Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965, June 01, 1963, Image 1

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Southern school news., June 01, 1963, Image 1

About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1963)

Page of 20

Prev Issue Next Issue

Text PDF JP2 (2.0 MB) Clip/Print Image

Page of 20

Prev Issue Next Issue

Return to Top

Newspaper Page Text• ai o- / Factual V I Southern School News O / Objective VOL. 9, NO. 12, PART I NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Segregation-Desegregation Status School Districts With Negroes Enrollment In Desegregated Districts Negroes In Schools With Whites Total & Whites Deseg. White Negro White Negro No. Alabama 114 114 0 527,075 280,212 0 0 0 Arkansas 416 228 12 331,552 117,064 58,993 13,801 247 .211 Delaware 87 35 87 73,769 16,992 61,470 11,769 9,498 55.9 Dist. of Columbia 1 1 1 22,141 110,759 22,141 110,759 87,749 79.2 Florida 67 67 10 956,423 227,291 559,832 104,322 1,551 .673 Georgia 198 182 1 662,244 325,141 58,418* 52,212* 44 .013 Kentucky 205 166 150 610,000* 45,000* 446,000* 36,382* 24,346 54.1 Louisiana 67 67 1 458,270* 301,720* 38,538 59,009 107 .035 Maryland 24 23 23 514,313** 153,215** 509,489* 153,215* 69,147 45.1 Mississippi 150 150 0 300,000* 290,000* 0 0 0 Missouri 1,607 213* 203* 767,620* 90,000* 255,000* 80,000* 35,000* 38.8 North Carolina 173 173 18 800,289 341.352 171,311 84,185 879 .257 Oklahoma 1,180 241 196 515,200* 44,800* 316,441* 34,495* 10,557* 23.6 South Carolina 108 108 0 365,340* 265,288* 0 0 0 Tennessee 154 143 26 670,387* 159,299* 295,656 96,235 1,810 1.1 Texas 1,461 919 177 1,951,613* 303,980* 1,200,000* 130,000* 7,000* 2.3 Virginia 130 128 31 704,725* 229,105* 360,000* 105,000* 1,230* .532 West Virginia 55 43 43 412,878* 25,250* 412,878 25,250 15.500* 61.4 TOTALS 6,197 3,001 979 10,643,839 3,326,398 4,766,167 1,096,634 264,665 7.9 * Estimated. ** Official total; racial breakdown estimated. t Proportion of Negroes in schools with whites to total Negro enrollment SPRING SUR JUNE, 1963 9,298 More' Negroes In Biracial Schools TENNESSEE U. S. Supreme Court Overrules Race-Based Pupil Transfers NASHVILLE T'he U.S. Supreme Court on June 3 struck down pupil- transfer provisions in the gradual desegregation plans of Davidson County and Knoxville. In a case described by lawyers for both sides as “tremendously signifi cant,” the high tribunal ruled that the transfer provisions were based on race and violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It is readily apparent that the trans fer system proposed lends itself to the perpetuation of segregation,” the court said in its opinion,” indeed, the pro visions can work only toward that end.” The high court’s decision had been awaited by school officials and Negro Pain tiffs in the Davidson County and Knoxville cases as well as by school authorities in other Southern districts „ ere similar provisions now are in effect or were under study for pos- s >ble future use. Reversed Appeals Court th^r R? decision, the court reversed a . e plSixth Circuit Court of Appeals which had approved the th P 6r P rov I s ! on s and directed that Cou C ? Ses (.Maxwell et al v. Davidson et rd ^ B° ar d of Education and Goss Knoxuiile Board of Education) furtbthe district courts for sent;,? 1 P rocee dings. There was no dis- tm S opinion. The court upheld the position of Ne gro petitioners and the civil rights di vision of the U.S. Justice Department which had intervened in the case as “friends of the court.” The cases had been under advisement since argu ments were heard on March 21. (SSN, April). In its opinion, the court did not re ject the grade-a-year desegregation plans under way in both school dis tricts. ‘One-Way Ticket’ The court’s opinion, in part: “While transfers are available to those who choose to attend school where their race is in the majority, there is no provision whereby a stu dent might transfer upon request to a school where his race is in a minority, unless he qualifies for a ‘good cause’ transfer. “As the superintendent of Davidson County schools put it, the effect of the racial transfer plan was ‘to permit a child (or his parent) to choose segre gation outside of his zone but not to choose integration outside of his zone.’ “Here the right of transfer, which operates solely on the basis of a ra cial classification, is a one-way ticket leading to but one destination, i.e., the majority race of the transferees and continued segregation.” The decision, read by Justice Tom Clark, also noted the claim that trans fers are invalid because they “tend to perpetuate the pre-existing racially segregated schools.” Justice Clark said the transfer pro visions conflict with decisions in the Brown case. The “crucial provision,” the opinion continued, is included in the part of the Knoxville plan which states that transfers are permitted “when a white student who otherwise would be re quired to attend a school serving col ored students only or when a colored student would otherwise be required to attend a school previously serving white students only or when a student would otherwise be required to attend a school where the majority of stu dents of that school or in his or her grade are of a different race.” The opinion continued: “We note that if the transfer pro visions were made available to all students regardless of their race and regardless as well of the racial com position of the school to which he re quested transfer we would then have an entirely different case. Pupils could (See SUPREME COURT, Page 8) "IVT EGROES ATTENDING public J * schools with white children had increased by 9,298 this spring over the number reported last fall in the 17 Southern and bor der states and the District of Co lumbia. The increase represents about one- tenth of one per cent of the total Negro enrollment. A survey by Southern School News indicated that 7.9 per cent of the Negro pupils in the area were in biracial schools at the end of the 1962- 63 academic year, compared with 7.8 per cent shortly after the term began last September. A year ago, 7.6 per cent of the Negro enrollment shared classes with whites. The first such survey by SSN in May, 1960, showed 6 per cent, and the per centage was 6.9 in May, 1961. SSN’s 18 correspondents reported a total of 264,655 Negroes in puplic ele mentary and high schools with white pupils last month. The area had 3,326,398 Negro pupils—making up about 24 per cent of the enrollment in 6,197 public- school districts. Biracial Districts However, only 3,001—fewer than half —of these districts had both races in their school populations, and of this number 979 were reported desegregated. These desegregated districts had 5,862,- 801 public-school children, of whom 1,096,634 were Negroes. Of these Ne groes in districts with biracial schools, 23 per cent were in with whites, com pared with 23.9 per cent last fall and 26.9 per cent in May of last year. Because of consolidations, the number of districts continued to decrease—by 32 in the past six months and by 171 in the past year. But the number of deseg regated districts rose by seven since last autumn and by 67 since last spring. About 15.8 per cent of all public schools districts in the 17 states and D.C. now are listed as desegregated, in practice. In districts with both Ne groes and whites of school age, 32.6 per cent were desegregated in practice or in principle. The District of Columbia and six border states—Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma and West Virginia—had 95.1 per cent of all the Negroes reported in schools with whites throughout the region. They had a combined Negro enrollment of 486, 016, which was 14.6 per cent of the re gionwide Negro enrollment, and 251,797 of this number shared classrooms with white children. The remaining 12,868 Negroes attend ing biracial public schools lived in Ark ansas , Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, whose combined Negro enroll ment was 2,004,952. No public element ary or high schools were desegregated in Alabama, Mississippi or South Car olina. Additional Distiicts Of the seven school districts reported desegregated since publication of the November, 1962, Statistical Summary by Southern Education Reporting Ser vice, three were in Texas, two in North Carolina and one each in Oklahoma and Tennessee. Most of the 9,298 increase in Negroes attending schools with whites occured in Maryland, where the number rose by 7,026 to reach 69,147. An estimated 153, 215 Negro pupils reside in that state’s 23 desegregated districts with 153,215 white children. Most of the Maryland increase occured in the Baltimore City system, where the only figure available (See SURVEY, Page 2) In This Issue State Reports Alabama 1 Arkansas 12 Delaware 7 District of Columbia 5 Florida 3 Georgia 18 Kentucky 16 Louisiana 20 Maryland 10 Mississippi 2 Missouri 17 North Carolina 13 Oklahoma 16 South Carolina 14 Tennessee 1 Texas 15 Virginia 19 West Virginia 18 Special Articles Semiannual Survey 1 Outside the South 4 The Region 1 ALABAMA IHLReqon Courts Render Decisions Co 14 Cases In 8 States sch l* c °urt decisions in 14 v ere desegregation cases ind e ® n d e d down during May ** bordef ? arly Ju ne in eight Southern r ou r states. Se gre Bat - ew su ^ s seeking school de- , tiffs ^ t , n Were filed by Negro plain- tfictg jj, fi ree states while school dis- or took steps toward ! 1 lon al biracial classes this i Other L’ ,,. Eluded lg nfi§hts during the month an ” or ?? nounceni ents of plans for creas ed desegregation by i , - UI n „ and universities, adop- . *icie s or amended assignment . action „ Public school districts, L/°°l-racp - n measu res involving the tUf es. SUe L>y three state legis- Wu vi ^ e ncciy ’ in an address at 2*3® “obligati a » 18, called attention n heT 110 / 1 ” of the educated citi- evoted a major part of his speech to civil rights. In his visits at Muscle Shoals and Huntsville, Ala., later the same day, however, the sub ject was not discussed. Five Alabama Decisions Five of the federal court decisions came in Alabama cases. The others involved school districts in Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and Florida. U.S. District Judge H. Hobart Grooms of Birmingham directed the University of Alabama to admit two Negro students at the Tuscaloosa cam pus and another at the Huntsville Uni versity Center. Gov. George C. Wallace announced he would intervene per sonally at both institutions, if neces sary, to block their admission. A Jus tice Department petition for an injunction to prevent Wallace from in terfering was granted by U. S. District Court in Birmingham on June 5. (See COURTS, Page 3) Court Tells University of Alabama To Admit Three Negro Students U: MONTGOMERY .S. District Judge H. Hobart Grooms of Birmingham, who is sued the July 1, 1955 order di recting the University of Ala bama not to discriminate against Negroes applying for enrollment (SSN, July, 1955), ordered ad mission of two Negro students to the main campus and another to the University Center at Hunts ville. The order originally called for their entrance on June 10, but it later was changed to June 11 for Tuscaloosa and June 13 for Huntsville. The university was technically de segregated in February, 1956, when Miss Autherine Lucy attended classes. She was driven from the campus by riots and subsequently expelled for accusing university officials of conspir ing with the mob. (SSN, March, April, 1956.) Judge Grooms ruled in May that the 1955 injunction still was binding on the university. He ordered that Miss Viv ian Malone, 20, of Mobile, and James A. Hood, also 20, of East Gadsden, be admitted to the main campus at Tusca loosa and that Dave M. McGlathery, 27, of Huntsville be enrolled at the Huntsville center. ‘I Stand On My Constitution al Right To Knock Your Block Off!’ Judge Grooms rejected the univer sity’s request for a delay in view of the racial trouble in Birmingham (See Community Action). The board of trustees had agreed to admit the students, while pleading for more time. Attorney Andrew J. Thomas for the university told the court, “It is extremely unwise for Vivian J. Malone to attend the sum mer semester.” Judge Grooms replied: “I take judi cial notice of the condition that exists in this state. But the governor has said he will maintain order in this state. I think that granting the motion (for de lay) would be tantamount to saying law and order has broken down.” Faced with ultimate acceptance of Negro students, the board of trustees, President Frank A. Rose, the faculty and alumni councils issued statements last November (SSN, December, 1962) calling for law and order when Negro students were admitted. At that time, the university said that since 1956, 28 Negroes had applied for admission but none had completed applications. The university announced Dec. 3 that registration for the spring semes ter had been closed Nov. 30 and that no transfer student, including Miss Malone, had completed registration by that day. Registration for beginning freshmen also was closed. Three Negroes—Miss Malone; Sandy English, 21, Birmingham; and Hood— filed suit in Birmingham district court April 15 (SSN, May) under the origi nal Grooms’ injunction (Lucy v. Adams). The new suit (Malone v. (See COURT, Page 6)