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PAGE 6—FEBRUARY, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
.
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma City
Lawsuit Gets
New Counsel
OKLAHOMA CITY
A change of lawyers in a racial
J -*- discrimination suit against
the Oklahoma City school board
became necessary in January with
the appointment of the state’s first
Negro assistant federal district at
torney.
John E. Green, 33, Oklahoma City,
got the federal post. He has been one
of the attorneys representing Robert
Dowell, Oklahoma City Negro student,
in a suit against the board of education.
Green was appointed one of seven
assistants to U.S. District Attorney B.
Andrew Potter, who serves the western
district of Oklahoma.
In accepting the new job, Green was
required to give up all private practice
and had to withdraw as counsel for
young Dowell and his father, Dr. A. L.
Dowell.
Green has been working the Dowell
case with U. Simpson Tate, Wewoka,
who formerly was chief counsel for the
National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People in the south
western region.
New Co-Counsel
Tate said E. Melvin Porter, Oklahoma
City, is taking Green’s place as co
counsel in the Dowell suit. Porter is
president of the Oklahoma City branch
of the NAACP.
The ease, Dowell v. Board of Educa
tion, is ready for trial in the court of
U.S. District Judge Luther Bohanon. Ii
is not expected to come up until March
or April, however, because the judge
has been on special assignment in Phil
adelphia.
The Dowells claim the board of edu
cation has been guilty of specific acts
of racial discrimination in maintaining
attendance areas and a policy of special
transfers in the Oklahoma City school
system.
Green was sworn in to office Jan. 15
at the Oklahoma City federal building.
Potter, his new boss, praised him as a
man of integrity, ability and energy
and expressed confidence he will do an
“excellent job.”
Vacancy Had Existed
A vacancy had existed in the district
attorney’s office for some time, Potter
said. Numerous applications and rec
ommendations were received and he
said Green was the best-qualified man
for the job.
A native of Wright City, Okla., Green
attended high school in Idabel, Okla.,
then went to Morehouse College, At
lanta. After graduation, he taught school
in Ashdown, Ark., until July, 1951, when
he entered the army and served in the
25th Infantry Division in Korea and
Japan.
He returned to civilian life in 1953
and was graduated from the University
of Oklahoma law
school four years
later. In 1958 he
was named an as
sistant Oklahoma
County attorney,
a post he held un
til January, 1961,
when he entered
private practice.
Green is mar
ried and has a
two-year-old son.
His wife, Wanda,
33, has a master’s degree in sociology
from OU and is a visiting counselor for
the board of education.
Green is one of six children of a
southeast Oklahoma retired lumber
company employe. Five of the children
are in professions.
Represented Demonstrators
Besides his work in the Dowell case,
young Green won considerable local
attention as counsel for participants in
“sit-in” demonstrations in Oklahoma
City.
He and Porter represented defend
ants in an injunction suit brought by
the Cravens Building Corp. against
NAACP members who demonstrated in
a lobby outside the entrance to a cafe
teria that refused to serve Negroes.
Green also was counsel for a number
of NAACP members named defendants
in an injunction suit brought by the
owner of a cafe at Northeast 23rd St.
and Lottie. The case is still pending.
GREEN
Oklahoma Highlights
A change in lawyers in an Okla
homa City school desegregation suit
became necessary when one of the
plaintiff’s counsel was appointed an
assistant U.S. district attorney. He
was the first Negro named to the of
fice in the western Oklahoma district.
A onetime Negro school teacher
who lost her job because of desegre
gation of an Oklahoma school district
was hired in the office of the state’s
new Republican governor. She is the
first of her race to work there.
The annual convention of the Epis
copal church in Oklahoma instructed
schools it sponsors to state in bulle
tins and promotional material they
are open to students of any race.
Schoolmen
Governor Employs
Negro Ex-Teacher
As Office Worker
Nearly 400 Negro teachers lost their
jobs when schools in Oklahoma were
desegregated and, with a few excep
tions, the biracial classes were placed
under white faculties.
One of these teachers made history
at the state level in January.
Mrs. Beulah Ponder, Oklahoma City,
became the first Negro ever to work
in the governor’s office. She was hired
as a stenographer
by Gov. Henry
Bellmon, the
state’s first Re
publican chief ex
ecutive.
Mrs. Ponder,
who was graduat
ed from Langston
University in May,
1954, with a bach
elor of science de
gree in commer
cial education,
taught in the 1954-55 school year in
Elk City, Okla. She was on the faculty
of Lincoln High, then a separate
school.
Negro Teachers
Lincoln had five Negro teachers as
signed to the high school level. In
1955, Elk City desegregated and grades
9 through 12 at Lincoln were abolished
and the Negro students taken into the
white high school.
Lincoln became an elementary school
for Negroes and only the Negro prin-
Miscellaneous
Leaders of Major Faiths Hold
Religion and Race Conference
MRS. PONDER
CHICAGO
T eaders of the Protestant, Ro-
man Catholic and Jewish
faiths met at the National Confer
ence on Religion and Race on Jan.
14-17 and adopted “An Appeal to
the Conscience of the American
People.”
Originally it was intended that the
delegates from the nation’s major
faiths would conclude the four-day
conference with a “Declaration of Con
science.” Dissension over the original
draft resulted in the change to “an ap
peal.”
The 700 lay and clergy delegates and
several hundred invited observers at
tending the sessions at the Edgewater
Beach Hotel heard addresses by Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., president of
the Southern Christian Leadership Con
ference; R. Sargent Shriver Jr., direc
tor of the Peace Corps; Rabbi Julius
Mark, president of the Synagogue
Council of America; Albert Cardinal
Meyer, archbishop of Chicago, Roman
Catholic; and J. Irwin Miller, president
of the National Council of Churches.
Describing “racism” as “our most
serious domestic evil,” the conference
called for an end to segregation and
asked the American people to seek
voting rights and equal protection of
the law:
“We call upon all the American peo
ple to work, to pray and to act cour
ageously in the cause of human equality
and dignity while there is still time, to
eliminate racism permanently and de
cisively, to seize the historic opportu
nity the Lord has given us for healing
an ancient rupture in the human family,
to do this for the glory of God.”
Spoke as Individuals
Conference officials noted that the
delegates did not speak for their na
tional religious bodies and that the
statement was not binding on the 70-
cipal and his wife were kept as teach
ers. The other three teachers, includ
ing Mrs. Ponder, were not retained.
Mrs. Ponder went to work for the
State Department of Education in the
capitol, assigned to the division of in
struction. Later, she left the depart
ment to rear a family. Three months
ago, she went to work for the state
insurance fund and was there when
she received the appointment to the
governor’s office.
She and her husband, who is in the
U.S. Air Force, have three children,
aged 5, 2 and 1.
Episcopal Church Schools Told
To Announce Biracial Policy
Episcopal schools in Oklahoma have
been told to advertise that they are
open to Negro as well as white stu
dents.
A resolution approved Jan. 24 by the
state convention of the Oklahoma dio
cese of the Episcopal church called on
its schools to announce in all bulletins
or promotional material that no stu
dents shall be barred because of race,
creed or color.
The day before, the delegates meeting
in Oklahoma City, had heard a request
for “the report we asked for last year.”
The request, by the Rev. Joseph Young,
Norman, referred to a 1962 resolution
that the boards of Casady School, Okla
homa City, and Holland Hall, Tulsa,
take immediate steps opening their
classes to all races in conformity with
church policy. The boards were to re
port back to the 1963 convention.
Along with his requests for the report,
Young submitted a resolution “requir
ing” the schools to desegregate imme
diately.
Debate Follows
An emotion-charged debate followed.
The center of the controversy was a
letter written by Dr. D. H. O’Donoghue,
chairman of the Casady board, in which
he charged the Episcopal diocese had
not contributed “one dime” to the sup
port of Casady.
He asserted that, if the diocese in
sisted on immediate desegregation, it
should be prepared to provide $75,000
to $100,000 in funds for subsidizing the
school. He estimated this would be the
amount lost from the tuition of students
who would be withdrawn from Casady.
At National Conference on Religion and Race \
The Most Rev. William E. Cousin, Archbishop of Milwaukee; J. Irwin Miller pf
Columbus, Ind., president of the National Council of Churches; Albert Cardinal
Meyer, Archbishop of Chicago; Rabbi Julius Mark of Temple Emanuef, NeW York
City; Dr. Fred S. Bushmeyer, secretary, United Church of America; Bishop Stephen
Gill Spottswood, African Methodist Episcopal Zioh^Qhurch, Washington, D.C.
some religious organizations repre
sented.
Shortly before the presentation of the
conference’s appeal, Dr. Martin Luthi
King, Jr., told one of the largest aud?
ences of the meeting that “Nothing^so
completely reveals the pathetic yirAle-
vancy of the Church and illustrates the
eclipse of its spiritual powel^as its fail
ure to take a forthright ftanj on the
question of racial justiceV^Dr. King
continued:
If the Church dote ^t recapture its. I majority of the American people, to
prophetic zeal, it. Vfll become litti^J counsel together concerning the tragic
;le\pnt social cli
religiosity.
Several speakers insisted that “esti
mates of financial loss are far over
drawn.”
A report from Holland Hall said it
had no problem because it had never
received an application from a Negro.
If it is, it will be processed like any
other application, the board said.
Attitude Commended
This attitude came in for commenda
tion the following day in the resolu
tion calling on Episcopal schools to
open their doors to all students regard
less of race.
The only discussion came from the
Rev. Ray Ryland, chaplain of the mid
dle school at Casady. He challenged
O’Donoghue’s statement about the dio
cese not contributing to the support of
Casady.
He insisted this was a misconception
because the people of the diocese of
Oklahoma had made the schools pos
sible and had provided the funds for
their establishment.
“Just because you cannot find in the
budget of this convention an earmarked
fund for support of the schools does not
mean the schools are not part of dio
cese of Oklahoma and subject to their
control,” Ryland maintained.
An effort was made on the convention
floor to strengthen the resolution. It
was lost for want of a second when it
was pointed out that the resolution
simply left it up to the boards of the
schools involved to carry out the poli
cies of the Episcopal church in Okla
homa, which sponsors the two institu
tions. The resolution was passed with
out a dissenting vote.
more than an i:
a thin veneeAjcJf religiosity. the
Church does noS^participate ac^/ely in
the struggle, for economic ikhd racial
justioe.O^ywill forfeit rtS©' loyalty of
milliom and cause men. everywhere to
say iqat it has atrophied its will.”
Other speakers (criticised the prevail
ing role of cRyfcnes and synagogues
on the race problem and called for
more leadership:
‘Bland Philosophy’
“I find it alarming when the govern
ment looks to the religious community
for its share of the task and encounters,
too often, a bland philosophy of laissez-
faire. As a layman, for example, I won
der how I can go to church 52 times a
year and not hear one sermon on the
practical problems of race relations.”—
R. Sargent Shriver Jr.
“In this battle to build a society and
a world in which the dignity of every
human being is jealously guarded and
the equality of all men taken for grant
ed, the forces of religion, if they are
true to their purposes, must, both by
precept and example, be in the fore
front—leading and not following, cour
ageously fulfilling their prophetic mis
sion of being the conscience of human
kind.”—Dr. Julius Mark.
“The religious institutions of this
country have the clearest duty to aid
and to encourage each practical move
and program which they feel works
for good toward the removal of re
maining areas of racial discrimination
and injustice; to instruct and to make
clear to all our people the cancerous
nature of this evil and its threat to our
society if it be not eliminated; to ex
amine their own customs and practices;
to make certain that no traces exist
therein to nullify the example of their
preaching and to give the lie to their
sincerity.”—J. Irwin Miller.
“We do not need, in short, any more
general resolutions in the field of re
ligion and race. What we need is dis
ciplined witness, backed by positions
with binding quality. The Church is
not a cave of all winds of doctrine;
neither is it an association of moral
anarchists. Where salvation is involved,
and nothing less is at stake on this
front, the Church speaks and acts with
integrity—or else it is not the Church
of Jesus Christ at all. This, from a
Christian point of view, is the basic
question put by racialism.”—Dr. Frank
lin H. Littell, professor at Chicago
Theological Seminary.
Attend Workgroups
Conference delegates attended work
groups on four subjects: “The Inner
Life of the Church and Synagogue,”
“The Responsibility of Church and
Synagogue as Institutions in the Com
munity,” “The Role of Church and
Synagogue in a Racially Changing
Community,” and “The Relation of
Church and Synagogue to Other Com
munity Forces.”
The delegates differed on their eval
uations of the conference. Several ex
pressed the opinion that the worth of
the meeting lay in fact that the major
faiths had joined together on attacking
the racial problem. Other delegates
im fact of racial prejudice, discrimination
and segregation in our society. Coming
as we do out of various religious back
grounds, each of us has more to say
than can be said here. But this state
ment is what we as religious people
are moved to say together.
ccmjjjd^pd the conference “too late”
an\ Ope delegate Suggested early in the
ffcnrerence that theVliost practical thing
Jw6uld be “(to wV§p.”
Text o^v^ppeal
Follwdpig is the text of the appeal
adopteef at the conclusion of the con
ference:
fj-e have met as members of the great
Jewish and Christian faiths held by the
Racism is our most serious domestic
evil. We must eradicate it with all
diligence and speed. For this purpose
we appeal to the consciences of the
American people.
This evil has deep roots; it will not
be easily eradicated. While the Declara
tion of Independence did declare “that
all men are created equal” and ‘are
endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights,” slavery was P er ‘
mitted for almost a century. Even after
the Emancipation Proclamation, com
pulsory racial segregation and its de
grading badge of racial inequality re
ceived judicial sanction until our ow*
time.
We rejoice in such recent evidences
of greater wisdom and courage in ° ur
national life as the Supreme Court de
cisions against segregation and the
heroic, non-violent protests of thou
sands of Americans. However, " f
mourn the fact that patterns of segre
gation remain entrenched everywhere"
North and South, East and West. Th £
spirit and the letter of our laws 8lt
mocked and violated.
Our primary concern is for the la"-
of God. We Americans of all religk*
faiths have been slow to recognize
tha>
racial discrimination and segregate
are an insult to God, the Giver of 1*
man dignity and human rights. S'
worse, we all have participated in P®
petuating racial discrimination and seg
regation in civil, political, industrial,
cial, and private life. And worse stu*
in our houses of worship, our relig*
schools, hospitals, welfare institute ^
■iiund'
ha"*
and fraternal organizations we
often failed our own religious coi
ments. With few exceptions we
evaded the mandates and rejected
promises of the faiths we represen ^
We repent our failures and asK
forgiveness of God. We ask a ^ SO j j0S e
forgiveness of our brothers,
rights we have ignored and w ^ ose , r i
nity we have offended. We call ^
renewed religious conscience on
basically moral evil.
II
Our appeal to the American
is this: I
SEEK a reign of justice in which
ing rights and equal protection . ^
law will everywhere be enjoyed, ,
facilities and private ones ser ', g \t
public purpose will be access: ^
all; equal education and cultur ^j,
portunities, hiring and promotion,^
ical and hsopital care, open occ
in housing will be available to m
SEEK a reign of love in which
wounds of past injustices I 1 ! r>
used as excuses for new on
barriers will be eliminated; t e $
ger will be sought and welcom
(See CONFERENCE. Page ')