Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JULY, 1961—PAGE 13
Alabama
Tennessee
n
i
(Continued From Page 9)
within the law of the United States, is
j,! agitation that constitutes an undue
warden upon the free flow of interstate
^oinerce at this particular time and
jader the circumstances that exist in
±g state and district. . .
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Clarified Order
June 3, Johnson clarified his order
j a statement: It did not, he said, ap
ply to individual “freedom riders,” only
i-eir leaders.
In his injunction directed at Klan
poups, individual Klansmen and oth-
fr5) Johnson found Klansmen and then-
conspirators responsible for the bus
burning in Anniston May 14, the beat
ings in Birmingham that day and the
job violence in Montgomery the fol
lowing Saturday, May 20.
Johnson found that Montgomery po
lice knew of the arrival of the bus that
tas met by white toughs, and that po
lice were aware of the explosive situa
tion that existed. He said:
“.. . The Montgomery Police De
partment, under the direction of (Po
lice Commissioner) Sullivan and
(Chief) Ruppenthal . . . willfully and
deliberately failed to take measures to
ensure the safety of the students and
» prevent unlawful acts of violence
... This lack of protection. . . contin
ued long after the arrival of the bus.”
(For details of May 20 violence, see
Southern School News, June.)
The June 2 restraining order against
CORE, King, etc., expired June 12 when
a legal snarl blocked its continuation
beyond the 10-day limit for such di
rectives. Attorneys for the organiza
tions and individuals named had not
been served copies of the original com
plaint. On this technicality Johnson let
the restraining order die but said he
would reimpose a temporary order “if
it becomes necessary.”
He set July 17 for a hearing to de
termine whether the order should be
come an injunction, such as police and
Klansmen are under, with no time
limit.
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Former Reserve Policeman
Claude V. Henley, one of those ar
rested and later fined and sentenced to
M days in jail for his part in the May
violence, had been a reserve policemen
Mtil shortly before the incident, po-
«e officials said. Henley was convicted
of beating two NBC newsmen. He has
Wealed.
The first organized “freedom ride”
® t0 bhe city, after Johnson’s restrain-
order expired, came June 20, when
* group of nine arrived at the Grey-
Wnd Bus Station—three white girls,
* e white man, four Negro men and
ne Negro woman. Some 60 uniform
Mice patrolled the area as 300 whites
■tohed in a pelting rain. There were
■^incidents, though the group was de
ed use of terminal facilities because
two reported bomb threats.
'lunt nSOn ' S ° ra ^ cbrective June 2 was
that ^.° ma ^ e rt abundantly clear
da, .j s injunction and restraining or-
-, .i be enforced. If there are any
incidents as this (mob violence)
I am going to put some Klans-
5 ’ some city officials, some city po-
4p and some Negro preachers in
federal penitentiary.”
The Coll ears
'tudent Newspaper
Editorial Supports
^ r eedom Riders’
d e ,. tile May 24 issue of Auburn’s sti
Jig, aew spaper, the Plainsmen, Editi
V?uUington editorialized that tl
it* oai riders” had “law and mora
f, 0n their side.”
drther, Bullington said, racial d(
'bo ,l atl ? n . i. s “inevitable, and tho:
stu D j, “’h it is not are either miserah
0r living in self-delusion.”
votug 6 ^Sht before the edition was
of g ° ut a cross was burned in froi
■light 7, ft St° n ’s fraternity house. TT
hitj, "ter a group of students burns
Hi ° r s °nreone in effigy on the dr:
ke^ 1116 the Auburn Board of Tru:
a resolution requirir
,J f 5^ , Publications to “advise the dec
lortiy e , n ^ affairs on editorials or nev
big Public affairs having a bea:
v 'er S jj v tbe good name of Auburn Un:
1^/, be i° re they are published.”
Hrd ° ard received a report that tl
f Student Publications, con
H „. 0 s tudents and faculty member
b r. ;i 11 Poured the Plainsmen for wh
;^d
j^Pent.
.Bull:
overstatement and lack
Httai 1 ^ 011 ’ Questioned at his home
Hon. °°b> a > Tenn., said the boar
Were unjustified. # #
(Continued From Page 7)
“Until we break through this, we will
have de facto school segregation.”
Dr. Ernest Campbell of the Univer
sity of North Carolina discussed the
closing of Norfolk, Va., schools because
of the desegregation issue. He said no
long-range effects resulted from the
closing and that the impact on both
families and teen-agers came during
the actual period of closed schools. The
change in family routines, he said,
brought more complaints than incon
venience by the problem of school de
segregation. In the discussion follow
ing his prepared remarks, Dr. Campbell
expressed doubt that formal education
changes attitudes. In his Norfolk study,
he found no significant correlation be
tween educational status and opinion
about school closings, he said.
Paul Rilling, director of field services
for the Southern Regional Council,
summarizing developments since 1954,
expressed the view that more progress
toward desegregation has been made in
the last 18 months than in any period
since 1954-56. “Realism is beginning to
creep up on many whites who refused
to face facts after the 1954 Supreme
Court school desegregation decision,”
he said. Consequently, the South is be
coming more resigned to “the inevitably
of integration.” At the same time, ac
cording to public opinion polls, there
has been no increase in the number of
Southerners who favor change, he said.
Dr. Lewis W. Jones, professor of so
ciology at Tuskegee Institute, described
the general framework of a research
projecct he is conducting to determine
the effect of sit-ins and other demon
strations on the Negro colleges. The
project is not far enough along to have
produced any findings, but Dr. Jones
indicated that in his personal opinion
the demonstrations are of questionable
wisdom and effectiveness in advancing
the cause of “civil liberties.”
★ ★ ★
Chattanooga Rotarians
Urge ‘Right, Justice’
The Chattanooga Rotary Club, after
hearing Atlanta businessman John A.
Sibley call for living “within the law,
whether we like it or not,” adopted a
resolution calling upon the South’s
“good people of both races” to close
ranks and sing the “battle song of
right and justice through law.”
Sibley, chairman of the commission
which studied the subject of desegrega
tion in Georgia, told the Rotarians on
May 4 that public education must be
maintained “at the very highest effi
ciency” regardless of segregation-de
segregation issues.
On June 8, the Rotarians’ action was
lauded by the Council for Co-operative
Action, a Chattanooga Negro organiza
tion. A statement signed by a group of
Negro leaders urged that sectionalism
be put aside, that “we achieve together
or neither of us will reach our full
maturity.”
“It is much better to act now to end
segregation in a friendly climate of un
derstanding, than to end it after we
have had a crisis,” the Negroes’ state
ment continued.
Emphasizing that they were replying
to the Rotary Club resolution “in a
most friendly spirit,” the Negroes said
their statement was made with “re
gret there is too little opportunity for
us to listen to each other in a face to
face exchange.”
Miscellaneous
Wilson Appointment
As Judge Confirmed
Oak Ridge Atty. Frank Wilson on
June 15 received unanimous confirma
tion by the U.S. Senate as U.S. district
judge for East Tennessee.
Wilson, 43, will succeed Judge Leslie
R. Darr of Chattanooga, who an
nounced his re-
tirement in
March.
The new judge,
who will hold
court in Chatta
nooga and Win
chester, was ex
pected to assume
his duties in July.
Wilson is a for
mer Anderson
County campaign
manager of Sen.
Estes Kefauver who with Sen. Albert
Gore and Rep. Howard Baker of
Huntsville recommended him for the
judgeship. Baker defeated Wilson in a
close congressional race in Tennessee’s
Second Congressional District in 1950.
The Senate also confirmed the ap
pointment of Nashville attorney Ken
neth Harwell as U.S. attorney for Mid
dle Tennessee to succeed Fred Elledge
Jr. of Nashville. # # #
Maryland
(Continued From Page 12)
State College with a cumulative aver
age of 3.92 (of a possible 4.0), the
highest average recorded in the 94-
year history of Maryland’s leading
Negro institution. A major in both
mathematics and physics, Cateforis re
ceived five awards, including the
president’s award for creative achieve
ment, and has accepted a fellowship
in physics at the University of Wis
consin.
According to a press release from the
college, Cateforis came across a book
entitled “Universities and Colleges in
the United States” while studying
English in the American Library in
Athens. He scanned it for a small col
lege that a middle-class Greek family
might afford and one that would be
biracial, because he felt that “the stu
dents would be more tolerant of an
immigrant.”
Straight-A Student
Morgan was his choice, and he ar
rived in this country by boat as a
youth of 18 in September, 1957. Ex
cept for some initial difficulty with
English courses, Cateforis was a
straight-A student at Morgan, which
he attended in summer as well as dur
ing the regular school years. Short of
funds, he worked in the college cafe
teria throughout his stay, first as a
washer of pots and pans and later as
cashier.
On the other side of the picture, one
of those graduated as ensigns by the
Naval Academy at Annapolis was
Mack Johnson Jr., a 23-year-old Ne
gro from Delray Beach, Fla., who, it
was announced, had been selected on
the basis of his academic performance
to teach Russian in the foreign lan
guages department of the Naval
Academy. Ensign Johnson was one of
three Negroes in this year’s graduating
class, which, according to the Balti
more Afro-American, leaves eight
colored midshipmen at the Academy.
All three were former Navy service
men.
Also, Mrs. Angela Webb Clarke, of
Baltimore, was graduated this June
from the University of Maryland
Medical School. She was the second
Negro woman to receive her doctor’s
degree from the school, which ad
mitted its first Negro students in 1951.
Also, Thomas E. Curtis Jr., of Bal
timore, was an award winner at Loyo
la College, where he was the lone
Negro in the day school graduating
class. Described by the Afro as “the
youth who for four years traveled a
total of 120,000 miles to Delaware, to
attend Sakesianum High School in
Wilmington . . . when local Catholic
high schools refused him,” Curtis was
awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellow
ship for graduate study in interna
tional relations and a Dougherty Fel
lowship at Villanova University.
At Loyola, Curtis was on the dean’s
list, president of the debating society,
a contributor to literary publications,
active in dramatics, winner of a cita
tion for highest academic achievement
in militarry science and represented
his college at intercollegiate confer
ences on international relations and
politics.
★ ★ ★
Some Negro physicians raised the
issue of racial discrimination against
the Johns Hopkins Medical School at
an all-day conference on racial bias
in Baltimore, sponsored by a ministeri
al alliance. Dr. Ralph Young said that
the Hopkins Medical School had never
in its history accepted a Negro stu
dent, in contrast to the University of
Maryland Medical School which had
admitted 19 in the past nine years.
Other Negro physicians pointed to the
lack of teaching opportunities and
medical staff privileges.
The assistant dean of the Hopkins
Medical School, Dr. Palmer Futcher,
agreed later that no Negro student
had been admitted. But in an inter
view with the Baltimore Sun he said:
“The admissions committee is pre
pared to accept a properly qualified
Negro. The medical school feels it
would be a mistake to admit someone
who would flunk out.
“There is a scholarship fund set up
to support a properly qualified Negro.
The qualified Negroes usually go to
places like the University of Michi
gan, where the social environment for
Negroes is better than in Baltimore.
When there is a properly qualified
Negro, he will be admitted.”
Continuing the argument editorially,
the Afro-American charged that Dr.
Futcher’s use of the word “qualified”
was an exercise in semantics to “mask
the ugly fact that Hopkins places race
above its duty to mankind to train as
many doctors as possible.” The Afro
pointed out that Lois Young (daughter
Changes In Maryland School Population
SCHOOL YEAR 1954 TO SCHOOL YEAR 1961*
School
White Pupils
%
Negro Pupils
%
District
1954
1961
change
1954
1961
change
Allegany
.. 15,525
15,668
0.9
282
303
7.4
Anne Arundel ....
.. 19,719
35,350
79.0
4,787
6,700
40.0
Baltimore City ....
.. 86,206
82,588 (—4.2)
51,828
87,634
691
Baltimore County .
.. 48,604
82,232
69 2
3,820
4,053
61
Calvert
.. 1,576
2,102
33.4
1,595
2,226
39.6
Caroline
.. 2,973
3,389
14.0
893
1,044
16.9
Carroll
.. 8,305
10,176
22.5
454
485
6.8
Cecil
.. 6,686
9,061
35.5
465
571
22.8
Charles
.. 3,189
4,086
28.2
2,571
3,305
28.5
Dorchester
.. 3,592
3,900
8.6
1,643
2,202
34.0
Frederick
.. 10,492
12,966
23.6
1,085
1,305
20.3
Garrett
.. 4,504
4,796
6.5
0
0
—
Harford
.. 10,643
14,737
38.4
1,265
1,925
52.2
Howard
.. 4,081
6,528
60.0
985
1,099
11.6
Kent
.. 2,009
2,423
17.1
819
916
11.8
Montgomery
.. 39,809
69,230
73.9
2,743
3,101
13.1
Prince George’s ...
.. 36,408
60,895
67.3
5,793
8,735
50.8
Queen Anne’s
.. 2,226
2,612
17.3
851
1,099
29.1
St. Mary’s
.. 2,739
4,554
66.3
1,189
1,568
31.9
Somerset
.. 2,342
2,451
4.7
1,866
1,888
1.2
Talbot
.. 2,563
2,777
8.3
1,188
1,339
12.7
Washington
.. 15,575
17,900
14.9
324
371
14.5
Wicomico
.. 5,616
7,511
33.7
1,859
2,831
52.3
Worcester
.. 2,926
3,274
11.8
1,679
2,182
30.0
STATE TOTAL ...
..338,308
461,206
36.3
89,984
136,882
52.1
‘Enrollment recorded by State Department of Education on October 31, 1953
and 1960.
of Ralph Young) had graduated with
highest honors from the University of
Maryland Medical School after having
been turned down for admission by
the Hopkins Medical School in 1956.
Under Survey
Enrollment Rises
By 169,796 Pupils
In Past 7 Years
Maryland’s school population during
seven years of desegregation has in
creased 169,796 pupils, with the white
gain exceeding that of Negroes by a
count of 122,898 to 46,898. On a per
centage basis, though, Negro pupils
have increased at a faster rate than
white.
Since the 1953-54 school year, Negro
pupils have increased 52.1 per cent, in
contrast with a 36.3 rise in white pupils.
More than three-fourths of the Negro
gain has been registered in Baltimore
city, where the Negro enrollment rose
69.1 per cent in seven years. While
losing white pupils, Baltimore has
gained 35,806 Negro ones, or more than
5,000 a year.
More than 80 per cent of the white
increase has occurred in four urban
counties: Montgomery and Prince
George’s, outside of Washington, D.C.,
and Baltimore and Anne Arundel
counties, outside of Baltimore city.
These four counties account for 103,167
out of the 122,898 additional white
Maryland pupils. Baltimore County
leads the list with a 33,628 white rise
in seven years, followed by a gain of
29,421 in Montgomery, 24,487 in Prince
George’s, and 15,631 in Anne Arundel.
The percentage increases range from
67.3 per cent in Prince George’s up to
79 per cent in Anne Arundel.
10 Highest Gains
The school systems with high per
centages of increase in Negro enroll
ment are scattered rather generally
about the state, with the exception of
western Maryland. Of the 10 with the
highest percentage gains, ranging from
39 to 69 per cent, four are on the East
ern Shore, four in southern Maryland,
one is in northern Maryland and the
tenth is Baltimore city. The large white
gains are confined more closely to
urbanized areas, with only one Eastern
Shore county among the top ten.
The heavy percentage growths in
Negro school enrollments show only
a loose correlation with other factors
that might appear to be pertinent. Gen
erally speaking, for example, the
schools systems which already had rel
atively high proportions of Negro stu
dents are among those which have re
corded large percentage gains in the
past seven years. But there are con
spicuous exceptions. Somerset County,
which ranks fourth in its proportion
of Negro pupils (43.5 per cent), has
had the smallest percentage increase—
just over one per cent—of all of Mary
land’s biracial school districts. Harford
County, on the other hand, has a rela
tively small proportion of Negro pupils
(11.6 per cent) and yet records a 52
per cent increase.
The Negro growth also shows no clear
correlation with desegregation or inte
gration. Of the ten school systems with
the highest percentages of Negro in
crease, five have some Negroes attend
ing formerly white schools, and five
have none. In contrast, for whatever
significance it may have, eight of the
10 districts having the highest per
centages of increase in white pupils are
districts in which some desegregation
has taken place.
A third possible correlation stands up
relatively well. Looking at both white
and Negro growth, one finds that six
out of the 10 districts with the highest
percentage increases in white enroll
ment are also among the top 10 in per
centage of Negro increase. Conversely,
six of the 10 with the lowest Negro
growth rates are also among the bottom
10 in percentage of white increase.
Again there are exceptions: Montgom
ery and Baltimore counties have had
white gains of 74 and 69 per cent re
spectively, and Negro gains of only 13
and six per cent. Dorchester and Wor
cester counties have had white gains of
9 and 12 per cent respectively, and
Negro gains of 34 and 30 per cent.
★ ★ ★
Washington Paper
Checks Displacement
Of Negro Teachers
Under the headline “600 Negro
Teachers Face Problems In Desegre
gation” the Washington Post in June
reported the results of a survey by one
of its reporters, Carole Bowie, of
teacher desegregation in the Washing
ton area. While much of the report
concerned the displacement of Negro
teachers in nearby Virginia counties,
two Maryland counties were covered:
Prince George’s and Montgomery.
Prince George’s was cited as one of
the areas “where integration has been
confined to transferring small num
bers of Negro pupils to white schools”
and where “teaching staffs have re
mained strictly segregated.”
Maryland school officials as a matter
of principle have seen to it that no
Negro teachers lose jobs because of
desegregation. Since in most school
districts only a few Negro pupils have
shifted to white schools, few teaching
jobs have been in jeopardy.
“Under Maryland law,” according to
the Bowie report, “teachers who are
certified are granted a permanent hold
on their jobs after two-year trial pe
riods. Teachers may, however, work in
a school system up to five years be
fore they are fully certified in the
subject they teach.
“While this law protects certified
teachers from arbitrary firing, it does
not protect the uncertified and tem
porary instructors who make up about
20 per cent of Prince George’s staff;
nor does it keep school officials from
replacing retiring Negroes with white
personnel.”
M iscellaneous
State Stops Work
On Separate School
A stop-work order was issued in
June on plans to build a new and
separate training school for delinquent
Negro girls. The order came in the
wake of a decision by the Maryland
Court of Appeals that such institu
tions are part of the public education
system and thus bound by the Su
preme Court decision on school de
segregation. (Southern School News,
March)
Instead of a separate school, state
officials are now planning construction
of a biracial institution on the grounds
of the present school for delinquent
white girls. Unification is expected to
cut construction costs. # # #