Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE 16—JUNE 1961—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS DELAWARE Court Reserves Judgment On Desegregation Plan DOVER, Del. hief Judge Caleb M. Wright of the Federal District Court in Wilmington reserved judgment after a May 22 hearing on the modified desegregation plan pre sented by the State Board of Education. In the event he disapproves the plan, he will hold sessions with the principals to draw up a plan accept able to them and the court, he told opposing attorneys. Attorney General Januar D. Bove Jr. represented the state board, and Louis L. Redding, Wilmington attor ney, represented the Negro litigants who filed suit to enter seven white schools in 1956. Redding traced the historical back ground of the case for the court, and said that the modified state board plan “does not abolish” segregation, and that it violates the Third Circuit Court of Appeals order of Aug. 29, 1960. Rejected Grade-A-Year The Philadelphia Circuit Court order of last year was handed down as the court rejected Delaware’s grade-a-year program. Redding said the special registration of Negro pupils held in May “con ceives a continuance of separate schools.” Consequently, he asked Judge Wright to dissolve all Delaware Negro school districts and to declare the state’s tuition law unconstitutional. Redding termed the tuition law “the most serious impediment to desegre gation.” Pupil Transfers The tuition law, passed by the Gen eral Assembly in 1959 and signed by Gov. J. Caleb Boggs, calls for approval by both sending and receiving districts for pupil transfers. It further states, Redding told the court, that such transfers may not be approved when the same grades and courses are available in each district. Redding’s attack on the tuition law was a new phase in the five-year old case, an argument that had not been touched upon previously. Says It Means ‘Never’ Application of the law, Redding said, “means that Negroes will never get to go to white schools.” He cited Ellendale, in Sussex Coun ty, as an example of the dual school system, having separate facilities for Negroes and whites in grades one through six. “The least the court can do is order the Negro district dissolved. The crux of the matter is the impossibility of transfer.” If there were no Negro districts, he said in answer to a question from Judge Wright, the tuition act would have no application. “We say the Negro districts were dissolved by the Supreme Court de cision of 1954,” Redding said. But Attorney General Bove, in sub sequent arugment, denied they were abolished. “Their continued existence has been clearly recognized. We do not under stand they were wiped out,” Bove said. Tuition Act On the tuition act, Bove said: “The state board is bound by the statute.” “Is the state board also bound by the U.S. Constitution?” asked Judge Wright. “Suppose I was to declare it (the tuition act) unconstitutional?” In that case, Bove stated, the state board would comply with the decision. The special Negro registration, Bove said, was not intended to be discrim inatory, nor was the tuition act. “It (the tuition law) applies to all students, white or Negro. I would say the statute, on its face, is not uncon stitutional,” he said. Schoolmen Early Enrollments Indicate Influx Of Colored Pupils Tj^ inal figures won’t be avail- A able until after June 30, but preliminary enrollments in dicate a heavy influx of colored pupils into white schools in Kent and Sussex counties in Septem ber. At least 264 Negroes and Moors ap plied to enter white schools at a spe cial May registration. Kent and Sussex, which have resisted desegregation more than New Castle, have but 94 Negroes now attending schools with whites. Eighty-nine of these are in Kent, five in Sussex. Dr. George R. Miller, state superin tendent of public instruction, declined to reveal registration totals. The spe cial registration was held May 12-16, but children with justifiable excuses will be allowed to register until June 30. And, Dr. Miller added, registrations are accepted until, and even after, the opening day of school. Objections Filed The State Board of Education, at its April meeting, decided to go ahead with its special registration despite ob jections filed against its plan in the federal district court in Wilmington. Under the state board plan, all pu pils entering grade one and those de siring to transfer were required to make application at the May registra tion. In a directive sent to all school dis tricts, the state board pointed out that “... the number of Negroes desiring to transfer to and enroll in white schools in the district in which they reside must be ascertained for the proper organization of the receiving schools beginning in September, 1961, and thereafter.” Notices of the registration were re quired to be posted in at least five conspicuous places, including the school houses of the district. 185 Applications A Delaware State News survey of superintendents of the six largest school districts in Kent County showed that 185 Negroes and Moors applied for admission to white schools. At the moment, there are but 89 Negroes attending white schools in these districts. Smyrna, a town some 10 miles north of Dover, received applications from 83 Negroes and Moors who desired to transfer to white schools in Septem ber. Forty-three pupils requested trans fers from the Thomas D. Clayton Ne gro school to enter the Smyrna ele mentary school, and an additional 40 requested transfers from the Clayton and William Henry High School in grades seven through 10. At Dover, 45 Negroes and Moors want to enter the elementary school, and 24 wish to attend the junior high school. An additional 12 enrolled to at tend high school. School For Moors The Cheswold school for Moors par ticularly would feel the impact if all the transfers go through. The school has an enrollment of 93 pupils, and 61 have enrolled at Dover. Caesar Rodney enrolled 18 Negroes, 12 in the high school and six in the elementary grades, while Milford re ceived requests from three Negro pu pils to enter the first grade. Neither Felton nor Harrington re ceived applications from Negroes to transfer into the white schools. Trend Repeated A similar survey of five selected schools in Sussex County revealed the same trend. A sixth district declined to reveal whether any Negroes had applied. Seaford, which currently has one Negro pupil in its white school, en rolled 28 Negroes, including 26 in the high school and two at the elementary level. Six Negroes applied at Lewes, but Supt. F. Robert Mercer emphasized that “this isn’t a firm figure; it may change.” Other Reports Twenty Negroes applied at Bridge- ville, 12 to enter the high school, and eight to enter elementary grades. Twenty-five Negroes applied at El lendale, all at the elementary level, because Ellendale does not have a high school. No Negroes applied during the spe cial registration at Georgetown, ac cording to Supt. George H. Keen. Leon B. Elder, Laurel superinten dent, would not divulge any statistics on the registration. “The official report isn’t ready and hasn’t been submitted to Dr. George R. Miller, state superintendent. Fm sure you can get it from him when it is,” he told reporters. Delaware Highlights U. S. District Judge Caleb M. Wright reserved judgment on the State Board of Education’s modified desegregation plan. Two hundred and sixty-four Ne groes and Moors have applied to en ter white schools in Kent and Sussex Counties, which now have 94 colored pupils attending school with whites. The first Negro elected to a white school board in Delaware lost a bid to retain her post on the Dover Special School District board of education. Dr. William B. Simpson, a fre quent critic of the desegregation policies of the State Board of Edu cation, has resigned as Caesar Rod ney superintendent to accept a posi tion on the Wesley College faculty in Dover. MRS. HENRY First Negro Member Of School Board Loses Re-Election Tl/T RS. Cecie P. Henry, the first Negro elected to serve on a white school board in Delaware, lost a bid for another four-year term on the Dover Special School District board of education. Mrs. Henry, who was the victor by seven votes in a four-way race four years ago, finished second on May 13 in a three-way contest. Despite the fact that she polled 192 more votes than in 1957, Mrs. Henry lost by a margin of 119 votes to Alvin Leisey. Leisey defeated Mrs. Henry by 698 to 569 with Leon Tarburton running third with 186. The total vote of 1,458 set a new high for Dover district elec tions. Few Racial Aspects There were few racial overtones during the election campaign. But both white candidates pledged themselves to seek expansion of the four-member school board. Leisey, a former president of the elementary PTA, said he will urge that the board be increased to an odd number to avoid tie votes. Tarburton, a former school board member, campaigned for geographical representation. Each of Dover’s five schools, he said, should have a spe cific board member as its representa tive. This meant, he admitted, that the Negro Booker T. Washington School would have a representative, most likely a Negro. Both white candidates conducted an extensive advertising campaign on ra dio and in the Dover newspaper, but Mrs. Henry did not. Mrs. Henry’s voting strength, as ex pected, showed up at the Negro school. Voters were allowed to cast their ballots at any of four school buildings in Dover, but the majority of Negroes, because of proximity, voted at Booker T. Washington. At the Negro school, Mrs. Henry polled 432 votes to 51 for Leisey and 10 for Tarburton. But, at the three white schools, Lei sey received a total of 647 votes to 137 for Mrs. Henry, with Tarburton polling 176. In The Colleges Dr. Simpson, Critic Of Board Policies, Joins College Staff T\ R. William B. Simpson, a ” frequent critic of the State Board of Education and its de segregation policies, who resigned as superintendent at Caesar Rod ney, has been appointed to the faculty of Wesley College, Dover. Dr. Simpson, who has exchanged bitter words in public and in print with Vincent A. Theisen, State Board president, was at Caesar Rodney for 31 years. Dr. Simpson will be replaced by F. Niel Postlethwait, of Dayton, Va., who will begin his duties on July 1. # # # KENTUCKY Louisville School Board Elects Negro Chairman LOUISVILLE, Ky. 1%/f EMBERS OF THE Louisville -'A Board of Education elected a Negro, Woodford R. Porter, to be chairman of the board. Porter, a funeral-home operator, in 1958 became the first of his race to win election to the five-member board. Louisville’s public schools had de segregated in 1956. Since Porter’s election to the board, the possibility that he eventually would serve as chairman was anticipated be cause of the board’s custom of rotating the chairmanship and vice - chair - manship. He reached the top post sooner than expected, however, and in a manner that illustrated the complexities of changing racial relationships. Porterwasnom- , ' UK,tK inated for chairman by fellow-board- member L. Eugene Johnson, who in re cent months has been a leader among businessmen resisting desegregation of downtown eating places. Johnson is president of the Blue Boar Cafeterias, scenes of numerous anti segregation demonstrations since Feb ruary. Scores of student demonstrators, many of them from the Louisville pub lic schools, were arrested at Johnson’s cafeterias. Avowed Integrationist Yet Johnson not only nominated Por ter for chairman of the school board, he also nominated an avowed integra tionist to fill a vacancy on the board. It happened like this: In January, Porter was elected vice- chairman of the board and Scott Det rick, a grocer, was elected chairman, both to serve regular terms through 1961. In April, however, Detrick filed for the Democratic nomination for sheriff of Jefferson County, and it was ruled that in so doing he automatically va cated his seat on the board and the chairmanship. Porter was nominated by Johnson to succeed Detrick as chairman and was elected. Johnson was elected vice- chairman succeeding Porter. In May, Johnson nominated Rabbi Herbert S. Waller, a native of Mem phis, to fill the vacant seat. Dr. Waller, who last year joined with four other rabbis in a statement pledging to work for desegregation of business establish ments, was elected. Porter is the first Negro to serve on the school board and the first to be chairman. His 1958 election to the board was a surprise. Negroes had tried before and failed. Three seats were up and a three-member “businessman’s slate” was supposed to breeze in, as usual. ‘Single Shot’ Porter, however, piled up more votes than the low man on the slate. He was credited with considerable support from white voters, but the “single-shot” voting tactic adopted by many Negroes played a part in his victory. Porter and his wife have five chil dren, all students in Louisville public schools. Porter is a partner in and general manager of the A. D. Porter & Sons Funeral Home. He is a native of Louisville where he attended public schools. He later studied at Indiana University and the Kentucky School of Embalming. He is a Navy veteran, a Mason, and a trustee of Broadway Temple A.M.E. Church. Vote Results Compared fl eJ © be U £ ® .s — £ B U Easi S O x S 'c H DOVER SCHOOL ELECTION— -1961 Leisey 330 61 256 51 698 Henry 76 20 41 432 569 Tarburton 93 36 47 10 186 DOVER SCHOOL ELECTION— -1957 Henry 14 0 5 358 377 Fromm 264 26 73 7 370 Brown 261 24 77 4 366 Anderson 126 L— 18 36 5 185 Kentucky Highlights The Louisville Board of Educ tion elected its first Negro to serve as chairman. Desegregation in teaching will be under study in a new suq s authorized by a state commission, A theological seminary drew qj icism from the Deep South for ^ lowing a Negro desegregation leade to speak on campus. In the Colleges Layman Criticises Baptist Seminary rpHE president of the Southe A Baptist Theological Sere ary in Louisville was critic® by an Alabama Baptist lay® leader after integration Dr. Martin Luther King J: spoke at the seminary. Dean Fleming of Montgomery, sec tary of a group called Baptist Lay-- of Alabama, said that Dr. Duke McCt seminary president, should be oustec any more Negroes are allowed to at the school. Later, Fleming asked for a list of i seminary students who signed a pel tion urging the desegregation of eat: places. He suggested in a telegram Dr. McCall that churches in the Sor might not want to hire the petitions' as pastors or church workers. 250 Students Sign It was reported that the petite signed by about 250 students, was & tributed before Dr. King’s appearare Dr. McCall said Fleming had a to express his opinions. He said the faculty had wanted to hear Dr. Kit firsthand and a had a right to do so The Alabama group was reported t have no official connection with ft Southern Baptist Convention. Under Stirvey Rights Group Plans Survey Of Problem; T I* he State Commission on He A man Rights authorized a 500 survey to throw light on P segregation problems involvte school teachers, lunch counts 5 employment and other areas. Galen Martin, executive director the commission, was authorized to co- tract for the survey. As a result of the action, a sum being carried out by the National ciation for the Advancement of People will be merged into the COTrJ jr. sion’s survey, according to J- Dearing. president of the Kentw NAAC p . ^ The NAACP survey, announced fall, was to include public school^ segregation. Dearing said, however, the school situation is progressing^ factorily at the present time. A court last month ordered one di^ desegregated, and other districts - ^ announced desegregation P 1 (Southern School News, May) J The human rights commissioO it’s * announced plans for a governoi held; ference on human rights, to be j[ the State Capitol in Frankfort v. Several interested organizations represented. Schoolmen County To Close All-Negro School ® , r &' The Jefferson County Board o ^ cation voted to close one of e i remaining all-Negro schools, pupils now attending the Dorsey ■: will be transfered next Sept eI H schools where they will atten white pupils. <, The two-room Dorsey Sehoo ^ of the systems oldest frame b u gr- The remaining all-Negro sch°° ^ the four- room, brick ^ c ^ elS °c c j\^ School and the large Newburg £,■ Four years ago, there were ^ Negro schools in the system. *