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Segregation-Desegregation Status
State
Alabama 114
Arkansas ... 422
Delaware 92
Dist. of Columbia. 1
Florida 67
Georgia 198
Kentucky 211
Louisiana 67
Maryland 24
Mississippi 151
Missouri 1,889
North Carolina ... 173
Oklahoma 1,276
South Carolina ... 108
Tennessee 154
Texas 1,531
Virginia 130
West Virginia .... 55
Totals 6,663
•Estimated.
**1959-60.
School Districts
Total
Enrollment
In Desegregated
Districts
Negroes
In Schools
With Whites
14
0
516,135**
271,134**
0
0
0
0
228
10
317,053t
105,1301
52,126
12,639
113
.107
26
24
66,630
14,973
47,932
8,628
6,738
45
1
1
24,697
96,751
24,697
96,751
81,392
84.1
67
1
807,512
212,280
133,336
27,502
28
.013
196
0
626,377
295,255
0
0
0
0
172
130
593,494**
41,938**
445,000*
32,000*
16,329
38.9
67
1
422,181**
271,012**
37.490
51,113
1
.0004
23
23
461,206
136,882
456,410
136,882
45,943
33.6
151
0
287,781**
278,640**
0
0
0
0
214*
200*
758,000*
84,000*
75,000*
35,000*
41.7
173
10
832,200
307,800
117,404
54,746
82
.026
240
190
504,125
40,875
266,405
30,725
9,822
24.0
108
0
354,227
258,667
0
0
0
0
143
7
675,648*
152,352*
130,953
21,881
376
.247
720
132
1,840,987*
288.553*
800,000*
85,000*
3,500*
1.21
128
11
668,500*
211,000*
177,731
52,286
208
.099
43
43
416,646
21,010
416,646
21,010
14,000*
666
2,813
783
10,173,399
3,088,261
3,106,130ft
706,163
213,532
6.9
tl958-59.
ftMissouri not included.
VIRGINIA
Court
Move
Studies U. S. Intervention
In Prince Edward Lawsuit
T
RICHMOND, Va.
HE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S
move to intervene in the
Prince Edward school desegrega
tion case on the side of the Negro
plaintiffs was taken under ad
visement by Judge Oren R. Lewis
after a two-day hearing in the
federal district court at Rich-
®®d. (Allen v. School Board of
Prince Edward County.)
The government seeks to enter the
^ se t° support the plaintiffs’ contention
®3t the closing of public schools in
hince Edward to prevent desegrega-
°n violates Negro students’ consti-
ritional rights.
k remarks from the bench, Judge
* is indicated that he may feel that
issues in the case should be taken
the state courts before being con-
e red by federal courts.
Attorney J. Segar Gravatt, repre-
*Bting the county board of supervisors,
■° ’ the court he
*°uld file su it in
ls tate court seek-
1118 rulings on
l11c h state statutes
* constitutional
’"visions
Judge Lewis
request.
’right
another com-
'^t from the
u" ch , Judge
^declared:
, t would take
awful lot of strong evidence before
GRAVATT
*°uld enter an order shutting
Sis
But he
for all schools.”
off
tad
no
added, “I would do so if I
The
fart
alternative.”
Injunction Asked
comment was directed to that
°i the government’s motion ask-
S that tu
. the state be enjoined from
it funds for any public schools
e state unless Prince Edward
Ss are reo P ene< d on a desegregated
Lewis suggested to the gov-
attorney that this particular
V 011 request be withdrawn.
'Sh^ 1 merely exploring, I haven’t
S it 8ny conclusions, but if you
Sk ? Ut fLen I won’t even have to
'S p ° ut ' tb” the judge told St.
-s^nt ®^ r ftt of Washington, an as-
^1 United States Attorney Gen-
. V-,
L.S. Contributions
said
-» « the government does
■' bo schools throughout Virginia
j l ^ >rce d to close. The government’s
ex Plained, is to get the Prince
. Schools reopened.
8 t ? Ver nment attorney told Judge
: <er ^ at the earlier desegregation
r'’ e< f by the same court (before
/; t ig , w is assumed the bench) was
i
1. The closing of Prince Edward pub
lic schools.
2. The use of public tuition grants
and tax credits to sustain the segre
gated schools for whites.
3. The operation of public schools
everywhere else in the state.
Question from the Bench
Judge Lewis asked Barrett if the
government would be seeking to inter
vene if there were public, as well as
private, schools in Prince Edward. The
judge told Barrett not to answer “if
it would embarras you.”
Barrett replied, “I don’t always know
which of my answers might embarrass
the Department of Justice.”
The main thing the government
wants, Barrett said, is “an affirmative
order to reopen the schools.”
“This court,” he said, “could restrain
the [board of supervisors] from fur
ther withholding funds from the school
board. If that were done, I would
hope the schools would reopen.”
Cites Georgia Case
In answer to a question as to the
court’s authority to take such action,
Barrett cited a Georgia case in which
a local registrar was directed to enroll
Negro voters.
On this, Judge Lewis remarked:
“I can see the logic of that order.
But I don’t see how I can order the
reopening of schools without also say
ing how big, what kind of schools, how
many teachers and so forth.”
The judge added that the federal
courts “lack the machinery to go into
the school business.”
GEORGIA
it News
Barrett cited the government’s inter
vention in the Little Rock and New
Orleans school cases as precedents for
requesting permission to enter the
Prince Edward litigation.
Judge Lewis observed that force had
been used at Little Rock to prevent
the enrollment of Negroes in white
schools, and that the Louisiana legis
lature passed laws admittedly designed
to thwart federal court orders.
But he said he did not know whether
the closing of schools in Prince Edward
was done to avoid a specific order of
the federal court. He added that the
defendants “certainly aren’t using force
to prevent enforcement of an order.”
‘Local Responsibility’
In presenting his arguments to the
court, Gravatt, counsel for the county
board of supervisors: said at one point:
“It is no violation of the United
States Constitution for the state or a
county to close all or any one school.
The state has delegated responsibility
for education to the localities.”
Judge Lewis interrupted to say that
if the Virginia constitution requires
the operation of public schools, “you
can’t get out of [this obligation] by
relegating it to the localities.”
The Negro plaintiffs contend that
operation of public schools is required
by Section 129 of the Virginia con
stitution, which reads: “The General
Assembly shall establish and maintain
an efficient system of public free
schools throughout the state.”
Collins Denny, Jr., representing the
(See JUDGE LEWIS, Page 2)
Objective
JUNE, 1961
Negroes In Biracial
Classes Up Slightly
A
LMOST SEVEN PER CENT of
the Negroes in the South’s
public elementary and high
schools attend schools with
whites, according to the new edi
tion of the Southern Education
Reporting Service “Statistical
Summary.”
The 17-state area, plus the District
of Columbia, reported 213,532 Negroes
in the biracial schools, or 6.9 per cent
of the 3,088,261 Negro enrollment.
White enrollment in the region num
bers 10,173,399. The Negro enrollment
represents 23.3 per cent of the 13,261,-
660 total enrollment.
Thirteen Southern and border states,
and the District of Columbia, now have
783 school districts with desegregation
at the elementary or high school levels,
compared to 777 districts at the end of
1960. Four states—Alabama, Georgia,
Mississippi and South Carolina—have
no desegregated school districts, al
though Georgia is scheduled to get its
first biracial public schools in Atlanta
next September by court order.
These 783 desegregated districts
make up 28 per cent of the region’s
2,813 biracial districts—those having
students of both races, whether seg
regated or not. Out of the region’s
6,663 school districts, 3,850 are uni-
racial—either all-white or all-Negro
enrollments.
In Desegregated Districts
The 783 desegregated districts have
an enrollment of 3,106,130 whites and
706,163 Negroes. Although 22.9 per cent
of the region’s Negro enrollment is in
the desegregated districts, only 30.2
per cent of these 706,163 Negro stu
dents attend schools with whites.
When the last SERS “Statistical
Summary” was published, in Novem
ber, 1960, the region had 195,625 Ne
groes in biracial schools, or 6.3 per
cent of the region’s Negro enrollment.
Almost all of the 17,907 gain occurred
On The Inside
Alabama 6
Arkansas 13
Delaware 16
District of Columbia 7
Florida 14
Louisiana 9
Kentucky 16
Maryland 12
Mississippi 4
Missouri 11
North Carolina 5
Oklahoma 12
South Carolina 15
Tennessee 3
Texas 10
West Virginia 15
in the Maryland figure, which jumped
by 17,871 because of a change in the
method of reporting the statistics. The
figure previously included only Ne
groes attending formerly all-white
schools but the new summary figure
includes Negroes attending with whites
in formerly all-Negro schools.
Four states have gained additional
districts desegregated since the last
issue of the summary. Kentucky in
creased by two to 130, Texas added
two for 132, Oklahoma rose by one to
190, and Tennessee moved up one to
seven desegregated districts.
Ninety-eight per cent of the South’s
desegregated Negro students, or 209,-
224, five in the border states of Dela
ware, District of Columbia, Kentucky,
Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma and
West Virginia. Together these states
have 14 per cent of the total Negro
enrollment, or 436,429.
Two Per Cent
The remaining two per cent, 4,308, of
the Negroes in biracial schools are in
the seven states having 51 per cent of
the region’s Negro enrollment. Arkan
sas, Florida, Louisiana, North Caro
lina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia
have a Negro enrollment of 1,548,136.
The four segregated states have al
most 36 per cent of the Negro enroll
ment in the region’s public schools.
Their Negro enrollment is 1,103,696.
District of Columbia schools have
the highest percentage of desegrega
tion. Eighty-four per cent of the Dis
trict’s Negro students are in the same
schools with whites. By race the Dis
trict enrollment is 24,697 whites and
96,751 Negroes.
Segregated Faculties
Public school faculties remain seg
regated by race in Alabama, Georgia,
Mississippi, and South Carolina as well
as in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana,
North Carolina and Virginia, which
have had some student desegregation.
Eight other states and the District
of Columbia reported some degree of
teacher desegregation, although in four
states—Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma and
West Virginia—several Negro teachers
lost their jobs in the change to biracial
schools.
The region has 494,629 teachers, with
about 21 per cent of them Negro.
The region has 276 tax-supported in
stitutions of higher learning, with 139
known to be desegregated in practice
or principle. Other schools are believed
willing to accept members of both
races but the racial status is unknown
because their enrollments are not kept
by race or the schools have not an
nounced a policy.
124 Desegregated Colleges
Of the 226 public colleges with all-
white or predominantly white enroll-
(See STATISTICS, Page 3)
132 Negroes Apply For School Transfers
^Ust]
■ r ated by the state by:
MACON, Ga. |
4 total of 132 Negro students
formally applied for transfer
to white schools under the Atlanta
school desegregation plan, but
Deputy Supt. R. W. Stephens said
on May 29 that only 16 will be
given personal interviews.
One white girl asked that she be
moved to a school outside of the range
of desegregation.
Some 300 Negroes obtained the nec
essary application blanks for transfer
to the 11th or 12th grades of white
schools, but only 132 had applied by
the deadline, midnight May 15.
The first Negroes obtained applica
tion forms on May 1. School officials
must notify applicants within 30 days
of application and in no case can the
notification be later than June 15.
Applications reportedly were being
processed speedily. Intelligence and
achievement tests were scheduled for
the week of June 14. Stephens said
none of the 132 applicants had been
officially rejected, and other interviews
could be scheduled later.
The Atlanta Board of Education
must notify student transfer applicants
within 10 days after the examiner re
ports or any hearing of the board is
concluded, unless parents or guardians
request postponement. Appeals must be
filed within five days after decisions
are announced, and the board must
meet promptly to consider appeals.
Rules and procedures for applica
tions for transfer and the making of
decisions on such applications were
set by the Atlanta board at the direc
tion of the U. S. District Court in At
lanta, which ruled that the public
schools in Georgia’s capital must be
desegregated in “reverse stairstep”
fashion. In 1962, under the plan, the
10th grade, as well as the 11th and
12th, will be desegregated for those
Negroes who apply and are approved
by the board.
The largest number of Negro appli-
(See STUDENT, Page 8)
Negroes Apply To Transfer to White Schools
Applications picked up by 300 Atlanta high school students.