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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE I960—PAGE 5
FLORIDA
Bryant Defeats Candidate Backed by Collins
MIAMI, Fla.
F lorida nominated a governor
in the Democratic runoff pri
mary. (See “Political Activity.”)
Farris Bryant, 45, of Ocala,
campaigned on a promise to work
for continued segregation. He was
described as a state’s rightist.
His nomination was opposed by
Gov. LeRoy Collins in an un
precedented speech in which he
said it would lead to “reaction,
retreat and regret.”
Court suits were active in Palm
Beach and Escambia counties,
with prospects of others to be
filed this fall. (See “Legal Ac
tion.”)
Dade school administrators finally
denied applications of six Negroes to
enter white schools but left the door
open for a review. (See “School Boards
and Schoolmen.”)
Tallahassee university students were
fined and lectured for taking part in
lunch counter demonstrations. (See “In
The Colleges.”)
Florida’s new governor-nominate is
Farris Bryant, 45, of Ocala, who de
feated Sen. Doyle Carlton of Wauchula
in the Democratic runoff primary.
Somewhat unexpectedly, race issues,
and in particular school segregation,
became one of the hottest issues.
Bryant accused Carlton of being
“soft” on school desegregation. He
promised he would exhaust every ju
dicial remedy before honoring a court
order to integrate schools. He declared
it was not the responsibility of a gover
nor to enforce federal court orders.
But he said he would never close a
school to preserve segregation, although
he might use such powers to prevent
violence.
“Federal troops will never come into
Florida if I am governor,” said Bryant.
The nominee accused his opponent
of receiving bloc-vote Negro support
in the first election.
“The people ought to ask what it
was that brought the Negro voters over
to him,” he said.
URGED MODERATION
Carlton, in contrast, urged modera
tion and said he would continue along
the path followed by Gov. LeRoy Col
lins. He said that Bryant was deliber
ately creating race bitterness.
“I won’t be a class governor,” he
declared. “I will follow the lawful
course and give the leadership that will
enable us to maintain a free public
school system. This is the one big is
sue, and the big difference between us.
We can’t build Florida with a negative
approach and we can’t build a state
with a destructive approach.”
Bryant’s victory was considered a
repudiation of Gov. Collins’ moderate
race policies, because of Collins’ elec
tion-eve entry into the race in behalf
of Carlton.
The governor said that the election
of Bryant would lead to “reaction, re
treat and regret.”
Florida tradition of long standing
calls for the governor to remain aloof
from the campaign to name his suc
cessor. Collins broke this precedent be
cause of a “deep personal conviction”
that his racial policies were in danger.
The fundamental issue in the cam
paign, he said, was a continuation of
those policies.
“Sen. Carlton said he will stay on the
course we are now moving on,” he
said. “This is the course of good order,
of harmony, of respect for man, of
progress.
“Is there any state that has equalled
Florida’s harmonious handling of this
racial problem?”
After the result became official, Col
lins said: “I have no regret for my role
in this campaign.”
The Collins setback came on the day
he was chosen to be permanent chair
man of the Democratic national con
vention. His moderate stand on the race
issue was instrumental in his selection.
WAS HOUSE SPEAKER
The man who will face the Republi
can nominee in November, with virtual
assurance of election, has been pointing
for the governorship of Florida since
he was nine years old, according to
friends. Taking his law degree at Har
vard, he was elected to the Legislature
in 1952. Resigning to enter the Navy
during World War H, Bryant returned
to serve five legislative terms, being
House speaker in 1953. He won a num
ber of awards for outstanding service.
A candidate for governor in 1956, he
ran third in a field of six.
Sen. Carlton, the loser, was a leader
in opposing extreme racial legislation.
At the 1957 session he helped block a
number of strong school segregation
measures, including a “last resort” bill
which would have closed integrated
schools.
DEFENDED VOTE
The governor’s race was not the only
one in which segregation was a factor.
Jesse W. Yarborough, member of the
Dade County school board, was a can
didate for secretary of state. Yarbor
ough was forced to defend his action
in voting to desegregate Orchard Villa
School in Miami, first in the state to
integrate.
“I have been brought up under, and
believe in, southern customs and tradi
tions.
“With the federal courts breathing
down our necks and with evidence in
dicating the cards were stacked against
us, we pulled the rug out from under
every pending court case which at
tacked the pupil assignment law” by
approving token integration at Orchard
Villa, Yarborough said.
“If the school boards throughout
Florida would face reality with reason
rather than be influenced by raee-
baiters, our pupil assignment law will
remain legal and our public schools
will not face mass integration in the
foreseeable future.”
Yarborough was decisively beaten by
Sen. Tom Adams of Orange Park by a
margin of almost 100,000 votes. Po
litical commentators conceded that
Yarborough’s action in the Orchard
Villa case influenced voters against him
in some areas.
GOT 10,000 VOTES
In Pinellas County, Mrs. C. Bette
Wimbish, a Negro housewife, was can
didate for the school board. Mrs. Wim
bish received some 10,000 votes to
some 24,000 for Dr. William Casler,
white veterinarian.
An analysis of the race by the St.
Petersburg Times brought out the fact
that while Pinellas County has only
3,798 registered Negro Democrats, Mrs.
Wimbish received almost three times
that many votes. Clearly white persons
in every section of the county sup
ported her.
C. FARRISS BRYANT
Beat Carlton in Runoff
LEGAL ACTION
The four-year-old Palm Beach
school suit (Holland v. Board of Pub
lic Instruction of Palm Beach County)
was renewed in federal district court.
William L. Holland Sr., father of the
boy, asked the court to decide if his
son might attend a white school with
out exhausting all the administrative
procedures under the pupil assignment
law.
Holland said recent federal court de
cisions had negated the requirement.
He asked a speedy and immediate rul
ing on these points:
• He and his son have faithfully
tried to exhaust all administrative
remedies.
• An application to enter a white
school has been pending without action
since June 8, 1959.
• The school board had “evidenced
an intent” to use the assignment law to
“forever” prevent Negro children from
getting their rights under previous Su
preme Court decisions.
After a hearing in which the old
charges were rehashed (this case has
been to the Circuit Court of Appeals
on three occasions) District Judge Em-
ett C. Choate told the school board to
make up its mind in two weeks.
“Time is of the essence,” said attor
ney I. C. Smith, representing Holland.
“They are violating our rights by not
making a decision.”
PENSACOLA CASE
In Pensacola, the suit involving 12
Negro children (Augustus et al v.
Board of Public Instruction of Escam
bia County) came up on a motion by
the school board to strike part of the
pleadings. This was a plea for injunc
tion against the school board’s alleged
policy of assigning Negro teachers on a
segregated basis. The school board
said the plaintiffs had no right to act
for the teachers.
District Judge C. Harold Carswell
took the case under advisement, indi
cating he would rule in about two
weeks.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
After a seven-month delay, the Dade
County school board denied the request
of six Negro children to attend white
schools. The applications involved
schools all over Dade County.
The Rev. Theodore R. Gibson, head
of the local National Assn, for the Ad
vancement of Colored People, whose
son is one of the pupils involved, ac
cused the school board of bad faith.
Nevertheless, after several days of
consideration, the Negro leaders of the
community decided not to contest the
board’s ruling.
They reached the decision because
the board held open the prospect that
a number of Negro children might be
assigned to white schools next fall. In
turning down the applications the board
made reference to administrative prac
tices which was interpreted as meaning
further consideration.
“If they had intended to keep the
schools closed to Negroes they would
have denied the applications outright,”
said one spokesman.
The administrative practices referred
to included the recent mailing of let
ters to all parents, white and Negro,
explaining their right of appeal from
assignments under the pupil assignment
law. As a result of this letter, said
school administrators, “several hun
dred” requests for transfer were re
ceived. How many of these involved
Negroes wishing to enter white schools
was not disclosed. School officials said
the results had not been officially tab
ulated.
If the applications of the original six
are rejected again at the beginning of
the fall term they will be able to ap
peal directly to the State Board of Ed
ucation and, if denied there, directly
to the state courts.
FALL DRIVE SET
The Rev. A. Leon Lowry of Tampa,
state president of the NAACP, said a
mass attempt to enroll Negro children
in white schools will be made next fall.
“No specific schools have been sin
gled out,” he said, “but all metropolitan
areas will be affected.”
Lowry said parents were being en
couraged to register their children. Be
tween 400 and 600 children will be in
volved in the Tampa area alone, he
said.
Other cities mentioned as targets for
this move included Miami, Jacksonville,
Orlando, Pensacola, Tallahassee, West
Palm Beach and perhaps others.
IN THE COLLEGES
The involvement of white and Negro
university students in Tallahassee in
lunch counter demonstrations resulted
in the trial of one Negro and 11 white
students in Tallahassee City Court.
Judge John Rudd found all defend
ants guilty. Eleven were fined $300,
with an alternative of 60 days in jail.
The 12th was paroled in the custody of
his parents. Eight defendants received
additional sentences of 30 days, which
were suspended.
Six white students fined previously
on the same charges were placed on
indefinite probation by the authorities
of Florida State University. They were
warned to “steer clear of further acts
of incitement.” # # #
WEST VIRGINIA
State NAACP Conference Pledges
Support for Student Demonstrators
CHARLESTON, W. Va.
T he West Virginia Conference
of the National Assn, for the
Advancement of Colored People
has pledged moral and financial
support to Negro college students
staging demonstrations against
segregation. (See “Community
Action.”)
Three Negro college students
arrested for picketing a segregat
ed movie house in Bluefield will
appeal to the State Supreme
Court. (See “Legal Action.”)
The West Virginia NAACP prom
ised moral and financial support to
demonstrating students at its meeting
in Charleston. Representatives from
West Virginia State College, Bluefield
State College and Marshall College re
ported on the student protests. West
Virginia State, like Bluefield, was an
all-Negro institution prior to 1954.
Student organizations at both West
Virginia and Bluefield State have been
active in recent months in anti-segre
gation demonstrations. There is no pro
test organization at Marshall, a pre
dominantly white school.
After meeting together the students
issued a statement declaring their in
tention to continue their fight for equal
rights.
Rev. C. Anderson Davis of Bluefield,
state NAACP president, said the State
Legal Redress Committee has been au
thorized to use its funds for any nec
essary legal action to protect the
student demonstrators.
West Virginia State students report
ed that the state’s largest department
store, the Diamond in Charleston, lift
ed its racial ban at lunch counters after
two years of boycotts and sit-ins. Store
officials said they were co-operating
with the Mayor’s Commission on Hu
man Relations.
The students from Bluefield said two
variety stores had desegregated their
lunch counters. Picket lines continue
in front of three Bluefield theaters,
which have segregated seating.
KANAWHA COUNCIL
Heading the Kanawha Valley Council
on Human Relations for the 1960-61
year will be Mrs. Charles W. Wilson
III. She and other new officers were
named May 9 at a meeting of the steer
ing committee.
The council, formed almost a year
ago, has set a goal to “make democra
cy a living, working reality in the
Kanawha Valley area.”
The organization—not to be confused
with the Mayor’s Commission on Hu
man Relations—has been active in sev
eral projects. Its members spent sev
eral weeks visiting Charleston stores
to distribute a series of monthly post
ers urging racial and religious toler
ance. The posters were prepared by
the Mayor’s Commission.
SPEAKERS CONGRATULATE
A battery of speakers headed by
baseball executive Branch Rickey con
gratulated the Mayor’s Commission on
Human Relations April 27 for its ef
forts to end segregation in Charleston.
Rickey, president of the Continental
Baseball League, was principal speaker
at the organization’s first annual din
ner at the Civic Center.
Others who praised the commission
members for their efforts were: Gov.
Cecil Underwood, U.S. Sen. Jennings
Randolph, Rep. John M. Slack Jr., U.S.
District Judge John A. Field Jr. and
Mayor John Shanklin.
would be appealed to the Supreme
Court.
OL BOARDS
SCHOOLMEN
Paul W. Watson of Kingwood, su
perintendent of Preston County
Schools, has been elected president of
the West Virginia Education Assn, for
1960-61. Watson’s selection came May
7 at the closing session of the annual
WVEA Delegate Assembly here.
The assembly also adopted recom
mendations to be presented to the next
Legislature. It asked that the state
guarantee the basic foundation pro
gram and be financially responsible for
a minimum net expenditure of $130 per
pupil in the public schools.
The other half of the program called
for increased salaries. Requested were
$4,600 for a Ph.D. degree, $4,500 for
graduate work beyond the master’s de
gree, $4,300 for a master’s degree and
$4,000 for a bachelor’s degree.
Lambert said the proposed program
would cost an estimated 30 million dol
lars annually. The assembly made no
recommendations as to how the money
would be raised.
LEGAL ACTION
Three Negro college students, arrest
ed for picketing a theater in Bluefield,
were found guilty of contempt of Cir
cuit Court and sentenced either to
serve a jail sentence or pay a fine. The
charge against them was violation of an
injunction issued earlier by Mercer
County Circuit Judge F. Morton Wag
ner to limit the number of pickets at
movie theaters in Bluefield to two at
each location. As many as 20 or 30 had
been outside the theaters at one time
or another.
The injunction had been issued
against “James Henderson and associ
ates.” Henderson drew a 10-day jail
sentence. The other two, John Ken
nedy and James Smedley, were fined
$25 and costs.
Redmond said the cases of all three
Graduates from West Virginia Uni
versity and 16 colleges in the state will
total 4,296 this year, counting those re
ceiving summer school and mid-term
degrees.
A compilation by the State Board of
Education showed 4,025 graduates last
year. The University’s total for this
year was 1,358, compared to 1,366 last
year. From the nine state colleges the
graduates totalled 2,000 this year
1,909 last year.
Morris Harvey College, the state’s
largest private institution and segre
gated, announced May 7 that applica
tions for entry next fall have doubled
over last year.
“Our full-time enrollment next fall,”
Admissions Counselor William J.
Briggs Jr. said, “would be much larger
if more on-campus housing was avail
able.”
The admissions office has 235 applica
tions, mostly from freshmen, on hand,
compared to 108 last year. The expect
ed total enrollment at the college will
be approximately 1,000 full-time stu
dents next fall, according to Briggs.
# # #