Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6— NOVEMBER. 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
TENNESSEE
Pupil Transfer Provisions Face
Review By U. S. Supreme Court
(Continued From Page 1)
court, the Davidson County system will
desegregate an additional grade each
year—keeping pace with the Nashville
city school system. (The systems are
being merged under a metropolitan
government plan.)
Counsel for the Davidson Countv
school board, in a bnef. asked the Su
preme Court to refuse a heading on the
Neg-oes’ anpeal and. in effect, to let the
appeals court ruling stand.
The brief said the plan was shown bv
exoerience to be workable and that
lower federal courts had retained iuHs-
diction to insure that it is not used to
deprive anyone of a constitutional right.
‘Results of Concentration’
In a similar brief, the Knoxville board
said school officials “cannot avoid deal
ing with the results of concentration of
Neoroes in one place and whites in
another.”
Tke bnef added:
“Wken a tmoil makes a voluntarv
aDnMcation for transfer in the interest
of b°tter schooling atmosohere for him
self. the board is obi''gated to helo h ; m
out. The transfer of that child, whethe-
white or black, is not in itself a racial
denial of another child’s application. ..”
Avon N. Williams Jr. of Nashville
attorney for Negro students in both
cases, said the anneals court decisions
were annealed after the TT S Fifth Cir
cuit Court of Anneals had ruled that a
similar nunil transfer Han in Texas w"s
unconstitutional- He also said the TJ ^
Fourth Circuit Court of Anneals had
stmek down a similar transfer plan in
Virginia.
Conflicting Rulings
“We have pointed out to the Supreme
Court the conflict in the nil-'nes bv the
circuit appeals court,” Williams said
He added:
“The transfer provision is unconstitu
tional in the fir=t place because it pred
icates the right to attend a certain
school on the basis of the race of th°
child. The plan is d ; scr 5 minatorv also
because it reauires children who are m
the maiority in the school district or
classroom to remain there once thev
have been assigned wh : le it grants mi
nority children a transfer.”
Williams contended that the racial
basis for transfers is “a denial of equal
protection under the law.”
Transfer provisions in both plans es
sentially are the same as the Nashville
plan which has served as a model in
many other cities. U S. District Court
at Nashville annroved the Na c hvi]le
plan in 1957. The U.S. Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals upheld it in 1959 and
later that same year the Supreme
Court, by a vote of six to three al
lowed the appeals court ruling to stand
by refusing to review the case.
Political Activity
Beverly Briley was elected mayor of
the consolidated Nashville and Davidson
County metropolitan government Nov.
6, defeating a candidate backed by the
Davidson County Independent Political
Council, a Negro “solidarity” organiza
tion.
Briley, who has been county judge
since 1950, defeated Metropolitan Tax
Assessor Clifford Allen 58,333 to 34,466
Allen carried various precincts heavily
populated by Negroes.
The council’s endorsement of Allen
came on Oct. 11 during a meeting at
Fisk University. A representative of
Briley, attorney Clay Bailey, contended
that Allen in previous years had ex
pressed a preference for school segre
gation.
Bailey contended that Allen, as an
unsuccessful candidate for governor in
1958, had declared in Chattanooga that
he favored separate but equal facilities.
The attorney said Allen had made a
similar statement in Crossville in 1954
when he appeared in behalf of the
candidacy of former Gov. Gordon
Browning.
Attorney Avon N. Williams Jr., who
has served as Negro counsel in name .--
ous school desegregation cases, presided
over the meeting.
The metropolitan mayor and a 40-
Tennessee Highlights
Pupil transfer provisions in the
Davidson County and Knoxville de
segregation plans face a review by
the U.S. Supreme Court.
Three Negroes have been enrolled
by Christian Brothers College at
Memphis.
The director of Potomac Institute,
Harold C. Fleming, predicted in
Chattanooga on Oct. 11 that James
Meredith will “finish his course” at
the University of Mississippi.
Robert Patterson of Greenwood,
Miss., Citizens’ Councils of America
executive secretary, told the Jackson,
Tenn., Citizens’ Council on Oct. 16
that “we have just begun to fight the
integration movement.”
Beverly Briley was elected mayor
of the new Nashville-Davidson County
metropolitan government by a 24,-
000-vote plurality over Clifford Allen,
who had the endorsement of the Da
vidson County Independent Political
Council, an organization seeking vot
ing solidarity among Negroes.
What They Say
Fleming Foresees
Ole Miss Degree
For Negro Student
Harold C. Fleming, director of Po
tomac Institute, told the Tennessee
Conference on Human Relations at
Chattanooga on Oct. 11 that “it is quite
clear that (James) Meredith will finish
his course” at the University of Missis
sippi.
“If he doesn’t, someone else will,”
Fleming told the statewide group.
Fleming said minority groups must
make themselves hea r d throughout the
nation if equal opportunities a e to be
reflected by positive action. He said
equal opportunities in education and
other fields now are achievable by law
but not in reality.
More than 135 persons attended the
meeting which also included presenta
tion of reports on the status of desegre
gation in schools and other facilities
throughout the state.
‘Just Begun to Fight,’
Council Leader Says
Robert Patterson of Greenwood,
Miss., executive secretary of the Citi
zens’ Councils of America, said in Jack-
son, Tenn., on Oct. 16 that “the dark
member council will assume thei
duties next April when the consolidated
government charter becomes effective
The council will have at least four Ne
gro members, and another Negro wil
compete against a white candidate in
runoff election Nov. 27.
Nashville’s present mayor, Ben West,
was not a candidate for the metro
politan mayor’s post.
A transitional school board already
has been named to make plans for
combining the city and county school
systems, both of which have desegre
gated the first six grades in compliance
with federal court orders. An additional
grade is scheduled to be desegregated
each year.
cloud now hanging over Mississippi has
a silver lining.”
Patterson, who also heads the Missis
sippi Citizens Council, told about 250
persons attending a meeting of the
Jackson Citizens Council:
“We would like to serve warning to
the ruthless politicians that we have
just begun to fight the integration
movement.”
Patterson said that President Ken
nedy has “lost many white Southern
votes by sending troops into Missis
sippi” and declared:
“Not in the . . . Sack’
“The South is not in the Democratic
sack anymore. ... In my opinion the
Republican Party may be in a position
to get the South’s vote if they want it
(in 1964).”
Patterson also said that, contrary to
“prevailing opinion,” the University of
Mississippi “is not an integrated school.”
He added: “James Howard Meredith is
the most segregated Negro in the Unit
ed States. He is virtually a prisoner at
the university.”
“We plan to resist the movement to
integrate the schools by utilizing both
the political and economic power of the
South,” Patterson continued, “our peo
ple are more against the movement
than ever before.”
★ ★ *
Section of Proposed
Charter Is Debated
J. A. Beauchamp, editor of the Mem
phis World, on Oct. 18 urged members
of the Hyde Park-Hollywood Civic
League to support the proposed Mem-
phis-Shelby County consolidated gov
ernment charter because of its anti-
discrimination clause.
In a referendum held on Nov. 6, the
proposal was defeated by about two to
one but advocates promised to try again
with a revised charter. They noted tha
two attempts were required befor
“metro” succeeded in Nashville and Da
vidson County.
The Negro editor said the charter in
cludes a section “equivalent in loca
government to the 14th and 15th
Amendments to the Federal Constitu
tion.”
Dr. J. W. Jordan, a dentist, con
tended that the anti-discrimination
clause could be ignored and said the
charter would give Negroes less in
fluence than they now have in local
government.
A member of the audience asked
Beauchamp why the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of Colored
People was opposing the charter if it
favored Negro rights.
“Doesn’t prove a thin?.” Beauchamp
replied. “So is the White Citizens
Council against it.”
In the Colleges
Catholic College
Enrolls 3 Negroes
Christian Brothers College at Mem
phis has enrolled three Negro fresh
men among its 728 undergraduate
students, Brother Levian Thomas, dean,
announced early in October.
The students, all residents of Mem
phis, were admitted under the college’s
policy of accepting Negro applications
for enrollment.
After Memphis State University was
desegregated in 1959, the CBC board of
trustees adopted the policy. In I960, one
Negro student was enrolled but there
were no applications by Negroes in 1961.
Brother Thomas said the three Negro
students are en-oiled in pre-pharmacy
and engineering courses and “there has
been absolutely no problem in their
acceptance by the other students in the
college.”
Miscellaneous
Citizens’ Council
Disclaims Kasper
Lewis Frazer, president of the Nash
ville Citizens’ Council, issued a state
ment on Oct. 3 declaring that John
Kasper, segregation leader during de
segregation of Nashville schools in
1957, is not affiliated with his organiza
tion.
“John Kasper is not now, has never
been, nor ever will be a member of the
Negro Voters Group Endorses
Candidate in Metro Elections
BRILEY
ALLEN
Texas
(Continued From Page 3)
increased from 2,920 to 3,282 and lack
of dormitory space kept enrollment
from going higher. At Texas Southern
University (Houston), enrollment grew
from 3,292 to 3,517.
Schoolmen
Biracial Schools
Revealed By Six
More Districts
Six more Texas public school districts
were revealed to have admitted Ne
groes with white students this fall, and
two others made plans to do so in Sep
tember, 1963.
Reports to Texas Education Agency
revealed deseg egation, apparently for
the first time, at Patton Springs ISD,
Dickens County, which had 181 white
and no Negro students last year; Dell
City, Hudspeth County, 301 white and
no Negroes last year; Winters, Runnels
County, 1,048 white and 10 Negroes last
year; Meadow, Terry County, 341 white
and no Negroes last year; Quitaque,
Briscoe County, 256 white and 15 Ne
groes last year; and Los Fresnos, Cam
eron County, 1,092 white and no-Ne
groes last year.
The deseg egation at Quitaque was
a recent election. Reports to the edu
cation agency did not describe what
action preceded the other desegrega
tion. Apparently, these districts abol
ished segregation policies by board or
der before 1957, when the legislature
passed a law requiring referendum ap
proval.
Northeast Houston ISD agreed, be-
fo~e going to trial in a U.S. District
Court in Houston, to begin desegrega
tion in September, 1963, on a grade-a-
year basis starting in elementary
schools. A lawsuit (Eastland v. Wheat)
was filed by Negro patrons of the dis
trict in October, 1961. Northeast Hous
ton ISD, in a suburb of Houston, has
8,669 white and 116 Negro pupils this
year.
Desegregation Planned
Schools in Brownfield, Terry County,
will drop segregation also next fall, as
approved in a recent election. The dis
trict had 3,138 white and 171 Negro
students last year. Desegregation is
planned for the junior and senior high
school only the first year.
A Negro lieutenant of the U.S. Navy
revealed that segregation remains in
some schools at Flour Bluff, Nueces
County, near Corpus Christi, although
the district admitted Negroes to white
junior and senior high schools as early
as 1956. Twenty-five Negroes living in
the Flour Bluff district are being trans
ferred to elementary schools in Corpus
Christi, another desegregated district.
Lt. Theodis Dillard said, however,
that Corpus Christi authorities said his
children would be admitted only to an
all-Negro school.
The military man said he had been
Legal Action
treated politely by everybody consul^
about the situation, but he felt that 1
two children should be allowed to j.
tend schools in Flour Bluff distfi
where they live.
Lt. Dillard, a native of Arkansas, j
with the U.S. Naval Air Station ;
Corpus Christi. He expects to leave f t
another assignment in January. Dilla,
said he attempted to rent a house j
Corpus Christi in an area where 1
could associate with Navy persona,
and others of “my position and ineonis
but was turned down at three differ®
locations because his family is Negro
Latest figures show that 172 Tex;
school districts have abolished segreg;
tion, in whole or partly, of 890 distrie
having scholastics of both races. In j|
Texas has 1,460 school districts, ;
fewer than last year. Enrollment is e
timated to be about 70,000 higher tha
last year’s 2,192,911 (1,892,044 whit;
and 300,867 Negroes).
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tenc
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Spot Check
A spot check of Southern Scho*
News indicated that about 6,500 Ns
groes actually attend class with wH;
students in Texas public schools this fa
an increase of perhans 1.500 o-*e* la-
year. Exact numbers in mixed schoo
are impossible to determine f • om *e*
ords available. In some places, notsK
San Antonio, a few non-Negroes a
tend formerly all-Negro schools a:
these are not included in the estima!
of 6 500 desegregated Negroes.
San Antonio has an estimated 23
Negroes attending formerly whi
schools. El Paso reports that all II
of its Negro pUDils are desegregate:
with 52 258 whites, but each atteic
the school in his home district. A stii
stantial number of Corpus Ch-isti’s 1!
Negro scholastics attend school wit
whites.
pro'
tuiti
F<
vate
whii
we:
have
Other districts where desegregate
is the most advanced (usually in rate
of 20 or more whites per Negro e:
rolled) include Austin 400, Victoria 31
San Angelo 140, and Galveston 85. A
these are increases over 1961-1962. A
except San Angelo are operatin'* t
gradual desegregation plans. The Wt
Texas city made the change in a sing
move several years ago.
on.
wei
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appr
appr
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state.
Miscellaneous
R.
of e
Healt
ment’
feder;
Teaching Hospital
Names Negro Chief
Dr. Robert L. M. Hilliard is said
be the first Negro ever employed
chief resident of a major U.S. teach-
hospital. He became chief resident
the obstetrics-gynecology department
Robert B. Green Hospital in San At
tonio on Oct. 1.
It is a public charity hospital (
erated by the county, with 330
for regular hospital patients and
ernmi
South
erties
leave
tend <
regate
Edu
one s<
worri<
can s
They
tion p
nancia
13 par
systeir
would
for geriatrics and long-term cases.
Hilliard grew up in San Antonio,
tended Howard University and the y
versity of Texas Medical School
Galveston, graduating in 1956.
» c,
ortu
Nt
e g
Hall
One Longview Case Dropped;
Another Remains in Effect
A federal court suit attacking segre
gation in the Longview public schools
was dropped without explanation by
Thomas Liase, the plaintiff. But a state
court case with the same objective, and
attacking the state law requiring ref
erendum approval before desegrega
tion, remained in effect (Adams v.
Longview ISD, SSN, October).
The Houston Informer, Negro news
paper, reported regarding withdrawal
of the Liase suit:
“The recent outburst of death and
violence at The University of Missis
sippi was blamed by some observers
(at Tyler) for a 17-year-old Negro’s
Citizens’ Council,” Frazer said. “The
local Citizens’ Council is a group of
upstanding Nashvillians dedicated to
the motto of the nationwide Citizens’
Councils of America: ‘States Rights and
Racial Integrity.’ ”
Frazer said he issued the statement
because Kasper had been identified in
a newspaper story as a leader in the
organization.
Kasper, a native of New Jersey, was
sentenced to prison for his role in dis
turbances connected with school deseg
regation in Nashville and earlier at
Clinton. # # #
withdrawal of his federal suit
admission to Longview’s all-white
school . . .”
Anti-
f Us Pem
but a
5 ec.
white ,
The
e arlv +
Ifi!
Vers,
■Me,
%
grai
e ha
★ ★ ★
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court
peals heard another argument CO jj
ing desegregation of Houstons F,
schools. The district started S ra u
year desegregation in September. ^
by federal court order, involving ^
first graders (Ross v. Rogers, SS * I
tember, 1980, and subsequent). J
The latest court question :
the Houston board’s transfer P°7j e f
desegregation, particularly a
quiring all members of the 1
(. 0latt <
Ss
•flu.
Vet,
"hssi,
: ion
4 Lining cm mcmwcio ^
attend the same school. Weldon ^ ^
attorney for Negro plaintiffs. S V*
restriction on the number of P U P
have the option to attend d eses ^j
schools is completely arbitrary
rational.” r( j I* 1
Joe H. Reynolds, school boa ^
yer, noted that the brother-sis ,
fer limitation had been in ® ^ >
more than 50 years in Ho ^
“has nothing to do with the P jir
desegregation.” A U.S. dis
last January agreed that tn ^
valid. Houston has 58 NeS r ° g*
ing school with whites in t ^ '
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