Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8—OCTOBER, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Delaware
(Continued From Page 7)
nally moved that the board call off con
struction. The second was provided by
Watson, and Mrs. Jane K. Ennis, an
other member from Delaware’s middle
county (Kent) cast the third and de
ciding vote.
Small probably would have cast a
deciding vote in favor of cancelling
construction had the vote been 2-2. He
told a Southern School News reporter,
in reply to a direct questions, in July:
“We will cancel the construction con
tract, I can assure you. And that will
be too bad for what we’re trying to do.”
★ ★ ★
Court Orders Admission
Of Negroes at Lincoln
A federal district judge on Oct. 3
ordered the previously white school at
Lincoln to admit approximately 20
Negroes.
U.S. District Judge Caleb R. Layton
III, after a hearing in Wilmington, also
told school officials that administrative,
rather than court action, might have
solved this and other recent desegrega
tion problems.
“While the court stands ready at all
times to resolve issues involving the
constitutional rights of Negroes to at
tend desegregated schools, there is a
feeling on the part of the court that a
number of controversies in the past
could more easily have been resolved
administratively by school authorities
outside the court room than by re
course to litigation,” Judge Layton said.
Louis L. Redding brought the suit in
the name of Mrs. Catherine Bull and
said it was a class action for 45 other
Negro students.
The admission of approximately half
of the litigants was viewed by ob
servers as a compromise, which Judge
Layton praised.
Schoolmen
Whites Complain
About Not Having
Transfer Rights
The State Board of Education heard
a complaint that Negroes in the Little
Creek school district have a choice of
what school to attend, but white pupils
in the same district do not. The board
heard a plea from interested Little
Creek white residents who want to
consolidate with Dover.
Roger E. Uhey, acting as spokesman
for the Little Creek group, asked the
board why the Negro students from
Port Mahon were not required to attend
Little Creek instead of Booker T. Wash
ington, a Negro elementary school
maintained by the Dover district.
“It’s only right that they attend Little
Creek, for I’m under the impression
they live in the Little Creek district,”
Uhey said. But Dr. Miller noted that,
while the Negro children “may regis
ter” to attend Little Creek, they have
the right to attend Booker T. Washing
ton.
Registration for transfer from Negro
to white schools is held each May, in
compliance with a U.S. District Court
order.
“Why, if the colored children have
their choice, why don’t we, so we can
attend Dover?” asked one of about two
dozen delegates from Little Creek in
the audience.
“You will have to go to court and
have them explain it,” said Dr. George
R. Miller, state superintendent of public
instruction. “I don’t think anyone in
this room can explain it,” he noted
wryly.
But the state board voted to allow
Little Creek to vote for merger with
Dover, which desegregated in 1954 after
the U.S. Supreme Court decision. The
Dover board, however, seemed less in
clined to go along with a vote, because
the four members would have to stand
again for office in May in case of con
solidation.
Wilmington’s Dr. Miller
To Retire Next Summer
Dr. Ward I. Miller, who led Dela
ware’s largest public school system
through quiet and nearly complete de
segregation, will retire as Wilmington’s
public school superintendent next June.
Dr. Miller, whose $20,000 salary is
the highest paid to any public school
official in Delaware (not excluding the
state superintendent of public instruc
tion), has held the position since 1946.
He will be 70 next September, which
means he could have held the post
through the 1963-64 year.
Wilmington’s schools, in the past few
years, have been moving toward a pre-
ARKANSAS
12 Districts in State Have 253 Negroes
Attending Desegregated Public Schools
LITTLE ROCK
month after the start of the
1962-63 school year, about
253 Negro children were attend
ing desegregated schools or classes
in 12 Arkansas school districts. A
year ago it was 152 in 10 districts.
In three of the districts—Bentonville,
Hot Springs and Hoxie—there was no
change in the number of Negroes ad
mitted. Dollarway had only two Ne
groes in a formerly white school this
year compared to four last year. All the
other districts had more.
The biggest increase was at Little
Rock, which had 46 last year and had
assigned 78 Negroes to white schools
this year. However, only 71 Negroes
were attending desegregated schools at
the end of September. Six of them had
asked to be transferred back to the Ne
gro schools, and the school board on its
own had transferred one boy from Hall
High School (white) to Horace Mann
High (Negro), without giving a public
explanation.
Other Districts
The Pulaski County (rural) School
District increased from 14 last year to
23 this year, partly because it opened
the Jacksonville Junior and Senior
High Schools to Negro students from
the Little Rock Air Force Base, which
is inside the Jacksonville city limits.
The county district has desegregation
only for Negro students from the air
base and not for local Negro pupils.
The two new districts in the desegre
gation list are Mansfield and Gosnell. At
least one school has declined to play
Mansfield in football and two have de
clined to play Gosnell. No other inci
dents have been reported this year.
The following table shows the num
ber of Negro pupils in desegregated
schools this year and last year, and the
number of white pupils in the desegre
gated schools this year:
District
Negro Pupils
White
1961
1962
Pupils
Bentonville ....
.... 3
3
1638
* Charleston ...
.... 8
17
521
Dollarway
.... 4
2
1403
‘Fayetteville ...
.... 25
42
1935
Fort Smith ....
.... 20
27
491
*Gosnell
. . . .
12
1400
‘Hot Springs ..
.... 8
8
22
Hoxie
.... 4
4
956
Little Rock ....
.... 46
71
7540
Mansfield
. . . .
14
711
Pulaski County.
.... 14
23
2411
‘Van Buren ...
.... 20
30
2180
—
—
—
Totals
‘Estimates.
....152
253
21,302
★ ★ ★
Although the deadline for getting on
the school election ballot of Dec. 4 is
not until mid-November, two candi
dates already have announced for posi
tions on the Little Rock School Board.
Dr. John Allen Harrel Jr., 40, a
pediatrician, announced Sept. 8 for the
position now held by B. Frank Mackey.
Mrs. Sara Murphy, 38, wife of a lawyer,
announced Sept. 18 for the position held
by Everett Tucker Jr., board president.
Mackey, a retired detective, is the
Democratic nominee for sheriff of
Pulaski County and has only nominal
What They Say
Arkansas Highlights
The 12 Arkansas school districts
with desegregation have about 253
Negro pupils in their formerly white
schools this year, compared with
about 152 last year. No incidents
have been reported, although two of
the desegregated schools have lost
football opponents which still are
segregated.
Gov. Orval E. Faubus and the po
litical leadership of Arkansas sym
pathized with and approved the
course opposing desegregation taken
by Gov. Ross R. Barnett of Missis
sippi.
Republican opposition in the November
general election, but he has not said
whether he will try to keep his school
board position also. Tucker has not said
whether he will run.
Political Activity
Political Leaders
Agree with Stand
Of Mississippians
Under the leadership of Gov. Orval
E. Faubus, Arkansas’s political leaders
took their stand with Gov. Ross R.
Barnett of Mississippi in Barnett’s at
tempt to prevent the desegregation of
the University of Mississippi. Faubus
went through a similar situation at
Little Rock Central High School in 1957
and lost.
On Sept. 17, Faubus expressed his
sympathy for Barnett and what he was
trying to do but on the basis of his own
experience, wondered if Barnett’s ef
forts would not be futile. He doubted
that Barnett would be arrested. “The
federal authorities are more likely to
put lesser people in jail. They didn’t
want to make a martyr out of me and
I don’t think their attitude has
changed,” he said.
A week later, Faubus was paying
tribute to Barnett’s attitude at Ole Miss
and added, “It’s all right if he can get
away with it.” On Sept. 27, about the
possible use of troops in Mississippi,
Faubus in a written statement said this
would be illegal and also would “create
a wasteland for the national Democratic
Party” throughout the South.
Calls for Alert
Just before leaving the state Sept. 28,
for a trip to a World War H unit re
union and then to the Southern Gov
ernors Conference, Faubus notified his
State Police and the Arkansas National
Guard to be on the alert for possible
racial trouble spilling over into Ar
kansas from Mississippi.
Asked about the action, he said the
move was only precautionary, that he
had heard of no trouble impending in
Arkansas.
Former Gov. Homer M. Adkins, now
a close Faubus ally and a Democratic
presidential elector in 1960, sent tele
grams Sept. 27 to President Kennedy
and Attorney General Robert F. Ken
nedy urging them not to use troops. His
message to the President said, in part:
“I urge you to immediately stop the
pressure that is being exerted by fed
eral forces in the Mississippi case to
force the integration of one man far
past college age to the detriment of five
thousand white students. My prediction
is that if you send troops to force inte
gration in any southern state you can
not hope to be re-elected in 1964. Had
it not been for the loyalty of the Demo
cratic Party in the south in 1960, you
would not be in the White House today.
I have great respect for the office of
president and would not intentionally
add to your burden.”
Justice’s Action
State Supreme Court Justice Jim
Johnson, one of the organizers of the
White Citizens Councils in Arkansas
seven years ago
and the author of
this state’s inter
position resolu
tion, sided with
Barnett and said
that he had been
in touch with
M i s sissippi
officials, offering
advice. He pre
dicted Sept. 21
that Mississippi
would succeed in
keeping its universities and colleges
segregated.
Kenneth C. Coffelt, Little Rock law
yer, announced that he too had
offered his advice and services to Gov.
Barnett. He worked with Faubus in 1957
but later turned against him because
he thought Faubus was too weak on
segregation. Coffelt ran for governor
this year, placing fourth in a field of
five.
I. S. McClinton of Little Rock, Negro
president of the Arkansas Democratic
Voters Association, said of Faubus and
Barnett, “These are our elected leaders
creating in our youth a disregard for
law. They encourage a lack of compli
ance with law, encourage law violators,
delinquents and criminals.”
★ ★ ★
Women’s Organization
Opposes Amendment 51
In its September newsletter, the
Women’s Emergency Committee for
Public Schools, of Little Rock, urged its
members to vote against proposed con
stitutional Amendment 51 in the No
vember general election.
The substance of the amendment—
that no child shall lose his right to a
public education because of refusal to
attend a desegregated school—is already
contained in four Arkansas statutes.
The Women’s Committee comment
ed:
“Amendment 51 represents another
crude and clumsy attempt to void the
effect of Brown vs. Board of Education,
the 1954 Supreme Court decision hold
ing that school segregation violates the
14th Amendment of the Federal Con-
JOHNSON
Little Rock Figures Review Past
With Mississippi fighting off a fed
eral court desegregation order more
violently than did the Arkansas state
government five years ago at Little
Rock, some of the figures in the Little
Rock situation were invited to com
ment.
Here is what some of them said:
Everett Tucker Jr., president of the
Little Rock School Board since 1958:
“They will either be forced to admit
the Negro or take the only other alter
native of closing the schools. We tried
both courses here and I believe the
community prefers the plan of desegre-
dominantly Negro population. Dr. Mil
ler, in his annual report in 1961, de
voted much of his report to the prob
lems caused by this development.
The dispersal of Negro families over
most of the city and the influx of other
new families from other sections of the
country, have altered considerably the
pattern of instruction needed in the
Wilmington schools, he said.
“Realism demands that we analyze
. . . the changes taking place in the
characteristics of our students,” he
wrote. # # #
gation we have adopted over the no
schools approach.
“After six years, we now have about
70 colored children attending eight
white schools and the controversy has
abated to the point where Little Rock
has begun to achieve tangible results
again in its industrial development
program. I have heard many expres
sions of admiration for the stand that
Gov. Barnett has taken, but based on
our experience here in 1957-59, this is
a mighty high price to pay when the
ultimate outcome is so easily known.”
Amis Guthridge of Little Rock, law
yer and president of the Capital Citizens
Council, in a telegram to Attorney
General Robert F. Kennedy: “You and
your Communist friends had better
think well before you attempt to force
mongrelization and genocide on the
white people of Mississippi and the
South. The fruits of your untiring
meddling have already turned our na
tional Capital into a jungle. . .
Floyd Parsons, superintendent of
Little Rock schools since last year:
“The scars have healed and problems
have been held to a minimum through
a very sound program.”
Wane Upton, lawyer and president of
the school board in 1957 and 1958:
Little Rock paid rather a high price
for its resistance
but “in view of
what developed in
other states—not
talking about Mis
sissippi—maybe it
served a good
purpose.” He said
he meant Mem
phis, Atlanta and
other cities which
after Little Rock
began desegrega
tion peacefully.
GUTHRIDGE
TUCKER
UPTON
stitution. The type of legislation repre.
sented by this amendment has be®
repeatedly struck down by the Supreme
Court of the United States. The pas.
sage of this amendment will only me®
further expensive and futile legal
skirmishing. Arkansas has had mote
than its share of this type of dilatory
and meaningless legislation. Amend,
ment 51 represents an approach to the
school segregation problem which state
officials adopted in 1957. This approacl
has not only been unsuccessful, but i:
has left in its wake immense damage tt
our state and nation Eind it is time tt
abandon such trickery.”
★ ★ ★
Democratic Platform
Softens 1960 Stand
In its biennial convention Sept. 12
the Democratic Party of Arkansa
adopted a platform which toned dow>
slightly the usual section on segrega
tion.
Out of the 1960 platform, it repeatet
a long section praising what Gov
Faubus has done in this field; then in-
stead of a detailed expression oppos
ing federal usurpation of states rights
it gave a short statement of belief it
states rights.
The Republicans of Arkansas, rejuve
nated by Winthrop Rockefeller who is
now the state’s Republican national
committeeman, are making their firs
serious run at state offices in moden
times, and the Democrats put in mos
of their convention time condemn®
the Republicans.
One of the GOP candidates, Dr. Ken
neth G. Jones of Little Rock, who i
opposing incumbent J. W. (Bill) Ful
bright for the Senate, includes amon
some of the things he is for the follow
ing: States’ rights, self-government
requiring Supreme Court justices t
have previous judicial experience, an
local school control.
Dr. William H. Townsend, Negr
optometrist, is one of three candidate
for a position on the Little Rock Cit
Manager Board in the November gen
eral election.
Legal Action
Briefs Submitted
In New Dollar way
Admission Effort
Both sides in the Dollarway cae
(Dove v. Parham) submitted briefs i
the action in which George Howard Ji
Negro lawyer and state president t
the NAACP, is trying to get his daugl
ter Sarah, 14, admitted to white Dollar
way High School. Howard filed his bri
Sept. 13 and the school board filed ne-'
day.
Howard made no reference in t
brief to a question raised by Feder
Judge J. Smith Henley in a heari
Sept. 6 as to whether a desegregate
plan actually was needed in the Dolls 1
way District.
Judge Henley had brought up #
question because Sarah Howard *
the only Negro to apply this year f‘
admission to the white school and no-
applied for admission to the first gra£
The court-approved Dollarway pt
is to admit qualified Negro first-grads
but to avoid admitting pupils at high’
grades. Instead, Howard argued in t
brief that the only reason his daugW
had not been admitted to the wl®
school was her race.
Charges Race Factor
“Had the plaintiff been a white cb
she would have been permitted to S
roll at the Dollarway High School 0
would have been admitted without b
ing subjected to a hearing, cro^
examination by board members and 1
board’s attorneys, and the time and s
pense involved in this hearing,” HoW*
wrote of his daughter.
In the school board brief, Attorf
Herschel H. Friday Jr. of Little BP
spent most of his argument on “
question Judge Henley had raised-
plan is needed and should be used d®
ing the transition from a segregated,
a desegregated school system, he
“Having found the need, certainly
court should allow sufficient time *
the plan to effectively operate,” he &
As for the reason that no Negro d®
graders applied under the plan f° r *
mission to the white school this r.
said
tt
the school board attorney saw* ^
there was not enough evidence Ui
record to make a determination. ^
(See ARKANSAS, Page 9)