Newspaper Page Text
slORTH CAROLINA
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—APRIL, 1963—PAGE 13
Negro Students Ask Bus Service,
Ban on Harassment
WINSTON-SALEM
of
rift
dge
said
Mai
al.
dge
fed
nty
eys
:ion
1 be
eys’
of
to
the
ted
her
mg
ght j
ttle j
i in
ur-
im-
nta
re-
iar-
her
lan ;
of !
the
gro
400
ick.
ine |
in
dth *
wri
tes.
bly
ol“
ad-
:ial
old
pie
it’s
m-
in-
on
)54.
es-
>n-
om
a
th
ick
in
vras
ma
N egro pupils in recently deseg
regated Caswell County
schools (Jan. 22, 1963 as result
of JeJ? ers v - Whitley ruling Oct.
j2 1962 by U.S. Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals) filed suit Mon
day, March 18 in the U.S. Middle
District Court in Greensboro re
questing school bus service and
protection against harassment by
white students.
Filed in behalf of Minia Jeffers and
ylene Jeffers by their father, John L.
Jeffers, the suit names the Caswell
County Board of Education and T. H.
Whitley, superintendent of Caswell
County schools, as defendants. Sixteen
Negro children are enrolled in three
Caswell previously all-white schools.
The case was scheduled for hearing
April 11.
In other developments in Caswell
County, the trial of Jasper Brown, Ne
gro parent accused of assault with in
tent to kill in connection with the
shooting of two white men Jan. 22
when schools were desegregated, was
set for the November term of the crim
inal division of superior court.
In the Jeffers v. Caswell County
Board of Education and Whitley case
the Negro children ask:
• An order requiring the defendants
to immediately provide all Negro chil
dren attending schools previously lim
ited to white children with bus trans
portation to such schools.
• An order requiring the Caswell
school board to stop harassment of Ne
gro children attending white schools
and discipline students harassing Ne
gro children.
• An order requiring defendants to
set up a plan designed to orient the
community to a more favorable accept
ance of school desegregation.
• An order granting plaintiffs and
“members of this class” such other re
lief as may be equitable and just.
The Negro plaintiffs in a series of
complaints against the board and Whit
by charge:
• Negro parents requested school bus
transportation to the white schools, but
Supt. Whitley refused because white
bus drivers threatened a sitdown strike
if they had to transport Negro children
and it would not be possible to reroute
me school buses. The children now ride
me same buses they did when attend-
mg all-Negro schools, then walk the
rest of the way to schools.
• On March 4 Negro parents asked
e school board for bus transportation,
ut it refused. Chairman C. N. Barker,
1 e plaintiffs said, answered, “The Su
preme Court put the kids in school, let
6 Supreme Court provide them
“Asportation.”
•The school board refuses to dis-
eipline white children found guilty of
Harassing Negroes.
* ^e Bartlett Yancey School, where
v en Negro children are enrolled, has
~™ru s terd “harsh and unreasonable
ciplinary measures against the Ne-
^ children for what appears to be
°r or nonexistent violations of
**001 rules.”
In
Concluding Claims
by*. conc I u< ding their action, the Ne-
claimed:
of j, 6 ° r( Ier requiring desegregation
Sated K° • * ong °P erate< d ° n a segre-
carried with it duties to take
'■’bate' 6 an< ^ affirmative action to solve
pa^j v r Problems occur. The mere
Ofd er 6 ac quiescence in that part of the
styj re ff u rring admission of Negro
ititute 11° w b*Ite schools does not con
sul compliance.”
ioo
•c’s
be
by
a«•
if*
P
nr
i*>J
ool
red
n>'
,-aS
W
v ★ ★ ★
[( ' ro Parent Faces
ar * n g in Assault
Bip^^ajynary hearing on Jasper
’ a “ e S ro parent who shot two
'Wgj. Jan. 22 when schools were
-'larch ru ’ resu lted in a ruling
Hi j f °y Magistrate A. W. Hoore-
5,1 tty 0 ' there was probable cause
fie u C0Un ts against Brown,
kill accuse d of assault with intent
filing , aUs mg serious injury not re-
r’Hics xj. ^ ea th, in the shooting of
J liv er , Xon of Burlington and N. L.
BrC ° f YanceyviUe.
u _'t’ as bound over to Superior
rHt ij. er a $1,000 bond on each
?*1 MaroR aSe ’ or fSinally scheduled for
" 6 tJovem u been continued to
t^r term of criminal court.
★ ★ ★
U 1 Ma r „, 0f \ Negro children filed
S'!■ Co u " 13 » the U.S. Middle Dis-
sjr 1 . Point Greensboro against the
titlg c dy Board of Education
desegregation of city
North Carolina Highlights
Negro students in the recently de
segregated Caswell County schools
asked a federal court for school bus
transportation, protection from ha
rassment by white students and a
plan for orientation for desegrega
tion.
A suit filed in U.S. Middle Dis
trict Court at Greensboro asked the
High Point school board to halt
“discriminatory practices” against
Negro children and to provide a
“unitary nonracial system.” The suit
was filed in behalf of eight Negro
children March 13.
The Greensboro Board of Educa
tion agreed March 19 to study a pe
tition by the Greensboro Citizens
Association, a Negro civic group,
calling for a geographical assign
ment policy for city schools.
An interracial evaluation commit
tee reviewed six junior high schools
(four white and two Negro) March
5-8 in Winston-Salem for the South
ern Association of School and Col
leges.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead
told Greensboro College, a Methodist
affiliated school, that it must deseg
regate its student body in fact as
well as in policy.
schools in assignment of students,
teachers and other school personnel.
The case (Gilmore et al v. High Point
City Board of Education) was filed by:
Mr. and Mrs. Artra Gilmore for
Shelia and Barries Gilmore, Mrs. Sara
Lovett for Stephen Daniels, her son;
Fannie Hampton for Myrtle Hampton,
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ingram for Lin-
wood B. Ingram, Mrs. Elizabeth Rob
erts for Ishimia Lloyd, her son; Mr. and
Mrs. Grover Colbert for Cortez Colbert
and Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wallace for
Phyllis Wallace.
Seven children are seeking assign
ment at Femdale Junior High School,
and one is seeking assignment to Tom
linson Junior High School. All attend
Griffin Junior High School.
‘Class Action’
The suit, called a class action, seeks
an antisegregation injunction against
what it calls discriminatory practices.
The plaintiffs claim:
“The defendant board has not em
ployed the North Carolina pupil place
ment statutes as a means of abolishing
state imposed racial distinctions, nor
has it offered to plaintiffs and other
Negro children, by means of the Pupil
Assignment Law, a genuine method for
securing attendance at nonsegregated
public schools.
Plaintiffs also are seeking the reor
ganization of the city school system
“into a unitary nonracial system.”
High Point currently has 22 Negro
children enrolled in predominantly
white schools. The eight students in
volved in the above action were turned
down in their pleas for reassignment
Oct. 24, 1962.
★ ★ ★
Questionnaire Filed
In Yancey County Suit
A four-point questionnaire was filed
March 7 in behalf of Patty L. Griffith in
the Griffith v. Robinson et al case seek
ing desegregation of schools in Yancey
County.
The new action asks:
What has been done to comply with
an order by Judge Wilson Warlick (of
U.S. District Court in Asheville) Aug.
13, 1962 that the Yancey County Board
of Education begin study for a desegre
gation plan to go into effect by Septem
ber, 1963?
Will such a plan go into effect at that
time?
Will this plan mean the desegrega
tion of Oak Crest, a Negro elementary
school? (This school was built for Ne
groes after the original suit was filed
Nov. 11, 1959. There had been no Ne
gro school in the county for two years.)
Has a program been planned to pre
pare the community for school deseg
regation?
★ ★ ★
Shelby Suit Asks
Boy’s Reassignment
A suit in behalf of Rayfield Cabiness,
rejected in his attempts for reassign
ment from a Negro school to a white
school, was filed in the U.S. District
Court in Asheville March 16 against
the Shelby Board of Education. His
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Cabiness of
Shelby, filed the action.
The parents are seeking the transfer
of their son from the Negro Cleveland
County High School to the white Shel
by High School.
The suit also is termed a class action
in behalf of all Negro students and
teachers in Shelby. It asks the Shelby
Board of Education to formulate a de
segregation plan for teachers and stu
dents.
★ ★ ★
Biracial Plan Ordered
For Transylvania County
Judge Wilson Warlick of the U.S.
District Court in Asheville ordered
March 11 both sides of the Conley
v. Transylvania
County Board of
Education to draw
up a plan for de-
segrega-
tion of county
schools.
His action was
taken in a suit
filed Aug. 17, 1962
by Ruben J. Dail
ey, an Asheville
attorney. The
petition followed
the assignment of eight Negroes of 40
to a previously white school. Dailey
filed action in behalf of the rejected 32.
Judge Warlick ruled that the 32 Ne
gro junior high school and senior high
school students had been discriminated
WARLICK
In the Colleges
Anthropologist Scores
Anthropologist Margaret Mead criti
cized Greensboro College March 12 for
having no Negro students.
Greensboro, a Methodist supported
private college, has a nonracial admis
sion policy, but no Negro students. Dr.
Mead said:
“Any institution that does not go for
ward goes backward. You say this in
stitution is not segregated. This is
sheer, unadulterated hypocrisy . . . This
is the last time I’m coming here unless
you have the sense to pay attention to
the Constitution of the United States
and the principles of Christianity.”
Other quotes by Dr. Mead included:
“We’ve pretty well lost a large part of
the world where Christian missions
were established because of our
arrogant assumption that the color of
our skins is more pleasing in the sight
of God than that of another human be
ing.”
In answer to Dr. Mead’s criticisms,
Dr. Harold H. Hutson, president of
Greensboro College said, “We have re
ceived no applications from Negroes . . .
“Dr. Mead certainly has a right to
her own opinions . . . The facts will
show, I am confident, that a great deal
of progress has been made at Greens
boro College during the past several
years in the area of interracial under
standing.”
★ ★ ★
Post-High School
Students on Increase
The percentage of white and Negro
high school graduates of North Carolina
schools attending college or other post-
high school study is increasing each
year, a five-year report printed in
“State School Facts” for March, 1963
revealed.
This study reviewed the post-high
school careers of graduates between
1957 and 1962. For the state as a whole,
the percentage of graduates entering
college increased 45.1 per cent in five
years.
The increase for white and Indian
children was 48.8 per cent, rising from
9,697 in 1957 to 14,430 in 1962. The Ne
gro percentage for college was 30.8,
going up from 2,507 in 1957 to 3,280 in
1962.
For schools other than colleges, the
percentage increases were 61.3 for all
against. He directed desegregation for
the start of the 1963-64 school year.
The judge advised that any Negro
children who wish to may remain in
their present schools in 1963-64.
Political Action
Top-Level Position
Given To Negro
Dr. James T. Taylor of Durham, re
tired dean of personnel and professor
of theology of North Carolina College,
was appointed an administrative officer
in the employment service division of
the North Carolina Employment Se
curity Commission March 28.
He is the first Negro to be named to
a top-level position with the state em
ployment service. His appointment to
the $6,840-a-year job was announced
by Henry E. Kendall, chairman of the
commission.
“Taylor will work with employes to
develop a policy of hiring on the basis
of merit, whether it applies to Ne
groes, whites, Indians or what have
you,” Alden Honeycutt, assistant di
rector of the employment service di
vision said.
★ ★ ★
Possible desegregation delayed final
action March 4 on proposed consolida
tion of the Aycock and Caldwell schools
by the Orange County Board of Educa
tion.
Petitions signed by persons from both
school districts claimed loyalty to the
schools. Jule R. Allen of Aycock
brought the desegregation issue up by
saying:
“We feel sure in a year or two some
one will try to integrate that school
(the proposed new consolidaed Orange
He said he felt the integration issue
would not arise at Aycock.
Schoolmen
Greensboro Board
Agrees To Study
Geographic Plan
The Greensboro Board of Education
agreed on March 19 to study the pos
sibility of adopting a geographic as
signment plan for the enrollment of
pupils in city schools.
This agreement followed the filing of
a petition by the Greensboro Citizens
Association, a Negro civic group, and
the appearance of the Rev. Otis L.
Hairston, association president, before
the school board.
Hairston told the school board:
“The segregated past has so condi
tioned Negro parents and children as
to inhibit their taking the initiative to
obtain a desegregated education even
though they desire it . . . There are
risks of economic and social pressures
on Negro parents who take the initia
tive to obtain a desegregated educa
tion . . .
“There is no evidence that the school
College
children, 63.3 for whites and Indians
and 34.0 for Negroes.
High school meant the end of formal
education for 47.4 per cent of all stu
dents, 43.8 per cent of white children
and 59.3 per cent of Negro children.
These percentages have dropped only
slightly (from 61.4) for Negro children
in the past five years, compared to from
51.4 per cent for white children.
★ ★ ★
Duke Ready To Admit
Negro Undergraduates
Duke University will admit Negro
undergraduates next fall, Dr. Robert
Taylor Cole, provost, said March 8.
“Duke expects to admit Negro
undergraduates for the fall semester of
1963,” he said. “They would be admitted
in accordance with the procedures gov
erning all other admissions.
“There have been no Negro under
graduates previously registered at Duke
University. (Negroes do attend the
graduate and professional schools at
Duke.)
“Those admitted can expect to re
ceive the same rights and privileges as
all other students.”
officials are carrying on the kind of hu
man relations program within the
school system which would facilitate
the process of desegregation. Such a
program . . . should operate at pres
ent in the city’s one desegregated
school (Gillespie Park with 37 Negroes)
so all students would be encouraged to
participate ... in any school activities.”
‘Duty Bound’
The school board, Hairston added, is
“duty bound” to develop a “truly de
segregated school system.”
Similar petitions have been filed
twice in the past by the Greensboro
Citizens Association. Richard K.
Hunter, board chairman, said the board
will study the petition and “see what
we can do to comply with what they’d
like us to do.”
★ ★ ★
Asheville Negroes Fail
To Join School Board
A plea by Negroes for a Negro on the
Asheville City Board of Education was
rejected when William C. Moor, an at
torney, was named to the board March
7. The Negroes made the request to City
Manager J. Weldon Weir two days
earlier when Beaman L. Pinner re
signed. The City Council named Moore
on a geographical basis, the Negroes
were told.
Miscellaneous
Biracial Committee
Surveys 6 Schools
For Accreditation
A biracial evaluation committee of 12
members surveyed six junior high
schools in Winston-Salem March 5-8
for possible accreditation with the
Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools.
This marked the first time that a
committee of whites and Negroes ever
had evaluated a school in a Southern
state, Joseph M. Johnston, chairman of
the group, said. He is supervisor of the
curriculum development for the North
Carolina State Department of Public
Instruction and chairman-elect of the
Southern Association’s committee on
secondary schools.
Johnston’s committee studied four
white junior high schools, Hill, Dalton,
Philo and Wiley, and two Negro
schools, Paisley and Anderson. Mem
bers of both races visited both the
white and Negro schools.
Negro members were Dr. Frank
Toliver, supervisor of secondary edu
cation for the state; Frank Weaver,
supervisor of elementary education for
the state, and Miss Thelma Cumbo,
consultant in guidance for the state.
★ ★ ★
2,000 Students Picked
For Special Training
More than 2,000 students of both
races have been nominated for the
governor’s school for gifted and talent
ed students, C. Douglas Carter of
Winston-Salem, director, announced
after the March 26 deadline.
This school, announced by Gov. Terry
Sanford, will operate an eight-week
summer program for 400 rising juniors
and seniors of high schools all over the
state at Salem College in Winston-Sa
lem.
West Virginia
(Continued from Page 12)
long series of events in observance of
the 100th anniversary of the signing of
the emancipation proclamation by Pres
ident Lincoln.
★ ★ ★
Rhodesian Says Africans
Accept U.S. Situation
Former Rhodesian Prime Minister R.
S. G. Todd said in Charleston March 1
that he believes most Africans under
stand the racial situation in the United
States and harbor no ill feelings to
ward the country on racial grounds.
Rather, he said, they are thankful
that the United States has taken the
lead in trying to break down racial bar
riers. Todd spoke at racially segregated
Morris Harvey College as part of a
Danforth Visiting Lecture series.