Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12—MAY, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
KENTUCKY
UK Desegregation of Athletics
Could Have Far-Reaching Effects
Future ‘Hilltoppers’ Welcomed
At Western Kentucky State College, assistant basketball coach Charlie Osborne
(left) and Head Coach Ed Diddle (right) welcome their first Negro players, Mike
and Robert Redd, with their mother.
LOUISVILLE
n a move which could have far-
reaching effects on intercolle
giate sports in the South, the Uni
versity of Kentucky Athletics As
sociation adopted on April 29 a
policy of desegregated athletics.
Then, seeking to preserve UK’s mem
bership in the Southeastern Conference
in which competition is traditionally
all-white, the athletics board postponed
implementation of the new policy and
asked that UK President Frank G.
Dickey confer with other conference
members on the matter.
Dickey said he had “reason to expect
a favorable reaction from a majority
of SEC members.” He indicated that
his consultations would be made in the
next few weeks before he leaves UK
to become director of the Southern
Association of Colleges and Secondary
Schools in July.
UK is the first SEC school to adopt a
desegregated-sports policy. Other
schools, however—including Georgia
Tech, Vanderbilt and Tulane—have in
dicated their willingness to compete
against desegregated teams in the con
ference.
Dr. Dickey, in calling the board’s
action at Lexington a significant one,
said: “We have to remember that until
yesterday there was no official policy
on this. . . . Now it’s a matter of trying
to find the time and the means for
implementing the policy.”
Trustee Disappointed
On the other hand, UK trustee Sam
Ezelle, who has been among those urg
ing athletics desegregation (April SSN),
said: “It’s a disappointment. I think
they did less than their duty.”
Ezelle’s statement, and reaction from
other desegregation backers, made it
clear that UK will be under pressure
to implement the new policy quickly,
regardless of problems with football
and basketball schedules.
Elsewhere in Kentucky, athletics de
segregation gained momentum. West
ern Kentucky State College at Bowling
Green granted scholarships to two
Negro brothers who would be the first
of their race to play at the school.
Mike Redd made All-State this year at
Louisville’s Seneca High, and Robert
Redd played on a service team.
The University of Louisville signed
All-Stater Clem Haskins to a basketball
grant-in-aid. Haskins, of Taylor Coun
ty, had received scholarship offers from
about 130 schools. The U. of L. first
started recruiting Negro athletes a year
ago.
Legal Action
Full Desegregation
Of Schools Ordered
At Bowling Green
The school board of Bowling Green,
the major city of south-central Ken
tucky, was ordered to desegregate its
school system at all grade levels in the
fall of this year.
U.S. District Judge Mac Swinford, in
a ruling handed down at Bowling
Green on April 8, sharply criticized
school officials for failing to desegre
gate sooner.
Kentucky Highlights
The University of Kentucky be
came the first school in the South
eastern Conference to adopt a policy
of desegregated athletics. Meanwhile,
Western Kentucky State College and
the University of Louisville signed
sought-after Negro athletes.
A U.S. district judge ordered de
segregation of all grades as well as
faculty and school personnel at
Bowling Green.
Negro plaintiffs asked that a
school-board desegregation plan for
Frankfort be rejected.
Two boards of education acted
voluntarily to start desegregation
programs in the coming school year.
The two principal contenders for
the Democratic gubernatorial nomi
nation took stands favorable to de
segregation and Negro rights.
stand on the depositions, the pleadings,
and the previous rulings of the court.
The defendants, offering no evidence,
asked a delay in a ruling to give time
to develop a plan.
Judge Swinford then sustained a
motion for a summary judgment order
ing complete desegregation in the next
school year.
At this point, when the defendant
asked to give evidence, the judge
agreed to hear it. A number of wit
nesses, school officials and longtime
residents of Bowling Green, said the
climate was not right for desegregation,
that the people did not want desegre
gation, that overcrowding of some
schools could result, and that there
would be administrative problems for
school officials.
Crumlin, the plaintiff’s lawyer, in
questioning the witnesses, made the
contention that they were giving per
sonal opinions rather than evidence.
He sought to show that the witnesses
were ignoring peaceful school desegre
gation in other Kentucky communities,
and that desegregation of the student
body at Western Kentucky State Col
lege in Bowling Green had worked
out satisfactorily.
Plan Rejected
When the defendants offered a plan
which would desegregate grades 9-12
this fall, 5-8 in 1964, and 1-4 in 1965,
Judge Swinford rejected it and ordered
complete desegregation for this fall.
The judge said he had “more faith in
this community” than many of the wit
nesses. He said that although the board
had ample notice to move toward de
segregation, he felt that if the board
had not been sued, “you would never
have had a plan.” And he called the
plan the board did submit a subterfuge.
At the end of the hearing, Judge
Swinford observed that he may have
seemed emotional, adding, “But if the
heartbreak of little children doesn’t stir
emotions, I don’t know what would.”
Crumlin and officials of the adjacent
Warren County district disclosed they
were discussing the situation there and
hoped to avoid litigation.
★ ★ ★
Court Asked To Disapprove
Proposed Stairstep Plan
A brief filed in U.S. District Court at
Frankfort on April 11 asked that the
court disapprove a plan for gradual
elementary-school desegregation sub
mitted by the Frankfort Board of
Education.
Attorney J. Earl Dearing of Louis
ville, representing Negro plaintiffs,
called the school-board plan “the most
cleverly contrived scheme to perpet
uate racial segregation that the federal
courts in Kentucky have ever been
asked to approve.”
Dearing’s brief criticized provisions of
the plan which (1) give both races the
right to choose between the all-white
Second Street School and the all-
Negro Mayo-Underwood School; (2)
allow transfers based on racial con
siderations, and (3) postpone desegre
gation of grades 5 through 8 until the
1964-5 term.
Frankfort school officials in their brief
filed March 8 told Judge H. Church
Ford there are no tricks or gimmicks
in their plan.
The case, Mack v. Frankfort Board of
Education, seeks complete and imme
diate desegregation of a school system
in which the high school and part of
the first grade already are desegre
gated (SSN, March and previous).
★ ★ ★
Trial of Damage Suit
Over Expulsion Delayed
U.S. District Judge H. Church Ford
again postponed trial of a $650,000 civil
damage suit brought by 11 former stu
dents and two former faculty members
of Kentucky State College.
In a hearing at Frankfort April 29,
Judge Ford sustained a motion by the
plaintiffs to discharge the State and the
college’s board of regents as defendants.
The action now is against individuals
only—Supt. of Public Instruction Wen
dell P. Butler, former KSC president
Rufus B. Atwod, members of the board
of regents and members of the col
lege’s executive council.
The suit was brought in 1960 follow
ing demonstrations at the predominant
ly Negro school and the expulsion of
some students and firing of the two
faculty members. (SSN, August, 1962,
and previous.)
Schoolmen
Two Boards Take
Voluntary Action
Two school boards acted voluntarily
to initiate desegregation in some of
their schools for the first time in the
1963-64 academic year.
The Monroe County Board of Educa
tion voted unanimously on April 25 to
desegregate the county’s two high
schools and the Fountain Rim elemen
tary school in September.
The board estimated that savings will
amount to about $15,000 a year, which
has been the cost of sending high-
school Negro students to classes in
other districts and of maintaining a
one-room Negro school at Fountain
Run which will be closed. Officials said
the action was recommended by the
State Department of Education.
The Campbellsville school board
voted unanimously to desegregate high-
school students who have been attend
ing the Negro Durham High School.
Younger pupils will continue to attend
Durham Elementary School, under the
plan, through the coming year. Supt.
T. F. Hamilton said the two-step de
segregation plan will facilitate the
handling of teacher placements.
★ ★ ★
Lexington Superintendent
Honored by Association
John M. Ridgway, superintendent of
Lexington schools, was honored at an
April 19 session of the Kentucky Edu
cation Association annual convention
for accomplishments in school desegre
gation.
The 51-year-old educator received
the Lincoln Key award for his “leader
ship in planning and accomplishing suc
cessfully the ra
cial integration of
Lexington schools,
in spite of threats
of violence to his
person by segre
gationist elements
of the commu
nity.”
Ridgway also
was commended
for extending
desegregation t o
parent and teach
er organizations and to summer
schools, and for showing no racial bias
in employing teachers.
The citation said Ridgway “prompt
ly complied with” the Supreme Court
school-desegregation decision of 1954.
Miscellaneous
Group Offers Aid
To Negro Teachers
The State Commission on Human
Rights advised Negro teachers to no
tify the commission if they lose their
jobs or feel their employment is
threatened “because of race or color.”
Galen Martin, commission executive
director, told Southern School News
that as of April 26 three Negro teach
ers had contacted the commission on
the question and that their situations
were being looked into.
“We are concerned,” Martin said,
“because our recent study shows that
more than 25 school districts which had
Negro teachers in 1956 now have
none.”
He said there now are about the
same number of Negro teachers in
Kentucky (an estimated 1,450) as in
1956, although the number of Negro
public-school pupils has increased.
Martin cited an opinion of Attorney
General John Breckinridge that school
districts must give priority to and re
tain better qualified teachers regard
less of race.
Political Action
Major Candidates
Back Negro Rights
The two chief contenders for the
Democratic nomination for governor
vied in championing Negro rights as
the primary campaign entered the final
month with voting set for May 28.
Former Gov. and U.S. Sen. A B.
(Happy) Chandler said on April 19 31
a speech typifying his stand on racial
matters:
“On one of the most vital issues f aC "
ing Americans today, the question of
equal opportunity for all, it is ironic
that at about the same time my ad
ministration (1955-9) was desegregating
the schools, the parks, and had P r0
vided over 500 good jobs to Negroes
in state government, my opponent was
130 Attend, Some Shun Police Institute
The judge also ordered desegregation
of teachers and other school person
nel, an issue still pending in many
areas.
And in a decision of legal interest,
the judge permitted the defendants in
the case (Lawrence v. Bowling Green
Board of Educa
tion, SSN, March
and previous) to
present evidence
and a desegrega
tion plan after
they had first in
dicated no desire
to offer evidence.
The Bowling
Green system has
about 3,200 white
pupils and 835 Ne
gro pupils. All the
Negroes attend the 12-grade High Street
School. White students in grades 9-12
attend Bowling Green High School and
there are several elementary schools
for white pupils in grades 1-8.
At the start of the trial, attorney
James A. Crumlin of Louisville said
the Negro plaintiffs were willing to
Law-enforcement officials from Lou
isiana and Mississippi shunned invita
tions to attend a conference on “Police
Responsibility in Race Tension and
Conflict” at the Southern Police Insti
tute of the University of Louisville.
Some Alabama officials who did at
tend asserted that their state will not
back down on its opposition to deseg
regation.
The conference, with financial sup
port from the Ford Foundation, pro
ceeded as scheduled April 8-10 despite
the opposition and lukewarm support it
received from some quarters. A charge
that it would “brainwash” policemen
had been denied earlier (April SSN).
Here are a few sample quotations
from speeches and panel discussions
at the sessions, which drew an attend
ance of about 130:
• Carl F. Hansson, chief of police,
Mesquite, Tex.—“A show of force often
reduces the need for force. . . . The
mere presence of a sufficient number
of men in uniform is what is meant by
a show of force. This awes the crowd
so that it becomes unnecessary to use
force.”
• W. D. Blake, chief of police,
Chapel Hill, N.C.—“The demonstrators
(in Chapel Hill) trust the police. We’re
usually advised days before anything
happens so we can plan for it. We told
them back in 1960 that if they wanted
protection, that’s the way it would have
to be.”
• A. O. Folsom Jr., police chief, Day
tona Beach, Fla.—“You may not be
lieve in it, but it is the law.”
• Walter L. Allen, a division chief
in the Alabama Department of Public
Safety—“I may be beaten, but I will
not be conquered. We have determined
to stand up for Alabama and our genu
ine faith. . . . Where would the Negro
be today if we had not protected his
rights at the risk, many times, of our
fives and reputations? Not one of his
so-called peaceful demonstrations
would have ended without bloodshed
but for the active protection afforded
him by the white Southern police of
ficer.” Allen also denounced as “drivel”
the idea that the U.S. Supreme Court’s
school-desegregation ruling is “the law
of the land.”
• William M. Marable, police chief,
Tuscaloosa, Ala.—“It all boils down to
one thing—that it’s the responsibility of
police to enforce the law.”
• Ray Pope, chief of police, Way-
cross, Ga.—“. . . It all comes down to
this question: What are we going to
enforce? Laws or customs? We don’t
have any choice. I’m from as far south
as anyone, but I’m going to enforce
the laws.”
• James Farmer, New York, direc
tor, Congress of Racial Equality—“We
do not ask that the police be partial
and on our side. We ask that they be
impartial. If we violate the law, we
expect to be arrested. A police officer’s
duty should not be to maintain segre
gation.”
• Roy Wilkins, executive secretary,
NAACP—“The new industrial South
cannot afford racial expression and
violence.”
William J. Simmons of Jackson,
Miss., national administrator of the
White Citizens’ Councils, was scheduled
to be a speaker but canceled his ap
pearance a week before the conference.
still supporting segregation.”
Chandler charged that Edward
(Ned) Breathitt supported segregate 11
by refusing to vote as a member of
State House of Representatives on
bill to eliminate railroad-car segrega
tion.
For his part, Breathitt, campaign^
with the support of Gov. Bert .
said April 22 that “1,500 jobs have bee®
made available for Negroes in
government” under Combs and I s n
open up still more job opportunities-
Breathitt charged that Chan ® ^
“record is in opposition to equal rig
» Tip
and opportunities for Negroes.
Chandler “entertained Strom
mond, racist Dixiecrat candidate
President,” and that a newspa ^
owned by Chandler endorsed
bond. . MuD®
Republican candidate Louis ^ naf y,
lacks major opposition in the P