Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE, 1963—PAGE 9
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TENNESSEE
Supreme Court Outlaws
Race-Based Transfers
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(Continued from Page 8)
state colleges and universities except
the University of Tennessee, which is
controlled by its own board of trus
tees.
Dr. West, appointed to a two-year
term, began his duties when the board
held its regular May session.
‘Will Do My Best’
Commenting on his appointment, Dr,
West said:
“I feel that is an honor to have re
ceived this appointment from Gov. Cle
ment and I will do my best to be of
service to all of the people of Tennes
see. I hope that I will contribute my
part as a member of the board.”
A native of Flemington, N. J., Dr.
West received his B.A Degree in 1925.
his M.S. Degree in 1930 and his Ph.D.
Degree in 1937, all from the University
of Illinois. He was conferred the LL.D.
Degree at Morris Brown College in At
lanta in 1955, three years after he be
came president of Meharry.
Dr. West served as professor of
chemistry and head of the Department
of Science at Morris Brown College
from 1925-27, before joining the Me-
harry faculty. Until 1938, when he was
aamed chairman of the department of
lochemistry, he served as an associ
ate biochemistry professor.
Dr. West also served as acting chair
man of the division of basic sciences
m 1947 and headed the biochemistry
e partment until 1952, along with other
duties at Meharry.
J. he new board member is affiliated
■ 1 numerous national organizations,
me uding the National Society for
nppl ec j Children and Adults, the
erican Chemical Society and others,
e has contributed technical articles
c hern° s t S ^° na ^ ^ ourn£ds ' n *he field of
★ ★ ★
^ e gro Recommended
F°r Chattanooga Board
fi^” e \r aPPOintment of a “weU-quali-
°f Ed G ^ r ° to Chattanooga Board
bv T Ucatlon was recommended May 14
and n V s (Bookie) Turner, city fire
^Police commissioner.
City e r recomrn endation was read to the
omission after it had approved
£^°usly the appointment of G.
kear t o amS ’ a businessman, to a six-
S ar _ 1111 on the school board,
was nom j, na t e d by the school board,
lecte^j l Stl ?, fr" om a list of persons se-
Co mmitt y t SC B°°1 board nominating
also i h ,.K e , ^ was reported that the list
Tur^p Uded . the na ™ of a Negro,
sure he *'?T J 4 sed Sams and said “I’m
6v er, j n Jr 1 do an excellent job. How-
Pleased ;c e ., near future I would be
mended , e sc fr°°l board recom-
'°r memK -qualified Negro leader
Basic fai „r shlp on the school board.
Slr abilit v t' S f W0U H indicate the de-
° Ur Ponnl!:- hav “S over one-third of
°Ue 0 f lon represented in at least
Mayor t?? f choQl Board positions.”
sta teinent ; 3 P \ Kelley also read a
matnj-g ^ which he said “we have
s Jhp in thio res P° ns *ble Negro leader-
^r actioL C °? mUnity - 1 am P roud of
k tlrest in nth at 3 time when there is
^e been W areas • • • Negro citizens
remittees a PP° ln -ted to boards and
j Bey, r -w, 01 Clt >’ government. This
to havp SUre ’ must . ooutinue in or
. to continue m or-
Station j n ooutrnunity-wide repre-
a matter !f a / rS . of government. This
Nations ” baSIC fairness and good
Teachers in Nashville
Merge Organizations
Teachers in the Nashville-Davidson
County metropolitan area have voted
overwhelmingly to merge their four
teachers organizations which now com
prise Education Council, Inc.
According to a survey by a six-
member team from the National Edu
cation Association, the vote was 2,566
for a single organization and 328 op
posing the plan.
Both the Nashville and Davidson
County school systems have separate
organizations for white and Negro
teachers. Under the new metropolitan
government, the city and county sys
tems will be consolidated.
Legal Action
U. S. Court Accepts
Grade-a-Year Plan;
Appeal Is Expected
U. S. District Judge Marion S. Boyd
on May 24 accepted a grade-a-year de
segregation plan for Memphis public
schools.
Negro attorneys said, however, they
will appeal the decision to the U. S.
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals at Cin
cinnati.
Under the plan approved by Boyd,
biracial classes may be conducted in
the first four grades in 41 of the 81
elementary schools in the system in
September.
Also accepted as a part of the plan
was a provision to allow the transfer
of students from schools where their
race is in the minority, a feature at
tacked by Negro attorneys.
In approving the grade-a-year plan,
What They Say
President Stresses 4 Obligation 9
Of Nation \s Educated Citizens
Declaring that the “question of our
rights can endure no longer than the
performance of our responsibilities,”
President Kennedy emphasized the
“obligation” of the educated citizen in a
three-hour visit to Nashville on Mav
18.
An estimated 33,000 people turned
out to hear the President’s address
commemorating the 90th anniversary of
the founding of Vanderbilt University
and the 30th anniversary of the Ten
nessee Valley Authority.
Metropolitan Police Chief Hubert
Kemp estimated that at least 150,000
people lined the streets to watch the
President’s motorcade. While two signs
reading “Remember Mississippi” and
“Kennedy for King, Goldwater for
President” were observed in the crowds
along the motorcade route, most of the
signs seen from the airport to Vander
bilt Stadium extended a welcome to
the President.
It was the first official visit of a
President to Nashville since 1934 and
Gov. Frank G. Clement, Mayor Beverly
Briley and other officials as well as the
public provided what Kennedy called
“a very generous welcome.”
Also on hand for the ceremonies
were U. S. Sens. Estes Kefauver and
Albert Gore, U. S. Reps. Richard Ful
ton, Ross Bass, Robert A. Everett and
J° e L Evins of Tennessee, and Ala
bama Sens. Lister Hill and John Spark
man.
Clement, Briley and other officials
greeted the President at the airport and
accompanied him to the stadium and
the luncheon which followed at the
Governor’s Mansion.
The President later in the day visited
Muscle Shoals and Huntsville in Ala
bama. (See Alabama report.)
Introduced by Dr. Alexander Heard,
chancellor of Vanderbilt University,
the President devoted a major portion
of his address to civil rights although
there was no indication the subject was
discussed privately with any of the
state or local officials.
Declaring that the nation is “now en
gaged in a continuing debate about the
rights of a portion of its citizens,” Ken
nedy said:
“That will go on, and those rights
will expand, until the standard first
forged by the nation’s founders has
been reached—and all Americans enjoy
equal opportunity and liberty under
law.”
The President continued:
“But this nation was not founded
solely on the principle of citizen rights.
Equally important—though too often
not discussed—is the citizen’s respon
sibility. For our privileges can be no
greater than our obligations. But the
question of our rights can endure no
longer than the performance of our
responsibilities. Each can be neglected
only at the peril of the other.”
As to Equality
Kennedy asserted that “equality of
opportunity does not mean equality of
responsibility.” He added:
“All Americans must be responsible
citizens, but some must be more re
sponsible than others, by virtue of their
public or their private positions, their
role in the family or community, their
prospects for the future or their legacy
from the past. Increased responsibility
goes with increased ability—for ‘those
to whom much is given, much is re
quired.’ ”
The President said he referred in
particular to the “responsibility of the
educated citizen.” Among the “obliga
tions” he cited included “. . . your ob
ligation to the pursuit of learning . . .
your obligation to serve the public . ..
your obligation to uphold the law . . .”
Kennedy declared:
“You have the responsibility, in short,
to use your talent for the benefit of
the society which helped develop those
submitted last September by the Mem
phis Board of Education, Judge Boyd
ruled against lawyers for the NAACP
who had filed their own plan seeking
desegregation of all grades by 1965.
The Memphis system, now in its sec
ond year of desegregation, admitted 13
Negro first-graders to four previously
all-white schools in September, 1961,
using the Tennessee Pupil Assignment
law as a guide.
The U. S. Sixth Circuit Court of Ap
peals ruled, however, that the assign
ment law could not be used as a de
segregation plan and returned the case
to Judge Boyd who ordered an ac
celerated plan. (No-rthcross et al v. City
of Memphis Board of Education, SSN,
April, 1962.) The U. S. Supreme Court
refused to review the appeals court de
cision.
Including the 13 Negroes who en
tered biracial classes in 1961, a total of
44 Negro students in the first and sec
ond grades were enrolled in previously
all-white schools at the beginning of
the 1962-63 school year.
The school board enrolled the addi
tional Negroes under its grade-a-year
plan, which Judge Boyd allowed to be
come effective pending a hearing. It
was this plan the district court ap
proved.
In his ruling, the judge said the plan
was “fair and realistic” and “one which
can be made to work.” He said the
court was “very much impressed with
the earnestness and efficiency with
which the board drew up its plan.”
“Too much haste is not . . . conducive
to the sound solution of the problem,”
the judge declared.
Boyd said the primary purpose of the
NAACP plan “apparently is speed and
more speed without proper considera
tion for costs or consequences.” He also
said the U. S. Civil Rights Commis
sion, during a meeting in Memphis last
summer, recommended that “the Nash
ville Plan be adopted.”
The plan approved by Boyd is simi
lar to the Nashville plan which has
been in effect since 1957.
The controversial transfer provision,
which on June 3 was rejected by
the U. S. Supreme Court in the Knox
ville and Davidson County cases, was
described by Boyd as not “a mere de-
Nashville Studies Faculty Desegregation
“The biggest undecided element re
maining in Nashville, besides the val
idity of the transfer program, is the
question of the integration of school
faculties and staff,” according to a re
port prepared for the Nashville Com
munity Relations Council.
Written by Eugene G. Wyatt, Sunday
editor of the Nashville Tennessean and
associate director of Race Relations
Law Reporter, published by Vander
bilt University School of Law, the re
port was distributed on May 2 at the
council’s eighth annual workshop in
Nashville.
W. H. Oliver, superintendent of Nash
ville schools, told those attending the
workshop that school officials intend to
adhere strictly to the grade-a-year de
segregation plan which began in 1957.
“Some say the grade-a-year plan is
too fast, others say it’s too slow,”
Oliver commented, “but until the
courts say otherwise, it will be our
plan.”
In his report, Wyatt noted that the
U. S. Supreme Court had under con
sideration provisions of transfer plans
similar to the one included in the
Nashville desegregation program.
School faculties and staff “are still
fully segregated, although various pro
fessional groups and the administra
tion machinery of the system itself is
integrated to a considerable degree,”
the report continued. While petitions
for teacher desegregation have been
included in several Tennessee suits,
Wyatt said, “thus far the courts have
OLIVER WYATT
either refused such an order or re
served judgment.” He added:
“A recent decision in nearby Bowl
ing Green, Ky., however, indicates the
rule may be breaking on this score as
well.”
Wyatt said that “community accept
ance has been more than many people
expected” and “after a slow start, the
program has resulted in an amount of
desegregation which can no longer be
called merely token. Among white peo
ple, even those with rather strong pro
segregation tendencies, there is an at
titude of fait accompli.”
But the “problem of social contact
which intensifies in the high school
grades has yet to be faced in Nash
ville,” the report stated.
Wyatt was one of four panelists who
discussed “Nashville School Integra
tion: Past and Prospect.” Others were
Miss Ruth McDonald, primary super
intendent of Davidson County schools;
the Rev. Kelly Miller Smith, minister
of First Baptist Church and Reed Sar-
ratt, executive director of Southern Ed
ucation Reporting Service.
“Before we allowed our daughter to
be the first Negro child to enter a
white school in Tennessee,” the Rev.
Mr. Smith said, “my wife and I
searched ourselves wondering if we had
a right to submit her to such a task.
We decided to let her play a part in
history. The dangers of accepting the
humiliation of segregation were worse
than pioneering in a worthy cause.”
Miss McDonald commended the co
operation between the races in deseg
regation of the county schools. She also
said that while some Negro students do
well in their school work, she described
the work of most as below average.
talents. You must decide, as Goethe put
it, whether you will be an anvil or a
hammer, whether you will give to the
world in which you are reared and
educated the broadest possible bene
fits of that education ... If the pursuit
of learning is not defended by the edu
cated citizen, it will not be defended at
all . . .”
The President expressed the hope
that “all educated citizens” would ful
fill their obligations in politics, govern
ment and other fields. He said:
“You will find the pressures greater
than the pay. You may endure more
public attack than support. But you
will have the unequaled satisfaction of
knowing that your character and talent
are contributing to the direction and
success of this free society.”
Special Responsibility
Declaring that the educated citizen
has a special responsibility to uphold
the law, the President said:
“. . . He (the educated citizen)
knows that law is the adhesive force in
the cement of society, creating order
out of chaos and coherence in place of
anarchy. He knows that for one man to
defy a law or court order he does not
like is to invite others to defy those
which they do not like, leading to a
breakdown of all justice and all order.
He knows, too, that every fellow man
is entitled to be regarded with decency
and treated with dignity. Any educated
citizen who seeks to subvert the law,
to suppress freedom, or to subject other
human beings to acts that are less than
human, degrades his inheritance, ig
nores his learning, and betrays his ob
ligation . . .
“In these moments of tragic disorder,
a special burden rests on the educated
men and women of our country to re
ject the temptations of prejudice and
violence and to reaffirm the values of
freedom and law on which our free
society depend.”
STIMBERT
vice to perpetuate school segregation.”
He added:
“There is absolutely nothing in the
law which requires every single school
to have an integrated student body.”
Dr. E. C. Stimbert, school superin
tendent, estimated that 600 Negroes
would be assigned to 27 previously all-
white schools and
375 white stu
dents would be
assigned to 14 pre
dominantly Negro
schools in Septem
ber.
Officials indi
cated, however,
that the number
would be reduced
sharply by those
who seek trans
fers to other
schools.
William D. Galbreath, school board
chairman, said from 250 to 400 Negro
students likely would attend biracial
classes in 27 predominantly white
schools.
Under the plan, the fifth grade would
be desegregated in 1964 with an addi
tional grade each year thereafter until
all 12 grades would be included by
1971. Also included is a provision which
would allow the board, in its discre
tion, to desegregate more than a grade
each year, Stimbert explained.
Derrick Bell, NAACP attorney, had
this to say about the plan:
“If America’s space program pro
ceeds on schedule, we will put a man
on the moon by 1970. This is a year
before the city’s plan would complete
the desegregation of the Memphis
schools.”
Bell also declared that the “preserva
tion of peace cannot be purchased at
the price of denying the constitutional
rights to Negro children” as he said
the case would be taken to the appeals
court as soon as a transcript of the dis
trict court hearing is available.
In his arguments before the court,
Bell said:
“By ruling compulsory segregation
unconstitutional, the Supreme Court
implied that compulsory integration is
required.”
Among those who testified in behalf
of the board’s plan were Stimbert and
W. H. Oliver, superintendent of the
Nashville school system.
Boyd’s decision came at the close of
a two-day hearing.
The Memphis school system includes
50,953 Negro students and 54,684 white
students. Officials said, however, the
number of Negroes in the first six
grades totals 33,179 compared with 30,-
248 white students.
Negro attorneys also had requested
(See TENNESSEE, Page 10)