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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE 1961—PAGE 3
jgjNESSEE
Tribunal Denies Hearing On Chattanooga
School Case Until After 1961-62 Term Starts
NASHVILLE, Term.
E fforts by Negro attorneys to
obtain a ruling in the Chatta-
;0 ga desegregation case before
, £ beginning of the 1961-62
jiool year in September have
[ailed-
He U-S. Sixth Circuit Court of Ap
pals at Cincinnati on May 25 denied a
, 3t j 0 n filed by Mrs. Constance Baker
C'otley, New York Negro attorney, to
jjvance a hearing in the case to its June
^ssion. Mrs. Motley is one of the at-
;rne ys representing four Negro Chil
ian who seek to end segregation in the
Chattanooga school system.
\Iiss Grace Keller, deputy clerk of
fa appellate court, told the Chatta-
, M ga Times by telephone that the
(jattanooga suit, (Mapp vs. Chatta-
•nga Board of Education et al, South-
® School News, January), probably
Kould be heard during the Court of
tppeals next term which begins Oct. 2.
Kegro attorneys, in an effort to obtain
j hearing in time for a decision before
school starts this fall, had asked that the
suit be heard by the Court of Appeals
rhich had cases scheduled from May 29
i June 3, its final session of the current
lam.
Motion Granted
Miss Keller said the court, however,
panted another motion filed by Mrs.
Motley on May 8 to consolidate for
hearing all matters which have been
appealed by the Chattanooga Board of
Education since former U.S. District
Judge Leslie R. Darr granted a sum-
mary judgment in favor of the Negro
children last Nov. 3.
Judge Darr, who retired on March
15, issued a mandatory injunction or
dering desegregation and instructed
the school board to submit a plan for
facial classes.
Pending before the court are appeals
hy the board of education on Judge
Harr’s original ruling as well as his re-
hsal to accept a desegregation plan
fled by the board in December. The
hoard proposed to desegregate the first
fee grades of “selected schools” in the
* of 1962 and a grade a year there-
fer, but Judge Darr ruled that some
features of the plan did not meet re
tirements of the law and ordered an
farnate plan submitted.
Although the board appealed the dis-
Wct court’s rulings, it filed an amended
fa on March 27, proposing to desegre-
fe the entire system on a grade-a-
• iear basis beginning in the Fall of
7®T The district court has not con-
feed a hearing on the amended plan,
*hich Negro attorneys said “affords no
. ^ for the minor plaintiffs and others
felorly situated who are already en
tiled in grades above the first grade.”
Objections Filed
Negro attorneys filed objections to
o' plans and charged that zoning pro-
^'ons of the amended version would
fenit the segregated status quo to
j "tinue in all grades for a period of
“ years.”
While the appellate court’s action de
tained that no hearing would be held
H s t until October—when it nor-
- would have been considered—
tln g of the consolidation motion
allow all of the issues to be con-
at the same time.
|j^®while, Judge Darr announced
in would not assume jurisdiction
,7 further litigation in the deseg-
%t >on case.
^hearing In Highlander
°nool Case Is Denied
State Supreme Court on May 5
~ : ,L| to rehear a case in which
tjj atl der Folk School near Monteagle
•H M ° rc * er ed to surrender its tax-ex-
Att We ^ are charter.
' < fult° rneyS ^ or fh>e biracial private
Mw education institution announced
planned to take the case to the
nL^Preme Court. Their motion to
ti a * as construed as the first step
the case.
■*!() , an der’s charter was revoked in
i '• Circuit Judge Chester Chattin
'he tester after a jury ruled that
>o(jt r) ,°l had been operated for the
TV L its founder-director, Myles
^Sall an< ^ that beer had been sold
■ hfic-" t° n premises.
We o °f fhe questions presented be-
^ Tp 6 c * rcu 't court was whether an
i i’Pli ec j lriessee segregation statute still
,, f° private schools. Chattin
Vt j at the institution had violated
'■°r^ 'f’ hut the Supreme Court ig-
Th e , , e question in its ruling.
At g h tribunal held in April that
' hip ° r tw ° factors cited by Judge
j l hrt er Y ere sufficient for revoking the
f granted a stay of its order, j
Tennessee Highlights
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals denied a motion by Negro
attorneys to advance on its docket
a hearing in the Chattanooga de
segregation case. Hearing of the
case, which had been sought by Ne
gro attorneys before the opening of
the 1961-62 school term, will not
come before October.
Desegregated Highlander Folk
School near Monteagle, a private
adult education institution, was
denied a motion for rehearing by
the Tennessee Supreme Court which
ordered the school’s welfare charter
revoked.
Knoxville Negro students will be
included in all citywide, school-
sponsored activities except inter
scholastic athletics during the 1961-
62 school year under a policy
adopted by the Knoxville Board of
Education.
The Scarboro Parent-Teacher As
sociation at Oak Ridge has written
the National Congress of Parents
and Teachers, seeking membership
in the national organization and
charging that the Tennessee Con
gress of Parents and Teachers has
refused to accept the local because
its membership is predominantly
Negro.
McGill
however, allowing the school to operate
pending outcome of the appeal.
What They Say
Ralph McGill Urges
Thinking On Stable
Educational System
R alph McGill, publisher of
the Atlanta Constitution,
told a conference of the Center
for Southern Education Studies in
Nashville that Southern leaders
must “start thinking in terms of
how we are going to adjust our
educational system.”
Speaking on May 8 as the two day
conference cot under way, McGill said
“we will have to
have a more stable
educational sys
tem” if the South
is to attract more
industry.
“It is folly to
talk about solving
this with little
private schools,”
McGill declared,
“The unresolved
racial problem is
too much of a
load for us to continue to carry.”
The publisher and columnist said a
more stable educational system can be
accomplished “through a co-ordinated
public philosophy backed by the cler
gy, the newspapers and businessmen.”
He added, “Not until all three are
working together will we have any
success in solving our major problem.”
The conference was attended by
educational leaders who discussed
plans for the center, established last
year by a $450,000 gift from the Gen
eral Education Board.
★ ★ ★
Georgian Says Temperate
Approach Is Essential
John A. Sibley, Atlanta businessman
and chairman of the Sibley Commis
sion formed to study desegregation in
Georgia told the
Chattanooga Ro
tary Club on May
4 that “we have
to live within the
law, whether we
like it or not.”
Sibley also urged
maintaining “our
public educational
system at the
very highest ef
ficiency.”
These two state
ments, he said, reflect “the underlying
principles which must guide us” on
the segregation question.
Asserting that there is no perfect so
lution, Sibley said he hopes “the South
will show the true strength of her
character, wisdom, forbearance, good
SIBLEY
will” because “the country needs what
the South has to offer.”
The lawyer and banker predicted
that Atlanta will desegregate its
schools “successfully” in September.
As a result of studies by the Sibley
Commission, he said, Georgia has
adopted laws giving separate localities
and individuals the freedom of choice.
Localities, he said, may decide for
themselves whether they want public
or private education. If they want
public education, he continued, indi
viduals may change schools if they
desire.
Sibley told the Rotarians that the
right of free choice on both sides of
the question is needed.
“Let’s don’t put ourselves by intem
perate thoughts, actions or speech in
the position where men can condemn
us as they are condemning us today,”
he said, “Let’s keep down violent out
breaks. You will find you will come
out the great people you are. You’ll
save the educational systems; you will
benefit your children and you will
benefit the colored children.”
Schoolmen
Knoxville Approves
Negro Participation
In School Activities
T he Knoxville School Board
voted on May 1 to include
Negro students in all city-wide,
school-sponsored activities except
interscholastic athletics during
the 1961-62 term.
Supt. Thomas N. Johnston and Sam
Jones, physical education supervisor,
recommended the action.
At a meeting in April, the board was
asked to include the Negro schools in
May Day activities. Johnston and Jones
suggested however, that the board wait
until next year before placing such a
plan into effect.
Some of the Negro schools, they said,
already had planned their own May
Day programs when the proposal for
combining them with white schools
was presented.
Bands, Choruses
In addition to May Day programs,
the board’s new policy will include
desegregated citywide band concerts
and choruses.
The Knoxville school system has
21,098 students, of which 4,820 are Ne
groes. Twenty-seven Negroes are at
tending biracial classes under a court-
ordered desegregation plan which be
came effective for first grade students
in the Fall of 1960. Under the U.S.
District Court order, which Negro at
torneys have appealed to the U. S.
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, an
additional grade each year will be de
segregated. (Goss et al v. Knoxville
Board of Education, SSN, September,
1960.)
In the Colleges
Disciplinary Action
Against Students
At A & I Considered
S tate Education Commission-
er Joe Morgan announced on
May 25 that class absentee rec
ords of Tennessee A & I Univer
sity students who participated in
the “freedom rider” demonstra
tions are under study for possible
disciplinary action.
Several students from the Nashville
Negro university were among those who
joined in the Montgomery, Ala., demon
stration and others later participated in
the “freedom rider” movement in other
Alabama and Mississippi cities.
“The State Board of Education has a
well-defined and established policy on
absenteeism by students in state col
leges, and the policy of the board will
be made applicable in these cases when
the study is completed,” Morgan said.
In addition, the board also has a policy
which calls for students convicted of
personal misconduct to be expelled, he
explained.
About a dozen Negroes who identified
themselves as A & I students partic
ipated in the Montgomery demonstra
tion on the weekend of May 21. During
their absence from the college, some
of the students missed final examina
tions but there were indications that
instructors planned to allow the stu
dents to complete the tests later.
Some of the students returned from
Montgomery in time for the examina
tions.
★ ★ ★
The decision to award an honorary
degree to Thomas R. Waring, editor of
the Charleston (S.C.) News and Courier
and leading segregationist, involved
the University of the South at Sewanee,
Term., in controversy.
Criticism came from Episcopal church
sources and from Dr. Eugene P. Kay-
den, professor emeritus at Sewanee and
translator of Boris Pasternak. Dr. Kay-
den declined to accept an honorary
doctorate from the same platform with
Waring, saying, “I would be degrading
Pasternak.”
Waring, who is a Sewanee graduate,
commented that “anyone, including the
clergy, is welcome to disapprove” of
his choice to receive the honorary de
gree and indicated that he would ac
cept it. Dr. Edward McCrady, vice-
chancellor, said that the university is
“making no change whatsoever in its
plans.”
Miscellaneous
PTA At Oak Ridge
Says It Is Barred
By Statewide Body
"Predominantly - Negro Scar-
boro Parent-Teacher Asso
ciation of Oak Ridge has re
quested membership in the Na
tional Congress of Parents and
Teachers.
In a letter to Mrs. James C. Parker,
president of the national congress, on
May 1, Scarboro PTA president Wil
liam M. Scott said membership has
been denied by the Tennessee Congress
of Parents and Teachers “because the
personnel of the Scarboro local is pre
dominantly Negro.”
Scott, in the letter, said housing, eat
ing and “other state laws and customs
that may handicap state meetings have
been given as reasons for rejecting this
local’s app'ication.” He also said the
Tennessee organization, an affiliate of
the National Congress, had stated that
“it does not want to do anything that
would jeopardize the Tennessee Con
gress of Colored Parents and Teachers.”
The PTA president said he had re
ceived a reply from Mrs. Parker, of
Grand Rapids, Mich., which he said
was “sympathetic” but which pointed
out that the granting of memberships
is a function of the state group rather
than the national organization.
Mrs. Parker indicated, Scott said,
that she would confer with Mrs. J. E.
Cornette of Nashville, president of the
Tennessee Congress, about Scarboro’s
application.
Outlines Factors
Scott outlined these factors in re
questing membership in the national
organization:
1. The Scarboro local is primarily
concerned with conditions affecting the
Scarboro School through the Oak
Ridge school system and the City of
Oak Ridge, and it has no “mutual con
tact” with the Tennessee Congress of
Colored Parents and Teachers.
2. The Oak Ridge school system has
been desegregated since 1955, and Ne
gro parents have held memberships in
other PTA locals since that time.
3. The Oak Ridge PTA Council, com
posed of representatives from other
locals, has accepted Scarboro’s mem
bership tentatively, pending action by
the National Congress through the state
organization.
“The Tennessee organization is be
ing extremely inconsistent in its ac
tion on the Scarboro PTA application,”
Scott wrote, “whereas, in several other
locals in Tennessee that have members
of both races, the state organization
readily accepts all memberships, yet it
refuses all memberships of this local
because of the Negro personnel.”
Scott said that while there are no
white students enrolled at Scarboro,
three of the 14 faculty members are
white and several white residents of
the community are members of the
local. Although all grades in Oak
Ridge are desegregated in principle,
because of residential segregation Scar
boro is the only elementary school
which has Negro students.
Mrs. Parker was asked by Scott to
“use the position of your office to see
that National Congress membership
cards and other materials are made
available to the Scarboro local so that
it can begin the 1961-62 year by as-
I suming a full share of its responsibility
to this city as outlined in the objec
tives of the Parent-Teacher Associa
tion.”
Mrs. Sam B. Farrow of Nashville,
executive secretary of the Tennessee
Congress, said Scarboro’s application
for membership in the state organiza
tion was rejected in January by its
board of managers. Basis for the re
jection, she said, was that Scarboro in
reality is not a desegregated school
since it has no white students and
that the PTA local could affiliate with
other Negro locals through the Ten
nessee Congress of Colored Parents
and Teachers.
Mrs. Farrow explained that while
there is co-operation between white
and Negro PTA groups, Scarboro’s
lack of membership in the state or
ganization prevents it from having an
official affiliation with the Oak Ridge
PTA Council.
Scott said the local has about 100
members.
★ ★ ★
White Girl Remains
In Negro School
Little Monisha Moore, seven-year-
old white girl who has been attending
classes in a Negro school near Straw
berry Plains since March 27, is “getting
along fine,” according to her Negro
teacher, Miss Earline Evans.
The girl’s father, Bruce Moore, said
he placed Monisha in the Negro school
near his home in the Kodak Commun
ity of Sevier County after he became
dissatisfied with the progress she was
making in her studies at all-white
Underwood School.
With only a few more days of classes
remaining in this school year, Miss
Evans said there is a question about
whether the student will receive credit
for her work at Negro Cynthianna
School because of the lack of a transfer
from Underwood School.
No Action Taken
School Supt. Chan Huskey said the
Sevier County Board of Education has
taken no action since it adopted a res
olution on April 3 providing that trans
fers of students from one school to an
other must have the approval of both
principals.
Huskey said he did not know whether
the second-grader still was attending
the Negro school.
The board’s next regular meeting is
scheduled June 8.
Miss Evans, who said she enrolled the
girl in her one-teacher school, disclosed
that she had been advised by attendance
authorities of the school system that
they would not “recognize” the enroll
ment because no transfer from the all-
white school had been granted.
# # #
Statistics
(Continued From Page 1)
ments, 124 will accept Negroes. Fifteen
of the 50 all-Negro or predominantly
Negro public colleges will accept
whites. The number of white and Ne
gro students involved in college-level
desegregation is unknown since most
of the border states no longer report
enrollment by race. However, the
newly revised “Statistical Summary”
reports for the first time several of
the states’ college enrollments by race.
The summary lists 205 court cases
filed in state and federal courts on
segregation, desegregation and related
issues. Mississippi is the only state hav
ing had no litigation.
Legislatures of 15 states have
adopted 342 new laws and resolutions
to prevent, restrict or control school
desegregation. Most of the legislation
has been added to statute books since
1954, although a few laws were en
acted in anticipation of the U.S. Su
preme Court’s 1954 decision.
Edition Expanded
The latest edition of the semi-annual
summary’ has been expanded to in
clude new information. A “Chronology
of Major Desegregation Developments”
covers the main events and court de
cisions on the issue from 1936 through
1961.
Under “Statistical Developments
from 1954,” the change over the past
years is recorded by school districts,
enrollment, enrollment in desegregated
districts, and enrollment in biracial
schools.
Another table lists the status of all
the districts under court orders to de
segregate, noting the court and date
or the decision.
The “Statistical Summary” carries a
map on its cover showing the per
centage of desegregation in each state.
The booklet is available from SERS at
one dollar a copy.
# # #