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]/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)