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PAGE 18—AUGUST, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
GEORGIA
Albany Told to Desegregate; Dougherty Plan Ordered
MACON
esegregation of the Albany
school system was ordered
by a federal court judge. The
Dougherty County Board of Edu
cation was directed July 13 to
submit a desegregation plan with
in 30 days, and Negro plaintiffs
who filed the desegregation suit
were told they would have 10
days in which to object to the
plan after its submission.
At the same time, Judge J. Robert
Elliott of Columbus denied a tempo
rary injunction asked by 19 Negro
students and their parents since, he
said, the school board had agreed to
comply with whatever decision he
reached in the case and he was re
quiring prompt submission of a deseg
regation plan.
The Dougherty County system, which
includes both city and county schools,
has about 20,000 students and approxi
mately 37 per cent of them are Negroes.
Judge Elliott said the board “has
sought in good faith to provide ade
quate educational facilities for all of
the children of all races.” But, he said,
“it is likewise obvious that their ideas
of proper school administration do not
coincide with those expressed by the
Supreme Court.”
The judge added: “This court is
bound by that court’s decree. It is the
duty of this court in these circum
stances to order
an end to the
segregated sys
tem. This we will
do.”
A spokesman
said at the time
of the ruling that
no desegregation
plan had been de
vised and indi
cated that the
board of educa
tion had refused
to consider any plan in the hope that
Elliott might rule in its favor.
At a hearing in Albany July 8,
counsel for the Negroes, attorney Nor
man Amaker of New York, asked that
the first grades be desegregated this
September, the 19 plaintiffs admitted to
the schools of their choice this fall
and a comprehensive desegregation
plan to become effective for the 1964-
65 term be required.
★ ★ ★
Legal Action
Court Upholds Plan
For Desegregation
In Chatham County
U. S. Judge Frank M. Scarlett in a
hearing in Brunswick on July 30 re
jected objections by Negroes and up
held the Chatham County (Savannah)
Texas
(Continued From Page 17)
cause the segregationist demonstrations
which greeted her attempt to enroll.
Under Survey
2 Schools Employ
Negro Teachers
A survey disclosed that two West
Texas public schools are employing
Negro teachers for white students.
About 55 per cent of the school’s
enrollment is Latin-American and less
than five per cent is Negro.
Odessa has four Negro elementary
teachers for schools which formerly
had no Negro pupils.
At El Paso, some of the Negroes
have been employed since the district
desegregated in 1955. At Odessa, all
four of the Negroes formerly taught
at segregated schools in the system
which is desegregating.
Supt. S. M. Anderson of Big Spring
ISD, also in West Texas, commented
that competition—including extra edu
cation as well as experience—is making
the quality of Negro teachers applying
for job-openings “equal to the whites.”
Dr. Vernon McDaniel, executive sec
retary for the 11,000-member Teachers
State Association of Texas,all Negroes,
expressed an opinion that the need for
separate white and Negro teacher or
ganizations has disappeared. The Texas
State Teachers Association has an all-
white membership rule.
Georgia Highlights
One Georgia school board was
ordered to submit a desegregation
plan by mid-August. A second had
its desegregation plan approved by
a federal court. A third rejected the
idea of voluntary desegregation; a
fourth launched a desegregation plan
study although no court suit is pend
ing.
U.S. Judge J. Robert Elliott order
ed desegregation of the Dougherty
County school system and U.S. Judge
Frank M. Scarlett approved a Chat
ham County desegregation plan, de
spite objections by Negroes.
The Bibb County Board of Edu
cation voted to continue segregated
schools and a court suit is expected.
The Muscogee County Board of
Education ordered a school and
library desegregation study.
Board of Education plan to desegregate
public schools.
A federal court had given the board
until July 1 to file a plan and the
board met in special session to adopt
the plan and forward it to Judge Scar
lett on July 1.
The plan calls for desegregating
schools at the rate of one grade per
year, beginning with the 12th grade.
Subsequent grades would be desegre
gated at the rate of one per year in
descending order. This plan is similar
to the Atlanta plan for desegregation,
put into effect in the fall of 1961 and
upheld recently by the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals.
Under the Chatham plan, pupils
seeking admission, transfer or assign
ment to a particular school must make
application within certain calendar
periods designated.
Boy-Girl Separation
A provision reserved for the board
the right to assign boys and girls to
separate schools. Julian C. Halligan,
vice president, said this was done in
case “the situation gets intolerable in
any particular spot.”
Dr. Darnell L. Brawner, president,
and Halligan said, however, there is no
immediate plan to separate the sexes
by schools or classrooms.
Halligan, in presenting the plan, said:
“The foremost thought and concern in
the minds of the committee was that
we evolve a plan that would be least
disturbing to all the children in our
school system—a plan that would not
interfere with the children’s progress
in their quest for an education.”
The plan did not say whether the
12th-grade class would be desegregat
ed at the very beginning of the school
year in September. But, in response
to an inquiry, Halligan said the plan
would be carried out as directed by
the court with all possible speed.
Sees Fewer Problems
Dr. Brawner said initiation of the
change at the 12th-grade level does not
pose as many districting problems as
would have resulted from starting at
the elementary level.
Dr. Thord M. Marshall of Fort Lau
derdale, Fla., who took over duties as
new superintendent Aug. 1 when the
present superintendent, Leon McCor-
mac, retired, has said he recommend
ed that desegregation start in the 12th
grade.
Under the plan, authorized for han
dling applications for admission, as
signment or transfer is delegated to
the superinendent of schools, with
provisions for appeals to the board.
A large number of factors related
to admission and assignment are set
forth. These include such things as
available room and teaching capacity
in the various schools, transportation
facilities and academic preparation.
Express Dissatisfaction
When the plan was unveiled in Sa
vannah, W. W. Law, Savannah, and
Georgia NAACP president, and Frank
Spencer of the
Chatham Council
on Human Rela
tions, a pro-inte
gration group, ex
pressed dissatis
faction with the
decision to take
12 years to deseg
regate the entire
system. The coun
cil had suggested
a six-year plan.
Later, before
Judge Scarlett, Negroes claimed the
plan is inadequate, amounting only to
token desegregation.
The Negroes objected not only to
ELLIOTT
the fact that 12 years would be re
quired to extend desegregation to all
classes but to the duplication of the
Atlanta plan, which is under court
assault, and to a provision saying ap
plications for transfers will be accepted
only between May 1-15 after this year.
Each application must be notarized
with the student paying the fee. Per
sonal interviews of applicants may be
required at the discretion of the su
perintendent and he will consider each
by 17 criteria.
The superintendent will have until
Nov. 1 to reject applications and the
board will have until Dec. 15 this year
to decide appeals.
Mrs. Constance Baker Motley,
NAACP attorney from New York, said
the plan will effectively block any real
desegregation.
Schoolmen
Bibb County Board
Votes To Retain
Separate Schools
Members of the Bibb County (Ma
con) Board of Education rejected
efforts to obtain voluntary school de
segregation July 30 and voted to con
tinue operation of its school system,
which is segregated by race in all
grades and segregated by sex from the
eighth through the 12th grades.
Negroes were expected to file a fed
eral court suit in the near future de
manding desegregation.
The resolution adopted by the board
in effect invited the federal court to say
what disposition should be made of the
petition of Negro leaders for compli
ance with the 1954 and 1955 school de
segregation rulings.
Earlier the board had asked for a
Superior Court declaratory judgment
to determine whether the board under
its 1872 charter legally could operate
racially mixed schools. Judge W. D.
Aultman held that the segregation
section of the charter was unconsti
tutional but that the remainder of the
charter stands with that section re
moved and gives ample authority for
operating biracial schools.
★ ★ ★
Board Member Says Schools
In Atlanta Are Unequal
In Atlanta, Mrs. Ray Mitchell, a
member of the Atlanta Board of Edu-
MAN ON THE BENCH
cation, told the board July 8 that the
city is not even living up to the “sep-
arte-but-equal” requirement in its
handling of Negro students.
The city, she said, has adhered to
the law as far as desegregation goes,
but Negro schools are overcrowded and
plans to relieve the situation are in
adequate.
Mrs. Mitchell spoke in opposition to
a recommendation from Supt. John W.
Letson that Smith-Hughes Vocational
School be moved
to Hoke Smith
High School and
the existing
Smith - Hughes
building sold. She
said later the
move was de
signed to maintain
a pattern of
school desegrega
tion when other
moves — includ
ing further trans
fers of Negro students to predomi
nately white schools with available
space—would be more fair and eco
nomical.
‘Millions of Dollars’
The city, she said, is “spending mil
lions of dollars unnecessarily to keep
schools segregated when segregation,
by law, may be past history at any
time.”
Mrs. Mitchell also opposed Dr. Let-
son’s plan to move as rapidly as pos
sible to construct a new high school to
relieve Howard (a Negro school),
saying she would not approve an esti
mated $2 million for the new school
when existing schools are being utilized
in a “wasteful and expensive manner’.’
Mrs. Mitchell’s motion to transfer
Negro students from several over
crowded schools to Hoke Smith High
School beginning this fall died for lack
of a second. So did her motion to trans
fer 150 Negroes—instead of the planned
86—to white schools this fall.
★ ★ ★
Houston County Board of Commis
sioners voted to prohibit tuition grants
for students attending private schools.
★ ★ ★
The Muscogee County Board of
Education on July 17 established a
five-man committee to draw up plans
for desegregation of school and library
facilities. No desegregation suit haj
been filed.
The committee was asked to prepay
a plan for submission to the Sept, 9
meeting of the board. The change ap.
parently would not affect the 1963-54
school year, since the term opens a
week prior to the scheduled meeting.
Board President John R. Kinnett
said the decision to desegregate was
not made in response to recent dem
onstrations by Negroes in Columbus
but was made before protests began.
Legislative Action
‘Separate - But - Equal*
Provision Advocated
A subcommittee of a Constitution
Revision Commission was asked to put
a “separate but equal” school provision
into the new state Constitution.
The requests came from Boyd Tay
lor, director of Separate Schools Inc,
and G. S. Akin, president of the Geor
gia Taxpayers Relief Association, dur
ing a public hearing.
Dr. Albert Saye, a University of
Georgia professor, said the constitu
tional section dealing with race should
“state the opinion of the people of
Georgia, whether or not it is in line
with the federal Constitution.”
What They Say
Letson Foresees
Better Education
Dr. John W. Letson, superintendent
of Atlanta schools, told members of the
Young Businessmen’s Club of Birming
ham, Ala., that the ultimate of school
desegregation is better education for all
our people.
★ ★ ★
The Augusta Chronicle-Herald in a
front-page editorial called for deseg
regation of schools, voting booths and
virtually all tax-supported institutions
in Richmond County. , !
Buses, libraries, the municipal audi
torium, store lunch counters and one
public park have been desegregated to
Augusta and Negroes have requested
that racial bars be dropped in the pub
lic schools.
Judge F. M. Scarlett, 17- Year Veteran,
Wastes No Time Coming to a Decision
By JOSEPH B. PARHAM
BRUNSWICK, Ga.
rank Muir Scarlett, 72, was the
last of Georgia’s three federal dis
trict judges to rule on the issue of
public school desegregation. His first
case on that subject was that of Chat
ham County (Savannah).
A member of the federal judiciary
for 18 years, Scarlett sits on the bench
for the U.S. Court for the Southern
District of Georgia. He lives in Bruns
wick.
Judge Scarlett is a jurist intolerant of
dawdling. Those who know him well
say he wastes no time coming to a
decision.
He likes to get
quickly to the
point. Illustrative,
perhaps, is his re
ply to a request
for a biographical
and personality
interview from a
Southern School
News correspond
ent. “I think all
information you
desire you can ob
tain out of Who’s Who,” Judge Scarlett
succinctly wrote.
The 20 lines devoted to him in Who’s
Who do give the basic background in
formation, but they are dry and give
no hint of the real flavor of the man:
• Of his Scotch-Irish humor which
he occasionally displays from the bench.
• Of his quick-witted and satire-
edged tongue, and his willingness on
occasion to take judicial note of some
play on words in a case before him.
• Of his love for baseball.
Baseball is Scarlett’s great passion.
Because of it, he once took the liberty
of pulling his judicial rank outside of
his courtroom.
Scarlett was interested in getting the
Pittsburgh Pirates to locate a farm club
in Brunswick in 1947. He telephoned
Branch Rickey in Pittsburgh about
establishing a team in the judge’s home
town. A secretary declined to connect
Scarlett with the baseball executive.
The secretary was quickly told it was
the federal judge calling. Rickey got
on the line immediately and Brunswick
got a ball club.
Judge Scarlett loves his home town.
He was bom in Brunswick June 9,
1891, and has never left it for very
long.
He went to school at Glynn Academy
in Brunswick and later to Gordon Col
lege, a military school in Bamesville.
He received his LLB at the University
of Georgia in Athens in 1913.
Appointed in 1946
The judge was admitted to the Geor
gia bar in 1913 and practiced law in
Brunswick. He was also assistant solici
tor of the city court. On Feb. 14, 1946,
he was named to the federal bench.
In 1923, Scarlett married the former
Mary Louise Morgan. Mrs. Scarlett died
in October, 1962, after a lengthy illness.
Besides her husband, she was survived
by two sons and a daughter.
Judge Scarlett has been active in
business, political and civic affairs in
Glynn County. He served as a director
of the American National Bank of
Brunswick and the Sea Island Co. of
Sea Island. He was chairman of the
county Democratic executive committee
for 20 years and president of the Bruns
wick Chamber of Commerce for two
years.
He is an elder in the Presbyterian
Church, an Elk, a Mason (Shriner;,
and a member of Alpha Tau Omega-
In 1920, Scarlett was president or
Brunswick Young Men’s Club. H®.
in a trio that bought the old ^ eor ”j e
Coast and Piedmont Railroad tr
over the Altamaha River delta. ^
were to junk the line and with h w ° _
go the only direct line between B. _
wick and Darien. What is U. S. . £
way 17 today was built over the tr j
The road put the coast into the
d tourist business. „. aS
Later, on the bench, Scarle ^
vised during a court case to J u ^
nkrupt Georgia-Florida Railroa ■ ^
dge released the three rece , A e
med financier Alfred W. Jones ^
a Island Co. to run things, ana
ilroad was revitalized. hiliti^
in addition to other responsi uj
arlett is president of the
mndation set up by tobacco j 0
-e Richard Reynolds of nearby
and. , £ has
A wiry, outspoken man, Scar ^ e vs-
hesitation in expressing his ^
icently, he said in a minori ' _ rVa -
i: “While it has been said pre w
in of the public peace ca t jtu-
ed to justify violation of c
inal rights, neither can a tb e
illation of those rights rep tb®
•nth Amendment or evis ^® 0 piO'
lice power of the states. . S u2'
i of the majority, I r fP ec fZj jud>l
st, is but another stroke o tree o‘
il axe upon the once sturdy
served rights of the states ‘ j e tt oI
Added Judge Frank M- pis'
e U. S. Court of the Southed ^
ct of Georgia: “It the S* dera l C® 11 '
tiquated, so, too, is the F
tution, as it is written.