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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JANUARY, 1964—PAGE 7 DELAWARE Negro Teachers Have Difficulty Getting Jobs DOVER D elaware state college finds t virtually impossible to place its Negro student teachers in white schools, according to the college president. Dr. Luna I. Mishoe made a formal appeal to the State Board of Education to "find a sufficient number of public schools in the state of Delaware which will accept our student teachers.” The student body at Delaware State College at Dover, is predominantly Negro. Student teachers are required to complete one semester of practice teaching in the public schools to meet certification standards set up by the state. But Delaware State, according to the statement, finds its efforts “severely and perhaps unnecessarily limited by the lack of sufficient public schools accepting our student teachers.” Problem at University Dr. Elizabeth C. Lloyd, who heads the state’s teacher certification pro gram, said the problem is also serious at the University of Delaware, which has a predominantly white enrollment. “Both are involved in the shortage of positions available for student teachers, but the state college is facing a more acute situation because of the relatively small number of downstate public schools who have opened their doors to Negro students and teachers.” While all Delaware districts are under court order to admit students of any race, Dover is the only down- state white district to have desegre gated its faculty. Meeting Expected Dover school officials, it was learned, will meet with Dr. Mishoe to discuss placing some practice teachers in its system in the next semester. Student teachers are normally as signed to schools near the colleges, Dr. Llovd said, but student teachers from Delaware State Colege are required to travel to one of the three all-Negro county high schools, or to Wilmington, to practice teach. “The college faces a large transpor tation problem and we want to find some satisfactory solution to it,” Dr. Lloyd said. The statement from Dr. Mishoe, which outlined the importance of teacher training, said “it is no longer Possible for the few schools accepting ou r students to carry our practice teaching load; neither is it desirable to be limited exclusively to such an ar- ra ngement.” Legislative Action Assembly Retains Pattern for Aid ^ Construction ,, General Assembly, contrary to *>hes of Gov. Elbert N. Carvel, aid tra< btional pattern of state for construction at white and Ne- schools. !o ° nse quently, the state will continue Psy 100 per cent of the cost at Ne- ^ schools and 60 ■ 1 cent at white with the 40 taxati raised by th e ! ° n within * lo cal districts. le gislaf m ° Ve for 4 on re<4Uir - 4 Jr state to lion 1 c °nstruc- *W° sts at a11 Cml, Camefrom mem- CARVEl pil ^ ° m Wilmington, where the pu- PWation is now predominantly Hfi 49p Se pt . which passed the House on ^le PUt fbe state aid on a sliding of bj^PParently based on the number But/ r ° eS ln eac h district. ‘he gQ ® Senate amendment restored V; 40 formula and subsequent at- acr° ss JP the House for a 100 per cent •>, he board formula failed. ■ ion q ™ Per cent proponents, includ- sctt]U V ' Carvel, fought until the As- - y recessed on Dec. 13. "Of bti Ve ’ . ile HB 426 finished its legis- l°Urney on Oct. 11, it remained TEXAS Huntsville Public Schools Adopt Grade-a-year Desegregation Plan Delaware Highlights Most white schools do not accept practice teachers from predominantly Negro Delaware State College, ac cording to its president. The General Assembly retained a school construction formula which awards 100 per cent state aid at Ne gro schools and 60 per cent at white schools. Gov. Elbert N. Carvel fought for 100 per cent at all schools. The NAACP says it has no immediate plan to challenge the school con struction bill in the courts. in legislative limbo, and was not sent to the governor, who must take action within 10 days. Subsequently, HB 469, which called for the state to provide 100 per cent at all schools, was introduced by Rep. Paul E. Shockley of Wilmington. HB 469 received 22 of 27 votes needed when it was called to the floor on Dec. 4 but the roll call was tabled, which allowed further consideration. Rep. Shockley appeared to be making progress on Dec. 11 when two of the four Democrats who failed to support the bill indicated they were having second thoughts. Conditions Attacked But both Rep. Granville T. Lowe of Laurel, and Rep. George H. Exley of Harrington, attached conditions. Lowe said he would want some assurances that passage of the bond bill would lead to standardized teacher salaries throughout the state. Exley said he would like to see the passage of HB 469 followed by a sales tax which he called the “only equit able tax we could impose.” HB 469 fell three votes short of pas sage on Dec. 11, although Lowe and Rep. Andrew J. Casey, Mill Creek, voted “yes.” “I thought I had five votes, but I guess I didn’t,” Shockley commented, as he once again placed the roll call on the table. On Dec. 12, the bill picked up an amendment but no new votes. Increase in Funds The amendment, by Rep. Wilbert E. Hocker, Millville, would have increased the bond issue from S60.175.125 to $106,875,125, with the $46,700,000 differ ence to be used to eliminate the bonded indebtedness of all school districts in the state. Many opponents of the 100 per cent bill had argued it was unfair to dis tricts already in debt as a result of past construction. But HB 469 despite vigorous efforts by its proponents, died as the Assembly finished its 90-day session and went into recess until February. Gov. Carvel, at five minutes before midnight on Dec. 16, signed HB 426, a $60-million omnibus school bond bill which retains the 60-40 formula. HB 426 would have become law at midnight without the governor’s sig nature. Legal Action No Court Action Seen Immediately On School Measure There is no plan to challenge imme diately in court a $60-million school construction bill that continues state aid of 100 per cent at Negro schools and 60 per cent at white schools, ac cording to an NAACP spokesman. Littleton P. Mitchell, state NAACP president, said on Dec. 18, two days after Gov. Elbert N. Carvel signed the bill into law, that he knows of no forthcoming legal moves. Other civil-rights leaders, who re quested that they not be identified, said the bill was being studied for possible action. One constitutional authority said there may be no basis for a suit until the bonds are sold and the money ap plied in a segregated manner. Mentioned Earlier The legal issue had been mentioned earlier by both Gov. Carvel and Sec retary of State Elisha Dukes. Gov. Carvel, who endorsed a bill whereby the state would have paid 100 per cent of the construction cost at both white and Negro schools, for that reason delayed signing HB 426, which retains the 60-40 formula. Dukes also expressed concern. “If a court case results, we will not be able to sell any bonds authorized, since the first thing we certify is that there is no litigation,” he said. AUSTIN cjblic schools at Huntsville, 70 miles north of Houston, an nounced plans to start desegrega tion next September. A grade-a- year plan will begin in the ele mentary school. Several other Texas schools previously an nounced similar plans for 1964. Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville is one of five tax-sup- ported senior colleges in Texas still maintaining segregation. Fourteen are desegregated. ★ ★ ★ The Houston school board became in volved in a hot argument between Mrs. Charles White, its Negro member, and some white board members. After Mrs. White declared that the board some times gave the impression it is “anti- American,” President Joe Kelly Butler demanded that she apologize. He called the reference “irresponsible.” Mrs. H. W. Cullen, another trustee, suggested that Mrs. White resign. Mrs. White said she would neither resign nor apologize. The Negro member set off the dis pute, in discussing vandalism at the schools, by saying there were “rumors of handclapping and rejoicing at one of the schools when the President (Kennedy) was assassinated . . . Re spect for the flag and respect for the country cannot be put into the hearts of children simply by repeating the pledge to the flag.” Then she added her feeling that “board actions, whether intentional or unintentional, have given the impres sion we were anti-Americau or anti- federal government . . .” At that point, President Kelly de manded the apology. He said later: “She has called this board everything, and I finally just got sick of it.” Legal Action U. S. Judge Refuses To Modify Order In Houston Case U.S. District Judge Ben C. Connally refused to modify his order for grade- a-year desegregation of Houston pub lic schools, which began in September, 1960. (Ross v. Butler) Joe D. Anderson, a Negro, sought to have the court order admission of his five-year-old daughter to an all-white kindergarten a block and a half from their home, rather than going a mile and a half to a kindergarten for Ne groes. Connally said that Anderson “in effect is asking that the program for orderly transition from a segregated to an integrated school system be junked and that all of the schools be subject to immediate integration.” The judge added that the Houston school board had wanted to have kindergartens desegregated first, but that Negro patrons had expressed the desire to begin with first graders, which was done. Kindergarten, voca tional and adult education classes are scheduled to be the last desegregated—■ in 1972. Under Survey The Texas Commission on Higher Education, coordinating agency for state colleges, indicated it will study in 1964 the “educational gap” between white and Negro students. This came to attention recently when commission members discussed the need for continuing Texas’ participation in financing Meharry Medical and Dental College in Tennessee, in view of the fact that state medical and dental schools in Texas have abol ished racial discrimination. (SSN, De cember 1963.) Lee Lockwood of Waco, commission chairman, said that continuing a dual system of higher education has been requested by leading Negro educators, partly because Negroes reaching col- I lege too often lack the preparation for Texas Highlights Trustees ordered desegregation of public schools at Huntsville, 70 miles north of Houston, on a grade-a-year basis starting next September. Dissension between a Negro mem ber of the Houston school board and other members broke into the open. A federal judge refused to modify his desegregation order for the Hous ton schools, rejecting a Negro pa tron’s request to abolish segregation immediately in kindergarten. Former Gov. Price Daniel branded as “the most extreme smear of all” a magazine article by a University of Texas faculty member implying that President Kennedy’s assassina tion could be blamed on “white su premacy extremists.” Directors announced that varsity athletics at Texas Technological Col lege will be desegregated immed iately. Two Negroes went out for the track team at The University of Texas. A study of the education gap be tween whites and Negroes is planned by the Texas Commission on Higher Education. Elementary classes are desegregated through the fourth grade. In The Colleges College Announces Desegregation Of Varsity Sports Directors of Texas Technological Colege at Lubbock announced imme diate desegregation of intercollegiate athletics, following the lead of The University of Texas and some others in the Southwest Athletic Council. (SSN, December, 1963.) Texas Tech, at Lubbock, first ad mitted Negroes in 1961 and currently has an estimated 45 Negroes among its 12,036 students. Two Negroes at the University of Texas became the first of that race to apply for varsity athletics, both seeking places on the track team. James Means graduated from predominantly-white Austin High School in Austin, while Cecil Carter graduated from Dunbar High for Negroes at Fort Worth. Coach Jack Patterson said the Texas track squad must be trimmed to 40 men by spring, but announced “if any prejudice is shown at all, it will be in favor of these boys.” ★ ★ ★ Secret Service men removed Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of the Presi dent and Mrs. Johnson, from Kinsolv ing Dormitory on the University of Texas campus in advance of a demon stration for total desegregation of hous ing on the campus. Twenty-three per sons, mostly Negro students, picketed with signs across the street from the all-white girls dormitory. Housing for meeting the standards required at pre dominantly-white schools. This brought a request for review from Clarence A. Laws of Dallas, re gional secretary, National Association for Advancement of Colored People. He said the commission should make an early, serious examination of edu cation available to “Negroes and other minority groups and to provide a single standard of high education for all citi zens as quickly as possible.” “The solution of the problem of Ne gro professionals, as well as non-pro fessionals, is not to be found in per petuating a haven for the educationally handicapped and inferior, but rather the elimination of those inequalities which precipitate handicaps in the women at the university is racially separated. The Board of Regents, however, has abolished all its requirements regard ing racial segregation except housing, which is involved in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court at Austin on Nov. 8, 1961. Integrationists reportedly raised $2,500 to finance the lawsuit, which U.S. District Judge Ben Rice has under advisement. The University of Texas was deseg regated on the graduate level in 1950 by U.S. Supreme Court order, and in 1956 all classroom segregation was abolished. The only segregation remaining is in housing, and some boys’ dormitories are biracial. Negroes also are pushing for employment of Negro faculty members at the university. Lynda Bird Johnson, a sophomore student, previously had announced plans to leave the University of Texas at the end of the semester. She is ex pected to enroll at some college in the Washington area. What They Say Article Branded As ‘Extreme Smear* Against Right Wing Former Gov. Price Daniel branded as “The most extreme smear of all” an article in The Nation magazine, on the assassination of President Kennedy. Dr. Reece McGee, a University of Texas associate professor of sociology who wrote the piece, retorted that Daniel and other critics evidently had not read the article. It blamed the slaying on the “back ground and attitudes of the people of this state (Texas) and city (Dallas)” and said that Mis sissippi would have been an other likely spot for such a crime to occur. Daniel told a Young Men’s Christian Asso ciation meeting it is regrettable that some Americans attempt to blame “right-wing ex tremists” for killing Kennedy when the facts indicate plainly it was done by a left-wing Marixst “who had spent more time in Russia than in Dallas.” Worse than distortions by Radio Moscow, said Daniel, are “articles by otherwise respectable writers in our own country who . . . associate (Lee Harvey) Oswald’s act with the “in tolerance of white supremacy extrem ists.’ ” “Thus far, there is not the slightest evidence that any American extrem ist group, right or left, advocated per sonal violence on the president, or that Oswald had any connection with any group of otherwise loyal American citizens. “Certainly he had no “white suprem acy” connections, and this group is hardly known in this state or in Dallas, (See TEXAS, Page 8) Race Study first place,” wrote Laws. “The answer to the problem of Ne groes competing with whites on the graduate and post graduate levels must be found in providing equal edu cational opportunities for Negroes from the kindergarten through college.” Dr. Lester E. Harrell Jr., TSHE di rector, indicated that Laws will be asked to make a presentation of the problem to the commission’s April meeting, with some preliminary dis cussion by the staff earlier. The agency is looking toward eliminating dupli cation of white and Negro college fa cilities, although Dr. Harrell said he foresees a long-time need for higher education geared specially to the Ne gro student. College Commission Plans