About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1963)
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MAY. 1963—PAGE 3 - ‘Whoa, Not So Fast!’ 'v ., . . .. . • ; ' J ■ ■ ... -■ \ r-'r »• Olbey. Chicago Defender ALABAMA Kennedy Talks With Wallace; No Decisions (Continued From Page 2) vin P. Carroll, 27, electronics engineer at the Army Missile Command, Red stone Arsenal, Huntsville. McGlathery said he was rejected for the spring quarter on “what seems to be a technicality” (SSN, April), but that he planned to reapply. ★ ★ ★ Judge Refuses to Order Mobile Plan in 30 Days U.S. District Judge Daniel H. Thomas of Mobile refused on April 25 to order the Mobile school board to present a school desegregation plan within 30 days. Negro parents filed suit March 27 (SSN, April) seeking desegregation of Mobile schools for all Negro children. One of the court orders they sought was a preliminary injunction ordering ihe city-county school system to pre sent a desegregation plan. It was this request which Judge Thomas rejected April 25. He accepted written briefs u the case, gave the plaintiffs 30 days ■n which to file additional briefs and we school board 15 days beyond that 0 answer the briefs. Also pending in Mobile district court filJ SU ^’ w *th m °tion for dismissal, ed by the Justice Department Jan. ™ behalf of children of federally connected families. (SSN, February.) ★ ★ ★ ^Bmnuigham, the Huntsville Board education filed a motion for dis- " A P r il 1 of a suit seeking de- (s Sation of public schools there ■to .Pril). No date had been set on •notion for dismissal. ;r j ct P en ding in the Birmingham dis- (jUj C T ° Ur t ar e Justice Department suits iesein. 311 ^ (®SN, February) seeking ( MaHf eSat ' 0n °( cit y amd county iren 1S f^ County ) facilities for chil- tv, ederaU y connected personnel n e space and rocket facilities at p Pernor Criticizes Commissioner w —bjg rt., % lano > y Commissioner Joseph Jccting " s remarks at a March 31 | a tended by more than 1,000 ■^Ap^cre criticized by Gov. Wai sts PenIi enCe . t° school desegregation ® the U.S. District court ^ at tv, See Legal Action), Langan ' to f faceting: “No man has the Ono *1 tdle ^ aw rnto his own ", tetter • e court s have spoken on V ^ U P to IS ^ aw °t the land and ' in f = US t° see that laws are en- 3dla Cp lrness to all citizens.” V’ b y Ov responded: “Any official acts, encourages efforts % ^d Ec ^ 0 °t system in Ala- v Hts * 6n ’. a t the same time, says ^ShA^ct t a f aainta ^ n i aw and order is, rfy’kiv’g , mg action which is not -^Cs£ Wan * order --- Itbe - uff ing eill . te or local official to use ljdtio n and ability to prevent •■S^ce ■«, aer than bring it about.” e- jStrict & a ,, even m °re critical of V r ' Ho ffttorney Vemol R. Jan- ■ik °f N e£ L 1 . same meeting, had co 11 v,+ V °tt n S rights in South 'V* Wb n ntles: .“You have a district witvf S ^tiling to get out and cW f° ur fi ght.” ”Hen s ;if 1 H? d Hansen's comments 1Dle ’ and wired U.S. Sens- » L TENNESSEE College Association Admits Negro Institutions NASHVILLE ight all-Negro and predomi nantly Negro colleges and universities on April 7 were ad mitted to membership in the Ten nessee College Association, com posed of representatives from predominantly white institutions of higher learning. The association unanimously ap proved the action duiing its annual session in Nashville. Schools admitted include Fisk Uni versity, Tennessee A&I University and Meharry Medical College, all located in Nashville; Knox College, Knoxville; Lane College, Jackson; LeMoyne Col lege and Owen Junior College, Mem phis, and Morristown Medical Junior College, Morristown. ‘Trend of the Times’ A resolution accepting the institu- after Dr. Felix H. Robb, president of George Peabody College for Teach ers and retiring president of the group, told the members: “It is important that these schools be admitted in view of the trend of the times and the great neces sity for us to work together.” Dr. Robb said the action “will pro vide a much-needed channel of commu- munication and association.” The Tennessee College Association had been composed of presidents and other officials from 38 public and pri vate institutions of higher learning in the state. Theme of the one-day conference was “Ways and Means of Closer Co operation Among Tennessee Public and Private Institutions of Higher Educa tion.” Dr. C. C. Humphreys, president of Memphis State University, was elected president for the coming year. Schoolmen Catholic Schools In Memphis Area To Desegregate Catholic elementary schools in Mem phis and Shelby County will desegre gate the first four grades in Septem ber as a part of a four-step plan designed to ex tend biracial classes through the ninth grade in 1966. The announce ment was made on March 31 in all Catholic churches in the county and was in the form of a letter from Bishop William L. Adrian of Nashville. “This plan has been approved and superiors of Catholic schools are di rected to carry out this plan,” Bishop Adrian’s letter stated. Desegregation had been recommend- Lister Hill and John Sparkman urging that the district attorney be dismissed. Sparkman said he was investigating. The state House of Representatives approved a resolution April 19 censur ing Jansen. ★ ★ ★ Wilkins Calls Two States ‘Symbols of Old Order’ Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, said in Tuskegee April 24: “Mississippi and Alabama remain the hard core symbols of the old order, not the order of 1930 or even of 1900, but the old order of 1860. This has made their savage rear-guard action against desegregation an action doomed by the ties of history.” He deplored the arrest of more than 400 Negroes in Birmingham demon strations—including “the eloquent voice of decency,” Dr. King. But, he said, Southern segregationists cannot win; they can only delay. “In fact, victory is already here. Some mopping up remains but the day has been won.” Tennessee Highlights The Tennessee College Association, which previously consisted of repre sentatives of predominantly white institutions, voted to admit to mem bership eight all-Negro and predomi nantly Negro colleges and universi ties. Plans to accept “qualified” Negro day students, beginning in the fall of 1964, were announced by officials of Southwestern College at Memphis. Desegregation of the first four grades will begin in September in all Catholic elementary schools in Memphis and Shelby County, with biracial classes to be extended through the ninth grade by 1966. Obion County school officials an nounced that high school classes now attended by 31 Negro students at South Fulton East Negro School will be discontinued at the close of the current school year. The students will be transferred to desegregated schools. Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett urged a Jackson, Tenn., Citizens Council rally to “prevent integra tion.” ed by area pastors, the bishop said. In addition to desegregation of the first four grades in September of this year, the plan calls for biracial classes in the fifth and sixth grades in Sep tember, 1964, the seventh and eighth grades in September, 1965 and the ninth grade in September, 1966. The letter included no reference to desegregation of other grades. Public schools in Memphis began de segregation in 1961, but the Memphis Board of Education faces a Federal Court hearing May 22 on its plan. Public schools in Shelby County, in an area surrounding Memphis, remain segregated. Catholic schools in Nashville and Knoxville have been desegregated for several years. Total enrollment of Catholic elemen tary schools in Memphis and Shelby County was estimated at 8,000, includ ing a combined membership of 612 at two Negro schools. The estimate, how ever, does not include those, both white and Negro, who attend public and non- Catholic private schools with permis sion from their parish pastors. Parish lines, fixed by Tennessee dio cesan headquarters in Nashville, nor mally determine the parochial school zones. The two Negro schools, however, include students from throughout the county. Memphis’ two Catholic colleges, Christian Brothers and Siena, already have desegregated, each with three Negro students. ★ ★ ★ Negro High School Classes To End at South Fulton High school classes at South Fulton East Negro school in Obion County will be discontinued after the close of the current school year, Supt. C. D. Parr announced on April 3. What They Say Gov. Ross Barnett of Mississippi told a Jackson, Tenn., Citizens Council rally on April 24 that “preservation of states rights is essential to preservation of human rights.” An estimated 1,500 people attended the rally, held in a Jackson high school building. Barnett’s appearance in a public building had been criticized by Dr. Ray M. Allen, chairman of the Jackson Community Relations Council. Education was among the areas of government which Barnett described as of purely local concern. The school systems of both the City of Jackson and Madison Coun ty face a Federal Court hearing on June 26 in connection with a Negro suit for desegregation. Jackson schools began desegregation voluntarily during the 1961-62 school year and now have 10 Negroes in biracial classes, but Madison County classes remain segre gated. Tennessee Gov. Frank G. Clement, who was on vacation, and U.S. Sens. Albert Gore and Estes Kefauver along with the Seventh District Rep. Tom Murray of Jackson sent telegrams de clining invitations to the rally. Parr said the four high school classes at the school include only 31 students, “a number the county school board feels is not enough to justify contin uance.” Students now attending the school will be transferred to South Fulton High School, desegregated under Fed eral Court order in 1962, and to nearby Fulton, Ky., High School, which has conducted biracial classes for several years. Parr said that South Fulton East will be retained in the county system as an elementary school, with classes in grades one through eight. Thirty-five Negro students enrolled at previously all-white South Fulton High School last year, reducing attend ance at the Negro high school more than 50 per cent. South Fulton, in West Tennessee, and Fulton, Ky., are “twin” towns on the Tennessee-Kentucky boundary. In The Colleges Southwestern Plans To Admit Negroes Beginning in 1964 Southwestern at Memphis, a Presby terian college, announced on April 9 that it will accept “qualified” Negro day students, beginning in the fall of 1964. Dr. Peyton N. Rhodes, president, said the announcement followed unani mous approval of a resolution by the college’s board of directors, composed of five representatives from each of the synods of Alabama, Louisiana, Missis sippi and Tennessee of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., the southern branch of Presbyterianism with which Southwest ern is affiliated. The board’s action, Dr. Rhodes said, was permissive and represented a change in administrative procedure rather than a revision in recorded in stitutional requirements. “The resolution simply means that after next year the applications of Negro students will be studied and evaluated on the same basis as all other applications,” he added. Southwestern has an enrollment of about 800. A special committee of the board had been studying the proposal since last October. While the institution is able to set its own policies as a private, non-tax-sup- ported university, Dr. Rhodes said, the board felt the move was dictated “by the clear mandates of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., the trends of educational processes and the Christian conscience.” (See West Virginia report.) The resolution adopted by the board included a detailed report by its spe cial committee. “Beginning with the fall semester of 1964, Southwestern will accept for en trance those students best qualified by character, demonstrated ability, and seriousness of purpose without regard to race, provided that Negro applicants will be accepted only as day students,” the resolution stated. Board chairman A. Van Prichartt said “the nonsegregration issue is one A few days before the rally, the Madison County Board of Education refused to rescind its action in granting the use of the South Side High School for Barnett’s speech. This action came after criticism from the Jackson Community Relations Council, which described itself as a group dedicated to racial tolerance. Dr. Allen, dean of religion at Lambuth College, charged that Barnett’s appear ance would “arouse emotions and hos tility to the rational and peaceful set tlement of this (racial) question.” ★ ★ ★ Chattanooga School Plan Criticized by NAACP The Chattanooga branch of the Na tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People has issued a state ment charging that the Chattanooga Board of Education has “expanded ra cial discrimination” in its plans for use of school buildings next year. Released by James R. Mapp, presi dent of the Chattanooga branch, the NAACP statement contended the that has been foremost among the prob lems of all colleges for a number of years.” He added that Southwestern has “tried to follow our usual policy of deliberate progress.” The committee report included re sults of a questionnaire which was sent to 15 Southern colleges similar to Southwestern in an effort to determine the response of faculty members, stu dents, parents and alumni. Southwest ern professors and students, the report said, also were asked to express their views, and their reaction to the move was described as “far more favorable than unfavorable.” Miscellaneous Relations Commission Urged for Nashville The Nashville Christian Leadership Council has urged the creation of a human relations commission as a per manent agency of Nashville and David son County’s new metropolitan gov ernment. In addition, a similar request was made to Metro Mayor Beverly Briley by the Nashville Community Confer ence on Employment Opportunity. ★ ★ ★ President Asked To Meet With NAACP Leadership President Kennedy has been request ed to meet briefly with the executive committee of the Nashville branch of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People when he comes to Nashville for an address on May 18. The request was made in a letter sent to the President by Mrs. Claude Walker, president of the Nashville NAACP organization. “We should like to share with you, personally, factual information which will reflect prevailing patterns in the South on the federal government’s role in perpetuating racial segregation and discrimination in Nashville and the South,” Mrs. Walker’s letter stated. State Board Denies Parole in Clinton Case The State Board of Probation and Paroles on April 29 denied for the fifth time a parole for Edward Cline of An derson County who is serving a prison sentence of two to 10 years on a 1957 conviction of conspiracy to dynamite desegregated Clinton High School. Cline was convicted on the charge only a few months before the school was ripped apart by an explosion in a case that has remained unsolved. At the time of the blast, he was serving his sentence in the State Prison at Nashville. Under orders of the federal court to desegregate in 1956, Clinton High School became Tennessee’s first state- supported school to begin biracial classes. board’s plan “disregards the Negro community and . . . will cause untold damage on the future lives of Negro children.” The board earlier had announced that it will use the p-esent Chattanooga High School building for senior high and junior high Negroes, close two Negro schools and discontinue junior high classes at another Negro school, along with other changes, next Sep tember. The NAACP statement said the plan will result in a loss of two principal- ships and further reduce opportunities for advancement of Negro teachers, minimize the number of Negro teach ers hired, and “discriminate” against Negroes by overcrowding a junior high school and senior high school. It also charged that Negro students would be forced to attend a nonaccredited school under the p’an. Chattanooga desegregated the first three grades in “selected” schools last September and has been ordered by U.S. District Court to extend biracial classes to the first four grades in all elementary schools with the beginning of the 1963-64 school year. ADRIAN Barnett Discusses Rights of States
