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PAGE 2—JUNE I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Louisiana (Continued From Page 1) plan for integration by the May 16 deadline. Three hours later Wright issued a brief order, in the form of a four- paragraph minute entry, directing the board: 1) To begin in September the inte gration of the first grade under a plan whereby “all children entering the first grade may attend either the formerly all-white public school nearest their homes, or formerly all-Negro public school nearest their homes, at their option.” 2) To prohibit making transfers from one school to another if the transfers are based on consideration of race. Though Wright’s order did not spell out specifically a grade-a-year plan of integration, it was generally accepted as such. He earlier had told the school board he favored such a plan. MEET WITH GOVERNOR The school board, deferring action on school construction jobs on the grounds that there may be no public schools in September, met with Gov. Jimmie H. Davis, Atty. Gen. Jack P. F. Gremillion and others at Baton Rouge to discuss the federal order. Davis issued a brief statement after wards saying that a course of action had been agreed upon but neither he nor any of the other conferees would say what legal or legislative action is planned. The Orleans board contends the question of integrating is out of its hands. In their final appeal to Judge Wright before his order was issued they contended that Act 319 of the 1956 Legislature specifically gives to the Legislature the sole authority to deter mine which schools shall be for whites and which for Negroes. But the act has been declared by Wan on the d3encli Judge Wright Once Taught Local School By EMILE COMAR NEW ORLEANS, La. ederal District Judge James Skelly Wright, who issued his own plan May 16 for deseg regating New Orleans public schools, both studied and taught in the Orleans Parish (county) school system. During the three years (1933- 35) that he taught at Fortier High School, Judge Wright was elected the most popular teacher. The jurist was admitted to the bar in 1934 after his graduation from Loy ola University’s law school. He had won the scholar- ship to Loyola while attending a New Orleans pub lic high school. After his brief teaching career, Wright was ap pointed an assist ant U.S. attorney at New Orleans in 1937 and served until 1946. After two years in private practice in Wash ington, he was appointed U.S. attorney at New Orleans in 1948 and served until he was named to the bench of the Eastern District of Louisiana in Oc tober 1949. Thirty-eight years of age at the time of appointment, Wright was one of the youngest federal jurists in the nation. He is a Catholic, a Democrat and a native of New Orleans. During World War II he served in the U.S. Coast Guard. Wright is a faculty member of Loy ola’s law school. He is a member of the standing committee on rules of procedure in federal courts and the committee on revision of the law of the judicial conference of the United States. On the federal bench, he previously has ordered integration of institutions of higher learning in Louisiana. More recently, Wright directed that 1,300 Ne groes be restored to the voting rolls in the state-federal dispute over voter registration. # # # WRIGHT Judge Wright to be unconstitutional, though the State Supreme Court later ruled it was constitutional. The school board, headed by Lloyd Rittiner, said the matter is in the hands of the governor. BIDS HELD UP Board members first openly talked of school closure at a meeting one week before the desegregation order. They voted to hold up bids on school con struction jobs pending final decision on what will be done in September. But on May 25, the board took the position that it would continue to fight the federal court integration order while adopting, for the present, a policy that the schools will be kept open. Four of the five members approved a statement of policy which said in part: “. . . The board, without making a prediction, is necessarily adopting for the present time the policy that the schools will be open.” It is impossible, said the board, “to determine at this time whether the schools will be opened or closed this September.” HAS CLOSING POWER Under state law, the governor has the power to close schools ordered to integrate. At the current legislative session, a bill introduced would em power the governor to close all schools to maintain peace and order in the wake of court integration orders. On May 3, in answer to a school board post-card poll of parents or guardians of all children in public schools, white citizens voted 12,229 to 2,707 to close the public schools rather than accept even token integration. The Negro parents voted 11,407 to 679 to keep the schools open despite in tegration. Board President Rittiner said the board was considering the vote of the white parents only as it determined its course of action. The board, he said, would “try to follow the will of the majority of the white parents.” TWO ANSWERS There are 41,894 white children in the public schools of New Orleans and 50,704 Negroes. A total of 61.37 per cent of the white parents and 47.03 of the Negroes answered the post-card poll, which gave two alternative an swers: 1) I would like the schools kept open even though a small amount of inte gration is necessary. 2) I would like the schools closed rather than being integrated in small amounts. Of immediate importance also in New Orleans is the status of the Cath olic schools, which serve about 35 per cent of the total school population in Orleans Parish. Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel of New Orleans has said he would de segregate Catholic schools at a date no later than public school desegrega tion. He has made no statement of policy since the Wright order but it is assumed the Catholic schools will fol low the same plan as the public schools, excepting closure. Private schools in New Orleans serve only 3.5 per cent of the school popula tion. FILED IN 1952 The Orleans case before Judge Wright, a native of New Orleans and a former pupil and teacher in the Or leans public school system, was filed in 1952. On Feb. 15, 1956, he ordered the school board to desegregate “with all deliberate speed.” After Wright issued his final order, Rittiner complained the judge’s inte gration plan was “ambiguous.” Rittiner said Judge Wright’s plan presents com plications since white schools are overcrowded now and “some white schools are now being by-passed and the white students taken across town to schools which can accommodate them.” Gov. Davis said of the Wright rul ing: “I deeply regret that Judge J. Skelly Wright has failed to recognize the se rious situation which exists in our southland by ordering, upon his own motion, the immediate integration of the public schools system in New Or leans, without considering the serious repercussions that might result there from ... I wish to assure all the peo ple that we will continue our legal efforts to protect their rights. “Having been elected by a majority of our citizens, I will exercise every power granted to me by the Constitu tion of the state of Louisiana as gover nor to see that the wishes of those people are fulfilled.” The final order of Judge Wright was on the original suit of Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board. ORDERS DESEGREGATION Judge Wright, following up on a summary judgment of April 29, or Text of Judge Wright’s Order V. S. District Judge J. Skelly Wright presented his own school desegregation plan to the Orleans Parish (county) school hoard on May 16 after the hoard did not offer a plan of its own. The complete text of the decision follows: “It appearing that on Feb. 15, 1956, the defendant herein was ordered to desegregate the public schools in the parish of Orleans with all de liberate speed; it appearing further that on July 15, 1959, the defendant herein was ordered to file a plan of desegregation by March 1, 1960; it appearing further that on Oct. 9, 1959, the time for filing the plan was extended to May 16, 1960; it appear ing further that on this date, May 16, 1960, the defendant has failed to file a plan, “It is ordered that, beginning with the opening of school in September, 1960, all public schools in the city of New Orleans shall be desegre gated in accordance with the fol lowing plan: “A. All children entering the first grade may attend either the former ly all-white public school nearest their homes, or formerly all-Negro public school nearest their homes, at their option. “B. Children may be transferred from one school to another provided such transfers are not based on con sideration of race.” # # # dered the parish school boards of St. Helena and East Baton Rouge to deseg regate. He said in his judgments: “It is ordered, adjudged and decreed (that the boards) are restrained and enjoined from requiring segregation of the races in any school under their jurisdiction and from engaging in any action which limits or affects the ad ministration to, attendance in, or edu cation of plaintiffs or any other Negro child ... on the basis of race or col or . . .” Wright said integration was to begin “after such time as may be necessary to make arrangements for admission of children to such schools on a racially nondiscriminatory basis with all delib erate speed.” APPEAL FILED The East Baton Rouge school board filed an appeal immediately with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans, asking reversal of Wright’s decision. Six trade schools are also affected. Wright ordered desegregation of trade schools in Crowley, Natchitoches, Greensburg, Lake Charles, Opelousas, and Shreveport. He had also issued a summary judgment against segregation in these schools April 29. The Baton Rouge case is Davis v. the East Baton Parish School Board. In St. Helena the case is that of Hall v. the St. Helena Parish School Board. Wright in the two public school cases also denied petitions for intervention filed by parents of white children who claimed their children would suffer if integration were ordered. USES NEW LAW In a civil rights action, U.S. Atty. Gen. William P. Rogers sent FBI agents into East Carroll, East Feliciana, and Ouachita parishes to demand inspection of voter registration records. East Car- roll and East Feliciana parishes are two of four parishes in the state where there are no Negroes registered. There are 700 Negro registrants among 23,000 voters in Ouachita. Rogers used the 1960 civil rights act in his move. Atty. Gen. Jack P. F. Gremillion an nounced his intent to file suit to block the investigation. He said that Rogers was attempting to conduct a probe that had been declared unconstitutional when it was tried by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. Louisiana challenged the civil rights investigation in north Louisiana par ishes and won a federal court judg ment that the inquiry was unconstitu tional on grounds that voter registrars were not faced by their accusers. COMMUNITY ACTION An organization has been formed in a move to keep the New Orleans pub lic schools opened. Known as “Save Our Schools in New Orleans,” the organization is dedicated to use “all legitimate means (to fur ther) a statewide system of free pub lic education and to offer support to all elected or appointed public officials in their efforts to continue free educa tion.” It was the first public move made by any citizens group in New Orleans to keep the public schools from closing in the face of the federal court order to integrate the first grade in Septem ber. The organization was formed after the Orleans Parish school board an nounced its intention to poll parents of public school children on the ques tion of whether schools should inte grate or close. A number of prominent persons in New Orleans were named to the board of directors of SOS, which said it would not take sides on segregation- integration questions. They include Mrs. Robert Wauchope, Dr. Harold Lief, Dr. Harold Lee, Victor Hess, Mrs. Moise Cahn, Mrs. Charles Keller and Label A. Katz. Dr. Forrest LaViolette, chairman of the department of sociology and an thropology at Tulane, said on an SOS panel that closing of public schools would result into a “retreat to intel lectual feudalism.” Co-chairman of SOS are Rabbi Jul ian B. Feibelman, the Rev. Joseph Fichter and the Rt. Rev. Girault M. Jones. The organization said of its position: “The closing of public schools in evitably means an increase in juvenile delinquency, as thousands of youngs ters are left to their own devices. It means loss of accreditation, loss of fed eral funds and the shifting of addition al tax burdens to all the citizens of Louisiana. “It means the sacrifice of the health- protecting services not available to public school children, such as physical examination, immunization and the school lunch program. “It means economic stagnation, be cause new industries refuse to move into an area in which the public schools have been closed.” The Citizens Council of Greater New Orleans asked federal and state au thorities to investigate the financial backing of the organization. The re quest was directed to Congressman Francis Walter of the House Un-Amer ican Activities Committee, among oth ers. Gov. Jimmie H. Davis, taking the initiative on segregation legislation, had his administration leaders introduce a bill to create a state sovereignty com mission and a score of other bills on segregation. The sovereignty commission, made up of 13 members, would have broad pow ers to prevent the encroachment by the federal government on powers reserved to the state, the bill says. The commission would have the pow er to subpoena witnesses, conduct hear ings and maintain secret records. The bill does not limit the subject matter of the commission’s inquiry and pro vides penalties for persons who refuse to testify or produce records. The Legislature also passed a meas ure continuing the joint legislative committee on segregation, headed in the past by former state Sen. William M. Rainach. Rep. John S. Garrett, vice chairman under Rainach, is expected to become chairman. SOUGHT DELAY Davis administration leaders at one point attempted to delay action on the continuation of the segregation com mittee, pleading time for study to see whether its duties would overlap the sovereignty commission. But Garrett led the successful move for immediate approval as Rainach and Davis jock eyed for position of leadership on the segregation issue. The new governor didn’t wait for the joint legislative committee to as semble all segregation legislation and introduce it as committee action, as has been done in the past. Instead, Davis utilized the services of several district attorneys to work up a segregation program, which includes the following measures directly or in directly affecting segregation: 1) Expand the criminal mischief law to include a provision making it a crime for a person to remain in a place of business after being requested to leave by a business employe in author ity. The maximum penalty is increased to $500 fine and a year in jail. 2) Increase the penalties under the trespass law to $500 fine, six months in jail, or both. 3) Make it a crime for a person to instigate trespassing; penalty $500, six months, or both. 4) Prohibit the obstruction of side walks or other public passageways, also with a maximum $500 fine and six months jail term. 5) Provide that interference with a business by disturbing the peace will be punishable by $500 fine, six months in jail, or both. 6) Stipulate a jail term up to 10 years for a person who causes a breach of the peace which results in injury, maiming or death. 7) Provide that a person giving a false statement that civil rights have been violated shall be imprisoned up to five years and fined up to $1,000. 8) Under a proposed constitutional amendment, provide that illiterates be prevented from voting, that persons convicted of certain crimes be disquali fied, and grant the Legislature power to create new or additional voter quali fications. 9) Prohibit a person from coercing or influencing a registrar of voters with penalties up to five years imprisonment. OTHER BILLS Other bills deal with common law marriages and illegitimacy, one of them making it a crime to give birth to an illegitimate child. The joint legislative committee on segregation announced measures that would prohibit integration at eating places. Members of the committee also in troduced a bill authorizing the gover nor to close all schools in the state to maintain peace and order. Presently the governor has the power to close only those schools specifically ordered in tegrated. The school closure bill would continue to permit schools to be sold to private agencies if closed perma nently by the governor. In a broadening of an existing act, No. 319 of 1956, the segregation com mittee proposed that the Legislature designate a committee of its members to stipulate which schools shall be for white and Negroes. Presently the law applies only in New Orleans. Act 319 has been ruled unconstitutional by Judge J. Skelly Wright, but state authorities continue to maintain that it is constitutional un der Louisiana court rulings. Thurgood Marshall, director-counsel of the Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., National Assn, for the Ad vancement of Colored People, spoke at a Catholic school in New Orleans be cause he was denied use of Municipal Auditorium. Mayor deLesseps Morrison confirmed that he had ordered the publicly owned auditorium not to rent its halls to the NAACP. “I thought that their use of the au ditorium would promote controversy MARSHALL MORRISON and was not in the interest of the peo ple of New Orleans,” Morrison said. Ernest N. Morial, general counsel for the fraternity that sponsored Marshall’s talk on the sit-in demonstrations, said of the mayor’s action: “If the White Citizens Council can have Gov. Ross Barnett and Orval Fau- bus as speakers in the auditorium, then we should also have the permission to have a speaker here.” PICKET LIBRARY At Baton Rouge, five youthful Ne groes picketed the Louisiana State Li brary on the capitol grounds, protesting a rule under which Negroes may do library work on the third floor only- The pickets had placards, marched for two hours, and left without incident. State Librarian Essae M. Culver said some students from a Negro high school had come in and asked to see the cata logue. But, she said, the library re stricts direct service to state officials, state legislators and state employes. “Our services are integrated,” she said. # # #