Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 14—OCTOBER, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
FLORIDA
Negroes Assigned to Biracial
Public Schools Exceed 3,000
MIAMI
S everal Florida counties con
tinued to assign Negroes to
predominantly white schools dur
ing the first month of the new
term.
While no new counties were added to
the list, at least 10 more biracial schools
accepted Negro students and the total
in classes passed the 3,000 mark.
The exact number was difficult to
establish because school officials in sev
eral instances said they no longer keep
racial records.
Although there had been some con
cern as six counties began desegregation
for the first time, there were no inci
dents in any part of the state.
Other Problems Noted
School officials said overcrowding and
lack of facilities resulting from sky
rocketing enrollments were far more
serious problems. The state school de
partment estimated enrollment was up
65,000 to about 1,250,000.
The Associated Press quoted “state-
house observers” as citing three reasons
why Florida’s school desegregation
was peaceful. They were:
• “A responsible press: newspapers
that, if they did not support desegrega
tion, at least did not fan the fires of
race hatred to the demonstration point.
• “Responsible political leadership
that did not resort to race baiting to
win campaigns.
• “The general tone set by former
Arkansas
(Continued from Page 13)
problem of educational opportunity for
all children in a state with limited levels
of economic achievement.
“(2) There has been no significant
progress in the past decade toward the
elimination of established substantial
inequality between educational oppor
tunity for white and Negro children;
both tangible inequality of physical fa
cilities and intangible inequality
through segregation persist.
“(3) The varied costs of maintaining
segregated schools are large and grow
ing larger; the heaviest burden rests
on Negro children, but the drain on
the monetary resources of the entire
community is increasingly severe.
“(4) Under normal processes of pri
vate litigation, the law of the land as
to equal tangible educational facilities
was ineffective for 60 years of the sep
arate but equal doctrine; nine years of
additional experience since segregated
public education was declared uncon
stitutional imports no different result.”
In The Colleges
Harding College
Admits Three Negro
Freshmen Students
Harding College at Searcy, a private
school affiliated with the Church of
Christ, admitted three Negro men as
freshmen students Sept. 12. All three
live in Searcy and were honor grad
uates of high school last spring.
The college president, George S. Ben
son, said:
“I have had four conferences with
these young men. They are all dedi
cated Christians. They are the top stu
dents in their class. They are well
known Searcy boys and are deserving
of a college education, which they
could not afford anywhere else. They
will live in their own homes while
attending college.”
The students gave Benson a standing
ovation when he annouced this to the
school Sept. 9, according to Russell
Simmons, public relations director.
Simmons also said that the Harding
Graduate School of Religion, in Mem
phis, Tenn., was desegregated without
publicity a year ago with the admission
of four Negro students.
Harding is the fourth private college
in Arkansas to desegregate. The Col
lege of the Ozarks at Clarksville, sup
ported by the Northern Presbyterian
Church, has admitted Negro students
for several years. Ouachita Baptist Col
lege at Arkadelphia, supported by
Southern Baptists, has two Negro stu
dents from Africa but has not admitted
any American Negroes. Arkansas Col-
Florida Highlights
The number of Negroes in deseg
regated schools increased steadily
during September. The total now
exceeds 3,000.
Community leadership was cited
in the peaceful start of desegrega
tion in several Florida counties.
In the wake of a suit to close the
law school at Florida A&M, the
need for separate colleges to serve
Negroes was under question from
several sources.
As university and college registra
tion soared, Negro students demon
strated against segregation practices.
Gov. LeRoy Collins in which he de
clared Florida schools would remain
in operation no matter what.”
The incumbent governor, Farris
Bryant, also expressed gratification. The
state assignment law, he declared, has
made orderly desegregation possible.
“The people are making their de
cisions county by county, district by
district and school by school,” he said.
Dade Total Increases
Dade County, which began the school
year with an estimated 2,500 Negro pu
pils attending about 32 schools with
whites, announced that at least 10 more
schools have been desegregated.
The numbers are indefinite because,
as Supt. Joe Hall put it: “Very frankly,
we have quit counting them. We handle
Negroes like all the other kids.”
Dr. Hall said there “probably” were
about 50 schools with biracial classes
and that “several” have desegregated
teaching staffs. There were at least four
such schools, other administrators indi
cated, and the number was increasing
steadily since all teaching assignments
now are made without regard to race.
By formal policy statement, the school
board had notified all teaching and ad
ministrative personnel of this fact.
Schools Listed
Desegregation at four of the schools
newly added to the list—Hialeah Senior
High, Ida M. Fisher Junior High, Bis-
cayne and North Carol City elemen-
taries—is of the token variety, school
officials said.
“More than a few” are attending
Comstock, Citrus Grove and Neva King
Cooper elementaries and Homestead
Junior High. In these cases, the ma
jority are Spanish-speaking Cuban re
fugees.
★ ★ ★
118 Pinellas Negroes
In Biracial Schools
After early fluctuations, the Pinellas
County schools reported that some 118
Negroes were attending classes at 10
predominantly white schools. Five of
these were desegregated for the first
time this year.
A number of the Negroes were as
signed by the school board after re
questing transfers. Several showed up
unexpectedly during the registration
lege, a Presbyterian school at Bates-
ville, has a policy not to refuse any
qualified student and one or two Ne
groes reportedly attended at the
graduate level last year.
All of the state-supported colleges
are desegregated in theory and five of
them actually have Negro students. Two
of them, Arkansas A&M at Monticello
and Arkansas State Teachers at Con
way, have no Negro students as far as
known.
Community Action
Catholic Academy
Admits One Negro
The Annunciation Academy, a Cath
olic school at Pine Bluff for grades one
through eight, was desegregated Sept. 4
with the admission of a Negro second
grader. Rev. William Beck of Little
Rock, superintendent of schools for the
Catholic Diocese of Arkansas, said that
this had been the first application from
a Negro to attend the academy. The
academy has no policy on segregation,
he said, but considers each case indi
vidually.
period and were accepted when it was
established that they lived in the dis
trict.
In only one instance were Negroes
turned down at white schools. Two
asked to enroll at all-white Glenoak
Elementary in St. Petersburg but were
sent home when it was learned they
lived next door to a Negro school.
Floyd T. Christian, superintendent,
said the board policy is that “if Negro
students fall within the white school
zone and properly apply for admission
they are granted admission.”
★ ★ ★
Desegregation was accomplished
quietly in Duval County where several
community groups had been organized
to work for peaceful acceptance of the
court order requiring a start in the first
grade.
After almost a month of classwork,
12 Negroes were attending five predom
inantly white schools.
There had been no incidents. One of
ficial commented that activities at the
five desegregated schools are exactly
the same as at the 118 others that re
main segregated.
★ ★ ★
A late check of Palm Beach County
showed 61 Negroes were attending
classes with white pupils at 12 schools.
This was a slight decrease from last
year.
Eight of these were enrolled in ele
mentary schools which were desegre
gated this year for the first time under
an extension of a two-year-old court
order.
The others were in nine senior and
junior high schools which were first
desegregated under the court’s decree.
The number is expected to climb up
ward. An official of the school estimated
that Negro attendance at white schools
soon would reach 140.
Two Negro girls enrolled in the Oak
Ridge Junior-Senior High School in
Orlando, Orange County, withdrew
after several days and returned to the
Negro school from which they had
transferred.
School officials said they gave no rea
son for the move.
★ ★ ★
Although the public schools of Lee
County remained segregated, the Bishop
Verot High School, a Catholic institu
tion at Fort Myers serving Lee, Char
lotte and Collier Counties, admitted a
Negro girl to the ninth grade. The one-
year-old school has an enrollment of
84.
Pickets at Palm Beach
Junior College turned down Negroes.
In The Colleges
Enrollments Rise
In Three of Four
State Universities
Enrollments increased this fall at all
branches of the state university system
except unsegregated but all-Negro
Florida A&M University at Tallahassee.
The State Board of Control said there
was desegregation at every institution
except Florida A&M. While it is bound
by the same state policy of admission
without regard to race as the three
other institutions in the system, no
white students applied this year. Two
made application last year but did not
qualify.
The numbers of Negroes attending
Florida State University, the University
of Florida and the University of South
Florida were not known because rec
ords were not available on that basis.
The Board of Control said there were
“a few” at each university.
Private Institutions
The same policy of keeping non-ra-
cial records applied at private univer
sities and colleges, most of which have
desegregated to some degree.
The University of Miami had some 35
Negroes enrolled. Officials there said
the number probably would have been
higher except for the Miami-Dade Jun
ior College which offers two-year
courses and is completely desegregated.
MDJC reported that its registration
soared to almost 8,500 students this year
—up more than 20 per cent. Negroes
make up about eight per cent of the
student body and hold several seats on
the faculty.
Other junior colleges reported some
degree of desegregation. St. Petersburg
Junior College accepted 18 applicants.
Palm Beach Junior College accepted 19.
Jacksonville University, a private in
stitution, has three Neg o students this
year, the first since it opened its doors.
Students Demonstrate
Demonstrations against segregation
involved students at two institutions.
Almost a score of Negro students and
members of their families picketed the
office of the Palm Beach school board
on Sept. 4 after their applications to
attend Palm Beach Junior College were
denied.
The demonstration was orderly but
determined. Some of the participants
said they would follow up with a
“crawl in” or a “sleep in” if their case
were not won.
“We will demonstrate until we get
what we want and what we need,” said
David Cornish, one of the group. “And
we don’t want a second-rate educa
tion.”
Agreements Reached
After discussions between the school
board and Negro leaders, agreements
were reached under which at least 19
Negroes will attend the college.
The college reported later that only
10 actually followed up and enrolled
but the others were expected to attend
classes later.
The junior college situation was taken
to federal court last year through the
longpending Holland suit. Negroes com
plained they were unable to get courses
they wanted at the Roosevelt Junior
College which has a Negro student
body.
Judge Emett Choate ordered the Ne
groes be accepted in PBJC when com
parable courses were not available at
the Negro school.
★ ★ ★
Approximately 350 students, most
from Florida A&M University but in
eluding a sprinkling of white studen
from FSU and the University of Flor
ida, staged a demonstration at a
(See FLORIDA, Page 20)
THE REGION
161 New Districts Desegregated
(Continued from Page 1)
whites, and about 167 have required
court orders to end segregation.
Racial violence continued in Bir
mingham, where Negroes finally en
tered the formerly all-white schools
despite the resistance of Gov. George
Wallace. Bombings and shootings
caused the deaths of six young Ne
groes. Incidents connected with new
school desegregation elsewhere in the
region generally were confined to stu
dent boycotts and telephoned bomb
hoaxes.
In Tuskegee, Ala., and Surry County,
Va., boycotts resulted in all white stu
dents withdrawing from the schools
admitting Negro students.
Three states, prior to this school year,
had desegregation policies in all their
districts having both Negro and white
students: Delaware, Maryland and West
Virginia. Three other states reported no
change in their school desegregation
status this fall. These are Missouri and
Oklahoma, which have had consider
able desegregation in previous years,
and Mississippi, which has never had
any desegregation below the college
level.
The 11 Southern and border states
adding the 161 new desegregated dis
tricts at the beginning of the 1963-64
school year were:
Alabama, four; Arkansas, one; Flor
ida, six; Georgia, three; Kentucky, 19;
Louisiana, one; North Carolina, 22;
South Carolina, one; Tennessee, 15;
Txas, 66; and Virginia, 23.
These are the additions to the new
desegregated districts reported in the
September issue of Southern School
News: Kentucky—Fulton, Hickman,
Muhlenberg and Todd counties; North
Carolina—Randolph County; Tennessee
—Alcoa, Johnson County, Maryville
and Manchester; Texas—Banders, Flor
ence, Gregory-Portland, Rocksprings
and Smiley. South Carolina also re
ported that two of the state’s new tech
nical education centers had admitted
Negroes, under local option policies.
Shelby County, Ky., previously re
ported as desegregating this fall, re
jected a Negro applicant at an all-white
school. The board has announced a
“free choice” desegregation plan to be
gin in 1964. The adult vocational school
program in Washington County, Va., has
been desegregated; but the district’s
regular schools remain segregated, con
trary to the report in last month’s SSN.
Another school district, North Little
Rock, Ark., also was reported incor
rectly last month as being desegregated.
The all-Negro school in which a North
Little Rock white mother placed her
son is in the Pulaski County district,
which already had desegregated schools.
14 Colleges Report
First Desegregation
Nine public colleges and fi v ® P r * .)]
ones in the region desegregated
for the first time. ^as
Every Southern and border s a
had some desegregation at the c ^
level. The 184 public institution^
higher learning known to be f c j uc Je
gated in practice or principle nT0 ]l-
165 with predominantly white e ^
ments and 19 predominant y ^he
schools that will accept whi e .
region has 108 public colleges
versities that remain segregate • ^
An estimated 168 private c°’ ® eXaC t
reported desegregated, but
number is unknown. trregat^
The public colleges that dese ® QrenC e
this fall were: Alabama j^or
State; Florida—Brevard CoL ^ f -\„ Col-
College; Georgia—Valdosta ’ gta tfi
umbus College, and Savann ^Us
(for Negroes); Louisiana 7jj e
State; North Carolina r a ro\&*'.
State (for Negroes); Soutn a n0
University of South Caro ’ £ 0 1-
Texas—Henderson County J
| ppf0 | jjl
The private and church sc ^°°
region that desegregated are. jAis-
—Harding; Florida—Jacksonvd . —~
conri—St.enhens: and rT ' P * nn