Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12—JANUARY, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
ALABAMA
Negro Enrolls At Auburn University Without Incident
(Continued From Page 1)
relishes such. He is appointed for life
and is in effect attempting to run this
state through the use and threat of
federal bayonets.
“Some day this will pass too. For
the people over the nation are begin
ning to get sick of his kind. There will
come a new day. This decision is
against the will of the people of Ala
bama and will be appealed.
“This to-be student is not qualified
under the accreditation standards to
enter Auburn University. Many others
were turned down for the same reason
he was ordered enrolled. This shock
ing decision points out that our liber
ties and freedom are, in most instances,
at the mercy of a bunch of unelected
scalawags.
“This is a special favor and prefer
ence decision. It vividly points up that
the federal courts have now entered
the special privilege field for agitators.”
Wallace did not, as he said in ad
vance he would not, “stand in the
school house door” in the manner of
June 11, 1963, when he attempted to
bar the admission of two Negroes to
the University of Alabama.
His only resistance was the order
to bar federal agents from the campus.
“This order,” he said Jan. 3, “is given
under the police powers I possess as
governor to take whatever actions are
necessary to preserve the peace and
maintain tranquility.”
No Challenge
The governor instructed State
Troopers to use force if necessary to
prevent federal agents from coming
on campus. None challenged the ban,
but several were in Auburn. The Jus
tice Department in Washington said
there were no plans for the agents to
attempt to go on campus.
After leaving the Auburn Methodist
Church, Franklin was driven to Mag
nolia Hall by Joe Sarver, director of
development at the university. Frank
lin had been driven from Montgomery
to Auburn by his Negro attorney, Fred
Gray.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals had refused on Dec. 4 to delay
desegregation at Auburn, which had
been ordered Nov. 5 by District Judge
Johnson to begin with the enrollment
of Franklin to the graduate school for
the winter quarter. (Registration was
changed from Jan. 2-3 to Jan. 3-4 be
cause of Auburn’s participation in the
Orange Bowl football game at Miami
New Year’s Day.)
Auburn officials were preparing for
the admission of Franklin before the
appellate ruling came. Auburn Presi
dent Ralph B. Draughon demanded
complete discipline and law and order
on the part of students and faculty.
A series of meetings culminated Dec.
3 with a mass meeting of the entire
student body of 9,000 at Cliff Hare
Stadium. Dr. Draughon reminded the
students of their obligations and
notified them that any violation of
special regulations would be answered
with disciplinary action, including
expulsion.
President Speaks
Dr. Draughon told the assembly:
“You young people seem to have
been born into a time of change and
crisis. Never has our nation had this
more clearly demonstrated than during
the tragic events of the past few days
(the assassination of President Ken
nedy.) You are going to have to
learn to live with change and crisis,
for it appears we will have them with
us for a long time. This court order
presents a critically important chal
lenge for the entire university.”
The mass assembly, he said, was the
fifth in recent days, as the administra
tion had met with leaders of the stu
dent government, the faculty, the
alumni and the board of trustees to
make recommendations and map plans.
All students registering for the
Mississippi
(Continued From Page 11)
moot,” Judge Clayton said in dismissing
the action.
A similar case is on appeal before
the U. S. Fifth Court of Appeals in
New Orleans. A Greene County teacher,
Ernestine Talbert, charged that her
contract was dropped after she tried
to register to vote.
The U. S. Department of Justice
ruled there was no evidence to support
the charge that her civil rights had
been violated.
Ralph B. Draughon
‘Change and Crisis.’
winter quarter will be required to sign
pledges of obedience to special rules
and regulations and to protect the good
name of Auburn.
Five particular restrictions were an
nounced:
• No disorderly crowd or mob of
students would be permitted at any
time anywhere on the campus.
• All students were requested to
take any firearms they might have
home for Christmas. Those bringing
them back would be required to check
them in at the ROTC hangar. No
weapons would be permitted in rooms,
in cars or in personal possession.
• Any students who want to serve
as photographers or correspondents for
press media would have to register
with the public relations department.
• No unauthorized newspapers, post
ers, circulations, etc., would be per
mitted.
• All students would be issued
identification cards and required to
carry them at all times and present
them on demand by university of
ficials.
Dr. Draughon was backed in his
stand by trustees, alumni, faculty and
student government leaders. Plans
were to seal off the campus with state
and local officers.
The president said no trouble was
expected, but if it broke out it would
be put down according to pre-estab
lished plans.
Held to Position
The university still maintained its
position that admission standards to
the graduate school had been com
promised by Judge Johnson’s order.
Johnson said (SSN, December) that
Auburn’s requirement of a degree
from an accredited college was reason
able but that Franklin had not been
afforded an opportunity to get one
because neither of the two state-sup
ported Negro colleges is accredited.
This is the fault of the state, he said.
Franklin returned to court Dec. 30
seeking an order from Johnson
directing that he be admitted to Mag
nolia Hall dormitory.
Franklin said in his petition that the
university had notified him by letter
that he would not be accepted in a
dormitory because, in the words of
the manager of Magnolia Hall, “we
have found it necessary to restrict
these facilities to undergraduate stu
dents.” However, Charles S. Bentley
Jr., dormitory manager, acknowledged
that some space remained in the dor
mitory. Generally, Brentley said, grad
uate students preferred to live off-cam
pus. Besides, Bentley noted, Franklin
is married.
The denial of dormitory facilities,
Franklin said in his petition, is “con
trary to the 14th Amendment . . . and
the orders of this court.”
First Desegregation
Negroes broke traditional segregation
barriers for the first time in Alabama
in 1963 at the University of Alabama,
the University Extension Center at
Huntsville and at Florence State Col
lege—one entering each facility. Two
had been admitted to the university’s
main campus June 11, after Gov. Wal
lace “stood in the door” to stop them,
then backed down when the National
Guard was federalized and took over.
The two were Vivian J. Malone and
James Hood. Hood withdrew for what
he called reasons of health in late sum
mer, faced with charges of having
maligned university officials in a
Gadsden speech in July (SSN, Septem
ber).
Miss Malone returned for the fall
term without incident. But in Novem
ber, three small dynamite bombs were
set off in the city—two on Nov. 16 and
one Nov. 19. The first was less than a
block from the dormitory where Miss
Malone lives. The third exploded a
day before the last remaining con
tingent of the federalized National
Guard—125 men out of the 17,000
called into federal service in June—
was demobilized.
There were no injuries and little
damage.
Five Guardsmen Arrested
Five of the final contingent were
arrested in December and charged
with causing the blasts. They were
Sgt. William E. Roughton of Lang-
dale, Sgt. Charles Hollifield of Marion,
Lt. James T. Perkins of Holt, a Tus
caloosa suburb, Cpl. James T. Maxwell
of Tuscaloosa, and Sgt. Norman R.
Daniel of Fairfield, a Birmingham
suburb. All were released on bonds
of $5,000.
Maj. Gen. Henry V. Graham, as
sistant commander of the 31st Dixie
Division and the man who personally
confronted Wallace at the university
June 11 to announce his orders to take
charge, said he thought it was “a
juvenile plot to have the detachment
continued on duty.” He said he could
not believe there was any malice in
tended.
Gov. Wallace said: “The guardsman
in question were on federal duty under
federal control. The State Military
Department exercised no control what
soever over these guardsmen. Any
statement to their units will neces
sarily have to come from the Depart
ment of the Army.”
The Tuscaloosa News quoted one of
the accused, Sgt. Roughton, as saying:
“The boys resented federalizing the
guard. If Gov. Wallace had been our
commander, this would never have
happened. We were not trying to hurt
anybody, but were mad at being
federalized and having our jobs
taken.”
The first blast was within a block of
Miss Malone’s dormitory, the second
in a Negro section three miles from the
campus, the third about three blocks
from the Negro coed’s dormitory.
Legal Action
Gadsden Ordered
To Present Plan
For All Grades
U. S. District Judge H. H. Grooms
of Birmingham ordered the Gadsden
School Board to present a plan of
desegregation no later than April 1 for
an immediate start in all grades by
the beginning of the 1964-65 school
year next September.
In his order Dec. 18, Judge Grooms
directed the board to apply Alabama’s
Pupil Placement Law without discrim
ination. On Dec. 27 he rejected the
petition of the parents of 12 Gadsden
Negroes to require a start in January.
There have been no mid-term transfers
in the Gadsden system since 1952,
Grooms noted. He said it would not be
in the “best interest” of the school
board to require a disruption of this
custom.
The suit (Miller et al v. Love et al)
was filled Nov. 18.
Grooms found that Gadsden has and
does operate schools on a segregated
basis “as a matter of custom, policy
and usage” and that no steps have
been taken to “reorganize” the system
into a “single non-racial” one.
Under the equal protection clause of
the 14th Amendment, Grooms held,
Negroes have these rights:
• Pupil assignment on a “reason
able” nonracial basis.
• Drawing of zone lines without
regard to race or color of the pupils
in the area.
• No school construction or designa
tion on the basis of race.
The duty to initiate desegregation
of the Gadsden school system is upon
the board, Grooms said, and not the
parents of Negro students.
Law Not a Plan
Transfer of pupils may be done
under the state’s Pupil Placement Law,
Grooms directed, but he added that
the law is not a plan for desegregation
and does not relieve the board of its
duty to provide one.
The Gadsden school school popula-
Alabama Highlights
A Negro graduate student was en
rolled at Auburn University on
U.S. court order following elaborate
preparations for maintenance of
order on the campus. Gov. George
Wallace, denouncing the court’s
“shocking decision,” ordered federal
agents barred from the campus and
none challenged the order.
The Gadsden School Board was
directed Dec. 27 to draft plans for
desegregation of its school system at
the beginning of the 1964-65 school
term.
The Macon County School Board
was granted an extension to March
2 to present an overall plan of de
segregation for the system. Tuskegee
High School, where 13 Negroes were
admitted under court orders in Sep
tember, remained totally boycotted
by white students.
Litigation continued on Negro de
mands to expand desegregation of
Birmingham schools.
Five Alabama National Guards
men, members of the last contingent
federalized last June when Gov.
George Wallace attempted to block
the admission of two Negroes to the
University of Alabama, were arrested
on charges of setting off three small
dynamite bombs at Tuscaloosa in
November.
tion is 12,922—9,494 whites and 3,428
Negroes.
Grooms said his order was in keep
ing with the Birmingham school order
under which five Negroes were admit
ted to three previously all-white
schools there in September.
Other school systems desegregated
for the first time at the beginning of
the fall term were those in Huntsville,
Mobile and Macon, However, all whites
staff withdrew from Tuskegee High
School in Macon County, leaving 12
Negroes the only students of the
school. (See below.)
Thus, 11 Negroes began attending
schools with whites for the first time
in Alabama history—the five in Bir
mingham, four in Huntsville and two
in Mobile. In all cases the boards are
under orders to submit plans for
further desegregation.
Grooms pointed out that nothing in
his order affecting Gadsden meant
“voluntary segregation is unlawful, or
that same is not legally permissible.”
He gave Negro petitioners 15 days to
file objections after the Gadsden
board submits its plan by April 1.
★ ★ ★
Judge Extends Deadline
For Macon County Plan
U.S. District Judge Frank M. John
son Jr. of Montgomery extended the
deadline from Dec. 12 to March 2 for
the Macon County School Board to
submit its plan of desegregation.
In granting the delay, Johnson made
no other changes in his order under
which 13 Negro children were admitted
to previously all-white Tuskegee High
in September. Under the terms of that
order, the Macon board was directed
to apply the School Placement Law
without discrimination.
The board accepted the 13 but after
Gov. George Wallace temporarily
blocked their admission, as he also
intervened with state troopers in Bir
mingham, Huntsville and Mobile in
September, all white students with
drew. The enrollment of 275 dropped
to 13, then to 12 when one of the Ne
groes was expelled for disciplinary
reasons. The boycott remains total.
White students transferred to other
white schools in the county, at Nata-
sulga and Shorter, and to the newly
created private school for whites, Ma
con Academy, which has an enroll
ment of 130.
The remaining white public schools
would be affected under any sub
sequent desegregation directive by
Johnson. Macon County is about 84
per cent Negro.
Accredited Withdrawn
Tuskegee High was dropped in
December from the accredited list of
the Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools. The association, meeting
in Memphis, said the school was
dropped automatically when it did not
apply for accreditation.
Macon Supt. of Education C. A.
Pruitt said no application was maii t
because he and other school offi^
“didn’t feel there was any need to
apply.” With only the 12 Negroes at
tending the school, he said, “We f e |.
it would be best not to apply.”
★ ★ ★
Huntsville Board Offers
Plan of Desegregation
The Huntsville Board of Education
offered its plan of desegregation in
Birmingham U. S. District Court on
Jan. 2. The plan provides for desegre.
gation of some 12th-grade classrooms
this month and 11th and 12th grades
next fall.
U. S. District Judge Hobart Grooms
withheld comment on whether the
court’s order of last August. In that
order, Grooms directed the board to
submit a desegregation formula.
The plan provides:
• That Negro applications filed be
fore Jan. 17 seeking assignment or
transfer to white senior classes will be
considered by the board for the winter
semester beginning Jan. 27.
• That all applications will be pro
cessed and determined by the board
under the regulations of the Alabama
Pupil Placement Act but without re
gard to race or color, “as far as is
practicable.”
• That no applications for transfer '
or assignment will be considered for
any grades other than the 12th this
semester.
• That assignments and transfers to
white 11th and 12th grades will be
considered for the school term begin
ning in September—again, “as far as is
practicable.”
• That applications for the fall term
must be filed on or before the regular
pre-school registration day, about two
weeks before school is open.
Grooms’ original order was handed
down last Aug. 12 (SSN, September)
in a suit in behalf of several Negroes. >
His order included a preliminary in
junction which forced the admission of
four Negroes into previously all-white
schools in September.
★ ★ ★
Complaint Against Plan
Taken Under Advisement
U.S. District Judge Seyboum Lynne
of Birmingham took under advisement
in mid-December pleas of Negro at
torneys that Birmingham’s school i
desegregation plan violates court
orders.
His action apparently meant that n°
more Negroes—there are now five w
three previously all-white schools--
would be transferred to white schools
during the current school year. He sai
it would be 60 days before he woul
rule on the objections.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal
ordered the Birmingham Board of E° u
cation to present a plan of desegrega
tion for last September. The plan
submitted, but the order was appea
and no further action has been taken.
School Supt. Theo Wright said
board could make no plans for fur ®
desegregation next fall pending a e ~
cision on the appeal. The board
mains under a temporary injunction-
Negro Argument
Negro attorneys in the case
et al v. Birmingham Board of E a
tion) argued that the plan submi^
ignored the original order to P r0 ^ in g
“for admission of new pupils en e
the first grade or coming into ^
county for the first time on a n
racial basis.” .
Negro attorneys filed new object! ^
to the plan Dec. 16, after the ac- ^
announcement by Lynne t a
would not rule for two mont s.
amendments to the objections, c ^
officials said, would not be hear ^
then either, since they became P
the original objections.
The Birmingham board e n ter ®
plan last summer and consider^ ^
plications for transfer to the 1 g ve
only, resulting in the admission
Negroes to three previously a
city schools.
The amendments asked, among
requests, that the board ma 0 f
mediate arrangements for a cirrus ^
Negro pupils entering the for
grades or coming into the co jjgf.
the first time for the Septem > ^
term. Also requested was an or for
the board consider applica io ^
transfer for the second semes
ginning in January.