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PAGE 16—JULY, 1961—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
FLORIDA
Escambia Plans To Use
Pupil Assignment Law
MIAMI, Fla.
he Escambia County (Pensa
cola) school board notified
federal district court on the June
15 deadline that it would comply
with the order requiring a plan for
orderly desegregation by follow
ing the provisions of Florida’s pu
pil assignment law.
The board said it immediately would
send letters to all parents of Negro
children notifying them of their rights
under the law. This includes appeal
from any assignment and request for
transfer to any school, regardless of
race.
Judge G. Harrold Carswell, who
ordered the school board (in the Au
gustus case) to produce a desegregation
plan in 90 days, took the proposal under
advisement. NAACP attorneys were
expected to file objections, as they have
in other cases, that the pupil assignment
law is not a plan for desegregation. This
position has been upheld by the federal
court in two other Florida cases (Gib
son et al v. Board of Public Instruction
of Dade County and Holland v. Board
of Public Instruction of Palm Beach
County).
Concession to Law
A spokesman for the NAACP said the
Escambia proposal was the same as that
made in other counties seeking to avoid
or delay integration. “We have advised
the plaintiffs in advance,” said the
spokesman, “not to seek reassignment
under these letters or to pay any atten
tion to them. This would in effect be a
concession to the pupil assignment law.”
The Volusia County school board sent
similar letters to the parents of all
school children during the month. A
suit is pending there. (See below.)
In preparation for possible legal ac
tion, a group of Negro parents in Sara
sota County on Florida’s lower west
coast filed a petition with the school
board demanding a start toward deseg
regation. A reply was requested in 15
days.
Attorneys for a group of Negro pa
rents in Brevard County, booming site
of the Cape Canaveral missile launch
ing center, announced a desegregation
suit had been drawn and would be filed
in the federal court shortly.
Legal Skirmishing
Legal skirmishing continued in the
Duval and Volusia County school suits.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to
review an order by the district court in
Jacksonville denying a petition for a
three-judge panel to pass on the valid
ity of the Florida assignment law. The
motion by the school board had
temporarily halted action in the Brax
ton case, which has been pending for
several months.
As activity resumed attorneys for the
plaintiffs asked the court to deny a
petition by a group of white children
and their parents seeking to intervene
in the case.
The white group said the school
board’s defenses may be inadequate be
cause the board members had no per
sonal interest at stake as did white
families affected by any integration
order. They said the children’s welfare
would be “irreparably damaged” if they
were forced to attend mixed classes.
The NAACP’s motion to deny said
the question has been disposed of in
other court cases. There was no imme
diate ruling.
Series of Objections
In the Volusia County case, the school
board attorneys filed a series of objec
tions to the petition. They said the suit
failed to allege that any plaintiff was
deprived of specific rights, that any had
been denied admission to a specific
white school, and that any were forced
to travel long distances to segregated
schools when others were closer. In fact,
said the school board, the petition pre
sented merely an abstract question.
The defendants asked that white
persons among the plaintiffs be removed
from the case, since they were not dis
criminated against by segregated
schools. The plaintiffs countered that if
white children sought to attend de
segregated schools and were denied,
their rights were infringed.
Several other objections were listed,
including one that the state school su
perintendent and state school board
were proper co-defendants. All points
were overruled by District Judge Bryan
Simpson.
Florida Files Brief
In Louisiana Lawsuit
Florida’s attorney general, who parti
cipated as friend of the court in the
original school integration cases, took
the same role in hearings before a
three-judge federal court hearing a
constitutional test of a Louisiana school
segregation act.
The judges asked state attorney gen
erals, if they wished, to submit argu
ments on two questions:
Would abandonment by a state of its
public school system deprive children
of rights guaranteed by the due process
or equal protection clauses of the 14th
Amendment?
Would the answer be the same if
abandonment were on a local option
basis under a vote of the electorate
authorizing county school authorities to
close the public schools?
The Florida brief was filed in behalf
of Attorney General Richard W. Ervin
by his assistant, Ralph E. Odum, who
specializes in this type of litigation.
Will of Majority
No child, he said, has an automatic
right to a free public education under
the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Con
stitution. This right, he contended, is
subject to determination by the will of
the majority in any state, working
through elected representatives and the
state constitution.
A court order which asserted the
right would, Odum declared, be in ef
fect a judicial repeal of the 10th
Amendment. This leaves to the state the
right to determine what public services
shall be provided and how they shall be
financed through taxes.
“The federal courts have no authority
to levy taxes for state public purposes”
said the brief, “or to determine the
amount of taxes so levied, this being a
state legislative prerogative.”
Schoolmen
Miami Planning
To Desegregate
Six More Schools
In Miami, preparations continued for
extensive desegregation this fall. In
addition to four schools already de
segregated, some on a token basis, six
others have been assigned Negro pu
pils.
The first massive try at desegregation
will be at Earlington Heights Elemen
tary, where 356 white children were en
rolled at the close of this term. The
school board has assigned about 200
Negro children to attend next year, the
school serving an area in which many
Negro families are settling. There will,
however, be an all-white faculty.
White parents were notified of their
option to have their children trans
ferred. A survey showed that about 160
white children will continue to attend
the school.
Principal William Tango said he is in
the process of recruiting a special group
of teachers to handle the mixed classes.
“What we are looking for,” he said, “is
someone who is flexible, can adjust to
changing situations and who remem
bers that all children regardless of race
need a lot of love and understanding.”
In the neighborhood, a number of
non-school facilities have been inte
grated without difficulty, including the
swimming pool in a municipal park.
This was done under a court order.
Legislative Action
School Segregation
Only a Minor Issue
During Legislature
School segregation was only a minor
issue during the legislative session that
closed early in June. The only bill in
this field that became law was one ex
tending for two years the governor’s
power to quell violence by closing any
schools the courts may order desegre
gated.
One other measure passed the House
but failed of final approval in the clos
ing rush. This measure sponsored by
Rep. Mack Cleveland of Seminole
County and 65 co-sponsors, provided a
tax credit on personal property up to
Florida Highlights
Escambia County in Northwest
Florida offered a school desegrega
tion plan in response to a federal
court order but attorneys for the
plaintiff contended that it was com
pletely inadequate.
In two other counties there was
activity in pending suits, and pre
liminary action was taken in two
others that could lead to additional
suits.
Dade County (Miami) continued
preparations for extensive desegre
gation in the fall. A survey showed
that in one district where massive
desegregation was planned, a large
number of the white parents said
they will keep their children in the
school.
The legislature ended its session
with only one law in the school seg
regation field, actually a two-year
extension of a power already held by
the governor.
The University of Miami accepted
a number of Negro students for its
summer session.
$250 for parents who enter their chil
dren in private schools to avoid biracial
schools.
Cleveland defended the bill against
heavy attack, declaring it would “elim
inate the possibility of fights and blood
shed between whites and blacks.”
Rep. Robert Mann of Hillsborough,
who led the opposition, said the bill
would ruin the public school system in
many counties.
Community Action
State NAACP Official
Announces Campaign
To End Segregation
In Miami for a planning session, the
Rev. Leon Lowry, Tampa, state NAACP
president, announced an all-out cam
paign this year to end segregation in
schools, hospitals, housing and govern
ment employment.
While the effort will be statewide,
emphasis will be in the major urban
areas, including Fort Lauderdale, West
Palm Beach, Orlando, Daytona Beach,
Tampa and St. Petersburg, he said.
The first step, he said, would be for
“thousands” of Negro parents to test the
pupil assignment law by enrolling their
children in white schools. This has al
ready been done to a limited extent in
most of the target areas but the effort
will be considerably stepped up.
The minister said a select group of top
students will seek to register in Florida
colleges and universities at the under
graduate level. There has been no de
segregation at this level, despite an an
nounced non-segregation policy by the
state board of control. The University
of Florida has had three Negro students,
all attending graduate schools.
At the same session Robert Saunders,
NAACP executive secretary, said the
organization would insist on the hiring
of qualified Negro teachers to fill short
ages wherever they exist in the schools.
He acted after the state school board
decided to issue temporary certificates
to refugee Cuban teachers in order to
fill vacancies in many schools.
In the Colleges
University of Miami
Admits 25 Negroes
The University of Miami, which an
nounced a desegregation policy last
spring, accepted about 25 Negro stu
dents for summer classes in a total en
rollment of about 3,800.
The exact number was not announced.
Dr. Paul K. Vonk, chairman of the ad
missions committee, said no record was
made of the race of those accepted. A
check showed, however, that about 15
Negroes were taking graduate courses,
the others being at the undergraduate
level.
The university said that while there
was no racial ban to use of university
housing, most or all of the Negro stu
dents were residents of Miami and were
living in their own homes. The cafeteria
and other campus facilities were deseg
regated.
★ ★ ★
The St. Petersburg Junior College, a
facility operated by the Pinellas County
school board, had two Negro students
for summer classes. There is a separate
junior college for Negroes in the county
but it offers no summer courses.
# # #
SOUTH CAROLINA
Association Censures
Colleges For Dismissals ;
COLUMBIA, S.C.
A L.LEN University and Benedict
College, two Negro institu
tions located at Columbia, have
been placed on the censured list
of the American Association of
University Professors. The action
was documented in the summer
issue of the AAUP Bulletin, dis
tributed in June.
The censure stemmed from the dis
missal or non-retention by the col
leges of six faculty members who had
been accused of being Communist-
tainted. The six teachers, three at Al
len and three at Benedict, were sep
arated from their respective institutions
in 1958, climaxing a year of controversy
over their status and affiliations. The
then-governor of South Carolina,
George Bell Timmerman Jr., in several
news statements and in two formal ad
dresses to the General Assembly, ac
cused both colleges of harboring Com
munist-linked professors.
During the 1957-58 school year, Allen
University had been stricken from the
list of institutions approved by the
State Board of Education for teacher
training.
The AAUP report on the two schools
placed some stress on the fact that a
white Hungarian refugee, Andre Toth,
had attended all-Negro Allen Univer
sity in the 1957-58 year and suggested
that this departure from state policies
on segregation was a factor in Allen’s
troubles. The president of Allen, how
ever, had requested the resignations of
the three Allen professors prior to the
arrival of Toth at the school.
Against Administration
In both the Allen and Benedict
cases, the AAUP censure was directed
against the administrations for abridge
ment of academic due process and vio
lation of academic freedom. Allen ad
ditionally was charged with having
yielded to outside political pressures.
The censure of the two schools was
voted in April, 1961.
The same AAUP Bulletin, which dis
closed the formal censure, also an
nounced the award of the Alexander
Meiklejohn award to a trustee of Allen
University, Dr. Robert W. Mance, Co
lumbia Negro physician. The award is
made annually in recognition of an
outstanding contribution to academic
freedom.
Dr. Mance was cited for his efforts
(during the difficulties at Allen Univer
sity) in behalf of academic freedom,
the principles of tenure, and academic
due process.
¥ * *
As June opened, the state head of
the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People was on
record with a forecast of lawsuits to
end segregation throughout the state,
including the state-supported institu
tions of higher learning.
Speaking May 30 at a Memorial Day
rally of Negroes in Charleston, J. Ar
thur Brown of Charleston said:
“Tell The Citadel, Clemson, South
Carolina Medical School, the Univer
sity of South Carolina, Winthrop and
any other state-supported institutions
. . . that the walls of segregation are
crumbling ... We are sick and tired
of Jim Crow living. Until I can move
in society like other people, you are
enslaving my soul and before I’ll be
a slave, I’ll be dead.”
One of the participants in the
Charleston rally was Herman K. Harris,
a 21-year-old student of Morris Col
lege, a Negro school at Sumter. At
Charleston, Harris called for racial in
termarriage if that be necessary to
achieve total integration. “Let’s turn
this upside-down world and set it up
side right.”
Harris was one of the “freedom rid
ers” who made protest rides to Alabama
earlier in May. He also was the student
who belatedly reported to Sumter po
lice that he had been abducted by un
identified men who allegedly carved
“KKK” and other markings on his body.
The carving episode subsequently
was termed a hoax by Gov. Ernest F.
Hollings. At a regular news conference,
Gov. Hollings told the press:
“This matter has been thoroughly
investigated and through my office I
have conferred with Chief of Police
McIntosh, Solicitor Kirk McLeod, Sher
iff Byrd Parnell, and other investigat
ing officers.
“Harris can give no description of
the automobile, doesn’t know whether
it was a two-door or four-door automo-
S. .C Highlights
Two Negro colleges of South Cj.
rolina have been placed on the cej.
sured list of the American Associj.
tion of University Professors
their dismissal (in 1958) of six p ro .
fessors charged with being Con.
munist-tainted.
South Carolina Methodists rs
solved to “support public school ed
ucation” but failed by two votes to
sponsor the holding of church-rs
lated, biracial discussions on race
relations.
bile, doesn’t know how many men wen
in the car, and doesn’t know whethe
they were white or colored.
“Officers have talked with every®
possible connected with Harris’ ston
and have made every effort to deter. i
mine the truthfulness of the allegation (
including the submission of Harris tt (
polygraph (lie detector) examinatiot
The examination by the officers, cot-
pled with the fact that he ‘flunked’ foe
polygraph tests, indicated that tie |
scratches on Harris’ body were self,
inflicted or by someone who conspire:
with Harris.”
Community Action
State Methodists
Vote To Support
Public Education
The South Carolina Methodist Con
ference voted in mid-June to “sup
port public school education in Soutt
Carolina,” but rejected by a two-vote
margin a proposal that individual
churches hold biracial meetings to con
sider race relations problems.
By a vote of 115 to 113 the Metk-j
odists in conference at Greenville |
turned down the recommendation fe
“each local church have a churchwiie
study on race; and that, where possible
Methodist Christians from other races
be invited to help plan and participate
in this study.”
Opposition to the proposal was lee
by State Rep. Joseph O. Rogers -ft
a Clarendon County legislator a»
member of the state’s Special Segre
gation Committee. He warned that sues
meetings could not be held withou]
“having a combustion in your churci
What They Say
S. C. Congressmen
Voice Displeasure
At ‘Freedom Riders
South Carolina members of Congr^
individually have voiced their
pleasure of the organized “freedom d
ers” through their own and
Southern states, and have called
investigations of the movement,
resentatives and senators alike
congressional committees to inquire
the schools that have been traio®j |
“freedom riders” to see if Comm>®^ ,
influences are present in such tram 1 *
Gov. Hollings has suggested the teff
“jail baiters” in lieu of “freedom, ^ I
ers.” The governor made the sugg^^.
June 7 in discussion of a letter inj
he called upon Attorney General I
F. Kennedy to investigate the rid j
“Every time we call these agn®^
‘freedom riders,’ ” Gov. Hollings .
“we dignify a cause which deserv®^
dignity. These trouble makers j
into our midst for the sole P U (P° ^
inviting themselves into our
breaking our laws. Thus, the term
baiters’ aptly describes them and ^
ries the added recognition of tn®
that many of them bring their
records with them.” ^
A Negro Episcopal minister -
Miami defended the “freedom
in remarks made during a visit to ^
Carolina for an NAACP meeting ^
Rev. Theodore R. Gibson, P res '^
the Miami chapter of the NA-A-C >
on June 15: urf
. . the freedom riders are n ’ tIfle pi
America look bad by the tr ea ^
they’re receiving . . . The tim^
come when we can’t have a nat 10 # l
slave and half free.”