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PAGE 18—OCTOBER, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
TENNESSEE
3,182 Negroes In
137 Predominantly White Schools
NASHVILLE
A t least 3,182 Negro students
are attending classes in 137
predominantly white schools in 41
Tennessee public school districts,
according to a survey compiled by
Southern School News on Oct.
1.
Based on actual figures and esti
mates for the first month of the 1963-
64 school year, the total number of
Negroes enrolled in previously all-
white classes was about two and a
half times the 1,283 reported during the
same period of last year.
In addition, the survey showed that
six white students are attending classes
with 2,752 Negroes at three formerly
all-Negro schools, two in Chattanooga
and one in Memphis, bringing to at
least 5,934 the total number of Negroes
attending schools with whites.
This total was slightly more than
three times the 1962-63 figure of 1,817,
which included 534 Negroes enrolled
with one white student at Pearl Ele
mentary School in Nashville. The
white student now has moved to an
other school and Pearl’s student body
again is all-Negro, officials said.
Largest in Nashville
Nashville schools, which began
grade-a-year desegregation in 1957 un
der federal court order, reported the
largest number of Negroes—a total of
773—attending predominantly white
classes. This represented an increase
of 283 over last year.
The largest increase, however, oc
curred in Chattanooga where officials
said 505 Negro students, compared with
50 last year, are enrolled in previously
all-white classes in the first four
grades.
Including four districts which were
added to the list of desegregated pub
lic school systems in September, Ten
nessee’s total of 41 represented a gain
of more than 50 per cent over 1962-63
and the number of biracial schools
compared with 87 during last year.
Districts which announced desegre
gation policies during September:
• The city district of Alcoa, near
Knoxville, enrolled 15 Negroes in
grades nine through 12 at Alcoa High
School.
• Maryville, also near Knoxville, ad
mitted five Negro students to high-
school grades at Maryville High School.
• Johnson County, in upper East
Tennessee, enrolled eight Negroes in
grades nine through 12 at previously
all-white Johnson County High School
at Mountain City. The students pre
viously had been transported to a Negro
school at Elizabethton in adjacent Car
ter County.
• Manchester, the county seat of
Coffee County in Middle Tennessee
admitted three Negro students to the
first biracial classes at Westwood
Junior High School at Manchester.
Metropolitan Area
Results of the survey showed that
most of the larger increases in Negroes
enrolled in predominantly white classes
occurred in the state’s four metropoli
tan areas.
The Davidson County district, which
operates schools surounding Nashville,
reported an increase from about 130
last year to 244 this year, with the
number of desegregated schools rising
from 16 to 20.
In Memphis, which last year enrolled
53 Negro students in seven biracial
schools, officials said about 280 Negroes
are attending classes in 14 previously
all-white schools. The district, com
plying with a federal court order, ex
tended desegregation to the fourth
grade.
Enrollment of two white students at
previously all-Negro La Rose Ele
mentary School, which has a student
body of 1,718, pushed to about 1,996 the
total number of Negroes attending
classes with white students in Mem
phis.
U.S. Request Met
The Shelby County district, adjacent
to the Memphis system, desegregated
for the first time with the opening of
the 1963-64 school year in response
to a request by the U.S. Department
of Health, Education and Welfare.
Under a policy approved by the
Shelby County Board of Education,
about six Negro students who live on
the Millington Naval Base near Mem
phis were admitted to the Millington
Elementary School.
The Shelby County board on Aug. 30
proposed a plan whereby all 12 grades
in the district would be desegregated
in the fall of 1964, but U.S. District
Judge Marion S. Boyd has not set a
Tennessee
Tennessee’s 41 desegregated pub
lic school districts reported that at
least 3,182 Negro students were at
tending predominantly white classes
in 137 schools.
The Wilson County Board of Edu
cation, which has been operating
under a federal court desegregation
order since January, 1962, was di
rected by U.S. District Judge Wil
liam E. Miller to transfer 12 Negro
students to three previously all-white
schools. It also was ordered to sub
mit a new zoning plan by May 1.
Hearings began Sept. 27 on an ap
plication by Negro plaintiffs seeking
a preliminary injunction against
school segregation in the Franklin
County school district.
date for a hearing on the plan. (SSN,
September.)
In the Hamilton County district sur
rounding Chattanooga, desegregation
was extended to the fourth grade. Of
ficials said 15 Negroes, one more than
last year, are attending biracial classes
in two schools. The district voluntarily
began desegregation in the first three
grades last year.
System Enlarged
The Knoxville district, which re
ceived an estimated additional 19,000
students through municipal annexation,
reported that the number of Negro
students attending biracial classes was
229, compared with last year’s total of
86.
In the surrounding Knox County
district, from which annexation took
the large number of students, the
number of Negroes attending biracial
schools rose from 30 to about 48, or
about half the estimated 100 Negro
students in the entire district.
Both the Knoxville and Knox County
systems extended desegregation to the
fifth and sixth grades, Knoxville acting
under a “speedup” federal court order
and Knox County, voluntarily. They
began desegregation in the first grade
in 1960.
The largest enrollment of Negro
students in biracial classes in districts
which desegregated for the first time
occurred in Rogersville, where 111 Ne
groes were admitted to the first six
grades, and in surrounding Hawkins
County, where 105 Negroes were en
rolled in grades one through 12 at four
previously all-white schools.
Both of the districts, located near
Kingsport in East Tennessee, adopted
desegregation policies in effect but re-
a Negro school was closed as unsafe.
Three of the 41 districts—Elizabeth
ton, Humboldt and Watertown—have
desegregation poliices in effect but re
portedly have no Negro students in
biracial classes.
The Bristol district, which voluntar-
Highlights
Both sides in the Chattanooga de
segregation case have been allowed
45 days in which to submit informa
tion in issues which remain unsettled
in the suit.
U.S. District Judge Bailey Brown
requested that the Jackson school
system readmit two Negro students
to desegregated classes.
At least three of Tennessee’s state
colleges and universities reported
increased Negro enrollment in pre
dominantly white classes with the
beginning of the fall term.
Two private colleges, Martin Col
lege at Pulaski and William Jen
nings Bryan College at Dayton,
enrolled their first Negro students
during September.
ily began grade-a-year desegregation
in 1962 with no Negro students apply
ing for admission to white schools, en
rolled a Negro second-grader in pre
viously all-white Central Elementary
School this year.
Other desegregated Tennessee school
districts and the number of Negro stu
dents enrolled in biracial classes include
(figures based only on estimates in
some cases where records are not kept
by race):
Anderson County, 44, one more than
last year; Clay County, 11, desegre
gated for the first time this year; Dick
son County, 14, two more than last
year; DeKalb County, 11, biracial
classes for the first time this year;
Franklin, six, four more than last year;
Harriman, 28, desegregated for the first
time this year.
Henry County, about 17, compared
with four last year; Humphreys
County, about 80, two more than in
1962-63; Jackson, about 40, compared
with 10 last year; Johnson City, about
34 including 10 or 12 high-school Ne
groes enrolled in vocational school
classes, compared with 19 last year;
Kingsport, 30, 10 more than in 1962-63;
Lebanon, about 12, compared with nine
last year; Oak Ridge, about 150 or
more (no records are kept by race),
slightly more than last year.
Obion County, about 120, compared
with 81 last year (a Negro high school
at South Fulton was closed this year);
Overton County, five, desegregated for
the first time this year; Paris, 24, com
pared with 10 last year; Putnam
County, 105, compared with four dur
ing part of last year; Rutherford
County, about the same number—27—
as last year; Sevier County, seven, de
segregated for the first time this year;
Washington County, 15, compared with
six last year; Warren County, nine,
desegregated for the first time this
year; Wilson County, about 25, an in
crease of 12 and White County, 36, de
segregated for the first time this year.
All 15 of the newly desegregated
districts admitted Negroes to biracial
classes voluntarily under policies
adopted by school boards.
Three Negro boys were reported in
the process of enrolling at Central
High School in Manchester, a school
operated by the Coffee County Board
of Education, but changed their minds
before completing their applications.
Central Principal Joe Frank Patch
said two of the boys, both seniors,
asked about playing football and he
told them that school rules prohibit
transfer students from playing football
for 12 months.
Patch said the seniors then said they
would return to an all-Negro school
in Tullahoma and the third, a junior,
withdrew his application because he
said he did not want to be the only
member of his race attending Central.
Told to Meet with Board
Several Negro students were turned
down in their attempts to enroll at all-
white Blount County schools. Supt.
Hugh Coulter said the Negroes were
told to bring their parents to a meeting
of the school board.
Coulter’s office said on Sept. 28 that
none of the students had been admitted
to biracial classes and that no public
statements had been issued by the
school board.
Including the 15 districts which de
segregated for the first time this fall,
more than one-fourth of Tennessee’s
154 districts are conducting biracial
classes. Of the total number of districts,
11 have no Negroes of school age.
Tennessee has a statewide enrollment
of more than 832,000 in grades one
through 12, including about 161,000
Negroes.
Legal Action
Court Tell Board
To Make Transfers
U.S. District Judge William E. Miller
on Sept. 19 ordered the Wilson County
Board of Education to transfer 12
Negro students to three previously all-
white schools and to submit a new
zoning plan by May 1.
In a hearing at Nashville, Miller told
members of the school board that his
decision in 1961 calling for desegrega
tion of the schools was not being car
ried out properly.
“I am not implying any bad faith,”
Miller declared, “but this directive of
the court has not been carried out.
That’s the reason
we have this
problem.”
Supt. Albert
Jewell sail on
Sept. 29 the board
had complied
with the court’s
order, but that
one of the 12 stu
dents included in
the directive had
decided she did
not want to at-
MILLER
‘Truce’ Called on School Schedules
Memphis school officials and Negro
leaders on Sept. 17 called a “truce” in
the dispute over a double-shift sched
ule at five Negro schools and other
board policies.
The agreement was reached during
a two-hour meeting of school officials
and the Negro leaders, who had pro
tested what they called “discriminatory
oolicies.”
It came near the end of day that
began with about 225 Negro pickets
parading around the board of educa
tion offices—the third time in nine days
that they had marched on the board.
There was no violence.
A rallying point for the Negro pro
tests was the “extended day” program
at the five Negro schools, a system of
staggered shifts to relieve crowded
conditions.
Schedule Continues
Under the agreement, the double
shift schedule is continuing but classes
were revised at one school so they
would be closed by 4 p.m.
The school board agreed to study its
policy of hiring Negro teachers, to add
distributive education courses to the
curriculum of Negro high schools and
to consider employment of qualified
Negroes in its administrative offices.
“There will be no further picketing;
there’s no need for it,” said A. W. Wil
lis, Negro attorney, after the confer
ence.
At one point during the demonstra
tions, three Negro high school students
were suspended because they stayed
away from classes to participate in the
picketing.
School board chairman William D.
Galbreath warned that those who re
fused to attend classes or those who
trespassed on school property would
be suspended or expelled.
Police released figures to show that
the demonstrations had cost the police
department $9,000 in overtime pay.
Asst. Police Chief Sam Manning
said, however, the cost was justified.
“We’ve had no violence,” he said. “The
large force of policemen that we’ve
mustered for the demonstrations is the
reason that we haven’t had a Birming
ham.”
★ ★ ★
Two Whites Enrolled
With 1,718 Negroes
Previously all-Negro LaRose Ele
mentary School in Memphis now has
two white pupils in its student body of
1,718.
Johnny Shelton, 8, and his sister,
Mellody, 6, were enrolled in the school
by their mother, Mrs. Mildred Shelton,
a widow who resides three blocks from
the school.
Both are attending first-grade
classes.
Mrs. Shelton said Johnny attended
all-white South Side School last year
but failed to be promoted. “He was
emotionally upset, having to walk so
far,” she said.
LaRose “is a lot closer than any
white school,” the mother continued.
“These children have grown up around
them (Negro youngsters) here and the
teachers are so nice to them over there.
It’s a lot different when they grow up
together.”
Mrs. Shelton, mother of seven, said
her husband died six years ago.
★ ★ ★
The first Negro student to attend a
predominantly white high school in
Memphis during the regular school
year began his studies at Tech High
School on Sept. 17.
Willie C. Walker Jr. was reassigned
from an all-Negro high school to Tech
because he could not get a course in
radio and television at the Negro
school.
One Negro school teaches the course
but its class was full.
Memphis has desegregated the first
four grades of its elementary schools
under a court-approved plan. White
and Negro high-school students have
attended some summer school classes
together previously.
tend a desegregated school.
Including the 11 others, Jewell saw
the district now has about 25
students attending biracial classes ^
three schools, Mount Juliet Elementary
School, Mount Juliet High School and
Lebanon High School.
Under federal court orders, the dis
trict began desegregation in grade;
seven through 12 in January 195,'
(Sloan et al v. Wilson County Board
of Education, SSN, November, 1%;
Thirteen Negro students attended t» c
previously all-white schools during the
1962-63 school year.
Judge Miller handed down his latest
decision following a two-day hearing
on an amended petition filed by Nash
ville attorneys Avon N. Williams Jr
and Z. Alexander Looby, counsel for
parents of Negro students.
The plaintiffs contended that despite
Judge Miller’s 1961 decision that Negro
students were being assigned to all.
Negro schools and white students to
all-white schools.
A former superintendent of the sys
tem, Ernest Cotton, told the court that
“any child, Negro or white, was al
lowed to attend any school in the
county without regard to race, color
or creed” during his tenure. Cotton re
signed several months ago to accept a
position with the Tennessee School
Boards Association.
‘Reasonable and Sound’
Attorney John J. Hooker Sr. of
Nashvile, representing the school
board, said “we are prepared to show
that the school zones were established
on a reasonable and sound basis for all
students in Wilson County. Any stu
dent has a right to apply for assign
ment at any particular school.’
James McMuray, a plaintiff, testified
that his son, Andre, was denied ad
mission to predominantly white Leba
non High School, and other plaintiffs
said their children were turned down
in similar requests.
Miller, commenting that he did not
want to disrupt operation of the
schools during this school year, allowed
the board until May 1 to prepare and
submit a revised zoning plan.
The judge told school officials, how
ever, that “certainly the initial assign
ment may determine whether you are
continuing segregation.”
★ ★ ★
Arguments Presented
[n Injunction Case
U.S. District Judge Charles G. Neese
>n Sept. 27 began hearing arguments
>n an application by Negro plaint
vho are seeking a preliminary injunc
ion against segregation in the Fran 111
Jounty school system.
Nashville attorney Avon N. Willi 3 ®
r r. said some of the plaintiffs are as*
ng that their children be admitte
ill-white schools during the curre
chool year.
Judge Neese was scheduled to hw
irguments by counsel for the Fi' a ® ^
Jounty Board of Education on
0.
The board has
tied a motion
sking for sum-
nary judgment
lismissing the
uit on the
'rounds that
tone of the
daintiffs in the
ase, filed July 3
t Winchester,
tad applied for
dmission to bi-
■acial classes.
The suit was filed by eight g^t
our white and four Negro, .^tjffs
fennessee case in which ‘.AU of &
ire members of both races. the
vhite parents are affiliated w
Jniversity of the South at Sew
In its answer to the suit. n in
>oard contended that segreg a p-
he district “has resulted from ^
>arent desires of both the ^
tfegro parents and studen • jjp
Williams, in filing a motion ^
unction relief, said the s cho°‘
wer showed that a segrega
ystem was being operated.
Franklin County is in 0
NEESE
★ * * *
rict Judge Frank
wed both sides caS £ 40
bool desegrega 10 t ; 0 n ‘f'
ich to submit inform^
:h remain unsettl
, the date f° r
i cpt Nov. 15 as the