Newspaper Page Text
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PAGE 16—JUNE I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
GEORGIA
Judge
Showdown
Gives Atlanta
Another
MACON, Ga.
I n a “last chance” decision,
U. S. District Judge Frank A.
Hooper ruled that an Atlanta
school desegregation plan must
begin in 1961.
Judge Hooper said that no mat
ter what the Legislature does or
does not do, the desegregation
plan must go into effect May 1,
1961.
This means that the anticipated
crisis caused by federal desegre
gation laws and state laws re
quiring the closing of integrated
schools will be delayed until the
opening of the term in Septem
ber 1961. (See “Legal Action.”)
A potentially explosive racial
situation was defused in Atlanta
when more than 2,000 marching
Negro college students by-passed
the state capitol. (See “Com
munity Action.”)
LEGAL ACTION
U. S. District Judge Frank A. Hooper
ordered the Atlanta school desegrega
tion plan to go into effect May 1, 1961.
This would allow the applications ex
pected from Negro children wanting to
enter white schools to be processed in
time for the opening of the 1961-62
school term in September 1961.
School closings probably will result
if the state does not withdraw from its
no-integration attitude, Judge Hooper
said. He expressed hope that the Legis
lature would act to prevent public
school shutdowns. However, in his for
mal order, he said that no matter what
the General Assembly does in 1961, the
Atlanta Board of Education must put
the pupil placement desegregation plan
into effect on May 1 next year.
The plan originally called for de
segregation only in die 12th grade in
the first year of operation. Judge
Hooper’s order said desegregation must
be permitted in both the 11th and 12th
grades in September 1961.
Speculation had been that the plain
tiffs would appeal the order but an
attorney for the National Assn, for the
Advancement of Colored People, A. T.
Walden, said the wording might result
in a change in plans to appeal. Walden
said the order clarifies a point that had
Negro counsel worried: whether legis
lative inaction could delay desegrega
tion. He said the formal order more or
less upheld the Negroes’ argument that
implementation of the plan should not
depend on what the Legislature does.
PRAISES COMMISSION
Judge Hooper praised the Sibley
school study commission, saying he be
lieved that with the leadership it has
given Georgia “might change its mind
next January” on the segregation-in
tegration issue.
The Sibley commission, after exten
sive hearings over the state, reported
on May 1. A majority of 11 members
favored local option on the desegrega
tion issue. A minority of eight were
against any changes in Georgia’s strict
segregation laws (Southern School
News, May 1960).
Admitting he was “troubled” about
the situation, Judge Hooper, a former
state legislator himself, said the delay
afforded in his order will be “the last
chance” the court will give the Legis
lature and to Georgians to avoid what
may come.
He said he was trying to be helpful
and not trying to “dabble” in the af
fairs of the Legislature.
Two helpful things could be accomp
lished by the 1961 Legislature, the
judge said. One would be enactment
of a statewide pupil placement law. The
other would be to permit the people of
Atlanta to vote on whether they wish
to close their schools rather than have
any integration. These things could be
done, he said, without any changes in
the state constitution.
The present Legislature (1959-60) is
made up of men who ran for office,
almost without exception, on a no-in
tegration platform, Hooper said. He
added that many men will be running
for the Legislature in September and
“if those candidates go further than
this (Sibley) minority report, they may
find themselves in the position that
they’ve got to vote against any ‘give’ at
all on the Atlanta situation and force
the closing of all the Georgia schools.”
Hooper emphasized that the Sibley
minority group report did not take an
absolutely die-hard stand against
change and had recommended that the
Governor and the Legislature keep an
eye on the situation and possibly take
necessary steps to meet problems in the
future.
The 1961 Legislature, he said, could
be composed of “a great many” legisla
tors who would vote to have “some in
tegration under a gradual plan” rather
than see all of the public schools closed.
DIFFERENT FEELING
Cities and rural areas in Georgia
have a different feeling about integra
tion, the judge said, because cities feel
that residential patterns will keep in
tegration to a minimum. But, he added,
the closing of all the schools in the state
is “a danger our friends in the rural
areas seem to have overlooked.”
Mrs. Constance Motley, NAACP
counsel from New York associated in
the case, said that the governor and
the Legislature had taken an “extreme
position” for maintaining segregation
and had enacted laws “expressly de
signed” to prevent implementation of
the desegregation law. Hooper agreed
that “the mandate of the Supreme
Court” must be carried out. But he said
he believes the Atlanta school desegre
gation plan is “reasonable” and jvill be
upheld by the higher courts.
Gov. Ernest Vandiver called on Ne
groes to maintain voluntary segregation
in the face of the court order. He said
future action is up to the men Geor
gians send to the 1961 Legislature.
Wan on the J3ench
Hooper Held
House Seat
From Atlanta
By JOE PARHAM
ATLANTA, Ga.
ederal Judge Frank A. Hoop
er, who has put it up to the
Georgia Legislature whether At
lanta’s schools desegregate or
close, has sat on the U.S. District
Court bench 11 years.
Judge Hooper was a Georgia
legislator himself before receiving
his appointment as judge from
President Harry S. Truman in
1949. The judge, who was born in
Americus, Ga., on April 21, 1895,
represented Fulton County (At
lanta) in the Legislature for three
years before retiring without op
position.
As a student at Georgia Tech, Hoop
er was prevented from graduating by
a serious illness. He read law in his
father’s office in Atlanta, passed a bar
examination and was admitted in July,
1916. He served a year as secretary
to the late Sen. Walter F. George, who
was a state appellate court judge at
the time.
Hooper served in
the Navy in World
War I, was a judge
on the State Court
of Appeals in 1933
and was an instruc
tor at the Atlanta
Law School for nine
years. He holds
three degrees,
LL.B., LL.M., and
LL.D., from that
school.
The father of three sons, the 65-year-
old Hooper is married to the former
Carolyn Newton of Gainesville, Ga.
As a federal judge in a state in
which there is no public school de
segregation on any level, Judge Hoop
er has been on the bench when several
highly controversial cases were argued.
In the Horace Ward case, in which
a Negro sought entry to the University
of Georgia School of Law, Hooper ruled
that Ward had not exhausted all ad
ministrative remedies. In an Atlanta
bus desegregation case, Hooper decided
in favor of the Negro plaintiffs.
In connection with the Atlanta school
desegregation case, Judge Hooper has
said: “The decision of closing the
schools is on the people of Georgia
and not on this court...” # # #
HOOPER
Final Examination
laid*.
Atlanta Constitution
House floor leader Frank A. Twitty
said the “present makeup of the Legis
lature certainly wouldn’t pass any
thing” to change Georgia’s present
strong segregation laws.
James S. Peters, chairman of the
State Board of Education, said the is
sue will be fought out in the 1962
Democratic gubernatorial primary
“and possibly—or probably—in the
general election.”
State School Supt. Claude Purcell
said he anticipated further litigation.
He said he believed there will be some
desegregation in the schools and that
under existing state laws some schools
will be closed.
The Rev. Samuel W. Williams, At
lanta NAACP chapter president, said:
“I wish we could share the optimism
of the court that the Legislature will
take any action to make desegregation
possible.”
In several county primaries for legis
lative posts, it was noted, some candi
dates are campaigning on promises to
permit local option on whether people
in affected communities wish to see
their schools shut down or desegre
gated.
A potentially explosive racial situa
tion was defused in Atlanta when more
than 2,000 marching Negro college stu
dents by-passed the state capitol, where
armed state troopers had been stationed
to prevent a demonstration.
The students marched in celebration
of the sixth anniversary of the U. S.
Supreme Court desegregation ruling.
Gov. Vandiver had warned that the
demonstration at the capitol would not
be permitted. Only a short distance
from the capitol, the Negroes turned
aside and staged a desegregation rally
at a Negro church.
Mayor Hartsfield of Atlanta turned
down a grand jury’s recommendation
for a bi-racial group to promote better
community understanding, saying both
races enjoy communication now and
nothing could be accomplished by a
big, overall committee. In Savannah,
Mayor Lee Mingledorf said his special
bi-racial committee to ease tensions
had failed and was on an inactive sta
tus.
IN THE COLLEGES
Gov. Vandiver said the state is in
vestigating the status of private Negro
colleges in Georgia whose students
participate in anti-segregation demon
strations.
Vandiver said he wanted to know
whether they are institutions of learn
ing or “headquarters for demonstra
tors.”
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
The Georgia Republican Party adopt
ed a platform that included a call
for keeping the public schools open and
challenged the Democrats to do like
wise.
U.S. Rep. Erwin Mitchell of the Sev
enth District, who is retiring from Con
gress at the end of his term, blamed
Georgia’s political leadership for com
placency over the desegregation ruling.
Mitchell promised to support a free-
dom-of-choice plan at a save-the-
schools rally in Atlanta.
WHAT THEY SAY
Dr. John W. Letson of Chattanooga,
who will become Atlanta school super
intendent July 1, predicted eventual
(Continued From Page 13)
students have been taught at the Grif
fith AME Zion Church in Burnsville
and the high school students have at
tended Allen High School in Asheville,
a private school operated for many
years by the Woman’s Division of
Christian Service of the Methodist
Church. Funds for the tuition of the
students at Allen and for the salary of
the teacher in the Burnsville church
have come from the Burnsville Educa
tional Project, an interracial group
whose impetus comes from members of
the faculty at Allen High.
The group has raised about $5,000
this year, now has plans for a summer
recreation and remedial instruction
program at the Griffith Church in
Burnsville.
The trial on July 11 will be to deter
mine whether Judge Warlick will, as
the pending suit requests, direct the
admission of the Negro students to
Yancey white schools next September.
More than 637,000 Democrats voted
in the May 28 primary to nominate a
governor, a U.S. senator, representa
tives, state legislators and many local
officials.
Only in the governor’s race was the
school desegregation issue a publicly
debated point, though it did enter,
somewhat, into the race for nomination
for the House of Representatives from
North Carolina’s 10th District. In that
race, the candidate favoring state’s
rights lost.
In the governor’s race, Terry Sanford,
a Fayetteville lawyer, long-time party
worker and a man who started his
campaign at least two years ago, polled
263,563 votes to lead. He had consist
ently endorsed North Carolina’s four-
year-old policy of limited desegrega
tion, controlled by school boards at the
local level under the pupil placement
laws.
The runnerup, with 175,727 votes, was
Dr. I. Beverly Lake (Ph.D. in law).
The former Wake Forest College law
professor formerly was assistant attor
ney general, who during 1954 to 1956
was active in the drafting of many of
the state’s school laws on assignment.
Singe 1956 he has been in private law
practice in Raleigh. His request for a
second primary is expected to bring the
racial aspects of the campaign to the
fore, perhaps more so than they were
during the campaign for the first pri
mary.
LAKE OPPOSES
Lake opposes desegregation. He has
said Negro children should be regard
ed as invaders” when they enter white
schools and has pledged that he would
try to create “a climate of opinion”
that would make segregation prefer
able to desegregation. He has not, how
ever, made specific proposals for
changes in assignment or other school
laws; instead, he said Gov. Luther H.
Hodges has not used them the way they
were intended.
Lake’s vote was strongest in eastern
North Carolina, the rural section of the
state where the Negro population runs
40 to 50 per cent or higher. Lake car
ried 25 of North Carolina’s 100 counties
and received 28 per cent of the vote.
Sanford carried 66 counties, partic
ularly a concentration in the industrial
Piedmont where the Negro population
runs 25 per cent or less. He received
42 per cent of the vote.
Malcolm B. Seawell, Lumberton law
yer, solicitor and judge who resigned
as attorney general to enter the race,
carried only one county, received
100,885 votes, or about 15 per cent of
the total. He was the strongest, most
solution of the segregation-integration
problem in Georgia’s capital city. Let-
son said the spirit of Atlanta knocks
out the possibility of a permanent
breakdown in public education.
A charter for private schools in Tift
County was obtained. Rep. Henry Bos
tick urged Gov. Vandiver to take the
lead in encouraging formation of pri
vate school groups “in every county”
in order to put Negroes “on notice that
the white people intend to have segre
gated schools.” # # #
outspoken defender of the state’s ex
isting policies on desegregation. He had
the tacit endorsement of Gov. Hodges,
who appointed him attorney general
two years ago.
RUNNING LAST
Running last was John D. Larkins,
Trenton lawyer and state legislator. He
carried eight counties, got 99,474 votes
or slightly less than 15 per cent of the
total. Larkins favored existing school
admission policies,
A second primary will be held June
25.
These figures are based on returns
from 2,034 of 2,094 of North Carolina’s
precincts.
In the 10th Congressional District,
David Clark, Lincolnton lawyer who
lost to Republican Charles R. Jonas two
years ago, defeated Phillip N. Alexan
der of Charlotte in the Democratic pri
mary. Alexander had endorsed basic
state’s rights position and was in part
backed in Mecklenburg County (Char
lotte) by former participants in some
segregationists movements.
Winston-Salem’s downtown variety
stores have agreed to desegregate their
lunch counters in accordance with rec
ommendations of the Mayor’s Goodwill
Committee. The 20-member committee
—10 Negroes and 10 whites'—had been
at work since April 2. Its final an
nouncement was on May 23.
Citizens committees in Greensboro
and in High Point have also recom
mended desegregation of lunch count
ers but merchants in those cities have
rejected the recommendations. A com
mittee in Charlotte is studying the
problem, but is reportedly making lit
tle progress.
Meanwhile, in Durham and Greens
boro, new arrests were made as dem
onstrations continued. Forty-five stu
dents were arrested and charged with
trespassing in Greensboro. Two of them
were white girls, both from predom
inantly Negro Bennett College. These
were the first arrests in Greensboro
demonstrations.
In Durham, what was described as a
free-for-all racial fight broke out May
1 during a demonstration against seg
regated lunch counters in Walgreen’s
Drug Store. It ended with a teen-age
boy being admitted to a hospital with
a possible brain concussion. Police ar
rested two Negroes and a white man
and charged them with assault and bat
tery.
On May 11, Durham police arrested
57 students, four of them white, and
charged them with trespassing. Six of
the girls were later held in contempt
of Durham Superior Court by Judge
Raymond B. Mallard. They were held
to have disturbed a trial (unrelated to
the demonstrations) by singing and
stamping their feet in their nearby jail
cell.
C. B. Deane of Rockingham, presi
dent of the North Carolina Baptist
Convention, has been criticized for
suggesting that Baptist colleges prepare
for desegregation.
Shearon Harris, a Raleigh lawyer
and parliamentarian of the convention,
said it would be unfair to the colleges
to have them ‘blaze trails as the social
consciences of the chinch.” He added:
“Until it is the commonly and wide
ly accepted practice to accept Negro
members in our churches, our schools
should not be called upon to do dif
ferently.” # # #
North Carolina