Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—MAY 1961—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
r
Court Rejects Immediate Desegregation For
(Continued From Page 1)
Negro attorneys charged that the
school board was using the 1957 law
as a barrier to desegregation of the
system which includes about 103,000
students, the largest system in Tennes
see. An estimated 44 per cent of the
students are Negroes.
Mrs. Constance Baker Motley of New
York, attorney for the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Colored
People, served
notice that an im
mediate appeal
will be filed. Mrs.
Motley and other
Negro attorneys
called 52 witnesses
during a three-
day hearing which
preceded Judge
Boyd’s ruling in
an effort to sup
port the Negroes’
contention that
the school system has compulsory seg
regation.
Negro attorneys also contended that
the school board has made no effort to
desegregate under the assignment law
and said requests by Negro students
to transfer to all-white schools had
been rejected by school officials.
The school board argued the Negroes
had not exhausted the law’s provisions
which allow such requests to be ap
pealed to the board. It agreed that
segregation is maintained in the system
but argued that it was “voluntary, not
compulsory.”
Says Avenue Open
Judge Boyd agreed that the Negroes
had failed in not carrying further the
requests for transfer to all-white
schools. He said the law permits a par
ent “to take a case all the way to the
State Supreme Court. A colored child
has but to apply.”
Mrs. Motley told the court that a
grade-a-year desegregation plan would
not be acceptable to the Negroes.
Larry Creson, attorney for the school
board, contended “there’s not one iota
of credible evidence that the Board of
Education is operating a compulsory
segregated system or one iota of evi
dence of bad faith in operating under
the Pupil Assignment Law.”
The 1957 law, Creson said, is being
applied and enforced “without regard to
race or color.”
Tennessee Highlights
A plea for immediate desegre
gation of Memphis city schools
was rejected on April 14 by U. S.
District Judge Marion S. Boyd
who held that Tennessee’s 1957
Pupil Assignment Law already
provides for biracial classes. Ne
gro attorneys promised an imme
diate appeal.
The Knoxville Board of Educa
tion, which began a grade-a-year
desegregation plan under U. S.
District Court order last Septem
ber, submitted a supplemental
plan to the court allowing Negro
high school students to attend vo
cational and technical training
classes in previously all-white
classes beginning in September.
Negro attorneys filed objections
in U. S. District Court to the
Chattanooga Board of Education’s
latest desegregation plan which
calls for biracial classes in the
first grade in September and a
grade a year thereafter.
A circuit court order revoking
the general welfare charter of
Highlander Folk School, a private
adult education institution near
Monteagle, was upheld on April 5
by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
last year as a result of a court suit.
(Goss et al v. Knoxville Board of
Education, SSN, October, 1960.)
Negro attorneys who also have ap
pealed Judge Taylor’s approval of the
grade-a-year plan to the U. S. Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals have filed a
bill of objections to the board’s pro
posal on transferring vocational high
school students. They contend the
board’s recommendations are “too nar
row and restricted” and assert that
administrative problems which school
officials say would be involved in de
segregating the classes do not exist.
★ ★ ★
Objections To Chattanooga
Grade-A-Year Plan Filed
Negro attorneys have filed objections
in U. S. District Court to the Chat
tanooga Board of Education’s new de
segregation plan.
Bruce Boynton, Chattanooga at
torney representing four Negro chil
dren and their parents, called the
board’s proposal to begin a grade-a-
year desegregation plan in September
objectionable “in its entirety.”
In response to an order by former
U. S. District Judge Leslie R. Darr,
the board filed its amended plan on
March 27. Its first plan, calling for
desegregation of the first three grades
of “selected schools” in the fall of 1962
and a grade a year thereafter, was
filed last Dec. 20 but Judge Darr ruled
that it could not be accepted.
The judge in January ordered the
board to present an alternate plan.
(Mapp v. Chattanooga Board of Edu
cation et al, SSN, January.)
Board Appeals
Both Judge Darr’s ruling that the
original plan was unacceptable and a
summary judgment issued in favor of
the four Negro children have been ap
pealed by the board to the U. S. Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals
are not expected to be heard until the
October term.
Other attorneys for the Negroes
joined Boynton in filing the objections.
They include Thurgood Marshall, gen
eral counsel for the National Associa-
t ; on for the Advancement of Colored
People; Mrs. Constance Baker Motley,
New York attornev; Z. Alexander Loo
by and Avon Williams Jr., Nashville
lawyers.
The Negro attorneys revealed in the
pleadings that they may pursue further
their proposal to assign the Chattanooga
teaching staff on a nonracial basis.
Judge Darr, who announce^his*re-\
tirement in March^ ryled "fearly in the \
litigation that, intellect,* the Supreme
Court had not deefared the policy
assigning teachers 6n the .basis Af.race
to be unconstitutional. 4
Among the objections raised by^the
Negro attorneys to the amended plan is
that “it affords no’ire^ef -for the
minor plaintiffs and mmers similarly
situated who are already enrolled in
grades above the first grade. Negro
counsel also said a zoning provision in
the plan would “permit the segregated
status quo to continue in all grades for
a period of 12 years.”
Raymond B. Witt Jr. is chief legal
counsel for the school board.
★ ★ ★
Court Upholds Revocation
Of Highlander’s Charter
The Tennessee Supreme Court on
April 5 upheld a circuit court order
revoking the general welfare charter
of Highlander Folk School, a private
adult education institution located near
Monteagle.
Attorneys for the school on April 14
asked the court for a new hearing in
the case, contending “the only reason
for revocation of the charter was due
to the fact that it was operated as an
integrated institution.”
Circuit Judge Chester Chattin of
Winchester ordered Highlander to sur
render its charter in February, 1960.
One of the reasons cited by District
Attorney General A. F. Sloan was that
the institution violated Tennessee’s 59-
year-old segregation law which the
lower court held is still in effect for
private institutions.
The State Supreme Court affirmed
Judge Chattin’s order on two grounds.
One was that the defendant, Myles
Horton, director of the school, had been
operating the institution for “personal
Memphis
gain.” The other was that the sch^l
had sold beer without a permit.
An opinion written by Chief JustW
Allan Prewitt stated that it was m,.
. necessary for the State Supreme Coyjj
\ to go into the portion of the l 0Wef
-court’s ruling dealing with desegregate
classes, which have been conducted J
the school for many years. It stated that
the two grounds on which the 1 0 ^J
court was affirmed were sufficient fo,
revocation of the charter.
Although the high court remanded
the case to Grundy County Circuit]
Court for the appointment of a receive*]
to take over the school’s assets, it
granted an order staying the revoca.
tion pending a petition for rehearsing
and possible appeal.
The petition to rehear argued that
Highlander was denied equal rights
guaranteed under the 14th Amendment
to the U. S. Constitution because the
State Supreme Court “overlooked, dis
regarded and left undecided” High. /
lander briefs alleging errors in the -
lower court proceedings.
The school’s attorneys said they f
would take the case to the O, S I
Supreme Court if necessary.
Miscellaneous |
Attorney Announces
Desegregation Move j
N ashville attorney Z. Alex- !
ander Looby said he is “nego- '
tiating” with Obion County school •.
officials in an effort to bring about
desegregation of the public
schools. Obion County is in West i 3
Tennessee, adjacent to a desegre- :
gated Kentucky district.
“We hope a suit will not be neces- j
sary,” Looby declared.
School officials said a court suit had ,
been threatened. # # # :;
White Father Sends Girl To Rural Negro
School; Board Says Segregation Remains
Not Attacking Law
Mrs. Motley made it clear that the
Negroes were not attacking the con
stitutionality of the’ assignment law.
“We are seeking an injunction enjoining
the operation of the system on a racially
segregated basis ... or come forth with
a plan,” she declared.
School Supt. E. C. Stimbert testified
that the board uses all of the factors
outlined in the 1957 law as criteria for
judging requests for transfers from one
school to another, but said only one
factor—such as availability of space—
mi'dit be applied to a student at a given
time.
Attorney Jack Petree and William
Fitzhugh assisted Creson in represent
ing the school board. Other attorneys
for the Negro students were Russell B
Sugarmon Jr., A. W. Willis Jr., H. T
Lockard, the Rev. Ben L. Hooks and
B. F. Jones.
★ ★ ★
Plan To Desegregate High
School Courses Proposed
The Knoxville Board of Education
has submitted to U. S. District Court
a desegregation plan for vocational and
technical training classes in high school
grades.
Ordered by U. S. District Judee Rob
ert L. Taylor, the plan met with op
position from Negro attorneys who
contended that it did not provide for
the elimination of racial segregation
“with all deliberate speed” as directed
by the U. S. Supreme Court.
Judge Taylor, in ordering the Knox
ville schools to begin a grade-a-year
desegregation plan effective last Sep
tember, also instructed the school
board to prepare a plan whereby Negro
high school students could enroll in
vocational training classes at Fulton
High School.
Provisions of Plan
Under the plan presented by the
board shortly after April 1, Negro stu
dents may enroll in vocational courses
at Fulton provided the courses they
seek to study are not offered at Negro
Austin High School and providing thal
they meet the board’s transfer qualifi
cations established several years ago.
In his original order, Judge Taylor
noted that some courses taught at
Fulton were not available at the all-
Negro high school and asked the board
to submit a plan “within a reasonable
time.”
Twenty-seven Negroes are attending
desegregated first grade classes under
the overall plan approved by Taylor
STRAWBERRY PLAINS, Tenn.
seven-year-old white girl has
been attending classes in a
Negro school near here since
March 27.
Sevier County School Supt. Chan
Huskey expressed the belief, however,
that the second-grader, Monisha Moore,
will return to all-white Underwood
School where she still is enrolled.
“We didn’t want it to get in the
papers,” Huskey declared, after Mo-
nisha’s presence in Negro Cynthianna
School focused national attention on
the East Tennessee community.
Huskey quoted Monisha’s father,
Bruce Moore, as saying the girl was
olaced in the Negro school after Moore
became dissatisfied with the progress
she was making in her studies at the
all-white school.
Father Pleased
Moore, a Knoxville iron works firm
employe, told reporters his daughter
has learned to read well since she en
tered Cynthianna, a one-teacher school
located about one-fourth mile from the
Moore home in the Kodak community.
Cynthianna’s only teacher, Miss Ear
line Evans, a Negro, said Monisha has
been accepted by the Negro pupils, who
knew her before she began attending
their classes.
At Sevierville, the county seat, Supt.
Huskey said the Sevier County school
board takes the position that Monisha
is not officially enrolled at the Negro
school because she does not have a
Bruce Moore
Negro School Nearer
transfer approved by Carroll Sims,
principal of Underwood.
School Board member Sidney Gil-
reath, who represents the district where
the Moore family resides, said the board
felt it would be best to “let the thing
work itself out.”
Moore, who has lived in the com
munity for several years, and his wife
also have a son in high school.
The Negro teacher also said that
Monisha’s school work when she en
tered Cynthianna was below the level
of work by the first grade in the Negro
school.
‘It Won’t Happen’
“All of the white people of the com
munity are very, very upset,” Gilreath
said. “We are not for integration in
this county, and it won’t happen until
a court orders it here.”
Gilreath also expressed the belief that
if any official action were taken by the
board, “they’d go to the NAACP and
we couldn’t do too much about it.”
The school board met on April 17
but did not take any action in the
case. At a previous session on April 3,
however, it adopted a resolution pro
viding that transfers of students from
one school to another must have the
approval of both principals.
Supt. Huskey said the board’s action
in adopting the resolution merely re
iterated a policy which he said has
been followed for several years.
“I still think she’ll go back to Under
wood,” Huskey said.
The superintendent indicated that
Monisha will not receive credit for her
school work at Cythianna since she is
still enrolled at the all-white school. He
declined, however, to say definitely she
would not receive credit.
Letter to Principal
Miss Evans said she received a letter
from county school authorities after
the board’s action on April 3, asking her
not to enroll or allow Monisha on the
Negro school grounds. She added, how
ever that she already had placed Mo
nisha’s name on the register before she
was told of the board’s policy and
pointed out that she had a first-grade
report card showing the girl had been
promoted.
The father said he did not want to
“stir up trouble,” only that he feels
Monisha is making more progress in
her studies at the Negro school.
Monisha has been in regular attend
ance at the Negro school except a four-
day period beginning on April 10 when
Miss Evans received the letter con
cerning transfers from school officials.
Accompanied by her father, the girl
went back to the Negro school and
Miss Evans said she called Supt. Huskey
for instructions. The teacher quoted the
superintendent as saying that he would
come to the school to explain the
board’s policy.
Miss Evans said, however, that the
superintendent did not go to the school
and that Monisha attended classes as
usual.
Monisha had been attending Under
wood School since January when an
other one-teacher school she attended
last year was closed because it had
only 13 students. Her father, who op
posed the closing of the school, said
his daughter’s attendance at Under
wood necessitated a one-hour bus trip
and a half-mile walk each day.
Supt. Huskey also said Moore appar- I
ently had become dissatisfied with Un- j
derwood School over disciplinary ac
tion. “They whipped her or scared her,”
the superintendent said.
Sevier County School Board Chair
man Rube Hatcher said no specific or-
ders have been issued but that the
matter is under discussion.
While the question of Monisha’s
school credit remained unanswered, the *
board indicated that it will not take ac
tion to force Monisha’s removal fro®
the Negro school.
Sevier County, with a population of
more than 24,000, has only a small |
number of Negroes. No efforts have ,
been reported to bring about desegre- |
gated schools.
Monisha Moore Only White Child At School
Miss Earline Evans, teacher, listens to child read.