Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—OCTOBER, 1961—PAGE 15
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(Continued From Page 11)
,ke Colleges
y e gro Church
allege Enrolls
'While Women
0
out-of-state white women en-
jed in Tougaloo Southern Christian
"allege for Negroes, which is supported
£ the United Church of Christ and
if Disciples of Christ. Except for
Jtrious enrollments of children of
diite faculty members, there have been
„ outside whites enrolled,
ii accepting the enrollment of two
jjjte women, President A. D. Biettel
j Tougaloo Southern Christian Col-
: - e for Negroes, said they were ad-
Jtod under the 92-year-old charter,
^ch said the institution was estab-
: hed for the “education of all Mis-
jjsippi citizens, irrespective of their
dgious tenets, and conducted in the
-ost liberal principles for the benefit
; our citizens in general.”
The white women are Joan Trum-
jmrer of Washington, D.C., who was
evicted as a “freedom rider” in
Jackson, and Charlotte Phillips of
iosevelt, N.J., a transfer student from
like University.
Miss Trumpower is majoring in so-
jdogy and Miss Phillips in medicine.
Sheriff Investigates
Although Hinds County Sheriff J. R.
Jlfoy and District Attorney Bill Wal-
f said the incident was being investi-
ated, no action has been taken.
Tougaloo College was founded six
■ears after the Civil War and was
sued a charter by the legislature 15
tsrs before the current state constitu-
m was adopted in 1890.
The white president of the church
aDege said the words “Negro” and
Treedmen” are not mentioned in the
aarter and that “it looks as though
fare abiding by our charter, a con-
act issued by the state of Mississippi.”
The segregation statutes may be
i violation of our charter because we
are first,” President Beittel noted in
aw of the charter’s issuance prior
5 the 1890 constitution, which calls for
*iual, but separate, facilities for the
aces.”
Normal enrollment of Tougaloo is
-'ound 500 men and women,
lie. Beittel said on a television panel
, ® Jackson newsmen that nine of his
adents, arrested for a “read-in” at
» Jackson white municipal library
tf re seeking first class citizenship, a
in which the faculty and students
*pathize.” He said the college would
^ discourage such off-campus ac-
■ihes “but would remind students
Texas
(Continued From Page 9)
board to comply with his de
lation order. (Ross v. Rogers,
" September, 1960.)
asserted that 12 Negro appli-
Were refused admission to Hous-
re- v P u blic schools in 1960 and 1961.
Lgh hoard replied that five of the Ne
ka 1 * s named never actually filled out
( Application to enroll. One was de-
. uause the child’s father did not
111 the district; the pupil lived
<: a grandmother, who resided in
w 'strict. None of these children,
^ as being refused in 1960, ap-
wT; to the assistant superintendent
to handle such matters, the
s lawyer said.
Actions Recounted
t^plied concerning the 1961 com-
jd dmjii two of the children were
,. e '.I e u to desegregated classes after
it was filed; another failed to
} an application; two were de-
e °ause rules require them to
\ t ®n elementary school where
Members of the family already
polled.
wtejn k°ard defended the “brother-
Mtu .fule as being reasonable, and
that
V the
; br e Ulat ** was ' n effect for years
* desegregation problem
oi '■; r ^ ar d’s reply also defended its
stnj^ut f° r medical examinations
Snouts. Smallpox and diphtheria
Vjgj- a tlons are required for all
'Ustrict students.
★ ★ ★
f suit was filed to desegregate an
P ^ Xas school district. The peti-
* filed in U. S. District Judge
* *° tr m ’ s court ' n Houston, seek-
bolish compulsory segregation
they were there primarily to learn.”
The Tougaloo president said he re
spected the students “for being willing
to pay the price (going to jail) for
what they believe in.”
Tougaloo is the only Negro school
in Mississippi belonging to the South
ern Association of Colleges and Sec
ondary Schools.
Miscellaneous
Refinery Site
Choice Unrelated
To Segregation
Mississippi’s racial segregation poli
cies had nothing to do with the choice
of that state as site for a new oil
refinery, said the president of the
oil company involved.
Governor Ross Barnett of Mississippi
had been quoted as saying his state
was chosen because it was a “symbol
of successful segregation.”
But William C. Smith, president of
Standard Oil of Kentucky, said the
decision to build a $125,000,000 refinery
in Pascagoula, Miss., was based “strictly
on economic factors.’ Smith cited the
availability of crude oil and product
distribution. He said sites in Alabama
and Louisiana were also considered.
Smith said he knew nothing of Bar
nett’s statement until he received a wire
from Aaron Henry, president, and
Medger Evers, field secretary of the
Mississippi NAACP, asking for an ex
planation.
Smith wired the two NAACP leaders
that the site choice was based on eco
nomics.
★ ★ ★
Federal District Judge S. C. Mize of
Gulfport, has not indicated when a
decision will be rendered in a case in
which James Meredith, Negro of Kos
ciusko, seeks to restrain officials of
the all-white University of Mississippi
from accepting him as a transfer stu
dent from Jackson State College for
Negroes. All briefs have been filed.
Meredith contends he was denied
admission because of his race. Uni
versity officials counter that he has not
met all requirements applicable to all
students.
★ ★ ★
Representative John Bell Williams
(D-Miss.) told a Jackson civic club
that President John Kennedy and At
torney General Robert Kennedy send
their children to all-white schools
while the Kennedy administration
“creates racial integration problems in
the South” . . . Mr. Williams said the
president has installed a private all-
white kindergarten in the White House,
for his daughter, and Attorney Gen
eral Kennedy sent his children to all-
white Catholic schools. # # #
in Bryan Independent School District.
(Clarence Thomas et al v. Alton O.
Bowen, superintendent Bryan ISD et
al). ..
NAACP filed the suit on behalf of
49 Negro pupils. About one-fourth of
the district’s 5,300 students are Ne
groes.
★ ★ ★
In August, another case filed with
Judge Ingraham involved efforts to de
segregate public schools at College Sta
tion, near Bryan. (Washington v. Rei-
del, superintendent A&M Consolidated
Independent School District, SSN, Sep
tember, 1961.)
In the Colleges
Women’s University
Becomes Biracial
Texas Woman’s University at Den
ton became the 29th public institution
of higher education in Texas to abol
ish segregation, when it admitted Miss
Alsemia Arm Dowells of Dallas as a
student to its College of Nursing.
The action was announced by Dr.
John A. Guinn, president of the uni
versity. Another state university at
Denton, North Texas, had desegregated
previously.
Abilene Christian College, a re
ligious-connected school operated by
members of the Church of Christ, also
was reported to have opened its gradu
ate courses on a nonsegregated basis.
★ ★ ★
Two theaters in the University of
Texas area of Austin admitted Negroes
on an unsegregated basis this fall. Last
year, the theaters were picketed spas
modically during most of the school
year.
As the 1961-1962 school year opened,
Civil Rights
Pace Has Slowed
Since
1959,
mission Says
(Continued From Page 1)
• That federal funds under the Li
brary Services Act of 1956 be withheld
from states that maintain segregated
libraries with the aid of government
financing.
• That the President or Congress
order an annual survey of the ethnic
classifications of all students enrolled
in the nation’s public schools.
• That federal aid funds for higher
education be withheld from all pub
licly-controlled institutions that prac
tice segregation.
Four of the six commissioners said
federal aid also should be withheld
from segregated privately controlled
colleges.
Slowdown Reported
The commission reported that the
pace of school desegregation in the
South has slowed substantially since
1959 and that de facto segregation is
common throughout the North and
West because of real estate exclusion
policies which affect Negroes, Puerto
Ricans and Mexicans.
In the 17 Southern states that prac
ticed school segregation before 1954,
the commission noted, 733 of 2,839
school districts had taken some step
toward desegregation by May, 1959.
In the next two years, however, de
segregation was started in only 44
additional districts, and in most in
stances the number of children in
volved was “minimal,” the commis
sion found.
As of last May, it said, 27 per cent
of the South’s school districts had
undertaken desegregation, but only 7
per cent of the Negro children in the
region were in schools with white
children. More than 2,000 Southern
school districts had not started to
comply with the Supreme Court de
cision. In three states—Alabama, Mis
sissippi and South Carolina—there has
still been no desegregation in public
education facilities at any level.
The commission said public educa
tion is being weakened by “the threat
of more school closings, reduction of
financial aid to public school systems
by tuition grants for attendance at pri
vate schools, tax credits for contribut
ing thereto and repeal of compulsory
attendance laws.”
Members of the commission, in ad
dition to Rankin, are: Chairman John
A. Hannah, president of Michigan State
University; Vice Chairman Robert G.
Storey, dean of Southern Methodist
University Law School; Erwin N. Gris
wold, dean of Harvard Law School;
the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, presi-
agitation continued for the University
of Texas to let Negroes play on its
varsity athletic teams. Negroes are ac
cepted as students, but not in intercol
legiate athletics. Most schools in the
Southwest Athletic Conference do not
accept Negro undergraduate students.
Under Survey
Desegregation Gets
Increased Acceptance
An increasing acceptance of school
desegregation was noted by the Texas
Poll, an independent survey agency
patronized by many newspapers.
In a poll taken during August, 1961,
its interviewers found 25 per cent of
all Texans favored immediate desegre
gation of public schools, compared to
16 per cent a year earlier and 19 per
cent in August, 1955.
Thirty-seven per cent of those inter
viewed said they would “mix the races
gradually, starting where there is the
least opposition.”
Eleven per cent reported they would
disobey the law” if necessary to pre
serve segregation. This compared to 19
per cent in 1955. Nineteen per cent
said they would try to “get around the
law,” compared to 26 per cent in 1955.
The Texas Poll concluded that 57 per
cent of all Texans accept desegrega
tion; 35 per cent oppose it; and 8 per
cent remain undecided; These per
centages came in response to the ques
tion:
“If a local school board in Texas
decides to begin integrating the schools,
what do you think the general public
in that place should do?” # # #
D.C. Highlights
The Federal Civil Rights Com
mission, in a 254-page report on
education, put forward 12 recom
mendations to speed the process of
school desegregation, including one
which would require all segregated
school districts to file a desegrega
tion plan within six months.
President Kennedy called peace
ful desegregation of schools in Dal
las, Little Rock and other Southern
cities “a dramatic demonstration of
progress.”
The President named NAACP
legal expert Thurgood Marshall to
a United States circuit judgeship.
The Senate sidetracked a move
to curb filibusters. The Congress
extended two school aid programs
without passing the Administration’s
major education proposals.
District school officials approved
transfers of pupils from overcrowd
ed to underpopulated schools, but
re-emphasized their opposition to
“artificial transfers” to promote de
segregation.
Standardized test results for Dis
trict pupils showed high school
students holding their own, but ele
mentary achievement lagging behind
national norms.
dent of the University of Notre Dame,
and Spottswood W. Robinson HI, dean
of Howard University Law School.
President Lauds
Peaceful Action
Peaceful desegregation of a number
of school systems early last month was
praised in a statement issued by Pres
ident Kennedy Sept. 6. The President
said:
“The peaceful integration of many
schools in the South and Southwest
yesterday and today, following similar
developments in Atlanta last week, is
a dramatic demonstration of the pro
gress that the United States is making
in improving the position of Negroes
in our society. The important thing
is that there is progress and that law
and order and dignity have prevailed.
“In Dallas, Texas, the Citizens Coun
cil, working closely with Negro lead
ers, has shown again how responsible,
level-headed leadership can weld a
whole community together to solve a
difficult problem in race relations. Little
Rock and Dallas and other communities
in Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Virginia,
North Carolina and Tennessee have
given the world a convincing demon
stration of the American people’s re
spect for the law which is fundamental
in the maintenance of our rights as
free men and women.
“I wish to congratulate the officials
of these cities and states and parents
and citizens who have given so much
In the waning days of the Congres
sional session, the Senate on Sept. 19
sidetracked a drive to strengthen its
anti-filibuster rules after refusing to
vote cloture (debate limitation) by
vote of 37 for and 43 against.
Immediately following the abortive
cloture attempt, which would have re
quired a two-thirds majority, Senate
Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-
Mont.) moved to lay aside his own
motion to tighten debate rules, and
to proceed at once to other business.
The Senate agreed, 47 to 35.
Liberals who had sought the rules
change to alleviate the threat of South
ern talkathons against civil rights
measures blamed their defeat on “ad
journment fever.” But Mansfield said
after the vote that he does not intend
to bring up the question of curbing
filibusters again in this Congress. He
told the Senate:
“I do not believe in sham battles
I do not believe in fake engagements
. . . When you have a vote of 37 in
favor and 43 against, I do not see
anything to be gained from bringing
it up.”
The House on Sept. 18 nailed down
time, effort and leadership in moving
their communities and America for
ward. But most of all I would like to
congratulate the children of both races
for their mutual tolerance, good will
and exemplary conduct.”
Kennedy Appoints
Thurgood Marshall
To U. S. Judgeship
Thurgood Marshall, director of the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund was named
to a United States
circuit judgeship
for the Second
Circuit Sept. 23
by President Ken
nedy. The Second
Circuit encom
passes New York,
Connecticut and
Vermont.
The appointment
of Marshall was
the most contro
versial made by the President so far
in the process of filling more than 100
new and vacant Federal judgeships.
Marshall, 53, has been a foremost legal
figure in racial cases, and is often
referred to as “Mr. Civil Rights” in
the Negro press.
He has argued more than 30 cases
before the Supreme Court and lost
three of them. His success has caused
some Southern politicians to claim that
he casts a spell over the justices and
to assert that he is an “evil influence.”
Among his victories have been the
cases which led to Supreme Court
decisions declaring school segregation
unconstitutional and barring the use
of the courts to enforce restrictive
housing covenants.
Native of Baltimore
A native of Baltimore, Marshall was
graduated from Howard University
Law School in 1933. He became chief
counsel of the NAACP in 1938 and
continued in that post until he was
named to head the organization’s Legal
Defense and Educational Fund.
In the Negro community, he has been
regarded as a moderating influence,
counseling civil rights progress through
the courts rather than through direct
action.
Marshall, a Democrat, lives with his
wife and two children in New York.
Last spring, President Kennedy named
him to head an American delegation
to the celebration of the independence
of Sierra Leone.
Like other Presidential appointees
whose names were sent to the Senate
too late for action in the session which
adjourned last month, Marshall was
given a recess appointment until his
nomination can be acted upon.
He is the third Negro on the federal
bench. The others are Judge William
H. Hastie of the Third Circuit Court
of Appeals and Judge James B. Par
son, named in August to a district
judgeship in Chicago.
the defeat of President Kennedy’s mas
sive federal school aid program. It
passed, 342 to 18, and sent to the White
House a two-year extension of aid for
federally-impacted school districts—a
program the President had wanted to
trim—and of the National Defense
Education Act, which he had wanted
to expand. The measure made no
provision for the Administration’s
proposals of general aid for classroom
construction and teachers’ salaries.
The same two-year extension of
the two programs was passed 80-to-7
by the Senate Sept. 12. Both Houses
rejected attempts to limit the extension
to one year so that expiration next year
could be made another occasion for
attempting to pass a general school aid
measure.
Legislation that would permit the
federal government to intervene in
school desegregation cases and other
civil rights suits was introduced in the
House Sept. 20 by Rep. William F.
Ryan (D-N.Y.). The bill would give
the federal government legal standing
in such suits and empower the at-
(See D. C., Page 16)
Senate Sidetracks Limitations
On Filibusters; Cloture Loses
MARSHALL