Newspaper Page Text
?
p.
f]
(
Factual
Southern School News
Objective
VOL. 7, NO. 8
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
r ''° YEAR
- rt •
GEORGIA
Two Negroes Admitted to University;
Of Massive Resistance Policy is Indicated
MACON, Ga.
A dmission of two Negroes to the Univer-
**-sity of Georgia marked the beginning
of a tense period in the state which ended
with submission from Gov. Ernest Van
diver to the Legislature of a series of bills
having the effect of abandoning Georgia’s
massive resistance policy.
U. S. District Judge William A. Bootle of Macon
ordered the university to admit the two Negro
students, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes
of Atlanta. The state asked for a stay, and Judge
Bootle granted it. But swift moves by attorneys
for the two Negroes resulted in a federal appellate
court order overturning the stay.
The two Negroes entered the university at
Athens but were suspended and removed from
the campus after a few days because of disorders
that university officials felt threatened their
personal safety and the safety of other students.
Judge Bootle ruled that Holmes and Miss Hunter
would have to be admitted, demonstrations or no
demonstrations. After their return to the campus,
the situation was calm.
Gov. Vandiver asked the General Assembly to
approve four bills. The measures were designed
to keep the public schools open and control of
school administrative machinery out of the hands
of the federal judiciary, and also to hold de
segregation to a minimum.
The Legislature quickly approved the governor’s
recommendations. Observers believed that, by
Governor Addresses Legislature
doing so, they had pulled the fuse on the po
tentially explosive Atlanta situation. U. S. Dis
trict Judge Frank A. Hooper has ordered the
Atlanta school system desegregated May 1. Under
a pupil placement plan affecting only the 11th
and 12th grades, it is expected that Negro high
school students will apply to previously all-
white Atlanta schools when the 1961-62 term
opens next September.
Georgia laws requiring the closing of desegre
gated schools had threatened continuation of
public education, but Judge Bootle’s decisions,
and the action of the Legislature on Vandiver’s
bills, apparently had settled the issue before it
reached a crisis stage.
Some members of the Legislature, as well as
a number of private citizens, were not in favor
of Gov. Vandiver’s actions. He was accused of
surrendering and of turning his back on promises
he made to keep the schools segregated.
Three well-known Georgians were particularly
critical of Vandiver. They are Roy V. Harris, an
Augusta attorney with much political influence
in the state; Marvin Griffin, former governor
who is expected to run for the post again in
1962; and James H. Gray, publisher of The Albany
Herald and chairman of the State Democratic
Party. All were critical, but none were willing
at this time to say what they would do if they
were in Vandiver’s place.
Meanwhile, the people of Georgia kept one
ear tuned to the Legislature, in session in Atlanta,
and the other to reports from Athens as to how
university students were adjusting to the insti
tution’s biracial status.
Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter
were graduated with honors from an Atlanta
high school in June, 1959, and applied for ad
mission to the University of Georgia. Holmes
plans to be a physician. Miss Hunter wanted to
enter journalism school.
The University of Georgia, to which they
sought admission, is about 70 miles northeast of
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Rights
Should
Group Says Aid Funds
Promote Desegregation
WASHINGTON, D. C
T he Civil Rights Commission,
in a massive report on seg
regation in higher education,
urged that the federal govern
ment use its grants to public col
leges as a lever to promote de
segregation. (See “National Af
fairs.”)
Arthur S. Flemming, outgoing sec
retary 0 f health, education and wel
fare, denied a private segregated school
foundation in Virginia the right to ap
ply for free government surplus prop
ers’- (See “National Affairs.”)
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to
Joview a lower court order voiding
“Olaware’s stair-step desegregation
p ‘ an - (See “National Affairs.”)
Congress opened with battles over
Phbuster curbs in the Senate and Rules
"Oaunittee powers in the House. (See
National Affairs.”)
Sen. Herman E. Talmadge (D-Ga)
attacked what he called trends toward
^ Judicial dictatorship” and introduced
,!flati° n to take federal courts and
aderal agencies out of any public
h°ol decisions. (See “National Af
fairs.”)
School Superintendent Carl F. Han
sen cited “significant” achievements in
six years of desegregation but said
major problems still confront the school
system. (See “District Schools.”)
National Affairs:
U.S. Government Called
Partner in Segregation
Charging that the federal govem-
j ment has been a silent partner in per-
I petuating segregation because federal
grants subsidize colleges that bar qual-
I ified Negro students, the Civil Rights
Commission urged that the government
| use the $1.5 billion it disburses each
year to public colleges as a weapon
! to force compliance with desegregation
decrees.
In a 356-page report on “Equal Pro
tection of the Laws in Public Higher
Education” released Jan. 16, the com
mission reviewed the history of segre-
| gation in the colleges, gave a state-by
state run-down on recent developments
[ and analyzed the legal problems in
volved.
The federal government sponsored
i separate land-grant colleges for whites
Perspective
Only Two Remaining States
Have Had No Biracial Classes
^He Entrance of Two Negroes
Sa • University of Geor-
$u. 111 January left only two
s ; South Carolina and Miss-
that never have had bi-
, h classes in any tax-supported
Not -■
Cq lnce 1958, when under a fed-
u ° Ut 't order two Negroes entered
^‘versity of Florida, had a state
%<* *,! boni the status of complete
hiia h ®fSr e gation. Late in 1960 Louis-
^ttoo- h ^ S ra< fr school desegre-
' b ttt, also under court order, its
predominantly white state colleges in
1950 quietly began to admit Negroes.
Although Alabama does not now have
any Negroes attending classes with
whites, it experienced its initial school
desegregation in 1956 with the ad
mission of Autherine Lucy to the Uni
versity of Alabama. Miss Lucy attended
classes for three days, but authorities
excluded her because of riots. She
later was expelled for accusing college
officials of conspiracy in the violence.
After her expulsion was upheld by the
same court that ordered her admission,
(See PERSPECTIVE, Page 3)
and Negroes starting about 70 years
ago, the report noted, and now it al
lows Southern legislatures to channel
most of the land-grant funds into in
stitutions for whites only.
Government subsidies authorized by
five other aid programs, including loans
for college housing and fellowships un
der the National Defense Education
Act, are distributed impartially to col
leges that practice racial discrimina
tion, the commission complained.
‘Violates Constitution’
“Insofar as the federal government,
whether by allotment, grant, or con
tract, disburses funds to publicly con
trolled colleges and universities prac
ticing racial exclusion, whether of Ne
gro students or white, it is support
ing operations in violation of the Con
stitution,” the report declared.
Majorities of the six-man commis
sion recommended two further anti
segregation moves:
• They urged Congress to authorize
three-judge courts in cases where the
fact of segregation is in dispute, to
speed final determinations in such
cases. Appeals from such courts could
be taken directly to the Supreme Court,
bypassing the Court of Appeals.
• They urged federal sponsorship,
on request of the states, of educational
programs to help students and teach
ers who are handicapped because they
received inferior schooling.
On the Inside
State Reports
Alabama 14
Arkansas 12
Delaware 5
Florida 7
Kentucky 2
Louisiana 6
Maryland 15
Mississippi 4
Missouri 16
North Carolina 15
Oklahoma 12
South Carolina 13
Texas 3
Virginia 5
West Virginia 13
Texts
University of Georgia 11
Special Articles
Judge W. A. Bootle 11
Georgia Profiles 10
Georgia Riot 9
N.C. Accreditation 15
Gov. Ernest Vandiver 10
First Negroes at the University
Atlanta, located in Athens. Some 7,500 white
students are enrolled, and it is the oldest chart
ered state university in America. It had been
segregated for the entire 175 years of its exis
tence.
Administrative obstacles erected by university
officials caused more than a year of delay. Dur
ing this time Holmes attended More
house, a Negro college in Atlanta, and
Miss Hunter attended Wayne State
University in Detroit.
In September, 1960, the case (Holmes
et al v. Danner et al) was taken before
Judge William A Bootle of U. S. Mid
dle Georgia District Court in Macon.
Judge Bootle withheld a decision until
the two Negroes had completed ad
ministrative processes, such as required
pre-registration interviews with Walter
Danner, registrar of the university,
and other officials.
In November, 1960, Danner said Miss
Hunter might be able to enter the
university in September, 1961, but
school regulations would prevent her
entering for the winter quarter which
started in January, 1961. Holmes’ ap
plication for admission was rejected.
Judge Bootle conducted a five-day
hearing in Athens beginning Dec. 13,
1960. He heard lengthy testimony,
called for written briefs and said he
would try to rule by Jan. 9, the last
day that students could register for the
winter quarter, on whether the uni
versity discriminates against Negro stu
dent applicants and should be ordered
to admit Holmes and Miss Hunter.
On Jan. 6, Judge Bootle ordered the
(See U.S. JUDGE, Page 8)
TENNESSEE
Davidson Desegregates; New
Chattanooga Plan Ordered
Commission Splits
The commission split 3-3
North-South lines on recommendations
to withhold federal aid funds from pri
vate as well as public institutions that
discriminate, and to authorize the at
torney general to initiate or intervene
in civil suits alleging unequal protec
tion of the laws.
Those favoring these recommenda
tions were John A. Hannah, president
of Michigan State University, the chair
man; the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh,
president of the University of Notre
Dame; and George M. Johnson, profes
sor of law at Howard University.
The opponents were Robert G. Storey,
former dean of Southern Methodist
University law school, the vice chair
man; Doyle E. Carlton, former gov
ernor of Florida; and Robert S. Rankin,
(See COMMISSION, Page 2)
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
TAavidson County became the
seventh school system in
Tennessee to desegregate as 41
Negro children entered formerly
white schools Jan. 23 (See “Com-
along j munity Action.”)
In the Chattanooga school desegre
gation case, U. S. District Judge Leslie
R. Darr said the plan proposed by the
Board of Education was “not accept
able” but did not reject it outright. He
ordered the board to bring in another
plan within 60 days. Meanwhile the
whole case has been appealed to the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. (See
“Legal Action.”)
U. S. District Judge William E.
Miller declined to rule at the present
time on the question of whether to
require teacher desegregation in Dav
idson County schools. (See “Legal
Action.”)
Two teen-aged boys and a 41-year-
old housewife became the first Negro
undergraduates to enter the University
of Tennessee at Knoxville, while a
young Memphis Negro woman became
the first member of her race to enroll
in the UT Medical Units in Memphis.
(See “In The Colleges.”)
The Johnson City Board of Education
voluntarily adopted the Nashville
grade-a-year plan to desegregate the
city schools beginning in September,
1961. (See “School Boards and School
men.”)
COMMUNITY ACTION
41 Negro Children Enroll
In Formerly White Schools
Forty-one Negro children enrolled in
11 formerly all-white Davidson County
schools Jan. 23, as the system desegre
gated the first four grades under a
plan approved by U. S. District Judge
William E. Miller.
There was no disturbance as the
county, which includes the suburban
and rural area around Nashville, be-
(See 41 NEGROES, Page 3)
