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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—AUGUST, l«3—PAGE 7
LOUISIANA
East Baton Rouge Parish
To Desegregate 12th Grade
three occasions when three-judge
courts were constituted to hear cases in
Mississippi. In each instance, Judge
Cameron said, Judge Tuttle appointed
only one Mississippi judge and two from
other states.
This, Judge Cameron said in his dis
senting opinion, is “a part of the picture
of the crusading spirit which I think has
been largely responsible for the errors
here discussed.”
(Continued From Page 6)
f eTi ^ said, the board may apply the
following criteria: Wishes of the pupil
and his parents or guardians; avail
ability of space and other facilities in
the school to which transfer is sought;
scholastic records, abilities and apti
tudes as indicated by the pupil’s prior
school record; compatibility or reason
ably expected compatibility in the
school to which transfer is sought; age
of the pupil as compared with the age
of pupils already enrolled in the school
to which transfer is requested; avail
ability of desired courses in the school
to which transfer is requested.
Judge West also ruled that if a
school comparable to the one to which
transfer is requested is closer to the
home of a transfer applicant, the board
may, for sufficient reason, assign the
pupil to that alternate school. He ruled
further that no pupil may be granted
more than one transfer in a school
year and that no transfer request may
be denied simply because of technical
errors or omissions in filling out the
applications.
The board was instructed to notify
transfer applicants in writing of the
action on their application by Aug. 21,
furnishing specific reasons when there
were denials of applications.
Protests Permitted
In cases of denial of transfer, the
pupil, his parents or guardians may
enter objections to the assignment with
the school superintendent by Aug. 27,
and ask for an interview to discuss the
assignment.
If the case is not satisfactorily dis
posed of by this procedure, further
action may be taken in the federal
court.
In denying another year of delay be
fore beginning desegregation, Judge
West observed, “There has been no
justifiable reason advanced by the
school board . . . why at least an
initial step in that direction could not
he taken at the commencement of the
1963-64 school year.”
And in reference to the plaintiffs’
plea for a more comprehensive deseg
regation program, both in terms of
schools and related educational pro
grams and activities, the court noted
that pupil and teacher assignments for
the coming term already had been
made and administrative details com
pleted.
And he said, “It would not only be
unreasonable, but it would be virtually
unpossible to require any kind of
wholesale reassignment of students,
even in one grade, at this late date,
u^far as the 1963-64 school year is
concerned.
“But it would be equally uncon-
wnable to delay the entire plan for
snother year.”
Plaintiffs had objected to the board’s
tested* 11 3 8 petition. They pro-
11 the transfer procedures estab-
lowed hoard, the discretion al-
t [ le ed the school superintendent, and
il ?^ e 'a-year schedule beginning at
L 12 * grade.
l east e ^ ctsked for desegregation of at
with tn 66 ® ra< ^ es a y ear beginning
the d* 16 ^ ower grades, elimination of
^egati,
attendance zoning and de-
ton of special education pro-
n °t included in the board’s plan.
Objections Set Aside
object^ 6 West, however, set aside these
ttid sf 1C ff S ;, notin 2 that the school board
ut an K have labored long and hard
5 \vork°*k? S t ^ ooc * f a ‘th effort” to devise
ty’j t h aa e desegregation plan,
regat; re Sard to extension of deseg-
epsni-* 1 t° the next lowest grade in
“Afte ^ ears ’ dodge West said:
cou^ * exhaustive exploration by this
® v olved • k y . counsel for all parties
°Us p. I/ 1 this litigation into the vari-
cond U( j 'bilities available it has been
°cst hp fhat the ends of justice can
bupr ern f e J7 e d. and the mandate of the
framer, . ° Ur t best complied with, if,
? car, aI , CIn S with the 1964-65 school
, b the , ? > tial assignments of pupils
Njy j~“h and 11th grades are made
,' : . v ldu a i , simply on the basis of in-
? cou^e ,? lce ’ reserving to all pupils,
I X in a ’ j right to apply for trans-
~ r cta P ? r ? ance with the procedures
X>ool fished for the 1963-64
:! J H repp,, , t 1 he grades affected every
far less of race or color, will
i H
5 k conip^c^^h'ej be admitted on a
of v* 1 ' rst serv ed basis, to the
t .Thi s * hls choice.”
■j ttt 'laate s r °' !e ^ ure ; Judge West said,
L bo ar( j> 0e °bjectionable feature of
initial P . which would have
of r a „ jjf^ignments on the cri-
rule,} 8 ' ^his, he said, already has
°Ut by the appelate court.
Under the district court’s amendment
to the board plan, initial assignments
will be based on the choice of pupils
and their parents or guardians, thus
eliminating forced segregation and, in
sofar as possible, forced desegregation
would result from assignments based
solely on geographic considerations.
Judge West said he would retain
jurisdiction in this case and hold hear
ings from time to time as conditions
warrant to complete the transition from
a segregated system to a desegregated
system. He stressed, however, that a'l
the law requires is desegregation, not
mandatory integration.
“There is certainly no prohibition
against purely voluntary segregation,”
he said.
★ ★ ★
Judge Charges Court’s
Procedure ‘Unorthodox’
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap
peals was accused by one of its mem
bers of using “unorthodox procedures”
in handling segregation cases “in order
to accomplish a desired result.”
Judge Ben C. Cameron of Meridian,
Miss., a member of the court, made the
accusation in a dissent filed in New
Orleans to the appellate court’s decision
ordering desegregation of the schools
in Birmingham and Mobile, Ala. He
accused Chief Judge Elbert P. Tuttle
of Atlanta of gerrymandering the
judges from Mississippi in cases com
ing from that state.
Judge Cameron contends that the
universal practice among circuit courts,
except in the Fifth Circuit, in recent
years, is for the chief judge to appoint
to special three-judge courts the resi
dent circuit judge of the state involved
and two district judges from that state.
Since Judge Tuttle succeeded Judge
Joseph C. Hutcheson Jr. of Houston,
this has not been done, Judge Camer
on asserted.
Since Nov. 19, 1961, there have been
Miscellaneous
Community Action
Elimination
Of Segregation
Laws Studied
Elimination of all compulsory state
segregation laws is under consideration
by the State Sovereignty Commission,
according to Frank Voelker Jr., chair
man.
Voelker told the Central Louisiana
Press Club, meeting in Alexandria,
that such a revision of state laws would
be a complete reversal of state policy,
but that it might be the only way seg
regation could be maintained on a vol
untary basis.
Once the compulsory segregation
provisions are repealed, Voelker said
in his July 16 address, the individual
could exercise his own free will,
choosing whether he wanted to oper
ate his business on a segregated or
desegregated basis.
“I don’t think any court would hold
against that,” said Voelker, who is a
candidate for governor in the Decem
ber Democratic primary.
Such a move would not affect public
schools, he said. “I think that is some
thing fairly well settled. The law has
been very well established that public
schools must put an end to segregation.
Now it is just a question of how fast.”
Next day, in a meeting at Baton
Rouge, the State Sovereignty Commis
sion strongly criticized the civil rights
proposals offered by President Kennedy
to Congress.
Calling it “civil regimentation,” the
commission said the public-accommo
dations provisions would result in
federal control of virtually every pro
fession and business in the land.
New Orleans Area Employment,
School Discrimination Linked
Employment and educational dis
crimination in the New Orleans area
are clearly linked, several witnesses
told the Louisiana State Advisory
Committee to the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights during a hearing in New
Orleans July 9.
Giles A. Hubert, professor of eco
nomics at Dillard University, called it
“a loss when young people, educated
at considerable expense to the com
munity, are required to leave the com
munity for advanced education and
job opportunities.”
He cited numerous individual cases
of Dillard graduates who have left New
Orleans for graduate study elsewhere
and have taken on responsible jobs
in other localities. He particularly
cited Dillard’s nurse’s training pro
gram, which sends contingents of young
women to out-of-state medical centers
each year for graduate study. Few if
any return to Louisiana, he said.
Testifying in a similar vein was the
Rev. Joseph Messina, counselor at St.
Augustine’s High School, an all-Negro
Catholic institution for boys. Father
Messina said the school draws the most
promising Negro youths from all over
the city and has sent students on to
such universities as Harvard, Yale,,
Lakehurst and Wake Forest.
Sixty per cent of the school’s grad
uates each year go to college, Father
Messina said, 20 per cent go into the
service and 20 per cent into the labor
force.
Of those who leave the state, he said,
not 10 per cent return; and of those
who remain most can find only menial
jobs.
One Trade School
For the average Negro youth, there
is only one trade school in New Or
leans, Father Messina told the com
mittee, adding “and it’s not very good.”
He said there is a two-year waiting
list and even after the students finish
the training courses they cannot find
jobs.
“Many of our students don’t even
try out here for jobs,” the counselor
said. “If our boys have this kind of
trouble, what about the others?”
Under the circumstances, he said, he
can only encourage his graduates to go
to other localities to seek better job
opportunities.
Another witness was Sidney Collier,
director of the Orleans Area Techni
cal and Vocational Institute, who told
the committee that the school he heads
has been in existence for seven years
and has experienced only one change
in curriculum.
He said the institute offers only six
courses—in such subjects as sheetmetal
work, commercial cooking and baking,
radio repairs. In comparison it was
brought out, Delgado Trades and Tech
nical School, with an exclusively white
enrollment, offers 35 technical training
courses.
“Sometimes I wonder why they take
the courses,” Collier said of his stu
dents. “There is no incentive, but they
want to learn, they want to help.”
J. Harvey Kerns, executive director
of the Urban League of Greater New
Orleans, said statistics on unemploy
ment in this area “indicate that the
rates among nonwhites are far in ex
cess of their population ratio,” and
the situation seems to be worsening.
“According to the 1950 census,” Kerns
said, “nonwhites represented about 29
per cent of the total population, where
as in 1960, their percentage was 37.4.
... In 1950 and 1960, the Greater New
Orleans area had a civilian labor force
of 226,810 and 319,874 respectively.
Nonwhites were 29 per cent of the
labor force in 1950 and 28.8 per cent
in 1960.”
The link between education and em
ployment was pointed up by Kerns who
said:
“In this age of automation, more than
57 per cent of the Negroes in the
Greater New Orleans area in 1960 were
employed in the three lowest occupa
tional categories—semi-skilled, service
and unskilled laborers—compared to
only 12 per cent of all whites.
“Widespread underemployment of
Negroes in the area, many of whom
have graduated with honors from local
colleges, is squandering vast human
resources at a time they are sorely
needed.”
KENTUCKY
3 Districts’ Revised Plans
Get U.S. Court Approval
LOUISVILLE
EVISED DESEGREGATION plans
submitted to federal court by
three school districts were ap
proved by United States District
Judge H. Church Ford, and are
to take effect at the start of the
fall term.
Previous plans submitted by the
boards of Jessamine County, Frank
fort and Richmond had been rejected
by Judge Ford on the ground that their
pupil-transfer provisions would tend
to perpetuate segregation. (SSN, July)
In all three cases, the plans as now
approved provide for pupils to attend
school in the geographic district in
which they live, without regard to race.
Only tentative approval, however,
was given the Richmond plan and the
case remains on Judge Ford’s docket.
The transfer option there was not com
pletely eliminated in the revised plan,
although reference to race was omitted,
and Negroes said they feared con
tinued de facto segregation.
The three plans as approved also
provide for assignment and employ
ment of teachers and personnel without
regard to race or color. Summaries of
the hearings follow:
Frankfort—Judge Ford on July
3 approved the third plan submitted for
elementary - school desegregation.
School-board lawyer Ben Fowler said
the plan contains “no hint or notion of
discrimination ... in our judgment,
this is a total or complete integration.”
Louisville attorney J. Earl Dearing,
who filed the suit on behalf of Negro
pupils, said he had no objections to the
plan.
The judge said during the hearing,
“I think your plan probably has been
worked out with care and with careful
consideration of the children.”
Frankfort High School already was
desegregated.
Jessamine County—In a hearing July
16, Judge Ford accepted the revised
plan with praise. He said it demon
strated the school board’s sincerity,
good sense, and genuine interest in
fair treatment for Negroes.
Attorney James A. Crumlin of Louis
ville who represented the Negro plan-
tiffs said the new proposal “is satis
factory to all concerned. We compli
ment the board . . .”
The case will bring about initial
desegregation in Jessamine County
schools.
Richmond—The school board plan,
given tentative acceptance July 23 at
Lexington, divided the district into
three elementary-school attendance
zones.
One zone, however, contains two
schools—one which has been all-Negro
and one which has been all-white.
Pupils in this zone would be assigned
to the school nearest their residence,
but would be permitted to “apply for
transfer, without regard to race or
color . .
J. Earl Dearing, attorney for the
p’aintiffs, said the transfer option might
be used as an instrument of segregation,
even though it
barred racial con
siderations.
Judge Ford said
the court could not
undertake the ad
ministrative duty
of deciding which
requests for
transfer might be
valid. So he ac
cepted the plan,
but kept the case
on the docket so
it may be re-opened if the plan per
petuates segregation.
Richmond High School has been de
segregated for several years.
Legal Action
Suit Challenges
Antidiscrimination
Order of Combs
The anti-discrimination executive
order issued in June by Gov. Bert T.
Combs was challenged by a lawsuit
and attacked on a number of grounds
by the Republican candidate for gov
ernor.
A suit challenging the validity of the
order was filed July 10 by the Louis
ville Tavern Owners Association and
four tavern or restaurant owners as
individuals.
G.O.P. gubernatorial candidate Louie
Kentucky Highlights
Federal court accepted revised de
segregation plans from the school
districts of Jessamine County, Frank
fort and Richmond, but gave tenta
tive approval only to the Richmond
plan because a pupil-transfer pro
vision was not completely discarded.
The school boards of Hopkinsville,
Christian County and Harlan County
took voluntary action to increase de
segregation this fall.
B. Nunn said that if elected, he would
kill the order. His opponent in the
November election, Democrat Edward
T. (Ned) Breathitt, a protege of Combs,
has said he would keep the order in
effect.
Nunn, in a series of talks, charged
that the order, while “humanitarian in
purpose,” is illegal and unconstitutional,
was planned in part by the Kennedy
administration, and was issued for
political purposes. He said the question
is one for legislative consideration, not
for “the decree of a benevolent dicta
tor.”
Combs, meanwhile, called for “rea
sonable” and “middle-of-the-road” ap
proaches to application of the order.
He said his order “will be construed to
authorize only those steps which have
been directed or clearly implied by
decisions of the federal courts or the
Kentucky Court of Appeals.”
The order bans racial discrimination
by firms and professions licensed by the
state, and Combs has indicated that it
might be used against school districts
practicing segregation. State agencies
were given 60 days from June 26 to
prepare reports telling how the order
would be put into action. (July SSN)
Schoolmen
Christian County,
Hopkinsville Schools
Will Desegregate
The boards of education of Hopkins
ville and Christian County issued a
joint statement July 16 announcing that
all schools in the two districts would
be desegregated at all grade levels this
fall.
The two adjoining systems have been
on a grade-a-year desegregation plan.
The city plan had reached the seventh
grade and the county plan had
reached the third grade.
A school spokesman said the ac
celeration was the result of a desire
to “keep pace with other community
and statewide integration movements.”
(Some theaters and restaurants in
Hopkinsville recently have deseg
regated.)
The school boards met in separate
sessions to adopt the desegregation res
olutions which stated that no stu
dent will be denied admission to any
school because of race, creed, color or
national origin.
Hopkinsville enrolls about 4,400 stu
dents, including 1,700 Negroes. Christian
County’s enrollment is about 5,600, in
cluding 1,300 Negro students.
Harlan Abolishes
Most Negro Schools
The Harlan County Board of Edu
cation voted July 9 to abolish all but
two of its all-Negro schools, to deseg
regate other schools and to retain Ne
gro teachers in the system.
The district has been listed as having
only one desegregated school, enrolling
only a few Negroes.
Supt. James A. Cawood said the de
segregation action is expected to save
$20,000 to $30,000 in the coming school
year. The county system will no longer
pay tuition for some students to attend
Harlan city schools.
The board’s decision was praised by
Sam B. Taylor, assistant director of
instructional services in the State De
partment of Education, who has been
seeking to encourage more desegrega
tion.
Taylor said the state realized Harlan
County’s classroom facilities have not
been adequate for desegregation, but
said that because of declining enroll
ments “the time has come to take
action.”