Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MAY. 1963—PAGE 3
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‘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
