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PAGE 16—OCTOBER, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
SOUTH CAROLINA
Six Negro Students Attending
Public Schools With Whites
COLUMBIA
all term registration saw the
number of Negroes attending
state-supported colleges with
whites jump from one to six. Four
were admitted without having to
resort to court action.
The Negroes enrolled at three differ
ent campuses—Clemson in the north
west mountains, the University of
South Carolina’s main campus in mid
state Columbia, and its branch at
Beaufort.
As was the case when Harvey B.
Gantt broke the color line in this state
last January when he entered Clemson,
there was no trouble, no violence.
Joining Gantt at Clemson was 17-
year-old Lucinda Brawley, an honor
graduate last June at all-Negro Hop
kins High, a rural school six miles from
Columbia. She was accepted without
court action.
The university admitted its first Ne
groes since Reconstruction, when they
at times made up the majority of the
faculty and student body.
Enrolling at U.S.C. were:
• Henri Montieth, 18, a sophomore
transferring from the College of Notre
Dame for Women in Baltimore, Md.
• Robert G. Anderson, 20, a junior
transferring from Clark University in
Atlanta, Ga.
• James L. Solomon, 33, an instruc
tor in math at Morris College in Sum
ter, S.C., entering the graduate school.
• Sgt. James H. Hollins, 35, a Marine
stationed at Parris Island near Beau
fort who enrolled for two courses at
the Beaufort branch.
Way Cleared
The way was cleared for all to enter
the university when Miss Monteith on
July 10 won a desegregation suit, which
her lawyers had brought against U.S.C.
as a class action.
The university adopted a policy of
not announcing the names of the stu
dents accepted but it had been known
for some time that Miss Montieth, An
derson and Solomon had been accepted.
Solomon left open until the last minute
whether or not he would actually at
tend.
However, there was no advance notice
that Sgt. Hollins had been accepted.
He registered Sept. 12, the day after
the three signed up at Columbia.
Dr. John Duffy Jr., resident director
of the Beaufort branch, refused to give
his name at the time. “We have no
responsibility for admissions here (at
Beaufort),” he said. “And under uni
versity policy, I am not at liberty to
discuss individual applicants. . . .”
Hollins was not identified publicly
until Sept. 17. Married and the father
of three, he was among 70 other fresh
men and some 50 sophomores who
began classes at the two-year branch.
As a full-time Marine, he took only
two courses but plans to major in
English and sociology.
About 30 per cent of the branch’s
student body is made up of Marines.
Carefully Laid Plans
The university, working with law en
forcement officials, carefully laid plans
for the entrance of the three Negroes
at the main Columbia campus, where
most of the school’s 7,000-plus students
attend classes.
Students were bluntly warned that
no demonstrations or acts of violence
by them would be permitted. Pool ar
rangements were required of the news-
media representatives covering regis
tration. The registration schedule of the
three Negroes was carefully outlined
and timetabled in advance.
Two occurences heightened tension a
bit as registration day approached. Stu
dents at Negro colleges and high schools
in the city began unexpected picketing
of downtown Columbia theaters, lead
ing to the arrest of several Negroes.
They announced they would picket
every day except Sept. 11, the day of
registration at U.S.C.
It was learned that several students
from the University of Mississippi were
visiting on the Carolina campus for the
two days preceding registration.
Remembering last year’s violence at
Ole Miss, Columbia police kept a close
check on a car with Mississippi plates.
A report said that one Mississippian
who tried to spend the night of Sept. 10
in a university dormitory was asked by
a university official to leave.
The Negroes’ registration itself went
off without a hitch and was virtually
ignored by other students, who them-
S. C. Highlights
Six Negroes enrolled without dif
ficulty at predominantly white, state-
supported colleges. For the University
of South Carolina, it was the first
desegregation since Reconstruction.
Fourteen Negro airmen, stationed
at Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter,
brought a desegregation suit against
Sumter County School District 2,
making it the fifth district in the state
to come under such attack.
Citizens’ groups, working in Char
leston where 10 Negroes are attend
ing the public schools, set February,
1964, as the target date for establish
ment of private schools in the area
under the state’s tuition-grants plan.
Two of the state’s new technical
education centers voluntarily admit
ted Negroes under a local option
policy.
Charleston legislators tangled over
the proposed appointment of a Negro
to the board of recently desegregated
School District 20.
selves were busy rgistering for classes.
Anderson, Solomon and Miss Mon
teith went about the registration pro
cedures together, then faced reporters
and television cameras at a press con
ference.
Anderson said he would major in
political science and hoped to go on
to law school. Miss Monteith confirmed
that she would continue her premedical
course in the hope of qualifying for
medical school. Solomon, who holds a
master’s degree from Atlanta Univer
sity, said his “eventual goal” was a
Ph.D. in mathematics.
NAACP Financed
The two men said they were paying
their way but Miss Montieth said she
had scholarships from the Catholic
Youth Fund and “a Negro scholarship
fund in New York.” She said the
NAACP financed her suit against U.S.C.
All three indicated an interest in
joining campus clubs if time permits.
Solomon said he doubted whether he
would attend university football games;
Anderson said he would “if I can find
time from my studies”; Miss Monteith
said she would like to “if the university
deems it advisable.”
They were asked their views on anti
segregation demonstrations. Solomon
replied that he had “personal feelings”
but did not want to express them.
Anderson, who took part in demonstra
tions as a high school student in Green
ville, said he thought they were “doing
something for this country.” Miss Mon
teith did not reply.
After the press conference, Solomon
returned to his Sumter home, where
he lives with his wife and children.
He is continuing his teaching duties at
Morris and commuting the 45 miles
daily to Columbia.
Private Room
Miss Montieth, accompanied by two
reporters, walked across campus to her
private room in Sims College, one of
several dormitories in the school’s wom
en’s complex. She had moved her be
longings there earlier from her home
in the outskirts of Columbia. Originally
she had planned to be a day student,
but moved on-campus as a security
measure suggested by state police.
Anderson went to his dormitory,
Maxcy Gregg on the “Horseshoe,” the
center of the university. A few minutes
later he was seen leaving it in the
company of a white student en route
to Russell House, the student activities
building named after Gov. Donald S.
Russell, former USC president.
Both Anderson and Miss Monteith
dined that evening in the Russell House
cafeteria in the company of white stu
dents.
Miss Brawley met the same kind of
reception at Clemson. She took her
early meals in the cafeteria that serves
all of Clemson’s 4,500 students and was
accompanied by several white women
students at each. It was reported that
a number of male students usually
joined the group.
This was somewhat in contrast to the
experience of Harvey Gantt, who was
rather coolly received by most of his
fellow students last semester.
Miss Brawley registered on Sunday,
Sept. 8, one day earlier than expected.
No newsmen were on hand to cover the
event. They had not planned to be there
until the following day.
President Robert C. Edwards said
Miss Brawley matriculated Sunday
along with 415 other freshmen in order
to avoid congestion the next day when
the remainder of the 1,500-odd new
students registered.
The president insisted that “she
caused no change in our plans.”
Miss Brawley plans to study applied
mathematics. Like Gantt and her USC
counterparts, she was assigned to a
private room and bath. The women’s
dormitory at Clemson was ready for
use only this year. It will house ap
proximately 100 coeds.
Clemson, once an all-male school
with a strong military emphasis, ad
mitted its first coed several years ago
but has not previously had a girls’
dorm.
Dr. Edwards said no security precau
tions were taken as Gantt and Miss
Brawley registered.
Legal Action
Sumter County
Faces Lav^suit
By Negro Airman
Fourteen Negro airmen, serving at
Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter,
asked the U.S. District Court in Co
lumbia on Sept. 16 to desegregate the
schools of Sumter County School Dis
trict No. 2.
The suit was filed on behalf of 30
children of the plaintiffs, and was the
fifth such case brought against the
public schools in South Carolina. De
segregation suits also are pending
against school districts in Greenville,
Clarendon and Darlington counties.
Twelve Negroes entered the schools of
Charleston’s District 20 in September—
marking the state’s first desegregation
under the college level.
Sumter is a midstate county of 80,000.
Its District 2 contains all public schools
in the county outside the city limits
of the county seat, Sumter (pop. 23,000).
Shaw Field, a major Air Force installa
tion, is 10 miles west of the City of
Sumter.
The Negro children and their parents
live on the base, which has no schools.
Two white schools, Shaw Elementary
and Shaw High, are adjacent to the
base. In all, District 2 operates six
white and six Negro schools.
The petition, citing the “due process
and equal protection” clauses of the
Constitution, sought a permanent in
junction against district officials which
would prohibit them from operating
racially separated schools.
It noted that the plaintiffs had ap
plied to Shaw Elementary but were re
fused. It said no action had been taken
under a state statute requiring that
relief in such cases first be sought in
the state courts because the remedies
Community Action
administration
First Negroes to Register at USC
Robert G. Anderson, Henri Monteith, James L. Solomon.
outlined in the state law are “inade
quate to provide the relief sought in this
case.”
As an alternate to the admission of
the 30 Negro plaintiffs, the complaint
asked for a decree directing the defend
ant trustees and Supt. Hugh T. Stoddard
to present a plan for complete deseg
regation of the district’s schools.
The petition also seeks the employ
ment of teachers, principals and other
school personnel on a nondiscrimina-
tory basis.
The airmen filing the suit were listed
as James E. Randall, Harold W. Hall
Sr., Charles Weaver, Alven Smith,
Thomas L. Hennagan Sr., Maurice L.
Rivers, Walter McCray, Harold M.
Lewis, Johnny L. Simmons, Kenneth
Hamilton Sr., Eddie Dickens, Sylvester
Fant, Howard Reeves and Walter Wil
liams.
★ ★ ★
South Carolina Attorney General
Daniel R. McLeod ruled Sept. 13 that
newly desegregated School District No.
20 of Charleston County could continue
to get state funds despite a 1955 statute
that seems to require the cessation of
state aid to schools desegregated by
court order.
U.S. District Judge J. Robert Martin
in August ordered District 20 to admit
11 Negro students after trial of a suit
brought by their parents. The order
made the downtown Charleston district
the first and so far the only one in
the state operating biracial schools.
The attorney general told State Treas
urer Jeff B. Bates and State Comp
troller General E. C. Rhodes that the
1955 statute (Sec. 21-2 of the S.C. Code)
Charleston Groups Set ’64 Date
For Opening New Private School
Several citizens groups in Charleston
have set February, 1964, as the target
date for the opening of the new private
schools in the city.
Ten Negroes now attend public
schools in District 20 (the downtown
area) under federal court order. And
Federal Judge J. Robert Martin ordered
complete desegregation of the city’s
schools by September, 1964.
At least five separate groups are
working to establish private schools
that would meet the standards of the
state’s new tuition grants program. The
one already named will be called the
Charleston Academy. Elected Sept. 9
as board chairman was State Rep. Nat
W. Cabell, an attorney.
But the largest of the independent
groups is the Foundation for Independ
ent Schools, Inc. A director of this
group, George R. F. Cornish Jr., headed
a called meeting attended by 600 white
citizens at a Charleston hotel Sept. 10.
Officers from each of the city’s 16
wards were elected and a citywide
canvass was planned to determine pri
vate schools needs.
On Sept. 24 the Foundation began
legal advertising, the first step to ob
taining a charter.
On Sept. 25, the College of Charleston
held a public meeting to discuss the
possibility of it setting up a private prep
school. The college is a private, non-
denominational liberal arts institution.
★ ★ ★
The fourth of the state’s 108 school
districts notified the State Department
of Education that it plans to participate
under the tuition grants plan. It was
the Johns Island district, just south of
Charleston.
The others participating to date are
Charleston, North Charleston, and
Blackville in Barnwell County. The
grant to a parent who does not want
to send his child to a desegregated
school amounts to the state’s regular
per-pupil cost, plus the individual dis
trict’s regular supplement.
does not apply in this case because
‘the principal plaintiffs followed the
administrative procedure prescribed by
South Carolina through to conclusion
oefore the suit was brought.
“That other plaintiffs were included
n the decision has resulted from the
peculiar class action doctrine currently
applied by the federal courts. To date,
no pupils other than those who are
parties to the suit have sought place
ment under the court’s order.”
Open Question
The opinion left open the question
of what might happen if pupils later
sought transfers to white schools in the
district (ordered totally desegregated in
September, 1964) under the class-action
part of Judge Martin’s order. McLeod
declined to discuss this matter.
It also left a question as to whether
state funds must be cut off if other
pending desegregation suits against
other S.C. districts are won by the
plaintiffs. In most of them, the de
fendants school boards alleged in their
answers that the prescribed adminis
trative procedures were not followed.
In reaching his decision, McLeod con
strued the 1955 statute, passed in the
wake of the 1954 Supreme Court de
segregation decision in connection wi
an amended 1956 statute.
Said McLeod: “This section (21-2
was enacted in 1955. At that time, puP 1
placement was not specifically include
within the administrative procedure re
lating to the determination of matters
of local controversy in the vario
school districts of the state. ,
“In 1956, Section 21-247 was amend**
to provide for administrative review
pupil placement, first by the coun y
board of education and thereafter
the courts.”
Legislative Intent
McLeod said that construing the W*
and 1956 legislation together, the
lative intent appeared to make ec .
21-2 applicable to cases where the P
scribed procedure was not use ■
In South Carolina, the ma -’? r * t ? ta te
school funds are furnished by t e _^ e
according to a formula based on a' t
attendance. School districts supp e
state funds with local resources. ^
The McLeod opinion came after ^ g
Martin had received and ra - 1 tu at fie
petition by School District 2
vacate or modify his dese
order of Aug. 22. ^jje
In its petition for dte<»'
school board said Judge Mar g<, u th
sion amounts to nullification It
Carolina’s school placemen cer taiP
asked the jurist to elimina ^ ic h the
paragraphs of his order, horit y.
board said took away its
•inf!
★ ★ ★
Greenville County schools, a^ wh a j
a desegregation action, s r \ 0 gi
were termed ethnological an N e '
differences between the w 1 jj,at th e
gro races. The board t ; 0 n” is “
policy of “voluntary segreg 1?)
cniiTH CAROLINA!