Newspaper Page Text
\1&7
7
16. /
Factual
Index to Volume VI Begins on Page
SOUTHI
*V9 *SN3HIV
N0 1-1ai ■ n o111sinoov
w , „ . , S 3 Ifc vy 8 I 1
VIOL.39 JO AilSH3AI*n
900 2-8-19 3 n n r
VOL 7,-NO. I
r—
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
$2 PER YEAR
JULY, I960
LOUISIANA
Orleans School Board
Calls for Interposition
Three New Suits Filed
Seeking Desegregation;
Orleans Appeals to State
Alabama’s Placement Law
Is Attacked in Birmingham
NEW ORLEANS, La.
he Orleans Parish (county)
school board, operating a
school system with 50,000 Negro
and 41,000 white children, asked
the governor to use the doctrine
of interposition to prevent the
Sept. 6 integration of New Or
leans public schools.
Gov. Jimmie H. Davis gave no
direct reply to the request or to
news conference questions as to
whether he will use his power to
close the schools rather than have
them desegregated under the
standing order of the federal dis
trict court.
With but two months remaining
before the scheduled opening of
schools, no definite action on the
part of school or Louisiana gov
ernment officials has been taken.
(See “School Boards and School
men.”)
Numerous groups in New Or
leans came forward with declara
tions on the Orleans Parish school
crisis. (See “Community Ac
tion.”)
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals turned down the Orleans
board on its request for a stay of
the order that it must integrate the
first grade beginning when the new
term opens. (See “Legal Action.”)
A bloc of segregation bills were
signed into law. Another measure,
empowering the governor to close
all state public schools in the event
of integration of any one of them,
moved to the Senate with unani
mous House approval. (See “Leg
islative Action.”)
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
Four of the five members of the Or
leans Parish school board voted in fav
or of a resolution asking Gov. Jimmie
H. Davis to use interposition to block
integration of New Orleans public
schools in September.
At a press conference two days later,
I however, Davis called interposition the
“last resort” and hinted at some pos
sible new legal steps directed at main-
1 tabling segregation.
But as the deadline approached for
the New Orleans public schools to de-
segregate at the first-year level on an
order by Federal District Judge J.
Skelly Wright, the school board said it
had reached the end of the rope.
ADOPT RESOLUTION
The majority of the board adopted a
resolution offered by member Theodore
Sheppard which calls on the governor
“to interpose himself as head of the
school system of the state to keep the
schools open on a segregated basis.”
Member Matthew R. Sutherland, one
of the supporters of the resolution, said
if interposition fails the school system
will either have to be closed or comply
with the federal court order.
In the absence of definite action on
whether schools will be opened or
closed, there was a sudden surge of
community debate and the issuance of
statements on both sides of the con
troversy. New Orleans generally had
ignored the possibility of school inte
gration until the last several weeks.
Before the school board voted in fav
or of the doctrine of interposition be
ing used, President Lloyd Rittiner read
several letters sent to the board by
clergymen urging that schools be kept
open.
One of them was from Archbishop
Joseph Francis Rummel of New Or
leans, who himself is head of the large
parochial school system, which houses
some 35 per cent of all school-age chil
dren in New Orleans.
Catholic schools are, like public
schools, segregated. The Archbishop has
not declared what his policy on inte
gration will be in September. Previous
ly he has said that Catholic schools
would integrate no later than public
schools but during June he said no
definite plans have been formulated.
SCHOOLS CROWDED
Both public and Catholic schools of
New Orleans are crowded. Should one
system integrate and the other main
tain segregation there is likely to be a
pupil shift that would create massive
housing problems.
“Why not accept the moderate form
of gradual integration proposed by
Judge Wright as a sound, temperate
interpretation of the American way of
life, and, incidentally, of the Christian
way of life?” the archbishop asked the
board.
In discussing the interposition re
solution, the school board met opposi
tion from Emile A. Wagner Jr., most
(See LOUISIANA, Page 12)
ALABAMA
Suit Challeng es
Placement Law
In Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
irmingham Negroes filed suit
in U.S. District Court there
June 17 demanding an end to
school and park segregation.
The school suit, alleging that
the previously upheld school
placement law is “inadequate to
provide relief,” asked that the
Board of Education be enjoined
from “operating a bi-racial school
system” in Birmingham. (See
“Legal Action.”)
The State Board of Education
ordered Dr. Lawrence D. Reddick
expelled as a faculty member at
Alabama State College for Ne
groes after Gov. John Patterson
branded the professor an agitator
and communist sympathizer. Pat
terson also suggested replacing
the college president, Dr. H.
Councill Trenholm. (See “In The
Colleges.”)
The civil rights issue dominated the
thinking of convention delegates elected
in the state’s Democratic primaries May
3 and May 3L Final official tabulations
from the May 31 run-off primary gave
States Rights candidates for presidential
elector a six to five majority over can
didates pledged to support party nomi
nees regardless of their racial stand.
Thus only a partial bolt, if that, seems
possible when the electors meet in De
cember. (See “Political Activity.”)
LEGAL ACTION
In suits filed in the U.S. District
Court June 17, Birmingham Negroes
asked a federal injunction to end seg-
(See ALABAMA, Page 3)
N egroes filed three new law
suits in federal courts in
June, seeking to desegregate pub
lic schools in Birmingham, Ala.,
Volusia County, Fla., and Caswell
County, N.C.
The Alabama action represents
the only litigation attacking seg
regated schools in the state. It
leaves Mississippi as the only state
that maintains complete segrega
tion in its school system and that
does not have a suit seeking to
change the situation.
The Orleans Parish (county)
school board, facing a federal
court order to desegregate the
New Orleans public schools be
ginning Sept. 6, appealed to Louis
iana Gov. Jimmie H. Davis to use
the doctrine of interposition to
keep the schools open on a segre
gated basis.
The Birmingham suit entered on
June 17 charges that the Alabama
school placement law, previously up
held by the U.S. Supreme Court, is
“inadequate to provide relief.”
A suit in federal court at Jack
sonville, Fla., was filed in behalf of 39
Negro students from Volusia County
(Daytona Beach). NAACP attorneys
said it was the most extensive school
suit ever filed in the nation.
Forty-four Negro students seek de
segregation of Caswell County, N.C.,
schools in a federal court suit. Since
the suit was filed, seven of the stu
dents have requested transfers to the
county’s white schools.
State by state, the major school de
velopments in June were:
Alabama
The State Board of Education or
dered Dr. Lawrence D. Reddick ex
pelled as a faculty member at Ala
bama State College for Negroes after
Gov. John Patterson branded him an
agitator and communist sympathizer.
(Page 1)
Arkansas
At Little Rock, 39 junior high and
35 senior high Negro students asked
assignment to white or integrated
schools next fall. (Page 5)
Delaware
The Delaware House of Representa
tives approved a bill providing three
million dollars for construction at 15
Negro schools. (Page 4)
District of Columbia
Southern Democrats and conserva
tive Republicans on the House Rules
Committee joined to block efforts to
send a federal school construction aid
bill to a Senate-House conference.
(Page 6)
Florida
Legal action continued to dominate
the school segregation picture in Flor
ida as developments were reported in
Volusia County, Palm Beach and
Pensacola. (Page 3)
Georgia
The state bar association president
called for repeal of all of Georgia’s
segregation laws, causing widespread
comment and bringing varied reaction
from lawyers. (Page 9)
Kentucky
Gov. Bert Combs named nine per
sons, including one Negro, to the new
ly created Commission on Public Edu
cation. (Page 13)
Louisiana
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap
peals turned down the Orleans Parish
school board’s request for a stay of a
lower court’s desegregation order. (Page
1)
Maryland
White and Negro teacher associa
tions in Anne Arundel County merged
as plans were set for desegregation to
advance another grade there and in
four other Maryland counties. (Page
11)
Mississippi
Fourteen - new laws stemming from
the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 school
decision were placed on the Mississippi
statute books during the recent Legis
lature. (Page 7)
Missouri
The St. Louis Board of Education in
augurated a crash program in remedial
reading and spelling for 2,000 elemen
tary school children. (Page 9)
North Carolina
North Carolina Democrats nominated
Terry Sanford for governor and thus
DALLAS, Tex.
ttorneys for Negro applicants
gave notice of appeal from
U. S. District Judge T. W. David
son’s ruling that Dallas should be
gin desegregation in 1961 on a
“salt-and-pepper” plan. (See
“Legal Action.”)
Houston residents voted two to
one against authorizing integra
tion. A district judge studied the
school board’s plan to begin volun
tary desegregation next year. (See
“School Boards and Schoolmen.”)
A school board meeting at
SSN Begins
7th Volume;
Index Inside
Couthern School News turns an
other comer with this issue.
Volume 7, number one begins an
other year for SSN and Southern
Education Reporting Service.
The index for Volume 6—cover
ing the issues from July 1959
through June 1960—appears in this
issue on pages 13, 14, 15 and 16.
Meanwhile, renewals continue to
come in for Volume 7 from readers
whose subscriptions expired with
the June issue. Subscribers who
haven’t renewed are urged to do so
right away to keep track of segre
gation-desegregation developments
in southern and border states.
endorsed the state’s four-year-old ap
proach to school desegregation. (Page
2)
Oklahoma
Integration of a rural school district
during the past year was revealed and
another district reported steps leading
to integration next year. (Page 11)
South Carolina
South Carolina Democrats re-nom
inated U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond for
another term by a margin of more than
eight to one. (Page 10)
Tennessee
The Chattanooga Board of Education
cited the possibility of the public’s “in
tense resistance” in its answer to a
school desegregation suit. (Page 7)
Texas
Attorneys for Negro applicants gave
notice of appeal from U.S. District
Judge T. Whitfield Davidson’s ruling
that Dallas should begin school de
segregation in 1961 on a “salt-and-
pepper” plan. (Page 1)
Virginia
The NAACP moved to force the re
opening of Prince Edward County’s
public schools but further hearing was
delayed. (Page 8)
West Virginia
Former State School Supt. W. W.
Trent, who help chart desegregation of
the state’s public schools, died at the
age of 82. (Page 10) # # #
Brownsboro, near Dallas, in a dis
pute involving conditions at a
Negro school among other things,
broke up in a fight that left one
person dead and several injured.
(See “School Boards and School
men.”)
Lawyers for the National Assn, for the
Advancement of Colored People gave
notice of appeal from the ruling of U. S.
District Judge T. Whitfield Davidson
that Dallas should start integration in
September 1961 on a “salt and pepper”
plan. (Borders v. Rippy, Southern
School News, June 1960 and previous.)
The appeal went to the U. S. Fifth
Circuit Court at New Orleans. NAACP
attorneys W. J. Durham and C. B.
Bunkley Jr. seek complete integration
starting this fall.
The Dallas school board’s desegrega
tion plan, tailored to fit Judge David
son’s recommendations, calls for open
ing certain schools for voluntary inte
gration while maintaining segregation
in others.
The 83-year-old jurist expressed the
opinion that the voluntary, partial inte
gration system would satisfy the re
quirements both of the U. S. Supreme
Court and state law. Under a 1957
Texas law, any school district that inte
grates without approval of its voters
stands to lose its state school aid and
to have fines levied against the respon
sible officials.
Petitions for such an election are
signed in Dallas, but no date has been
set for voting. The district receives
TEXAS
Dallas Decision Appealed;
Houston For Segregation
(See TEXAS, Page 2)
