Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16—OCTOBER, 1961—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
D. C.
(Continued From Page 15)
tomey general to institute civil action
on behalf of persons found to be de
prived of equal protection under the
law.
The measure also would allow the
attorney general, on request of state
or city authorities, to bring suit against
those conspiring “through violence,
threats or otherwise, to prevent duly
constituted authorities from securing
to any person his right to equal pro
tection of the laws.”
★ ★ ★
Racial discrimination in the admis
sions policies of medical schools in
the North was denounced as “a charge
upon the national conscience” by Sec
retary of Labor Arthur Goldberg Sept.
7.
Speaking at a Roosevelt University
dinner in Chicago, Goldberg credited
“enlightened attitudes that prevail
among those of good will” for the
breaking down of racial barriers. But
he said the quota system governing
admission of various racial or religious
groups is still “not unknown in aca
demic institutions in all parts of the
country.”
Goldberg said that “this type of dis
crimination is completely inconsistent
with the character of a free university
and a free people seeking that moral
wisdom by which human dignity is
preserved.”
★ ★ ★
About a dozen elementary pupils
living in Southeast Washington were
admitted to underpopulated schools in
the Georgetown section of the city last
month on their parents’ request.
School Supt. Carl F. Hansen said
Sept. 2 that the transfers would be
granted on the ground that the school
in the children’s
normal attendance
area is severely
overcrowded. The
superin-
tendent noted that
it has long been
the policy of the
District Board of
Education to ap
prove pupil trans
fers from over
crowded schools
“if space is avail
able” and if parents agree to pay trans
portation costs
In reply to a reporter’s question,
Hansen said the transfers were not
aimed at promoting desegregation
through pupil assignment. Garfield,
the children’s neighborhood school, has
only a few white pupils, while the
Georgetown schools are predominantly
white.
★ ★ ★
Standardized test score summaries
released Sept. 21 indicated that while
District high school students appear
to be holding their own, large numbers
of elementary pupils need better train
ing in basic subjects.
In general, greatest improvements
are called for in remedial programs of
fered to slow-learning students—those
who are too old for the grade they are
in, School Superintendent Carl F.
Hansen said.
These students, he added, pose a
“significant educational problem” in the
District. The problem is common to
other large cities, Hansen said, and
stems in part from a constantly shift
ing population bringing an increasingly
large number of economically and cul
turally deprived students to the city.
# # #
HANSEN
Linda Brown,
Lawsuit Girl,
Enters College
TOPEKA, Kan.
L inda Brown, of the Brown v.
Topeka case that figured in
U. S. Supreme Court’s 1954 rul
ing on school segregation, was
graduated from high school last
spring and now has enrolled in
college.
Linda was nine years old when her
father filed suit because she had been
refused admission to an all-white ele
mentary school in the Kansas capital.
Linda and her father, the late Oliver
Brown, appealed to the U. S. Supreme
Court when Kansas state courts upheld
the segregated system.
Now 18, Linda plans to study music
at Washburn Municipal University of
Topeka, and hopes eventually to teach
piano and voice. # # #
rtf
Excerpts from State Civil Rights Reports
Li
Include Varied References to Education
WASHINGTON, D. C.
In a massive 687-page compila-
tion issued Sept. 9, the United
States Civil Rights Commission
published the 1961 reports of its
50 state advisory committees.
The documents, published under the
heading “The 50 States Report” and
available from the U. S. Government
Printing Office at $2.50, included re
views of developments in education,
voting, housing, employment and re
lated civil rights fields.
In a preface, the commission paid
tribute to members of the state ad
visory committees as “able and dis
tinguished Americans . . . whose con
cern for civil rights is sufficiently great
to cause them to give time and energy,
and sometimes make sacrifices, to fur
ther the commission’s work.”
Here are highlights from the com
ments and recommendations on educa
tion issued by the advisory commit
tees in the 17 Southern and border
states:
Alabama—“Presently, there is no
prospect in Alabama of voluntary pub
lic school desegregation, the 1954 Su
preme Court decision and other rulings
notwithstanding. Indeed, indications are
that the state is prepared to explore
and exhaust every remedy to main
tain the status quo.
“The state’s chief executive has con
tinued to insist that he will close any
public school ordered to be integrated.
There has not emerged in the legisla
ture or elsewhere any substantial ex
pression of opinion to contradict his
views.
“Developments suggest that the issue
of school desegregation will play an
even stronger role in Alabama poli
tics in the future. There is little, if
any, evidence so far that the experi
ence of other Southern states attempt
ing unsuccessfully to maintain segre
gation in public schools has changed
the prevailing white public sentiment
in Alabama.”
★ ★ ★
Arkansas—The state advisory com
mittee made no reference to education
in its report. It noted: “Since no com
plaints had been filed with the Com
mission on Civil Rights from the State
of Arkansas at the time of the com
mittee’s organizational meeting, no
particular area of investigation was in
dicated.”
★ ★ ★
Delaware—“Employment desegrega
tion will be enhanced in Delaware by
five years of success in school deseg
regation. Change tends to beget change
in different facets of community liv
ing.”
★ ★ ★
Florida—“The committee continues
to feel that Florida has progressed in
a sound and equitable program at both
the state and local levels in its efforts
to review and assess transition prob
lems as they may arise from time to
time in the entire spectrum of civil
rights. These include but are not lim
ited to public education, voting, hous
ing, employment, administration of
justice, and the use of public facili
ties.”
★ ★ ★
Georgia—Comments and recommen
dations:
“1. At least in urban areas, desegre
gation sentiment is moving more rap
idly than would have been expected
in an assessment last year.
“2. The committee recommends fed
eral aid to schools without restrictions
pertaining to segregation or other is
sues so that the quality of education
may be improved as quickly as pos
sible.
“3. The committee finds that respon
sible political leadership on the state
and local level is probably the most
important single element in maintain
ing order and complying with court
decisions.”
★ ★ ★
Kentucky—The committee had no
specific comment on school desegrega
tion. In its general conclusions it
stated:
“The denial of civil rights in this
state has not been as severe tradi
tionally as it has been elsewhere. How
ever, it has been a major problem and
from the present progress made and
herein reported it will remain a prob
lem for some years to come. Despite all
this, the Kentucky committee feels
there are many men and women of
good will earnestly at work finding
solutions. Their efforts are producing
a measure of success now and will
produce more in the near future.
Louisiana—The committee listed the
following among “possible ways of
reaching certain goals”:
“1. . . . the existing confusion over
civil rights statutes and their interpre
tation calls for further study for the
purpose of drafting more specific legis-
court interpretation are effected. One
point needs particular emphasis. Sepa
rate specific statutes ought to be en
acted aimed at making compliance with
federal law a right of national citizen
ship, so that enforcement of that right
need not be limited to enforcement
against state action as opposed to pri
vate action. ...
“2. ... If the state cannot be pre
vented from cutting off funds or im
pairing the credit of a school board in
the process of desegregating the schools
in its district, money should be made
available from other sources, such as
the federal government, to permit the
school board to carry on. We assume
that this will mean new legislation,
either in the form of federal loans to
local school boards in need, or of the
Government’s insuring loans to school
boards in the process of desegregating
(some type of insurance similar to
FHA insurance).
“3. . . . One of the crying needs is
to prevent damage to innocent third
parties. Examples are: Can the teach
ers in desegregated schools whose pay
has been cut off seek relief in federal
instead of state courts? Can white par
ents who wish to take their children
to desegregated schools be protected
from intimidation and reprisal, either
through judicial or legislative acts?
Can teachers who wish to teach in de
segregated schools be protected from
intimidation? (Many, if not most of
these problems would be alleviated by
the legislation suggested under point
1.)
“4. Congressional approval of the
principle of the Brown case would go
a long way to mold public opinion in
the South in favor of the Supreme
Court desegregation decision. This
should be done in such a way as to
make it clear that the Supreme Court’s
decision was and remains a part of the
‘law of the land’ without Congressional
approval. If the courts find that the
United States does not have inherent
power to initiate desegregation pro
ceedings, a further attempt to pass leg
islation giving the Attorney General
this power ought to be made. . . .
“5. ... a study commission made up
of a group of experts from some of
the behavioral sciences should be
established to make recommendations
to the Civil Rights Commission and/or
the President with respect to the
various types of plans of desegregation
and their possible applicability to cer
tain localities. . . .”
★ ★ ★
Maryland—Higher education: “It ap
pears that there are a few more non
white students enrolled in formerly
all-white institutions each year, and
that one white student was enrolled
in 1959 in a formerly all-Negro teach
ers college.”
Vocational programs in public
schools: “. . . it would seem that there
is little relation between training and
employment for Negroes in the skilled
trades. In the first place, there are
only a limited number of schools in
the state of Maryland offering voca
tional and distributive education. Sec
ond, of these programs a still smaller
number are offered to all-Negro or in
tegrated schools in the state. . . . Balti
more City and Montgomery County
schools are the only ones investigated
that offer distributive education to Ne
gro pupils. In these schools, the prob
lem of placement is difficult. In both
Baltimore City and Montgomery
County, discrimination and prejudice
are evident.”
★ ★ ★
Mississippi—The committee noted
that it “has had to work under ex
tremely difficult and limiting circum
stances, in view of the attitude of many
state officials who advised all those
who were questioned by the commit
tee—both state officials and private in
dividuals—to refuse to provide infor
mation.”
The committee confined its com
ments on education to legislative ap
propriations for school costs, report
ing that all Negro institutions received
about 16 per cent of the total educa
tion appropriations for the 1958-60 bi
ennium—almost the same share (15.7
per cent) allocated to Negro schools in
1952-54.
“It is reasonable to assume, then,
that the gap between the two sets of
institutions (Negro and white) is un
likely to be closed if the present trend
of allottment of appropriated funds
continues,” the committee declared.
★ ★ ★
Missouri—Recommendations:
“1. That those districts which have
begun desegregation at some level be
encouraged to complete the process as
soon as possible.
“2. That Pemiscot County, where de
segregation has started, be encouraged
to continue the process.
“3. That every effort be made to in
duce an immediate start toward com
pliance with constitutional require
ments in New Madrid County where,
to date, nothing has been done to de
segregate the schools.
“4. That since Missouri has a short
age of qualified teachers, teachers be
employed on the basis of training,
skills, experience and general fitness for
the position rather than on the basis
of race.
“5. That every effort be made to in
tegrate more fully the teaching staffs
of public colleges and universities.
“6. That additional classroom space
be provided, where needed, in order
to eliminate overcrowding in the
schools.
“7. That the transportation of school
children to schools outside their dis
tricts be discontinued as soon as feasi
ble.
“8. That qualified Negroes be placed
in policymaking positions in the various
school districts, as they have been in
St. Louis.
“9. That immediate steps be taken to
free housing from racial and religious
restrictions, thereby eliminating racial
ghettos, which perpetuate racial segre
gation in the schools in spite of sin
cere efforts of boards of education to
put an end to such segregation.
“10. That if the above is not feasible
in the near future, boards of education
might consider redistricting, rezoning,
or the relocation of schools in order to
create conditions that are more condu
cive to good education as well as more
consonant with the Supreme Court rul
ings regarding racially segregated
schools.”
★ ★ ★
North Carolina—“The course of ac
tion in North Carolina is token inte
gration; that is, the admission of a
minimum number of Negro children
into white schools. The lone Negro
child or handful of Negro children in
a large white student body endure
substantial handicaps and disadvan
tages. They are vastly outnumbered in
a new environment, hence they are
conspicuous objects of attention and
curiosity. Under such abnormal condi
tions, normal adjustment is difficult.
“No school board in North Carolina,
except the school board in Chapel Hill,
has as yet announced any voluntary
plan of desegregation in the public
schools. The Department of Public In
struction apparently has given no guid
ance to local school boards toward in
tegration. . . .
“It is obvious that North Carolina
still thinks of the education of its 1,-
116,700 pupils as a responsibility to be
discharged biracially under a continu
ing pattern of segregation. If, as the
court has held, segregation and dis
crimination are synonymous, discrimi
nation on account of race in public
schools is general in North Carolina.”
★ ★ ★
Oklahoma—“The loss of positions by
Negro teachers is one of the unsatis
factory situations that has arisen as a
result of the abolishment of so many
Negro schools and the integration of
the students in the existing white
schools . . . The closing of a Negro
high school, junior high school or ele
mentary school in a community that
has no other schools for Negroes only
makes it necessary for the Negroes to
transfer to the existing white schools.
The loss of positions by Negro teach
ers was brought about because (a) the
consolidation of the Negro schools with
the white schools reduced the num
ber of teachers required and the teach
ers who were dropped were Negroes,
and (b) there has been very little ac
complished in Oklahoma to date in em
ploying Negro teachers in integrated
schools.”
★ ★ ★
South Carolina—“Schools are segre
gated from grammar school up through
college. Pupils are assigned to their
respective schools by race. Appeals for
reassignment to another school must
be made to the local school boar^ I
edict was issued by the Catholic
y o
of Charleston saying that the
al schools of South Carolina ^
integrated no later than the M
schools.
“Negro schools in South (v,
have been greatly improved shu*^
enactment of the 3 per cent sales -.'
Most of the buildings are new <
modem.”
★ ★ ★
Tennessee—“The committee 1*^
that desegregation in the public sck
in Tennessee has moved with
\
£
tut
deliberateness than speed. Seven v*
after the Supreme Court decision,!,
than 1 per cent of the Negro stud* col
in the state are attending desegreg;-
schools. This can be attributed to r
large extent to . . . (1) the burden- “
desegregation still rests on the Ne>
and (2) there is hidden extra grad^
ism in the grade-a-year plan. . .
“The committee recommends that •
state authorities, particularly the Tt
nessee Commissioner of Educate,
and local citizenry, assume respond
bility for compliance concerning
elimination of discrimination in pt£
schools in order to obviate the n«
for further Federal action.”
★ ★ ★
Texas—“The committee obserte
that a statute prohibiting the allocate
of state funds to school districts whir
desegregate without approval of tk
local voters has had the effect of re
straining “the process of integration :
a remarkable extent.”
It reported that “only a small per
centage of Negro pupils are actual
attending ‘mixed’ schools,” though ‘i
much greater advance in integrate
has been evidenced in the institute
of higher education.”
★ ★ ★
Virginia—The committee confined i:
report to the effect of urban renewi
programs on the rights of affecte:
homeowners.
★ ★ ★
West Virginia—The report ranked-'
of 55 counties in the category of gi® 1 '
est progress in school desegregate
A questionnaire sent to school ofr
cials and private citizens listed
main patterns of school desegregate:
Number I was described this way:
“School system is completely
regated, with re-assignment of h® 1
teachers on the basis of qualification
and needs of the system . . . Race is ®
a factor in assigning children to spe^
schools.”
The report said “there was unania®
of agreement’ that these 20 cour--
fell into pattern No. 1: Boone, Bro»-
Calhoun, Fayette, Hancock,
Harrison, Lewis, Marion, Mais'jr
Mason, Mineral, Monroe, Ohio, ? en *
ton, Preston, Randolph, Tucker, Up stl
and Wood.
The committee said the major®^
those questioned also thought Ka na ,,
County belonged in the first cat
but “there was one dissenting °P ^
which stated that the Negro * eaC
in the system have been r e " a f s *®^i
to certain schools within
only
school system.”
Other patterns
way:
defined
0
2. School system completely d« se ^.
gated, but Negro teachers ha ve . ,. v .
re-assigned only to certain
within the school system. , f i
3. Negro students are permit^ ^
attend schools nearest their hom^.
no Negro teachers have been ^ j
signed and distributed through 0
system. j*
4. Negroes are not prevenw^^j
attending white schools, but
are they encouraged to do s°; ^
of Negro schools have been 1® ^
and assigned only to the former
schools.
5. Negro teachers have been ^
signed experimentally and t°k® n f
bers of Negro students have ^
cepted in the former white sch^ :■
The committee did not a y
place all counties on which im°
was received. But the rep 0
these comments:
Opinion in Berkeley
counties was divided
pattern No. 2 or No. 3 was
Greenbrier replies were hj, aL jn ajt ..
that No. 3 applied there. Th® t j, a t
of replies on Raleigh agreed^, jT
3 category applied. Mercer, - w ‘ e p
McDowell counties also
to be following pattern No. *■
^ gg |
- W fK