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m k~) f f] Factual Southern 1 •to 4 S N 3 Hit $ 0 ISI A I 0 SNOIllSIftOOV * S 3 I « V b 9 I 1 J JO A JL I Rh 3 A I n n fjooz-H-19 3»•»nr Jews »jective‘“* t “J LIBRAR ies VOL. 7, NO. 7 NASFmILLE, TENNESSEE $2 PER YEAR JANUAP GOV. JOHN PATTERSON ‘ . . . Hell to pat/’ ALABAMA Governor Says Violence Sure If Schools Mix MONTGOMERY, Ala. G ov. John Patterson, noting school desegregation troubles in New Orleans, said this was nothing compared to what would happen in Alabama if integration were attempted in this state. He said he would personally cause the federal government as much trouble as possible in such a showdown. (See “What They Say.”) Jackie Robinson, the former Brook lyn Dodgers star, in a speech in Mont gomery called Patterson “stupid.” “Ac tions such as the governor’s are hurt ing America,” Robinson said. (See “What They Say.”) The Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Dr. Martin Luther King’s successor as leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association, urged Negroes to greater efforts challenging segregation on all fronts. He also recommended the for mation of a statewide organization to eo-ordinate the various groups now working for integration in Alabama. (See “What They Say.”) Six of Alabama’s 11 electoral votes were cast Dec. 19 for U. S- Sen. Harry Byrd (D-Va.), as the states’ rights electors predicted intensified integra- ll °n moves under the Kennedy admin- cation. (See “Political Activity.”) Gov. John Patterson again predicted l ence ^ and when school integration S .tempted in Alabama, v * y°u think they’ve had trouble in ^ew Orleans,” he said Dec. 7 at a Ws conference, “just wait until they (See ALABAMA, Page 5) Few New School Laws Expected As 14 State Legislatures Convene By TOM FLAKE NASHVILLE, Tenn. T^ew new laws concerning -*• school segregation and deseg regation were in prospect as Legislatures of 14 Southern and border states prepared to convene during 1961. The probability of a legislative letup came after almost seven years during which nearly 300 laws, resolutions and state constitutional amendments have emerged in Southern states in efforts to prevent, restrict or control school desegregation. A few such measures were passed in anticipation of the Su preme Court’s 1954 desegregation decision. These actions have included pupil placement (assignment) laws, provisions for private schools and for tuition grants, authority to close schools, re peal of compulsory attendance laws, and penalties against organizations and individuals who advocate desegregation. Protests against the court decision have ranged from resolutions of interposi tion to statements deploring judicial trends. Only in Louisiana, where legislators were to continue in their third con secutive extraordinary session, and in Georgia were there early indications of major actions on the subject this year. Their courses are related closely to de velopments in New Orleans and At lanta, where federal courts have ordered desegregation. State legislative sessions were scheduled for 1961—most of them to begin this month—in Delaware, Mary land, Missouri, Oklahoma and West Virginia, and border states; in the mid dle states of Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas; and in five Deep South states—Alabama, Florida, Geor gia, Louisiana and South Carolina. All the border and middle states have desegregated public schools, al though in widely varying degrees. In the lower part of the South, Florida and Louisiana each have bi-racial schools in one district by court order; Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina retain completely seg regated schools. Reasons Differ Reasons given for the expected lack of legislation on the subject differ somewhat according to geography. The border states, now proceeding in the main toward nonracial school policies, have made few legislative moves in the wake of the U.S. Su preme Court’s desegregation decisions. Exceptions have been several instances of repealing or modifying laws contain ing requirements for segregated schools. Lawmakers in those states show little inclination now to touch on the subject. This is true in Oklahoma, for instance, despite the fact that statutes LOUISIANA Court Refuses Return To School Segregation NEW ORLEANS, La. tF’he U. S. Supreme Court re- fused Louisiana’s plea that New Orleans schools revert to a segregated basis during a period of new litigation. In a broadly worded rejection of the request for a stay of a lower court decis ion, the Supreme Court justices said in effect that Louisiana had run its course on legal actions to halt desegregation. (See “Legal Action.”) In the wake of the Supreme Court’s action, there were several major devel opments: • A three-judge federal court ruled on the Orleans Parish (county) school board’s funds, which were tied up in the federal-state-local struggle over school desegregation, and the court cited three state officials for contempt in refusing to pay teachers at New Or leans’ two desegregated schools. (See “Legal Action.”) • Gov. Jimmie H. Davis’ adminis trative leaders, blocked in their at tempt to pass an additional one cent sales tax on grounds that it was needed to start a grant-in-aid private school system, sponsored and passed unani mously resolutions condemning as “tyrannical” the contempt citations against Lt. Gov. C. C. Aycock, House Speaker J. Thomas Jewell and State Education Superintendent Shelby M. Jackson. (See “Legislative Action.”) • The Legislature adjourned its third special anti-integration session on Dec. 22 to go home for the Christmas holi days and in doing so failed to grant promised pay to New Orleans 4,000 teachers, principals, and school secre taries whose pay was due Dec. 23. The Legislature blamed the federal court decisions, saying the hands of the Leg islature were now tied and no pay would be forthcoming until federal judges modified restraining orders against Louisiana’s lawmakers. (See “Legisla tive Action.”) A second front opened on Louisiana school desegregation as the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals set Jan. 18 for a hearing on appeals from desegre gation orders of two other Louisiana parishes and six trade schools. (See “Legal Action.”) The embattled Orleans Parish school board continued to hold the reins of the only desegregated public school system in the state, but the first six weeks of compliance with federal court orders had brought violence, harass ment, and an almost totally effective boycott of the two schools desegregated Nov. 14. (See “School Boards and Schoolmen.”) Both the Orleans Parish School Board and the State Board of Education elect ed new presidents. (See “School Boards and Schoolmen.”) Business and professional men of (See LOUISIANA, Page 8) ‘Like Sheep . Greensboro Daily News New Orleans States-ltem Ford Foundation Grants SERS $390,000 4 Ford Foundation has granted $390,000 to the South- . rn Education Reporting Service the biennium July 1, 1961, for jk° u gh June 30, 1963. Notifica- Pro the Foundation had ap- n the grant was given to Ahlgren, editor of the c l Commercial-Appeal and ^^an of the SERS board of n n , ct °rs, who made the an- s5r ent - w as established in 1954 by a to^ Southern editors and educa- to cqjj ho felt the need for an agency ieqjvg , an d disseminate accurate, ob- ttientg • m f° rma tion about develop- 0. § m education arising from the Pubij c u P r eme Court decision in the . school desegregation cases. r - T Jtri e j support for the project has k-5- 0rn the Ford Foundation since I n fining. Pfog rai /( Ues ting extension of the SERS Sfeti tor another two years, Ahl- *H ar ^]° te to the Foundation: y anyone has questioned the need for SERS or the value and qual ity of its services since 1954. While it is hazardous to predict the future, the need would appear to be as great dur ing the next several years. Story Not Ended “The story which SERS was estab lished to cover has not ended—nor is the end in sight. In the border states the adjustment to the Supreme Court decision has been relatively rapid. The buffer states have accepted the decision as the law of the land and have made moves in the direction of compliance. But the hard-core states remain adamant. Here will be the bat tleground of the next few years. “While new patterns of resistance un doubtedly will emerge in some areas, the pace of compliance is quickening in others. The years immediately ahead could be the crucial ones. For SERS to stop now would be to abandon the job before it has been finished. “This would be a disservice and a handicap to all those who have relied upon SERS for information which would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain anywhere else. Those who turn to SERS for facts are the in fluential leaders who in large measure will shape the future. These include federal, state and local government of ficials, educators, attorneys, editors and newsmen, judges, students, church men, sociological researchers and con cerned laymen.” Principal Medium The principal medium through which SERS disemminates information is Southern School News, a monthly publication to which correspondents in 17 states and the District of Columbia contribute. These are the areas in which segregation in the public schools was required by law. All of the cor respondents are newspaper writers or editors. In collaboration with the Law School of Vanderbilt University, SERS pub lishes “Race Relations Law Reporter”, a quarterly. It presents, completely and impartially, such basic materials as court cases, legislation, orders and regulations. Semi-annually a summary of statis tics for the region as a whole and for each of the 17 states and the District of Columbia is published. Daily SERS receives more than 50 leading newspapers and clips all that they pidnt about the school segregation- deseregration question. These clippings are classified and cataloged. Including books, magazine articles, reports, pamphlets, speeches, laws, court decis ions and other miscellaneous materials, the SERS library now contains more than 800,000 items. This entire library has been micro filmed, and under the title “Facts on Film” is available for use in 40 leading college, university and public libraries. Annual supplements of the microfilm are issued to keep it up to date. Writers and scholars from through out the United States and from other countries make extensive use of SERS reference services. Since its founding, SERS has pub lished two books—“With all Deliberate Speed” in 1957 and “Southern Schools: Progress and Problems” in 1959. George Peabody College for Teach ers serves as fiscal agent for SERS. # # # specifying separate schools for whites and Negroes remain unrepealed while the state pursues a definite policy of compliance with the desegregation decree. The reason: officials consider segregation measures void in any event and prefer not to open the school code to amendments which might invite dis sension about other school issues. Farther South, the paucity of legis lative proposals in most states is not attributed necessarily to any lessening of official reluctance to desegregate— nor to any appreciable letup in several states’ attitude of all-out resistance. Rather, it appears to be largely a matter of (1) reliance on existing statutes, at least for the time being, or (2) watchful waiting to see what hap pens before making further major moves. Some lawmakers believe they have legislated virtually to the limit of feasibility and indicate they find it difficult to produce new ideas; others make it clear that they will recognize no limit and will continue to be quite prolific. Nine Southern States Use Pupil Assignment Plans A prime factor in the prospect for legislative lulls in a number of in stances is the pupil placement (as signment) plan. Nine states in the area have such laws, all similar, which list various factors other than race for guiding administrative decisions on which school a child shall attend. Three of these laws have withstood somewhat limited federal court tests, and their legal future is believed prob ably to be contingent upon the role that race plays when the factors are applied. (Eugene Wyatt’s article, Southern School News, December) Such laws are on the statute books of Alabama and North Carolina (both held “not unconstitutional” on their face), Arkansas (held constitutional on its face), Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. (In Tennessee, a court noted in 1958 without passing on constitutionality that the law does not preclude racial distinction from being taken into account and that nothing in the act is “inconsistent with a con tinued policy of racial segregation.”) Survived Litigation Having survived litigation at least up to a point, placement thus is consid ered by some officials, legislators and school administrators to he a means of minimizing bi-racial school attendance within sanction of the federal courts. In the middle Southern states, place ment laws are being applied increas ingly by local school boards, with ap probation or at least acquiescence of state governments. For some of them, pupil placement evidently was “the end of the row.” In the Deep South, however, except possibly in Florida, there were clear indications that lawmakers were un willing to stand only on pupil place ment provisions. With token desegregation under (See SOME STATES, Page 2) On the Inside State Reports Arkansas 12 Delaware 15 District of Columbia 14 Florida 15 Georgia 3 Kentucky 16 Maryland 13 Mississippi 14 Missouri 4 North Carolina 6 Oklahoma 16 South Carolina 5 Tennessee 6 Texas 14 Virginia 7 West Virginia 7 Texts Louisiana 8 Special Articles Judge Leslie Darr 6 Facts on Film 4 New Orleans Parents 10 State-by-State Summary 13 We Were Asked 11