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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE 1961—PAGE 13
^KANSAS
i kittle Rock Extends Desegregation to
Junior
High Level
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
, f jttle Rock’s gradual desegre-
I L gation plan entered the sec-
j of three stages on May 25
cor, r '.j 1 the assignment of 25 Negro
°n clients to four of the city’s five
ity. j,jte junior high schools for next
C» Member.
con Little Rock school board also as-
bq gjj 16 more Negroes to the already
■V ^gregated senior high schools. Elev-
; Xes t Negroes attended Central and Hall
sdq ^ schools this year, and three will
■a®; ^uate in June.
"Desegregation of the junior highs and
Jste ^ additional assignment in the senior
e sq ^5 will make 49 Negroes attending
.at i ^is with whites in the city’s public
««, ^ls next year.
Hie final stage of the Little Rock de-
^gation plan is scheduled for 1963
jjth the admission of Negroes to white
janentary schools. The first school to
segregate was Central High in 1957.
Eighty-four Negro students had ap
plied for admission next year to the
jmior highs and 32 for the senior highs,
je school board screened them in pri-
tate sessions for several days before
ae May 25 assignment.
For First Time
For the first time, the assignments
jdude Negroes at Technical High
school, which will have five next fall.
In the junior high schools, West Side
til have 12 Negroes, East Side will
er ®J have nine, Forest Heights and South-
I s 1 test will have two each, and Pulaski
tato Heights will have none. No Negroes
applied for the latter school.
Under the original plan, junior high
^segregation was to have started in
September, 1960, but the school board
ielayed a year because of the school
crisis at Little Rock in 1957 and 1958,
then the high schools were closed for
one year.
Federal courts had approved the de
lay but a federal appeals court in
March noted that enough time now had
for further action to be taken
a extend desegregation.
Young Takes Case
The Little Rock desegregation case
'Norwood v. Tucker) was taken over
% 2 by U.S. District Judge Gordon
1 Young of Pine Bluff. The announce-
5 ®t was made when he wrote letters
B the attorneys in the case inviting
to offer proposed decrees under
ie March 2 ruling of the U.S. Eighth
&cuit Court of Appeals, which found
®tt the board had been using the
assignment law illegally to pre-
»ve segregation. Both sides respond-
™ by filing on May 16. Judge Young
a ’ set a hearing for May 29.
Judge Young received jurisdiction in
Little Rock case after a conference
the three district judges in Ar-
Iinsas - The case had been in the hands,
jBiporarily, of Judge John E. Miller of
‘•Smith. His assignment is the West-
District of Arkansas, while Little
J**® in the Eastern District; he gave
v the case last year after making the
p® U that the Court of Appeals re-
on all points in March.
» 7* other Eastern District judge is J.
.. • l b Henley of Harrison, who already
Dollarway case. Besides, Henley
; 0 , f? for the Justice Department be-
•“ J/ “is appointment as judge, and al-
bttl wor k didn’t involve the
j. , e Hock case, he thought it best if
^un’t take the Little Rock case.
b at left Judge Young. He is 54 and
i ,.,, at Pine Bluff, where he practiced
. or 20 years before his appointment
5* bench in 1959.
__ though elementary school desegre-
0,1 is not set until 1963, concern
Arkansas Highlights
I ^ 'Hie Rock’s gradual desegrega-
_ Plan entered the second of three
° es w ith the first assignment of
j^'to students to four of the city’s
'Junior high schools.
^ new version of the Dollarway
Vas °°l District desegregation plan
lad a bl ,rove d tentatively by Federal
\, a J- Smith Henley, who said he
. d to see what assignments for
ftp ,P tem ber were made under
Ptov^j 3n ^ e l° re Hivirig it final ap-
\
of p new judge, Gordon E. Young
to °k over ( l le Little
| p, c ase in federal district court
, h arn ree laws enacted in 1958 to
ftp , er bbe National Association for
Adv
i y trf av ancement of Colored People
* nva l' ( l by a state court.
, I [ ftat j. f * r state c °urt judge announced
suit 6 ' vas re ady to dismiss an old
the NAACP designed to
'be practice of law by the
Nation.
Whites Protest School’s Conversion
Leaders of a group objecting to the change of Rightsell Elementary School in Little
Rock to an all-Negro school talk with their lawyer, U. A. Gentry, right. The leaders
are, from left, Sam Adams, Julian Adams, Marion Safferstone, Aaron Pierce and
T. M. Webb.
over the racial status of the only white
school in a Little Rock neighborhood
led to a request for desegregation by a
group of whites.
Both whites and Negroes protested
the Little Rock school board plan, nev
er made official, to convert a south-end
elementary school, Rightsell, from white
to Negro next September. (SSN, April).
When teacher assignments for next
year were made tentatively on April
28, all Negroes were assigned to Right
sell.
It was learned unofficially, from
Rightsell teachers, that all the white
pupils at Rightsell were being reas
signed to other white elementary
schools for next fall.
The National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People objected
that the board was preserving segrega
tion. The NAACP also said this would
require remodeling an old Negro ele
mentary school for use as a junior high,
wasting money on a building too old
to be fixed.
Residents Object
White residents in the Rightsell area
objected strenuously because Rightsell
was the only school for white children
left in the southeast part of Little Rock,
an area about 35 blocks wide and 30
blocks long. In the same area are three
Negro elementary schools and the only
Negro junior and senior high schools
in the city.
The white residents asked the board,
if any change is necessary, to desegre
gate Rightsell next September. This at
least would leave an elementary school
for whites to attend in a large part of
town, they said, and elementary school
desegregation will come along anyway
in the next two or three years.
The board president, Everett Tucker
Jr., while confirming that some change
for Rightsell was planned, said that the
board had not voted on it officially and
probably never would. He said the
change probably would be done simply
by reassigning pupils and teachers.
This procedure obviously would be
used because of the federal court or
ders under which the board has been
operating since 1956. The board repeat
edly has informed the courts that it
assigns pupils objectively and not ac
cording to race.
Legal Action
Federal Judge
Gives Dollarway
Tentative Approval
A nother version of the Dollar
way desegregation plan re
ceived tentative approval May 12
from federal District Judge J.
Smith Henley. He reserved final
approval until he sees what pupil
assignments the school board
makes under this version of the
plan, and he ordered a report on
the assignments not later than
July 15 (Dove v. Parham).
He made his ruling after hearing oral
arguments on May 5.
This version of the plan is to admit
Negro pupils to the first grade of the
formerly all-white Dollarway school,
provided they score at least average on
two specified tests and provided their
assignment would not be “clearly con
trary” to the criteria of the pupil as
signment law. It retains the board’s
previous policy against transfers from
school to school at any grade above
the first grade.
The Negro plaintiffs opposed both
portions of the plan. The first grade
assignment procedure, they said, places
all the responsibility on the Negro pu
pils and their parents, and also requires
the Negro pupils to pass four tests to
get into the first grade of the Dollar
way school while the white pupils need
pass no tests. The tests were that the
Negro pupils must go to the white
school to apply, plus the two academic
tests, and the criteria of the assign
ment law.
No-transfer Provision
The Negro plaintiffs also argued
against the no-transfer provision. They
contended that transfers should be al
lowed at the levels of the grades de
segregated; that is, the first grade was
desegregated with one Negro girl last
year and she will be in the second
grade next fall, so transfers should be
allowed next fall at the second grade
level, the following year at the third
grade level, etc.
But the school board argued that its
no-transfer policy actually resulted in
built-in desegregation, that it applied
to the Negro pupil in the formerly all-
white school the same way it did to
other pupils, with the result that a
Negro pupil once in the white school
remains there through succeeding
grades. The board opposes transfers on
the ground that it interrupts a pupil’s
education.
Judge Henley accepted the board’s
first grade assignment plan but ex
pressed reservations about the no
transfer policy. Much will depend, he
said, on whether the assignments the
board makes in May for next fall show
“in fact and in good faith” that it has
initiated a period of transition that will
lead to a totally non-discriminatory
school system. He also ordered that the
two Negro pupils who applied for the
first grade at Dollarway last year but
instead were assigned to the all-Negro
Townsend Park School had the right
to apply this year for the second grade
at Dollarway and to be considered ob
jectively. Throughout his opinion
Judge Henley described the board’s
new plan as acceptable “on its face.”
Judge Henley noted that he had not
overlooked the Negro plaintiffs’ argu
ment that although the readiness tests
will be given to all students, they will
be applied only to Negro students in
making assignments. If this plan is fol
lowed through the years, he said, it
would result in a student body at Dol-
Judge J. Smith Henley
Approves Dollarway Plan
larway School made up of white stu
dents assigned there in the first grade
and Negro students assigned there by
having scored high on the readiness
tests, while the student body at the
Townsend Park School would be made
up of Negroes assigned there in the
first grade and of other Negroes as
signed there initially because they
failed to score high enough on the
readiness tests.
“Obviously such an assignment meth
od cannot be viewed as a constitutional
permanent solution to the board’s prob
lems,” he said, “but this does not mean
that the plan is not valid as a transi
tional plan, as a substantial step to
ward an ultimate goal.”
In that respect he mentioned that
even the race of a pupil could be con
sidered in making the initial assign
ments. During a transition period, he
ruled, a school board has “some free
dom of selection in designating the Ne
gro students who are to attend formerly
segregated schools, and in that connec
tion they may employ legitimate as
signment criteria, and may even give
some limited consideration to race.”
Dollarway School District lies on the
northwest edge of Pine Bluff in South
east Arkansas and has about 1,200
white and 1,200 Negro pupils. It has
two main schools, Townsend Park for
Negroes in all 12 grades, Dollarway for
all 12 grades and a small “wing” school
in a white neighborhood for the ele
mentary grades. Although the original
desegregation suit was filed by three
Negro high school students, the first
Negro admitted to the white Dollarway
school was a first grader, Delores Jean
York, in September, 1960.
★ ★ ★
State Court Decisions
Favor NAACP In 2 Cases
Two state courts took positions in
favor of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
during May. Of all the court decisions
that have been made in Arkansas in
desegregation lawsuits in the last five
years, these are only the second and
third by state courts that favored the
NAACP. Both cases were leftovers
from the tenure of Bruce Bennett, who
went out of office as attorney general
at the first of this year.
In one case, Chancellor Murray O.
Reed of Little Rock (Pulaski County)
ruled May 13 that three of four laws
adopted by the 1958 special legislative
session were unconstitutional. They
were part of a package put through
that session by Bennett for the an
nounced purpose of harassing the
NAACP. Judge Reed struck down
Acts 12, 14 and 16 of 1958 but allowed
Act 13 to stand, with a warning that it
should not be used in an arbitrary or
discriminatory manner.
The laws had never been used. Act
12 gave a county judge (chief county
administrative officer, not a judicial of
ficial) authority to “request” member
ship lists from any organization sus
pected of interfering with the operation
of the public schools. Act 13 allowed
the state attorney general to get a court
order to search the quarters of any or
ganization he suspects of evading state
tax laws. Act 14 prohibited certain acts
deemed to contribute toward “unneces
sary” litigation affecting the adminis
tration of public schools. Act 16 made
it a crime to give money or assistance
as an inducement to a person to file a
lawsuit.
Judge Reed’s comments on the laws
included:
Act 12—If it were aimed at acts that
were evil or detrimental to the public
good, he would have no hesitation in
upholding it, but it was actually aimed
at any person or organization that ques-
Judge Gordon E. Young
Gets Little Rock Case
tioned the state’s power or duty in the
operation of the public schools. No
matter how laudable its purpose may
be, the law is too broad in scope, he
said. It is fundamental that any citizen
has the right of access to the courts to
question any act of the state. The judge
said it also must fall because it gave
“uncontrolled discretion” to the county
judge and made an unconstitutional
delegation of power to him.
Act 13—Guarantees against search
and seizure do not apply where the
public revenue is concerned. Reed de
clared the law appears valid on its face.
Acts 14 and 16—Act 14 is so vague,
indefinite and uncertain, yet inclusive,
that it would make difficult or impos
sible access to the judiciary, which is
guaranteed by the constitution, the
judge said. Act 16 would destroy the
right of attorney and client to make a
contract and is discriminatory by pro
viding heavier fines for out-of-state at
torneys than for Arkansas attorneys.
Both laws would make the practice of
law hazardous for attorneys, he ruled.
Prepared to Dismiss.
In the other case, Circuit Judge Guy
Amsler of Little Rock (Pulaski Coun
ty) announced May 18 that he did not
believe he had the authority to pro
hibit the NAACP from practicing law
in Arkansas and was prepared to dis
miss an old suit filed by Bennett for
that purpose.
The only other time that a state court
has ruled for the NAACP was in Sep
tember, 1959, when the state Supreme
Court threw out Act 85 of 1957, which
required certain organizations to reg
ister with the state Sovereignty Com
mission.
★ ★ ★
Court Amends Ruling
In Dynamiting Case
The state Supreme Court April 24
amended its decision of March 13 in
the case of Maceo A. Binns Jr., 32, Ne
gro, accused of dynamiting the home of
a Negro student Feb. 9, 1960. The
amendment, made at the request of the
state, was designed to allow Binns to
be retried and also to alter some of the
language in the original ruling.
The ruling of March 13 reversed
Binns’ conviction for the dynamiting on
the ground that the trial court had used
a confession that had not been given
voluntarily. It said Binns had confessed
only after 57 consecutive hours of ques
tioning, which it called an “inquisition.”
In the amended ruling April 24, the
court changed the word “inquisition”
to “interrogation” and said also that
the question of whether Binns had con
fessed voluntarily could be considered
at a new trial.
The state in asking for an amended
ruling had said that Binns could never
be convicted without the confession be
cause there was insufficient evidence
otherwise.
Binns and Herbert Odell Monts, 17,
also a Negro, were sentenced to five
years for the dynamiting of the home
of Carlotta Walls, then a student at
Central High. Monts’ conviction also
has been appealed to the Supreme
Court.
★ ★ ★
State Dismisses Charge
At Government Request
When the trial of Emmett E. Miller,
45, West Memphis white man charged
in connection with an attempt to dyna
mite a Negro college building at Little
Rock, came up May 22, the trial judge
dismissed the charge by request of the
federal government. The government
said the trial would have disclosed how
FBI agents were on the scene at the
time of the attempted dynamiting and
actually prevented an explosion. Dis
closure of that information about the
FBI’s operations is not worth a convic
tion on the misdemeanor charge against
Miller, the government said in a letter.
The letter from U.S. District Attorney
Osro Cobb of Little Rock said he was
acting in accord with the wishes of the
Justice Department at Washington.
Circuit Judge William J. Kirby of Pu
laski County (Little Rock) received the
letter and dismissed the charge.
Miller’s attorneys, J. B. Stoner of
Atlanta, Ga., and Wallace Lopez of
Memphis, Tenn., then demanded that
Miller be tried and found not guilty
in order to remove the possibility of a
later prosecution. Judge Kirby then im
paneled a 12-man jury and directed it
to return a verdict of not guilty.
From his hotel room a few minutes
later, Miller issued a statement that the
dynamite bomb found by the FBI agents
at the college was only a dud, and that
his purpose in being at the college at
2 a.m. was to expose the undercover
operations of the FBI.
(See ARKANSAS, Page 14)