Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—DECEMBER, 1962—PAGE 7
TENNESSEE
Sevier
County Studies
Desegregation Plan
NASHVILLE
he Sevier County Board of
Education has agreed to for
mulate “some plan” for desegre
gating its schools, according to an
announcement by Supt. Chan
Huskey.
Huskey, in a statement on Nov. 12,
said the board’s action is the result of
a request by a group of Negro leaders.
While the superintendent explained
that the plan is scheduled to be com
pleted by Jan. 14, a regular meeting
date for the board, he expressed an
opinion that it would not become effec
tive until the beginning of the 1963-64
school year.
Huskey said a group of Negro leaders
had appeared before the board “four
or five times” to request that schools in
the East Tennessee county system be
desegregated. He said the group was
headed by Mrs. Fred McMahan, a re
tired Negro teacher who resides in Se-
vierville.
One Group Opposes
“The board also has heard one Negro
group who asked that the system not
be desegregated,” he added.
Huskey said a special committee of
the board is working on the proposed
plan.
The Sevier County system has one of
the lowest numbers of Negro students
of any school district in Tennessee.
With a total enrollment of about 5,900,
only 45 are Negroes, Huskey said.
Nearly half of the Negro students at
tend Cynthiana School, located in the
Kodak community, which received
widespread publicity in 1961 when a
seven-year-old white student began at
tending classes in the previously all-
Negro school.
Huskey said the white student, Mon-
isha Moore, still is attending Cynthiana
“as far as I know.” But he said she has
not been enrolled officially in the
school.
Not Promoted
The superintendent said the question
of school credit did not arise at the
close of the 1961-62 term because the
girl was not promoted from the second
to the third grade. “It has not been dis
cussed at any of the board meetings,”
he added.
Monisha began attending Cynthiana,
which is within walking distance of her
home, on March 27, 1961. Her father,
Bruce Moore, said
he was dissatisfied
with the progress
she was making in
her studies at all-
white Underwood
School. (SSN,
J une, 1961.)
Bess than a
'veek later, the
hoard of educa-
ion adopted a res
olution requiring
‘hot transfers of
udents from one school to another be
a Pproved by principals of both schools
“tvolved.
request for desegregation was
^ ‘ presented to the board by the
wh^ 0 ® rou P several months after the
te student began attending the pre-
ously all-Negro school.
Tennessee Highlights
A plan for desegregation of Sevier
County’s school system is under
study and is expected to be com
pleted by Jan. 14, Supt. Chan Hus
key announced on Nov. 12.
Hearing on the merits of two sep
arate school desegregation plans for
Memphis city schools has been reset
for Feb. 11 by U.S. District Judge
Marion S. Boyd. One of the plans
has been placed in operation by the
Memphis Board of Education and
the other was submitted by Negro
lawyers.
Negro candidates won five seats on
Nashville and Davidson County’s
new metropolitan government coun
cil in elections during November.
Political Activity
5 Negroes Elected
To Metro Council
Five Negroes have been elected to
Nashville’s and Davidson County’s new
metropolitan government council.
Three of the Negroes, Z. Alexander
Looby, Harold M. Love and Robert Lil-
lard, were elected without the necessity
of a run-off in balloting on Nov. 6.
The other two, John L. Driver and
Mansfield Douglass III, defeated their
opponents in a runoff election on Nov.
27.
Looby, Love and Lillard are the only
Negro members of Nashville’s present
City Council which will cease to func
tion next April 1 when the consolidated
government becomes effective.
There are no Negro members of the
Davidson County Quarterly Court
which will turn over to the new 40-
member council its quasi-legislative
powers and other responsibilities.
Dr. W. S. Davis, president of A&I
State University, was named to a tran
sitional school board which is charged
with the duty of consolidating the city
and county school systems. Dr. Davis
is a Negro. The now-deposed Nashville
Board of Education had a Negro mem
ber, Coyness L. Ennix, for several years.
TP hat They Say
Retired Professor
Upholds George’s
Report on Negroes
Dr. Herbert C. Sanborn, professor
emeritus and former chairman of the
Department of Philosophy and Psy
chology at Vanderbilt University, held
a press conference at his home in Nash
ville on Nov. 20 to support the conclu
sions of Dr. W. C. George’s report on
“The Biology of the Race Problem.”
Dr. George, formerly professor of his
tology and embryology and chairman of
the Department of Anatomy at the
University of North Carolina, released
his report on Oct. 4. (SSN, November.)
He had been engaged by the State of
Alabama in 1961 to prepare the report
on the biological aspects of race rela
tions.
During the press conference, Dr.
Sanborn had this to say in a statement
released by the Nashville Citizens’
Council:
“On the basis of
Dr. George’s find
ings, . . . large
scale racial inte
gration will se
riously impair the
educational op
portunities of the
white children of
the country at a
time when the
survival of our
nation depends
upon the maintenance of high academic
standards in our schools ... It is equal
ly true that racial integration will not
benefit the Negro children nor reduce
the differences in academic perform
ance between the two groups.”
‘Authoritative Evidence’
Dr. Sanborn also said the George
report presented “authoritative evi
dence” that “large and significant dif
ferences between whites and Negroes in
the usual make-up of the brain are
structurally related to the vastly su
perior general performance of whites
on intelligence and achievement tests.”
“The enormously greater incidence of
criminality on the part of the Negroes
is largely attributable to genetically
determined racial differences in per
sonality and behavioral traits,” Dr.
Sanborn added.
★ ★ ★
South Has Used Patience,
Ingenuity, Educator Says
Dr. LeRoy A. Martin, president of the
University of Chattanooga, told a stu
dent assembly on Nov. 8 that the South
has dealt with its Negro population
with “patience and ingenuity.”
The educator praised the South for
“its unparalleled feat of bringing Ne
groes from a state of illiteracy to the
point of assuming responsibility as citi
zens in a great Democracy.”
The South inherited “one of the
greatest problems mankind has ever
faced” after the Civil War, Dr. Martin
continued as he commended the prog
ress of Negro citizens.
Now in its 77th year, the private
university which Dr. Martin heads has
no Negro students. A university spokes
man has indicated, however, that the
institution’s board of trust would con
sider the application of a Negro girl
for admission if it is resubmitted in
January.
The girl, whose name was withheld,
applied for admission in August but
was rejected. She then enrolled at Tus-
kegee Institute at Tuskegee, Ala., un
der a scholarship, a University of Chat
tanooga official said.
★ ★ ★
Memphis Police Lauded
For Desegregation Role
“Fair, courageous and honorable”
policemen were praised for the role
they played in the peaceful desegrega
tion of Memphis schools by Guy North
rop, editorial writer for the Memphis
Commercial Appeal, in a speech to the
Tennessee Chapter of the FBI National
Academy Association.
“Very few of our leaders or law en
forcement personnel liked the idea of
school integration,” Northrop said, “but
MONISHA
SANBORN
^Sal Action
Hearing Postponed on Memphis Plan
W ' district Judge Marion S. Boyd
°U y ost Poned until Feb. 11 a hearing
^, m 6parate school desegregation plans
E>1 by the Memphis Board of
tion and Negro attorneys.
set for Dec. 3, the hearing
Se^j e | a yed because of a change in the
^osen Judse Boyd ’ w ^° was
tT.g J?. to sit as a special judge on the
Jud Circuit Court of Appeals.
B °yd announced the postpone-
° r der ^° V ' At the same time, he
vide tbe Board of Education to pro-
chaj^ e § r ° attorneys copies of maps,
its anf i other information on which
s£ fi is based -
ktyy^ 1 Ca ily requested by the Negro
r °Hfti ei f t ' Vere school census reports, en
list of a ], eac h school by grades, a
tioti 0 f * f^hools now closed, a descrip-
s krid a s cho°l boundaries as they now
°f the nd t hose prior to desegregation
Bade yStem 111 the fal1 of 196L
s t ) eed u ° rders hy the federal court to
P desegregation, the board of
education has admitted 53 Negro stu
dents to seven previously all-white
schools under a plan which Judge Boyd
allowed to become effective, pending a
hearing. (SSN, September.)
The plan, providing for desegregation
of the first three grades during the
current year, calls for an additional
grade to be desegregated each year.
Among the Negro students attending
formerly all-white classes are 13 Ne
groes who were enrolled in predomi-
nantly-white schools in 1961 under
provisions of the State Pupil Assign
ment Law.
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Ap
peals ruled, however, that the assign
ment law could not be used as a de
segregation plan and the U.S. Supreme
Court refused to review that decision.
Judge Boyd then ordered the board to
submit a new plan.
Negro attorney A. W. Willis Jr. on
Sept. 12 filed a separate plan with the
court, seeking complete desegregation
of all grades and faculties by 1965.
“There are no administrative problems
to justify” a grade-a-year desegrega
tion plan, he declared.
Under Willis’ plan, grades one
through six would be desegregated in
the fall of 1963, grades seven through
nine in the fall of 1964 and grades nine
through 12 in the fall of 1965.
Teaching staffs would be placed on a
biracial basis in reverse order with all
high school teachers and principals now
employed or those hired in the future
assigned next year on the basis of merit
and qualification rather than race. Jun
ior high teaching staffs would be deseg
regated in 1964 and grade school facul
ties would be placed on a biracial basis
in 1965.
The school board’s plan contains no
provision for desegregating faculties.
Attorneys are expected to argue the
merits of both plans at the February
hearing.
thanks to the discipline of our Police
Department, there has not been one
incident in two difficult years . . . The
potential for the kind of trouble which
has hurt other localities was here, too,
but trouble never came . .
Northrop addressed the group as it
met in Memphis.
In the Colleges
Formerly All-Negro
University Enrolls
Half-Dozen Whites
About six white students have been
enrolled at predominantly-Negro A&I
State University at Nashville, accord
ing to Dr. W. S. Davis, president.
While no records are kept by race,
Dr. Davis estimated that A&I’s 4,130
students include 20 non-Negroes with
about one third of
that number white
students. The oth
er non - Negroes,
he said, are stu
dents from Iran
and other foreign
countries.
A&I officials re
ported no Ameri
can non-Negroes
enrolled last year
although three
students from Iran
and Iraq were enrolled.
Complete enrollment figures from
Tennessee’s six other colleges and uni
versities showed 328 Negroes attending
classes this fall with 37,455 white stu
dents. Last year at the same time, 243
Negroes were enrolled with 32,364 white
students in these institutions.
Figures available from some of the
institutions were estimated because no
records are kept by race.
DAVIS
Kentucky
(Continued From Page 6)
school’s 88 Negro pupils desegregated.
Supt. Richard Van Hoose said the
school has been retained because of a
classroom shortage, not to prolong seg
regation. He said the board has long-
range plans for more building in the
Jeffersontown area, but that there is
no immediate prospect for closing the
Negro school.
Legal Action
Frankfort Asks
Graduated Plan
The Frankfort Board of Education
asked Federal District Court Nov. 6
to accept its grade-a-year desegrega
tion policy in order to “allow a peace
ful and orderly acceptance of the
change by all citizens.”
A suit filed on behalf of 26 Negro
children seeks to end all segregation in
the public schools of Kentucky’s capi
tal city. The children were denied ad
mission to Grades 2 through 8 at two
elementary schools (SSN, October).
The first grade was desegregated this
year and the high school was already
desegregated.
In answering the suit, the Board of
Education sought to justify its policy
of gradual desegregation. The answer
cited crowded conditions, locations of
schools, and the customs and traditions
of the community.
Political Activity
Two Negroes Win.
One Loses Election
Voters put two Negroes on boards of
education and defeated a third Negro
school-board candidate in the Novem
ber elections.
In Hopkinsville, Negro physician Dr.
C. P. Brooks, who operates a Negro
hospital, was the top vote-getter in the
school-board race. He received 1,095
votes to 984 for Nat Clarkson, who was
second in the voting and also elected.
Three other candidates were defeated.
In Louisville, funeral director Wood
ford R. Porter was elected to a second
four-year term on the city board. This
time, he ran as a member of a three-
man “citizens committee” slate, all of
whom won. In 1958, when Porter be
came the first Negro elected to the
Georgia
(Continued From Page 4)
violence if legal defenses are exhausted
and further desegregation is ordered.
But he also said he will use forces
within “the framework of the law" to
see that the segregated way of life in
Georgia is maintained.
Political Activity
Senator-Elect Urges
That Fellow Negroes
Show Responsibility
A belief that “this is the age of
responsibility and I think now is the
time for Negroes to show their respon
sibility,” was expressed by Senator-
elect Leroy R. Johnson of Atlanta, who
is the first Negro to win a State Senate
seat since the Reconstruction era.
Johnson, 38, an attorney, defeated
Republican T. M. Alexander, also a
Negro, for the 38th District post in
Fulton County (Atlanta). Johnson
campaigned on the issue of more jobs
for Negroes.
Discussing his beliefs, Johnson said
it isn’t enough for Negroes to say, “We
want this.” Rather, he said, “We must
show responsibility.”
Johnson, a former teacher, holder of
three college degrees, and the first Ne
gro investigator in the Fulton County
solicitor’s (prosecutor’s) office, said,
“My election to the Senate will mark
the beginning of my complete dedica
tion and devotion to serving the inter
ests of all Georgians but with greater
emphasis on Fulton County and my
own district. This is the most serious
occasion of my life. From this moment
on, I am a servant of the people and
guardian of their interests and wel
fare.”
★ ★ ★
In Albany, Thomas C. Chatmon, the
first Negro to seek a post on the city
commission since Reconstruction, was
defeated by B. C. Gable, a white man,
6,705 to 2,656, in a Democratic primary
runoff Nov. 20. Chatmon said he hoped
his campaign would stimulate voting
by Negroes even though he did not
win.
★ ★ ★
Secretary of State Ben W. Fortson
said he refused to certify Calvin Craig,
grand dragon of the Georgia Ku Klux
Klan, as a candidate for the 35th Dis
trict (Atlanta) of the State Senate in
the general election because his peti
tion from registered voters failed to
meet the legal requirements for qual
ifying independents who have not run
in party primaries.
Community Action
Albany School Move
Waits, But Leaders
Step Up Boycotts
No further developments were re
ported in efforts of Albany Negroes to
obtain desegregation of schools in
Dougherty County but Dr. W. G. An
derson, a leader of the Albany Move
ment, said the organization had stepped
up its boycott of downtown and shop
ping center merchants who continue
discrimination.
★ ★ ★
A workshop of Southern lawyers,
sponsored by the National Lawyers
Guild and the National Bar Associa
tion, with the co-operation of the
Southern Christian Leadership Con
ference, convened in Atlanta Nov. 30.
One seminar on civil rights had two
objectives, a spokesman said. They
were: (1) To make it possible for
more Southern attorneys to accept civil
rights cases by making their practice
in other areas of law more lucrative,
and (2) to provide lawyers with a
review of developments in civil rights
law, with particular attention to new
techniques in this field.
Donald L. Hollo well, an Atlanta Ne
gro lawyer who has been active in
many civil rights cases, served as gen
eral chairman of the seminar.
board, he defeated the low vote-getter
on the slate.
William Suson Simmons, the first
Negro ever to seek a Harlan City
School Board seat, ran last in a four-
man race with three seats at stake.
Elected were Hiram Brock, Roy Pope
and Paul McReynolds.
Racial matters were not at issue in
state-wide voting which saw Republi
can Senator Thruston B. Morton win
re-election over Lt. Gov. Wilson W.
Wyatt, Democrat.