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GEORGIA
oOUTH-FRN SCHOOL NEWS—JANUARY 1961—PAGE 3
Court Ruling May Come On Registration Deadline
MACON, Ga.
J an. 9,1961, is an important date
for Georgians concerned with
segregation and desegregation is
sues. U. S. District Judge William
A. Bootle has said he will attempt
to rule by that day on efforts of
‘ two Negro students to gain ad
mission to the all-white Univer-
c sity of Georgia. Jan. 9 is the last
day that students can register for
the university’s winter quarter
(See “Legal Action.”)
It is also the day on which the Gen
eral Assembly of Georgia convenes. As
the opening of the Legislature neared
there was no indication as to whether
members will do anything, and if so
what, about segregation and desegrega-
t tion laws (See “Legislative Action.”)
January 9 Also Deadline
For Winter Registration
U. S. District Judge William A. Boo
tle of the Middle Georgia District Court
said at the conclusion of a four-and-a-
half day hearing in Athens that he
would try to rule by Jan. 9 on whether
the University of Georgia discriminates
against Negro student applicants and
should be ordered to admit two who
have been applying since July, 1959.
Jan. 9 is the last day that students
; can register for the winter quarter at
: the university- It is also the day that
the General Assembly of Georgia con-
i venes in Atlanta.
Judge Bootle told attorneys he would
j not promise to deliver his ruling on
any date but he would attempt to make
a decision in the case by Jan. 9. He
asked opposing lawyers to file a series
of briefs and suggested findings and
orders by Jan. 4.
The first question Judge Bootle must
t decide is whether there has been dis
crimination in the cases of the two ap
plicants, Charlayne Hunter, 18, and
Hamilton E. Holmes, 19, both Atlanta
: Negroes, who brought the suit for an
injunction and for damages. Should he
j find there was discrimination against
either or both, he then would have to
determine when and how to order their
admission, as well as the amount of
damages, if any, to award them against
the defendant, university Registrar
waiter N. Danner.
Ask $5,000 Damages
The plaintiffs ask an injunction to
Prevent discrimination against them
, i*nd others of their class and $5,000
amages. They want to be admitted
, 0r ™ e winter quarter, even though
; , th are now students at colleges
hose semester systems conflict in time
Uh Georgia’s quarter system. They
a d sought admission last fall-
udge Bootle said their transfer from
e semester system to the quarter
, S would involve some “economic
s df the students lost credit for
a 6 Present semester. But he stipulated
' tnark 6 WaS n0t in< di cat ing by his re-
g r s that he was eliminating winter
<L.? r enrollment a* Georgia from
sideration. Enrollment for the win-
quarter begins Jan. 3.
the 6 ^ r ° attorney D. L. Hollowell said
o rJ nl aintiffs ‘hd not wish to waive any
-rtunity to be admitted in January.
Worn!Tt r testified th at Miss Hunter
1 fjjj °e eligible for admission next
suceef ,?° Ssibly “ the spring if she
^ar T A y com P let es her work this
sity h Detroit ’ s Wayne State Univer-
‘ fight 6 Said Holmes was rejected out
vie-, °?,,th e basis of a personal inter-
standi th ° U S h the Negro had an out
sell.] g scholastic record in both high
1 lanta u “1 Morehouse College, At-
thrndd j re he enr °Ued after being
Ge °rgia d ° Wn at tHe Universit y of
Outlined Questions
h°r, s ? e ®°otle outlined the main ques-
?ers • 6 panted covered by the law-
they n their briefs, asking first tha
c rirnin ■ wh ether there was racial dis-
^Plioat- 1011 h 1 the handling of the twc
l hei r fj* 0ns with both sides “to pu
they re j^f on the evidence on whicl
htioty 'honally, the judge wanted t<
°f H 0 , the pre-enrollment interview
ants, p es , hy Danner and two assist-
P hel ps au t R- Kea and Morris O
iUs tifiAi VaS con Hucted in a proper anc
Tesp 016 man ner.
' Vas ask n °, ny brou ght out that Holmes
11 'tetriot, w hether he took part in sit-
thrtiej ^rations, went to inter-racial
° r knew‘sited houses of prostitution
' °t a red-Hght district in
joint^ V * S h e d “tea houses” or beat-
s - All of these questions he
JUDGE WILLIAM T. BOOTLE
Target Date: Jan. 9
answered in the negative. The inter
viewers said he was untruthful because
he said he had never been arrested
and they had information he had gotten
a ticket for speeding.
Asked Again
The judge also asked again about the
contention of the Negroes that the ad
ministrative remedy or appeal proced
ure set up by the University System
Board of Regents is inadequate to gain
them fair consideration for the appli
cations, and said he wanted to know
whether they should be required again
to follow this procedure before seeking
court action.
He asked especially in the case of
Holmes, since he was rejected after
his interview and Miss Hunter was told
her interview was satisfactory, whether
Holmes particularly needs to appeal his
rejection through the normal admin
istrative channels to the university
president, chancellor of the University
System and finally to the Board of
Regents.
Judge Bootle wanted to know what,
if anything, now is lacking on Miss
Hunter’s application and, if Holmes
does not have to appeal again, what
his status as an applicant is.
Finally, he asked what the Negro ap
plicants “think they are entitled to
right now.”
Mother Testified
Mrs. Althea Hunter, mother of Char
layne Hunter, testified that she had
spent a total of $3,174.46 to send her
daughter to Wayne State since Sep
tember, 1959, including transportation
back to Georgia for the interview for
admission and for the trial. She said
that, according to the University of
Georgia’s catalogue, her daughter’s ex
penses, including an estimated $50 for
travel between Athens and Atlanta,
would have amounted to $1,403.50 for
the same period of time. Mrs. Hunter
said she would have saved a difference
of $1,770.96 by sending her daughter
to Georgia.
Asked about his ticket for speeding,
Holmes said his parents paid a $20 fine
for him without his going to court and
that in August his driver’s license was
suspended for 30 days by the State De
partment of Public Safety on the basis
of that offense. He said he wasn’t asked
about traffic offenses and that he has
never been arrested.
Danner testified that he favors the
admission of Negroes to the university
“if they are qualified.”
Others testifying in the case included
Dr. O. C. Aderhold, president of the
university; Dr. Harmon W. Caldwell,
chancellor of the University System;
William Tate, dean of men; John E.
Drewry, dean of the School of Journa
lism; Joseph Williams, dean of stu
dents; Harold Callaway, a member of
the Board of Regents; and Miss Grace
Costa, housing secretary in the office
of the dean of women.
The case was handled for the de
fendants by Attorney General Eugene
Cook, Deputy Attorney General B. D.
Murphy and Deputy Attorney General
Freeman Leverett. Attorneys for the
plaintiffs are Hollowell, Mrs. Constance
B. Motley and Horace Ward.
State Legislature Convenes
On Day Court Decision Due
The state Legislature convenes on
the second Monday in January, the
ninth, but no one can say for sure
what, if anything, it will do about seg
regation or desegregation laws.
U. S. Judge Frank A. Hooper of At
lanta has ordered desegregation in the
public schools of Georgia’s capital on
May 1, 1981. The judge has suggested
that the Legislature adopt a pupil
placement plan and a local option plan
if closing of the public schools is to be
headed off. State law now requires the
cutting off of public funds to integrated
schools.
The Sibley School Study Commis
sion, a Legislature-appointed body,
which sampled public opinion on the
issue over the state, has recommended
the local option and pupil placement
plans.
John W. Letson, Atlanta city school
superintendent, and Paul West, Fulton
County school superintendent, said the
Sibley commission recommendations
offer the best solution available to
Georgia’s school desegregation prob
lems.
Fulton Legislators
Two Fulton County legislators, Rep.
Ralph McClelland and Sen. Charlie
Brown, said the 1961 Legislature wasn’t
going to do anything about repealing
existing school segregation laws but, if
things get hot next spring, Gov. Ernest
Vandiver likely would recall the body
into special session in an effort to pass
some sort of open-schools legislation.
Gov. Vandiver said the forthcoming
legislative session will present a his
toric challenge to lawmakers, but he
gave no hint of what action should be
taken.
Rep. A. A. Fowler of Douglasville
said he will introduce “a package plan”
for setting into motion a segregated
private school plan approved by
Georgians in a referendum six years
ago.
Rep. David Newton of Colquitt
County said he would propose legisla
tion to empower each *f the state’s
197 school boards to draw their own
pupil placement regulations.
Sen.-elect Howard Overby of Gaines
ville, Senator floor leader in the Grif
fin administration, said he was for pu
pil placement and local option, and
called for “positive, definite action” by
the Legislature in January “to the end
that public schools remain open.”
ALLEN OVERBY
Ivan Allen Jr., newly-elected presi
dent of the Atlanta Chamber of Com
merce, said, “Atlanta’s public schools
must stay open and the chamber should
provide its share of vigorous leader
ship in seeing that they do.” Allen
said the Atlanta organization would
ask the General Assembly to enact
legislation along the lines recom
mended by the Sibley Commission.
State Senator Carl Sanders com
mented on the subject in several
speeches over the state. In Augusta, he
said the Legislature is willing to try
anything, including interposition, but
he doesn’t think that will be the ulti
mate solution. In Dublin, Sanders said
the Legislature will try to the very
last to maintain the present segre
gated system. Before the Tenth District
Association of County Commissioners,
Sanders said there may be some inte
gration in some areas of Georgia if a
federal court voids the state’s school
segregation laws.
Two former presidents of the Georgia
Bar Association, Howell Hollis of Co-
Mail’s Gift to the Christmas
Season
Atlanta Constitution
lumbus and Newell Edenfield of At
lanta, predicted the state will lose con
trol of its schools unless segregation
laws are changed before a final deseg
regation order is entered for Atlanta.
Edenfield said, “Whatever we should
do, we should do it now, while we are
still allowed some discretion as to what
our actions will be.”
Lt. Gov. Garland Byrd said he be
lieves it will be at least two years be
fore the question of school integration
reaches the crisis point in Georgia be
cause it can be litigated that long.
Some observers believe administra
tion leaders want to wait and see what
happens after May 1, 1961, when Neg
roes will apply for admission to At
lanta’s schools the following September.
It is thought that the Legislature would
go into special session if some Negro
applicants should actually gain admis
sion to white schools.
The Associated Press polled legisla
tors and reported little indication that
there will be any backing away from
the massive segregation approach to
the problem.
A big Negro school in Atlanta was
dynamited in the early hours of Dec.
12, and Mayor William B. Hartsfield
said political demogogues and indif
ferent civic leaders must assume major
blame.
A Negro student-adult liaison com
mittee concerned with sit-ins in down
town Atlanta stores asked the Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce and the At
lanta Merchants Association to help get
lunch counters integrated. These
groups refused and the Rev. William
Holmes Borders, committee chairman,
said the demonstrations may continue
for many years.
In Atlanta, evangelist Billy Graham
was asked his views on Negro sit-in
demonstrations and said that even un
just laws must be obeyed unless they
interfere with the free worship of God.
Negro college students picketed a
department store on one side of the
street and white-robed hooded Klans-
men marched on the other in down
town Atlanta.
Police Guarantee
Silas Norman, leader of Negro sit-in
demonstrators in Augusta, said his
group will stage no further sit-ins un
til police guarantee “adequate pro
tection.”
The Atlanta YWCA opened its public
dining facilities to Negroes. The At
lanta YMCA said Negroes would not
be served.
Lester Maddox, Atlanta businessman,
said the “Georgians Unwilling to Sur
render” organization would ask white
Roommates
Public
SCMOOC
OOTLOOK
Atlanta Constitution
‘Mainly We Just Meet and
Play with Matches’
Atlanta Journal
employers to fire Negro employes if
the sit-ins continued, and would ask
whites to boycott white employers of
Negroes. Ivan Allen Jr., who will take
over presidency of the Atlanta Cham
ber of Commerce in January, termed
the proposals “ridiculous” and added
he was speaking personally and not as
a chamber official.
The bi-racial Georgia Council of
Churches urged the governor to do
everything possible to keep the state’s
public schools open and called on
Christian churches to welcome all who
come to worship without regard to
race.
C. C. Perkins, a member of the Car-
roll County Board of Education, told
a Klan rally in Atlanta that all public
schools ordered to integrate should be
closed. At the same meeting, James R.
Venable, a Stone Mountain lawyer, said
an answer to the school integration
question would be to close or burn
the schools.
Robert Lee Davidson of Macon, im
perial wizard of the U. S. Klans, said
“if it takes buckshot to keep the black
race” down, Klansmen will use it.
The State Board of Education an
nounced that 921,632 children are en
rolled in Georgia public schools, ex
cluding public kindergartens and pub
lic higher education units.
There are 626,377 whites and 295,255
Negroes enrolled for the 1960-61 term,
an increase of 18,020 in the total for the
same period last year. Officials said an
increase in the total each month is ex
pected. Educators also noted that 94 per
cent of the increase is in high schools.
The Southern Regional Council pub
lished a report that said that “existing,
traditional, Southern police attitudes
and training are not likely to be ade
quate for dealing impartially with the
young generation of Negroes.”
George McMillan, a South Carolina
writer, made an analysis of police
handling of racial violence in Chatta
nooga, Montgomery and Little Rock for
the council, a bi-racial organization,
which favors integration.
“The greatest danger to law and or
der in the South,” the report said, “is
a public official . . . trying to meet
the new problems with old unassisted
ideas.”
Grand Dragon C. F. Craig of Atlanta
told a reporter that the Ku Klux Klan
is seeking public acceptance and sup
port and wants to show it is not re
sponsible for the many reprehensible
acts attributed to it. The Klan set up
stands beside all major highways lead
ing into Atlanta and gave away free
coffee and literature for four days in
late November.
In Eatonton, 22 Georgians accused of
traffic violations in connection with a
Ku Klux Klan parade were fined on
charges of speeding. Three of the men
were fined additionally on charges of
using unauthorized sirens and signal
lights.
Judge W. W. Walker of the Putnam
County Court said the Klan demon
stration was a “despicable; cowardly
and anonymous intimidation . . .
frightening our citizens, particularly
women and children, whether they be
white, black, Jewish or Catholic.”
WHAT THEY SAY
■
Oliver Hill, a Richmond, Va., Negro
attorney, told the Atlanta chapter of
Omega Psi Phi fraternity that profes
sional men and women “need to come
more to the front with their influence
and financial aid in fighting the Ne
gro battle for equal opportunities and
equal justice and protection of the
law.”
Roy V. Harris, Augusta lawyer, said
a large pro-segregation demonstration
is planned in January when the Leg
islature is in session. At the same
meeting, Arkansas Congressman Dale
Alford urged a strongly segregationist
group, “Georgians Unwilling to Sur
render” (GUTS), to join with con
servative organizations throughout the
nation to save states’ rights.
(Continued on Next Page)