Newspaper Page Text
]/1 0 Factual
x 1\0-
Southern School News
4<V
Objective
VOL. I0, NO. 2
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
AUGUST, 1963
ALABAMA
Plans Ordered
For Mobile,
Birmingham
MONTGOMERY
F ederal courts ordered school
boards in Birmingham and
Mobile to submit plans of deseg-
ration by Aug. 19, looking toward
some desegregation in September,
and to apply the state’s School
Placement Law without discrimi
nation.
The orders were the first directed
toward Alabama public schools below
the college level since the 1954 Su
preme Court decision.
The order affecting Mobile came
first. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled July 9 that first grade
desegregation should begin in Septem
ber, moving one grade higher each
year. In the decision, the three-judge
panel overruled U.S. District Judge
Daniel H. Thomas, who had directed
the board to present a desegregation
plan for the 1964-65 school year (SSN,
July) by Nov. 14.
Plaintiffs in the suit, filed March 28
(Danis et al v. Mobile County Board
of School Commissioners et al) ap
pealed, protesting the delay.
The appellate court panel upheld the
plaintiffs’ position and ordered first-
grade desegregation this fall.
Then a conflict developed. Another
three-judge Circuit Court panel con
sidering the Birmingham case, (Arm
strong v. Birmingham Board of Edu
cation), directed the Birmingham board
July 12 to submit a plan by Aug. 19
to begin desegregation this fall by ap
plying the placement law without dis
crimination, “to all school grades . .
including the admission of new pupils
entering the first grade, or coming into
the county for the first time . . .”
This panel did not specify any par
ticular grade and the ruling, giving
the board the latitude of the placement
w, was regarded as milder than the
order in the Mobile case.
Appeals Denied
, Both boards appealed for rehearings
^ ore the full court. The appeals were
tnie d, but the order affecting Mobile
"as revised by the Court of Appeals to
conform with the order in the Bir-
mi ngham case.
th^M 6 ."^omas accordingly ordered
®. Mobile board to submit desegre-
, Ioa Plans by Aug. 19 to “effectively
ovide for the carrying into effect not
° er l" 311 the beginning of the school
th(> r C ° mmenc ing September, 1963, and
men? t 61 Alabama Pupil Place-
om . w as 1° a H school grades with-
ra «al discrimination.”
boy^^lsBam District Judge Sey-
28 (coxt ynne ’ w ^° ^ a d refused May
cotrml- j ^ une ) to enjoin the board,
de r P j w *th the appellate court’s or-
^hriab ’ ° n I®, ordered the Bir-
a -1 am H°ard of education to submit
°f desegregation by Aug. 19.
(See BIRMINGHAM, Page 3)
THE REGION
113 Districts To Desegregate,
Largest Number in Seven Years
Brooks, Birmingham News
SOUTH CAROLINA
USC To Admit
First Negroes
For Fall Term
COLUMBIA
T'l he University of South Caro-
lina’s board of trustees an
nounced July 29 it would comply
with federal court orders to admit
qualified Negro students begin
ning with its September term.
On Aug. 2, Robert G. Anderson, 20-
year-old Greenville Negro, received a
form letter from the university saying
his application for admission had been
approved.
Two other Negroes, one a graduate
student, had initiated application pro
cedures.
The state’s largest educational insti
tution (more than 7,000 students) with
its main campus located in downtown
Columbia, USC has not had a Negro
student since reconstruction days.
The university will become the second
state-supported institution of higher
learning to be desegregated. Clemson
College admitted Negro Harvey B.
Gantt on federal court orders last Jan
uary. Tight security measures by state
law enforcement agencies there dis
couraged any violence.
South Carolina was the last of the
50 states to admit a Negro to its white
schools. As yet, no other state col
leges and no elementary or second
ary schools have been desegregated.
Although she has not fully com
pleted her application, the person who
broke the color line at USC was
Henri Monteith, 18-year-old Columbia
girl who expects to transfer as a sopho-
(See UNIVERSITY, Page 2)
A total of 133 public school dis
tricts in the Southern and
border region will begin desegre
gation with the opening of the
1963-64 school year, the largest
number of districts to drop racial
barriers in any year since 1956.
The additional districts will push to
1,092 the total number of desegregated
districts in the 17-state region, which
has 3,053 districts with both white and
Negro students in attendance.
Ninety-five of the districts volun
tarily adopted desegregation policies to
become effective at the beginning of
the new school term, while biracial
classes in the other 18 districts will
begin under federal court orders.
The number of districts in which
desegregation will occur for the first
time is almost two and a half times as
large as that in 1962 and more than
three and a half times the 1961 figure.
It is the largest number of districts to
desegregate since 1956, when more than
200 school systems began biracial
classes.
In 1962, 46 districts began the new
school year with desegregated classes
for the first time. In 1961, the figure
totaled 31.
Texas leads this year’s list of 10
states in which the desegregating dis
tricts are located with a total of 47
school systems scheduled to desegre
gate, 39 of them under policies adopted
voluntarily by school officials. Virginia
is second with 23 districts expected to
begin biracial classes, including 21 in
which school officials acted voluntari
ly.
Other states and the number of dis
tricts to desegregate include Kentucky,
16; North Carolina, 11; Tennessee, 6;
Florida, 5; Alabama, 2; Arkansas, 1;
Georgia, 1, and Louisiana, 1.
Alabama is the only state in the
group planning new desegregation this
fall which has not previously conducted
biracial classes in the public schools
below the college level.
Other districts in the region face
federal court hearings in desegregation
suits prior to the opening of school and
decisions are pending in some cases.
Additional desegregation also is ex
pected to occur in districts where
gradual plans are in effect or where
biracial classes are extended through
action of school officials.
Here is a state-by-state listing of the
districts scheduled to begin desegrega
tion with the opening of the fall term:
Alabama
Birmingham—The U.S. Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals ordered the Binning-
Pre-Opening Outlook
Desegregating This Fall
JS
-2
*0
T3
’P
Total
Districts
liber Wit
egroes &
Whites
'u
V3
s
fr
a
■*3
a
p
©
u
4)
E
O
1
ts
’w5 «
P be
0 0
> ba
££
Total
segregate
fc
o’
fc
>
0
u
Oh
fi
0
P
Alabama
114
114
2
0
2
0
2
Arkansas
416
228
1
1
0
12
13
Delaware
87
87
0
0
0
87
87
Dist. of Columbia
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
Florida
67
67
5
3
2
10
15
Georgia
198
182
1
0
1
1
2
Kentucky
205
166
16
14
2
149
165
Louisiana
67
67
1
0
1
1
2
Maryland
24
23
0
0
0
23
23
Mississippi
150
150
0
0
0
0
0
Missouri
1,607
213*
0
0
0
203*
203*
North Carolina .?
173
173
11
11
0
18
29
Oklahoma
1,180
241
0
0
0
196
196
South Carolina ..
108
108
0
0
0
0
0
Tennessee
154
143
6
6
0
26
32
Texas
1,461
919
47
39
8
177
224
Virginia
130
128
23
21
2
32
55
West Virginia ...
55
43
0
0
0
43
43
TOTALS
6,197
3,053
113
95
18
979
1,092
ham district to desegregate in Septem
ber and directed the board to submit
a plan. No public schools below the
college level have been desegregated
previously.
Mobile—Overturning a U.S. district
court order which would have delayed
desegregation in Mobile until 1964-65,
the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
also directed Mobile to desegregate in
September. On July 18, the district
court amended its order calling for a
grade-a-year plan to begin with the
first grade and instructed the Mobile
board to submit a plan of its own.
Arkansas
Pine Bluff—Under a policy adopted
voluntarily by the school board in July,
the district will desegregate the first
and second grades, with two additional
grades to be desegregated each year.
Six Negroes were assigned to biracial
classes in four schools.
Florida
Duval County (Jacksonville) — The
school board in May adopted an offi
cial policy for registration of first-
graders under a grade-a-year plan
after a U.S. district court ordered that
desegregation begin in September.
Leon County (Tallahassee) — Three
Negroes are expected to attend pre
viously all-white Leon High School,
following school board action in May,
and first-graders were allowed to reg
ister in schools nearest their homes
under a grade-a-year plan approved by
U.S. district court.
Okaloosa County — School officials
approved a policy to provide nonseg-
regated schools for children of per
sonnel living on a federal installattion,
according to an announcement by the
U.S. Department of Health, Education
and Welfare.
Santa Rosa County—A similar policy
was adopted by the school board, ac
cording to HEW.
St. Johns County (St. Augustine)—
Seven Negroes were registered in pre
dominantly white schools in the district
which faces a desegregation suit.
Georgia
Chatham County (Savannah) —The
U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in
May ordered the school board to de
segregate. In response to the court
order, the board submitted a plan for
grade-a-year desegregation beginning
with the 12th grade this fall. The plan
was approved by a U.S. district Court
on July 30.
Kentucky
Allen County—The board of educa
tion in March voluntarily adopted a
plan whereby six Negroes will be en
rolled in biracial classes in elementary
grades and a similar number in high-
school grades.
(See 113, Page 16)
MARYLAND
Schoolmen of Northern,
border Areas To Convene
io»
ter-
. *
ic,
he»
IP
de
fter
fief
ba d
V
has
p ph
step
T BALTIMORE
?. t °p school officials of nine
Ve re , 0rt hern and border cities
‘^gUst" 16 mee ^ ™ Baltimore on
^ t° discuss ways of
teg at j o ® issue of de facto seg-
1416 edn n ^ rees were t° include several
Plants i- 3 10n aathorities, federal con-
S^™ epresentat ives of three civil-
.“'•ndaj.: ? s an d members of the Ford
i ^sor n/Vu Pu kBc Affairs Division,
. ^ fo T inference.
Dr. p r conference were started
J>1 B. Brain, Baltimore’s
j ' :r s PoltA nnte ndent, in June, shortly
t Smen for the NAACP and a
)F 0t e the r n n ? S . ^ rou P had appeared
that al timore school board to
1 v. e-,. Positive steps be taken
I cit v . ^ fhe racial imbalance in
1 + u°° ls -
t,;/ With ^ " we ’ve got a national
5 he Wont, l0cal focus,” Dr. Brain
seek a conference with
other city school officials mutually
confronted with problems arising from
the continued existence of all-Negro
schools.
‘Principal Purpose’
In announcing on July 16 that plans
for the conference were set, Dr. Brain
said, “A principal purpose will be to
examine and identify promising, expe
ditious and legally sound ways of ad
ministering educational programs to
achieve better racial balances in the
public schools while at the same time
advancing the basic aims of public
education.”
Besides Dr. Brain, the city school
superintendents were to be those from
Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, New Ha
ven, New Rochelle (N.Y.), New York
City, Philadelphia and St. Louis. They
were to be joined at the conference
table by the New York and New Jer
sey state commissioners of education
and by Dr. Thomas G. Pullen, Jr., the
(See SCHOOL, Page 12)
In This Issue
State Reports
Alabama
1
Arkansas
15
Delaware
9
District of Columbia
4
Florida
11
Georgia
18
Kentucky
7
Louisiana
1
Maryland
1
Mississippi
20
Missouri
North Carolina
19
Oklahoma
10
South Carolina
1
Tennessee
8
Texas
17
Virginia
14
West Virginia
13
Special Articles
The Region 1
Law Educators Urge Compliance. 9
Governors’ Conference 11
Man on the Bench 18
Texts
Law Faculty Members 9
LOUISIANA
Baton Rouge Officials
Prepare for Compliance
I nitial steps were taken July
18 to implement court ordered
desegregation of the 12th grade of
the East Baton Rouge Parish
schools in September. (See Legal
Action.)
Meeting the day the court order
was issued, the parish school hoard ac
cepted the federal district court’s di
rective, approved the desegregation
procedure by a 9-2 vote and authorized
the administrative staff to begin work
to effect the transition at the opening
of the coming school term.
As directed by the court, Supt. Lloyd
Lindsay and his staff immediately began
mailing transfer application forms to
the parents of all 12th grade pupils
in the district, beginning with pupils
in Negro schools. The district last year
enrolled some 70,000 pupils in its pub
lic schools. About one third are Negro.
About 40 applications had been re
ceived from Negroes on Aug. 7.
The board’s action accepting the
court’s order was taken in routine
fashion after the board had discussed
it with the parish district attorney and
his assistant for an hour behind closed
doors. Subsequently, District Attorney,
Sargent Pitcher issued a statement stat
ing his objections to desegregation but
noting his reasons for accepting the
court’s order.
He said in part:
“Notwithstanding the desires of the
majority of the people of this com
munity, the school board was ordered
to produce a plan for integration of the
schools under the Brown decision, and
experience has taught us that unless the
school board complied, we would have
forced integration at the point of federal
bayonets . . .
“. . . we have fought this proposition
since 1956. The die is now cast. I know
that the people of the parish will react
as they have in the past—in a rea
sonable and sensible manner . . .
(See EAST, Page 6)