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PAGE 6—SEPTEMBER I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
NORTH CAROLINA
Chapel Hill School Desegregation
Will Bring Total to Eight Districts
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
A bout 1,000,000 school children
-^*-are expected to enter North
Carolina public schools this fall.
Among the state’s 173 school
districts, no fewer than eight and
possibly nine will have some de
segregation.
Chapel Hill will become North
Carolina’s eighth community to
desegregate its public schools
when three Negro children enter
the first grade. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Federal District Judge Edwin M.
Stanley has denied a motion from the
Durham school board for the dis
missal of a desegregation suit that
grew out of the denial by the board
of more than 200 transfer requests
from Negro students in the summer of
1959. (See “Legal Action.”)
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMEN
Chapel Hill (home of the University
of North Carolina, which has had de
segregation since 1951) will this fall
become North Carolina’s eighth com
munity to desegregate its public
schools.
Three Negro students are to enter
the first grade at Estes Elementary
School, which is to have a total en
rollment of about 400.
The total enrollment in the Chapel
Hill system is expected to be 3,750,
with 2,600 of the students white and
1,150 of them Negro.
The desegregation in the Chapel Hill
system (which serves principally the
town of Chapel Hill and is separate
from the Orange County system in
which Chapel Hill is located) comes
one year after the school board’s an
nouncement of a plan for the transi
tion.
STARTS IN FIRST GRADE
The Chapel Hill board, confronted
with transfer requests last year, de
nied all. But the board said that, be
ginning with this fall, it would admit
students to the first grade, upon re
quest, to the nearest school without
regard to race.
The board received three requests
from Negroes in this category during
the summer who sought admission to
the first grade. They were admitted.
But requests from nine other Negro
students in higher grades were re
jected.
A similar rejection last year, for
Stanley Vickers, resulted in a suit in
Middle District Federal Court in
Greensboro. Others rejected this year
are expected to join in that suit,
which has not yet been argued.
The school board in the City of Dur
ham has already assigned 12 Negro
students to desegregated schools for
the fall term. The city system has an
enrollment of about 14,472—about 7,-
982 of them white and 6,490 Negro.
Durham had seven Negro students in
three desegregated schools in the 1959-
60 term. They attended school with
about 3,030 white students. Two of the
Negroes graduated.
Last year, Negro students filed 226
applications for transfer to white
schools. From among those, the school
board admitted seven Negro students
for the city’s first year of desegrega
tion.
199 REJECTED
From among 206 applications for
transfer submitted by Aug. 20, the
Durham board admitted seven on Aug.
24. These seven will join the five Ne
groes admitted to the three schools last
year.
The 199 rejected students may appeal
if they like.
The 226 applications filed last year
in Durham set a record for North
Carolina, and apparently for the South,
for the largest number of transfers
sought by Negro students at one time
in a single school system. The more
than 200 being considered now by the
board also will be the record for this
state this year.
Growing out of the denials of last
year’s transfer requests, a suit on be
half of 165 Durham Negro students is
pending in Middle District Federal
Court in Greensboro. (See “Legal Ac
tion.”)
SAME POLICY
In Craven County, where desegre
gation began last year largely because
of the presence of the Cherry Point
Marine Base, the same policy will be
followed this year.
Craven County (county seat, New
Bern) will have an estimated 8,200
students—5,500 white and 2,700 Negro.
Seventeen Negro students (last year
there were also 17) are to attend two
desegregated elementary schools at
Havelock, where the total enrollment
is expected to be about 2,800. Last year
total enrollment in the two Havelock
schools was about 2,500.
TWO SCHOOLS
Supt. R. L. Pugh said the school
board was following the same policy
established last year. This policy sets
aside Havelock Elementary and Gra
ham Barden Elementary schools for
the use of children whose parents are
stationed at the Marine base. Though
other children from the community at
tend the two schools all children from
the Marine Base, regardless of race,
go to these two schools.
Schools are segregated throughout
the remainder of the county. These
other schools are attended largely by
children whose parents are residents
of the county and who have no con
nection with the Marine base.
WAYNE COUNTY
In Wayne County (county seat,
Goldsboro) a similar policy was fol
lowed last year at Meadow Lane Ele
mentary School for children of par
ents at Seymour Johnson Air Force
Base.
The board is expected to follow the
same policy this year, but the num
ber of Negro students who may be
involved has not been disclosed.
Last year it was estimated at an
average of three, though the number
and the individual students involved
varied.
FIFTH NEGRO
In Greensboro, a fifth Negro child is
to join four others who attended Gil
lespie School last year. This will be
Greensboro’s only desegregated school.
Gillespie, which has nine grades,
will have about 530 students. This
school has been desegregated since
the fall of 1957, the first year of de
segregation in public schools in North
Carolina.
The first-grader who will join the
other four was the only transfer re
quest filed with the Greensboro school
board this year.
Greensboro schools expect 21,275
students—14,875 white and 6,400 Ne
gro.
LIMITED DESEGREGATION
In High Point, limited desegregation
will continue for the second year. En
rollment is expected to be about 11,-
457, with 8,845 white students and 2,-
612 Negro students.
Last year, one Negro student at
tended Femdale Junior High School,
where the enrollment was about 1,400.
One Negro student attended High
Point Senior High, which also had an
enrollment of about 1,400.
This year, these two students will go
to High Point Senior High.
Whether other Negro students would
enter desegregated schools in High
Point was to be determined when the
board considered a limited number of
transfer requests that were still pend
ing at the end of the month.
EXPECTS 22,300
In Winston-Salem, Supt. A. Craig
Phillips expects an enrollment of 22,-
300, with 13,000 white students and
9,500 Negro students. Desegregation,
which began in 1957 as did Greens
boro’s, will continue.
Last year, six Negro students were
in Easton Elementary School, which
Winston-Salem Schools Desegregate
Industrial and Advanced Classes
By L. M. WRIGHT JR.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
inston-Salem will not only have desegrega
tion in public schools for the fourth consecutive
year this fall, but it also will have desegregation in
two other areas not reflected in normal statistics.
In addition to nine regularly enrolled Negro stu
dents in two desegregated schools (Easton Elemen
tary and Reynolds High), Winston-Salem also will
have desegregation in its Industrial Education Cen
ter and in four advanced placement courses.
Winston-Salem Supt. A. Craig Phillips has provided, for
Southern School News, information on desegregation in
these two areas.
15 TO 20 NEGROES
Phillips said the Industrial Education Center had between
150 and 175 students last year, and about 11 of the regular
students were Negroes. This fall, he said, an enrollment of
about 200 to 250 is expected, and between 15 and 20 stu
dents are expected to be Negroes.
Industrial education centers are being established in seve
ral major population centers throughout the state with state
help. One is already in operation in Burlington, another in
Goldsboro and one is expected to open in Charlotte this fall.
The centers offer such courses as auto mechanics, draft
ing -md special engineering courses at less-than-college level.
They are designed to train skilled technical workers who
will be unable to obtain college educations.
Students in the industrial education centers are, in part,
regularly enrolled students at academic high schools. They
attend the industrial centers only part of the time for spe
cial courses.
In advanced placement courses, Winston-Salem expects to
have an enrollment of 55 to 60 students in courses in chem
istry, French, history and English. About six or seven Negro
students are expected to qualify for the advanced courses.
Winston-Salem had one advanced course, in chemistry,
last year. Among the 12 students enrolled, one was a Negro.
OFFERED AT REYNOLDS
The course was offered at Reynolds High School. Students
came from Reynolds; Hanes, which is a white school; and
Atkins, the Negro high school.
This year, all four advanced placement courses will be at
Reynolds. Students will come from their individual schools,
where they are normally enrolled, to attend the special
courses two or three times a week for extended periods.
Advanced placement courses are being offered in some
high schools in larger North Carolina cities on an experi
mental basis. They provide bright students with more de
manding courses of study. Some provide limited college
credit.
Charlotte offered an advanced course in math last year,
but it was at West Charlotte High School, an all-Negro
school. An advanced history course was offered at Garinger
High School, which had one Negro student among 1,440
white students. Another high school offered still another
advanced course, but there was no opportunity for a stu
dent in one school to take the single advanced course of
fered at another high school. # # #
NEW PRINCE EDWARD SCHOOL BOARD HOLDS FIRST SESSION i
From Left, C. L. Jones Jr., W. L. Dickerson, George Palmer, Dr. W. E. Smi <
J. F. Glenn, L. C. Benedict <
Virginia
(Continued From Page 5)
end of August to apply for admission
to white or predominantly white schools
in that city.
Pending final action by Judge Hoff
man on such applications, it appeared
that the Norfolk integration situation
would be about the same as last year.
The State Pupil Placement Board on
Aug. 15 assigned one Negro to a Nor
folk predominantly white school, but
one Negro graduated last June and two
or three were not expected to return to
integrated schools.
The outlook was for 18 Negroes in
six schools, as against 21 in seven
schools last year. One school, Blair Jun
ior High, apparently would be re-seg
regated (barring later action by Judge
Hoffman), since two Negroes who at
tended there last year have moved on
to high school.
COMMUNITY ACTION
The Prince Edward School Founda
tion planned to begin its second year
of private segregated schools for white
children on Sept. 6 with 67 teachers,
one more than last year. The additional
teacher will instruct in health and
physical education.
Surplus equipment from Norfolk and
Charlotte counties and Lynchburg and
Hopewell—including 925 student desks
—has been obtained for use this fall.
The foundation expects a total en
rollment of about 1,400.
Meanwhile, the Rev. L. F. Griffin,
president of the Prince Edward County
Christian Assn, and local co-ordinator
for the NAACP, announced plans for
expanding the system of “training cen
ters” for Negroes inaugurated last year.
Sixteen centers are planned, 10 more
than operated during the past year.
About 650 children took part in the
program last year.
Griffin has said that the centers are
had an enrollment of about 400. One
Negro student was in Reynolds High
School, which had about 1,600 stu
dents in four grades.
This year only two Negro students
asked for transfers to desegregated
schools. Both requests were granted.
This means that eight Negro stu
dents will enter Easton Elementary
School where last year there were
six. Enrollment there this year is ex
pected to be between 450 and 500.
And the same Negro student is to
return to Reynolds High. Because
ninth grade students are being trans
ferred to a junior high school, en
rollment at Reynolds High is expected
to drop to about 1,300 this year.
Desegregation is also taking place
in Winston-Salem’s industrial educa
tion center and in the city system’s
advanced placement courses.
AMONG LARGEST
In Charlotte, enrollment this fall is
expected to reach 61,000. This will set
a record for the state and place the
system among the top 35 or 40 in the
country in size.
This is the first year the Charlotte
and Mecklenburg school systems have
operated on a consolidated basis. Char
lotte began desegregation along with
Greensboro and Winston-Salem in
1957. Mecklenburg County has had no
desegregation before.
A suit filed against the Mecklenburg
school board after it denied transfer
requests in 1958 has been dormant
since then. It is scheduled for argu
ment in January 1961.
Upon consolidation, the system is
being run by members of the two
previously separate boards who now
form one board. Charlotte’s desegre
gation policy continues.
Last year, Charlotte had one Ne
gro student in desegregated Garinger
High School, which had an enroll-
(See NORTH CAROLINA, Page 7)
not a substitute for school but are pi
vided for morale building and soi
basic instruction in the three R’s.
In addition to the center program,!
which it is one of the sponsors, t
Christian Association also was condui
ing a survey to determine how ma
Negro parents wanted to send th
children to schools outside the couu
The association hoped to offer assii
ance to parents who wished to foil
this course.
Last year an estimated 200 Prin
Edward Negroes went to schools eh
where, including 50 on scholarships
the high school section of Kittrell Ct
lege in North Carolina.
APPLY FOR GRANTS
By late August approximately (
white children had applied for the $1
county tuition grants to be used to he
pay tuition in the private school sy
tem. Additional grants—$125 for ela
entary pupils and $150 for high schc
students—also are available from sfc
funds. No Negroes had applied i
grants.
While it has no schools to open
the county school board, whose s
members are newly appointed, metf
an organizational session Aug. 8, elec
ing Dr. W. E. Smith chairman. T:
board will administer the state tuiti
grant program.
Bus terminals in Richmond and Pc
ersburg desegregated their luu
counters in mid-August. By mont!
end, some desegregation of eating f
filities had been reported in Alexa
dria, Arlington County, Fairfax Cotf
ty, Falls Church, Fredericks!)!!
Hampton, Norfolk, Portsmouth, V
liamsburg, Richmond, Newport Ne'
and Petersburg.
Forty-one Negroes were taken h
custody as the result of sit-in demo
strations in Hopewell on Aug. 20,
and 23. The 23 adults were charf
with trespassing, and the 18 juvenil
were released to their parents pe®
ing court hearings on all the ca*
Sept. 2.
CEMETERY SUITS
A group of 11 Portsmouth Negr°
filed suit in federal court for desegf
gation of their city’s publicly owff
cemeteries. The suit contends that i
city should be enjoined from &
criminating against Negroes in the
enjoyment” of the cemeteries “in or®
that there may eventually be inteP
tion of the citizens of Portsmouth b 1
the cradle to the grave.” The plaint
ask compensatory and punitive danial
of two million dollars.
The Hopewell City Council, s '
faced with a similar cemetery desep
gation suit, voted Aug. 23 to sell 1
cemetery. The cemetery will be f
second public-owned Hopewell
sold to prevent integration. The t
sold its public swimming pool ear*
in the summer for the same reason
PARK MAY REOPEN
Virginia’s Seashore State Park,
for six summers to avoid court-ord^
integration (SSN, August 1955), maf
partially re-opened.
At the request of several group 5 ,
eastern Virginia, where the park i 5 ’
cated, the State Board of Conseh'
tion of Economic Development on •
18 went on record in favor of re-°P
ing the “wilderness area” of the
This area comprises about 90 P eI *
of the park’s 2,710 acres. The re \i
tional area—including cabins and s*
ming facilities—would remain clo s *
The board said it would take
matter up with Gov. Lindsay Ak®
# *