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PAGE 4—MARCH, 1961—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Authorities Say Words Cannot Be Interchanged (Continued From Page 1) who may be regarded as experts in the language of their fields. Dr. Kenneth B. Clark of City Col lege of New York declared last fall in his presidential address to the So ciety for Psychological Study of Social Issues that desegregation is “an ob jective social, legal and political process” while integration is “a sub jective, psychological and attitudinal process.” Dr. Clark whose reports on segre gation were cited by the Supreme Court in its decision, maintains that: • Desegregation consists of “social, political, legal, judicial, administrative or community processes” for removal of racial barriers. It “can be and usually is brought about by laws and governmental authority.” • Integration “involves problems of personal choice, personal readiness and personal stability. Its achievement nec essarily requires a longer period of time .... (It) cannot be coerced by law or governmental authority.” In Dr. Clark’s opinion, there is a need for psychologists “to help the public and its leaders to understand the difference between desegregation and integration.” Contrast of Terms A contrast of the terms was voiced to Southern School News, by Dr. H. James Crecraft, a Nashville psychia trist and a member for three years of the American Orthopsychiatric Asso ciation’s Committee on Problems of Minority Groups, who made this state ment: “In the beginning, the words ‘inte gration’ and ‘desegregation’ were gen erally used interchangeably by most people, but in the past year or so we have noticed a subtle change develop ing in word choice. “On the part of those who favor elimination of racial segregation, it was first believed—somewhat naively, I think—that desegregation would carry integration along with it; that inte gration would be the almost automatic outgrowth of desegregation. “But there has been a gradual dis illusionment among these people. They now are realizing that desegregation is primarily a legal and physical change of status as to race while integration involves emotional and attitudinal change. “With the increase of desegregation in the South, we may actually be farther from integration than we were before. Many Southerners, and other Americans as well, because of the desegregation issue, now have become more conscious of racial differences that had been more or less dormant, and new emotional conflicts have developed. “Because of adult attention to the subject, it has been absorbed by adolescents and children who perhaps previously had little occasion to be aware of its implications. It thus ap pears that, to some extent at least, the emotional conflicts relative to race may have been passed down to the younger generation to a greater degree recently than in the preceding two or three gen erations, and so these things seem like ly to remain around for quite a while. “For these reasons, it seems clear that desegregation is the logical choice of words to denote a legal end of segre gation. The definitions of integration simply do not apply to what is happen ing in the Southern schools.” Psychiatric Aspects The following commentary came in 1957 from Psychiatric Aspects of School Desegregation, a publication of the Committee on Social Issues of the Group for the Advancement of Psy chiatry: “School desegregation as a behavioral change may in the long ran lead to attitude changes which can be called integration, that is, to a much greater degree of social interaction between the races. If and when there is a shift in the direction of integration, this would show itself as a shift toward greater mutuality and breadth of shared experience between whites and Negroes in their total relationship.” Some Newspapermen Make Distinction In the field of journalism, General News Editor Earl J. Johnson of United Press International recently made this report without comment to executives of client newspapers. “A Tennessee editor writes that, strictly speaking, integration ‘means full union of the races in all fields, physical, intellectual and spiritual.’ “Desegregation, he says, ‘means the removal of restrictions on the move ments of the members of the Negro race, especially as citizens in the use of tax-paid (or public) facilities.’ ” Precision in Choice The trend toward more precision in the choice of words apparently has no necessary relationship to favor or dis favor for biracial schools. An editorial in The State, Columbia, S.C., last November declared: “ ‘Integration’ is an overworked word in the news reports nowadays. ‘Inte gration’ conveys the meaning of com plete mixing or amalgamation of the races. A more appropriate word for the forced acceptance of Negro stu dents by white public schools in the South is ‘desegregation.’ ” Sylvan Meyer, editor of the Gaines ville, Ga., Daily Times and chairman of the Georgia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, wrote in a booklet published by the Southern Regional Council last year that he considered the word ‘integra tion” as it is used pertaining to the Supreme Court decision to be “erron eous and inaccurate.” Meyer contended that the court “did not order ‘integration’ or hardly even ‘desegregation,’ which also implies a positive program rather than a mere change in assignment rules. ‘Gradual desegregation’ possibly is more accu rate.” The Georgian, however, suggested that people called “moderates” tend to use “desegregation” over “integra tion” “because it sounds, somehow, less aggressive.” Meyer said there are indications that repeated use of the term “integration” in the racial sense may be driving it out of the English language as it applies otherwise. He commented that Georgia’s poultry industry, with its companies extending into various levels of production from growing chickens to processing them, admitted with some hesitation that such a process in in dustrial terminology is called “vertical integration.” Suggests Term Misused William D. Workman Jr., a South Carolina journalist, in a chapter called “The War of Words” in his The Case for the South (Devin-Adair, 1960), suggests that the term “segregation” may be misused in its racial appli cation; then he calls the word “de segregation” “an artificial antonym” which is “unaccompanied hy anything approaching a precise meaning.” In Workman’s view, “the most gen eral and seemingly most acceptable meaning of ‘desegregation’ is that of a reversal of segregation. Its relationship to the companion word, ‘integration,’ is none too clear, but the latter is at least dignified with a dictionary de finition.” Webster’s New International Diction ary defines the transitive verb “inte grate” this way: “ ... To form into one whole; to make entire; to complete; to round out; to perfect. To unite (parts or ele ments) so as to form a whole; also to unite (a part or element) with some thing else, especially something more inclusive. To indicate the whole of; to give the sum or total of.” (This standard dictionary did not yet list the word “desegregate,” but the prefix “de” denotes reversal of the verb “segregate,” and “segregate is defined as follows: “To separate or cut off from others or from the general mass or main body; to set apart; to isolate; to seclude; to cause to segre gate.”) Educators Prefer Term ‘Desegregation’ The assistant state superintendent of schools in Maryland, Dr. David W. Zimmerman, recently described de segregation as “the elimination of com pulsorily segregated schools.” He said integration is “a term we do not ordi narily use,” it being “something more complete” than desegregation and “a matter of degree.” As further evidence that a distinction between desegregation and integration has not come overnight but had several origins in the past, this statement was made in 1957 by Hobart M. Coming, then superintendent of schools in Washington, D.C., and an advocate of both desegregation and integration: “Desegregation, the mechanical mov ing of people and things, virtually has been completed (in Washington). But integration, the conversion of the two segments of the schools into a smooth-running single system, still re quires the work of all.” Coming’s comment, which appeared in With All Deliberate Speed, published by Southern Education Reporting Ser vice (Harper & Brothers, 1957), was quoted in 1959 by T. B. Maston in his Segregation and Desegregation: A Christian Approach, and Maston ob served that “the terms are closely related, but they should not be equated with each other.” “More Positive Content’ Maston referred to a statement by Liston Pope in The Kingdom Beyond Caste that integration “has a more positive content than the term desegre- ation.” Then Matson made these observations: “Integration involves more than the removal of barriers and the elimination of compulsory segregation. This may be accomplished by desegregation. The latter is legal and more or less formal. Integration is voluntary and social. This means that integration is a much slower process than desegregation. “ . . . Integration in the strictest sense involves a great deal more than the mere mixing of the races. There might be a great deal of this mixing with little if any true integration. In the deepest sense, integration has taken place only when those of another race or class are accepted as full and equal partners. . . “Desegregation of the schools or of community life in general may or may not lead to genuine integration. Whether it does or does not will depend on the attitude of white and Negro people toward one another.” Comments in Yearbook A former chairman of the Department of Social Sciences at Fisk University, Dr. Preston Valien, made this comment in the 1958 Yearbook of The Journal of Negro Education, devoted to “De segregation and the Negro College”: “If desegregation is defined as the process of bringing Negro and white students into the same schools by the removal of racially restrictive admis sion barriers, and integration is defined as the participation of Negro and white students in extra-curricular and school related activities, as well as classroom activities, it becomes apparent that we are dealing largely with desegregation and not integration in this Yearbook.” Writing for the November, 1960, issue of Interracial Review, published by the Catholic Interracial Council of New York, Executive Director Harold G. Fleming of the Southern Regional Council made this comment as a pro ponent of desegregation and integra tion: “We must beware of that progress which means substantial desegregation but almost no integration. Integration means the acceptance of one another as individuals, not as members of a particular racial group. This kind of easy, natural acceptance is hard to come by, and Utopian processes of desegregation that have gone on have not encouraged it.” Difference Recognized Early by Dictionary An early distinction was established in Dictionary of New Words by Mary Reifer (Philosophical Library, 1955), noting that: • Desegregation is “the abolition of segregation, particularly as it applies to the public school system, pursuant to the Supreme Court decision on May 17, 1954.” • Integration is (1) “a social process which tends to harmonize and unify diverse and conflicting elements,” and as a psychological term it is (2) a state of adjustment of the personality in which it is free of all inner conflicts.” Take Dim View Taking a dim view of the word “in tegration” in all its various present- day uses were Bergen Evans and Cornelia Evans in A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage (Ran dom House, 1957), as they noted that “in mathematics, as anywhere else, to integrate means to bring parts together into a whole. It is rarely used in a literal sense . . . hut it has become a vogue word in education, advertising, and especially psychological circles. “Programs are always being inte grated, plans are integrated, campaigns are integrated—indeed, anything at all that can be combined or joined may be said to be integrated. The diverse and conflicting elements of character or personality are continually being inte grated by those who approach the mind or spirit in brisk, businesslike way. . . . Outside of mathematics, the word needs a rest.” Having made this excursion into semantics, Southern School News has determined, for its own use, the fol lowing definitions of these two key words: Desegregation—Change from segre gated to biracial or multiracial status, either in practice or in principle. Integration—Absence of all racial distinctions. # # # Southern School News Southern School News is the official publication of the Southern Education Reporting Service, an objective, fact-finding agency established by Southern newspaper editors and educators with the aim of providing accurate, unbiased information to school administrators, public officials and interested lay citizens on developments in education arising from the U. S. Supreme Court opinion of May 17, 1954, declaring compulsory segregation in the public schools unconstitu tional. SERS is not an advocate, is neither pro-segregation nor anti-segregation, but simply reports the facts as it finds them, state-by-state. Published monthly by Southern Education Reporting Service at 1109 19th Ave., S., Nashville, Tennessee Second class mail privileges authorized at Nashville, Tenn., under the authority of the act of March 3, 1879. OFFICERS Frank Ahlgren Chairman Thomas R. Waring Vice Chairman Reed Sarratt Executive Director Tom Flake, Associate Director Jim Leeson. Assistant Director BOARD OF Frank Ahlgren, Editor Memphis Com mercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn. Edward D. Ball, Editor, Nashville, Ten nessean, Nashville, Tenn. Harvie Branscomb, Chancellor, Van derbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. Luther H. Foster, President, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee Institute, Ala. Henry H. Hill, President, George Pea body College, Nashville, Tenn. C. A. McKnight, Editor, Charlotte Ob server, Charlotte, N.C. DIRECTORS Charles Moss, Executive Editor, Nash ville Banner, Nashville, Tenn. George N. Redd, Dean, Fisk Univer sity, Nashville, Tenn. Don Shoemaker, Editorial Page Editor, Miami Herald, Miami, Fla. Bert Struby, General Manager, Macon Telegraph and News, Macon, Ga. Thomas R. Waring, Editor, Charleston News & Courier, Charleston, S.C. Henry I. Willett, Superintendent of Schools, Richmond, Va. CORRESPONDENTS ALABAMA William H. McDonald, Assistant Edi tor, Montgomery Advertiser ARKANSAS William T. Shelton, City Editor, Ar kansas Gazette DELAWARE James E. Miller, Managing Editor, Delaware State News DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Erwin Knoll, Staff Writer, Washing ton Post & Times Herald FLORIDA Bert Collier, Editorial Writer, Miami Herald GEORGIA Joseph B. Parham, Editor, The Ma con News KENTUCKY James S. Pope Jr., Education Editor, Louisville Courier-Journal LOUISIANA Emile Comar, Staff Writer, New Or leans States & Item MARYLAND Edgar L. Jones, Editorial Writer, Baltimore Sun MISSISSIPPI Kenneth Toler, Mississippi Bureau, Memphis Commercial Appeal MISSOURI William K. Wyant Jr. Staff Writer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch NORTH CAROLINA L. M. Wright Jr., City Editor, Char lotte Observer OKLAHOMA Leonard Jackson, Staff Writer, Okla homa City Oklahoman-Times SOUTH CAROLINA W. D. Workman Jr., Special Corre spondent, Columbia, S.C. TENNESSEE Ken Morrell, Staff Writer, Nashville Banner TEXAS Richard M. Morehead, Austin Bu reau, Dallas News VIRGINIA Overton Jones, Associate Editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch WEST VIRGINIA Thomas F. Stafford, Assistant to the Editor, Charleston Gazette MAIL ADDRESS P.O. Box 6156. Acklen Station, Nashville 12, Tenn. in 1 'ft j# Ifll tei P Je 1 P 5o I f j 3 it $ P I P it v it i* i» le !» * a j. ie i* it; Ec Ec Al H. 0i Ea pe la 1 sa tii Ee ad la & to ir fit te it Perspective (Continued From Page 1) Court ruling in the school segregation cases. The courts last month continued to be a source of important developments on the issue. President Kennedy fig ured in two legal moves. A suit seek ing to block the use of federal funds for segregated schools named the pres ident and three other federal officials as defendants. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Abraham Ribi- coff, one of the defendants, has ex pressed opposition to denying federal aid to segregated schools. Within hours after the president re ceived an appeal for help from the Orleans Parish school board, the U.S. Department of Justice applied more pressure to end state interference in the New Orleans public schools. New civil contempt proceedings filed against State Education Superintendent Shelby M. Jackson attempt to force him to release state and federal funds to the financially pressed school board and to certify qualified New Orleans teachers. President’s Position At his Feh. 8 press conference, Pres ident Kennedy stated that he “will attempt to use the moral authority or position of influence of the presidency in New Orleans and in other places.” The scope of the Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling broadened in Maryland to cover juvenile correctional institutions. The state’s highest court ruled that the Maryland reform school for boys was part of the public education system and subject to the Supreme Court’s decision. The Court of Appeals held that the federal court’s ruling applied to all forms of public education, “without regard to type of school.” The school board of Florida’s only desegregated district, Dade County (Miami), admitted another Negro to a predominantly white school. The hoard, which is considering the feasibility of desegregating two additional schools, approved the boy’s admission without the public hearings held in previous instances. Ten Negroes requested registration forms after the private University of Miami announced it would admit stu dents without regard to race. The Georgia Legislature’s concert with the school issue had continued over from the 1960 session, when W controversy then involved a federi court’s order for Atlanta public school to desegregate. The desegregation o* the University of Georgia in January gave the problem added importance One of the four school hills approved hy the legislature and signed by G**- Ernest Vandiver in February repealed all the old school segregation laws, eluding one that would have closed any school desegregating. The legist - ture passed new laws to keep the P u ' r " lie schools open and at the same tin* resist desegregation. In addition to repealing the old seS' regation laws, the new acts provide tuition grants for students to att®” private schools, allow local option - closing and reopening public schoo during desegregation crises, revise aP" peal procedures on the pupil placer® ient plan, and provide, subject to a const tutional amendment referendum, dom from “compulsory association all levels of public education.” # The Louisiana legislature, holding fifth consecutive special session on - New Orleans school desegrega' itior quickly passed seven new segreS 8 i measures. The first act—a variation, local option—would permit sc '\i. hoards to close and sell public sch ^ when local voters approve, but it no provision where local voters nu.^. favor retaining public schools eve® desegregated. See Softening „ Gov. Jimmie H. Davis’s admin' 5 ^, tion leaders said the local °P**‘®g- ' J implied no acceptance of token d e -^.. x regation. But well-informed leg^ sources said privately they saw a * ening of the segregation leaders stand against any desegregation- Although segregation-desegr e = a v . i was not the major issue in th e $ -1 kansas assembly, several propo sa i the subject caused a controversy- g li Faubus proposed two amendr® One would provide for amending ^ I state constitution within a mini 111 ^ 1 l 33 days instead of the [ months, and the other would every child a free public ' without being required to attend uf with another race. The latter ) a policy similar to that adopted ^ t ■ new Georgia legislation. *