Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 20—APRIL, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
NORTH CAROLINA
School Boards Urged to Make
Positive Desegregation Plans
CHARLOTTE
he North Carolina Council
on Human Relations has is
sued a statement urging all school
boards in the state to make posi
tive plans for desegregation.
In a statement sent to all school
superintendents and school board
chairmen of the state, the council s
executive committee said:
“The North Carolina Council on
Human Relations believes that there
are compelling reasons why school
boards in the state should give serious
consideration now to formulating plans
for school desegregation.
“Here are the reasons:
“First and foremost, it is now gen
erally recognized that forced racial seg
regation is morally wrong. This is the
conviction of the great majority of our
religious leaders, and it is reflected in
the statements and pronouncements of
all of our major religious bodies. To
continue segregation in our schools,
when we know it to be morally wrong
is to weaken the moral fiber of our
communities.
‘A Kind of Smoke Screen’
“The second most important reason is
that segregation, as it is practiced in
the schools of our state today, is con
trary to law, both state and federal.
Theoretically, since the passage of the
School Enrollment Act of 1955, pupils
have been assigned to schools on fac
tors other than race. Actually, except
in a few instances, there has been no
significant change in our assignment
practices. It appears that the Pupil
Enrollment Act is being used as a kind
of smoke screen behind which assign
ments continue to be made on the basis
of race.
“In a few districts there have been
exceptions to the general rule. This
simply proves that where there is a
will, progress can be made. And if this
‘token compliance’ had been a part of
a general plan for desegregation, it
would have been well and good. But as
it turned out, the exceptions were al
lowed only to give a degree of respect
ability to the contention that we in
tended to obey the Supreme Court rul
ing.
“Continued evasion of the law, under
whatever guise, will serve to under
mine respect for law in our communi
ties, and to nullify our attempts to
teach respect for law in our schools.
“Year by year delay in complying
with the school desegregation laws has
sorely tried the patience of our Negro
citizens. This has been a major factor
in producing the student sit-ins, the
freedom rides, and—what is more seri
ous—the rise of the Black Muslims and
other radical movements. The latter
are reported to be growing rapidly in
North Carolina as well as in other parts
of the country. They feed on the indif
ference and the hypocrisy of white citi
zens. Their leaders have lost faith in
the ability or the intentions of white
people voluntarily to do away with seg
regation and discrimination.
Court Action Seen
“Time has about run out. Indications
are that the courts will soon require
desegregation if it is not done volun
tarily.
“The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
a few months ago told the members of
the Little Rock School Board that the
law required them to ‘take affirmative
steps on their own initiative to facilitate
and accomplish operation of the school
district on a non-discriminatory basis.’
With reference to the Arkansas school
assignment law, similar to North Caro
lina’s, the Court said: ‘The standards
and criteria of the pupil assignment
law cannot be given application to pre
serve imposed segregation.’ In both
Virginia and North Carolina, federal
courts have ruled that dual districts,
i.e., separate white and Negro districts,
cannot be used in assigning pupils to
schools.
“Opposition to school desegregation is
at a minimum.
“For a time after the Supreme Court
decision of 1954, the mood of white
people in North Carolina was one of
reluctant acceptance. Then angry voices
began to be heard over the South—
voices denouncing the Supreme Court,
and raising questions about the valid
ity of the decision. The mood changed
to one of resistance, of wait-and-see;
perhaps desegregation would not be
necessary after all.
“Now the mood has changed again to
reluctant acceptance. It is generally
realized that the law must be obeyed;
that desegregation is inevitable. Voices j
N.C. Highlights
The North Carolina Council on
Human Relations, an interracial
group which believes in desegrega
tion, has issued a statement asking
all school boards in the state to
make positive plans for desegrega
tion. The group contends that so far
the state’s pupil placement laws
have been used largely to avoid de
segregation. It also contends that
desegregation on a larger scale
would meet with little community
resistance throughout the state now.
Picketing by college students con
tinued against hospital segregation
in Charlotte and theater segregation
in Durham. College students in
Durham have attended some white
church services; and, in Chapel Hill,
a student-related movement for de
segregation of the two local theaters
has met with success.
of defiance are no longer heard, and
public opinion is increasingly intoler
ant of violence.
“North Carolina has recently em
barked on a program to improve the
quality of education. Segregation, as
much as any single factor, has been
responsible for inferior education in
this state. The removal of this obstacle
to qualify education for all of our
young people is imperative.
“Our state has a reputation for pro
gressive leadership in many areas. This
reputation would be greatly enhanced
if we took effective measures to discard
the handicaps of segregation and moved
boldly into a new era of freedom and
justice for all of our citizens. We be
lieve that this challenge can and must
be met.”
Signers Listed
Members of the council’s executive
committee who signed the statement
included these officers: the Rev. Henry
G. Ruark of Rocky Mount, chairman;
Dr. S. E. Duncan of Salisbury, vice-
chairman; the Rev. William M. Boyce
Jr. of Charlotte, vice-chairman; Mrs.
Chase H. Benson of Greensboro, sec
retary; the Rev. Moses S. Belton of
Charlotte, treasurer; the Rev. Harry S.
Pones of Charlotte, executive secretary.
Members of the committee included:
Mrs. Ellen S. Alston of Raleigh, Dr.
C. E. Boulware of Durham, Dr. Wayne
A. Bowers of Chapel Hill, Irving Car
lyle of Winston-Salem, Mrs. Guy B.
Delafield of Greensboro, Carl Dockery
of Shelby, the Rev. Julius T. Douglas
of Greensboro, the Rev. Carl N. Ed
wards of Durham, the Rev. William
W. Finlator of Raleigh, Harry Golden
of Charlotte, the Rev. J. Neal Hughley
of Durham, Dr. Luther W. Kelly Jr.
of Charlotte, Dr. Edward A. McDowell
of Wake Forest, Roy D. McLaurin of
Laurinburg, the Rev. Robert A. Massey
of Fayetteville, the Rev. C. P. Morris
of Durham, Dr. Rufus P. Perry of
Charlotte, Dr. Emery L. Rann of Char
lotte, A. E. Spears of Charlotte, the
Rev. Thomas R. Thrasher of Chapel
Hill, John H. Wheeler of Durham, Dr.
Raymond M. Wheeler of Charlotte and
Dr. T. Franklin Williams of Chapel Hill.
Harry S. Jones, executive secretary
of Charlotte, said the statement was
being discussed with school officials by
members of the council throughout the
state. He said that at least one school
superintendent had asked for extra
copies of the statement.
To Study Decision
The council’s statement came after
North Carolina’s attorney general,
Wade Bruton, said he would study the
decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in
the Louisiana case to see whether
North Carolina’s similar pupil assign
ment laws would be affected. Bruton is
not expected to make any formal re
port of his study. He has made no pub
lic statement about the school situation
since he said he would take another
look at the school laws in the light of
the Supreme Court ruling.
North Carolina’s first school desegre
gation came in the fall of 1957, volun
tarily, in Winston-Salem, Greensboro,
and Charlotte. Since then desegregation
has taken place in 11 school districts.
The others are Asheville, Yancey Coun
ty, High Point, Durham, Raleigh,
Chapel Hill, Wayne County and Craven
County. More than 200 Negro students
are attending schools with white stu
dents in these 11 districts in North
Carolina this year.
Community Action
Durham Churches,
Movies in Chapel
Hill Desegregate
Six white churches in Durham have
admitted Negro worshippers to services.
Theater desegregation in Durham is
stalled. Theaters in Chapel Hill have
completed desegregation. Good Samari
tan Hospital in Charlotte, formerly an
all-Negro institution, has admitted a
white patient.
These were among developments re
lated to race in North Carolina last
month as action on the school front
remained negligible.
In Durham, the manager of the Caro
line Theater, Charles Abercrombie, de
clined to comply with a City Council
request to negotiate the desegregation
of the theater.
Negotiation Asked
The City Council had voted to ask
the negotiation between Abercrombie
and NAACP youth leaders who have
been picketing the theater for nearly
a year. The vote followed a visit to the
council by nearly 100 Negroes. Most
of the picketers are students from
North Carolina College in Durham, a
state-supported all-Negro college.
North Carolina College students, also
in Durham, have attended worship
services at Duke Memorial Methodist
Church, Temple Baptist Church, Trin
ity Avenue Methodist Church, First
Presbyterian Church, St. Philip’s Epis
copal Church and Epworth Methodist
Church.
Their visits were made on Sunday,
March 25, the first day of Religious
Emphasis Week at North Carolina
College.
Students said they were cordially re
ceived at the six churches, but were
not cordially received or were turned
away at three other churches.
Asked to Sit in Basement
The Rev. Henry B. Anderson, pastor j
of Grace Baptist Church, confirmed the
report of Quinton Baker, North Caro
lina College student, that members of
the student group were asked to sit in
the basement at Grace, but left when
asked to do so.
The Rev. Ray Hodge, pastor of Yates
Baptist Church, said he did not know
of the effort of Negroes to visit his
church until it was over. He said, “One
of the ushers said that some students
had come and that they were discour
aged from coming in.”
Students also were turned away at
First Baptist Church.
★ ★ ★
The Chapel Hill Citizens Committee
for Open Movies has announced that it
will disband, its mission accomplished.
The committee, a group of students and
townspeople, had been working for
theater integration for more than a
year—a year which had included pick
eting at various times.
The first desegregation at the Caro
lina Theatre came last August, when
the theater began admitting students
from the University of North Carolina
who showed student identification
cards. Later, the theater liberalized its
policy, admitting dates and families of
UNC students, then permitting non
student Negroes to attend as guests of
white persons.
Most churches in Chapel Hill and
many restaurants have been desegre- I
gated for some time. Chapel Hill public
schools have about 40 Negroes in for
merly all-white schools and the Uni
versity of North Carolina has been de
segregated for several years.
★ ★ ★
In Charlotte, where picketing has
been under way for a month in an
effort to end any racial admission poli
cies in hospitals—the picketing is done
largely by Negro students from John
son C. Smith University—the city’s only
Negro hospital, Good Samaritan, has
admitted a white patient.
Administrator Edward R. Frye said: j
“We admit all sick people. That has
always been the policy of this hos
pital.”
The man admitted, until recently a
native of South Carolina, suffered a !
severe attack of asthma in the bus ter
minal and was taken by a taxi driver
to the nearest hospital. The patient
asked that his name not be used.
Picketing at Good Samaritan, now
D. C.
(Continued From Page 19)
often have facilities “flagrantly infe
rior” to those available at predominant
ly white schools.
Maslow called for large-scale federal
financial assistance, without which, he
said, “little or no progress can be made
in overcoming the combined harmful
effects of slum neighborhoods and
school segregation.
• Sen. Kenneth B. Keating (R-N.Y.),
who declared March 29 that “Congress
has been derelict in not enacting spe
cific legislation to aid in enforcing the
Supreme Court’s desegregation decision.
“I believe strongly,” Keating added,
“that we should give the attorney gen
eral the right to bring civil injunctive
suits in school desegregation cases; that
we should give technical assistance to
school districts attempting to desegre
gate; that we should condition the grant
of all federal funds on a'policy of non
discrimination; and that we should en
act other legislation to speed compli
ance with the Supreme Court’s deci
sion.
“It is regrettable that the Adminis
tration has not given its support to
such measures because they are urgent
ly needed and their chances of enact
ment are virtually nil without strong
White House leadership. But even with
out these measures there is a great deal
that can be done by a determined ex
ecutive to implement the court’s de
cision and avoid assistance to desegre
gation’s die-hard opponents. . . .”
President Appoints
Byron R. White
To Supreme Court
Deputy Attorney General Byron R.
White, 44, was appointed to the U.S.
Supreme Court on March 30 by Presi
dent Kennedy. He will replace Justice
Charles E. Whittaker, whose retirement,
brought about by physical exhaustion
due to overwork, was announced by
the President March 29.
White, a former Rhodes scholar, pro
fessional football player and Navy as
sociate of the President in World War
II, came to Washington at the begin
ning of the Kennedy administration. As
the No. 2 man in the Justice Depart
ment, his major task has been to help
the attorney general and the President
in selecting more than 100 new federal
judges.
Kennedy, in announcing the appoint
ment, said he has known White “for
many years, in war and in peace,” and
is convinced White’s “experience,
character and intellectual force” qualify
him for the position.
“His varied experience in legal prac
tice, in Government and in the Navy—
in addition to his remarkable scholarly
accomplishments and his service as law
clerk to Chief Justice Vinson—have
given him a humane and understanding
approach to people and to problems,”
Kennedy said.
‘Excelled in Everything’
“He has excelled in everything he has
attempted . . . and I know that he will
excel on the highest court in the land.”
Chairman James O. Eastland (D-
Miss.) of the Senate Judiciary Commit
tee, which will pass on the nomination,
said White will make “an able justice.”
Eastland said he has often disagreed
with White but will support the nom
ination.
At the Justice Department, White has
played an active behind-the-scenes role
in the administration’s increased civil
rights activity. His only open involve
ment in desegregation matters came
last May when he was sent to Mont
gomery, Ala., to supervise federal mar
shals sent in to protect “freedom riders.”
Burke Marshall Reviews
Civil Rights Developments
“The gap between the requirements
of law and the conduct of officials is
deepset in the schools.” Assistant At
torney General Burke Marshall said on
March 29 in reviewing the work of the
Justice Department’s Civil Rights Di
vision.
Marshall told the annual conference
of the National Civil Liberties Clearing
House that he saw no signs in the states
that still are largely segregated, that
“the school boards or other officials
will accept the command of the Con-
operated by the city as is Memorial
Hospital, stopped after the white pa
tient’s presence became known. Memo
rial admits some Negro patients, but
keeps them in separate wards and lim
its the number of Negroes.
Mercy Hospital, operated by the
Catholic Church, admits some Negroes,
but also limits the number. Presbyte
rian Hospital, church-operated, admits
only white patients. # # #
stitution without enforcement thron-d'
OUbLI
litigation.
Though the Justice Department
no general authority to bring desf-^ 4 "
gation actions, Attorney General
ert F. Kennedy has rejected the theo ®
that the federal government has no
sponsibility for school desegregation 0
Marshall told the Clearing House, cott;
posed of representatives of various cm|
rights groups.
‘Direct Responsibility’
He said the attorney general believsl
the department has “a direct respond
bility to protect the integrity of
orders of our courts and to prevent
terference with compliance.”
“Fortunately for the South and fo,
the nation as a whole,” Marshall '
“this year the officials of all cities a
which court orders became effect,-,-,
recognized the need for compliance and
for the preservation of law and order
“The numbers of children affected
were small and the amount of desegre.
gation was kept to a minimum, Bui
this acceptance of the inevitable by se T .
Ah
hi
Del
Di:
fie
eral important cities where serious)
problems could have arisen . . . brought P
great symbolic progress.”
Loi
Both Houses Receive
Civil Rights ‘Package’
A broad civil rights “package” en.
compassing education, voting rights])
employment, housing and the adm.
lr -S- TV-
■ ic -
tration of justice was introduced in.,,
both houses of Congress in mid-March.
Iff
ai
it
r
Among the measures is one called tl
Federal Equality of Education Act ofjj(
1962, which provides for speeding up)
the school desegregation process by reJ *1
quiring school boards that have faileml
to desegregate to file with the attorney] lo
general within 180 days a plan provid-j
ing for at least first-step compliance hr 1 —
next fall. U
The bill also would provide financialf -
and technical assistance to aid school
desegregation and would restrict fed
eral aid for segregated public school
and institutions of higher learning.
The package, patterned on recomV>
mendations of the United States Civil!
Rights Commission, was introduced mjj
the Senate by Sens. Paul H. Douglas
(D-Ill.), Joseph Clark (D-Pa.), Jacob]
Javits (R-N.Y.), Kenneth Keating (R-
N.Y.), Philip Hart (D-Mich.) and Hughp c
Scott (R-Pa.). It was introduced in thef
House March 16 by Rep. Frank Ko
walski (D-Conn.), who declared thatllbi
“it is time Congress stopped twiddlingot
its collective thumbs over civil righfeU
and grappled with its responsibilities.”
in
SRC Praises President’s
Use of Executive Powers
It
ftr
gre
■at.
The Kennedy administration was ft.
praised by the Southern Regional Coun- Mr
cil March 25 for using its executive
powers to bring “new vitality to tw ^
civil rights struggle.” The council, > ^
biracial organization formed in 1941 to ^
advance “equal opportunity for all tk g a j
South’s people,” found “new hope thaL
America may soon overcome its o*
acial dilemma.”
When President Kennedy took
the council issued a report outlfflh'v® ’
areas in which the President codf®
strengthen civil rights by executive of" ~
der. The new report said that while th £ «y :
administration has not seized all ® ^
opportunities, notably in higher edit®' h
tion and housing, the number of
ecutive decisions it made in its
14 months in office “represent a devdftt
opment of importance comparable W,
that of the Supreme Court decision >»a
1954.”
“Possibly the greatest achievement T''
the months since January, 1961, - n 'Iu
been the establishment of a new s? ^
pervasive attitude in Washington,” m
report declared.
L
‘Air of Friendliness'
y.
“There are been created among ™
eral policy makers a sense of
tion to civil rights, and new, ^ ^
standards against which to
that obligation . . . there is an air
friendliness towards the civil r ~jjj
movement, which makes possible ,
discussion of civil rights as a nat !C '
and not merely or primarily a raj
concern,” the report said. Rj(
The report called for new con= r ^
sional action in the field of educa® P"
permitting the federal governing ■
initiate school desegregation suits- C
The council singled out for P^j’L]
the Justice Department’s backinK^k,
federal courts in tbe New IX- -jk.
federal courts in the New
school desegregation crisis, hut
there has been no indication th*
administration has tried to enlis* jjr 1
political and economic leadership, ®
the South to go beyond token c 0111 sj 1
ance with desegregation rulings. If
The council also criticized the a jjs-
istration for failure to end raciaf ^ ^
crimination in the application 0 ^
eral research grants to collef? eS > '
universities. *