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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—OCTOBER, 1962—PAGE 9
Arkansas GEORGIA
(Continued From Page 8)
ences could be drawn but they cannot
be supported by the available evidence,
he said.
“For example, we might infer that
the reason stems from a determination
that this is the most effective way to
thwart the successful operation of the
plan,” he wrote.
Judge Henley has the matter under j
advisement.
Questions Need
In the hearing on Sept. 6, Judge Hen
ley said that if only one or two Negro
pupils, or none, were going to apply
for the white school each year, then he
could not see why the school board
needed a desegregation plan.
Noting that there are only two Ne
groes in the Dollarway School this year,
Henley said that no specific number of
Negroes was re
quired. “I think
that the consti
tutional questions
and the lega
problems are not
necessarily ans
wered one way or
the other by the
number of Negro
students who at
tend,” he went on.
But the inter-
venors (Howard
and his daughter) say that the policies
and assignment procedures of the board
—the requirements that the Negroes
come forward and some other things—
impose a burden on them and subject
them to hazards in their private em
ployment so that they are reluctant . .
to seek assignment to the white school
They say this burden imposed on them
is considerable and unconstitutional.
The board of course takes issue with
that.”
One of Two Things
But since only one Negro applied this
year, and that one in the 10th grade
and not in the first grade, Judge Hen
ley said that one of two things must be
true: “There is either little demand for
Negro attendance at the white school or
something is happening to keep them
from applying.”
“Now if it’s the plan that keeps them
from applying in any greater numbers,
maybe there’s something wrong with
the plan. But if there really is no
greater demand—if it’s only two one
year and none the next and one the
nex t—the court can’t really see why
you need a plan. Now that’s the
dilemma the court’s in, and I wonder
whether the board has given any con
sideration to taking a broader view ir
light of what appears to be a very
small demand numerically.” # # #
Books And
The Issue
The Library of Southern Educa
tion Reporting Service has acquired
these books on the race issue:
RACE TENSIONS AND THE POLICE
by J. E. Curry and Glen D. King.
Charles C. Thomas, 1962, 137 pp.
Chief Curry and Capt. King of the
alias Police Department have pre
pared for other law enforcement offi-
cers a guide for enforcing the law when
ensions arise from disagreement be-
ween racial groups. Suggestions are
ntade for controlling unruly crowds
during racial violence.
LET US BEGIN
edited by Richard L. Grossman. Simon
and Schuster, 1961, 145 pp.
he first 100 days of the Kennedy
administration are told in commen
taries by Martin Agronsky, Eric F.
o dman, Sidney Hyman, Barbara
Ward, Wallace Westfeldt Jr. and Ira
olfert, and in pictures by Cornell
a Pa, Henri Cartier-Bressen, Elliott
rwitt, Burt Glinn, Constantine Manos,
*>, Morath, Marc Riboud, Dennis
tock and Nicolas Tikhomiroff.
NEWCOMERS: Negroes and Puer-
d Ricans in a Changing Metropolis
if scar Handlin. Anchor Books, Dou-
leday & C o„ 1959, 177 pp.
. he tw ° most recently arrived min-
PoTe gr ° Ups ' n the New York metro-
Da Uj 0 area are examined and com-
enr w Rh the situation and experi-
es of earlier ethnic groups.
CONGRESS AND THE COURT
Cvi- aker E. Murphy. University oi
*Mcago Press, 1962, 308 pp.
6 re lationship between the Con-
1 « an ^ the Supreme Court is ana-
l e ?, ’ with the main theme being the
1954 ? iVe attacks on the court from
Dr f ° ^59. The author is associate
ver -f. SOr Politics at Princeton Uni-
6rSlty - # # 4
Emory Wins Permission
To Admit Negro Students
MACON
he Georgia Supreme Court
unanimously ruled on Sept. 14
that Emory University (near At
lanta) can be desegregated with
out losing its tax-exempt status.
The ruling means that Emory, op
erated by the Methodist Church, could
admit Douglas A. Rucker, a Negro
dental student who applied for admis
sion last Nov. 7.
Since the decision held that private
colleges in Georgia would not lose their
state tax exemption if they admit Negro
students, it also would apply to Mercer
University in Macon, where two or
more Negroes already have applied but
have been adjudged unqualified by the
standards set for admission of all stu
dents. Mercer is a Baptist institution.
Dr. Rufus C. Harris, president of
Mercer, said he favored desegregation
of the school and would recommend it
to the trustees when a qualified Negro
applies for admission.
Court’s Analysis
Action had been withheld by Emory
on Rucker’s application pending a rul
ing on an apparent conflict in two sec
tions of the 1946 state constitution.
The Georgia Supreme Court gave this
analysis of the conflicting sections:
“The first one, standing alone, means
that no private school is entitled to tax
exemption unless it is open to the gen
eral public without regard to race and
color.
“The second, standing alone, means
that a private school would not be en
titled to a tax exemption unless it is
operated on a segregated basis as to the
white and colored races.
“Since there is unquestionably an ir
reconcilable conflict between these two
provisos, they completely neutralize
and destroy each other.”
Both the 1946 state constitution and
subsequent laws exempt private col
leges from the payment of state taxes
on real, personal and intangible prop
erty.
Dr. Judson Ward, Emory vice presi
dent and dean of faculties, said, “Emory
admissions officials are now free to
consider applications from all persons
without regard to race or color.”
Rucker was understood to have en
tered Howard University in Washing
ton, D. C., but two Negro women were
expected to seek enrollment in the
Emory nursing program.
★ ★ ★
Judge Orders New Hearing
In Attack on Atlanta Plan
Another hearing on an NAACP at
tack on Atlanta’s pupil placement plan
was ordered by U. S. Judge Frank A.
Hooper. A hearing was held July 31
after the NAACP moved this spring to
do away with the plan approved by the
judge in 1960.
Judge Hooper’s order noted that the
Negroes for the “first time” criticize the
grade-a-year desegregation plan. He
said, “The criticism to this plan now
offered for the first time is that it pro
vides for certain tests to be given to
pupils desiring to transfer from one
school to another, such transfers now
applying to the 12th, 11th and 10th
grades,” but does not require that the
same tests be given to students entering
the same grade after being promoted
from lower grades at that school.
No special examinations were given
transferring Negro students who en
tered primarily white schools this fall,
Gone With the Wind
—Brooks, Birmingham News
Georgia Highlights
A Georgia Supreme Court ruling
cleared the way for private colleges
in the state to admit qualified Ne
groes without losing tax-exempt
status.
Another hearing in federal court
was set to hear an NAACP attack
on Atlanta’s pupil placement deseg
regation plan.
A moderate candidate, State Sen
ator Carl Sanders, won a guberna
torial battle with a strong segreea-
tionist, former Gov. Marvin Griffin.
Peter Zack Geer defeated Lester
Maddox in a runoff to become the
Democratic nominee for lieutenant
governor.
Six Negroes were at Georgia Tech
and six Negroes were at the Uni
versity of Georgia as the state’s
University System units opened for
the fall term.
but examinations given all students in
the city high schools were used, the
Atlanta school board contended. Dr.
John W. Letson, superintendent, said,
however, that use was made of inter
views designed to determine adjust
ability to the new schools, and prox
imity to both schools was considered.
Submit New Plan
NAACP attorneys have submitted a
new plan to the court by which all city
high schools would be fully desegre
gated in the fall of 1963, including
faculties and activities, with the fourth
through the seventh grades to follow in
1964 and the first three grades to follow
in 1965.
Judge Hooper said a statement by
Judge Elbert P. Tuttle in a Fifth Cir
cuit Court of Appeals decision holding
that tests required of students trans
ferring must be applied “to all students
and not only to those wishing trans
fers” was in connection with admitting
evidence on why a lower court’s dis
missal of a case erred, and was not
elaborated upon.
The judge said he was setting the
case down for further argument to
clarify three questions:
“1. As to students who have been
for several years in a particular school,
have already passed certain tests year
by year and are qualified to pass other
tests for promotion to a higher grade,
is it necessary or feasible to give them
the same tests that would be required
of student transfers, from another
school?”
“2. Since such students, who are well
known to the faculty and students of
the schools they have been attending,
live in the area, are well adjusted to
the school, and may possibly be cap
able of classification without other tests:
is it nevertheless necessary under
plaintiffs’ contentions for them to re
ceive the same tests as given to stu
dents who are from other areas and
other schools desiring to transfer?”
“3. What is the position of the de
fendants (Atlanta school board) ... as
to one instance shown by evidence
where a Negro pupil allegedly was
transferred on account of crowded con
ditions to another Negro school al
though there was a white school nearer
to his residence?”
“The court should determine whether
that is a general policy of defendants,
whether it is discriminatory and
whether it should be enjoined in the
future.”
★ ★ ★
Savannah Suit Dismissed;
Issue for State Courts
U. S. Judge Frank M. Scarlett on
Sept. 7 dismissed a suit of a group of
Savannah residents against converting
a white school in their neighborhood to
Negro use. Scarlett said protests
brought by residents of the vicinity of
Barnard School, long attended by white
students, presented an issue for the
state to decide instead of the federal
courts.
The whites complained that their
property values would be damaged and
social problems created by installing
Negro pupils in the school.
Basil Morris, attorney for the school
board, said, “Only 11 out of the thou
sands that live in that neighborhood are
protesting.” He argued that no consti
tutional question was involved since
(See GEORGIA, Page 16)
Peter Zack Geer
Won the runoff
Political Activity
Carl Sanders
The next governor
Carl Sanders Wins Democratic
Nomination in Governor’s Race
State Senator Carl Sanders of Au
gusta won the Democratic guberna
torial nomination over former Gov.
Marvin Griffin of Bainbridge by 494,-
978 votes to 332,746 votes in the state
primary Sept. 12. Sanders will have no
Republican opposition in the general
election.
In the contest for lieutenant governor,
Peter Zack Geer, former executive
aide to Gov. Ernest Vandiver, was high
man with 187,770 votes. Lester Mad
dox, an unsuccessful candidate for
mayor of Atlanta last year, was second
with 138,065. On Sept. 26, Geer de
feated Maddox in a runoff.
It was the first time a Democratic
party primary was held on a popular
vote basis in more than half-a-century
and the total vote of approximately
852,000 was the largest ever to be cast
in any election in Georgia.
Sanders received 162,232 more popu
lar votes than did Griffin. He also
would have won even had the old
county unit system of vote counting
been used.
Sanders is a lifelong segregationist
but his campaign platform called for
efforts to preserve as many of the cus
toms and statutes concerning it as pos
sible “within the framework of law
and order under our Georgia laws.”
Later in the month, when Griffin
forces tried to put through a resolution
commending Gov. Ross Barnett of Mis
sissippi during a special legislative ses
sion, Sanders said he did not think
Barnett could ultimately be successful
in defiance of the law.
“If I could achieve something by go
ing to jail and making a martyr of my
self, I’d do it,” he said. “But I cer
tainly don’t think going to jail without
accomplishing anything and perhaps
bringing ridicule on my state in the
process is a wise course of action.”
However, Sanders added: “If Gov.
Barnett does come up with some legal
means of blocking desegregation, it will
certainly be followed elsewhere in the
South.”
Racial Lawlessness
Speculation immediately arose as to
whether Griffin’s failure to win the
governorship on a campaign platform of
all-out resistance to further desegrega
tion signalled the end of an era. Many
political observers predicted that it did.
They said the state had seen its last
major political contest in which racial
affairs were a major issue. Other ob
servers pointed out, however, that two
ardent segregationists led the field of
nine candidates in the lieutenant gov
ernorship race, and suggested that the
major cause of Griffin’s downfall was
Sanders’s constant hammering on the
scandals uncovered during the Griffin
administration.
Tide Turned
It was generally agreed that Griffin
seemed to be gaining while Albany was
undergoing racial disturbances but that
the tide turned against Griffin after
several incidents of shooting and
church burnings by night riders.
Sanders, a 37-year-old lawyer, cred
ited his victory to attacks on the Grif
fin record and said results showed
Georgians no longer can be fooled by
injection of racial issues into a cam
paign. He called the voters too intelli
gent to fall for such an approach in
the future.
‘We Didn’t Go Far Enough—
We Should Have Been
Against Voting by White
People, Too’
—Herblock, Washington Post
Gov. Ernest Vandiver said Georgians
turned their backs on racial lawless
ness in nominating Sanders.
Conceding defeat, Griffin said he “ran
the best race that I knew how to run—-
I shall hold my head high.”
Later, Griffin said “Ninety-five per
cent of the Negro vote is under the
domination of the NAACP and Sanders
got this 95 per cent bloc vote. The
NAACP vote alone is sufficient to win
any election with the white people di
vided and the white people were about
evenly divided in the Sept. 12 pri
mary.”
Many political observers commented
| on the swing to moderation, which
seemed to have been experienced by
Geer and Maddox in their runoff cam-
! paign.
Geer, who praised rioting University
of Georgia students for “courage” and
“character” when their school was de
segregated, called Maddox a “racial ex-
j tremist” endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan
j and added, “I respect the majesty of the
| law.” In answer to a question, Geer said
j Gov. Ross Barnett was “engaged in an
exercise in futility.”
Maddox, generally considered At
lanta’s No. 1 segregationist, called Geer
“a man with hate in his heart” and
charged Geer had made “ugly, intem
perate remarks” on racial issues.
Byrd Supporters
Arguing that there was really no
j choice between Geer and Maddox a
group of supporters of Lt. Gov. Garland
Byrd of Reynolds launched a drive to
get him on the general election ballot
as an independent candidate for lieu
tenant governor.
To get Byrd the ballot, under
Georgia law, petitions signed by five
per cent of the registered voters from
the 1960 registration list had to be sub
mitted by midnight Sept. 21. This would
have been 65,107 signatures. An un
precedented five-day drive began after
Byrd indicated he would be a candidate
if enough signatures were obtained.
Terming the drive a campaign of the
“people against the politicians,” A. De-
Jongh Franklin, an Atlanta attorney,
spearheaded efforts to obtain signatures
over the state and fly them to Atlanta.
Secretary of State Ben Fortson said
65,209 names were turned in but enough
were invalid to prevent Byrd’s name
going on the general election ballot.
Franklin said some 69,000 names were
on petitions taken to the secretary of
state’s office.