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PAGE 2—FEBRUARY, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
GEORGIA
Georgia School Districts Face
Possible Desegregation Suits
MACON ;
W HETHER TO DESEGREGATE pub- j
lie schools or possibly lose
federal aid to education funds for J
impact areas was an issue in four
Georgia counties.
No Georgia county was involved in
desegregation suits filed in the South
by the Justice Department Jan. 18, but
suits aimed at two Georgia school sys
tems—Dougherty (Albany) and Mus
cogee (Columbus) counties—were held
up at the last minute.
School officials in three Georgia
counties—Muscogee, Houston (Warner
Robins) and Liberty (Hinesville)—told
federal officials they would not volun
tarily desegregate. Dougherty school
officials have been seeking to come to
a decision for some time, and had asked
for more time, a request which was
granted.
In late January, however, Dougherty
officials said they could not desegre
gate.
Lawsuits Posable
As a result, according to Health, Ed
ucation and Welfare Department offi
cials, Muscogee and Dougherty face the
possibility of lawsuits and Houston
faces loss of federal funds, while Lib
erty will not be penalized at all under
these suits.
Fort Benning is near Columbus,
county seat of Muscogee. Only high
school students are involved. Because of
the size of the military installation,
grade schools are provided on the base.
There are 254 high-school students in
volved. Thirty-nine are Negroes. Justice
Department officials said they post
poned the desegregation suit in Mus
cogee in the hope that if Dougherty
agreed to desegregate, Muscogee would
follow suit.
Houston County is the site of Warner
Robins Air Force Base. There are 1,314
students involved, including 10 Negroes.
HEW officials said regardless of what
happens in any lawsuits, Houston will
lose its federal aid next September. The
amount was reported to be in excess of
$500,000 annually.
Small Numbers
Announced Last March
No More Federal Aid
Liberty County is the site of Fort
Stewart. There are 435 students in
volved, including 27 Negroes. Officials
said Liberty “probably won’t” lose its
federal funds because it has been de
cided there are not enough students
there to justify a change at this time.
Education officials in Washington said
there are not enough on-base students
at Hunter Field (Savannah), Fort Gor
don (Augusta), and other bases in
Georgia to warrant their attention at
this time.
If the lawsuits against Muscogee and ■
Dougherty should not be filed and those j
systems remain segregated, it was re- J
ported, they also will lose their federal j
aid.
Dougherty County is the site of Tur- |
ner Air Force Base and a Marine Corps J
Depot. There are 1,222 students in- j
volved and 27 are Negroes. Albany, the |
county seat, was in the national spot
light because of a boycott and mass
demonstrations and arrests of Negroes
last year.
Last March, Abraham Ribicoff, then
Secretary of . Health, Education and
Welfare, announced segregated schools
would no longer be “suitable” for chil
dren living on military bases after Sep
tember, 1963.
Between 75 and 80 school systems in
the nation have more than 200 students
each who live on military bases, and
HEW decided to challenge on segrega
tion policies only these larger school
systems.
James Quigley, assistant secretary of
HEW, toured the South and visited
school officials last fall to see what
they would do about the situation. Sys
tems which desegregated would con
tinue to be attended by students from
military installations, and the systems
would continue to get federal aid. In
many cases, the federal money made
up the bulk of the annual school budget.
Georgia Highlights
Several Georgia school systems
faced possible desegregation suits as
local education officials and federal
administration officials conferred over
desegregation matters and continued
federal aid to education for areas
which are sites of large military in
stallations. Gov. Carl E. Sanders said
the state could not make up possible
loss of federal impact funds without
a general tax increase.
A new legislature convened, a new
governor was sworn in and a bill to
repeal state tuition grants was intro
duced.
erty and Muscogee school systems said
they could not desegregate voluntarily,
according to U.S. Office of Education
officials.
Dougherty County officials said they
did not know what they would do and
asked what would be a minimum rea
sonable start. Federal officials said they
would study any proposal Dougherty
made, and requested an answer by Dec.
31.
Since that time, several meetings have
been held and the HEW officials have
several times again asked Dougherty
officials for an answer. The school board
attorney, as well as U.S. Rep. J. L. Pil
cher, asked for more time, according to
the Atlanta Constitution, but a suit has
been prepared and is ready to be filed.
Governor Comments
Gov. Carl Sanders, at a press confer
ence Jan. 21, said Georgia counties re
ceiving federal school aid for impacted
areas must decide now whether they
want to continue getting the aid and
face desegregation suits, or to avoid the
issue by withdrawing from the pro
gram.
If they do, Sanders warned, the state
will not be able to make up for lost
funds unless the people demand a gen
eral tax increase for the purpose.
Sanders said, however, he was in
structing Attorney General Eugene
Cook to make the state’s legal services
available for the defense of any Georgia
school system hit by a school desegre
gation suit.
Legislative Activity
New Governor Calls
For Unity, Equal
Applications of Law
The General Assembly of Georgia
convened and organized on Jan. 14 and
next day Carl Edward Sanders was
sworn in as Georgia’s 74th governor.
Peter Zack Geer was sworn in as lieu
tenant governor.
Sanders became the first governor in
many years in Georgia who did not
devote a large part of his inaugural ad
dress to promises to maintain racial
segregation.
The Atlanta public schools now are
desegregated, as are three schools in the
University System.
“To realize our hopes and achieve
our goals,” Sanders said, “we must have
unity among all Georgians.”
Gov. Sanders Takes Office
Administering oath: State Supreme Court Judge Joseph D. Quillian.
‘Unqualified Belief’
The new governor said there must
be “an unqualified belief in one Georgia
for all Georgians,” and that the law
must be applied equally to all citizens
of the state.
He drew loud applause, however,
when he promised “responsible state
government and determination to han
dle our affairs without outside inter
ference or intervention.”
Geer, a strong segregationist who ap
plauded students for their “courage”
after a demon
stration following
desegregation of
the University of
Georgia at Athens
in Jan., 1961, made
no mention of
segregation in his
speech. He did ex
press pride in be
ing a part of the
administration of
outgoing Gov. Er-
GEER nest Vandiver. It
was during Vandiver’s term of office
that the University of Georgia was de
segregated.
In the last public speech of his ad
ministration a few days earlier, Van
diver said keeping the public schools of
Georgia open was the most significant
achievement of his administration. He
noted in the speech, delivered at an ap
preciation dinner in Athens, that, in
obedience to law and order, Georgia
stands head and shoulders above some
of her sister states.
No troops and no armed marshals
have been required for compliance with
federal law, Vandiver said, and no life
has been lost or anyone seriously in
jured. “The good name of Georgia,” he
said, “shines throughout the world un
sullied by rioting mobs.”
Negro Senator
During the Sanders inaugural cere
mony, newly-swom-in State Sen. Le
roy R. Johnson of Fulton County (At
lanta) sat with other legislators in a
special section. He is the first Negro
senator elected in Georgia since 1870.
That night, Johnson took a party of
eight to the inaugural ball at the Dink
ier Plaza Hotel in downtown Atlanta.
No incidents were noted.
Johnson’s presence brought changes
in the legislature. A Negro child min
gled with white children serving as
pages. Racial bars were dropped in the
galleries of the House and Senate. Last
year, Rep. George L. Smith, then
Speaker of the House, closed the House
gallery when a group of young Ne
groes entered the white section. Later,
the legislature passed a law prohibiting
demonstrations on state property after
Negro pickets protested segregated
seating in the galleries.
The General Assembly remained in
DELAWARE
session from Jan. 14 through Jan. 25
then adjourned to reconvene on Feb. 11.
Only one measure dealing directly or
indirectly with school segregation or
desegregation measures was introduced
during the 12 days the legislature was
in session. It was Senate Bill No. 11,
which proposed to repeal the state's
tuition grant law.
It was introduced by Sen. Garland
Byrd of Reynolds, former lieutenant
governor.
The law does not refer to segregation
or desegregation but it makes available
state funds to students atending quali
fied private schools and has been in
terpreted as a means of providing finan
cial assistance to students who enter
private segregated schools to avoid at
tending public desegregated schools.
Of the 1,756 applications for tuition
grants submitted to the State Depart
ment of Education, 1,457 (83 per cent)
have been for students already in pri
vate schools.
‘Misuse’ Charged
GOP Attacks Appropriation Cut
Sen. Dan McIntyre of Atlanta said
of the tuition grant law: “The whole
thing has been misused.”
Sen. Taylor Phillips of Macon said
“I’m very much in favor of Sen. Byrd’s
bill. The inherent danger of the tuition-
grant law is the amount of money it
takes away from the public schools"
Sen. Battle Hall of Rome said the
law “should be left on the books, a 1
least at the present. It’s still too earl;
to take it off.”
The lame-duck Educational Rights
Committee of the 1961-62 Senate, meet
ing Jan. 7, had warned “there wall k
some propaganda and . . . certain min -
ority groups will make every effort t»
deny our school children freedom #
choice by continually attacking the tui
tion grant law.”
W hat The\ Say
DOVER
D elaware’s Democratic ad
ministration has been ac
cused by a Republican leader in
the state Senate of attempting to
“emasculate” the State Human
Relations Commission.
The Human Relations Commission re
cently charged, in a meeting at Dover,
that discrimination obviously exists
against Negro teachers in Delaware.
Sen. Reynolds du Pont, the GOP
minority leader, rapped Gov. Elbert
Carvel’s administration in a speech be
fore the Council
for the Develop
ment
of Negro
Leadership in
Wilmington. Sen.
du Pont, who has
been mentioned
as a possible can
didate for gov
ernor in 1964,
charged that the
state Permanent
Budget Commis
sion has slashed in
Delaware Highlights
The Republican minority leader in
the Delaware Senate charged the
Democratic administration with at
tempting to emasculate the Human
Relations Commission.
The superintendent of Delaware’s
largest school system (Wilmington),
and a member of the Civil Rights
Advisory Committee, each have been
cited for contributions in the human
relations field.
A bill introduced in the 122nd
General Assembly would wipe out all
Negro school districts within two
before the Joint Finance Committee,
whose recommendations to the General
Assembly are not binding.
The charge of discrimination against
Negro teachers was made in November,
1962, by The Rev. Msgr. Paul J. Tag
gart, Wilmington, chairman of the edu
cation committee of the Human Rela
tions Commission.
The Rev. Taggart, former Dover pas
tor at Holy Cross Church, told the
commission that practically no Negroes
are employed as teachers at white
schools in Delaware.
GOP Gains Not Based
On Race: Goldwater
U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater (R'^ r '
zona) said “nothing could be more b 5
tant from the truth” than asserti 00 ;
that Republic**
★ ★ ★
Proposed Legislation
Reduces School Districts
DU PONT
half the appropriation request of the
Human Relations Commission.
Systems that would not desegregate,
it was decided, would no longer get
federal aid. Students involved in these
systems would go to on-base schools,
the federal government erecting port
able buildings and providing teachers
and textbooks.
At a meeting between Quigley and
interested Georgia school officials Nov.
30, representatives from Houston, Lib-
The agency, he said, requested a
budget of $21,600 for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1964, but the Perma
nent Budget Commission recommended |
only $10,500.
“And the Joint Finance Committee
(JFC) hasn’t taken its whack at the
commission yet,” Sen. du Pont stated. j
The JFC, made up of members from
both Senate and House, is headed by
Sen. Walter J. (Doc) Hoey. While Sen.
du Pont didn’t mention Sen. Hoey, a
Milford Democrat, he cited Gov. Elbert
N. Carvel by name.
“What the administration has done
in cutting the human relations appro
priation is to virtually assure that the
agency will have only one staff mem
ber,” Sen. du Pont said.
The Human Relations Commission,
which is headed by the Rev. Dr. Henry
N. Herndon, was created by General
Assembly legislation since Gov. Carvel
took office in 1961.
“I’m afraid the administration is deal
ing in hypocrisy here,” said Sen. du
Pont. “It tried to claim political credit
for creating a Human Relations Com
mission, but now it is guaranteeing its
effectiveness by withholding sufficient
funds.”
Sen. du Pont said he hopes an “in
dignant citizenry” will protest “this at
tempt to make a mockery of the Human
Relations Commission.”
All Negro school districts in the state
would be eliminated by 1965 if the
122nd General Assembly approves |
House Bill 20, which was introduced
with bi-partisan support.
HB20 would reduce Delaware’s
school districts from 87 to 33, and would
require each school district in the state i
to offer grades one through twelve.
Only one Negro district, Middletown
No. 120 (Louis L. Redding) now offers
a one-through-12 program. HB20 spe
cifically states that Middletown 120
shall be consolidated with the white
Middletown school district No. 60.
A similar bill in the 121st General I
are winning ^
South on the i**
issue. He S P°.
before about *,
at the Univers 1
of Georgia in A
ens Jan. 25.
“Some pe° p
,1*
who don’t see ®L,
care what ’
■say have said
are more ra '
goldwater t han the
crats,” Goldwater said. Instead, he
his party is beginning to win bee ^
of the “slow but certain growth
South of a vibrant, young, eX >
middle class.” , (s
Goldwater criticized liberals w
said, “want change for change s ^
alone” and said the U.S. Sena
completely hamstrung” because °
tempts to change the filibuster rw
★ ★ ★
In an interview in Atlanta, ^
gelist Billy Graham said: “I th ^jj o-
race problem in the South is " ^ or ','
its way to solution, but in th e p
it is more explosive and is going
main more explosive than in the
For example, Chicago is a racial
box.
Assembly failed to make any progress.
★ ★ ★
The commission, along with other
state agencies, will appear this month
Delaware has served notice that it
intends to withdraws from the Southern
Regional Education Compact.
A Senate joint resolution states that
ifo‘t
He said “the South is making ?
ress but I don’t see very much
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(See DELAWARE, Page 3)