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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—FEBRUARY, 1963—PAGE II
ALABAMA
Suits Ask Desegregation
In Mobile and Huntsville
FLOWERS
(Continued from Page 10)
of the group that the suits “cannot
properly or legally be maintained,” that
only individuals who claim their con
stitutional rights have been violated can
ask the courts to desegregate schools.
In the absence of such a formal com
plaint, Wallace reported the committee
as concluding, the Justice Department
cannot act on its own.
Attorney General Agrees
A similar position was taken by At
torney General Richmond Flowers,
whose inaugural statement (See What
They Say) seemed
to be at odds with
Wallace’s leader
ship. Flowers said
he had his staff on
alert for calls for
assistance from
the affected com
munities. “Every
legal means pos
sible will be taken
to maintain the
present segregat
ed status of these
schools.”
Flowers was considered to have been
by-passed by Wallace in the Governor’s
reliance on the committee instead of the
Attorney General. The moderate inau
gural and pre-inaugural posture of
Flowers and Lt. Gov. James Allen also
appeared to have been undercut by the
revelation Jan. 25 that U.S. Attorney
General Kennedy had ordered photo
reconnaissance missions over the Uni
versity of Alabama in December. (See
In the Colleges.)
Flowers made strong statements both
on the Tuscaloosa overflights and the
Huntsville-Mobile suits.
Following the legal committee’s
meeting, Wallace said he was convinced
the conclusions reached by the panel
were correct and that the full facilities
of the governor’s office would be avail
able to defend against the actions.
Senators Protest
U.S. Senators Lister Hill and John
Sparkman both protested the suits, cit
ing much the same legal arguments as
the committee and the governor. Spark-
wan said he had written Attorney Gen-
oral Kennedy asking that the suits be
withdrawn.
As a lawyer and legislator,” Spark
man said, “I can find no legal basis for
these suits. In my opinion they do not
state a cause of action based upon the
nited States Constitution, federal
statute or court decision. Indeed, every
™ort that has been made to change
e law and give (the attorney general)
e right to file a suit against state in-
s ^mentalities to enjoin alleged dis
crimination among citizens in tax-sup-
Ported facilities has been soundly beat-
en w the Senate.”
a'h'? ar ^ man added that impacted areas
to keen given to local communities
In F 6 accor dance with state laws,
he • pr ° tes t to the attorney general
Du SaiC *' '"^kese suits serve no useful
Er *° S j' < ~ >n the other hand, they do
dr» a T. amage • • • I urge you to with-
y. w these suits, and I would also urge
that 311 • y° ur staff to be ever mindful
tain time w k en the rule of law is so
e nun ant ’ t * le comm itment of all gov-
cr >tical'” t0 ^ becomes increasingly
★ ★ ★
durii? desegregation suit filed
S the month was a Jan. 28 peti
tion to the U.S. District Court in Mont
gomery for an order ending separate
schools for whites and Negroes in Ma
con County.
The complaint was filed in behalf of
16 Negro school children in Tuskegee,
home of Tuskegee Institute. According
to the 1960 census, the county is 83.5
per cent Negro.
The suit, filed through the parents of
the children, seeks class-action relief
for all Negro children and their parents
“similarly situated.”
The petition charges that the Macon
County school board and School Supt.
C. A. Pruitt “have pursued for some
time ... a policy of operating the pub
lic school system ... on a racially seg
regated basis.”
The suit said the petitioners have not
exhausted the remedies provided under
Alabama’s School Placement Law “for
the reason that the remedy provided is
inadequate to provide the relief sought
by them in this case.”
Valid ‘On Its Face’
The act, under previous challenge in
Birmingham, was held valid “on its
face” by the U.S. Supreme Court Nov.
24, 1958 (Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham
Board of Education). The high court’s
brief ruling upheld a three-judge U.S.
District Court’s finding of May 9, 1958
(SSN, June, 1958). The lower court
decision found that while the law was
constitutional as written, it might later
prove unconstitutional in application.
The Macon petitioners contend that
the defendants had operated under the
law to enforce segregation. The plain
tiffs allege that a petition to local school
authorities to end segregation had been
made but that the school board did not
respond.
They also argue that Macon County
received $86,338 from the federal gov
ernment in impacted areas aid during
1961-62 and that this money went to
ward maintaining segregated school
facilities.
The suit asks for a decree to forbid
assigning pupils, teachers, or school
personnel on a racial basis, building
segregated schools or supporting extra
curricular activities for whites and Ne
groes separately. As an alternative to
outright abolition of segregation, the
petitioners ask the court to direct the
school board and the school superin
tendent to present a plan for reorgan
izing the school system on a non-racial
basis, subject to court approval.
Macon County was the first county in
the state in which registrars were or
dered not to discriminate against Negro
voter applicants. That order was issued
Gov. Wallace and Members of the Constitutional Law and State Sovereignty Committee
Marvin Albritton, John Kohn, John Vardaman, the governor, Cecil Jackson, Jim Simpson, John Caddell, Joe Johnston, T. B.
Hill Jr.
by U.S. District Judge Frank M. John
son Jr. in March, 1961. The school de
segregation petition also was filed in
Johnson’s court.
Several years ago, Alabama voters
authorized the legislature to abolish
Macon County if it deemed it necessary,
or reduce its size, to prevent Negro
domination. No action has been taken
by the legislature.
Representing the plaintiffs are Fred
Gray, Montgomery Negro attorney, and
Mrs. Constance Baker Motley, New
York, NAACP attorney.
Legislative Action
Legislators Back
Governor’s Stand;
Score Judiciary
The Alabama legislature, meeting in
organizational session, unanimously
adopted a resolution Jan. 15 saying,
“At no time will we in Alabama volun-
traily submit to integration of our
schools.”
The legislators resolved, on the day
after Wallace’s “segregation forever”
inaugural address:
“We as members of the state legis
lature are, together with Gov. Wallace,
faced with a problem involving federal-
state relations of utmost gravity and
far-reaching consequences, not only to
the people of Alabama but to all of the
people in all of the states.
“There has been established in this
nation a judicial oligarchy in the form
of the Supreme Court . . . The very
foundational concepts of Constitutional
government have been repudiated by
the Supreme Court . . .
“Some federal courts attempt to con
trol the states’ judiciary; they have as
serted authority to abolish and create
seats in state legislative bodies; they
assert authority to arrest a governor
and to control his discretionary acts by
mandatory injunctions and threat of
penal contempt . . .
“America’s unique and most signifi
cant contribution to the concept of pub
lic education lies in the method of con
trol of schools and policies by local
state authorities. Therein lies the
strength of the system and its capacity
to meet the divergent needs of separate
communities. The Supreme Court has
invaded this sacred area of our lives.
This encroachment . . . must be faced.
This problem is upon us. It is here. The
solution will require vision, dedication
to principle and a firm resolve.”
The magnitude of the problem, the
resolution said, has “not been equaled
since the perilous days of the War Be
tween the States.”
Sen. Larry Dumas of Birmingham,
while he voted for the resolution,
seemed to speak for several legislators
when he observed that the resolution
was simply a declaration of the legis
lature’s views on segregation.
“We are all segregationists,” he said.
“However, in the future such business
should go to the screening committee
which has done a fine job the past
eight years in building Alabama’s ar
mor against integration.”
Changes Vote
One house member, freshman Rep.
Pat Burnham of Calhoun County, first
voted against the resolution but later
changed his vote, making approval
unanimous in both houses.
Whether the vote meant Wallace will
get the authority he has said he would
ask for—to intervene personally in the
event of desegregation orders—could
not be predicted. There is some private
In the Colleges
Mi
ssissippj Visitor
Barnett at inauguration
Aerial Pictures Made of Campus
The Justice Department confirmed in
January that the University of Alabama
campus and environs had been photo
graphed during December by RF-101
supersonic jets from Shaw Air Force
Base (“The Eyes of the Tactical Air
Command”).
Also ordered to take part in the mis
sions were photo reconnaissance planes
of the Alabama Air National Guard.
In response to inquiries from The
Montgomery Advertiser, Edwin O.
Guthman, Justice Department public
information official, said Jan. 24 that
early last November one of the assistant
attorneys general asked if aerial photo
graphs of the Tuscaloosa campus were
available. None were, according to
Guthman, and the Air Force was re
quested to take them.
At least three Negroes have applied
for admission to the university, which
still is under a permanent injunction to
admit qualified Negroes, the injunction
dating from the Autherine Lucy case.
Miss Lucy attended classes three days
in February, 1956, but was driven from
the campus by a series of riots and
later expelled for accusing university
officials of conspiring with the mob.
Her expulsion was upheld by the Bir
mingham district court which ordered
her admitted, but the injunction, ap
plying to all Negroes, remained in effect.
Applications Made
In Montgomery last Oct. 19 Dr. Mar
tin Luther King Jr. announced that
several Negroes would apply for en
rollment at the university. At least
three did, prompting resolutions calling
for law and order from University offi
cials, faculty, Alumni Council and other
groups over the state (SSN, November,
December, 1962, and January, 1963).
However, the university announced
Dec. 3 that applications for the second
semester beginning in February had
been closed and that none of the Ne
groes had completed admission pro
cedure by the deadline. (SSN, Decem
ber.)
Speaking for the Justice Department,
Guthman said of the reconnaissance
missions (Dec. 19-20, according to one
source; Dec. 28-30, according to an
other) :
“We wished to have them (the pic
tures) in case they were needed. In
our critique of our operation at the
University of Mississippi, we found it
would have been very helpful if we had
had aerial photographs, but we did not
have them.”
Immediate Reaction
Reaction from Alabama leaders, mem
bers of the congressional delegation
and the public was immediate and in
tense. Gov. George Wallace said, “It
seems a rather strange mission for the
U.S. Air Force and Justice Department
to undertake at Christmas time.”
Attorney General Richmond Flowers,
whose relatively moderate inaugural
statement on desegregation contrasted
with Gov. Wallace’s (see What They
Say) made a comment that was to be
repeated in substance over the state.
He said the Justice Department’s atti
tude toward Alabama seemed the same
as toward Cuba: “We will submit to
open inspection as we have no missile
sites on the beautiful campus.”
Flowers said the planes should have
also photographed federal court build
ings because “that is where we intend
to wage all-out, total war in our legal
battles to preserve our way of life.”
Congressmen Comment
U.S. Rep. Kenneth Roberts called the
flights “extraordinary and unnecessary.”
U.S. Rep. Armistead Selden said Ala
bamians are “considerably concerned
and indignant over this aerial surveil
lance of our own people and its ominous
overtones of police statism.”
Selden added in his letter of protest
to U.S. Attorney General Robert F.
Kennedy that the action “can only serve
to divide our people at a time when
unity of purpose is vital to our national
security.”
U.S. Rep. Carl Elliott demanded, in a
letter to the attorney general, that he
apologize to Alabamians for “pre-judg-
ing them in the worst light.”
Elliott said the mapping order was
reckless, coming just at the time when
“all men of good will should be uniting
in the common desire to find a peace
able, non-violent solution to the great
problem that divides our union.” No
solution is possible, Elliott continued,
“so long as the people of one race de
liberately are played against the other
for whatever purpose.”
‘Silly and Stupid’
Rep. Albert Rains called the flights
“silly and stupid.” Rep. Robert E. Jones
said, “It will only incite bitterness and
destroy the hope of all Alabamians to
avoid a recurrence of what happened at
the University of Mississippi.”
Rep. George Andrews, Rep. George
Grant and Sen. Lister Hill all likened
the action to missions over enemy ter
ritory.
feeling among legislators that making
the governor a single target would per
haps not be wise.
The legislature meets in regular bi
ennial session in May but Wallace has
indicated he may issue a special call in
mid-March to consider segregation,
school finances, highway department
and general fund shortages.
Schoolmen
Mobile Board Denies
Negroes’ Petition
For Desegregation
The Mobile County School Board de
nied Jan. 15 a Negro petition asking de
segregation of Mobile city-owned
schools.
The petition was presented Nov. 15
(SSN, December) by J. L. LeFlore, Ne
gro leader and postal worker, in behalf
of 27 residents who said they had chil
dren in the school system. It asked that
the board “present to the community
within the next 60 days a plan for such
desegregation which shall include pro
vision for a reasonable start toward
such desegregation.”
The board issued a formal statement
the day after the 60-day deadline had
passed, saying, in part, that “it would
be ill advised and not in the best in
terests of your people for us to attempt
to present a formula for integration of
the public schools at this time.”
Expenditures Cited
The board noted that for a number
of years, more than half of its capital
outlay for schools had been spent to
improve Negro facilities and that un
der the program planned for next year,
calling for an expenditure of $11,000,000,
more than $7,000,000 would be for Ne
gro schools.
The board said that it did not know
what would be the effects of desegre
gation, whether there would be serious
incidents or not. “However, we do know
this, that if we are faced with forced
integration, it would seriously delay
and possibly completely stop the board’s
plan for carrying out our building pro
gram as it is scheduled now.”
Three days later, the U.S. attorney
general filed a desegregation suit against
the Mobile board and the Madison
County-Huntsville boards. (See Legal
Action.)
Letter Sent
On Jan. 31, LeFlore sent the board a
registered letter asking that four Ne
groes currently attending segregated
colored schools be admitted to the all-
white Baker High School, on the west
ern edge of Mobile.
LeFlore said in his letter that Baker
is four miles from the homes of those
seeking transfer, whereas they are now
traveling 34 miles round trip to St.
Elmo each day.
Asst. Superintendent C. L. Scarbor
ough said he would write LeFlore ad
vising the Negro leader that the board’s
policy is to require applications for
transfers to be signed by parents or
guardians before they could be con
sidered.
Another school official said two Ne
gro men and four youths went to Baker
Jan. 30 and inquired about student
transfers. Principal O. A. Stylite re
ferred them to the school board and
they left.
LeFlore’s letter said the Rev. Calvin
H. Houston, a Negro minister who was
in Scarborough’s office when the letter
was delivered, had joined in the trans
fer request.