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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—SEPTEMBER, 1941—PAGE 13
nlSTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Senate Approves Civil Rights Commission
Extension
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WASHINGTON
T jie Senate on Aug. 30 ap
proved a two-year extension
; or the Civil Rights Commission
jU t rejected four other civil
’.jhts proposals that liberals
”' lU ght to tack to a State and Jus-
,. ce Department appropriations
bill.
p, e vote to extend the life of the
^punission was 70 to 19. Sen. Milton
j Young (R-N.D.) joined 18 Southern
janocrats in voting aaginst the ex
tension.
Earlier the Senate had voted 72 to
3 to suspend its rules so that the ex
tension could be added to an appropri
ated bill. That was 10 votes more
ijan the two-thirds majority required
fur such a move.
Without the extension, the commis
sion, which probes civil rights prob
lems in education, voting, housing and
employment, would have had to wind
its operations by Nov. 9.
Started in 1957
Originally set up in 1957, the com
mission was extended for two years in
1959 as part of an appropriations bill
in procedure similar to that followed
last month. The parliamentary maneu
ver was used in order to bypass the
Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by
Sen. James O. Eastland (D-Miss.), a
foe of all civil rights legislation.
The Southerners, who attacked the
commission vigorously in the Senate
debate, chose not to make an all-out
Sght against its extension or the
$888,000 appropriation the commission
sought to operate next year. The
money was approved in a voice vote
immediately after the extension was
authorized.
But a Southern threat to tie up the
Senate in a lengthy debate on all other
civil rights measures led Majority
leader Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) to
move to table other amendments.
Voting Pattern
Mansfield won those votes—including
one on an amendment to extend the
commission for four rather than two
.'ears—by margins ranging from 5 to
20 votes. But the voting pattern indi
cated that there now is a majority in
'be Senate for tougher civil rights leg
islation if a showdown ever is reached.
Most far-reaching of the proposals
voted down was that of Sen. Jacob K.
Javits (R-N.Y.) to authorize the At-
torney General to initiate civil rights
m its in behalf of individuals—the so
iled Title III power which has been
defeated in previous civil rights legis-
•ation. Mansfield’s motion to table was
adopted 47 to 42 with a handful of
™erals voting with him.
There was no immediate indication
‘nether further attempts would be
■^de by liberals to bring up civil
n f>hts measures in the remaining weeks
" J this session.
May Halt for Year
Mansfield had previously indicated
su ch an opportunity would be
Rented near the end of the Senate’s
? 0r k but comments made during the
eba te on the Javits proposal indi-
®*d that no further efforts may be
this year.
-’Onetheless, racial problems almost
r* a * n ly will get another airing when
"' Senate takes up the question of
: bing filibusters—an item Mansfield
jP Promised to place on the agenda
the last order of business in this
*s»on.
A
Set) nUm ^ er °b civil rights bills are
, up in Eastland’s committee. It
take a two-thirds vote of the
to bring them up under the
** Program outlined by Mansfield.
Eastland Leads Attack
Jutland was in the forefront c
. tnern attacks on the commissio
It'S the Senate debate. He assaile
, ° n a number of grounds, and sug
as did others, that it ought t
'stigate conditions in the Distric
^umbia.
uoiesale rape, wholesale murde
^ brutal street mugging is so ram
bis * t s unsa f e f° r the people c
t. country to come to Washington.
V ?Pd said. He blamed “racial agita
Mi
New Members Inducted
Ci vi f anw hile, two new members of the
Oh!! Mights Commission, Erwin N.
Ijj^olJ an( j Spottswood W. Robinson
the new staff director, Berl I.
all appointed by President
in , cdy and confirmed by the Senate
b were sworn into office.
v ers j bison, dean of the Howard Uni-
btj, M Law School and former at-
mj e ? r tn NAACP desegregation suits,
w lri a television interview with Sen.
net h B. Keating (R-N.Y.) Aug. 20
D. C. Highlights
The Senate approved a two-year
extension for the Civil Rights Com
mission, beating down other civil
rights proposals in the face of a
Southern filibuster threat.
In a 61-page report submitted to
President Kennedy, the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights urged
him to issue executive orders ban
ning segregation in all programs
supported or assisted by federal
funds.
The District Commissioners sug
gested that private business schools
in Washington open their enroll
ments to Negroes.
Legislation to establish a public
junior college in the District ad
vanced in the Senate but made no
progress in the House.
that the commission intends to focus
on racial problems in the North as well
as the South.
Bernhard told the annual meeting
of the Junior Bar Conference in St.
Louis Aug. 5 that web-like strands of
racial discrimination reach “into every
region of the United States and into
almost every area of life.” He added:
Both North and South
“While the denial of equal protec
tion in voting is largely confined to
the South, denials in education, em
ployment and housing, for example, are
not limited by regional boundary. . . .
“In the past two years, for exam
ple, the gerrymander of a school sys
tem in New York State, deliberately
executed to segregate white and Ne
gro students, was exposed in federal
court.”
Bernhard cited other examples of
racial discrimination in Northern states.
‘Last Hired, First Fired’
“Outside the South,” he declared, “as
well as in it, the Negro often finds
himself in the position of last hired,
first fired. Sometimes this stems from
a specific policy by the employer.
Other times it is the result of a lack
of qualification which, in turn, is the
result of an inadequate and often un
equal education.”
Bernhard said one city, which he did
not identify, provided separate voca
tional schools for Negroes and whites
with training programs “so dissimilar,
so discriminatory against the Negro
student, that it is difficult to believe
that these two schools are part of the
same system.”
“Simply stated,” he said, “the Negro
students receive training in the voca
tions which Negroes have occupied
traditionally; the whites receive train
ing in almost every skilled vocation
that exists today.”
★ ★ ★
Conference Urges
Segregation Ban
With All U. S. Aid
The Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights, composed of 50 national or
ganizations interested in minority prob
lems, urged President Kennedy Aug.
29 to issue executive orders eradicat
ing segregation and discrimination
from all programs receiving federal
assistance.
A 61-page report from the confer
ence was delivered to the White House
by Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of
the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People, and Ar
nold Aronson, director of program
planning for the National Community
Relations Advisory Council. Wilkins is
chairman and Aronson is secretary of
the conference.
The report praised Pi'esident Ken
nedy for bringing “his personal pres
tige and the moral authority of his of
fice to bear in support of civil rights.”
Activities Named
But it said he should go farther and
withdraw the federal government from
participation “in any program that re
quires it to be a partner in support
ing discrimination.” Specifically cited
were activities in education, the mili
tary services, housing, employment,
The Old Quack!
Knox, Nashville Banner
agriculture and health services.
The report was an outgrowth of
meetings Wilkins and Aronson had
early this year with the President and
the White House staff. White House
Special Counsel Theodore Sorensen
suggested that the conference prepare
a detailed report on discrimination in
federally assisted programs with sug
gestions for corrective action.
The report’s recommendations kept
within the Administration’s announced
policy of relying on executive action,
rather than new legislation, in the civil
rights field. But the report stated that
organizations making up the confer
ence believe legislation is needed to
redeem civil rights pledges made in
the Democratic platform last year.
Actions Commended
The conference commended the ad
ministration for appointing Negroes to
policy-making posts, for Justice De
partment action to enforce civil rights
laws and for such steps as assuring
nonsegregated facilities in the Civil
War Centennial Commission meeting
at Charleston, S. C.
“Indeed, we believe that it would
be fair to say that the Kennedy Ad
ministration has been more active in
the defense of civil rights than any
previous administration in a compara
ble period,” the report declared.
“Nevertheless,” it continued, “we
cannot fail to observe that the sum to
tal of these actions is dwarfed, and in
fact nullified, by the massive involve
ment of the federal government in pro
grams and activities that make it a
silent, but none the less full partner
in the perpetuation of discriminatory
practices.”
The report said the President “has
the constitutional authority to prohibit
the expenditure of federal funds in
any instance where such funds are
found to be used in a discriminatory
manner. . . .”
Code Advocated
It urged the President to issue a
general Federal Civil Rights Code de
signed to assure non-discrimination in
all programs that receive federal funds
or other assistance.
Such a code, the report suggested,
would be particularly important be
cause of “the broad expansion of fed
eral supports to the economy which
has been proposed in the President’s
economic message.”
The federal government advanced
more than $7 billion to the states in
fiscal 1960 in the form of grants-in-
aid, loans, repayable advances and
shared revenues, the report noted. In
addition, nearly $3 billion was granted
to hospitals, universities and research
institutions.
Southern Shares
Eleven Southern states “which as a
matter of official policy continue in
large measure to require, support or
condone discrimination in violation of
the Constitution” received more than
$1 billion in federal grants, the con
ference report asserted.
This accounted for 22 per cent of
state and local budgets in Alabama and
Arkansas; 21 per cent in Mississippi;
16 per cent in Georgia; 15 per cent in
Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennes
see; 14 per cent in Texas and North
Carolina; 11 per cent in Virginia, and
10 per cent in Florida.
The report said federal agencies are
pouring millions of dollars into segre
gated and discriminatory school sys
tems.
(See D. C., Page 16)
SOUTH CAROLINA
Beaufort County Transfers School to Navy
COLUMBIA
he end of August and the be
ginning of September mark
the opening of the 1961-62 school
year for South Carolina’s public
schools, none of which contem
plate any desegregation.
In Charleston, petitions were filed
with the County Board of Education
in behalf of the transfer of five Negro
students to white schools. Transfers
were rejected by the trustees of School
District 20 (the City of Charleston)
after they were initially filed last May.
The petitioners now are asking the
county board to reject the city board’s
decision.
County Superintendent of Education
G. Creighton Frampton said the peti
tions would come before the county
board at its next meeting.
Meanwhile, the county board on
Aug. 10 disclosed the results of hear
ings held in June concerning transfers
requested by other Negro students last
October. The board had dismissed the
requests for transfer on grounds they
were not submitted according to ad
ministrative procedures required by lo
cal rules and regulations. The June
hearings, the board reported, failed to
show that the school district had re
flected dilatory, inadequate or uncon
stitutional policies in its action.
-¥■ * *
In Union County, the educational
committee of the Negro Voters League
met with the county board of educa
tion to present complaints of inade
quacies in Negro schools. No demands
for desegregation were reported.
* * *
On the state level, the State Educa
tional Finance Commission on Aug. 10
approved allocation of $194,200 for ad
ditional school construction work. Since
the commission was created in 1951
to handle South Carolina’s equaliza
tion and expansion program, it was al
located approximately $206,696,000 to
projects for Negro and white schools
throughout the state.
S.C. Highlights
Another year without any desegre
gation of state-supported public
schools and colleges was indicated,
although five Negroes renewed ef
forts in Charleston to transfer to
white schools.
Beaufort County’s transfer of
Hamilton Elementary School to the
Navy cleared the way for it to be
come the second federally operated
biracial school in the state, serving
children of military personnel and
U.S. employees.
Two Negro applicants for admis
sion to the Medical College of South
Carolina have been turned down “on
the basis of their school records.”
Schoolmen
School Transferred
To U. S. Operation;
Desegregation Likely
The transfer of a large elementary
school by the Beaufort County Board
of Education to the U. S. Navy has
made the school a wholly federal op
eration—thereby clearing the way for
probable desegregation of the institu
tion.
Beaufort school authorities said the
transfer was motivated by administra
tive considerations, since the school had
been built and equipped with federal
funds from its inception about four
years ago. During the last three years,
it was operated under Beaufort School
District No. 1 as a jointly-financed
project which drew on local, state and
federal funds.
The school—Hamilton Elementary
School—is located adjacent to Laurel
Bay, a Capehart housing development
built by the Government to house per
sonnel stationed at the Marine Air
Station. Attendance at the school has
been limited almost exclusively to
“federal” children, so the transfer of
the facility to outright control by the
United States will not affect other
Beaufort County Schools.
Federally Impacted
The school was built under Public
Law 815, which provides funds for
school facilities in federally-impacted
areas. It now will be operated under
Section 6 of Public Law 874, as is an
other school on the nearby Parris Is
land Marine Base. Local and state edu
cation officials are aiding in getting
the new operation off to a satisfactory
start this fall, but the operation will
be fully federal. State approval of bud
get and program is necessary, how
ever, to comply with regulations on
standards.
Previously, the elementary school
operated by the federal government
at Parris Island was the only biracial
public school in South Carolina. The
state has an estimated 25,000 to 30,000
“federal” children—those whose par
ents are in .military service or are
federal employes. They are enrolled
in about a third of the state’s school
districts according to their residential
distribution, and federal funds are
provided to help meet school opera
tion costs.
In the Colleges
New Term Finds
State’s Colleges
Still Segregated
As of late August, every sign
pointed to the reopening of state-sup
ported institutions of higher learning
on the same segregated basis that has
prevailed in the past.
The applications of two Negroes for
admission to the Medical College of
South Carolina were rejected in Au
gust by college officials “on the basis
of their school records.”
The medical college regularly has
about twice the number of applicants
that it can handle, with the result that
admission standards are set at a high
cutting mark.
There have been other Negro appli
cations for admission to other state
schools, but none seem to have been
submitted in final form and none ap
parently have been accepted by the
colleges concerned.
Under Survey
Segregation Group
Sees 4 No Conflict’
South Carolina’s Special Segregation
Committee said Aug. 17 that “every
prospect” indicates the state’s public
schools and colleges will open this fall
“without conflict.”
The statement came from State Sen.
L. Marion Gressette of Calhoun County,
chairman of the 15-member group of
laymen and legislators.
After commending the Governor and
the General Assembly on “the steps
they have taken within the last year
to equalize and improve educational
opportunity,” the chairman added:
Tensions Reported Eased
“The committee also notes with
pleasure that some of the tensions
and instances of strife which were ap
parent in the spring have either been
eased or have disappeared due to con
scientious and efficient law enforce
ment and public co-operation.
“The committee and its legal staff
are studying several proposals having
to do with clarifying certain laws hav
ing to do with public education and
may make recommendations to the
Governor and the General Assembly
during the coming session. It does not
have any further recommendations at
this time.”
The annual report of the South Caro
lina Advisory Committee to the U. S.
Civil Rights Commision, made public
Aug. 2, noted that Negro schools have
been “greatly improved” since the
state initiated its school equalization
and expansion program in 1951.
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