About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1963)
PAGE 16—MAY, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS WEST VIRGINIA ‘New Pressures’ Would Set Pace, Randolph Says CHARLESTON W ITHOUT “NEW PRESSURES ” school desegregation will not be greatly accelerated in the years ahead, said U.S. Sen. Jennings Randolph, D-W.Va., March 30. Randolph’s comment came at the New Century of Freedom Youth Con ference on Understanding at camp Caesar (Webster County). He was a principal speaker. “Much has been said and written about progress toward school desegre gation,” said Randolph, “and indeed there have been significant achieve ments.” Particularly, he remarked, members of both races acted with commendable maturity and good will in West Vir ginia to eliminate this vestige of the past. “But,” he went on. “let us not magni fy what, after all, are rather modest achievements when viewed in the light of our professed national ideals.” Nine years after the Supreme Court’s decision only 200,000 of 3,200,000 Negro children in the 17 Southern and border states are attending desegregated schools, he said. And of these 200,000 the vast majority are in schools that are either 95 per cent Negro or 95 per cent white, he added. “Thus,” he continued, “the record shows that the old habits of thought and feeling, the patterns of segregation, and the cake of custom remain largely unbroken for the vast majority of Negro students.” Furthermore, he said, because of the complexity of American laws, the op- portunitys for delay, and the accept ance of token desegregation as com pliance with the law, school desegrega- West Virginia Highlights U.S. Sen. Jennings Randolph, D- W.Va., said at Webster Springs that without “new pressure” school de segregation will not be greatly ac celerated in the months ahead. The Southern Presbyterian Gener al Assembly approved in Huntington a set of racial recommendations which included one proposing that racial barriers be removed from all colleges in the assembly’s jurisdic tion. Sen. Jennings Randolph ‘Rather modest achievements.' tion “will probably not be greatly accelerated unless other pressures are brought to bear.” In view of the record, Randolph said, “one is inclined to question the mean ing of the Supreme Court’s injunction that desegregation should proceed ‘with all delierate speed.’ ” He said be believes it means con siderably more speed than has been witnessed in most states. “Yet, I doubt,” he continued, “that more aggressive action from the executive branch, or another Supreme Court decision spell ing out this phrase, would greatly alter the process.” National Problem Segregation is a national rather than a regional problem, he said. And cus tom and economics operate almost as effectively to enforce it in the North as law and state officials do in the South, he continued. “When one observes the struggle of the American Negro for full equality,” he said, “especially during the 20lh Century, perhaps the most remarkable phenomenon is the incredible patience of our fellow citizens of the Negro race.” There is, in Randolph’s opinion, ample room in the equality struggle for the legalistic methods of the National As sociation for the Advancement of Col ored People and the older generation, as well as for the more direct means of non-violent political action of the young people. “The young people realize perhaps more acutely, if not more consciously,” he said, “that seldom, if ever, has a minority in any society won from the majority full equality without fighting for it.” Miscellaneous Presbyterians Urged To Drop Racial Barriers at Colleges The Southern Presbyterian General Assembly on April 29 approved — with little discussion — all racial recom mendations, including one urging aboli tion of racial barriers in church in stitutions. Approval of the recommendation does not mean mandatory desegregation. It is advisory in character, and final decision on admission requirements rests with trustees of each institution. The action was taken at Huntington as the assembly closed a week-long meeting, sometimes sparked by differ ences over racial policy. (The Southern church is known as the Presbyterian Church in the United States). The action would cover 23 senior and junior colleges in the assembly’s juris diction. One of them in West Virginia, Davis and Elkins College, has been de segregated for several years. The only discussion during considera tion of the racial issue resulted from a recommendation that the assembly “commend every Presbyterian institu tion, whether church, college, children’s home, home for the aged, conference center, board or agency of the church which has abolished racial barriers.” Dr. Charles Reed of Baltimore sug gested that the assembly should not commend institutions for “doing some thing they should have been doing all along.” However, the Rev. W. H. Bell of Decatur, Ga., replied, “Pm from a part of the South that would appreciate every word of commendation it can get.” The racial report noted that it “is not mandatory but pastoral and pro phetic in character” to desegregate. It says it should “be studied in local churches and its subject matter dis- cused freely, vigorously and affection ately.” During the April 19 session of the assembly, Southern Presbyterians in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Texas were cited for their “positive leader ship” in the racial relations field. Dr. Edward D. Grant of Baton Rouge, La., said these states in their denomin ational work had “moved forward ad mirably without fuss or noise.” He has been moderator of the denomination that has 920,000 members in 16 Southern and border states. “Our church has come a long way in the last decade,” he said, going on to explain that when the assembly last met in Charleston it took its first major step toward desegregation. That was when it voted to abolish the denomina tion’s only Negro synod. Since then some of the presbyteries (lower church courts) have been ab sorbed by former all-white units. Now, he went on, churchmen are being called upon “to establish a realistic communi cation between the two racial groups . . . and together prep,are to prevent such episodes that have shamed our region, not waiting for equality and justice to be accomplished by force or the passions of people to be goaded to violence.” Dr. Grant said all four Presbyterian seminaries and the School for Chris tian Education now are desegregated, as are nine of the denomination’s 23 senior and junior colleges. MISSOURI t5' St. Louis 4 Resegregation’ Charged (Continued From Page 1) of Education, the (school) administra tion and citizens committee . . . have been tried and judged without a hear ing by certain groups in the com munity who have gratuitously con stituted themselves both judge and jury.” Father Maher, the first chairman of the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, said the committee would study the closing of Vashon High School and the relocating of Harris Teachers Col lege. He said it also would study poli cies on school boundaries and trans fers, the hiring and allocating of personnel, the Soldan stadium and other matters. The committee will study the neigh borhood school concept to determine whether it is furthering resegregation, Father Maher said. He said the alter native would be “open enrollment” in which students are transported to schools without regard to residence and school district. Consistency Claimed St. Louis school officials argued that construction of the six new elementary schools in the West End would be con sistent with the neighborhood school concept, making classroom space avail able near the homes of children and avoiding bus transportation costs. In an interview published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch April 26, Aider- man Clay, a St. Louis University grad uate now working CLAY as a union busi ness representa tive, said that school officials had deliberately maintained poli cies leading to re- segregation. “The utter con tempt shown the Negro community, 1 by school officials could result in drastic measures by thousands of Negroes weary of inaction,” he said. Clay said the measures might in clude boycotts of all-Negro schools by parents; civil action against the Board of Education, and rejection of any future school bond issue or tax in crease proposal. Charging that few white teachers work under Negro principals and that Negro teachers are generally assigned to predominantly Negro schools, Clay called for a complete redistribution of teacher assignments and redrawing of school districts. He said that, wherever possible, districts should be drawn so as to include parts of Negro and white neighborhoods, assuring a racially bal anced enrollment. ‘Nowhere To Run’ “Negro teachers should represent a proportion of all school faculties,” he said. “Then the white parent who doesn’t want his child taught by Ne groes would have nowhere to run.” It was Clay’s position that the six new elementary schools which would be built in his ward, the 26th, would perpetuate segregation. He conceded that he supported their construction in last year’s bond issue campaign. On April 28, the Citizens Advisory Committee headed by Father Maher criticized the Board of Education sharply for going ahead with construc tion of the controversial football stadi um at Soldan High. The board had decided to sign the stadium contract April 16, over the opposition of board members Hurt and Hicks. The Rev. Mr. Hicks is vice president of the board. Stadium opponents have contended that its presence in the West End would contribute to segregated athletic events and cause further overcrowding. School officials said it was part of a “decentralization” policy, adopted in 1959, to provide athletic facilities as near each school as possible. Biracial Athletics Father Maher said his committee felt at the scheduling of games at all riletic fields should be arranged to ovide a maximum of biracial inter- hool athletic activities. He noted that ,ldan High’s 1963 footbball schedule lied for it to play all six of its games the new stadium. When St. Louis schools were deseg- gated in 1955, Soldan High was 74 r cent white in school population Lt it is now 99 per cent Negro. With e imigration of Negro residents, e West End elementary schools have idergone a similar change in racial aracter. in the decade 1950-60, the formerly lite West End area shifted from 98 Missouri Highlights St. Louis school administrators and the board of education were under increasingly heavy fire from groups and individuals blaming board poli cies for “resegregation” of public schools. The board promised it would take no further action on school mat ters under investigation by a citizens advisory committee. U.S. District Judge James H. Meredith ordered that Charleston schools at all levels be desegregated beginning next September. Suit was filed at Cape Girardeau to force racial desegregation of public schools of District R-6 of Pemiscot County. The board of education at Sedalia voted to eliminate the all-Negro Hubbard High School and make it the Hubbard annex to the Smith- Cotton High School, which is bi racial. per cent white to 64 per cent Negro. In the same decade, St. Louis’s popu lation went from 18 per cent Negro to about 29 per cent. The city’s public school population is now estimated to be more than 55 per cent Negro. Sees No Valid Question Daniel L. Schlafly, president of the Board of Education, said there was no question of segregation when voters approved plans for the Soldan stadium last year, and no valid question of segregation now. He pointed out that high schools with predominantly white enrollments would play football games at the field this fall. Present plans call for the razing next year of Public Schools Stadium in north St. Louis. This facility was built before desegregation of schools. Supt. Hickey and Deputy Supt. Kott. meyer held up presentation of their detailed replies until the citizens com- mittee has made its investigation and report. They have maintained firmly that such reseg’-egation as has taken place is not attributable to the public schools. Schoolmen Board To Eliminate All-Negro School Legal Action Charleston District Ordered To Desegregate in September Charleston Consolidated School Dis trict No. 7 in southeast Missouri’s Mis sissippi County, was ordered by U.S. District Judge James H. Meredith April 11 to desegregate its schools at all levels beginning in September. Meanwhile, suit was filed at Cape Girardeau April 24 to force racial de segregation of the public schools of District R-6 in Pemiscot County, also in Missouri’s “Bootheel” area. In both actions, the attorney for plaintiffs was Clyde S. Cahill Jr. of St. Louis. Cahill is chairman of the legal re dress committee of the National As sociation for the Advancement of Colored People in Missouri. The Charleston suit (Davis et al v. Board of Education of Charleston etc., et al) was filed by parents of 10 Negro school children last August. Defendants were the Board of Education, Charles ton School Supt. J. H. Marshall, Board President Charles A. Farmer and the board members individually. Charleston, about 150 miles south of St. Louis, has been the scene of some racial disturbances in recent years. In 1960 the population was 5,911, including 1,626 Negroes. The town is the seat of Mississippi County, which last year had a population of 20,400, about 25 per cent Negroes. “Denial of . . . Rights’ In his order April 11, Judge Meredith found that the school district’s assign ment of pupils according to race, with permissive transfer of Negro students in the 11th and 12th grades, to be “a denial of plaintiffs’ constitution rights” and contrary to law. Judge Meredith ordered the defend ants to file a plan of reorganization within 30 days to desegregate the schools at all levels beginning in Sep tember of 1963. It was noted in the court’s memor andum that the Charleston district op-, erates two senior high schools, the Lincoln High School with 155 pupils, all Negroes, and the Charleston High School, with 447 white and 15 Negro pupils; and four elementary schools, three of which enroll 714 white chil-. dren and one, Lincoln Elementary School, with 520 Negro children. The court said that in the period since 1954 the Charleston district’s rec ognition of the constitutinal prohibition consisted of “two tentative undertak- I - i V( The Board of Education at Sedalia, the seat of Pettis County in west cen tral Missouri, voted April 9 to eliminate the all-Negro Hubbard High School and make it the Hubbard annex to the Smith-Cotton High School, which is biracial. Action to eliminate Hubbard was taken on the recommendation of Sed alia School Supt. Thomas J. Norris. The State of Missouri’s Department of Education had requested that high schools with fewer than 100 students be absorbed or eliminated, if possible. Effective next September, C. H. Gooch, principal of Hubbard, will be come vice-principal at Smith-Cotton in charge of the annex. Students en rolled at Hubbard will be able to take courses at Smith-Cotton that are not available at the annex. A school bus will provide transportation between the schools, and Sedalia will have only one high school athletic team. In 1960, Sedalia had a total popula tion of 23,874 including 1,715 Negroes. There are about 625 Negro children under 18 years of age. ‘Pre-1954 Pattern’ “At the present time,” the court said, “apart from the permissive tranfers ® the 11th and 12th grades to the Char leston High School, the school sys tem’s assignment of pupils and 6 ene ^I operation follows the same pre-1"'” pattern of racial segregation.” , The Charleston school board ha submitted a plan whereby the two high schools would have been desegre- gated by next September and the fo elementary schools by 1967. Meredith rejected the plan, termi®? the delay “unacceptable” and sayiWs the plan appeared to be a means “prepetuating segregation.” Having won in the Charleston c8» NAACP attorney Cahill on April filed action in U.S. District Coar^ Cape Girardeau against School Dist'V R16 in Pemiscot County. The brought on behalf of 12 Negro P^P seeks complete reorganization of district on a nonracial basis, with gard to both pupils and teachers- . The defendants are the dis Board of Education, President R° Winston and Supt. Carl Hutching The suit says the district operates white elementary schools at Orchard, Pascola and WardeU’ .j. Negro elementary school at Wa and a white high school at Waro Bus Transportation Negro high school students w Wardell district are not per” 11 . ^ attend the district’s high school sent by bus some as many as 3 ^ to an all-Negro high school at the PlantifEs said. ^ r a- The petition contends that the ov ~ &[e & tion of schools on a racially segre basis is in violation of the e<l u ^ ^e tection and due process clau f®® . io0 . 14th Amendment of the Consti. pi Pemiscot County, like ^ In County, has been losing popula 1960, it had a population more than 25 per cent Negro. n0 (th is a town of 331 people 12 rn e of the Missouri-Arkansas line- ings.” These consisted, it was said, of allowing permissive transfers of Negro children to the previously all-white Charleston High School at the 11th and 12th grade levels, and of employ ing an elementary supervisor to raise scholastic levels of Negro elementary pupils. tb e T tr d< b< a tr ai fe P< Sc vi ei V ^
