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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JANUARY 1961—PAGE 13 DRYLAND Bi-racial County Schools Have Big Negro Increase ( BALTIMORE, Md. rpHE first statistical look at *■ 1960-61 desegregation in Mary- p land’s county schools shows a record increase in the number of Negroes attending formerly all- ff hite classes. An additional 1,646 a ®- fjegro pupils are in hi-racial E schools, according to figures com- «c pii^ by the State Department of ^ Education, bringing the total in county schools alone to 6,737. The figures for Baltimore city, which a* W ould swell the total, are not yet Ml available. L The number of bi-racial county schools has risen in a year’s time from ”* 246 to 285. The increase of 39 schools is the largest since the fall of 1957. k All told, the Maryland counties have 843 schools, which means that just over ^ a third of them now have both white ^ and Negro pupils enrolled. in 1959, and now has a bi-racial school again. In those counties where some mixing has taken place, the yearly increases show a rather consistent trend. The totals are these: School Desegregated Number of Year Schools Negroes 1955-56 69 991 1956-57 135 1,726 1957-58 184 2,771 1958-59 218 3,854 1959-60 246 5,091 1960-61 285 6,737 Also consistent is the fact that ex tensive desegregation (numerically speaking) has occurred in those count ies that are actively seeking to close separate schools for Negroes. Separate Negro classes at designated grade levels and, in some instances, entire schools have been abandoned or converted to other uses in Allegany, Washington, Frederick, Montgomery and Baltimore counties. All of these counties have Negro enrollments of less than 10 per cent, and together they account for 5,133 of the 6,737 Negroes attending bi- racial county schools. As previously reported, 14 of Mary land’s 22 bi-racial county school dis tricts now have some Negroes attend ing classes with white children. One county—Garrett—has no Negro pupils. \ The remaining eight counties have de- ® segregation policies under which Ne- groes may apply for admission to white schools, but no applications have been received. ri The number of counties having some desegregation has remained constant, with one exception, since the fall of la 1956. The exception is St. Mary’s “ County, which in 1958 became the 14th , desegregated county when two Ne groes were enrolled at a white school; it reverted to the segregated column Most Complete Among these counties, Allegany has the most complete desegregation in that all of its Negroes attend schools with white children. Since there are so few Negroes (303), less than half of Alle gany’s schools are bi-racial, although all are desegregated. Washington County is down to a single all-Negro school, which serves an all-Negro residential area. Mont gomery County has but three Negro elementary schools remaining, with 73 ner cent of its Negro pupils in pre dominantly white schools. Frederick has more than half of its Negroes in formerly all-white classes, and Balti more County is near the end of its program. Closing out Negro classes in these counties also has meant the desegre gation of teaching staffs. As stated earlier by Dr. David W. Zimmerman, assistant state school superintendent, no Negro teachers in Maryland have lost their jobs because of desegrega tion. “Whenever we’ve closed out schools, Negroes have been assimilated into the total staff,” he reported. While the most extensive desegrega tion has occurred in those counties ac tively working toward the elimination of a dual school system, a break in the pattern is provided by Anne Ar undel County. Beginning with the first three grades in 1956, Anne Arundel has been following a gradual and voluntary desegregation program that this fall reached the eighth grade. It now has 865 Negroes in predominantly white classes, the third highest number among Maryland counties. The num ber has more than tripled in the last two years as desegregation has reached the secondary level, a change attribut able to the fact that previously one Negro secondary school served the whole county. Urban Desegregation Although Anne Arundel is an ex ception to one pattern, it fits squarely into another: Much of the desegrega tion in Maryland has occurred in urban areas. Aside from Baltimore city, which has the most extensive desegregation of all, Maryland has four heavily urban ized counties—Montgomery and Prince George’s, which border on Washington, and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties which are adjacent to Balti more. Together these four counties have 5,077 of the 6,737 Negro children enrolled in formerly all-white schools. The additional schools having both white and Negro pupils in the current school year are in the following count ies: Anne Arundel, 4; Baltimore, 8; Cecil, 2; Frederick, 3; Harford, 2; Howard, 1; Montgomery, 14; Prince George’s, 4; St. Mary’s, 1; Talbot, 1. This totals 40. Carroll County has one less bi-racial school than last year, so that the net increase in desegregated schools is 39. Aside from counties already men tioned, the list of those having addi n- in il is r- et liS le id If - 1 1 .e I i t i i, i Arkansas (Continued From Page 12) crisis of 1957. Carl was a sophomore in Central that year. In the four pages dealing with Little Rock, the Cregers vigorously criticize Gov. Faubus for his handling of the cr >sis, the action of extremist leaders a nd the harassment of the Negro pupils that year. Their conclusion is that the Negroes are going to get their rights, with or without the help of the whites, and we would like to help.” ★ ★ ★ ,0n a visit to Little Rock, Dr. Hein- nc h Hellstern, head of the relief or- ? a nization of the Evangelical Church 0 , Switzerland, issued another re minder that American race problems ®* ve international implications. “Little Rock is now the most famous American city, besides New York and Chicago. Every boy in our country knows the name of Little Rock,” he said. “Events like you had in Little Rock and like those in New Orleans now have repercussions all over the world,” Hellstern declared. “Your people must understand that the world has changed. They must understand that it is not just a local event—it has a world as pect. If your people will realize this, they will understand better their own federal government.” ★ ★ ★ At the annual meeting of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, Dec. 14, it was announced that Little Rock had obtained its first new industry since the school crisis of 1957. This was ac complished by getting Arkansas resi dents, including Winthrop Rockefeller, to chip in money to buy the East Texas Engineering and Manufacturing Co. of Tyler, Tex., and merge it with Hamlin Products Inc. at Little Rock, to create 150 new jobs at Little Rock. ★ ★ ★ Negro students from Philander Smith College resumed their sit-ins at Little Rock in late November and early De cember. They went to the lunch coun ter in the downtown Woolworth store four times in the period Nov. 29-Dec. 9. This store’s policy is to close the food counter but to do nothing other wise; it does not call the police or ask the students to leave. But some one does call police each time, and on the second sit-in, seven Negro students were arrested when the police asked them to leave the counter and they didn’t. After that, police didn’t intervene and one day’s sit-in lasted more than six hours. # # # DESEGREGATION IN FORMERLY WHITE MARYLAND COUNTY SCHOOLS (Compiled By Maryland Department of Education) County Schools in District Desegregated Schools Number Negro Pupils 1959 1960 1959 1960 1959 1960 Allegany 34 34 15 15 303 303 Anne Arundel 70 70 28 32 568 865 Baltimore * 97 102 59 67 1,371 1,517 Calvert 15 16 — — — — Caroline 11 10 — — — — Carroll 23 24 5 4 39 44 Cecil 24 25 10 12 54 96 Charles 15 15 1 1 2 9 Dorchester 30 29 — — — — Frederick 36 36 18 21 582 797 Garrett ** 18 18 — — — — Harford 24 25 12 14 195 219 Howard 18 18 3 4 10 12 Kent 13 13 — — — — Montgomery 107 117 53 67 1,521 2,356 Prince George’s 125 134 26 30 255 339 Queen Anne’s 14 14 — — — — St. Mary’s 19 19 — 1 — 1 Somerset 20 19 — — — — Talbot 15 14 2 3 12 19 Washington 50 51 14 14 179 160 Wicomico 22 22 — — — — Worchester 20 18 — — — — — — — — — Total 820 843 246 285 5,091 6,737 * Does not include Baltimore city schools. ** Has no Negro pupils. tional bi-racial schools includes sev eral working on stairstep desegrega tion programs. Talbot County, which began desegre gation in the lower three grades amid demonstrations and a brief boycott in 1956, has been proceeding quietly a grade a year since then. The oldest of the desegregated Negro children have now advanced to the seventh grade, mixing a secondary school for the first time. Of the nine Eastern Shore counties, only Talbot and Cecil have some mixed classes. Cecil opened all grades to Ne groes on a voluntary transfer basis in 1955, when 12 entered two white schools, and now there are 96 in 12 schools. In both Harford and Howard count ies, desegregation moved unward to the ninth grade this fall. Both have about the same proportion of Negro nunils. but the extent of desegregation has been consistently different. Ho ward. predominantly rural in charac ter, has never had more than a few Negroes seek admission to white schools. This vear there are 12 in four schools, the largest number in five vears of desegregation. Harford, on the other hand, has had steady pressure toward desegregation, largely from Ne groes connected with two large mili tary bases. This year 14 of 25 Harford schools are bi-racial. Other counties in which more than half of the schools are bi-racial are: Montgomery. 67 of 117; Frederick. 21 of 36; and Baltimore County, 67 of 102. The remaining Maryland county with a stairstep plan—Charles County in Southern Maryland—has had all of its desegregation confined to one school, located in a community which also has a military base and draws a cosmopoli tan population. After moving a grade a year through the fourth grade, Charles added the fifth and sixth grades this fall, completing desegregation on the elementary-school level. With the second highest (45 per cent) propor tion of Negro pupils among Maryland counties, Charles now has nine Negro children in its bi-racial school. The most in any previous year was five in 1956. In the past three years there were only two. Counties registering a gain in the number of Negroes attending formerly all-white schools are as follows: Anne Arundel 297 Baltimore ... .146 Carroll 5 Cecil 42 Charles 7 Frederick ....215 Harford 24 Howard 2 Monteomerv .835 Prince Geor.’s 84 St. Mary’s .... 1 Talbot 7 1.665 Washington County recorded 19 few er Neoroes in mixed classes, so that the net increase in all counties t°tals 1 646. The change in Washington Countv stems from a nowilation de cline. since the conn tv school svstem is fullv desegregated with the excep tion of one Neoro school sennno an all-Neoro area The county is one that currently suffers from on economic depression, which no doubt explains the decline. Aside from A11e»anv Countv. which has desegregated all its Negro nunils, no statewide enrollment figures are available to show wh’t proportion of Negroes in each countv now attend bi-racial schools. The total number in volved is what places the desegregation figures in context. This larger picture of desegregation in Maryland awaits the release of white and Ne«ro en rollment statistics by the St°te De partment of Education. Of eoual sig nificance will be the release of Balti more city statistics by city school of ficials. # # # Courts Busy with School Desegregation Cases as Year Begins number of school deseg- re gation suits pending in fed- j*al courts at year’s end indicated ^ litigation on the issue would , ee P school officials and courts bUs V during 1961. a™? 16 New Orleans case was the most v ® during December as Louisiana J^ned for ways to block the deseg- Rari I?* 1 ^ >e ’ ns carried out in Orleans un der federal court order. The Orleans school board asked the r eti ^ UDreme Court for permission to djjjQ tile schools to a segregated basis tii e question of sovereignty was a Dallas school board plans to seek Rearing of a U.S. Fifth Circuit b] 0 , °f Appeals decision that tep, , 6 ti out a pupil transfer plan pat- tj 0l) 11 ^fter Nashville’s. A desegrega- suit involving another Texas city, fedJl, ° n , has been set for hearing in Th « >Urt on Jan. 30. ^^^lattanooga, Tenn., school board H lera] ‘■he B court as ordered. A hearing on h^jPu^d plan was set for Jan. 9. County, Tenn., preparing to tile first four grades this Iace s as ordered by federal court, still % a hea rmg on the portion of the lie J lng ti>r teacher integration. Jri Sc , ate Jan. 9 figured importantly '-'■S. rv°° . desegregation in Georgia. jCriiw j Ct Judge William A. Bootle ^Uiy ei J!f~ he would try to rule on the ^se tj v Georgia desegregation tiiat date. On the same day the a desegregation plan to a Georgia General Assembly was sched uled to convene; there was some doubt that school desegregation would be an issue in the session. An important new suit filed in Flor ida asked that the Duval County school board be permanently enjoined from operating segregated public schools. Near the end of the month, the court gave the board an extra 30 days to re ply to the suit. Florida now has school suits pending in six counties: Duval, Volusia, Dade, Palm Beach, Hills borough and Escambia. The Delaware Board of Education completed a new statewide desegrega tion plan in December to be considered by federal district court. The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals had rejected the state’s grade-a-year plan. Desegregation suits were the high lights of school activity in North Car olina in December. A federal judge had under consideration arguments in the case of a Negro seeking admission to an all-white school in the already de segregated Chapel Hill school system. Two suits combined against the Dur ham school board directly attack the constitutionality of the state’s pupil placement law. Arguments in these cases and in the much-amended Cas well County case were to heard dur ing the same court term. A suit by eight Negro children seeking admis sion to all-white Mecklenburg County school was scheduled for trial in Feb ruary. Since the suit was filed, the county school system has merged with the desegregated Charlotte city schools. Other major developments during December included: Alabama Gov. John Patterson said New Or leans’s school desegregation problems were nothing compared to what would happen in Alabama if integration were attempted. (Page 1) Arkansas Gov. Orval E. Faubus offered his as sistance to Gov. Jimmie H. Davis of Louisiana in the New Orleans school situation. (Page 12.) Delaware The state will spend almost four mil lion dollars for construction at Negro schools. (Page 15.) District of Columbia The opening of Congress on Jan. 3 was expected to bring another battle over the Senate’s filibuster rule, but indications were that it would be only a token effort. (Page 14.) Florida Volusia County school board attor neys pushed their attack on a school desegregation suit filed by both Ne groes and whites. (Page 15.) Georgia Georgians continued to debate the problem facing Atlanta with the de segregation of its schools scheduled for next September. (Page 3.) Kentucky The State Department of Education reported 287 Negro teachers were serv ing in bi-racial schools. (Page 16.) Louisiana The Legislature recessed from its third consecutive special session after strongly criticizing the federal courts. (Page 1.) Maryland The first statistical look at 1960-61 desegregation in Maryland county schools showed a record increase in Negroes attending formerly all-white classes. (Page 13.) Mississippi A legislator urged Gov. Ross Barnett to call a special legislative session be fore the regular 1962 assembly to re examine and strengthen segregation laws. (Page 14.) Missouri The number of Kansas City public schools having bi-racial student bodies has increased each year since 1955, a recent study shows. (Page 4.) North Carolina The new governor, Terry Sanford will send his two children to Raleigh’s only desegregated school after he takes office in January. (Page 6.) Oklahoma Oklahoma City schools have modified somewhat a strictly administered policy that has kept Negroes from transferring to schools where they would be in the minority. (Page 16.) South Carolina Parents of Negro students at Charles ton protested construction of additional classrooms at a Negro school and sought transfer of a number of Negro children into white schools. (Page 5.) Tennessee The first Negro undergraduates—at least three—are expected to be admitted to the University of Tennessee on Jan. 3 (Page 6.) Texas A decision of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals criticized the Texas referendum act, which has slowed de segregation since 1937. (Page 14.) Virginia A group of Prince Edward County Negroes tentatively planned a boycott of white merchants after the county board of supervisors rejected their petition for re-opening public schools. (Page 7.) West Virginia A bill to create a West Virginia Hu man Relations Commission has been drafted for the consideration of Gov.- elect W. W. Barron. (Page 7.) # # #