Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—OCTOBER, 1963—PAG
MARYLAND
Another County
Begins Actual
Desegregation
(Continued from Page 17)
to less than a dozen by the third day.
There were no incidents. Segregationist
groups drawn to the area included the
National States Rights Party, which
tucked circulars under windshield wip
ers, and the Fighting American Na
tionalists, members of which were not
permitted to address the Sept. 7 par
ents meeting.
The executive committee of the Par
ent-Teacher Association at the York-
wood Elementary School, also in north
east Baltimore, met in closed session
on Sept. 6 with two of their district
councilmen, Frank X. Gallagher and
John A. Pica, in opposition to the shift
of a program for brain-damaged chil
dren from their nearly all-white school
to a predominantly Negro school. The
move had left room in the York wood
school for some of the inner-city Negro
children on part-time.
When concern was expressed for the
20 brain-damaged children who had
attended the Yorkwood school last
year and had been shifted out, Dr.
George B. Brain, Baltimore’s school
superintendent, agreed to reassign the
20 pupils back to the Yorkwood school.
Harry I. Fisher Jr., president of the
Yorkwood P-TA was quoted in the
press as saying that his group was
“pretty much satisfied” and also as
saying, “We will, of course, still have
some of the children from the over
crowded schools coming into York
wood, but there will not be as many as
we thought at first.”
Quieted Down
By Sept. 9, when the situation at
the Hamilton school had quieted down,
a fresh round of protests arose in the
Highlandtown section of East Balti
more, where two relatively small all-
white schools had received an influx
of part-time Negro pupils. At least 200
irate white parents crowded into a
basement room of the Highlandtown
Elementary School along with two of
their councilmen, James J. Duffy and
Joseph J. Staszak, to fire questions at
school representatives.
Asked if the parents were objecting
to racial integration, Councilman Duffy
was reported as replying, “They are
objecting to the transportation and to
the method of integration.” An uni
dentified parent was heard to add the
comment, “And a lot of people don’t
want the colored here. They don’t be-
ong here.” R a ft eryi the spokesman for
e Hamilton parents, also was present
* the Highlandtown meeting and
r ged united action against the trans
portation policy.
Parents representing the two High-
landti
°wt schools, with Frank Trotta
s P°kesman, carried their protest to
„, e . ^hool board on Sept. 19. They
uned that school officials were wast-
t a ° t m ° I ? ey transporting children to dis
ci^ _ 0<ds w h en there were empty
rooms in the inner city, and also
^at childri
en were being transported
against their parents’ will ,
Plaining that parents of children
on
said^A/r*™ e ^ad a choice, Dr. Brain
their ^■? ny P aren ts preferred to have
oases < lr 1 . dren on half time, and in all
their wishes were respected.”
inner. es t P° nse to the claim of empty
PresiV] C1 y classrooms, school board
“If P'h Frank Jr., said to Trotta,
We’rt i U ™ ow of vacant classrooms,
W e t0 find them.”
Parents s P°^ e f° r the Highlandtown
e$t L ea anr t for the Taxpayers Inter-
Te lease ? Ue > w hich, according to a press
■no ... a nded out at the board meet-
Empty Classrooms
“tg.
Wa t uie meet-
Phttiar^ * 0rmed on Sept. 18 with the
ooncent con cem” of defending “the
The nj.p °* the neighborhood school.”
in excp SS ’, re ^ ease sa * d it had received
c atio ns SS °t 3,000 membership appli-
The
■ race
, ° n e hn j e was let t unspoken un-
If '’ said ^ Member, John J. Sweeney
^sted ; n 10 Trotta, “You’re not inter-
a hout ltl . ec °nomy; you’re concerned
“vut „ , you re concemei
6fre d tr, ° red children being trans
few t'L) 1 i <■
tepo
irterf y ° Ur school.” In what was
. Q as nn , ™
j° r ted ! •■rp'!® an angry reply, Trotta re
Rested °i5 e are y° u r words. I’m in
. -“icq in vYuiuo. ui-
' Jt those ttle taxpayer’s money. You
The , Words hack in your mouth.”
Hamilton dr ?? transported to the
.Rights ’-nj ®Shlandtown, Garrett
to t Wri Yorkwood schools (and
!>ls) other predominantly white
h 1151 o Ve ere a H from School 85, the
Z Jl 't ip J -- ded school in the city.
0 , 6tl t w as t°r 800 pupils, its enroll-
e f cro W( j e ! 1 P to 2,400 last year. Its
condition marks a resi-
I
Negroes Transported from Inner-City School
Baltimore’s plan aroused protests.
dential shift from a white, heavily
Catholic population, with many neigh
borhood children attending a parochial
school, to the current Negro residential
population, with many children in the
public school and few in the parochial
school. Some 560 are now being taken
by bus to seven outlying schools.
Transportation Issue
The transportation issue was thrust
into the City Council by John Pica,
who had been active in the Yorkwood
protest, in the form of a resolution
signed by all fellow councilmen in the
first, second and third districts (there
are six districts in all) asking for a
hearing as to why the school board
“has failed the community in planning
for the public school system.”
Pointing to the board’s responsibility
for providing school facilities where
needed for an expanding population,
the resolution said, “The general out
lines of the problem have long been
obvious to all of us, but the school
board with all its planning and scien
tific efforts has not met its basic task
of having schools where and when
needed.” The failure was not due to
lack of money, the resolution added,
because “no one can recall when a
proposed school loan has been rejected
by the voters.”
The resolution was introduced on
Sept. 23, and on Sept. 24 both Supt.
Brain and school board President
Frank had replies. Brain said that the
councilmen “had it in their power to
act more hastily and directly on school
overcrowding, starting in 1960.” He
added that the councilmen had been
invited “many times” to go on school
tours to see the overcrowding at first
hand but “their schedules would not
permit it.”
Frank said that the resolution had
not been sent to the school board but
that from what he read of it in the
press, the “assumptions . . . are totally
unfounded” and “the questions thus
appear to be loaded.” He added,
though, that the school board was al
ways “anxious” to have public under
standing of its program and would “be
glad to answer the resolution when we
know what it is.”
Mayor McKeldin, who had found oc
casion on Sept. 12 to blame the over
crowding on the austerity programs of
previous Democratic administrations
(McKeldin is a Republican), jumped
quickly between councilmen and the
school board on Sept. 26 with a sug
gestion that they put aside mutual re
criminations. “It is imperative,” he said,
“that we resolve to proceed positively
to correct present faults ... We are
faced with a situation which, whether
good or bad, exists.”
Agreed to Wait
Having originally scheduled a hear
ing on the resolution for Oct. 1, the
City Council agreed on Sept. 26 to
wait until Oct. 8 to suit the schedule
of Frank and Brain and also to pro
vide time for a councilmanic tour of
the schools. Councilman Pica reas
serted that he wanted to know exactly
where the overcrowding exists, how
long it will take to build schools or
additions to schools to relieve the con
dition, and when the transportation _©f
children will end.
Also on Sept. 26, when the mayor
and others were trying to calm things
down, the school board was hit with
a fresh charge of “forced integration,”
“manipulating human beings like cat
tle,” “playing a dangerous game of
chess” and bringing about “the inevita
ble destruction of the Baltimore public
school system.”
The charges were presented to the
board by Mrs. Emil Henning Jr., who
headed a delegation from the outlying
western section of Baltimore. Besides
being a frequent spokesman for west
Baltimore neighborhood interests, Mrs.
Henning is a member of the Baltimore
Equal Opportunity Commission, which
enforces the city’s anti-discrimination
ordinance.
Saying that she spoke with the “full
authority for 10 neighborhood associ-
Board Pledges to Remedy
The Baltimore school board on Sept.
5 responded to summer-long criticism
of de facto segregation with a pledge
to “do all it possibly can” to remedy
the harmful effects of “racially imbal
anced schools.” The resolution was
adopted by a 6-2 vote, with the mi
nority school board members arguing
that there was no proof that racial im
balance was educationally harmful.
Early in June NAACP spokesmen
had warned the school board of dem
onstrations and possible lawsuits if by
Sept. 1 it had not taken steps to (1)
revise administrative policies that con
tribute to the continued existence of
one-race schools, including districting
and transfer policies; (2) redistribute
part-time classes equitably throughout
the city, and (3) adopt a policy state
ment recognizing the “educational un
desirability” of one-race schools and
“unequivocally committing the board
to achieving maximum desegregation
in the public schools.”
At its June 6 meeting the board had
voted to eliminate by Oct. 1 the past
policy of putting district lines around
overcrowded schools and also eased
the rules on transfers. It also approved
funds to transport children on part-
time to other schools with available
room. Until the Sept. 1 deadline had
passed, the board did not adopt the re
quested policy statement and, when it
did, the statement was somewhat less
than an all-out commitment to pro
mote a racial blend.
“Insofar as racially imbalanced
schools may lead to educational, psy
chological and sociological problems,”
the statement said, “the board will do
all it possibly can to remedy this situ
ation. Board policies and school prac
tice shall be reviewed to insure that
they are not discriminatory or do not
contribute intentionally to racial im
balance.”
The wording was suggested by Dr.
William D. McElroy, who had headed
an ad hoc committee that previously
had recommended the districting and
transfer changes. A biology professor
at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Mc
Elroy offered his wording as a substi
tute for a similar paragraph recom
mended by Dr. George B. Brain, Balti
more’s school superintendent, who had
included a clause saying that racially
imbalanced schools do not serve “fully
the purposes of democratic education.”
The board’s statement, adopted after
some wrangling among board members,
went on to say:
“The board views the task for the
schools as being not merely to elimi
nate the educational problems growing
out of racial imbalances, but more
significantly to counteract the dis
criminatory aspects of the practical
problems which result from the count
less practices of modem urban living.
“The board calls on the appropriate
agencies of the city to solve the larger
social problems; for without collective
action on all fronts it will prove diffi
cult, if not impossible, for the school
Louisiana
(Continued from Page 15)
several indicate substantial increases.
Largest increase, perhaps, will be at
Louisiana State University, New Or
leans, where registration on Sept. 26
stood at 4,556, or 30.5 per cent above
last fall.
LSUNO counted 339 Negroes and
seven Orientals among its record high
student body. The number of Negroes
also amounted to a 14 per cent in
crease over last year’s 290, but repre
sented a slight decline proportionately
in the student body. Since 1959 Negro
enrollment has been edging toward
nine per cent of the total. This year
! it is 7.4 per cent.
Rapid Growth
LSUNO, the state’s newest institution
of higher learning, has shown rapid
growth since its inception in 1958. A
branch of the state’s major university
at Baton Rouge. LSUNO last year
graduated its first seniors and this fall
is offering its first graduate level pro
grams in the sciences.
A branch of Southern University for
Negroes was opened in New Orleans
at the same time and now enrolls some
1,100 students, but Negroes have at
tended LSUNO, under court order, since
the beginning.
LSU at Baton Rouge also reported
substantial enrollment increases. Pre
liminary totals showed 12,951 under
graduate and graduate students on the
main campus, 507 in the medical school
at New Orleans, 90 in the school of
nursing at New Orleans, and 435 in the
school of agriculture near Alexandria,
a combined increase more than 1,000
above last year’s total.
Negro students have been accepted
in the graduate division of Baton Rouge
since 1950 and 58 were enrolled last
year, but no comparable figure was
available for the 1963-64 school year.
First Negro at Newcomb
Newcomb College, the women’s divi
sion of Tulane University in New
Orleans, registered its first Negro stu
dent on Sept. 25. She is Deidre Dumas,
a sophomore transfer student from
Xavier University, a predominantly Ne
gro Catholic institution, also in New
Orleans. She is studying biochemistry.
Tulane began accepting Negro stu
dents voluntarily last February and 11
were enrolled in the graduate and
evening divisions. Initial registration
data gave no indication of enrollment
by race.
ations” and for “thousands of people
in West Baltimore,” Mrs. Henning
called upon the school board to “admit
to having made a terrible mistake and
return immediately to the system of
districting throughout the city” and
also to “return children coming from
areas outside our community . . . and
put them “in the nearest most logical
school in their residential proximity.”
Among other charges, Mrs. Henning
said that school board members “have
set the pattern for a predominantly
Negro school within three years in a
(See MARYLAND, Page 20)
Imbalances
staff to solve some of the basic related
educational problems.”
The reference to “the larger social
problems” was an attempt by the board
to indicate that many of its schools
remained predominantly white or pre
dominantly Negro not because of its
policies but because the schools re
flect the housing pattern, which in turn
reflects not only residential preferences
but also the prevailing economic pat
tern.
The school board’s policy statement
appeared to satisfy the NAACP. On
Sept. 11 Mrs. Juanita Jackson Mitchell,
president of the Maryland NAACP,
said, “The adopted policy represents a
constructive and important step to
ward this objective as the board comes
to grips with the serious problem [in
which] 80 per cent of all children are
attending white or colored schools nine
years after the Supreme Court de
cision.”
(In using the figure of 80 per cent
as the incidence of de facto segrega
tion in Baltimore, the NAACP does not
count any white school as desegregated
if it has less than 10 per cent Negro
enrollment, and no Negro school as
desegregated if it has less than 10 per
cent white enrollment. Dr. Brain, on
the other hand, has reported that 74
per cent of all white pupils and 59
per cent of all Negro pupils attended
“integrated” schools as of October,
1962.)
“It is our considered judgment,” Mrs.
Legal Action
Nieholls College
Ordered to Admit
Group of Negroes
Immediate desegregation of Francis
T. Nieholls State College at Thibodaux
was ordered Sept. 16 by U.S. District
Judge Robert A. Ainsworth Jr.
The legal action was filed in district
court at New Orleans on Sept. 9, five
days after eight Negro plaintiffs said
they sought and were denied admission
to the institution.
Judge Ainsworth denied the plea for
a temporary restraining order but set
the case of hearing on Sept. 13.
He said in an opinion rendered Sept.
16 that the defendants conceded the
qualifications of the plaintiffs to enter
the school and he ordered their ad
mission immediately to prevent a ser
ious delay in their education.
Seven of the eight Negroes appeared
for enrollment at the college on Sept.
17 and began attending classes Sept. 18.
Defendants in the case were Vernon
F. Galliano, president of the college,
James Lynn Powell, registrar; the state
Board of Education; WiHiam J. Dodd,
president of the state board; and
Shelby M. Jackson, state superinten
dent of education.
★ ★ ★
A federal district court hearing was
set tentatively for Nov. 19 at Baton
Rouge in the case of Rex Smelser,
director of the Sowela Vocational-
Technical School at Lake Charles, who
is charged by the Justice Department
with contempt of court for allegedly
discriminating against Negroes in ad
ministering the affairs of the school.
Smelser is the only one of several
state education officials, accused in a
contempt action a year ago, involved
in the current court action.
Since then, the state-supported trade
school has accepted some Negro stu
dents. But Smelser is accused by the
government of discriminating against
Negro applicants by varying the time
of entrance exams and restricting the
exams for Negro applicants to certain
days.
Political Action
Ten Candidates
Enter Democratic
Race for Governor
The race issue hung heavily over
Louisiana politics as 10 candidates
qualified Sept. 14 to run for governor
in the Democratic primary Dec. 7.
The federal civil rights issue and the
states’ rights move to keep President
Kennedy off the ballot in Louisiana in
1964’s presidential election shaped up
as major issues, focusing close attention
upon pending races for the state
legislature and the State Democratic
Central Committee,
Candidates qualifying for the De
mocratic primary were State Supt. of
Education Shelby M. Jackson, former
Gov. Robert Kennon, State Director of
Public Works Claude Kirkpatrick,
Hugh P. Lasseigne of Baton Rouge,
Congressman Gillis Long, State Public
Service Commissioner John McKeithen,
State Rep. Louis Michot of Lafayette,
deLesseps S. Morrison, former mayor
of New Orleans and former U.S. am
bassador to the Organization of Ameri
can States, A. Roswell Thompson of
New Orleans and Wilford L. Thompson
Sr. of Zachary.
The Democratic nominee will face
Republican Charlton H. Lyons Sr., a
Shreveport businessman, in the general
election March 3.
As the primary campaign got under
way, the candidates also criticized the
Kennedy administration, particularly
for its civil rights programs.
Mitchell said, “that the [1954 Supreme
Court] ruling applies to segregation
which is the result of public school
practices and policies continued after
the invalidation of city and state laws
requiring public school segregation.
“It is our contention that not all of
the widespread racial segregation in
public schools of Baltimore is a result
of residential segregation. That is why
the policies and practices of public
school systems are being reexamined
in great cities throughout the country
to eliminate and revise educational
practices which substantially contribute
to racial imbalances in the schools.”