inspiring, and most dramatic ap
peals for citizenship of anything I’ve
seen in all my 49 years.”
At the same convention, the Rev. Dr.
W. L. Wilson of Spartanburg called for
better behavior on the part of Negroes:
“People cannot be loud on buses and
go wild on a back street on Saturday
night and then be recognized as first-
class citizens on Sunday.”
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
School construction funds approved
under the state’s equalization and ex
pansion program of 1951 moved beyond
the 200 million dollar mark in May.
The State Educational Finance Com
mission allotted $928,000 on May 12 to
school projects throughout the state.
This brings total allotments to date to
$200,268,142.
IN THE COLLEGES
Negro leaders of the Oconee-
Pickens-Greenville area of upper
South Carolina are seeking establish
ment of a state-supported junior col
lege for Negroes in the area.
Dr. Harry Thomas, a Seneca dentist
and leader in the movement, is urging
that the state take over the buildings
of the defunct Seneca Junior College,
which folded because of financial dif
ficulties in the late 1930s, and convert
the plant into a Negro junior college.
Thomas’ group hopes to meet with a
special committee authorized by the
1959 Legislature to study problems of
higher education in the state with par
ticular reference to the possibility of
providing community colleges. The
committee is headed by a Hartsville
financier, A. Lee M. Wiggins.
“We assume,” says Thomas, “that the
Wiggins committee is designed to con
sider the needs of all groups in South
Carolina. It is common knowledge that
Negro education facilities supported
by the state are inadequate and grossly
out of proportion to those accorded to
some of the citizens.”
The contest for the Democratic
nomination to the U. S. Senate finds
Sen. Strom Thurmond being chal
lenged by an 80-year-old Columbia at
torney, R. Beverley Herbert. Herbert
contends that Thurmond and the other
southern senators have fought inef
fectually against civil rights and racial
integration.
Sen. Thurmond is basing much of his
bid for re-election on a citation of his
own fight to preserve segregation,
while Herbert contends that other
courses could have been employed
more effectively. Herbert argues that
neither Thurmond nor any other
southern senator has been able to get
the southern story across to the nation.
# # #
Delaware
(Continued From Page 9)
that the Alonzo H. Shockley Jr., case
will come up in Superior Court in
Sussex County on June 3.
Shockley, a Negro, was dismissed as
principal of Laurel’s Dunbar School
two years ago on charges of willful in
subordination. Shockley claimed bias on
the part of the Laurel board because
he tried to register his child at the
white school in Milford, where he re
sides.
The State Supreme Court ruled that
the Laurel board had shown ample
evidence of insubordination, but order
ed the board to re-examine the matter
again in the light of Shockley’s bias
claim.
Subsequently, the board held a new
hearing, took testimony from its mem
bers and re-affirmed its original action.
Shockley appealed this ruling to the
Superior Court.
VOTE INVESTIGATION
At Milford, deputy attorneys general
for two counties are investigating
charges of voting irregularities in the
May school board election, in which
Joseph Penuel defeated John S. Rogers
by a vote of 874 to 572.
One of those involved, by his own
admission in a statement issued by his
attorney, is Edmund F. Steiner. Steiner
was president of the Milford Board of
Education after the previous school
board resigned en masse in 1954 in the
dispute over integration on Lakeview
Avenue School.
Steiner, in his statement, admitted
that he received ballots at each of the
three voting places in the district, but
denied that he voted three times.
“The ballots which I received at
Lakeview Avenue School and the
Banneker School were not cast by me
as a vote, but were mutilated and tom
in two pieces.
“This Mr. (Max) Corder (president
of the Milford board) knows to be true
because after the polls closed I per
sonally delivered the torn portion of
each ballot to Mr. Corder . . . before
witnesses, and explained to him that
due to the inadequate safeguards pro
vided at each polling place I was not
questioned as to my qualification at
each polling place and could have cast
three votes.”
MISSISSIPPI
Legislature Ends Session;
Adopts Textbook Measure
JACKSON, Miss.
T he 1960 biennial session of
the Legislature adjourned in
May after passing several laws
designed to preserve segregation
in Mississippi. One bill provides
for “screening” public school text
books to prevent usage in Mis
sissippi of books advocating inte
gration.
The legislators approved two
proposed constitutional amend
ments that would free the state
of the mandatory obligation of
providing public schools. (See
“Legislative Action.”)
The first federal suit in Missis
sippi involving the racial issue
was filed by the Justice Depart
ment in an effort to open to Ne
groes the Gulf of Mexico beach
in Harrison County, which has
been restricted to whites. (See
“Legal Action.”)
The Legislature tightened reg
istration statutes in a move to
prevent widespread Negro quali
fications as voters. (See “Legis
lative Action.”)
In connection with possible federal
investigations of voting rights for Ne
groes in Mississippi, the Legislature
passed three bills, all signed by the
governor. One prescribes maximum
prison sentences of five years and a
$1,000 fine for making false statements
to federal agencies “with intent or
purposes to deceive or cause an in
vestigation.”
The new acts also make it unlaw
ful for anyone to make sworn false
statements to any agency of the U. S.
government that he has been deprived
of certain rights and privileges by
agents of the state of Mississippi.
Under the law, “corroboration or
proof by more than one witness to
establish the falsity of testimony or
statements under oath is not required
in prosecutions.”
APPLICATION FORMS
Another act eliminates any require
ment that the application forms for
voter registration be numbered or in
dexed or be public records or be pre
served. Under the former statute, the
applications, which include written ex
aminations given applicants, were re
quired to be preserved as public rec
ords.
Under another bill signed into law,
persons objecting to registration of
certain persons could present docu
mentary evidence to support their po
sitions before county election commis
sions.
The Legislature also approved for
submission to the voters in the Novem
ber general election a proposed amend
ment to the State Constitution of 1890
to require those seeking to become
qualified electors to “be of good moral
character.”
Former Gov. J. P. Coleman, now a
member of the Legislature from Choc
taw County, opposed the proposed
amendment on grounds that it leaves
the “moral character” of an applicant
to be determined by the county regis
trar (circuit clerk). A similar amend
ment in 1952 was rejected by the vot
ers.
SERIES OF LAWS
The legislators also passed a series
of laws setting up heavy fines for “sit-
in” demonstrations. Although they do
not name any particular group, the
bills were rushed through during Ne
gro student demonstrations in other
southern states in protest of segrega
tion.
An early legislative enactment was
a law authorizing local trustees to
close any one or more schools under
(See MISSISSIPPI, Page 11)
Legal action in the case is uncertain.
George Wright, deputy attorney gen
eral for Kent County, said he is not
certain the statutes for school elections
would permit prosecution in the case
even if irregularities are proven.
Frederick Whitney, deputy attorney
general for Sussex County, did not
comment. Milford lies in both coun
ties and its four-member school board
is divided.
AWAITS DECISION
The State Board of Education is
awaiting a federal court decision as to
whether its grade-a-year desegregation
plan is acceptable.
The plan, which went into effect last
September, was reviewed by the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Third District
in Philadelphia in April.
Normally, the court makes a decision
within 60 days.
The state board held a special regis
tration for first and second graders
(both grades will be desegregated in
September) but did not release any en
rollment statistics. However, it did re
quest local districts to file the enroll
ment by race.
At Laurel, it was learned there was
a 50 per cent drop in the first grade at
Dunbar (Negro) School. Only 20 Ne
gro pupils registered, compared to 40
last year.
Enrollment at the North Laurel
elementary white school fell off from
137 to 104.
Rep. Chester Bowles (D-Conn)
warned at a Law Day program on civil
rights and civil liberties in Wilmington
that difficult days for racial under
standing lie ahead.
Bowles, former ambassador to India,
cited the school integration problem in
the United States, saying that “we have
lost the optimistic mood of 1954.”
He noted that when President Harry
S. Truman issued the executive order
ending segregation in the armed forces
the order was readily accepted. At the
time, he said, the national mood was
ready for the change.
“But that national mood of under
standing and moderation has been
lost,” he added. The nation must have
the mood under which laws can be
made to function, he said.
Dr. Jerome H. Holland, 44, president
of Delaware State College since 1953,
will become president of Hampton In
stitute at Hampton, Va., in July.
Enrollment at Delaware State, pre
dominantly Negro, has grown from less
than 100 to more than 400 dining the
tenure of Dr. Holland. More than three
million dollars worth of new facilities
were constructed.
In his letter of resignation, Holland
called upon “the citizens of Delaware,
both openly and through their Legis
lature, to support the growth and de
velopment of the college.”
Hampton Institute is a privately en
dowed college founded in 1867. Its
present enrollment is approximately
1,400.
PLANS TO RESIGN
Another Delaware educator, Dr. Wil
liam B. Simpson of Caesar Rodney, an
nounced his plans to resign his position
no later than 1962.
Dr. Simpson, who last month took
sharp issue with the State Board of
Education over its policy of registra
tion of Negro pupils, said he thought
the citizens in his district wanted a
change.
He made his announcement during
the election campaign of James R. Ben
nett, Caesar Rodney Board of Educa
tion president, who Simpson backed
for re-election.
RETAINED POST
Bennett, who retained his board post,
has supported Simpson in his dispute
with the state board.
Both Bennett and Simpson objected
to a registration policy adopted by the
state board which allowed Negro pu
pils who had not attended white
schools in the first grade to enter white
schools at the second-grade level.
The state board held that the Negro
pupils had that right under the grade-
a-year desegregation order from the
U.S. District Court.
The state board rejected, by taking
no action, a request from Caesar Rod
ney to “call a meeting of the school
boards of the state ... in order to de
velop some reasonable substitute for
the directive issued.” # # $