About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1963)
ARKANSAS SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JULY, 1963—PAGE 9 Little Rock Schedules Biracial Classes In Grades 1,4 LITTLE ROCK T he Little Rock School Board decided June 20 to begin de segregation of the first and fourth grades this fall, entering Phase III (elementary desegregation) of its court-approved plan for deseg regation. The Board then assigned eight Negro children to first grade classes at white schools—two each to Wilson and Cen tennial and one each to Jackson, Oak- hurst, Mitchell and Lee. Requests for assignments of three other Negro stu dents to white elementary schools were denied. The board had sent questionnaires to the parents of children who will be in the first grade this fall asking if they had a school preference for their chil dren. Before the board assigns any Ne groes to fourth grade classes it will have to send the same questionnaires to the parents of some 2,200 children— about one-third of the Negroes—who will be in the fourth grade this fall. The board desegregation action had been expected, since it was revealed June 6 that the board was mailing the questionnaires to parents of incoming first graders. In the past the question naires have been sent only to parents whose children were about to enter a desegregated grade. The board’s decision to begin first grade desegregation was approved unanimously, but Board President Everett Tucker Jr. and member J. H Cottrell Jr. opposed fourth grade deseg regation, which was proposed by Rus sell H. Matson Jr., a board member. By desegregating two grades, Matson said, the board would complete Phase Missouri (Continued From Page 8) was Clyde X, leader of the Black Mus lim movement in St. Louis. The bus demonstration was planned the previous evening at the first public meetings of the parents’ organization, held at Parrish Temple CME. It was Proposed by Charles Oldham, an attor- ne y, the national chairman of the Con gress on Racial Equality. Other speak ers were the Rev. Amos Ryce, pastor of J^ne Tabernacle CME, and Clyde Ca- ’ an attorney who heads the ... ^P l e S a I redress committee in Missouri. Late in May, the Parents of Trans- Parted Pupils sent a five-page mem orandum to the board of education, contending that the “present rigid sep- ation of transported children” de- ved iLe children of their constitu- to° na , gUarantees - 'LL 0 board was urged r . . e tbe children an integral part of tio eiV *, n ® sc hools—in classroom instruc- etc^ ay 3Ctivity ’ hmchroom schedules, not later than next September. the q early JlUle ’ Robert Allen Sedler of who l! Rouis University school of law, has assisted in NAACP school de- issue^ a ^° n cases ™ southeast Missouri, mem 3 dve ~ page mimeographed state- raised 0 ]? Questions he said were Ported ^ hoard’s policy on trans fer <J, Upils - ARer reviewing the mat- stituti , Said the board had a con ‘ chii dr ° nal duty to assimilate Negro thev 6n into schools to which Were transported. g Offers Assui ance J. Hick° U * S of Instruction Philip Phnci spea kbig before 150 school the S^t and adm irustrative office-s of as SUr _ u * s system June 13, offered trary Ce t ? lat there would be no arbi- basis o r £ eassignrnen t of teachers on the W set, r f Ce * n fhe system in the com- “It h 001 year ' °ds of ^ ^ een asserted that such meth- < f e msi 0a eaSSignment are required under R iekey tbe Supreme Court,” said mport b Was a re f eren ce to another Universit e , d ' er ’ * n w hich the St. Louis that teami acuRy mem ber contended me nts b C erS Were choosing assign ed teac4. CaUSe race factors. Sedler Permit* 6 S C0U * d n °t' under the law, SicS ^ t0 discriminate, ty the h^ 6 erred a 13-page review hattsm,^ ard °f education’s attorney ! Ss Ue wit , 40 the board June 12, taking In g that th 5edIer ’ s vie wpoint and hold- * , e Supreme Court’s desegre- n . ls * on s do not call for arbi- Whe, 6 ' Mandatory reassignment o on a race basis. The board’: III of its plan in three years instead of six, keeping Phase in in step with Phase I (high school) and Phase II (junior high), which are requiring three years each for completion. Cottrell said that moving a child from one elementary school to another amounted to a “lateral transfer,” which is against board policy, and that aban doning that rule would mean the be ginning of “total integration.” In the future, he said, the board will not have any grounds for denying lat eral transfers at other levels of the sys tem. Matson said that in desegregating the fourth grade the board would be pre serving, to some degree, its policy against the lateral transfers. The fourth grade is a dividing point of the ele mentary level, he said, with the first three years considered the primary grades, the second three the intermedi ate grades. There is a difference in instruction and study beginning at the fourth grade, so this seems the best place for a trans fer within the elementary level, Mat- son said. The board has maintained that stu dents should enter each level of the school system—elementary, junior high and high school—only at the initial grades of each. It has made exceptions, however. Negro students generally have been allowed to transfer to desegregated schools only at the seventh and 10th grades—the initial grades of each. Wiley A. Branton of Pine Bluff, Ark., and Atlanta, Ga., attorney for the plaintiffs in the Little Rock desegrega tion case, said that desegregation of the first and fourth grades meant that the school board would not be fulfilling its obligations under the plan that has been approved by the courts. He said it was his interpretation that desegregation of all 12 grades would be completed by this fall. He said that he would meet with his clients at Little Rock to determine whether there will be more litigation. Plans Outlined Branton had said June 18 that the school board apparently was consider ing desegregating only the first grade, and that he would file new pleadings in court requesting the “complete deseg regation” of Little Rock public schools. Branton had received a letter June 17 from Herschel H. Friday Jr., attorney for the school board, notifying him that 11 Negroes had requested to be assigned to the first grade this fall. From Friday’s letter, Branton said, “it is quite obvious that thus far the board has not contemplated any integration in the elementary level other than at the first grade level. “The board evidently is going to con tinue to follow its policy of not allow ing lateral transfers. I’m sure that I speak for my clients when I say that such a plan is not satisfactory and I would have to advise them (the school board members) legally that it is not in compliance with the orders of the court. “Unless the board voluntarily changes its plans, we will have to seek relief in court. I’m prepared to file the necessary pleadings almost immediately.” The school board, June 20, also reas signed one Negro student to a desegre gated high school and two Negroes to a desegregated junior high school. It ap proved a Negro student’s request to be attorney, Hickey said, indicated that present board policy and practices in all areas of school operations are within the framework of the law. Legal Action U. S. Court Approves Desegregation Plan For Charleston All public schools at Charleston, in southeast Missouri’s Mississippi County, are to be desegregated under a plan approved June 4 by U.S. Dis trict Judge James H. Meredith at St. Louis. The desegregation action was ordered by Judge Meredith April 11 at which time defendants were ordered to file a plan of reorganization within 30 days. The Charleston suit (Davis et al v. Board of Education of Charleston etc. et al) was filed last August by parents of 10 Negro school children. Their at torney was Clyde S. Cahill Jr., a St. Louis Negro lawyer who is chairman of the legal redress committee of the Missouri NAACP. (SSN, May, 1953, and previously). Charleston is about 150 miles south of St. Louis. The consolidated school district there is reported to have about 1,160 white and 690 Negro students. Arkansas Highlights The Little Rock School Board said June 20 that it will begin elementary school desegregation in the first and fourth grades this fall, then assigned eight Negro children to the first grade at white schools. The Arkansas Supreme Court voided four so-called anti-desegrega tion laws aimed at the National As sociation for the Advancement of Colored People. reassigned from a desegregated junior high to a Negro junior high. Twelve re quests for reassignment to desegregated junior and senior high schools were denied because they were too late. A total of 112 Negro students now are scheduled to attend desegregated schools at Little Rock this fall. This includes 104 at junior and senior high schools and eight in first grade classes in the elementary schools. ★ ★ ★ The United States Supreme Court’s decision of June 3 against the voluntary transfer of pupils out of schools where their race is in the minority apparently does not endanger the Little Rock School Board’s desegregation plan. The plan, as approved by federal Dis trict Judge John E. Miller Aug. 29, 1956, does not mention such transfers, and nothing has been said about them since then in the litigation involving the Little Rock case. Such a transfer plan was the official policy of the board until November 1958, but the board has not mentioned the voluntary transfer policy publicly since 1958. ★ ★ ★ Ted Lamb, a member of the Little Rock School Board, said May 30 that he objected to the Arkansas Pupil As signment Law (Act 461 of 1959) and the way the board was using it. Lamb said the board was assigning students on the basis of race although the federal courts have ruled that racial considerations must not enter into the assignments he said. The Arkansas Assignment Law has been upheld “on its face” by the U.S. Supreme Court but the court said it could not be used to continue segrega tion. ★ ★ ★ The state Department of Education mailed out checks June 26 totaling $6,935.18 to the Little Rock and Dollar way (Pine Bluff, Ark.) school districts as the state share of legal fees for de- What They Say Gov. Orval E. Faubus in a statement June 11 attacked the federal courts and praised Gov. George Wallace of Alabama for his stand. Faubus said Wallace was “taking the only course open to him to prevent violence and disorder.” He added: “Gov. Wallace is doing his best to do that very thing [leave matters in the courts], notwithstanding the fact that white people now have little more chance for equity and justice in the federal courts than did unfortunate Jews of Germany in the Nazi courts of Hitler.” Former Gov. Sid McMath called Gov. Faubus’s statement on comparing the courts with Nazi courts “the height of irresponsibility.” McMath also said that the statement was “calculated to undermine peo ple’s confidence in our judicial system,” and that it “encourages and incites defi ance of all law with which we do not agree.” Said Faubus: “Mr. McMath’s statement that I am trying to discredit the federal courts is like accusing a person of trying to pull down a tree that has already been cut down.” He also accused McMath of being “one of the secret leaders, who in secret and closely guarded meetings is trying to integrate everything, includ ing private business.” McMath denied that. segregation lawsuits for the 1962-63 fiscal year. Under Act 265 of 1961, the state pays half the cost of such legal fees that are certified by the local school districts. Legal Action Four Laws Passed At Bennett Behest Voided by Court The Arkansas Supreme Court June 3 declared unconstitutional four laws aimed at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. They were passed by a spe cial session of the state legislature in 1958 at the insti gation of state At torney General Bruce Bennett. The NAACP said the laws— Acts 12, 13, 14 and 16 — violated the equal-protection and due-process rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Act 12 allowed a county judge to re quire an organization to register and disclose its membership and finances if the judge thought the organization’s activities tended to interfere with the operation of the public schools; Act 13 empowered the attorney general to get a chancery court order and examine an organization’s records if he thought it was trying to evade state taxes; Act 14 made it unlawful to instigate law suits over school desegregation; and Act 16 made it unlawful to solicit or donate money to finance lawsuits over school desegregation. The ruling was 5-2 with dissents from Associate Justice Jim Johnson, an outspoken segregationist and one-time gubernatorial candidate, and Special Justice Boyd Tackett, sitting for Justice Frank Holt, who disqualified himself because as Pulaski County prosecuting attorney when the lawsuit was filed he was involved in the case. The court upheld Pulaski Chancellor Murray O. Reed—who held all but Act 13 valid—and also threw that out. The court, in its majority opinion by As sociate Justice Ed F. McFaddin, quoted approvingly from Judge Reed’s decision on Acts 12, 14 and 16. The majority went on to say that there was no need for it to accept Judge Reed’s reasoning because the U.S. Supreme Court al ready had ruled adversely on a similar set of laws passed by the Virginia Dr. Stephen Wright, president of Fisk University at Nashville, Tenn., said in a commencement speech at Arkansas AM&N College at Pine Bluff on May 27, that “Educated Negroes are respon sible for educating white people to “the racial facts of life.” He added: “Never before has it been possible for the Negro to move more rapidly toward first-class citizenship. But unless the educated youth of to day are willing to take a position as leaders, the position of the Negro will degenerate into protractive tokenism.” ★ ★ ★ I. S. McClinton, president of the Ark ansas (Negro) Democratic Voters As sociation, said on June 22 he opposes “mob gatherings and demonstrations” and that civil rights differences should be settled at the conference table, al though he sympathized with Negro demonstrators and they should be al lowed to demonstrate peacefully if white people are allowed to. McClinton disputed a statement by Sen. John L. McClellan (Dem., Ark.) that President Kennedy’s civil rights proposals would “compel conformity of association and social intercourse.” Mc Clinton said social relationships are a matter of choice. ★ ★ ★ A. W. Ford, Arkansas education commissioner, testifying June 18 be fore a House subcommittee at Wash ington, said that he opposed federal aid to public education that is tied to mandatory desegregation. Faubus Attacks Federal Courts, Lauds Wallace Stand in Alabama BENNETT legislature in 1956. The state argued that the “Bennett” laws were not liable to trial in a court because they had never been used. The NAACP said that the laws had hurt its membership anyway; that the laws breached constitutional rights by invad ing privacy and hindering a person’s right to redress in the courts. Justice Johnson’s dissent was on the argument that the laws were not liable to trial and that the NAACP’s own testimony did not prove that its loss in membership was due to the laws.” Justice Tackett’s dissent was more sweeping and its language was severe. He called the U.S. Supreme Court the “guardian for the NACCP.” He said that the “NAACP has in some instances engaged in stirring up strife, creating resentment and hatred, and has violated laws for the purpose of supplying the U.S. Supreme Court with fodder for lit igations.” Bennett filed a petition asking the Supreme Court for a rehearing of the case. Miscellaneous Bid to Transfer Case Denied By U. S. Judge Federal District Judge J. Smith Hen ley on May 30 denied a request by Wil liam M. Howard, 33, of Pine Bluff that he be tried in federal district court on state charges of assault with intent to kill and carrying a concealed knife, an outgrowth of a disturbance at Dollar way School at Pine Bluff Jan. 22. Howard a Negro, had argued that he would not get a fair trial in the state courts, but Judge Henley said he would. Howard had gone to the school to pick up his niece, Sara Etoria Howard, 15, and Samuel Wayne Cato, 8, the only Negroes attending. As Howard left in his station wagon, a rock was thrown through a window and Howard scuffled with Johnny Irvin, 18, a white student. Irvin suffered a slight cut during the encounter. ★ ★ ★ The Urban League of Greater Little Rock at its annual meeting June 27 heard state Sen. Leroy Johnson of At lanta, Ga., caution against misrepre senting a split in Negro leadership. They’re all together on the basic goal —first class citizenship for Negroes, he said. South Carolina (Continued From Page 7) economic and cultural matters in the state and talked with leaders in each area. The students also talked with a number of other government and po litical leaders from both parties and interviewed Negroes prominent in the desegregation movement. Legislative Action Bill to Counter Impact Area Policy Stalled A bill aimed at thwarting the federal government’s desegregation designs on school districts receiving impacted-area aid was left pending as the South Carolina Legislature adjourned in early June after a marathon session. Passed in the last days by the Senate, the measure would require parents living on military bases to pay tuition to local schools attended by their chil dren. The bill specifically forbids school districts to receive federal funds if “the United States Commissioner of Education shall exercise any direction . . . over the enrollment of pupils, place ment of pupils, personnel, curriculum . . . of any school to which funds are allocated.” Under the provisions of the bill, children living on military bases would be assigned to schools at the discretion of the trustees of the district after payment of the tuition fee. After passage in the Senate June 5, the bill went to the House, which did not have time before adjournment to act. It will be up for consideration there at the next session, beginning in January. ■Tl
