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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MARCH, 1963—PAGE 13
NORTH CAROLINA
Caswell’s School Desegregation
Continues Without More Violence
WINSTON-SALEM
D esegregation of four pre
viously all-white schools in
Caswell County proceeded calmly
inside the schools during Feb
ruary. There was no recurrence
of violence that marked the en
rollment of 16 Negro children
Jan. 22.
Three developments have evolved:
• Paul Jasper Brown, father of four
of the Negro children, was to face trial
Wednesday, March 6, for the shooting
of two white men on the opening day
of desegregation.
• White parents, stirred by speakers
for the Virginia Education Fund Inc.
(which set up white private schools in
Prince Edward County, Va., when pub
lic schools were closed to avoid deseg
regation), are seeking legal methods
of returning to segregated schools.
• A Caswell County state legislator,
Rep. Edward Wilson, denounced the
desegregation of his county’s schools
by court order and vowed in a speech
before the state House of Representa
tives to fight for resegregation.
Caswell Desegregation
Desegregation of four Caswell
County schools began Jan. 22 as the
result of an Oct. 12, 1962, decision by
the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
in the Jeffers v. Whitley case, started
in 1956 by parents of 43 Negro children.
The only violence on opening day
came two miles north of Yanceyville
when Brown shot N. L. Oliver Jr. and
James Nixon. He told the sheriff that
the white men were in an automobile
that followed him after he had taken
his children to school.
Brown surrendered to Sheriff Frank
Daniels through the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of Colored
People. He has been kept in hiding
since then. He is charged with assault
with a deadly weapon. Neither of his
victims was seriously wounded.
Caswell County white parents have
organized into a chapter of the North
Carolina Defenders of States Rights, a
segregationist group. The Defenders
have been meeting regularly since
hearing speakers of the Virginia Edu
cation Fund Inc. on Sunday, Feb. 3.
The group is interested in starting pri-
v ate schools in the county and in ap
plying for tuition grants to children
who do not want to attend a desegre
gated school, but choose instead to
attend an accredited private school.
Law Not Used
In North Carolina this section of the
aw has never been used. One couple
"Chapel Hill sought funds, but their
child attended a private school that
was not approved.
The Caswell Defenders, led by
mard Dixon of Providence, also
'°ted to support segregationist Dr. I.
everly Lake for governor in 1964. Dr.
th 6 * n ^960 to Terry Sanford in
j e democratic Party primary. San-
or d was later elected govemo”, a post
he
now holds.
Typi ca j statements by Dixon to his
Sioup are;
fav mus * : have a governor who’ll
wh° r ° Ur cause before we’ll get any-
all know Sanford is not
th , Us ' He’s a new frontiersman, and
e 3 ari awful lot of rumors he’ll be
yj - ..I Ui ILIII1U1S I
* under Kennedy.”
I believe —i-±~r
reg . '•'6 we can maintain seg-
We > e sehools in Caswell County, but
w e ’
• L got ho use our heads.
adontou'u 011 ^ hke to see a resolution
hoard i-rC 61 ^ ton *Sht asking the school
req u . . asw ell County) to transfer on
school. studen ts * —
from integrated
Th
^Pse r f stdu hon was not passed be-
school °i, 3 < l ues tion on whether the
Dix 0n ,° ard Pauld take such action.
1 Ue stirm indicated in answer to a
from the floor that Lake
Alabama
time s (C ° ntinued Fr om Page 12)
Vou9» 111 hh e Past and what has it got
I The
?h*tion^ ltdU h’h can vote in last year’s
Martin -"r „ * c _h GOP candidate James
! e ter;
I
Oran c Gadsden almost unseated
^lab ama 6 - n ' lister Hill, means that
c °Unts” , ls emerging as a state that
^VcWu 16 “ W hat you’ve al-
f. e hati CP f 1133 g ‘ ven Barry Goldwater
l °P.” g , the Republican nomina-
* S aomina, j Gov. Nelson Rockefeller
'°t a * d > Little continued, “we’ve
5 to p. 0rn ,' although by compari-
' 0l, derf u j ^ 3IC G nt Kennedy he is “a
and
probably cannot keep Negroes
whites in separate schools.
In the meantime, Lake has not said
whether he will run in 1964.
Rep. Wilson on Feb. 20 spoke out
against desegregated schools. He said
in part:
“I say to you that the good people
of Caswell will have no violence, but
will exert every legal and honorable
method to remove this severe threat
to the destruction of a fine school pro
gram.”
He called the court action desegre
gating the schools one that disregarded
the “feelings of 90 per cent of our
citizens.”
“I feel as a prophet crying in the
wilderness,” he said. “I love education
and have given my few years to its
principles.
“. . . Our board of education, dedi
cated to the task of upholding the will
of 90 per cent of its citizens, used all
legal means to prevent a destruction
of our school program.”
Wilson also denounced Brown and
a national magazine which reported the
shooting incident.
He promised that legal action to get
the Negro children out of white schools
is coming. He spoke on a point of
privilege.
★ ★ ★
83 Negro Pupils Enroll
In Durham Biracial Schools
Supt. Lew Hannen announced Tues
day, Feb. 12 that Durham city schools
have 83 Negro pupils enrolled in pre
dominantly white schools.
This total included three Negro chil
dren transferred to the Edgemont
School on Feb. 11. It excludes two
Negro pupils whose parents requested
their retransfer to an all-Negro school.
Durham now has three all-white
schools, 10 all-Negro schools and 12
desegregated schools. The new Indus
trial Education Center is also desegre
gated.
Most of the Negroes attending pre
dominantly white schools were trans
ferred as the result of an Oct. 12, 1962,
decision by the Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals in connection with the
Wheeler v. Durham City Board of
Education and Spaulding v. Durham
City Board of Education, combined
cases.
The desegregated schools and the
number of Negro pupils in each are
Durham High, 20; Carr Junior High,
18; Brogden Junior High and Holton
Junior High, 5 each; Edgemont, 9;
Morehead, 8; Fuller and Holloway
Street, 6 each; North Durham and
George Watts, 2 each, and Southside
and Y. E. Smith, 1 each.
★ ★ ★
Greensboro Assignment
Policies Under Attack
Negroes challenged the assignment
policy of Greensboro city schools in a
Feb. 21 letter from the Greensboro
Citizens Association to Richard K.
Hunter, chairman of the Greenboro
Board of Education.
This request is scheduled to be on the
agenda for the board’s March meeting,
according to Hunter.
Signed by the Rev. Otis L. Hairston,
president of the Negro group, the let
ter noted that it had presented reso
lutions to the school board, asking the
board to make assignments without
regard to race.
Letter to School Board
“We have waited patiently for evi
dence of action by the Board of Edu
cation in this regard . . . The board has
made no policy statement, announced
no plans or other action. . . .
“Current federal court cases involv
ing two different North Carolina public
school systems (Durham city and Cas
well County) required the school
boards to take affirmative action to ac
complish a plan of desegregation . . .
“Many children in the city of
Greensboro are assigned to schools
which are great distances from their
homes, primarily because of race . . .
“The present plan of assignment and
reassignment of pupils in the Greens
boro schools places an unwarranted
burden on parents seeking non-dis-
criminatory assignment of their chil
dren . . .
“We are convinced that quality edu
cation can best be achieved in a truly
desegregated school system.”
Greensboro, which along with
Winston-Salem and Charlotte, became
the first school system to desegregate
in 1956, has 37 Negroes attending
schools with whites, all in one school,
Gillespie Park.
Hunter said Greensboro lets children
attend schools nearest their home.
P. J. Weaver, superintendent of city
schools said:
“First graders may register at any
school they wish, and assignments are
made on the basis of the registrations.
Other students normally are reassigned
to the school they previously attended.
Students graduating from an ele
mentary or junior high school are
assigned individually to the junior or
senior high school they will attend.
“At the time the assignments are
made the board adopts a resolution
stating that all students finishing at
such-and-such elementary school will
be assigned to such-and-such junior
high school. Of course, sometimes they
have to be divided up to prevent over
crowding at a school and for other
reasons. For example, when Page High
School opened several years ago we
had to do some dividing.
“Personal adjustments, physical con
ditions, proximity and, whenever
feasible, the wishes of the student or
his parents are taken into considera
tion in making assignments.
“If a student remains in the school
to which he has been assigned for
several years we assume that he is
satisfied with that assignment. This
also makes it easier for us in operating
the school. If we know approximately
how many students will be attending
there the next year we know what we
need in the way of teachers, facilities
and materials.”
★ ★ ★
Charlotte Commencement
Exercises Questioned
The question of having integrated
commencement and baccalaureate serv
ices for high school graduates in the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system
was sidelined when it was announced
Feb. 25 that integration leader Dr.
Martin Luther King of Atlanta, Ga.,
will address commencement exercises
for the city’s 575 Negro high school
seniors.
The issue arose on Feb. 6 because of
a letter sent by Harry S. Jones for the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Council on
N. C. Highlights
A March 6 trial date was set for
Paul Jasper Brown, father of four
Negro children involved in deseg
regation of Caswell County schools
Jan. 22, in the shooting of two
white men. He is accused of assault
with a deadly weapon. Other devel
opments in the county include the
organization of a chapter of the
North Carolina Defenders of States
Rights and a statement by Rep. Ed
ward Wilson in the General Assem
bly denouncing desegregated schools
in Caswell County.
The Durham city school system,
recently ordered by a federal ap
peals court to admit more Negroes
to desegregated schools, announced
that 83 Negro children are enrolled
in predominantly white schools.
The Negro Greensboro Citizens
Association challenged the assign
ment policy of Greensboro city
schools and called for a geographi
cal pupil enrollment plan.
Three newspapers and writers of
letters to editors criticized Rep. John
Kerr of Warren County after he
criticized Dr. Lewis C. Dowdy, act
ing president of Agricultural and
Technical College, a Negro school,
for seeking funds from the state leg
islature. He criticized A&T because
its students had participated in sit-
in demonstrations.
Coach Bill Hildebrand of Wake
Forest College took a first step to
ward having a Negro on a football
team at the college by inviting a
Lancaster, S.C., Negro star, Bennie
Blocker, and his coach and basket
ball teammates to spend a day on
the Wake Forest campus on Feb. 6.
Human Relations to Supt. A. Craig
Phillips. It questioned the announce
ment of a white baccalaureate service
and a Negro service.
“Why, we ask, can there not be one
baccalaureate service for all the
schools?” the letter asked.
‘Spirit of Unity’
“Here is an opportunity to demon
strate a spirit of unity, of good will, of
brotherhood under one God. We are a
cross section of our nation, made up of
people of many different races and na
tional origins. The public schools have
traditionally been places where children
of diverse backgrounds have come to
gether, have come to know and appre
ciate each other, and have learned to
live together as Americans.
“Unfortunately, in our community,
segregation has interfered with this
educational process, and white and
Negro children have grown up without
knowing each other, and with resulting
prejudices against each other.
“Holding one baccalaureate service
for all would have the added value of
giving our high school students at
least a glimpse of our whole com
munity, made up, as it is, of children
of all shades of color as well as of dif
ferent races and national origins.
“We respectfully ask that plans for
separate baccalaureate services be re
considered.”
Phillips said he would meet with
Jones, who is executive secretary of the
Council on Human Relations. Phillips
noted that he had written the follow
ing memo to school principals last fall
“I would like to see us take the total
step of combining all of the senior
classes in one exercise, rather th.r-
having a separate white and Negro
service.
“I assume that this has been dis
cussed rather frankly with the princi
pals and that most of you feel that it
is not time to do this.”
Gerson L. Stroud, principal of the
Fork Road High School and chairman
of the combined commencement plan,
said Negro leaders approve of King
as a speaker for the six Negro high
schools. He added that this does not
mean they approve the present racial
arrangements.
★ ★ ★
Chapel Hill School Board
Announces 1963-64 Policy
The Chapel Hill City Board of Edu
cation on Feb. 11 announced its assign
ment policy for the 1963-64 school year.
Under this policy the number of
Negroes in predominantly white schools
is expected to remain about the same
as this year, around 30.
Supt. Howard Thompson announced
the plan. The superintendent will be
responsible for assignment with the
approval of the school board. The sys
tem will use the same geographical
method that is now in use.
The system will be more liberal in
geographical assignments for children
near the borders of districts, Thompson
said. The new system, he said, will per-
(See NO MORE, Page 16)
In the Colleges
Legislator Denounces A&T President
Rep. John Kerr of Warren County
stirred up a hornet’s nest in Raleigh on
Feb. 19 when he denounced Dr. Lewis
C. Dowdy, acting president of the
Negro Agricultural and Technical Col
lege in Greensboro, for seeking more
funds.
Kerr criticized A&T College because
of its students’ participation in sit-ins,
which began three years ago in
Greensboro. His statement brewed up
a host of letters to editors of some of
the state’s larger newspapers and a
number of editorials denouncing his
actions.
Dowdy appeared before the joint ap
propriations committee of the North
Carolina General Assembly explaining
the A&T budget in its request for
funds for the next biennium.
Sit-ins Attacked
Kerr took the floor at the commit
tee hearing and said:
“The legislature has been very gen
erous with past appropriations to A&T
... Is it not a faet that your students
are participating in sit-down strikes in
Greensboro with respect to eating
places?”
Dowdy answered “yes.” (The sit-in
wave began Feb. 1, 1960, when four
A&T students sought food in a down
town five and ten cent store in Greens
boro and were refused service.)
“And you come down here begging
the white folks to give more money to
your school?” Kerr responded. “We’re
getting tired of this . . . You can
strike all you please, but don’t come
here and beg us . . . Sit-ins are an
action that is an anticipation of antago
nism between the races.”
Dowdy replied, “We have seen vari
ous and sundry actions . . . This does
not mean we aren’t putting forth every
effort to bring better behavior in the
future.”
‘Don’t Expect Us To Support
a School Whose Students Be
lieve All Americans Have
Equal Rights’
Sanders, Greensboro Daily News
★ ★ ★
Wake Forest College Seeks
To Enroll Negro Athlete
Wake Forest College, a private,
Baptist-supported institution in Win
ston-Salem, took positive steps to en
courage Negro athletes to attend that
school.
Bennie Blocker, an outstanding foot
ball and basketball player at Barr High
School in Lancaster, S.C., and a Negro,
spent a day on the Wake Forest campus
on Feb. 6.
Coach Bill Hildebrand of the Wake
Forest football Deacons was his host.
Hildebrand visited the boy at his home,
then welcomed him to the campus.
Blocker also was guest of the college
for the Wake Forest-Duke basketball
game that night.
The boy is 17 years old, 6-5 and 215
pounds. He is a “B” student in school,
ranking in the top 10 in a class of
108 seniors. He was accompanied by his
coach, Roosevelt Gilliam, and four
members of his school’s basketball
team.
“I am very much impressed by Coach
Hildebrand,” Blocker said. “He is a
very fine man.”
No Commitment
Blocker did not commit himself on
attending Wake Forest. Such schools
as Michigan State and Indiana have
shown interest in him.
In January Coach Hildebrand an
nounced that he is willing to use a
Negro player on his team.
Wake Forest has two Negroes en
rolled in undergraduate study during
the current school year. The college
first opened its door to Negro under
graduates during the summer of 196’
Miss Patricia Tillman of Winston-
Salem became the first coed to live on
the campus at that time. She left the
school for disciplinary reasons after
the first session of summer school.
Race was not involved, and the school,
itself, released no publicity on this
action. The two present students were
enrolled after this incident.
Edward Reynolds, an African stu
dent, lives on campus. He also attended
school at Wake Forest last summer. A
woman Negro student lives off campus
in Winston-Salem.
★ ★ ★
Two Negroes have applied to enter
the white Meredith College, a private
school in Raleigh, President Carlyle
Campbell announced. An all girls
school, Meredith was given a go-ahead
vote on admitting Negro students last
fall by the Board of Trustees.
Campbell said one Negro application
was for next fall, and the other was
for the spring semester. He advised the
second woman, who would be a trans
feree, to apply for the fall semester.