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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—SEPTEMBER, 1963—PAGE 5
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Despite Demonstration, Civil Rights Measures in Doubt
(Continued from Page 1)
0 f enacting both measures before the
en d of the session, which is now ex
pected to last until almost the end
of the year.
★ ★ ★
4ttorney General Revises
Language of Rights Bill
Attorney General Robert F. Ken
nedy, who spent much of the month
before the Senate Judiciary Committee
under persistent questioning by Sen.
Sam J. Ervin (D-N.C.)), on Aug.
23 presented the committee with re
vised language for Title VI of the
administration bill, which deals with
the federal government’s authority to
withhold funds from segregated pro
grams and institutions, including
schools.
As originally submitted by the
President, Title VI would have given
the administration discretion to with
hold such funds. Vagueness of the
language was attacked by supporters
as well as by opponents of the civil
rights program.
As revised, the language would
permit state and local agencies to go
to court for judicial review of any
withholding of aid funds. The attorney
general told the committee that the
proposed new language—the first
change submitted by the administra
tion in its civil rights package—spells
out “in positive terms and in greater
detail the action which is to be taken
to effectuate the policy against dis
crimination . . .”
The President’s brother added:
“With its emphasis on ending dis
crimination, rather than terminating
assistance, and its provision for ju
dicial review, the revised Title VI
constitutes an improvement on the
original proposal.”
‘Clear Authority’
He said its enactment would “pro
vide clear authority to end discrimi
nation in federally assisted programs.
It will put the Congress clearly on
record as favoring a principle which
■s basic to the ideals of this country.”
Sen. Ervin immediately attacked the
Proposal and said it gave him “mental
indigestion.” Sen. Kenneth B. Keating
(R-N.Y.)’ who has along with several
other Senators, proposed similar re-
'ision of the President’s original draft,
commended it but suggested that in-
widuals charging discrimination
s °uld have the same access to the
courts for redress as would be given to
oonl or state government agencies.
★ ★ ★
Segregation Ban
Loses in House
B > 217-181 Vote
of B R V ° te of 217 to 181 ’ the House
on a r esentative s on Aug. 6 defeated
ti 0 . em Pt to attach an anti-segrega-
fedgj^^dment to a bill expanding
Th *° vocational education,
by 6 ^ 0Use approved the legislation
"icsigngj^ 6 277 to 21. The measure,
in- 6,1 to improve vocational train-
I hiUioif°^ Uni ^ es ’ wou ^ authorize $450
next f a ^ditional funds over the
rnent 0Ur ^ ears - The federal govem-
?ea r , n ° w appropriates $57 million a
Ronroli. vocational education,
the ant' 0311 ^ eac * ers w ho supported
Poserj u Segregation amendment pro-
said th Rep ' Alphonzo Bell (R-Calif.)
■hat w ere trying to make sure
^Portif^ 68 rece Ived equal training
^eth°cr / les Un< t er the legislation. But
Ptent charged that the amend-
to bill ,, as being offered m an effort
Som ebU1 '
that th e ]P ernocrats also complained
Jent e P u blican-sponsored amend-
. y f 0r( . resigned to embarass them
^Ue i ? a vote on a civil rights
jj'tekage 6 ? re . President Kennedy’s
Hoqj. 0 dvil rights bills reaches
PoU °wed Party Lines
te on the amendment closely
m^bcanslines, with most Re-
°b n g in favor and Northern
i^SUes l 0ui ing their Southern col-
^ats 01 °1
V ^Posing
opposition. Among Demo-
wr lng Lho amendment was
L'Cn eI t CelIw (D-N.Y.), who
.. JIl >mitt ee ,° the House Judiciary
>ilri^ hich bas jurisdiction over
belle,. Program.
that the amendment
i
March on Washington
Crowd faces Lincoln Memorial.
was superfluous, since the civil rights
legislation under consideration in his
committee would bar segregation in
such federally assisted programs as
vocational education.
Rep. James Roosevelt (D-Calif.),
who has often sponsored “Powell
amendments” barring federal funds for
segregated programs, spoke against the
amendment on grounds that its in
clusion would destroy chances of pass
age in the Senate.
“In the other body, there will not
be two civil rights fights,” Roosevelt
declared.
A strong speech against the amend
ment was made by Rep. Augustus
Hawkins (D-Calif.), a freshman Negro
Congressman, who said he had “waited
20 years to tell some of these Re
publicans how phony they are.”
Rep. Charles Goodell (R-N.Y.) an
swered Hawkins in an angry speech
in which he attacked the “tortured
reasoning” of the Democrats and their
“painful thrashing trying to get out
of this.”
★ ★ ★
The House voted 287 to 113 on Aug.
14 to approve a $1.2 billion bill to
help colleges and universities build
classrooms, libraries and laboratories.
Though an attempt to attach an anti
segregation rider had been widely ex
pected, no such amendment was
offered.
Neither the vocational education
bill nor the higher education aid
measure has been acted upon in the
Senate. Pending in the House Rules
Committee is a bill extending the
federal aid program for school dis
tricts “impacted” with large numbers
of government dependents. That bill
carries an anti-segregation amendment
which was approved by the House
Education and Labor Committee.
Senate Kills Bail on Aid
To Segregated Hospitals
By a 44-to-37 roll call vote, the
Senate on Aug. 7 killed an amendment
to the Health, Education and Welfare
appropriations bill which would have
withheld federal funds from racially
segregated hospitals.
Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R-N.Y.), who
offered the amendment, noted that the
Hill-Burton hospital construction act
specifically “permits the separate-but-
equal doctrine stricken down by the
Supreme Court” in its school desegre
gation rulings. Javits said the approp
riations bill would allocate $56 million
for new segregated hospitals in the
deep South.
At a labor subcommittee hearing the
following day, Javits urged HEW Sec
retary Anthony J. Celebrezze to use
the Administration’s executive powers
to withhold federal funds from seg
regated institutions. But Celebrezze
said, as he has before, that in the
absence of congressional authoriza
tion, the Administration would not be
justified in withholding such funds.
“If the civil rights bill is passed,
then there’d be no question that we
have the authority,” the secretary said.
Celebrezze said he felt he could now
withhold funds in only seven areas
because of Congressional sanction.
These were listed later as aid for li
brary services, manpower training,
civil defense adult education, impacted
school districts, educational television,
language institutes and guidance
counseling programs.
★ ★ ★
Ferguson Named
Law School Dean
Clarence C. Ferguson Jr., 39, general
counsel for the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights, was named dean of the
Howard University Law School Aug.
2 to succeed Spottswood W. Robinson
in.
Ferguson, a native of Wilmington,
N.C., is, like Robinson, a civil rights
attorney who has been active in school
desegregation cases.
Robinson resigned as dean of the
law school June 30, but continues to
Military Urging Desegregation
A Defense Department memorandum
issued in July to all military base
commanders in 15 Southern and border
states directed the commanders to take
an active part in spurring the de
segregation of local public schools
serving the children of service per
sonnel.
Contents of the memorandum were
made public in news reports Aug. 6.
The communication pointed out that
official Pentagon policy not only re
quires equal treatment of all service
men regardless of race, but also seeks
to “secure similar non-discriminatory
treatment for servicemen and their
dependents in the communities in
which they live.”
The memorandum instructed the
commanders to implement this policy
for the school year beginning this
month. It directed them to take the
initiative in learning from local boards
the steps individual parents must fol
low to arrange pupil assignments or
transfers to desegregated schools, and
to pass this information on to the
parents affected.
In localities where initial school as
signments are being made on a racial
basis and where pupil-placement pro
cedures are available for reassignment
or transfer, base commanders are to
inform parents of deadlines, appeal
procedures and legal recourse, the
memorandum instructed.
Reports Due Aug. 30
The memorandum was issued by
Norman S. Paul, assistant secretary
of defense for manpower, and was
distributed to the base commanders
through the secretaries of the Army,
Navy and Air Force. It imposed an
Aug. 30 deadline for reports on what
the commanders had done “to assure
that school registration counseling and
assistance is provided to military per
sonnel.”
The directive specifically asked for
“representative samples of written
communications to parents regarding
this matter.” Where complete reports
could not be submitted by the Aug.
30 deadline, it asked for an interim
accounting and a final report within
10 days after the fall opening of
schools.
States specified in the memorandum
were Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mis
souri, Texas and Oklahoma.
According to the Gesell Committee
Report on Equal Opportunity in the
Armed Forces, issued in June, there
are 248 military intallations or activi
ties in areas where public schools are
segregated—143 Navy, 53 Air Force,
48 Army and 4 Marine Corps. The
report estimated that about 200,000 to
210,000 school-age dependents are as
sociated with these installations, in
cluding 15,000 to 20,000 Negro children.
The memorandum to base com-
Talk About Being
Off-Limits!
Alley, Memphis Commercial Appeal
manders made no mention of a survey
of service children attending segre
gated schools, but it was reported that
such information is being compiled by
the Defense Department.
The memorandum is in accord with
one of the recommendations of the
Gesell Report, which has been under
heavy attack from Southern members
of Congress. The report called for
legislation requiring desegregation of
schools serving military dependents,
and urged base commanders to assist
in the desegregation process.
“As public schools are desegregated
—through such legislation, through
litigation, through efforts of the base
command or by other means—local
commanders should insure that chil
dren of Negro military personnel are
promptly placed in such recently de
segregated schools,” the Gesell Report
declared.
“In accomplishing this, the full
power and influence of the base com
mander and of the service should be
placed squarely on the side of Negro
parents as they attempt to overcome
the administrative barriers which often
accompany desegregation.”
★ ★ ★
A Pentagon spokesman said Aug. 27
that Defense Department investigators
were studying possible discrimination
against Negro military personnel in
communities near Greenville Air Force
Base, Miss., Barksdale Air Force Base,
La., and the Pensacola, Fla., Naval
Air Station.
Similar studies had been reported in
July at Keesler and Columbus Air
Force bases in Mississippi and at
Brookley Air Force Base, Ala.
Some of the studies were made in
response to President Kennedy’s re
quest for a general survey of off-base
discrimination, while others were
ordered in response to specific com
plaints, the Pentagon spokesman said.
D. C. Highlights
Despite the large and orderly
turnout for the Aug. 28 civil rights
march on Washington, prospects for
the administration’s civil rights leg
islative package remained in some
doubt. The Attorney General sub
mitted revised language for a much-
criticized section dealing with
federal funds for segregated pro
grams or institutions.
The Pentagon issued a directive to
base commanders in Southern and
border states assigning them an ac
tive role in spurring the desegrega
tion of off-base schools serving chil
dren of military personnel.
The House of Representatives re
jected an anti-segregation amend
ment to a vocational education bill,
and enacted a higher education aid
bill to which no racial rider was at
tached.
Clarence C. Ferguson Jr., general
counsel to the Civil Rights Commis
sion and active in desegregation liti
gation, was appointed dean of the
Howard University law school.
serve as a member of the Civil Rights
Commission. He has been mentioned as
a leading contender for apointment to
a vacant U.S. District Court judgeship
in Washington.
Ferguson, a graduate of Ohio State
University and Harvard Law School,
was formerly a member of the law
faculty at Rutgers University. In 1960
he represented the NAACP in a law
suit charging school district gerry
mandering in Newark, N.J.
When Ferguson was named to the
Civil Rights Commission post last year,
he was believed to be the first Negro
to serve as chief legal officer of a fed
eral agency.
Howard University President James
M. Nabrit Jr. said Ferguson will take
over his new duties at the predomi
nantly Negro law school on Oct. 15.
The Howard law school has served
as a center for much of the desegre
gation strategy planning of recent
years.
★ ★ ★
NEA Invites Contributions
To Prince Edward Schools
The National Education Association
(NEA) invited its 860,000 members
around the country to contribute funds
to the Prince Edward County (Va.)
Free School Association which is to
begin operating free schools in that
county Sept. 16. (See Virginia report.)
In a letter sent Aug 19 to each of its
8,000 state and local affiliates, the NEA
said there will be “no quotas and no
ligh pressure” in its appeal for funds.
About $1 million is being sought from
private sources to operate the schools,
which will provide the first education
in four years for many of the county’s
1,700 Negro children. Public schools
were closed in a desegregation dispute
in 1959, and most white students have
been attending private schools.
William G. Carr, executive secretary
of the NEA, said:
“While deploring the fact that court
procedures have not yet led to the
reopening of the public schools, the
irreparable loss of education already
suffered by these (Negro) children is
a condition that the conscience of the
American people cannot allow, to con
tinue for even one more year.”
★ ★ ★
U.S. Catholics Urged to Back
Negro Civil Bights Moves
In a joint pastoral letter released
by the National Catholic Welfare Con
ference on Aug. 22, the Catholic Bi
shops of the United States declared
that the Nation’s 45 million Catholics
have a “strict moral duty” to support
Negro civil rights efforts.
“We must act to remove obstacles
that impede the rights and opportuni
ties of our Negro brethren,” the letter
said. “We should do our part to see
that voting, jobs, housing, education
and public facilities are freely available
to every American.”
The letter was read in many Catholic
(Sec BOTH, Page 23)