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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—SEPTEMBER I960—PAGE 15
Louisiana
(Continued From Page 1)
military announced plans for possible
k^eral schools for the children of their
-rsonnel. (See “Community Action.”)
j citing ^ct 496 of the 1960 Legisla-
Gov. Jimmie H. Davis, by execu
te order, superseded the Orleans
rish school board and took over con-
, 0 1 of the management and adminis-
ration of the 118 public schools in New
4 Irleans on Aug. 17.
\ Ten days later, a three-judge federal
®iourt issued a restraining order prev-
nting Davis or other state officials
rom interfering with the operation of
he Orleans schools.
ve ' At the same time the court:
re " l) Returned control of the schools to
he elected school board.
ars 2) Declared unconstitutional seven of
18 state segregation acts at issue,
ncluding Act 496 and several others
!X ' n tended to permit Davis to close in-
jividual schools or schools within any
[istrict facing desegregation.
* 3) Ordered the school board to com
ply with the earlier directive to de
segregate beginning with the first grade
®n September.
payCITED GREMILLION
the The court also cited Atty. Gen. Jack
P. F. Gremillion for contempt for his
yalkout during the hearing and charges
^gainst the court.
rc l The school board called a special
greeting to find out where it now stood
•jhaimid indications that it would seek to
, w .ase the pupil placement law of Louis
iana, a law that was not at issue in the
fictions heard Aug. 26.
Jn . Davis had named Dr. James F. Red-
ut .mond, superintendent of schools, as his
j^agent to run the school system on a
^continued segregated basis until the
• ve Legislature could act to integrate
them. The school system anticipates an
^enrollment of some 95,000 next month
^—52,000 Negroes and 43,000 whites.
Even before the governor took action,
j-the National Assn, for the Advance
ment of Colored People filed for the
motion in district court, which was
; S . aimed at preventing Davis or the state
.raskom blocking integration of the first
xi grade when schools open.
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STORMY HEARING
A hearing on the NAACP motion was
conducted in New Orleans Aug. 26 in
conjunction with another suit by 31
white New Orleans taxpayers who
sought to prevent closing of the schools.
At the height of a stormy court ses
sion, Atty. Gen. Gremillion and his staff
stormed out of the courtroom, leaving
Louisiana without representation in the
hearing. Gremillion charged before the
tench that the court was “running over
us roughshod.” Outside of the court
room he charged that the three jurists
Were acting as a “kangaroo court.”
Gremillion’s shouting exit from the
hearing followed several disputes with
l bench and came when he chal-
en ged the right of several affidavits
0 be entered in the taxpayers suit.
•'IASS OF MOTIONS
Lad filed a mass of new motions
seeking to dismiss both the NAACP
j, *Le taxpayers actions and most of
b CS t a ' so were taken under advisement
y the federal court. Gremillion’s prin-
• . ar guments were with the presid-
® Ju dge, Richard T. Rives of Mont-
t 0l ® r y> Ala., who admonished the at-
f general to have more respect
L® e federal court,
he other members of the court
£. re US. District Judge Herbert W.
both te , n Lerry and J. Skelly Wright,
of Louisiana.
li 0n er leaving the courtroom, Gremil-
teent 31 ^ ass f stants wrote a state-
right c L ar ging that their constitutional
co^j “ad been violated and that they
pl e f n T ot Properly represent the peo-
laj j °, Louisiana under the conditions
a d °wn by the court.
l ^ER ORDER
a Orleans school board is under
trjM * 6 > I960, order from U.S. Dis-
th e p. ° Urt Judge J. Skelly Wright of
gm a em district of Louisiana to be-
hon ® ra de-a-year plan of desegrega-
s urting with the first grade.
On ^ Pleas for a delay failed, Davis
“In § ^ issued an order declaring:
Act 4qR C °i^ ance with the provisions of
state 0 i° r E960, I, the governor of the
c apa C H° Louisiana, in my sovereign
leans p’ . hereby supersede the Or-
by ^® ris h school board and do here-
giana^ 0ver the executive control,
l he an< f administration of all
Orleans / C sc L°°Is in the parish of
°f the p, “rmerly under the jurisdiction
°f thi s daf anS ^ aris L school board, as
ereby direct that the public
WORKMEN COVER FEDERAL SUMMONS WITH PLEXIGLAS
U.S. Marshals Left Papers In Gov. Jimmie Davis’s Office
schools in the parish of Orleans shall
be opened on Sept. 7, 1960 . . .”
The act cited by Davis empowers the
governor to take over any school or
school system under court order to in
tegrate and stipulates that segregated
classrooms will be maintained until the
Legislature votes otherwise.
Under normal circumstances the Leg
islature would not meet until May
1961, and then only in fiscal session
generally limited to actions on budget
or fiscal matters. The next regular ses
sion of the state lawmaking body is
scheduled in May 1962.
Observers believed Gov. Davis was
poised to invoke the state’s pupil place
ment law (modeled after the Alabama
statute) as a means of preventing in
tegration. But Emile Wagner Jr., out
spoken school board member who
favors school closure in New Orleans
rather than even token integration, h°s
denied Davis has any such plan under
consideration.
SPECIAL REGISTRATION
Davis’ executive order seizing con
trol of the public schools in New
Orleans, established by a state act
of 1841, called for a special registration
of new students by Sept. 2.
The order requires new students to
provide detailed information about
themselves and their parents and to
state what school they would enter as
a second choice.
Information reauired in the special
registration parallels some require
ments of the pupil placement statute.
Should all steps fail in the effort to
maintain a segregated public school
system, Davis is empowered by other
state laws to close the schools of the
parish or the entire state rather than
permit integration of even one school.
WOULD GO TO JAIL
During his campaign for governor
earlier this year Davis said he would
go to jail before any integration would
take place.
The NAACP suit followed a ruling by
a state civil district court, which re
strained the Orleans Parish school
board from complying with Judge
Wright’s order to desegregate. The state
decision was based on the provisions of
the new state act, which to a large de
gree traces an earlier state act declared
unconstitutional by Judge Wright.
The jurist—who drafted his own plan
for desegregating public schools after
the school board refused ot do so on
grounds they would be in conflict with
state law—issued his decree of Mav
16 after the Bush v. Orleans Parish
School Board case had been up and
down the legal ladder for eight years.
He directed that, beginning with the
first grade in September, children will
have the right to attend the formerly
all-white or formerly all-Negro school
nearest their homes.
HIDE AND SEEK
Davis and Gremillion on Aug. 17
were made parties to the suit and there
followed a hide-and-seek game in
which Davis eluded U.S. marshals at
tempting to serve him with summons
to appear at the Aug. 26 hearing.
Jointly with the NAACP suit, the
three-judge court heard the arguments
on a taxpayer suit to:
1. Annul, modify or suspend Judge
Wright’s desegregation order.
2. Prevent the state from interfering
with operations of the Orleans school
board if Wright’s order is left standing.
3. Enjoin the state from enforcement
of 18 segregation laws, which the suit
describes as an “evasion scheme de
signed to nullify” school desegregation
orders by the federal court.
JUDGE A DEFENDANT
Defendants in addition to Davis,
Gremillion, the school board and a host
of others included state Civil District
Court Judge Oliver P. Carriere, who
granted the state an injunction July 30
restraining the school board from com
plying with Judge Wright’s order.
Plaintiffs, all parents of white chil
dren in public schools, asked that if
the state segregation laws and Judge
Will It Be Celebrated Here?
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Carriere’s ruling are ruled unconstitu
tional that Judge Wright’s order be
suspended or delayed “at least one
year.”
The time is needed, the plaintiffs
said, “so that the Orleans Parish school
board may prepare and present a
workable and practicable plan of com
pliance . . . consistent with community
needs and requirements of efficient and
practicable school administration.”
CAN’T BE OPERATED
In their suit, the plaintiffs said that
if Judge Wright’s order is not sus
pended or modified, public schools can’t
be operated on a segregated basis, and
they can’t be integrated because Judge
Carriere’s action enjoins the school
board from integrating them.
Action by Davis to operate the
schools on a segregated basis would
be in violation of the constitution, the
plaintiffs said, and Davis would there
fore have to close schools.
Such action to close schools, the suit
said, would deprive children of plain
tiffs and others of equal protection un
der the law, subject them to financial
burdens, and reduce their property
values.
The NAACP suit seeks to have Gre
million restrained from proceeding fur
ther with the state court action or
from taking any other action to nullify
Judge Wright’s order of May 16.
DUCKED SERVICE
Davis ducked service of papers by
U.S. marshals and in the meantime is
sued his directive taking over the op
eration of the Orleans schools.
Gremillion said he did not think it
significant that Davis’ order was issued
before federal court summons were
served.
In highlights of the summons chase,
marshals placed one summons on a
coffee table in the governor’s office
after tapping a secretary on the
shoulder with the papers.
Immediately state employes cut a
glass top for the table and screwed it
into place over the federal summons as
all employes avoided touching the doc
uments.
ANOTHER SUMMONS
Another summons was left on the
doorstep of the governor’s mansion.
The papers were weighted down
with two cement blocks and a note was
placed over them saying “Do Not
Touch.”
At the climax of the legal tangle,
Davis declared of the desegregation
plan of the federal court:
“If they can do everything they are
trying to do the state no longer has its
sovereignty. In a case of this kind seg
regation is just one of the issues.”
Davis said if the states lose their
sovereignty, “We no longer will have
a United States of America—it will be
something else.”
OTHER ASPECTS
Legal actions in Louisiana also in
volved several other aspects of the
segregation-integration issue.
1. Louisiana asked the U.S. Supreme
Court to overrule the refusal of a
special three-judge federal panel to
require the NAACP to file member
ship lists with the state under a 1942
act originally enacted to curb the Ku
Klux Klan. The court will probably
act on the case Oct. 10, first day of the
1960-61 term. The law requires organ
izations file annually a list of the
names and addresses of members liv
ing in Louisiana.
2. The Civil Rights Commission an
nounced it will hold a hearing in
Louisiana Sept. 27 and 28 on com
plaints of Negroes that they have been
denied voting rights in at least 13
parishes. A scheduled 1959 hearing was
blocked by state action but the U.S.
Supreme Court has since ruled the
commission had the authority to set up
the hearing rules that were challenged
by Louisiana.
3. Two FBI agents were refused ac
cess to the rolls of the Ouachita Par
ish registrar of voters on advice of
the parish district attorney. Atty. Gen.
Jack P. F. Gremillion issued an order
to East Carroll Parish registrars to
deny similar access to their records.
4. Records of East Feliciana Parish
voters were turned over to FBI men.
Registrar Henry Earl Palmer com
mented: “I have never discriminated
against a Negro in this office. But he
must pass the same qualification test
as any white man.” Before the rec
ords were open the U.S. Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals in New Orleans re
fused to permit any delay in inspec
tion and copying.
Acting as the agent for Gov. Davis,
Orleans Parish School Supt. James
Redmond directed that schools open
Sept; 7 and that no pupil report before
that date.
He began a mail registration plan for
new students as ordered by Davis
and said all of the new pupils will re
ceive a mailed postal card notice of
assignment, which must be presented
to the principal when reporting to
school.
No new pupil can report before get
ting an assignment card, according to
the procedure outlined by the gov
ernor.
Each child must state a first and sec
ond choice preference of schools. The
application blank for registration di
rects each pupil to answer 13 questions
such as date of birth, illnesses, occupa
tion of parents. The eighth and ninth
questions require the pupil to state
sex and race.
EXPRESSED DOUBT
While Redmond devoted all of his
official time to the registration plan,
members of the school board expressed
doubt that the Davis plan would work
even though they would like it to.
“My personal opinion is that it won’t
work,” said Lloyd J. Rittiner, president
of the five-member board.
He is one of four board members,
now powerless to act, who have said
they would rather have some integra
tion rather than no public schools at
all.
Emile A. Wagner Jr., the fifth mem
ber, has been the only member who
has declared that schools should be
closed if that is the last alternative.
RELIEVES BOARD
The Davis action did relieve the
board temporarily, however, from be
ing in the middle between the federal
court order to desegregate and the
state court injunction against their do
ing so.
Rittiner, who has taken the position
he must lay his cards on the table
before the public and not declare his
personal wishes for the schools, said:
. . It doesn’t seem that any of
us can defy the ruling of the Supreme
Court.
“. . . I don’t think any change can
come about as far as the Supreme
Court ruling is concerned unless the
people of the South, if they want such
a change, so indicate by their actions
in Washington.
“It seems inconsistent to me that, as
school board president, I would ad
vocate teaching of the Constitution o.'
the United States to school children
and, on the other hand, defy the rul
ing of the Supreme Court.”
Board member Louis Riecke pointed
out that the board itself had asked the
governor several months ago to take
over the schools but he added:
“There are so many legal technicali
ties involved that I really don’t know
how long he can keep the schools open.
Whatever happens, I surely hope we
can keep schools open.”
Board member Matthew R. Suther
land said: “I don’t know of anything
the board hasn’t tried that the gover
nor can try to keep schools open and
segregated. I personally would be very
happy if he could keep them open and
segregated and I will co-operate in any
way I can to help him do that.”
APPLAUDED DAVIS
His statement summed up the ma
jority opinion of the board but Wag
ner on the other hand applauded Davis:
“In my estimation of the situation,
the governor has a golden opportunity,
one that comes to a few men during
a lifetime.
“By remaining strong and perserver-
ing in the course that he has set for
himself, he can become the individual
who will rally the conservatives of
the nation to the end that we can
turn to the right the thinking of the
people of this country.”
Sutherland said at one point of Wag
ner:
SERIOUS DOUBT
“. . . I must point out that there is
a serious doubt in the minds of all
school board members of Orleans Par
ish, including our most ardent segre
gationist, that the action of the gov
ernor can suc
ceed.”
Redmond made
a report to the
school board in
the middle of
August that the
community would
lose some $8,775,-
000 in expendi
tures from the
school board if
the public school
system is closed.
Wagner said the Redmond informa
tion was propaganda. The superintend
ent listed in detail each of the expendi
tures which would no longer be made.
Employes including teachers, however,
would continue to receive their pay
under state law.
MET IN DEFIANCE
After being enjoined by a state court
from taking any action to prepare for
desegregation but before Davis took
over the schools, the school board held
a meeting in defiance of both the gov
ernor and Atty. Gen. Gremillion.
Civil District Judge Carriere had di
rected the board not to take any ac
tion to comply with the integration
order of Federal Judge Wright but
three of the five members of the board
met and directed Redmond to prepare
a detailed plan on what to do if schools
closed. Wagner stomped out of the ses
sion and said the board was “flaunting
the state itself.”
According to the preliminary plans
for closure outlined by Redmond, the
public school teachers would have to
report every day even if no pupils
were present.
USE TELEVISION
Generally, the administration plans
to use all resources at its command
to provide instructional programs for
students through television and other
means and to institute projects for its
personnel.
Asst. Supt. Malcolm F. Rosenberg Jr.
outlined to the board possibilities for
instruction through use of extension
and correspondence courses, private
tutoring and television and radio.
Wagner charged that the board has
no jurisdiction to plan for the closing
of the schools “when the state itself
plans to keep them open.”
Gremillion warned the school board
not to conduct the meeting but cooled
down considerably after the session.
Davis asked the board not to meet, say
ing he didn’t need any information
from the school board relative to clos
ing the schools.
NEGROES DEPRIVED
At Baton Rouge, state school Supt.
Shelby M. Jackson said if integration
is forced many Negro children would
be deprived of education and Negro
teachers would lose their jobs.
“I don’t understand why we have
to abide by the wishes of a small mi
nority when it is evident that a large
majority of both races want the schools
to remain as they are now,” he said.
Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel
of New Orleans withheld a final de
claration on his plans for integration
or continued segregation of the 90,000
(See LOUISIANA, Page 16)