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JULY, 1962
College Professor Speaks on Budget
'.harles G. G. Moss of Longwood College expresses his views on Prince Edward
bounty’s closed schools at a budget hearing by the county Board of Supervisors.
'IRGINIA
rince Edward To Keep
hiblic Schools Closed
RICHMOND
Closed schools in Prince Ed-
ward County for the fourth
jnsecutive year appeared certain
s a result of action by the Board
r Supervisors June 15 in adopt-
lg a county budget containing no
:hool appropriation.
Action on the budget was taken after
public hearing in which 26 persons—
i Negroes and 11 whites—spoke on
le school issue. Most of the Negroes
iked for reopening of schools, and
ost of the whites expressed support
ir the budget as proposed.
The $864,889 budget includes $360,000
irmarked for tuition grants for chil-
fen attending private schools or pub-
schools in other districts. This
oney cannot be used, however, as
ng as a federal district court order
mains in effect prohibiting payment
tuition grants to Prince Edward
lildren while public schools of the
lunty are closed.
Board Chairman W. W. Vaughan said
ie supervisors would not voluntarily
)open schools at least until certain
gal issues pending in the courts are
(solved.
•The issues include those of (1)
hether the county is obligated by the
ate or federal constitutions to op-
•ate public schools, and (2) whether
lition grants could be used for chil-
ren attending private schools if pub-
• schools are reopened.
The 11-year-old Prince Edward de-
gregation suit, now styled Allen v.
rince Edward School Board, is pend-
S in federal district court for Eastern
Virginia at Richmond before Judge
Oren R. Lewis. Another Prince Edward
suit, Griffin v. Prince Edward Board
of Supervisors, was recently decided
by the Virginia Supreme Court of Ap
peals, but Judge Lewis has indicated
he may require attorneys for the Ne
gro plaintiffs to go back to the state
courts for further litigation. (See June,
1962, SSN for details.)
Three white persons who spoke in
the public hearing urged the super
visors to provide funds for schools.
One of these was Dr. G. G. Gordon
Moss, dean of Longwood College, a
state-supported women’s college lo
cated at Farmville, the county seat.
“You gentlemen have an opportunity
for greatness this day, - ’ he told the
supervisors. “Offering leadership to
Virginia and the entire South in un
dertaking positive action, not delaying
action, by voting a budget for Prince
Edward County that will open all the
schools on a completely operational
basis—that is your opportunity for
greatness.”
Tremendous Responsibility’
Miss Elizabeth Burger, a member of
the Longwood faculty, told the board
that “public education is the founda
tion of our democracy, and Prince Ed
ward County has the tremendous re
sponsibility in upholding our deipocracy
by providing funds for public; educa
tion.”
Richard W. Dupuy said he felt the
budget should be enlarged “to open
schools for colored children.”
But other white speakers endorsed
the proposed budget containing no
(See SUPERVISORS, Page 5)
IISSISSIPPI
Appeals Court Upholds Effort
By Negro To Enter University
JACKSON
A 29-year-old married Air Force
veteran could become the first
Negro to crack the educational
segregation barrier in Mississippi.
James Howard Meredith won an
important victory in a 17-month
effort, studded with legal maneu
vers by Mississippi officials, to de
segregate the all-white University
of Mississippi at Oxford.
Meredith, of Attala County (Koscius
ko), began his long drawnout effort to
transfer from Jackson State College for
Negroes in January, 1961, by routine
ly applying for transfer to the Univer
sity of Mississippi. It was pursued un
successfully through university chan
nels and the Southern Mississippi dis
trict federal court.
However, on June 25 the U.S. Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-to-l
decision, held that university officials
had rejected his transfer “solely be
cause he was a Negro.”
The majority decision written by Cir
cuit Judge John Minor Wisdom ordered
District Judge Sidney C. Mize of the
Southern Mississippi District to issue
an injunction restraining university
officials from denying Meredith’s en
rollment. Judge Mize last February had
refused to issue the injunction on
grounds that Meredith had been denied
admission for other than his racial
background. He said Meredith failed
to meet university standards of accred
itation.
No deadline for execution of the in
junction was set by the appellate court,
and as a result counsel for Meredith
have asked that one be set so he can
enter the final summer session.
Meanwhile, state Attorney General
Joe Patterson, who represented the
university, said a petition for a review
of the 2-to-l decision will be filed, and
if rejected, the issue will be appealed
to the U.S. Supreme Court. Since that
court is in recess until October, Mis
sissippi officials were hopeful of further
delaying the show-down.
Meredith v. Fair
The style of the case, No. 19475, was
James H. Meredith, on behalf of him
self and others similarly situated, ver
sus Charles Dickson Fair, president of
the Board of Trustees of State Institu
tions of Higher Learning and others.
Joining Judge Wisdom in the major
ity opinion was Circuit Judge John R.
Brown of Houston, Tex. Dissenting was
District Judge Dozier DeVane of Talla
hassee, Fla.
Judge Wisdom said a “full review of
the record leads the court inescapably
to the conclusion that from the moment
the defendants discovered Meredith was
a Negro they engaged in a carefully
THE REGION
First Negroes Admitted
To Five Public Colleges
't'lVE public institutions of
higher learning in June ad
mitted Negro students for the first
time and another college received
a desegregation order.
Negroes enrolled for summer sessions
at Florida State University, Georgia
State College, East Carolina College, the
University of Houston, and Mary Wash
ington College, which is the women’s
division of the University of Virginia.
The new admissions of Negroes give
the region 157 desegregated, tax-sup
ported colleges and universities, in a
total of 285. The 17 Southern and border
states, plus the District of Columbia,
have 234 public colleges with all-white
Urban Negro Population Growth
Influences Desegregation Rate
BY CLIFTON R. JONES
Professor of Sociology
Morgan State College
; T is a common observation that
■ the past two decades have
len marked by the most explo
re growth of urban population
*the history of our nation. How-
r er, more striking than the |
jowth of the urban population !
snerally has been the growth of
t Negro population in urban
liters. This rather phenomenal
Crease in the urban Negro popu-
tion has had a profound effect
1 life in the community general- I
. and has certainly influenced
e rate of desegregation in the
fblic schools. The extent to
uch the increase in the urban
5 § ro population has influenced
-blic school desegregation, and
e direction it has taken, is the
■rpose of this investigation,
u 1940, and for the first time in the
*. or Y of the nation, the urban popu-
>on surpassed the rural. It was 50.9
r cent of the total. By 1950 the ur
ban population had increased to 64 per
cent; and by 1960 to 69.9 per cent. Even
though certain major cities experienced
some decline in population (though the
metropolitan areas surrounding them
increased considerably) the process of
urbanization of the population con
tinued unabated.
While urban populations in prac
tically all regions have experienced
this growth, the rates of growth have
not been even. Certain cities of the
South, Southwest, and Far West have
grown at a much faster rate than cities j
of the North and Midwest. The growth
of population of the former has been
a response to the increased industrial- \
ization in those regions. Table I points
up rather sharply the trend in urban
growth for the country, especially of
the Negro population, which is of spe- J
cial interest to us here.
How They Compare
It will be noted, for example, that
between 1950 and 1960 the population
of Atlanta increased by 47.1 per cent,
Dallas, by 57.9 per cent, and Houston’
by 57.4 per cent. At the same time,
the Negro population in each of these
cities increased by 53.6 per cent, 115.6
per cent, and 73.2 per cent respectively, i
Meanwhile, New York, Chicago, Phila- !
delphia, Baltimore, Detroit, and Wash- j
ington, D. C. were declining in popula
tion. However, the Negro population
in each of these cities increased in
both absolute numbers and in propor
tion to the total population.
For example, in 1950 the Negro pop
ulation of New York City was 9.2 per
cent of the total; in Chicago, 14 per
cent; Philadelphia, 18.3 per cent; De
troit, 16.4 per cent; Los Angeles, 10.7
per cent; Baltimore, 23.8 per cent; and
Washington, D. C., 35.4 per cent. By
1960, in spite of the fact that each of
these cities, with the exception of Los
Angeles, had lost population, the Negro
population increased appreciably. In
New York the Negro population in
creased to 14 pe r cent; Chicago, 22.9
per cent; Philadelphia, 26.4 per cent;
Detroit, 28.9 per cent; Los Angeles, 13.5
per cent; Baltimore, 34.8 per cent, and
Washington, D. C., 53.9 per cent! Were
the data for 1940 shown, the growth of
the urban Negro population would be
even more striking. (See Table I.)
It is generally common knowledge
that urban populations do not repro
duce themselves. Consequently, the
growth of the urban population must
depend on immigration from rural
areas. Historically, the Southern rural
areas have provided a far greater pro
portion of urban in-migrants—white
(See GROWTH, Page 15)
or predominantly white enrollments,
and 142 of these will accept Negroes.
Fifteen of the 51 all-Negro or predom
inantly Negro public colleges will accept
whites.
The first school desegregation suit in
Mississippi resulted in a federal appeals
court decision ordering the admission of
a Negro transfer student to the Univer
sity of Mississippi. In its lengthy
opinion, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals rejected the ruling by U.S. Dis
trict Judge Sidney C. Mize that Ole Miss
was not a segregated institution.
Private Colleges
Among the private and church-affil
iated colleges, Stetson University at De
land, Fla., desegregated its summer
school for the first time by admitting
nine Negro teachers for further teach
ing credits. Some Negroes previously
had attended night classes at the school,
but Stetson officials said this was the
first time any Negroes had attended day
sessions.
Duke University at Durham, N.C., and
Abilene Christian College in Texas
have decided to extend desegregation
from their graduate schools to the
undergraduate level. Emory University
in Georgia is continuing its court test
of a law that would deprive the school
of a tax exemption if it admits a Negro
student.
Two church conferences considered
desegregation resolutions for affiliated
colleges during June. The South Caro
lina Methodist Conference rejected, by
an overwhelming margin, a resolution
to desegregate the two schools it sup
ports in South Carolina. Less than 20 of
the approximately 1,000 delegates fa
vored admitting Negroes to Wofford, a
men’s school at Spartanburg, and Co
lumbia, a girls’ college at Columbia.
The North Texas Methodist Confer
ence officially requested trustees to de
segregate all church-owned facilities “as
rapidly as possible.” This includes
Southern Methodist University in Dal
las, Southwestern University at George
town, Texas Wesleyan College at Fort
Worth, and various Wesley Foundations
at public colleges. SMU’s graduate and
seminary courses already are biracial.
Twelve Negroes are among the 75
teachers enrolled at Florida State Uni
versity, Tallahassee, for a special sum
mer institute. The National Science
Foundation is sponsoring the courses to
(See THE REGION, Page 14)
James H. Meredith
17 Months of Effort
calculated campaign of delay, harass
ment and masterly inactivity.”
“It was a defense designed to dis
courage and to defeat by evasive tac
tics which would have been a credit
to Quintus Fabius Maximus,” the ma
jority said. “Reading the 1,350 pages in
the record as a whole, we find that
James Meredith’s application for trans
fer to the University of Mississippi was
turned down solely because he was a
Negro.
“We see no valid, non-discriminatory
reason for the University’s not accept
ing Meredith. Instead, we see a well-
defined pattern of delays and frustra
tions, part of a Fabian policy of wor
rying the enemy into defeat while time
worked for the defenders.”
Referring to Judge Mize’s finding that
“as a fact, the University is not a ra
cially segregated institution” and that
Mississippi “has no policy of segrega
tion” and that ‘there is no custom of
policy now, nor was there any at the
time of ihe plaintiff’s application, which
excluded Negroes from entering the
University,” Circuit Judge Wisdom
said:
“This about-face in policy, news of
which may startle some people in Mis
sissippi, could have been accomplished
only by telepathic communication
among the University’s administrators,
the Board of Trustees of State Insti
tutions of Higher Learning.”
Judge Wisdom said in an earlier de
cision denying a preliminary injunc
tion and ordering the issues tried on
the merits that the court had taken
judicial notice that the state of Missis
sippi maintains a policy of segregation
in its school of colleges.
“We find nothing now in this case
reaching the dignity of proof to make
us think we were wrong to take judi
cial notice of Mississippi’s policy of
(See COURT, Page 2)
In This Issue
State Reports
Alabama 10
Arkansas 7
Delaware 8
District of Columbia 13
Florida 14
Georgia 8
Kentucky 9
Louisiana 12
Maryland 6
Mississippi 1
Missouri 10
North Carolina 16
Oklahoma 11
South Carolina 11
Tennessee 3
Texas 4
Virginia 1
West Virginia 5
Special Articles
The Region 1
Urban Population and Negroes.... 1
Acronyms: Many Prefer Them.... 9
Books and the Issue 13
Man on the Bench: Warlick 16