Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12—MAY, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DELAWARE
Dover, Caesar Rodney Districts
Vote in June on Consolidation
DOVER
"JZ" ent County’s two largest
-■-V school districts, which once
suspended athletic relations be
cause of a desegregation dispute,
will vote on consolidation June 2.
Involved are Dover and Caesar Rod
ney, which have an enrollment in ex
cess of 7,000, approximately half of the
county enrollment.
A large number of Negro pupils are
included in the two districts, each of
which still operates an all-Negro school.
Although all grades in all districts in
all schools in the state are open to
Negro pupils, some preferred to remain
at their former schools.
Dover, consequently, continues to
operate the Booker T. Washington
school, with an enrollment in excess of
450. Caesar Rodney operates Star Hill,
which has an enrollment of about 200
Negro pupils.
Other Students
About 200 other Negro students at
tended school with whites in the two
districts.
Caesar Rodney, in addition, also has
administrative authority over the Do
ver Air Force Base school, which will
have 12 grades in September. The
school, located on government prop
erty, is desegregated, according to fed
eral policy.
Dover and Caesar Rodney broke off
athletic relations shortly after the cap
ital city desegregated at the high school
level in 1954.
Caesar Rodney agreed to play against
Negro players on Dover’s playing fields
if Dover would agree not to bring
Negro players to games scheduled at
Caesar Rodney. Caesar Rodney plays
at Camden, about three miles south of
Dover.
Proposal Rejected
The Dover Board of Education, after
considerable discussion, rejected the CR
proposal, ruling that all students had
the right to take part in all school pro
grams, including athletics.
Consequently, the backyard rivals
called it quits, but plan to resume re
lations this fall.
The athletic contests carded will be
played, even if the merger is approved
by district citizens. According to the
Delaware school code, voters from each
district must approve consolidation be
fore it can take effect.
The need of a new high school, which
would be opened by 1964, was given by
the boards as the reason for the con
solidation vote.
A larger school, it was felt, would be
of advantage to each district.
Schoolmen
Mergers Will Reduce
Number of School
Districts in Fall
It is not reflected in statistics yet—
enrollment statistics are compiled in
September and January—but Delaware
will have fewer school districts in the
fall.
Statistics on desegregation will also
be changed as the result of three merg
ers since January, 1962, and a vote
scheduled in June on another.
In two cases, Leipsic and Dover, and
In the Colleges
Delaware Highlights
Two of Delaware’s largest down-
state school districts, which once
suspended athletic relations in a de
segregation dispute, vote June 2 on
consolidation.
Mergers, not yet reflected in sta
tistics, are reducing the number of
school districts.
Delaware’s PTA, at its annual
convention, refused to endorse a
public accommodations bill before
the General Assembly.
A white professor at a predomi
nantly Negro college will seek a seat
in the General Assembly.
The importance of the United
Negro College Fund drive was em
phasized in Delaware by the presi
dent of Dillard University, New
Orleans, La.
Yorklyn and Alexis I. duPont, one dis
trict brought an all-white enrollment
into the merger with a desegregated
district.
Leipsic had 35 white pupils and
Yorklyn had 88 prior to consolidation.
In the other case, Smyrna and Clayton,
each district was desegregated prior to
the vote.
Smyrna, which also operates a Negro
school with an enrollment of 176, had
140 Negroes attending classes with some
1,400 whites. Clayton’s enrollment of
333 included about 5 Negro pupils.
Another small district, Little Creek,
rejected consolidation with Dover. The
school has about 20 students, all white.
As the result of the mergers, the
number of districts in the state will be
reduced from 92 to at most 89.
★ ★ ★
Mrs. Cecie P. Henry, who became the
first Negro elected to the Dover board
of education in 1957 but lost a re-
election bid four years later, is a can
didate in the May 12 election.
Mrs. Henry is one of 10 candidates
seeking four seats on the board.
Community Action
State PTA Rejects
Proposal To Endorse
Accommodations Act
The Delaware Congress of Parents
and Teachers (PTA) rejected at its an
nual convention a motion to endorse
HB 422, the public accommodations act.
The motion failed to reach the floor
as PTA delegates voted 69 to 47 to
table it.
Request for endorsement came from
Mrs. Henry P. Street, outgoing vice
president of Region Six, who said that
Negro students from Wilmington were
refused restaurant service on a trip to
Washington.
White students were served at a
Route 40 restaurant in Maryland, she
said, but Negro students remained in
a bus and nobody offered to bring them
food.
But Gordon MacLean, vice president
of Region One, said units of his region
had questioned the relevancy of
HB 422.
Major Role for Negro Colleges
Stressed by Dillard President
The United Negro College Fund drive
is still important despite “token de
segregation” of some Southern white
colleges.
Three reasons were cited by Dr. Al
bert W. Dent, president of Dillard Uni
versity in New Orleans, who spoke at
a kickoff dinner for the Delaware drive
in Wilmington:
• Few Negro families can afford the
tuition rates charged by other colleges.
• Few Negro students are prepared
to withstand the resentment they would
meet as pioneers in the desegregation
of a formerly all-white campus.
• The Negro colleges, while they do
not rank with Harvard or Johns Hop
kins, compare favorably with hundreds
of other colleges of similar enrollment
and endowment.
Dr. Dent, at a press conference, ear
lier said his chief disappointment as a
university president is that too many
graduates head away from the South.
He spoke of meeting Dillard grad
uates all over the world, holding re
sponsible jobs, because the opportuni
ties were not close at hand.
“I’ve stayed because I’ve never be
lieved you settle anything by running
away from a fight. But I’m afraid I don’t
expect my three boys to stay.”
Dr. Dent was introduced by Thomas
Brittingham IH, campaign chairman.
Advance gifts toward the $30,000 Dela
ware goal totaled $5,294.
“We don’t question the merits of the
bill, but feel it is inconsistent with PTA
policy in that it doesn’t directly involve
education,” MacLean said.
Political Activity
Professor at DSC
Becomes Candidate
A white professor at predominantly
Negro Delaware State College in Do
ver has announced his candidacy for
Delaware’s General Assembly.
Paul E. Mabry,
professor of phil
osophy, will seek
to gain the nomi
nation on the Re
publican ticket
from Rep. Charles
F. Richards, who
is seeking a third
two-year term.
Mabry, who for
merly taught at
Wesley College in
mabry Dover, holds de
grees from McKendres College, Butler
University, the University of Delaware
and the University of Indiana.
Mabry is a captain in the Air Force
Reserve and served as Kent County
chairman of the Nixon-Lodge volun
teers in 1960.
Rep. Richards is one of the few Re
publicans from Kent County to hold
elective political office.
Miscellaneous
Human Relations
Commission Meets
Creation of a committee on higher
education was postponed for the time
being at the organization meeting of
the new Human Relations Commission.
The commission, which earlier heard
Gov. Elbert N. Carvel say “you are not
on the easiest spot in the state at
this moment,” de
ferred committee
assignments until
goals are more
clearly in mind.
Mrs. Hallie
Shaffer, later
named executive
secretary, report
ed on research on
other commissions
by herself and the
Rev. Henry N.
Herndon, chair
man.
Among those she cited as doing an
effective job, despite minimal powers,
were Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri
and West Virginia. # # #
HERNDON
Mississippi
(Continued From Page 9)
department “prepare and implement a
plan which will give the high school
students of Mississippi an opportunity
to read and study (under teacher di
rection and supervision) the book
RACE AND REASON, A YANKEE
VIEW.”
Governor Applauds
Gov. Ross Barnett, who earlier had
mailed each of the governors of the
nation a copy of the book, said “I heart
ily applaud the action of the legislature
in adopting the resolution.”
“This excellent publication, written
by Carelton Putnam, is, to my way of
thinking, one of the most outstanding
studies of the racial situation that it has
been my privilege to read,” Barnett
said in a formal statement. “One of the
greatest responsibilities entrusted to us
is to see that the hearts and minds of
our youngsters are moulded in the
right direction. High school students
are at an impressionable age, and I feel
that supervised study of ‘Race and
Reason’ will tend to help formulate
sound reasoning on their part. I am
hopeful, therefore, that the State De
partment of Education will give due
recognition to the will of the legisla
ture in this matter and that the proper
officials will act positively and prompt
ly to carry out the provisions of the
resolution.”
Somewhat along that line, the House
passed House Bill 595, now pending in
the Senate, providing for annual sem
inars for high school teachers and stu
dents, white and Negro. Under the ad
ministration and supervision of the
State Department of Education, the
seminars would provide “teachers and
students with a clear understanding of
the fundamental principles of the
American system of government, the
evils of socialism and the basic phi
losophy of communism and the tactics
and strategy used to further its object
of ultimate world domination.”
Each student selected would be re
quired to schedule and deliver, prior
to his selection, a talk before a civic
club or other public group on a subject
designed to impart “an understanding
of the menace presented by socialism
and communism to the American way
of life.”
The plan is for the Sovereignty
Commission, the state’s segregation
‘watch dog* * agency, to finance the sem
inars at an annual cost estimated at
$60,000.
Weekly Forum
A somewhat similar proposal, House
Bill 839, pending in the House educa
tion committee, would authorize the
State Department of Education to “con
duct weekly seminars or forums” dur
ing the summer vacation “for the pur
poses of providing special education to
selected teachers and students on the
basic principles of American govern
ment and the evils of communism, and
other fanatical doctrines.”
A detailing of the subject matter, as
outlined in the bill, follows:
“Basic principles of American gov
ernment, constitutional law and other
salient features of a free, independent
and democratic nation, as opposed to
the evils of communism, fascism, social
ism and related infamous doctrines,
Delaware Desegregation
State Board Units
Enrollment
Negroes
Biracial
Date
White
Negro w/Whites Schools
Deseg.
Arden #3
35
1
1
1
1953
Gunning Bedford Jr. #53 ..
.. 831
84
84
2
1954
H. C. Conrad #131
.. 1,661
31
31
2
1954
Alfred I. duPont #7
.. 4,740
3
3
2
1954
Marshallton #77
.. 2,170
36
36
3
1960
Newport #21
.. 1,349
15
15
1
1960
Odessa #61
.. 110
3
3
1
1959
Rose Hill-Minquadale #47
.. 2,781
289
289
5
1954
Stanton #38
.. 2,172
1
1
1
1961
Clayton #119
.. 321
3
3
1
1959
Felton #54
.. 667
1
1
1
1959
Hartly #96
.. 219
5
5
1
1960
Kenton #9
77
4
4
1
1961
Wm. W. M. Henry #133 ...
1
724
724
1
1961
Bridgeville #90
671
8
8
1
1959
Ellendale #125
.. 104
24
24
1
1961
Greenwood #91
.. 519
29
29
1
1961
Millsboro #23
.. 712
6
6
1
1961
Milton #8
.. 670
2
2
1
1961
Sussex Co. VocTech
Special Districts
.. 303
8
8
1
1961
Claymont
.. 2,429
52
52
3
1953
Alexis I. duPont
.. 1,400
43
43
3
1955
Newark
.. 6,828
218
218
8
1954
New Castle
.. 4,162
201
201
6
1954
Wilmington
.. 6,600
6,346
6,346
21
1954
Dover
.. 2,623
559
91
5
1954
Milford
.. 2,165
373
16
3
1959
Caesar Rodney
.. 3,648
327
127
2
1958
Smyrna
.. 1,368
284
131
2
1959
Lewes
.. 1,053
120
6
1
1960
Rehoboth
.. 433
1
1
1
1959
Seaford
.. 2,263
507
31
3
1960
TOTALS
..55,135
10,308
8,540
87
theories and other fanatical ideologic
espoused by the real enemies of Amer.
ica and misguided intellectuals, dup^
and disillusioned individuals, and to
disseminate information to alert
citizens on the tactics and mode m
operation of communists.”
Meanwhile, the Senate Education
Committee had reported “do not pass”
Senate Bill 1857, entitled “an act to
protect the youth of Mississippi by j 6 .
daring certain books and publication!
to be unfit for their consumption
through the public school system.” j,
pointed out that the General Legist-
tive Investigating Committee “has re.
vealed and experience has shown that,
notwithstanding many safeguards pres!
ently existing, certain publications and
books foreign to the traditional Ameri.
can heritage have found their way into
the libraries and other systems of dis
semination of theory and learning jj
the public school system of Mississippi”
The bill listed 35 books that would
have been barred.
Political Activity
Candidate Calls
State Race Policy
‘Miserable Failure’
A 65-year-old retired rural mail car
rier opposing Congressman W. M. Col-
mer in the new Fifth District in the
June 5 primary said that “Mississippi’s
100-year-old racial policy has been a
miserable failure and made us the poor
est state.”
V. O. Campbell of Collins, who
backed the Kennedy-Johnson presiden
tial ticket in 1960, charged that Con
gressman Colmer, dean of the delega
tion who backed the unpledged elec
tors sponsored by Gov. Ross Barnett,
“hasn’t been at peace with a president
since 1948.”
Asserting that “the North did not let
us keep the Negro in slavery in the
1860s and it is not going to do it now,”
Campbell said: “Who can be a Christian
and disagree with that?”
Schoolmen
Negro Principal
Issues Warning
On Desegregation
No action has been reported by the
Leake County School Board on a pe
tition of Negroes residing in a rural
area for desegregation of the public
schools. An estimated 29 of the 52
signers of the petition have withdrawn
their names, either due to pressure or
reportedly because they felt they were
signing a document for re-constitution |
of their school, which has been con
solidated with a new Negro school built
under the state’s Negro-white facility
equalization program.
The only development has been a
letter written to the petitioners by 0-
S. Jordan, Negro school principal of
Carthage (the county seat), warning
that desegregation would result in ra
cial troubles if they did not withdraw
their names. Jordan is immediate past
president of the Mississippi Negro
Teachers Association, but wrote as an
individual and not as an official of that
organization. That was clarified by the
association’s directors in a statement
that he was not expressing the senti
ment of the organization.
Jordan’s letter said he “admired the
peaceful race relations that have ex
isted in Leake County (where Gover
nor Barnett was bom) but at this P ar "
ticular time I am disturbed.”
‘Back 50 Years’
“I call upon you to remove >’ oUr
name from the petition that is now 111
the superintendent’s office,” he wrot®
“This document, if allowed to be exe
cuted, is going to set race relations 10
Leake county back 50 years.”
Stating that closure of public school
in the county is threatened as a resn*j
of the petition, Professor Jordan sal®
it “is leading up to an impasse.”
“We must not allow this to happ en ’
he added.
He posed these questions in his
to the petition signers:
“Do you know that if a suit is
here, it calls for the automatic closb 1 ®
of all schools? Do you have enoug
money to pay for a private scho° •
How many jobs can you give to
bers of your race? Are you educ®
tionally prepared to obtain employ® 6 ?
in some other area? Are you willing
allow your anger to override your b®
ter judgment? Do you believe in
Christian concept of life?” # &