Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965, November 01, 1960, Image 2

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Newspaper Page TextPAGE 2—NOVEMBER I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS GEORGIA Campaign MACON, Ga. T7 our organizations backing open public schools have launched an effort to swing public opinion behind the majority rec ommendations of the Sibley School Study Commission. (See “Community Action.”) Two Negro applications for ad mission to the University of Geor gia were turned down by the Board of Regents on the grounds that the two had not completed required procedures for admis sion. (See “Legal Action.”) A federal judge ordered three Sumter County students living at controversial Koinonia Farm ad mitted immediately to Americus High School. (See “Legal Ac tion.”) Another wave of lunch counter sit-ins hit Atlanta but Mayor William B. Hartsfield arranged a 30-day truce. (See “Community Action.”) Termed “Operation Last Chance,” HOPE Inc. (“Help Our Public Schools”) launched an intensive effort to swing public opinion behind the majority recommendations of the Sib ley School Study Commission before the Legislature meets in January. In the face of a federal court order requiring desegregation of Atlanta schools May 1, 1961, and a state law re quiring the closing of any public school desegregated, the Sibley com mission had recommended the Legis lature approve: (1) a pupil placement plan; (2) submitting to the people a constitutional amendment to provide for local option on desegregation. HOPE was joined in the effort by the United Churchwomen, Active Voters and the Georgia League of Women Voters. A series of meetings over the state was planned. Prominent Georgians were speaking on the theme, “The School Bell Tolls for You.” Among the speakers were James S. Peters, chair man of the State Board of Education, and U. S. Congressman Erwin Mitchell of Dalton. PETERS MITCHELL Rep. Mitchell did not seek re-elec tion to Congress this year but did run for the State Senate. He was elected in the Democratic primary and has no general election opposition. Mitchell said he would introduce legislation recommended by the Sibley commission in the General Assembly and charged that Georgia political leaders have “totally failed in their role of responsibility and leadership” in the school segregation crisis. Beginning with the next Legislature, Mitchell said, there “will be more and more elected officials” who will “honestly and openly face this issue.” Foreseeing “chaos beyond imagina tion” if the public schools are closed, Mitchell said the alternative to abolish ing public education in Georgia is the reasonable approach suggested by the majority report of the Sibley commis sion. Other prominent Georgians spoke in similar vein. State Sen. John Greer, secretary of the Sibley commission, said a local op tion school plan is “the best and only workable blue- print yet offered to the people in an effort to keep our pu b 1 i c education and our system of equal but segre gated education from being com pletely d e s t roy- ed.” Greer said most Georgia counties would not face immediate in tegration suits and added that if local option and pupil placement laws are on GREER Seeking Support for Open Public School REVIEW UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA DESEGREGATION CASE From Left, Dr. O. C. Aderhold, President; B. D. Murphy, Attorney; Eugene Cook, Georgia Attorney General; And, Walter N. Danner, Registrar | the books “we certainly can win over 90 per cent of the battles instead of losing them all.” Atlanta attorney Newell Edenfield, former president of the Georgia Bar Association, said that as long as Geor gia has its present set of school segre gation laws, it can’t win in the courts. State Supt. of Schools Claude Pur cell, who backs the Sibley commission majority report, said Georgians must face the fact that they must live under the federal court decision “because it is binding.” ‘DEFENSE IN DEPTH’ William T. Bodenhamer, who made an unsuccessful race for governor on a commission majority report recom mendations would provide a “defense in depth” against school integration. Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook, the state’s highest-ranking defender of its segre gation policies, said some form of token integration may come about in Georgia schools. The organizations cooperating in “Operation Last Chance” said that in addition to planning forums and provid ing speakers, they will contact all legislators, mail literature and provide individuals with information. ★ ★ ★ LUNCH COUNTER SIT-INS A 30-day suspension of lunch coun ter sit-ins in Atlanta was arranged by Mayor William B. Hartsfield and Ne gro leaders. The action came after three days of Negro student demonstrations and one day of picketing of some downtown Atlanta stores by 25 whites, including known Ku Klux Klan members. Immediate release of 22 Negroes and one white youth serving 10-day sentences for disturbing the peace during demonstrations was ordered by the mayor, who has absolute power of pardon in city offenses. A Dekalb County court sentenced the Rev. Martin Luther King to serve four months in a Georgia public works camp on a charge that his participation in the sit-ins was a violation of a pro bationary sentence given him earlier on a charge of driving without a license. The judge later released King on $2,000 bond. C. J. Broome of Alma, Eighth Dis trict chairman of Georgians For Nixon, charged the Atlanta sit-ins were in spired by Sen. John F. Kennedy’s views on racial matters. Gov. Ernest Vandiver said the en tire state police force is available, upon request, to any property owners to quell a sit-in demonstration. U. S. Sen. Herman Talmadge said federal governmental backing of sit- ins would bring about “chaos and con fusion we haven’t seen since recon struction days.” DESEGREGATION CONFERENCE A three-day desegregation con ference in Atlanta, sponsored by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com mittee, ended with Southern student sit-in leaders favoring nationwide demonstrations against segregation and urging congressional action on civil rights. No official announcement of the date for the demonstration was made but observers said it would be Nov. 8. Georgia white author Lillian Smith told the Negro anti-segregation demonstrators, “I want your movement to succeed.” Imperial Wizard Robert Lee David son of Macon said the U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, will use resources, legal means and methods at its command to counteract election day demonstrations by Negroes. In Atlanta, the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity gave formal endorsement to kneel-in efforts of Ne groes at white churches in the South. The State Board of Regents denied two Atlanta Negroes admission to the all-white University of Georgia. But the board said the two applicants may “renew and pursue their applieati without prejudice.” The chairman of the board, R^ O. Hunter, said Hamilton E. Hot and Charlayne A. Hunter had fa- to complete required procedures admission by failing to undergo j sonal interviews with university . mission office officials. University registrar Walter N. ner said he interpreted the board’s- tion to mean the Negro boy and i may “take up their applications at point they were before.” DANNER TESTIFIED In federal court in Macon in S tember (Southern School Nr 1960), Danner had testified that only university requirement not et pleted by Holmes and Miss Hunter: interviews with university officials. At the time, U. S. Judge William Bootle of Macon had ruled that two had not exhausted administr^ remedies and had denied their ap;. for an injunction, which would i permitted them to enroll for the quarter. The regents took their action o two days before a deadline for act set by Judge Bootle. The appeal for direct admission: premature and the university rq trar had not had time to act on ' applications, the regents said. Roy Harris of Augusta, a board me ber, said that to admit the two wi out personal interviews would be “i crimination against white people.” DIFFERENT ROUTE Harris called the pair “troublem ers” and said, “If they were intere? 1 in education, they would have tab a different route to gain admittal to the college.” In his original order, Judge Boo did not order an interview befiffl' the applicants and the registrar to ti i place, but he did say that “before! final trial of this case definite and ft action will have been taken by ( and all University of Georgia officii required to take action.” Donald L. Hollowell of Atlanta, Si gro attorney for Holmes and Jfl Hunter, said he anticipated the fi (See GEORGIA, Page 16) < NORTH CAROLINA Judge Orders Indians AdmittedChanges Mind CHARLOTTE, N. C. A fter a federal court ordered the Harnett County Board of Education to admit Indian stu dents to all-white schools, the fed eral district judge changed his mind and ordered a full hearing in November to determine if In dian students are being discrimi nated against when they are sent to a special school for Indians in the next county. Two high schools in Yancey County have been desegregated, making 10 desegregated school systems in North Carolina. Attorneys for three Indian students filed suit in federal district court in Raleigh Oct. 15 asking that the Indians “and other Indian children who may seek admission” be admitted to public schools in Harnett County. The suit, against the Harnett County Board of Education listed three plain- iffs: Emma Chance, Juanita Chance and Huey Paul Maynard, all Indian teen-agers. Several Indian students staged “sit- ins” at Dunn High School at school opening in September in an effort to gain admission. They were turned away by the Harnett board, which has con tended the transfer requests were not properly drawn. The students, all in high school, are assigned to East Carolina Indian School in Sampson County. Attendance re quires a round trip daily of about 70 miles. TEMPORARY ORDER On Oct. 17, Federal District Judge Albert Reeves of Missouri, sitting in Eastern District Federal Court in Ral eigh, signed a temporary order direct ing that Indian children be admitted to the all-white Dunn High School while the question of their eligibility to attend was being contested in the court. However, the temporary order was not to become effective until the plain tiffs posted a $1,000 bond. The order restrained the Hartnett County Board of Education from as signing the Harnett Indian students to a high school outside the county and from failing and refusing to assign the students and “others similarly situated who otherwise qualify” to Dunn High School. Judge Reeves set Nov. 26 as the date for a hearing on issuing an injunction in the case. LAKE REPRESENTS On Oct. 21, the Harnett County Board of Education was heard on a motion to dismiss the restraining or der. The board was represented by Dr. I. Beverly Lake, Raleigh attorney who ran unsuccessfully on a segregationist platform in the Democratic guberna torial primary last May and June. Lake argued that the order should be dissolved “to avoid what we be lieve may be a difficult situation” should the Indian children attempt to attend classes at Dunn High the fol lowing Monday. Nelson Taylor, attorney for the In dian students, told Judge Reeves that if the order were still in effect the Indian children would attend school the following Monday. Lake also cited a restraining order issued in Harnett County Superior Court to forbid interference with nor mal operation of the school. The order was obtained by the Harnett school board to halt the sit-in demonstra tions by Indian students in Septem ber. DISMISSED POSSIBILITY Judge Reeves dismissed the possi bility of any conflict with the state court’s order. “That order was issued very prop erly,” Reeves said, “to prevent inter ference with the school. The children were not at that time assigned to the school. This court’s order would have the effect of assigning them, and so would not conflict with the state court’s order.” The judge said the issue seemed sim ple: “The sole question is whether the school board acted in good faith. They have the authority under state law— and it’s a good law—to assign the chil dren. “But if they refused to assign the children solely on the basis of race, because they were Indians, the court will have to overturn it,” Judge Reeves said. ATTORNEYS ARGUED Lake and Robert B. Morgan, attor ney for the Harnett school board, ar gued that schooling is available for the children at East Carolina Indian School in Sampson County. They also con tended that the Indian students had not exhausted their administrative remedies. Judge Reeves said he wanted to talk with Judge Algernon Butler of Clinton, the regular resident judge of the dis trict, before making a decision. Then, on Oct. 23, Judge Reeves dis solved the original order that would have admitted the Indian students. At the same time, Judge Reeves is sued an order to the Harnett County School Board to show cause at a hear ing on Nov. 21 why the Indian chil dren should not be admitted. Judge Reeves, who is 86, told attor neys that he had reached his decision after a long conference with Judge Butler. He explained it would be em barrassing for the court if the Indian children should be admitted now and then have the court find no discrimi nation. ‘The show cause order,” Reeves said, “will allow all the issues to be brought before the court.” Judge Reeves was holding a two- week session of court to help reduce a heavy case load in the district. ★ ★ ★ YANCEY DESEGREGATES Two high schools in Yancey County have admitted Negro students. The Ne groes attended first classes Oct. 17 fol lowing an order last month from Fed eral District Judge Wilson Warlick to admit Negro students. The move raised to 10 the school systems in North Carolina that are de segregated, with an estimated 84 Negro students attending the desegregated schools. Other systems with desegregation li Craven County, Wayne County, D*' ham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, High P® 1 Greensboro, Winston-Salem and CtH! lotte (now the consolidated Meek- burg County School System). ] As in all other North Carolina low ties this fall, desegregation came qw and without incident. SEVEN ENTERED Seven Negro children entered *; Yancey schools—four at Cane High and three at East Yancey W They enrolled at 9 a.m. and wenu classes immediately. There was j crowd outside to see them enter. I School Supt. Hubert D. Justice ^ the routine at both schools—of al^ ! ing no visitors until late in the d* was followed “so that nothing be any different from any other ’■ day. Our students are well-ti They are responsible and do wha*‘jj they are told by their principals. 11 faith in them. I knew there woU iT no trouble from them. And wasn’t.” Justice said the Negro students been assigned to regular school and would ride them unless they'1 cided, as do many white student 5, provide their own transportation. PRACTICE FOOTBALL At Cane River two Negroes cup • the first day and participated in *, ball practice. At East Yancey a student was expected out l ate L( football. The new students ate * it at the school cafeterias. Three other students assigned j 0 schools were reported out 0 county. Yancey was without a school groes for two years but built past summer. The order to desei at the high school level cam e school opened. The Negro stude 11 ^ volved make up all the Negro st 11 in the mountainous county. Elementary students are not > ( segregated. Their assignments are. " court order, still under study, f ’

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Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965, November 01, 1960, Image 2