Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

10L.8. NO. I VIRGINIA Factual Souther VO * SN 3HiV NO I S I A I 0 SNOUISIODOV s31 avaen VI0«030 JO AINn 2 8002-8-29 Nnr IN/\onYILLC, I CNTNtSStfc Objective Court Refuses U. S. Entry Into Prince Edward Suit RICHMOND, Va. rigs United States Justice De- 1 partment’s attempt to inter ne in the Prince Edward Coun- ^ school desegregation case was Ejected by U.S. District Judge 0jen R. Lewis on June 24. (Allen , School Board of Prince Ed- &d County) Judge Lewis said “the granting of jjervention will unduly delay and jejudice the adjudication of the rights” 5 the Negro plaintiffs and the county jhool board. The Justice Department, in a peti- jB filed April 26, had sought to enter 4e case on the side of the Negro plain ts, who are seeking to force reopening tfthe county’s closed public schools, le motion was argued in Federal Dis- rict Court at Richmond May 8 and 9. In his memorandum opinion, Judge !*wis was especially critical of that part of the government’s motion asking ie court to prohibit Virginia from ex uding funds to maintain public schools anywhere in the state until Prince Edward public schools reopen. \egro Leaders Map New Drive On Segregation WASHINGTON, D.C. ]^egro leaders are considering ' a massive drive against school segregation anywhere in the ^tion when a new academic year lets under way this fall. Statements to that effect were made ■“nag June by Thurgood Marshall, yl counsel of the National Associa- * for the Advancement of Colored ’tople; Dr. J. H. Jackson, president of National Baptist Convention board l Erectors; and the Rev. Dr. Martin Wier King Jr., head of the Southern -“nstian Leadership Council. King said he would call on Presi- Kennedy to bar by executive order j^gation in all public places. Dr. "^son called for protest movements |™st segregation, to be carried on ;• Methods in accord with the federal ^■tution. Jhrshall denounced “token desegre- i oa ” and urged Negro patients in South to present their children for ?°lhnent in now-segregated schools. ^ Promised renewed NAACP efforts oppose segregation in Northern Y° ls as well. an address to the 18th annual (See MARSHALL, Page 4) This Issue Is Later ^utlVot ‘Late ’;New <Q hedule Adopted issue of Southern School i 8 reaches subscribers later than V,, en the custom. It is not Hijj,.’ however. The printing and schedule has been changed 'PH.i 6 benefit of both the reader ‘ne staff. jfeji. the new schedule, the copy is the first day of each '■isf ^hi s will make it possible corres P on dents to write a *i 6 j* ete report on the events of l 4^ ce< li n S month. Under the old !ate r U f’ the paper was mailed no *han the first day of the hh 6r ’ an< l some late developments "j 616 mireported, inadequately it ^ in last-minute insertions, W * e< ? over rmtil the next month. | ttUl ing with this issue, South- ke r < ?° 0L News will be mailed no “an the 10th of the month. W?°Pies will reach subscribers lr nately 10 days later than in Rast. He said such an order “could jeop ardize the education of several hundred thousand Virginia children who have had no responsibility whatsoever for the closing of the public schools in Prince Edward County.” Judge Lewis’ other findings include these: 1) The government’s intervention at tempt was without legislative authority and apparently contrary to the wishes of Congress. 2) The government’s motion raised state constitutional questions that a federal court normally would not deal with. 3) There was “serious question in the court’s mind” as to whether the Justice Department waited so long to make its intervention move that it vio lated the federal rule requiring “time ly” filing of such motions. 4) Contrary to the government’s con tention, “there has been no known de fiance of this court’s order, either by the state of Virginia or the county of Prince Edward.” ★ ★ ★ As an indicator of Virginians’ present feelings on the school racial issue, the result of the current campaign for lieutenant governor may be more sig nificant than the outcome of the contest for governor. Here is the background, in brief: Two tickets are seeking the state’s three elective positions. A. S. Harrison Jr., former attorney general, is running for governor on a slate with state Sen. Mills E. Godwin for lieutenant governor and state Sen. Robert Y. Button for attorney general. A. E. S. Stephens, present lieutenant governor, is running for governor, with state Sen. Armistead Boothe for lieu tenant governor and T. Munford Boyd, University of Virginia law professor, for attorney general. The Harrison ticket—especially Sen. Godwin—has been associated in the public mind with the policy of massive resistance to school desegregation. The Stephens ticket—especially Sen. Boothe—has been associated with the “moderate” viewpoint. General Support During the current campaign, how ever, all the candidates have expressed general support for Virginia’s present school laws. There have been some differences of opinion. Boothe has called for re opening of the Prince Edward schools (See POLITICAL, Page 2) Which Way Do We Go From Here? Pletcher, Jackson Daily News ‘Just Sign Here, Esau’ Eight School Boards Raise Biracial Total A s the 1960-61 school year ended, school boards in eight Southern cities and counties assigned almost 1,050 additional Negro chil dren to biracial schools next fall. At the same time Negro leaders called for a massive drive against school segregation in the South. Atlanta accepted 10 Negroes to enter Knox, Nashville Banner Out Behind the School House f< z " f 4' V 616-61 Tfegp 0. SEieEL.^ Seibel, Richmond Times-Dispatch white high schools in September. This will be Georgia’s first desegregation below the college level. Little Rock, Ark.; Miami, Fla.; Raleigh, N. C.; Charlottesville, Va., and Montgomery Harford and Carroll Counties, Md., an nounced assignments that would expand desegregation in their school systems. And Delaware received court approval of a plan to open all grades in all its schools to Negroes. Initial desegregation occurred at the University of Miami, Wake Forest Col lege, St. Petersburg Junior College and the University of Tennessee’s Martin Branch as the schools enrolled Negroes for summer sessions. In several speeches in the South during June, Thurgood Marshal, chief counsel of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, denounced “token desegregation” and urged Negro parents to present their children for enrollment in white schools. NAACP officials in several Southern states backed up his demand for increased desegregation efforts. Georgia Moved Closer Georgia moved closer to its first high school desegregation with the assign ment in Atlanta of 10 Negroes to the 11th and 12th grades in white schools next September. It was considered pos sible that Negro attorneys would go to the federal courts with the cases of 38 other Negroes turned down for transfers to the white schools. The change to biracial schools in Atlanta Index Is Published For SSN, Volume 7 The index to Volume 7 of South ern School News has been printed and mailed to all subscribers. It was published as a separate four-page supplement to the June issue and covers the period July, 1960, through June, 1961. Previously, the index to a volume has been incorporated into the first issue of the next volume. The change is intended to make the in dex more useful and to simplify its binding with the issues of the volume to which it belongs. Additional copies of the index are available without charge to sub scribers who request them. DELAWARE New School Plan Ends 5-Year Fight DOVER, Del. cpHE legal fight by Delaware Negroes to enter white schools has ended successfully, in the opinion of Louis L. Redding, Wil mington attorney, who initiated it in 1956. Redding said he would not appeal the federal district court order of June 26 by Chief Judge Caleb M. Wright, who, with certain modifications, accepted the State Board of Education plan. Redding said Judge Wright’s decision means full and immediate desegregation for the public schools. The modified plan, he added, is wholly acceptable to the Negroes whom he represented. Judge Wright, in general, approved both the short-and long-range aspects of the new State Board plan, which was filed with the court on Dec. 29, 1960. The new plan was presented after the Circuit Court in Philadelphia held that the grade-a-year program did not represent deliberate speed for Delaware. Under the short-range plan, all Ne groes who so desire will be allowed to enter white schools in September at all grade levels. The long-range plan calls for total de segregation by 1970 by the adoption of a new school code by the General As sembly. The new code would put out of existence any school district which does not include grades 1-12. Under a tenta tive lineup, this would reduce the num ber of Delaware districts from 91 to 29. Judge Wright generally upheld regis tration, transfer, and transportation features of the state’s plan, but cau tioned that they must be on a “racially nondiscriminatory basis.” Transfer Provisions He ruled out the state tuition act of 1959 to the extent that it would “pro hibit, condition, or otherwise qualify” pupil transfers. The legislation forbids transfer of a pupil from one district to another when the sending district has instruction at his grade level. Several modifications were directed in the portion of the plan dealing with adequacy of school facilities. The court held that “transfers should not be subject in the first instance to such a test,” but “should it appear that the influx is greater in particular in stances than was anticipated, the court will entertain an appropriate motion for temporary relief.” Judge Wright made clear that the standard of geographical location relates only to the question of which white or biracial school the pupil desiring trans fer shall attend. “No pupil desiring to transfer from a colored school to a white or integrated school shall be denied admission on the grounds that the Negro school is nearer to his place of residence,” the opinion stated. Judge Wright rejected as “not well taken” objections to the long-range plan in that it “conditions total integration upon speculative legislative action.” Details of the proposed code are not important, Judge Wright said, “for it suffices to say racial discrimination in public education is eliminated.” The court, he said, does not “find it necessary or proper to dissect and evaluate all aspects of the proposed code. “So long as it eliminates all distinc tions in public education based on race, it satisfies the requirements of the Con stitution of the United States.” Judge Wright likened the Delaware school system to a “crazy-quilt pattern.” “Even aside from the problem of in tegration, it may well be in need of a legislative overhaul,” he said. But the “most orderly process of in tegration,” he said, and the one having the least adverse effects upon all stu dents, “can be achieved through legis lative action.” Suggests Assembly Study Therefore, he said, the General As sembly, “acting with the advice of the state board and state superintendent, should have the first opportunity by which the ultimate goal can be achieved.” In conclusion, Judge Wright stressed (See JUDGE, Page 15) would leave only Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama with completely segregated public schools. Delaware, which operated its schools under a grade-a-year plan up through last term, received federal court per mission to go ahead with its new desegregation plan. Under the new plan, which was ordered by the U. S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals last year, all Negroes will have the choice of entering white schools at all grade levels in September. Dade County (Miami), Florida’s first and only desegregated district, assigned Negroes to six more schools, which would make 10 biracial schools next fall. School officials plan massive de segregation at one school, Earlington Heights Elementary. The school, which had 356 whites last year, will have about 200 Negroes and 160 whites in the fall, according to a school survey. Closes Negro Schools Montgomery County, Md., will close its last three all-Negro schools and will reassign the pupils attending them to biracial schools; based on 1960-61 enrollment, this will place an additional 764 Negro children in schools with white children. Carroll County has accepted five new applications for predominantly white schools, and Har ford County reported approval of 14 Negro transfers. Two Eastern Shore counties, Kent and Queen Anne’s, con cluded their application periods without receiving any transfer requests from Negroes. Other Maryland counties were in the process of receiving applications for transfer under voluntary desegre gation programs. Little Rock will have desegregated junior high schools next fall for the first time. The board has assigned 49 Negroes to the formerly all-white junior and senior high schools, 38 more than attended biracial schools last year. The Dollarway School District at Pine Bluff, Ark., promoted to the second grade of its white school the one Negro girl who attended the first grade there last year. The board re jected two Negro boys applying for the school’s first grade. Orleans Parish school officials began processing the 66 Negro first graders applying for admission to New Orleans white schools in September. The ap plications received before the June 2 deadline were fewer than half those made when public school desegregation first began in 1960. The four Negroes who entered white schools last year will be moved up to the second grade of the same schools. Enroll Second Negro Two North Carolina school boards approved assignments of Negroes to already desegregated schools. The Raleigh board enrolled a second Negro student at Murphey Elementary, the city’s only biracial school. The Char- lotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education reassigned one Negro student to Be- thune Elementary School for next fall. (See SURVEY, Page 10) On the Inside State Reports Alabama 9 Arkansas 14 Florida 16 Georgia 5 Kentucky 6 Louisiana 8 Maryland 12 Mississippi 6 . Missouri 12 North Carolina 11 Oklahoma 10 South Carolina 16 Tennessee 7 Texas 3 West Virginia 10 Text Prince Edward (Va.) 2 Special Articles Attorney General Kennedy 9 Mecklenburg County (N.C.) 11 Intergroup Officials 15