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PAGE 8—AUGUST I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
TEXAS
lege, 10 and 10-15; Del Mar College
(Corpus Christi), 15 and 20-25.
Ruling Appears Likely on Referendum Law
Texas Western at El Paso had 25
Negroes among 3,758 students last fall
No estimate was available for the fu
ture.
Texas A&M, Texas Tech, the state
DALLAS, Tex.
A legal ruling appears to be in
the making on Texas’ law
requiring referendum approval
before a district integrates. (See
“Legal Action.”)
Former U. S. Supreme Court
Justice James F. Byrnes told the
State Bar of Texas he believes the
court is returning to more respect
for state’s rights. (See “What
They Say.”)
State spending for public
schools more than doubled in the
past ten years, Texas Education
Agency reported. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Strife-tom Brownsboro School
District’s board and superintend
ent resigned in an effort to restore
harmony in a dispute involving,
among other things, operation of
the Negro school. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Most Texas colleges now are inte
grated, a new survey disclosed. (See
“In the Colleges.”)
An official agency suggested increas
ing tuition at Texas colleges, now
among the lowest in the nation. (See
“In the Colleges.”)
big districts that the law requires him
to cut off their state funds if they in
tegrate under present circumstances,
even though ordered by federal judges.
“Houston and Dallas could be faced
with a financial crisis,” said Jack
Binion, Houston member of the state
board. Texas districts normally draw
one-fourth to one-third of their sup
port from state funds.
Dallas school officials plan to set up
certain schools, covering all grade lev
els, for voluntary integration. The dis
trict election on Aug. 6 will determine
whether the voters favor integration.
U. S. District Judge T. Whitfield Da
vidson recommended the election as a
step toward keeping state financial aid
to the district. The judge has indicated
he believes the statute cutting off state
funds would be knocked out. In his
view, the U. S. Supreme Court, which
set aside state laws requiring segre
gated schools, would not hesitate to
overrule laws requiring a referendum
before integration.
DREW CRITICISM
A legal ruling appears to be in the
making over the results of referendum
votes in Dallas and Houston. State law
prohibits paying state funds to school
districts that integrate without ap
proval of voters.
Houston voters rejected integration
in June (See Southern School News,
July I960). An election set for Dallas
on Aug. 6 is expected to show a simi
lar result. Both districts have been or
dered by federal courts to integrate,
thus are caught between federal courts
and state law.
The State Board of Education is ex
pected to ask Atty. Gen. Will Wilson
in September to give his opinion of
the status of Dallas, Houston and simi
larly situated districts in view of this
conflict. The board deferred requesting
the opinion until after the Aug. 6 elec
tion in Dallas.
J. W. Edgar, Texas commissioner of
education, already has advised the two
A view that the U. S. Supreme Court
may be returning to a greater respect
for state’s rights
BYRNES
state authority, Byrnes observed that
“apparently the court has begun to
read the Congressional Record.” This
Wan on the (trench
Judge Maintains That Courts
Should Protect Both Races
By RICHARD M. MOREHEAD
DALLAS, Texas
D istrict Judge T. Whitfield
Davidson, who suggested the
“salt-and-pepper” desegregation
plan adopted by the Dallas school
board, has been on the federal
bench since his appointment by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The 84-year-old judge’s numer
ous utterances on racial rights fol
low the theme that the interests
of whites as well as Negroes
should be protected by the courts.
“The application of the law is not
unlike the provisions of a contract,”
Davidson com-
and it can’t be done so easily in inte
grated schools.”
Judge Davidson was bom in east
Texas, where segregation sentiment is
strong. His ancestors fought for the
Confederacy.
“My family owned many slaves,” said
Davidson. “My grandmother tended to
them just like she did her own chil
dren.
“I love all the traditions of the Old
South. The Negro is an important part
of those traditions. He has made great
progress. I think he has gained his
greatest progress by taking the advice
of Booker T. Washington ‘by doing his
job well’.”
mented on the
Dallas school case.
“It must apply to
both.
“When a child
of one color is
made to suffer an
inferiority com
plex because of
being segregated
by law, then the
child of the other
DAVIDSON
color may likewise suffer an inferiority
complex by not being allowed by law
to be segregated . . .
“The only answer is equal oppor
tunities to each child. That answer is
integration by permission and choice,
not by force.”
On another occasion, addressing an
integrated audience in his court, David
son remarked that “the white man has
a right to maintain his racial integrity
BEARS AGE
Erect and courtly in bearing, the
whitehaired judge bears his age lightly,
except for a hearing defect.
His public life began as city attorney
at Marshall, where almost half the
population is Negro. Later he became
a state senator and lieutenant governor.
As a delegate to the 1912 national
Democratic convention, Davidson help
ed nominate Woodrow Wilson. Twenty
years later, he campaigned in Texas
for Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The two parted political company
later, Davidson recalled, when Roose
velt “changed his mind and opposed
states rights” after he became Presi
dent.
Outside the court, Davidson’s chief
interest is a 3,000-acre farm near Long
view—including 2,000 acres of timber
—which he has owned for many years.
Among other buildings, it contains a
small chapel he built in 1951 in memory
of his mother. # # #
referred to bills introduced to modify
the effect of Supreme Court rulings.
Byrnes said he is not predicting that
the court will reverse its 1954 decision
that segregation in public schools is
unconstitutional.
But he noted: “They said it couldn’t
be done—but the Eighteenth Amend
ment (prohibition) was repealed.”
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
The Dallas board’s call for a referen
dum drew criticism from Miss Addie
Barlow Frazier. Miss Frazier told the
board its members should resign or be
impeached for encouraging the refer
endum. The objector is a director of
the White Citizens for America.
The Dallas News reported that most
of the 27 Negro plantiffs in the test
case (Borders v. Rippy) are no longer
in school. Hilda Ruth Borders dropped
out of school in 1956, a year after the
lawsuit was filed. Three others also
have dropped out; eight graduated. Five
still are in high school and five in ele
mentary grades. Others have trans
ferred away from the Dallas system.
State expenditures for public schools
in Texas more than doubled in the ten
years that ended with the 1958-1959
school year, an audit showed.
State spending increased from $151,-
189,864 in 1949-1950 to $305,611,144 ten
years later. Average daily attendance
during the same period increased from
1,151,971 to 1,738,088.
Counting local funds, public school
expenditures (excluding construction)
rose from $223,011,033 in 1949-1950 to
$529,160,892 ten years later. Local dis
tricts also spend about $100,000,000 an
nually on building.
Based on attendance, the operating
outlay per student increased from
$193.59 to $304.45 annually during the
10 years.
was voiced at the
State Bar of Texas
convention in
Houston by James
F. Byrnes of
South Carolina,
former member of
the court.
Noting several
recent five-to-
four decisions by
the court favoring
AGREE TO RESIGN
The trustees and superintendent at
strife-tom Brownsboro School District
agreed to resign, at the suggestion of
State Commissioner Edgar, in an effort
to patch up its troubles.
The dispute between ex-Supt. Homer
D. Bass and the newly elected school
board, which dismissed him, reached a
climax in June. A fight at a school
board meeting left one man dead and
several others injured.
Dr. Charles Collins Rahm, osteopath
and former secretary of the Browns
boro board, is accused of fatally shoot
ing Thurman Jackson in the June
melee. Rahm said he feared for his life
because of threats against him by op
ponents in the school fuss.
Operation of the Negro school at
Brownsboro was one point of dissen
sion. The district had been warned that
it would lose accredited standing un
less it made numerous improvements,
mostly at the Negro school.
MEMBER CHARGED
Meanwhile, a member of the Hous
ton school board was charged with as
sault to murder her husband.
Mrs. Earl Maughmer Jr. said she
would resign from the school board.
She is a member of the conservative
majority on the board.
The near-fatal shooting of her hus
band, a police lieutenant, first was re
ported as an accident. Maughmer later
said his wife shot him deliberately,
which she denied.
Expansion of racial integration in
Texas colleges and increased enroll
ment of Negroes as well as whites was
reported in a new survey by the Dal
las Morning News.
Reports from registrars showed:
More than 40 institutions of higher
learning now accept Negroes as well
as whites. The number of Negroes ac
tually attending school with whites also
is rising, but less rapidly than the
total college enrollment.
All-Negro colleges show rising en
rollment too, despite the fact that in
tegrated educations are readily availa
ble. Prairie View A&M (Negro) ex
pects a capacity 2,500 students in Sep
tember. Jarvis Christian College at
Hawkins anticipates an increase from
307 to 400 students, while Paul Quinn
College at Waco estimates its growth
will be from 303 to 400.
The University of Texas, where a
U. S. Supreme Court decision in 1950
ended the formerly approved “sepa-
rate-but-equal” doctrine, had about
175 Negroes among its 18,621 students
in the recent school year. Officials ex
pect about the same number of Ne
groes to enroll next fall, when the total
student population is forecast at 19,-
800.
LARGEST ENROLLMENT
Except for one unusual situation in
San Antonio, the largest enrollment of
Negroes with whites is North Texas
State College in Denton. Last year,
247 Negroes were among 7,035 students.
President J. C. Matthews estimates the
same proportion will hold true in Sep
tember.
Many NTSC students commute from
Dallas and Fort Worth.
Housing is a problem for Negroes at
some integrated colleges. North Texas
State provides dormitory space for a
few Negro women. The University of
Texas has some racially integrated
housing for men and segregated hous
ing for women.
North Texas State and some smaller
colleges permit Negro athletes to play
on varsity teams. No Southwest Con
ference team has yet taken this step,
for only two—the University of Texas
and Arkansas—admit Negroes as un
dergraduates.
teachers’ colleges and some church
schools still admit white students only.
MOST INTEGRATED
San Antonio doubtless is Texas’
most-integrated community. St. Philip’s
College there, once a municipal junior
college for Negroes, now has 1,000 stu
dents, including about 15 per cent non
white. Most of these are Latin-Ameri-
cans. Next fall, St. Philip’s expects 1,-
250 students, including more whites. A
ratio of 25 per cent non-Negro is fore
cast.
San Antonio (Junior) College also
had a number of Negroes among its
6,028 day and evening students, but
kept no records on race.
Lamar Tech at Beaumont held third
place in the state with 87 Negroes en
rolled among 5,500 students in 1959.
The University of Dallas had two
Negro students last year and expects
five in September. SMU had five (in
graduate school) and Southwestern
Medical School of the University of
Texas, one.
HIGHER TUITION
Higher tuition for state college stu
dents received a boost from two offi
cial agencies and likely will be rec
ommended to the Legislature in
January 1961. The Commission on
Higher Education recommended that
the colleges pay 80 per cent of their
operating costs from appropriations and
20 per cent from tuition.
Dr. Ralph T. Green, director of the
agency, estimated this ratio would re
quire raising the present tuition for
Texas residents from $100 for nine
months to the range of $125-$137.50.
A commission set up to advise Gov.
Price Daniel on state finance also in
dicated that it will call for increased
tuition, among other things. The Legis
lature is expected to face demands for
more than 100 million dollars a year
additional state revenue. It also spends
more than one billion, 300 million dol
lars annually.
ANTICIPATED FIGURES
Enrollment of Negroes in the latest
school year and anticipated next fall
are the following figures given by reg
istrars:
Amarillo College, 25 last year and
30 expected; Midwestern University, 20
and 23; Texas A&I, 10 and 15; Howard
Junior College, 12 and 15; Odessa Col-
Two cross-burning incidents at Ne
gro homes occurred in Dallas, within
a 24-hour period. Both were attributed
to youths.
H. L. Fagan, Negro insurance com
pany executive, fired three shots at the
fleeing automobile whose occupants
placed a crude cross in the yard of his
$25,000 home, in a block occupied oth
erwise by non-Negroes.
The previous night, a carload of
youths attempted unsuccessfully to
bum a cross in the yard of another
Negro family living in the same vi
cinity. # # #
Louisiana
(Continued From Page 7)
Supreme Court on segregation in pub
lic schools has no binding force do
great injury to our people.”
“We are alarmed to note,” they said,
“that many political leaders are ap
parently willing to offer no better solu
tion than the closing of public schools
and the destruction of public education
in order to maintain what has been
inappropriately described as ‘our sacred
way of life.’
“It is inconceivable that the South
should deliberately destroy its dearly
bought system of public education.”
The board of the Young Men’s Busi
ness Club passed a resolution urging
that public schools in New Orleans and
the rest of Louisiana be kept open de
spite court-ordered integration but
failed to get the action past the gen
eral membership.
from the state but cautioned people
“they will probably have to make some
sacrifice to make this thing go
through.”
Several other co-operatives were
being formed but the movement did
not seem to be getting widespread re
sponse.
The White Educational Assn, said its
members numbered about 200. It is
dedicated to assist any parents’ groups
to set up private school corporations.
The state educational expense grant
act of 1958 authorizes the state to pro
vide tuition to a child to defray the
cost of attending a private, non-sec
tarian school.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION
By substitute motion to an originally
recommended resolution, the YMBC
membership declared:
“Be it resolved by the Young Men’s
Business Club that it commends the
activities of the governor and other
state officials to maintain segregated
schools in this state and urges them
to continue their fight to maintain our
southern way of life and traditions.”
The Eleanor McMain Junior High
school P-TA approved a resolution ask
ing that a “concerted effort be made
to keep public schools open.” The vote
was 216 to 36.
PREFER CLOSING
Voting on the same night, the Fran
cis T. Nicholls High School parents
club voted 152 to 4 to request the school
board, Legislature and Gov. Davis to
close the schools rather than have in
tegration.
Mothers of the A. H. Wilson School
club voted 108 to 10 to request that
public schools be kept open “regard
less of any other issues involved.”
The Edward Hynes School P-TA said
that given a choice they would prefer
schools to remain segregated but did
not want them closed because it would
be damaging to “our present high
standards of public education.”
Save Our Schools, a citizens group
formed several months ago for the pur
pose of keeping schools open, declared
it would be “foolish” for New Orleans
to attempt a private school system in
lieu of public education.
Under a state law authorizing private
educational associations, the Carrollton
Educational Co-operative Inc. filed a
charter with the state and said it plans
to open at least one school, if public
schools fail to open on a segregated
basis.
The Carrollton group said it was
counting on eventual tuition grants
Louisiana’s Legislature, acting t
block orders for integration of publi
schools and trade schools of severs
parishes, passed a series of new segre
gation bills bearing on education.
Gov. Davis is empowered under on
new law to close all public schools ii
the state in the event that any one o
them is integrated.
The law provides for the protectioi
of the leave, tenure, and retirement o
school employes, including teachers
and provided that they shall be pai<
the full school year after closure.
The law is a broadening of one al
ready on the books.
Other new legislation:
• Prohibits furnishing free schoo
books and supplies, given by the state
to any integrated school. Other assist
ance would also be cut off. Catholii
schools, as well as public, receive fre<
textbooks and supplies.
• Directs the governor to close anj
trade school or special school threat
ened by riots or disorder.
• Provides for the Legislature h
classify public schools over the statf
as white or Negro, a renewal of ar
older act.
® Amends the pupil placement law
to make studies by the board of edu
cation mandatory instead of permissive
and to make local school boards more
powerful in placement problems.
• Directs the governor to close any
school in case of riots, disorder or vio
lence.
® Prohibits use of state funds fot
state-supported trade or special schools
in event of integration without legisla
tive consent.
• Provides for closing state trade
schools or special schools in the event
of integration, with provisions for re
opening the schools under a segregated
basis. # # #