Newspaper Page Text
COLUMBIA
Harvey Gantt at Clemson
Smiles at newsmen and students.
MISSISSIPPI
James Meredith Decides
To Remain in University
JACKSON
have decided that I, James
Meredith, will register for
the second semester at the Uni
versity of Mississippi.”
That was the decision Jan. 30 of the
Attala County Negro, a 29-year-old
Married Air Force veteran, who broke
Mississippi’s educational segregation
arrier last October with a federal
c °urt order after nearly two years liti
gation.
About 50 newspaper, radio and tele-
"sion representatives attended a press
conference in Jackson where Meredith’s
ocision was announced. It was held in
, conference room on the first floor
hi hv ^ e § ro Masonic Temple in which
th * a k' *h e National Association for
ha Advancement for Colored People
lts Mississippi headquarters.
Meredith sat behind a small table
tyit?" 1 ?. about 10 microphones. Seated
fielri h m was Medgar Evers, Mississippi
*, re P r esentative of the NAACP,
M ‘ Ch „ spent about $40,000 in effecting
Meredith’s enrollment.
Earlier Statement
^Meredith had said before he complet-
WoulH St ' Semester exam i na ti°ns that he
u nl n ° t ret urn to the Oxford campus
Uapro yie general “atmosphere” was
stude V < and un l ess harassment by
He S - and others was curbed,
studij^ In deciding to resume his
hop^ ,, taat see s^Sns that give me
in th e * wU1 be able to go to school
‘deal ™t Ur e under adequate, if not
’ conditions.”
re tUrn* S statem ent, he said he was not
Wcaus g , to « a Miss as “the Negro”
vious day had notified him that he was
eligible for readmission “in good stand
ing.” That was in answer to a ques
tion as to whether he had failed some
of his studies in view of his skipping
the semester final examination in alge
bra.
The following day, Jan. 31, Meredith
went to the Oxford campus and was
registered without incident. He signed
up for 18 hours of class work, three
more than the normal load. He is
taking three political science courses, a
history course and a French course, in
addition to repeating the algebra course
he failed in the first semester.
A faculty adviser said Meredith was
taking the heavy load of courses in an
effort to complete his undergraduate
work by the end of the summer ses
sion.
Well-Guarded Normalcy
An air of well-guarded normalcy
prevailed during Meredith’s registra
tion. Three armed military policemen
stood guard on the roof of the library
across the street from the gymnasium,
where registration was under way.
Others took up stations at the campus
gates. Jeep-loads of military policemen
patroled the campus.
Campus policemen kept newsmen out
of most parts of the campus, including
the registration area which university
(See MEREDITH’S, Page 16)
H arvey B. Gantt was enrolled
on Jan. 28 as the first Negro
student in state-supported Clem
son College. It was the first school
desegregation in South Carolina
on any level since Reconstruction.
There was no violence, no demonstra
tions occurred and regular educational
processes were not interrupted.
, Although the federal courts had
moved swiftly to order Clemson to ad
mit Gantt, all was in readiness when
he arrived on the campus shortly after
noon.
In the days immediately preceding the
enrollment, the state’s leaders, almost
all staunch segregationists, had stepped
up their pleas for peace and order.
Most had spoken softly, some bitterly,
some resignedly, all firmly.
Security Lid
A tight security lid was placed on the
relatively isolated college. Many law
enforcement officers were on the cam
pus, operating under a carefully pre
conceived plan.
There was little exciting news for
some 160 newsmen and photographers
who had gathered on the campus from
all over the nation. There were some
minor incidents.
When Gantt completed enrollment at
1:45 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 28, the last
of the 50 states to have had uninter
rupted school segregation since Recon
struction had joined the rest.
Only Alabama now has no Negro in
its white seiioois -ju r me University ot
Alabama admitted a Negro woman,
Autherine Lucy, for a brief time in
1956. Riots ensued and she left, but
the university remains under court
order to admit qualified Negro appli
cants.
Even before disorders occurred with
desegregation of the University of Mis
sissippi last fall, then Gov. E. F.
Hollings and others had made it known
that South Carolina must prepare for
desegregation.
New Gov. Donald S. Russell, who
had to face the Clemson desegregation
issue almost from his first moment in
office, had been well-briefed on ad
vance plans for Gantt’s entry even
though the final order had not yet come
down.
Attorney General Calls Governor
It was reported on good authority
that Russell received a phone call
from U. S. Attorney General Robert
F. Kennedy on Jan. 16—the new gover
nor’s second day in office. Kennedy,
who had a major role in sending fed
eral marshals and troops to Mississippi
in September, expressed his concern
about the impending Clemson situation.
Russell is reported to have told the
attorney general emphatically that “we
do not need any federal assistance.”
He told Kennedy that South Carolina
“is perfectly capable” of maintaining
law and order “and we are not going
to have any violence.”
Kennedy later made a public state
ment to the effect that the Justice
Department had no plans to send
federal officers to Clemson.
Statements Issued
On the day that the final court order
was issued (See What They Say),
Russell, Slate Sen. L. Marion Gressette,
the state’s chief segregation guardian,
and President Robert C. Edwards of
Clemson all issued statements urging
peaceful compliance after a series of
meetings in Columbia.
They said all legal avenues had been
explored to prevent Gantt’s admission.
The governor and Gressette decried the
action of the federal courts.
Both before and after these official
statements, pleas for non-violent com
pliance came from churchmen, profes
sional and business associations, the
State Republican Party and former U.
S. Supreme Court Justice, U. S. Secre
tary of State and S. C. Governor James
F. Byrnes, who was extremely critical
of the court action. (See What They
Say).
Prior to the day of enrollment, all
Clemson students, faculty members and
employes had been issued identification
cards. They make up all but a few
of the inhabitants of the tiny (1,586)
town of Clemson that adjoins the school
which has an enrollment of 4,000-plus.
Roadblocks Set Up
On Jan. 28, when Gantt arrived,
roadblocks were set up on all high
ways leading to the school. Officers
patroled the campus. A person had to
have an ID card or a good reason for
being in the area or he was told to
move along. This happened in one or
two cases.
It soon became apparent that one of
the biggest problems would be posed
by the large contingent from the news
media present. Clemson Public Rela
tions Director Joe Sherman insisted on
a “pool” arrangement—selected report
ers and photographers covering for all
others—to accompany Gantt when he
entered buildings on enrollment day.
Otherwise, Sherman made every
effort to provide for the press, radio
(See CLEMSON, Page 8)
In This Issue
Slate Reports
Alabama 10
Arkansas 5
Delaware 2
District of Columbia 18
Florida 12
Georgia 2
Kentucky 3
Louisiana 13
Maryland 14
Mississippi 1
Missouri 12
North Carolina 15
Oklahoma 6
South Carolina 1
Tennessee 7
Texas 3
Virginia 4
West Virginia 19
Special Articles
The Region 1
SERS Grant 1
Books and the Issue 5
Religion-Race Conference 6
Microfilms of SERS Library 7
Violence in Washington 18
State Legislatures 20
THE REGION
Brief Violence Occurs
With Negro Admission
V iolence flared briefly in two
communities when Negroes
were admitted to schools with
whites at the opening of the sec
ond half of the school year.
The first desegregation at Yaneey-
ville, N.C., and additional desegregation
at Dollarway, Ark., both court-ordered,
resulted in relatives of the Negro chil
dren involved being arrested on charges
of attacking whites who had harrassed
them.
Contrasting with these two incidents
were the quiet return of James Mere
dith for a second semester at the Uni
versity of Mississippi and the unevent
ful enrollment of a Negro, Harvey
Gantt, at Clemson College in South
Carolina. Tulane University in New Or
leans and Lee College at Baytown,
New SERS Grant Announced
A^iU.sr. , ivnss as me iNegro
• ■ 6 ^Prospects for him are too
but as “a student be-
° <X2> d aiuuem ue-
Ceive 15 ossential that everyone re-
j. education and there should
unction because of race.”
ruiglu V^ ere dith said earlier that he
“SHI caiuci uiiu lie
*0d Ug return, President Kennedy
^-■nn edv Attorney General Robert F.
c ^tig e , ■ ex Pressed hope he would
*° 1S P la ns. They said his failure
e ^°rts in r uld set l> ac k desegregation
11 the South.
^resident’s Influence
jSj* 1 sa ‘d the president’s state-
some influence on his de-
^ * thin]. ;+
I.^ry that i,_ Was important and nec-
h Posit;- tae President would make
Kleins u clear as to how racial
v At his t T 10uld b e solved,” he said.
aled that S conf erence, Meredith re
ar university officials the pre-
T he Ford Foundation announced
on Jan. 21 a grant of $430,000
to George Peabody College for
Teachers for support of Southern
Education Reporting Service dur
ing the biennium ending June 30,
1965.
Southern School News, the monthly
publication of SERS, is the principal
medium for providing these facts. It
has a staff of leading newspaper editors
and writers.
The first Ford grant for SERS was
made in 1954. A board of directors
composed of prominent Southern edi
tors and educators established policies
for the service, with headquarters in
Nashville, Term.
Southern School News is the basis
for periodic news releases to all media.
It is circulated in all 50 states and 44
foreign countries to people of many in
terests and persuasions.
Other Functions
A great deal more information is com-
The purpose of SERS was—and is—
to collect and disseminate facts on the
school segregation-desegregation situa
tion in the area where laws prior to
1954 had required that the races be
separated in the public schools. This
was the case of 17 Southern and border
states and the District of Columbia.
piled by SERS than is published in
SSN. This material is organized in a
library that includes hundreds of thou
sands of items collected from 50 daily
newspapers and many other publica
tions. The library also contains texts of
laws, speeches and reports. Its contents
are microfilmed and sold to libraries
throughout the country.
Periodically, SERS publishes a sum
mary of statistics, presenting public
school and college enrollment figures
by race, a list of all laws enacted since
1954, a list of all court cases and de
cisions since 1954, a chronology of de
velopments, the effects of desegregation
on teachers and other facts.
SERS has prepared two books. The
first was With All Deliberate Speed in
1957; the second was Southern Schools:
Progress and Problems in 1959.
In addition to these functions, SERS
has since January, 1959, had manage
ment, but not editorial, responsibilities
for Race Relations Law Reporter, a
legal quarterly prepared and edited by
the Law School of Vanderbilt Univer
sity. RRLR contains complete texts of
court decisions, laws, and administrative
orders and regulations in the broad
areas of race relations and civil rights
throughout the United States.
Texas, voluntarily accepted their first
Negro students, without trouble. Three
public school districts reported they
had peacefully enrolled Negroes with
whites for the first time: Reidsville,
N.C.; Putnam County, Tenn.; and Abi
lene, Tex.
New Desegregation
New desegregation at the college level
raised to 167 the number of tax-sup-
ported institutions of higher learning in
the 17 Southern and border states, plus
the District of Columbia, that have poli
cies admitting both races. The region
has 125 segregated colleges and uni
versities that remain all white or all
Negro. The desegregation of four more
public school districts made a total of
976 districts desegregated in practice
or principle. The segregated districts
having students of both races number
2,082, and another 3,171 school districts
are either all white or all Negro.
The end of segregation at Clemson
left Alabama as the only state that does
not have students of both rases attend
ing public schools together. The Uni
versity of Alabama desegregated briefly
in 1956 with the attendance of Auther
ine Lucy at the school for three days
by federal court order. That court up
held her expulsion for accusing school
officials of conspiring with the mobs
that rioted during her stay at the
school.
Although the university remains un
der the same court order to admit Ne
groes, several have applied without
success. The new governor, George C.
Wallace, repeated in his inaugural ad
dress in January his intentions of all-
out defiance of desegregation attempts.
Alabama legislators supported Wallace
in a resolution saying, “At no time will
we in Alabama voluntarily submit to
integration of our schools.
Reporting to the President on civil
(See BOTH, Page 20)
T pc
T} n Ci
Factual
VOL. 9, NO. 8
Southern School Nt
no 'sm,„ uShUftgft
a riosoil Jo*'?? 11
tlltJIllBU ii Vx -
Objective
FEBRUARY, 1963
lege Admits Negro
In State’s First Desegregation
