Newspaper Page Text
page 4—NOVEMBER, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Virginia
Negro Attends Branch College
One Day; Transfers Voluntarily
RICHMOND
S outhside Virginia’s so-called
Black Belt had its first class
room desegregation in October,
but it lasted only one day.
Hazel Ruth Adams, a 17-year-old
Negro girl, attended classes at the new
ly opened Patrick Henry College at
Martinsville Monday, Oct. 15. The fol
lowing day she returned to the all-
Negro Virginia State College at Peters
burg, which she attended last year.
Miss Adams said she left Patrick
Henry because the classes she wanted
were full and were closed to further
enrollment.
On Oct. 3 attorneys for Miss Adams
had filed suit in the federal district
court at Danville to have her admitted
to the Martinsville school, a junior col
lege branch of the University of Vir
ginia. (Adams v. Rector and Board of
Visitors of the University of Virginia.)
On Oct. 4 Paul Saunier Jr., assistant
to the president of the university, issued
this statement:
“The news report that Hazel Ruth
Adams has filed suit for admission to
our Patrick Henry branch at Martins
ville comes as a surprise to the univer
sity. The information we have here in
dicates that Hazel Ruth Adams applied
for entrance to the branch in August
and presented herself for registration
on Sept. 4. At that time her papers,
together with the papers of others who
had applied in the same period, were
under review by the admissions com
mittee here in Charlottesville. Haze
Ruth Adams and several other appli
cants were therefore told to return th»
following week.
“Although a number of these appli
cants did return the following week and
were registered, Hazel Ruth Adams
failed to present herself at the branch
during the next week and has not sub
sequently presented herself or writter
to inquire about her status. It was
therefore concluded here that she pro
ceeded with other plans. Classes ha* e
been under way for about two weeks
now.”
Prepared to Admit
On Oct. 10, when the Adams case
came up for hearing in federal distric
court at Charlottesville, counsel for the
university told the court that “we are
prepared to admit Miss Adams ox
proper filing of application and enroll
ment forms.”
On the following day, 10 of the 11
members of the Patrick Henry advisory
board, made up of citizens of tb 5
Southside community, issued a state
ment criticizing university officials for
agreeing to admit the girl. They charge:
that Miss Adams was being admittec
solely because of her race, and that r
white eirl who had applied late, as they
said Miss Adams did, would have beet
turned down.
Failure of the university to fight the
desegregation suit showed, the board
said, that the institution “will not sub
scribe to the clearly declared policy
of our state government to defend such
suits wherever and whenever possible ”
The board added that Southside Virgin
ians were assured at the time the
branch college was authorized by the
General Assembly early this year that
university authorities would use “all
administrative procedures” to discour
age desegregation.
On Friday, Oct. 12, Miss Adams was
registered at Martinsville, and on the
following Monday she attended classes
in chemistry, mathematics and Spanish
But on Tuesday, the university issued
a statement saying the girl had written
a letter of withdrawal that “said that
after enrolling in classes at the branch
she found that the classes she had been
taking at Virginia State were better for
her intended course of study.”
Needed Courses
Back at Virginia State the next day,
Miss Adams explained that she learned
after registering at Patrick Henry that
classes in commercial law and account
ing, which she planned to take, had
reached capacity. She said she needed
these courses in seeking a degree in
commerce.
The girl said that while at Patrick
Henry she heard no uncomplimentary
remarks and that the school’s officials
were “extremely pleasant and courte
ous.” However, none of the students
spoke to her, she reported.
After Miss Adams had withdrawn,
Patrick Henry’s advisory board chair
man, Francis T. West, said the girl’s
action confirmed his conviction “that
the Hazel Ruth Adams case was one
of comedy, tragic comedy.”
Virginia Highlights
Southside Virginia experienced
its first classroom desegregation
when a 17-year-old Negro girl spent
one day at the Patrick Henry Branch
College of the University of Virginia
at Martinsville.
Prince Edward County’s all-white
private school system reported an
enrollment of 1,251, as 101 or more
Negro children left the county to at
tend schools elsewhere.
President Kennedy gave former
Gov. J. Lindsay Almond Jr., a recess
appointment to a federal judgeship
after the U.S. Senate adjourned
without confirming the original ap
pointment.
Fifteen additional Negroes entered
white or predominantly white schools
in Charlottesville, and two entered a
desegregated school in Lynchburg.
8 fm f m
“Unquestionably,” he continued, “she
was an unwitting tool of those deter
mined to make race an issue in a com
munity enterprise which has enthusias
tic support in overwhelming measure
from our local people. Now that the
agitators have had their way, I think
any enthusiasm that has temporarily
waned will be reasserted and the area
populace may go back to the business
of getting the Patrick Henry Branch
College off to a wholesome start.”
State Sen. William F. Stone, a mem
ber of the board, said it is “obvious
the girl never intended to attend Pat
rick Henry College. I have reason to
believe her tuition was paid by the
NAACP. Furthermore, she never
bought any books. It was a test case
that made a mockery out of the fed
eral court and the University of Vir
ginia.”
Patrick Henry, which began operation
Sept. 17, has around 100 day students
and about 240 in night classes. The
parent institution, the University of
Virginia at Charlottesville, has been
desegregated since 1951, and between
25 and 30 Negroes are now in classes
there.
Community Action
1,251 Students
In Prince Edward
Private Schools
An enrollment of 1,251 students in
the Prince Edward School Foundation
schools was announced Oct. 12 by B
Blanton Hanbury, president. This was
29 fewer than were enrolled when
schools closed last spring.
Last school year, its third year of
operation, the foundation’s school sys
tem cost $363,513.57, according to fig
ures presented to the board of directors
at a meeting Oct. 8. Of this total ex
penditure, $192,939.17 came from school
patrons in tuition fees, while the re
mainder was from other sources.
The board adopted a budget of ap
proximately $355,000 for the current
year. This will be financed largely from
tuition fees ($240 for lower school stu
dents and $265 for upper school stu
dents) and by donations. The number
of full-time teachers this year is 62,
three less than last year.
On the same night that the foundation
board met, the county’s public school
board, which has no schools to operate,
held its monthly meeting. The latter
group heard a report on maintenance
work being done on the closed public
schools and ordered the renewal of an
nual fire insurance policies covering the
buildings.
101 Negroes Elsewhere
By the end of October, 101 Negro
children from Prince Edward County
were attending schools elsewhere in
Virginia under a program of the Vir
ginia Teachers Association. The VTA,
an organization of Negro teachers and
other educators, decided last August to
try to place a total of 200 Negro chil
dren through its 123 local chapters in
the state.
Dr. J. Runert Picott, executive secre
tary, told Southern School News that
the VTA had delayed its efforts in this
direction until recently because of un
certainty as to whether the county’s
public schools would be reopened this
fall by court order—or otherwise. He
said the association still hopes to be
able to place a total of 200 children
during the current school year.
The 101 children are living with fam
ilies in various parts of the state and
attending the local public schools.
★ ★ ★
Prince Edward County’s public schools
were closed by “the small number of
wealthy members of the county . . .
[who] have a desire to relieve them
selves of the financial burden of being
the principal supporters of a public
school system,” Dr. C. G. Gordon Moss,
dean of Longwood College, said in a
speech at Charlottesville Oct. 25.
Speaking to the Charlottesville chap
ter of the Council on Human Relations,
Dr. Moss reported that after the county
supervisors refused to appropriate funds
for shcools in 1959, he attempted to
find some way to keep the schools
open.
He said that two local Negro leaders—
including the Rev. Frances Griffin, then
head of the NAACP in the county—
agreed to “a far greater concession than
Political Activity
Former Governor Almond Gets
Recess Appointment as Judge
President Kennedy gave former Vir
ginia Gov. J. Lindsay Almond Jr., a re
cess appointment to the United States
Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
after the Senate adjourned without act
ing on the Almond nomination.
Under terms of the Oct. 24 appoint
ment, Judge Almond will serve in the
$25,500 a year post at least until the end
of the next session
of the Senate. If
the Senate con
firms him, the
appointment will
then be for life. If
it refuses to con
firm, Almond could
be appointed for
another recess
term, but without
pay. If confirma
tion were subse
quently given by
the Senate, pay would be retroactive.
During his press conference on Aug.
22, President Kennedy was asked about
the Senate’s failure to act on the nom
ination up to that time, which was four
months after Almond’s name had been
submitted, and whether he would
make a recess appointment if the Senate
adjourned without acting.
Kennedy replied:
ALMOND
“I don’t quite understand why the
Senate is failing to act. Gov. Almond is
a distinguished governor of Virginia. It
was my understanding when his name
was sent up there that there was no
objection by the senators involved. I
regret very much that the Senate isn’t
acting. I hope it will be before the Sen
ate has ended. I will make a judgment
on what we do if it doesn’t act at that
time, but I am still hopeful that the
Senate will act, because I think Gov.
Almond will be a very good judge.”
The Almond nomination never was
acted on by the Senate Judiciary Com
mittee, headed by Sen. James O. East-
land of Mississippi. In Virginia, it is
generally accepted that failure to act
was due to opposition to Almond on the
part of Virginia’s senior senator, Harry
F. Byrd.
Almond and Byrd split sharply in
1959 over the question of school dese
gregation when Almond, then governor
recommended to the General Assembly
a freedom-of-choice program to prevent
closing of the public schools. Byrd had
been a supporter of the state’s former
policy of “massive resistance” to any
school desegregation. Byrd has never
publicly commented on the Almond
nomination.
Southern School News
L<
Southern School News is the official publication of the Southern Education
Reporting Service, an objective, fact-finding agency established by Southern
newspaper editors and educators with the aim of providing accurate, unbiased
information to school administrators, public officials and interested lay citizens
on developments in education arising from the U. S. Supreme Court opinion of
May 17, 1954, declaring compulsory segregation in the public schools unconstitu
tional. SERS is not an advocate, is neither pro-segregation nor anti-segregation,
but simply reports the facts as it finds them, state-by-state.
Published monthly by Southern Education Reporting Service at 1109 19th Ave.,
S., Nashville, Tennessee.
Second class postage paid at Nashville, Tennessee.
OFFICERS
Bert Struby Chairman
Thomas R. Waring Vice Chairman
Reed Sarratt Executive Director
Tom Flake, Director of Publications
Jim Leeson, Director of Information and Research
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Frank R. Ahlgren, Editor, The Commer- Reed Sarratt, Executive Director, South-
cial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn. ern Education Reporting Service
,, . „ , ii w j John Seigenthaler, Editor, Nashville
Harvie Branscomb, Chancellor, Vander- T ., , T
. .. .. , .1, T Tennessean, Nashville, Tenn.
bilt University, Nashville, Tenn. Don shoemakeri Editori M!ami H erald,
Luther H. Foster, President, Tuskegee Miami, Fla.
Institute, Tuskegee Institute, Ala. Bert Struby, General Manager, Macon
C. A. McKnight, Editor, Charlotte Ob- Telegraph and News Macon Ga
server. Charlotte, N.C. Th J mas *• Waring Editor The News
& Courier, Charleston, 5.C.
Charles, Moss, Executive Editor, Nash- Henry I. Willett, Superintendent of
ville Banner, Nashville, Tenn. Schools, Richmond, Va.
Felix C. Robb, President, George Pea- Stephen J. Wright, President, Fisk Uni
body College, Nashville, Tenn. versity, Nashville, Tenn.
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News Banner
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Louisville Courier-Journal reau, Dallas News
LOUISIANA VIRGINIA
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MARYLAND WEST VIRGINIA
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MAIL ADDRESS
P.O. Box 6156, Acklen Station, Nashville 12, Tennessee.
I realized at the time”: They agreed
to advocate voluntary segregation in
public schools for three years if the
schools were kept open.
The Longwood dean told the council
that when he took this agreement to
one of the county’s community and
business leaders—J. Barrye Wall, editor
and publisher of the Farmville Herald
—the latter replied that he “would not
discuss resumption of schools with any
body.”
Took Issue
Later, various county leaders took
issue with Dr. Moss’s statements.
Wall, a member of the board of the
Prince Edward School Foundation,
which operates the private segregated
schools for white children, made this
comment:
“A year or so ago, I believe in 1960,
Dr. Moss proposed to me and two other
of his friends than an interracial meet
ing be arranged with NAACP leaders.
He stated that he had been in confer
ence with them and had the sugges
tion that they would use their influence
to deter any Negro applicants to the
Prince Edward schools for a period of
three years if the schools were placed
in operation.”
Wall said he felt that if he accepted
the proposal, it would have bound him
morally to support racial desegregation
after the three-year period had ended.
The vote was by a show of hast
Reporters said there were only a sc*
tering of “No” votes. A PTA offiP
estimated the count at about 700 i
the resolution and 50 against it.
Legal Action
★ ★ ★
Meeting in annual convention in
Richmond Oct. 17, the Virginia Con
gress of Parents and Teachers voted
to urge Gov. Albertis S. Harrison to
“initiate such steps and such actions
as are necessary to provide the oppor
tunity for free public education to all
children of the commonwealth.” The
resolution, as originally drafted, spe
cifically named Prince Edward County,
but it did not mention any locality in
the final form that was passed.
17 More Negroes
In Desegregated
Public Schools
Seventeen additional Negroes ente
desegregated Virginia public school
October—15 in Charlottesville a 11 **
in Lynchburg—pursuant to court 1
ders. J
The IT. S. Fourth Circuit Coup
Appeals on Sept. 17 struck down a 9
tion of Charlottesville’s desegreg 8 ^
plan and ordered Negro plaintiffs
mitted to the city’s white or pr^L
inantly white schools. (Dodson v.
lottesville School Board.) i
On Oct. 11 the city petitioned ^
U. S. Supreme Court to reV * e ^J
circuit court’s ruling. On Oct. 19 ^
Justice Earl Warren denied the .
request that the lower court’s ° r< ^ (
admission of the children be
pending Supreme Court action. ,
Four of the children entered ^
Elementary, marking the first d e
gation of that school. The others e
Lane High and Venable El
which were already desegregate .J
are now 60 Negroes in deseg r0S j
schools in Charlottesville. ,
Two more Negroes entered e ■
gated E. C. Glass High School in ^
burg Oct. 22 pursuant to a ruling^
U.S. Fourth Circuit Court Sept- ^
a subsequent order by Distric
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