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PAGE 8—APRIL 1961—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
LOUISIANA
Supreme Court Backs Orleans
Decisions^
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bo
| Re
School Employes Receive Overdue Paychecks
Mrs. Caroline Von Rosen burg, representing teachers of McDonogh No. 19 School
is first in line as all public school employes in New Orleans get belated pay.
March 24, said he didn’t know whether
Jackson would recover. A government
physician, Dr. Francis T. Flood, said
Jackson was in critical condition.
Assistants Reminded
The judges called in Jackson’s as
sistants and reminded them that the
injunction previously issued restrain
ing Jackson from interfering with the
operation of New Orleans public
schools was binding on everyone in the
education department.
No witness called would say who
would be in charge of the education
department during the weeks that
Jackson is expected to be away.
At the month’s end the Orleans Par
ish school board and the federal court
didn’t know what action had been
taken by anyone on the nine points
raised by the government.
On March 27, Dr. James F. Red
mond, school superintendent, wrote to
the individual department heads asking
for return letters saying what had or
had not been done to comply with
school board requests for textbooks,
money, teacher certificates, budget ap
provals, etc.
While the school board awaited an
answer, the court granted an indefinite
continuance in Jackson’s contempt case.
At Baton Rouge, Gov. Jimmie H.
Davis disclaimed any knowledge of
Jackson’s plans or actions.
And Leander Perez, principal segre
gation leader in the state, said the fed
eral courts don’t have the guts to put
Jackson in jail.
In an unsuccessful effort to get Jack- 11
son off the hook, a special committee 01
of the Legislature created to investi-,
gate Orleans Parish school subpoenaed;
records of Jackson’s department. The
superintendent needed the records in
order to meet Orleans school demand*
for administration actions the govem-j
ment contended Jackson should take.
The three-judge court headed by
Judge Rives issued a temporary re
straining order which had the effect of
telling the legislative committee to
make the records available to Jackson
at any time the superintendent wanted
them.
Judge Wright on March 17 permit
ted U. S. Attorney M. Hepburn Many
to make the government a party to the
desegregation suits affecting St. Helena
and East Baton Rouge parishes and
six state supported trade schools.
Many had entered the Orleans case,
(Bush vs. Orleans Parish School Board),
late last year in order to strengthen
the government’s hand in seeing to it
that the orders of federal court are
carried out.
Immediately after being permitted to
enter the St. Helena and East Baton
Rouge cases, Many filed petitions ask
ing that Acts 3 and 5 of the second
special session of the 1960 Legislature
be declared unconstitutional.
Many said the two acts provide pun
ishments up to $1,000 and a year »
jail for persons “who encourage or as
sist others to attend or work at schools
operated on a racially nondiscrimina-
tory basis in compliance with the 1™
amendment of the Constitution.”
Community Action
Catholics in New Orleans
Promote Interracial Justice
NEW ORLEANS, La.
The U. S. Supreme Court on
March 20 affirmed three lower
court decisions on the New Or
leans school desegregation issue,
thus dealing the final blow to a
mass of Louisiana segregation
laws passed by the Legislature in
an unsuccessful attempt to avert
the Nov. 14 desegregation of the
city’s public schools.
The Supreme Court justices said
only: “The motions to affirm are
granted and the judgments are af
firmed.”
This meant the court upheld:
• The Aug. 27 ruling of a three-
judge court composed of Judges Rich
ard T. Rives, J. Skelly Wright and
Herbert W. Christenberry declaring
unconstitutional seven acts passed by
the 1960 regular session of the Legisla
ture as a barrier to desegregation. The
ruling further set aside the attempts
of Gov. Jimmie H. Davis to seize the
public schools from the Orleans Parish
school board.
• The Nov. 30 decision of the same
three-judge special court ruling uncon
stitutional Louisiana’s newly passed
Act of Interposition and 22 other acts
and resolutions of the first special ses
sion of the Legislature of 1960 called
immediately prior to the date set for
desegregation. The lower court had
held interposition was not a constitu
tional doctrine but a means by which
politicians could blow off steam.
@ The Dec. 21 ruling of the three
judges that banks of New Orleans must
honor Orleans parish school checks.
The Legislature had instructed banks
not to do so. This action of the Legis
lature was taken at the height of the
state’s financial squeeze play on Or
leans schools.
Action Anticipated
The U. S. Supreme Court action had
been anticipated.
All that Louisiana now still has be
fore the court is an appeal from the
ruling of the three-judge court at New
Orleans March 3 which enjoined the
state from enforcing:
• Act 4 of the third special session
of the Legislature which created a new
school board to take over from the one
which complied in November with
Judge Wright’s original desegregation
order. Similar attempts to replace the
elected board have failed.
• Act 5 of the second special session
which named Attorney General Jack
P. P- Gremillion to replace Samuel I.
Rosenberg as the legal counsel for the
Orleans Parish school board. Rosen
berg has handled the school litigation,
Legislative Action
TVTith five special sessions un-
” der their belt and a fiscal
session coming up in May, Louis
iana legislators at the forefront
of the segregation fight talked a
possible summer constitutional
convention to rewrite sections of
the constitution relating to public
schools and their financing.
Segregation strategists reported in
mid-March they were unanimously
agreed on a limited convention before
schools reopen in the Fall.
But Gov. Jimmie H. Davis has said
neither yes or no, and in Baton Rouge
there were reports that he is not keen
on the idea because of a general un
dercurrent of opposition to a conven
tion. Fears are being expressed that a
limited convention might turn into
one for a general rewriting of the con
stitution, longest of any state in the
nation and containing tax dedications
regarded as sacred.
Perez Pushing
State segregation leader Leander H.
Perez kept pushing for a sixth special
session of the Legislature for the pur
pose of calling a constitutional con
vention primarily designed to pave the
way for permitting dedicated public
school funds to be used for grant-in-
aid private schools.
Davis lost a bid for a one-cent sales
tax increase he said would finance the
grant-in-aid system, boosted by segre- |
Louisiana Highlights
Three decisions of three-judge
federal courts at New Orleans
which had knocked down Louisi
ana’s interposition act and a mass
of other segregation legislation
were upheld by the U.S. Supreme
Court on March 20.
An llth-hour illness prevented
State Education Supt. Shelby M.
Jackson from facing contempt
charges in federal court at New
Orleans. The government and Or
leans Parish school board were
faced with new delays on gaining
compliance with federal wishes re
garding operation of the New Or
leans public schools.
As amicus curiae, the federal gov
ernment entered the St. Helena and
East Baton Rouge Parish school de
segregation cases.
A constitutional convention lim
ited to action on public schools and
their financing was being talked up
by state segregation leaders, some
of them connected with the leader
ship of Gov. Jimmie H. Davis’s
forces. Davis was silent on the issue.
A committee of 300 Catholic lay
men was organized in New Orleans
to provide leadership in breaking
down racial barriers and misunder
standing.
Dr. James F. Redmond, Orleans
parish school superintendent, an
nounced he would leave his post on
June 30 and the school board be
gan looking for a new man.
Rep. Wellborn Jackson, an out
spoken legislative segregationist,
confirmed at New Orleans what had
been rumored months ago—that the
state at one point considered an
open physical clash with the Or
leans Parish school board to gain
control of public education in the
city.
and Gremillion sought to boot him out
and take over.
• A Senate concurrent resolution of
the third special session which ad
dressed New Orleans School Supt.
James F. Redmond out of office. Red
mond will leave his post at the end of
the current school year anyway.
Four days before he was scheduled
to face Judges Rives, Wright and
Christenberry on contempt of court
charges, State Education Supt. Shelby
M. Jackson entered a hospital and was
reported seriously ill.
The government, which was told by
Jackson on March 3 that he would
gationists as a means of avoiding pub
lic school desegregation in Louisiana.
New Orleans desegregated two pre
viously all white schools last Novem
ber, and St. Helena and East Baton
Rouge parishes are under “all delibe
rate speed” orders to desegregate.
Louisiana school superintendents—
who previously backed every desegre
gation law ever passed by the Louisi
ana Legislature—met in Baton Rouge
and were reported to have agreed pri
vately to fight any tampering with
public schools funds at a constitutional
convention.
Purposes Undeclared
There were no clear cut purposes
declared for a constitutional conven
tion but some of Davis’s key strategists,
who work closely with Perez, were
among those meeting frequently in
closed-door sessions in Baton Rouge.
Among them were Rep. John F. Gar
rett of Claiborne Parish, chairman of
the joint legislative committee on seg
regation; Sen. E. W. “Kelly” Gravolet,
vice-chairman of the Garrett commit
tee; and Frank Voelker, chairman of
the State Sovereignty Commission. Da
vis’s principal legislative leader in the
group was Rep. Risley Triche, spokes
man for segregation proposals that hit
the House floor.
Though Davis would not comment
directly on the question of a consti
tutional convention, he said privately,
segregated schools for the state would
attract “more good people than we
could handle.”
take actions to purge himself of con
tempt, went to Jackson’s hospital to
check and at a hearing March 24 con
firmed to the court’s satisfaction that
Jackson was in serious condition.
Chronology of Events
In Jackson Affair
Here briefly is what happened in the
Jackson affair, pending for weeks be
fore the federal court:
Jackson was originally cited for re
fusal to pay salaries to teachers at
New Orleans’s two desegregated
schools. Cited with him were House
Speaker J. Thomas Jewell and Lt. Gov.
C. C. Aycock, presiding officer in the
Senate. The money was paid, however,
and Jewell and Aycock were cleared
of contempt.
Meanwhile, Jackson’s contempt case
was broadened to include nine indi
vidual charges. He was accused of in
terfering with the Orleans Parish
school board by refusing to take such
routine actions as providing textbooks,
teacher certificates and funds for joint
state-federal programs like lunches
and vocational training.
In Court March 3
Jackson came into court March 3.
He said reluctantly that he would com
ply with the nine points at issue. “Yes,
I guess I’ll have to,” he replied when
asked if he would take action to purge
himself of contempt.
But Jackson’s answers were so vague
that the federal jurists, after holding a
series of conferences, decided to post
pone the case until March 24 to see
whether he was going to co-operate
with the school board as his principal
attorney, Harry V. Booth, said he
would.
Shortly after the March 3 hearing
Booth quit Jackson’s defense. It was
disclosed that he had sharp differences
with Rep. Ford Stinson of Bossier
Parish, staunch segregationist who en
tered Jackson’s case as co-counsel.
Stinson accused Booth of misrepre
senting Jackson, said the superintend
ent has made no committment to take
any action to co-operate with the
school board—which Jackson says
doesn’t even exist. (The Legislature
several times fired the school board,
but the actions were set aside by fed
eral courts.)
Jackson appealed to the 140 mem
bers of the Legislature by personal let
ter to help him “rectify the dilemma
in which I have been placed.”
His position was that, if he obeyed
the federal court, he would be in viola
tion of state statutes (which the fed
eral courts have ruled unconstitu
tional); and, if he stuck with the Leg
islature, the federal court would hold
him in contempt.
Key legislators said they didn’t know
what they could do for him.
Funds Transferred
Jackson made no direct contact with
the Orleans school board but did trans
fer funds into the Legislature’s School
Account No. 1. This is the account
which the Legislature set up to pay
Orleans school bills so that it would
not have to put any money directly
into the hands of the board.
The superintendent also called indi
vidual schools asking about textbooks
and sent some certicates directly to
teachers.
Suffering from a severe asthma at
tack, Jackson entered the hospital
March 21. On Thursday, March 23, he
was reported to have suffered a heart
attack and was placed under an oxy
gen tent.
Dr. Robert B. Wallace, testifying
‘Well, I Took You All the Way
to the Top’
Washington Post
A N INTERRACIAL council of 300
Catholic men and women was
organized in New Orleans to pro
mote interracial justice and to
seize leadership from the racists
and agitators.
The Catholic action body was formed
with the approval of Archbishop Jos
eph Francis Rummel, who has declared
the city’s 50,000-pupil Catholic school
system will be desegregated. He has
set no date.
In announcing its aims, the Catholic
Council on Human Relations made no
reference to schools or to any other
specific area of racial strife. But it
said the declarations in a 1958 state
ment of American cardinals, arch
bishops and bishops best expressed the
feelings and goals of the council.
“We must ‘seize the mantle of lead
ership from the agitator and the racist
. . . root out of our hearts bitterness
and hatred’,” said the council in quot
ing its aims.
To Soften Feelings
There have been flurries of Catholic
parent protests against desegregation of
parochial schools, and the formation of
the council was viewed as one means
of softening the feeling when Negroes
are admitted to presently all-white
schools.
The council said the bishops have
taught that “discrimination based on
the accidental fact of race or color, and
as such injurious to human rights re
gardless of personal qualities or
achievements, cannot be reconciled wi §
the truth that God has created all
with equal rights and equal dignity ;
“They (the bishops) have fart* 1 ^
stated that: ‘Legal segregation, or am 3
form of compulsory segregation, in 1 a
self and by its very nature imposes'-
stigma of inferiority upon the segry p
gated people. Even if the now o^ 0 , 11
court doctrine of separate but a
had been carried out to the w :
extent, so that all public and se <
public facilities were in fact :
there is nonetheless the judgment tn* i
an entire race, by the sole fact of 1
and regardless of individual q ua “ . *
is not fit to associate on equal te^
with members of another race,
cannot reconcile such a judgment , ,
the Christian view of man’s nature ■
rights’.” l :
The council, headed by C. Ellis
can of New Orleans, said it had
aims:
1. To promote good relatio
among people of all races in the
diocese of New Orleans. ■ as d
2. To make known the teacrun ^
the Catholic Church on mat
interracial justice and charity. ^
3. To work in co-operation ifl
He and responsible private a ®f|l er jca’ ;
strengthening the fabric of AI ". tb e
Democratic way of life dirou^.
promotion of good human rela 1 ^
4. To exhort all of the
ligious and laity to offer ,g ces (o'
prayers, good works and sacM , t j 0 n
the peaceful and charitable so
all problems of human relatio
Constitutional Convention
This Summer a Possibility