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? 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)