Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—APRIL 1961—PAGE 15
Mississippi
(Continued from Page 1)
been handled so far by Mississippi
and Negro educators in unison.
Calls for Co-operation
tote R e P- J- P- Love of Holmes
_ n b,. j chairman of a legislative recess
lotion study committee, said that
■ceased cooperation between white
jfegro leaders should solve all
■> Rational problems.”
j^ ve emphasized that schools would
Josed, but “only as a last resort to
1 Irent integration.”
J1 \ e state legislator commended Ne-
ep! educators working with his com-
' a; 'jjtee, stating they are “showing a
C T- ^derful spirit of co-operation in
the ’ taping us to get a stronger school
Pie | Astern.” He explained that his com-
tteljjtjee is seeking better schools and
oj! y all educators—white and Negro—
ro . | ;t working with his group.
★ ★ ★
Teachers Favor ‘No-Strings’
f,S. Aid; Solons Oppose
la the face of the Mississippi Edu-
2 tion Association’s “conditional” en-
jjrsement of federal aid for education,
U5. Reps. John Bell Williams and W.
f Colmer (D. Miss.), said they are
-nposed to it because “there can be
jj federal aid without federal control,
the House of Delegates of the MEA,
meeting in Jackson March 15, went
a record with only negligible voice-
tote opposition, as follows on the ques-
ion of federal aid for education:
“Since it has become increasingly
•Icult to provide adequate financial
apport for our public school system
irom local and state tax sources, the
satiation endorses additional and
trader federal financial support, pro
dded control of our public school
programs is left in the hands of local
ad state school authorities, and pro
dded further that ‘no strings are
ittached’ which are contrary to Missis
es: customs and traditions.”
The latter reference had to do with
*ie state’s policy and laws for segre
gation of public education.
Superintendent Endorses Aid
Earlier, State Supt. of Education J.
'1 Tubb had endorsed the Kennedy
proposal.
“I wouldn’t be in favor of any pro-
pan administered at the federal level,”
■* said, “but this program gives pro-
«ti°n to the states and would be
Titered by the state.” “Actually,
n IL? 1)6611 getting federal aid since
l ™ (land grant colleges).
J™b said the new program is
aouiing different” from the federal
which already have come into
J®ssippi “for use in the public
• S?! system ” for such things as the
t,00 ‘ lunch program.
‘Called ‘Foot-in-the-Door’
However, opposition to further federal
* as expressed by the State Cham-
•j .ppmmerce-Mississippi Economic
c 'l in branding the Kennedy plan
n °°t-m-the-door” proposal.
- th^ I ' 6SSrnan Williams, who addres-
j,, 6 County superintendents division
o.. e MEA the day following the
Delegates endorsement of
itional” federal aid, said federal
an attem Pt to bribe local school
3$j s into knuckling under to the
6se gregation decision of the
a States Supreme Court.”
‘Control Always Follows’
ft
b J^ssman Colmer asserted tha
V* 6 * bill would bring federa
>, tro ] to education “since federa
'Har’i aIwa y s follows the federa
■ 5 Colmer, who is vice-chairman o
j. ere i ° Use Rules Committee, sai(
■olt’ A n °f much we on the ‘nev
6s committee can do about it.
!| ★ ★ ★
f ^* )en * 11 g of Racial
’’Runieations Urged
.V r
6s °lutions committee of the all-
'■'letj )as issippi Teachers Associatioi
. Pening of the channels o
So ' Cation between the white anc
ces “whereby we can si
* Mis-;discussions of programs foi
aP^PPlwis."
^ 0r d(m S *^ ent *^ le oganization, O
; %n> s n Carthage, told the asso-
' Sp tv, annua l convention ir
iSess • ^fgroes had made notabh
;'-y a , m Mississippi education. H<
^ 10 Vp 0Ur 7^°H increase during the
.gjHal Negro teachers’average
aries an d pointed to highei
5® clag° ns ' He said two-thirds of the
gj - °°ms built between 1956 anc
/''ding 6r The Negro-white schoo
i N egl , 9ualization program had beer
»ii]V es ’ M d he pointed out tha
Ps out of 84% millions allo-
Mississippi Highlights
State Education Supt. J. M. Tubb,
in an address to the Mississippi
Education Assentation, composed of
12,000 white educators, spoke out
against abolition of public schools
in efforts to prevent desegregation.
A state legislator and the execu
tive secretary of the all-Negro Mis
sissippi Teachers Association said
biracial cooperation would save the
school system from closure under
the prospect of desegregation.
Two Mississippi congressmen, W.
M. Colmer and John Bell Williams,
declared their opposition to federal
aid for education. It was endorsed
by the Mississippi Education Asso
ciation provided no “strings” were
attached to impair local control.
Union members at a Hattiesburg
plant laid plans for a private school
system in the event public schools
are closed “as a last resort” to
prevent desegregation.
A University of Mississippi jour
nalism student, a candidate for edi
torship of the Ole Miss paper,
charged that Gov. Ross Barnett, the
State Sovereignty Commission and
the Citizens Councils circulated an
untrue report about his beliefs on
racial issues. He said he planned
to sue.
Gov. Ross Barnett, opposing Mis
sissippi State University’s partici
pation in the National Collegiate
Athletic Association’s basketball
tournament after winning the South
eastern Conference Championship,
said biracial athletics might lead
to social integration.
cated for new classrooms went for
Negroes.
He said “we feel that in the not too
distant future every boy and girl will
have adequate classrooms and an ample
supply of materials to pursue a quality
education.”
“We are almost certain that when
the legislature meets in 1962 we will
witness a revolution in educational
progress,” he added.
Community Action
Unionists Consider
Private Education
If Schools Closed
TTnion employes of the Her-
^ cules Powder Co. plant at
Hattiesburg have taken steps to
provide private schools for their
children in event public schools
are closed because of racial de
segregation. They have retained
W. H. Lane of Hattiesburg, former
Forrest County Superintendent of
Education, to conduct a study to
determine the cost of hiring teach
ers for the proposed school.
R. R. Dunagin, chief steward and
chairman of the union committee, said
the plant management has been asked
to provide data on the number of
children involved. There are about 900
employes at the plant, of whom about
600 are members of the Hattiesburg
Chemical workers Local 5-209, affiliate
of the International Woodworkers of
America. Local President J. L. Odom,
said the movement is neither to en
courage segregation, desegregation or
closing of public schools “but simply
to make preparations for opening of
a school for Hercules families in case
the state schools are closed.”
★ ★ ★
Dr. James W. Silvers, professor of
history at the University of Mississippi,
put aside a scheduled address before
West Virginia
(Continued from Page 9)
at State, Dr. Kennell explained that
one such program already has been
established at Barnard College in New
York City, Wake Forest in North
Carolina and Spellman College in At
lanta.
Dr. Kennell said he felt it would be
an invaluable experience for outside
students to visit West Virginia State,
which he hailed as a model of desegre
gation. He is executive director of the
Albany Inter-Racial Council.
He said he had closely watched the
progress of desegregation in West Vir
ginia. And about West Virginia State
desegregation, he said:
“I was very much impressed with
the progress here. I found a very warm
feeling between the white and Negro
races in many different areas.”
# # #
the Mississippi Historical Society, March
4 at Clinton, and denounced Myers G.
Lowman of the Circuit Riders, Inc., of
Cincinnati, Ohio, who was paid an
estimated $3,800 by the State Sover
eignty Commission for a series of anti
communist speeches in Mississippi.
Also attacking Lowman was the
Board of Christian Social Concerns of
the North Mississippi Methodist Con
ference. It protested Lowman’s tax-
paid speaking tours as “a violation of
the American principle of separation of
church and state perpetrated by the
granting of state subsidies to those who
attack Christian church groups.”
Speaker of the House Walter Sillers,
a member of the Sovereignty Com
mission, defended the expenditures,
asserting that Lowman’s addresses were
exposes of communist tactics to infil
trate various segments of the American
society.
In the Colleges
Ole Miss Student
Accuses Officials
Of ‘Smear’ Effort
T>illy Barton, a journalism
student at the University of
Mississippi, accused Gov. Ross
Barnett, Sovereignty Commission
Director Albert Jones and the
Citizens Councils with attempting
to “smear” him in an effort to
defeat him for editorship of the
student newspaper.
It stems from a “confidential report”
on the 20-year-old student from Pon
totoc sent by Jones to Mac Dale, editor
of the student newspaper, in response
to an inquiry as to whether Gov. Bar
nett had any information about Barton’s
position on segregation.
A state senator said that he was
shown a copy of the “confidential re
port” and that it was written on the
letterhead of the Citizens Council and
signed “Bill.”
William J. (Bill) Simmons is adminis
trator of the Citizens Councils which
are dedicated to the “preservation of
segregation and constitutional govern
ment.”
‘Confidential Report’
The “confidential report” on Barton
was sent to Editor Dale with the letter
head and signature deleted. It stated
that the information was furnished by
“W. A. Lufburrow, executive secretary
of the States’ Rights Council of Geor
gia, one of our affiliated statewide
organizations.”
The “confidential report” said Young
Barton “was actively involved in sev
eral lunch counter “sit-in” demonsta
tions in Atlanta ...” It said Barton
was employed last summer on the staff
of the Atlanta Journal and that Ralph
McGill, identified as editor of the
Journal, “has taken Barton under his
wing and offered him a permanent posi
tion . . . after graduation from Ole
Miss.”
McGill, who is publisher of the
Atlanta Constitution, was said to have
‘a key position ... in the left-wing
apparatus.” This meant, according to
the material released by Barton after
he got it from the college editor, that
Barton was “well-regarded in left wing
circles” and had been “selected for
advance training.”
South Carolina
(Continued from Page 14)
The “confidential report,” dated Aug.
17, 1960, and addressed to the Sover
eignty Commission director, said the
information about Barton came from
“an informant planted on the staff of
the Atlanta Journal” who described
Barton as “very dangerous.”
“Very Revealing’
Lufburrow was quoted as saying:
“I regard this information as im
portant, and very revealing. It indicates
the painstaking efforts of the pro-inte
gration people to plant sympathizers in
key positions on our college campuses,
where they can exert a maximum in
fluence on student opinion. This process
has been going on for many years, as
we all know, but I believe this is the
first time we have been fortunate
enough to gain knowledge of their
detailed plans in advance.”
Young Barton issued a denial and
sent Gov. Barnett a copy. He said he
had been advised that he (Barton) was
being accused of being a member of
the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People.
Governor’s Reply
Gov. Barnett wrote Barton that the
accusation “did not originate” in his
office, but had been told to a member
of his staff on the university campus
by a member of the student newspaper
staff. The governor told Barton that he
should get at the source and correct it
from that end.
Barton denied membership in the
NAACP or having participated in “sit-
in” demonstrations. He said as a re
porter on the Atlanta newspaper, he
had been assigned to cover the Rich’s
store demonstration and that was why
he was there.
He said he had never met Ralph Mc
Gill, noting that McGill is not editor
of the Atlanta Journal but publisher of
the Atlanta Constitution.
Plans To Sue
When Barton announced he was
planning to file libel suits against the
governor, the Sovereignty Commission
director and the Citizens Councils, the
governor and director said the infor
mation furnished Editor Dale at Dale’s
request was “confidential and not in
tended for publication or distribution
in any manner.”
Gov. Barnett said Dale had written
him requesting any information he had
concerning reports as to “Barton’s
sympathies with respect to segregation.”
He said his secretariat routinely refer
red the letter to Director Jones “and to
my knowledge, I never saw the letter
or heard of it until . . . the matter of
correspondence and alleged charges was
given wide publicity from Oxford.”
“That is the extent of my personal
knowledge of the matter,” the governor
said. He said he hoped his statement
and one by Jones “will clarify the
misunderstanding and that the students
may conduct their election in the
knowledge that there is no desire on
my part or the part of the Sovereignty
Commission to meddle into student
affairs. . . ”
Says Request Dated Back
Jones said the information had been
requested by Editor Dale “long prior
to the present election.”
“The commission has never stated or
indicated that Mr. Barton is a member
of the NAACP and it has no intention
of hurting him in his campaign for
editor of the paper or otherwise,”
Leon Dure
(Continued from Page 7)
Director Jones’ statement said. “The
commission has never published said
confidential report and does not do so
now for the same reason.”
Jones said he would “be glad to
invite Mr. Barton to come before the
commission in order that he may have
an opportunity to furnish any such
facts of information.”
He said the commission regarded the
source of the “confidential report” to
be “reliable.”
Miscellaneous
Champion Basketball
Team Barred From
Biracial Tournament
It/ffississiPPi State University,
which won the Southeastern
Conference basketball champion
ship, will not participate in
the National Collegiate Athletic
Association’s national tournament
because of Mississippi’s policy
against its teams playing against
biracial squads.
When the team was four games away
from the national championship, Coach
Babe McCarthy said, “I would love to
get a chance to play those games, but
I do not want to jeopardize racial
segregation policies.” He said members
of the team “understood the situation.”
Gov. Ross Barnett, said biracial
games “might lead to social integra
tion.” # # #
SERS Board
(Continued from Page 1)
tinued to give the paper a more at
tractive appearance, consistent with
good taste and the purposes of SERS.
As to content, the committee recom
mended that the state-by-state pres
entation be maintained but that special
articles on major related regional de
velopments be prepared by the SERS
staff. The committee also recommended
as an objective that in each issue of
Southern School News there appear
at least one article “drawing together
all the facts available about a given
aspect of the school segregation-de
segregation story, analyzing them, dis
cussing them against their background
and thus adding to their meaning.”
Members of the committee were C. A.
McKnight, editor of the Charlotte
(N.C.) Observer; Charles Moss, execu
tive editor of the Nashville (Tenn.)
Banner; Dean George N. Redd of Fisk
University and Sarratt, chairman.
Sarratt presented a detailed report
on SERS operations since the board
met last October. He emphasized the
importance of the “unseen” informa
tional service performed by SERS. Ac
cording to his report, at least 83 re
quests from “professional sources” were
received between July 1 and March
17. Represented were newspapers,
magazines, radio and television broad
casters, government departments and
agencies, colleges and universities,
churches, civil rights groups, educa
tional organizations and individuals
doing research and writing in the field.
# # #
University of Texas, is doing biochemi
cal research at the University of
Georgia. Kendrick is an ensign in the
Navy.
Dure Thinks Precedents
Assure Plan’s Legality
Dure thinks freedom-of-association
(or freedom-of-choice) is unassailable
legally. He says it involves in edu
cation exactly the same principle under
which the government makes individual
welfare grants, with recipients free to
spend the money anywhere or in any
institutions.
(Welfare grants may be spent in
sectarian institutions, too, and Dure
favors allowing educational grants to
be spent in sectarian schools, which is
now prohibited by Virginia’s law. He
says there’s no personal religious in
terest involved in that feeling, since
he has never belonged to any church.)
Dure hotly disputes claims that the
grants program will prove extremely
costly and may seriously damage the
public schools. He argues that the
cost of public schools is reduced pro
portionately when children withdraw
to go to private schools. And he thinks
that ending the public school “mo
nopoly” will bring invigorating compe
tition that will improve formal education
generally.
Dure thinks the freedom-of-associa
tion principle in education is so
fundamentally sound that eventually
“it will spread to New York and other
places simply because they have got
to have it.” # # #
to depend upon someone beyond the
borders of our state to advise or
inform us. . . .”
Miscellaneous
Negro Girls to Seek
Winthrop Admission;
Sit-In Continued
he Rev. C. A. Ivory, president
of the Rock Hill branch of
the NAACP, announced March 10
that at least four Negro girls
would seek admission to Win
throp College next September.
Winthrop, the state college for wo
men, is located at Rock Hill. Like other
state-supported institutions, it is oper
ated on a racially segregated basis,
restricted to white girls.
★ ★ ★
Sit-in and other anti-segregation
demonstrations by Negro students were
continued about the state during March,
with one of the largest gatherings
taking place at the State House in
Columbia on March 2.
When the Negro students persisted
in demonstrating on the State House
grounds after being warned not to, a
total of 189 were arrested and subse
quently released on bond. # # #
both pro-segregation and anti-segre
gation organizations, appeared before
legislative commissions and committees
a dozen or more times, buttonholed
individual legislators at the Capitol.
With Virginia’s adoption of the plan
in principle, Dure continued trying to
“sell” freedom-of-association to other
Southern states by use of the mails and
personal travels.
He estimates the campaign has cost
him perhaps $1,000 a year in out-of-
pocket money and far more than that
if time is counted. His most recent
travels have been financed through a
grant from the William Volker Fund
of California.
Newspaper Background
A native Georgian and graduate of
the University of Georgia (1928), Dure
spent four years on the Macon Tele
graph and News before becoming a
White House reporter for the Washing
ton Post for two years. Then followed
executive editorship of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch from 1935 until 1946,
except for four years’ duty as an army
officer. After three years as executive
news editor of the Winston-Salem, N.C.,
Journal and Sentinel, he bought “East
Belmont,” the Albemarle County farm
on which he now lives.
He is married and has two sons,
both graduates of the University of
Virginia. Leon III, a Ph.D. from the
