Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12—FEBRUARY, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
ALABAMA
Huntsville
(Continued From Page 1)
5 or 6 as the six Negroes ordered ad
mitted attended classes. On the second
day, reporters counted 80 white stu
dents entering the school. Total en
rollment was not immediately estab
lished.
Infantry units were placed on alert
at Fort Benning, Ga., about 50 miles
from Tuskegee, for possible use in the
Macon County crisis. Included were
elements of the Second Infantry Di
vision and the 119th Air Assault
Group. The latter employs helicopters.
At its Jan. 30 meeting, the State
Board of Education (see Schoolmen)
said the operation of Tuskegee High
with only 12 Negro students and 13
faculty members was uneconomic. The
board also authorized payment of state
tuition grants to students without a
public school to attend. A private school
was set up in Tuskegee last fall and
some white students from Shorter and
Notasulga applied for transfer to it.
To accommodate a substantial number,
Macon Academy officials said, might
require double shifts.
‘Nonresident* Students
The state board also passed a resolu
tion requiring its approval as well as
that of local boards as a prequisite to
admission of "nonresident” students in
any school district in the state. This
followed Gov. Wallace’s statement that
only dependents of military or federal
civilian personnel had desegregated
Huntsville schools Jan. 27 (see below).
The assumption of state control in
admission, tuition grants and closing
orders raised the question whether the
state board might not be sued to de
segregate school systems all over the
state. Negro petitioners requested such
an order from Judge Johnson but he
deferred an immediate hearing on that.
Gov. Wallace said state tuition grants
were legal but Attorney General Rich
mond Flowers warned Macon Academy
not to “accept a single penny” of state
funds. If it did, Flowers said, it would
leave itself open to desegregation or
ders and would "end up like the high
schools have now at Tuskegee, Nota
sulga and Shorter.”
The attorney general would normally
be the counsel for the state board, but
it hired a Montgomery attorney, Maury
Smith, instead. Flowers said this action
was illegal. The Macon board had
been following Flowers’ advice as to
complying with federal orders and it
relied on his judgment that the state
board’s order to close Tuskegee High
should be obeyed, since the board has
that authority.
State board members expressed dis
trust of Flowers’ advice.
Buildings Burn
Two buildings, a bam and a tenant-
farm house, were burned the night of
Feb. 4 at the farm of Macon County
school board member Don Mercer Da
vis. Arson was blamed. A third build
ing containing 10 tons of ammonia was
saved when a passing neighbor put out
the fire started by rags soaked with
diesel fuel.
Crosses were burned at the homes
of three other members of the school
board the night of Feb. 2.
At Huntsville, all was peaceful Jan.
27 as 10 more Negroes entered pre
viously all-white schools, bringing the
total there to 14.
Four Negro students were admitted
to four white schools last September,
under a preliminary injunction by U.S.
District Judge Hobart Grooms of Bir
mingham. In his order last August,
Grooms directed the immediate ad
mission of the four, and the presenta
tion of a more comprehensive plan.
The Huntsville board presented its plan
Jan. 2 (SSN, February), providing de
segregation of some 12th grade classes
when the second semester opened Jan.
27, followed by desegregation of 11th
and 12th grades next fall.
In that plan, the board stipulated
that all applications for transfer at the
beginning of the second semester should
be filed by Jan. 17; that all applications
would be processed under the Alabama
Placement Law “as far as is practica
ble”; that no applications for transfer
would be considered for other grades
than the 12th for the January, 1964,
semester; that all applications for the
fall term must be filed on or before
the pre-school registration date—about
two weeks before the beginning of the
fall term.
The board further proposed grade-a-
year desegregation, from the 12th to the
1st.
However, the board’s announced plan
for the 12th grade only apparently was
contradicted by its Jan. 23 listing of
the schools to be desegregated in the
winter semester: two high schools, one
junior high and an elementary school.
The board said the students would be
Enrollment Quiet; Tuskegee Is
Alabama Highlights
Ten more Negroes were admitted
to previously all-white schools in
Huntsville Jan. 27 without incident,
but conflict developed in Macon
County.
On Jan. 30, the State Board of
Education ordered for economic rea
sons the immediate closing of Tuske
gee High School, which had been
attended only by 12 Negroes and no
whites since it was desegregated last
September by court order. All white
students, some 250, withdrew from
the school and transferred to white
schools at Shoter and Notasulga, and
to a new private school in Tuskegee.
Negroes were turned away from
the padlocked school when they re
ported for classes Feb. 3. U.S. Dis
trict Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr.
then ordered that six of the Negro
students from Tuskegee be admitted
Feb. 5 at Shorter, six at Notasulga.
The six assigned by court order
to Shorter were admitted without
serious incident, although some white
students stayed away from classes.
At Notasulga, Mayor James Rea
turned back the Negroes assigned to
the high school there citing a newly
adopted fire and safety ordinance
and contending that the school was
already at full capacity.
The state board authorized pay
ment of tuition grants to students
with no public school to attend.
Earlier, the board assumed control
of screening “nonresident” students
everywhere in the state—principally
dependents of military or federal
civilian personnel.
scattered through the various grades.
Only one of the 10 had actually applied
under the terms of the desegregation
plan submitted Jan. 2, the board said.
Last summer, the board took the posi
tion that it would not act on other ap
plications, beyond the four ordered ad
mitted in September, until it had sub
mitted its desegregation plan.
Although Governor Wallace had
temporarily delayed the admission of
the four in September, they were ac
cepted without incident.
Negro petitioners protested the Jan.
2 grade-a-year plan as too gradual.
On Jan. 24, Judge Grooms postponed
hearings on the objections until May
19. Conceding that cases pending in the
higher courts had a bearing on the
Huntsville situation, Grooms said the
objections should be “tentatively”
overruled.
School Supt. Raymond Christian
filed an affidavit with the court con
tending that the plan would comply
with federal court orders and, at the
same time, preserve the school system.
Negro demands, he said, would have
the opposite effect.
In a second desegregation case, also
heard on Jan. 24, Grooms gave the
Madison County school board until Feb.
5 to rule on applications by 16 Negroes
for admission to white schools. (Hunts
ville is in Madison County, but the
systems are separate.) In the new suit,
Negro attorneys asked whether the
plaintiffs who live outside the city
should be allowed to transfer to schools
operated by the city.
of a “single-shot” statewide segre
gation order directed at the state
board.
Negro petitioners contended that
Huntsville’s plan, ordered by U.S.
District Judge H. H. Grooms last
August, is too slow. Judge Grooms
on Jan. 24 postponed a hearing on
the objections until May 19.
In a second hearing on Jan. 24,
Judge Grooms gave the Madison
County school board until Feb. 5 to
rule on application of 16 Negroes for
admission to white schools.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals rejected federal justice de
partment suits aimed at desegregat
ing Huntsville - Madison County
schools, which serve substantial num
bers of service-connected personnel.
The suits were filed in January,
1963, simultaneously with similar
suits against the Mobile city-county
board and two Mississippi boards.
Macon County petitioners on Jan.
10 withdrew a motion to speed de
segregation of all schools in the
county. The hearing had been post
poned from Dec. 12 to March 2 by
U.S. District Judge Frank M. John
son Jr. Macon School Superinten
dent C. A. Pruitt told the court in
January that a general plan of de
segregation would mean the end of
public education for whites in his
county.
U.S. District Judge Seybourn H.
Lynne refused to order mid-year
transfers of more Negro students to
previously all-white Birmingham
schools.
A week before the Jan. 24 hearing,
Judge Grooms said: “I just don’t see
any legal basis for admitting students
living in the county to schools operated
by the city just because there are other
students who attend city schools but
live in the county.”
The desegregation of 10 new students
at four previously all-white Huntsville
schools Jan. 27 went “as smooth as
silk,” according to Huntsville Police
Chief Floyd Dyar. Chief Dyar said he
had only a few officers at each school
“and no special uniformed police be
cause we were trying not to create a
disturbance ourselves.” It worked very
well, he said.
The four schools were Butler High,
Huntsville High, Westlawn Junior High
and Madison Pike Elementary; two at
Butler; one at Huntsville High; one at
Westlawn and six at Madison Pike.
Lengthy Statement
In a lengthy statement the night be
fore the new desegregation in Hunts
ville, Gov. Wallace called for continued
resistance on the part of Huntsville
citizens. He said he had “offered addi
tional state assistance and further
courses to be followed in attempting to
save Huntsville’s school system.” The
fact that Huntsville officials apparently
did not want any help, Wallace said,
was “due to intimidation.”
He demanded “strong resistance, op
position and indignation on the part of
the local people,” with the observation
that: “Where resistance is low, federal
authorities and incendiaries follow a
steady course of intimidation that ul
timately will destroy our entire educa
tional structure.”
There was no evidence of indignation
or opposition Jan. 27 in Huntsville.
The governor noted that each of the
newly desegregated Negro students was
the child of Armed Forces or govern
ment personnel—“nonresidents who,
with the active support and encourage
ment of the federal government seek
to destroy the policies, customs and tra
ditions of this state.”
Wallace said the Department of the
Army and other government agencies
are “directly behind and responsible
for the actions of these Negro parents.”
While Alabama welcomes government
personnel, Wallace said, and provides
facilities for them, “we will never sanc
tion the actions of outside agitators who
refuse to respect our policies.”
It is significant, Wallace said, that
local Negroes were not among those
seeking to enroll in white schools. He
added that he had wired Alabama Sen
ators Lister Hill and John Sparkman
asking them to use their powers to as
sure that governmental agencies “cease
their said activities in this regard and,
give respect to the sovereignty of . . .
Alabama.”
★ ★ ★
Madison County and Huntsville
schools were directly affected by the
Jan. 7 ruling of the U.S. Fifth Circuit
of Appeals, rejecting justice department
suits to desegregate schools near fed
eral installations in Alabama and Mis
sissippi.
In simultaneous actions last January
(SSN, February, 1963) the department
had brought desegregation actions
against the school boards of Madison
County and Huntsville, as well as Mo
bile. The appellate court said “no oc
casion can arise for the suggested un
precedented and extremely dangerous
exercise of the war power to affect the
operation of the public schools of the
state.”
In answer to the justice department’s
contention that the boards had agreed
to desegregated facilities in the con
tracts providing for the impacted areas
funds, the court said:
“No one would be so rash as to claim
that a local school board in either of
the hard core states of Alabama or Mis
sissippi would intentionally enter into a
contract which it understood to pro
vide for even partial desegregation of
the races in the public schools under its
jurisdiction.”
The action upheld a decision by the
U.S. District Court in Birmingham as
related to the Madison County schools.
Alabama Attorney General Richmond
Flowers wired the attorneys general in
Louisiana and Mississippi congratulat
ing them for their ‘“untiring efforts and
work” in the case. Flowers also gave
credit to Madison County, Huntsville
and Mobile boards for their work in the
case.
★ ★ ★
A request to accelerate desegregation
in Macon County was withdrawn in
U.S. District Court in Montgomery
Jan. 10 by an attorney for petitioning
Negroes. Fred Gray, representing a
group of Macon County Negro parents,
had asked U.S. District Judge Frank M.
Johnson Jr. to vacate his order which
advanced from Dec. 16 to March 2 the
deadline for the board to submit a plan.
Gray declined to give his reasons for
withdrawing the speed-up request.
Thus, by March 2, Macon County
school authorities are to present a com-
These actions raised the question
Schoolmen
State Board
Orders School Closed
The State Board of Education on
Jan. 30 ordered the immediate closing
effective that day, of Tuskegee High
School, which was ordered desegre
gated last September. Attorney Gen
eral Richmond Flowers advised the
board to comply. (See lead story.)
After Gov. Wallace temporarily
blocked admission last September of
the 13 Negroes, all of the 250 white
students withdrew and transferred to
other schools in the county. One Ne
gro student was expelled for disciplin
ary reasons, leaving 12 as the only
students in the school.
Wallace presided over the Jan. 30
meeting as ex officio chairman of the
state board. The resolution to close
the high school was offered by Dr.
James D. Nettles of Arlington, who
said the action was necessary.
“We have the responsibility to see
that the schools are run efficiently and
this school is not being run efficiently
because it is costing too much to main
tain the building for only 12 students
and to pay the salaries of 13 teachers.”
The resolution said both teachers and
the Negro students at Tuskegee High
would be transferred to other schools
in the county. The segregated Tuske
gee Grammar School, adjoining, was
not affected. Court action seemed cer
tain.
Arrived at Huntsville
At the same Jan. 30 meeting, the
state board adopted a resolution aimed
at Huntsville, requiring approval of lo
cal boards of education as well as the
state board before any non-resident can
be “duly enrolled” in a public school.
The resolution would apply to other
cities in the state where schools are
attended by dependents of military-
connected personnel.
All 10 of the Huntsville students who
enrolled Jan. 27 were dependents of
personnel at the vast space and missile
complex at Huntsville.
The author of the resolution, Cecil
Word of Scottsboro, said it could force
the removal of these newly desegre
gated students. Every city and county
school board in the state was directed
to submit within 30 days a list of all
nonresident students who are enrolled
or who have applied.
Dr. A. R. Meadows, state superin
tendent of education, said nonresidents
are persons who live on federal install
ations and make purchases at post ex
changes and commissaries and are
therefore not taxpaying citizens of Ala
bama.
Meadows said the report would be
required in the current semester and
all subsequent semesters. Board mem
bers said the rule will give them a
weapon to fight desegregation. It was
expected to face a legal test.
Unsettled
prehensive desegregation plan, ^
directed by Judge Johnson when he t
ordered 13 Negroes admitted to pre v .
iously all-white Tuskegee High 1^
September. All white students with,
drew from the school and transferred
to other white public schools in the
county or to a newly formed private
school in Tuskegee.
★ ★ ★
Superintendent Says Plan
Would End Public Schools
At a deposition hearing in January
ordered to determine the progress the
Macon board is making with the coun-
tywide school desegregation plan
School Supt. C. A. Pruitt said a com-
prehensive plan would “end the public
school system in the county as far as
white people are concerned.”
He said the initial desegregation last
September would have been carried
out “without any trouble whatsoever'
had state officials not intervened and
temporarily blocked the admission of
the 13 Negroes ordered admitted to
Tuskegee High.
“I talked to the PTA,” he said, “I
talked with the football team, who met
with the players, with the captain tak
ing a leading part, to try to prepare
the athletes, recognized as leaders in
any school, whether they want to be
or not. I talked with the president of
the student body and members of the
student council. I talked with mer
chants. I talked with leaders of the
community, the ministers. I spoke to j
the Civitan Club and the Rotary Club. |_
the purpose of which was to do all I r
could to bring about mature thinking
in the community . . . and carry out
this court order without any trouble"
Leaders Prepare Speeches
He said he had the football captain
ind other student leaders prepare
;peeches for the first convention.
“They were to talk to the students in
in effort to get them to accept this in-
egration of the school, to try to Sd
hem to think as maturely as possible
ind, in other words, they were leadine
the direction we hope we woul
ove; that is, orderly desegregation o,
uskegee Public School (of which e e
gh school is a part).”
The final day before school openel
’ruitt said ,he worked until long afte I
lidnight. “When I went to bed I felt | v
lat everything had been done that va
ossible to open the school without an; o
isturbance at all.” ,.
He said he was awakened at 5:
.m., the morning schools were °P*
Labor Day): “There was a sB
-ooper on my front porch. He a
rder from the governor directing .
oard to delay the opening f° r ,
reek ... We had no idea the troop? __
•ould be there.” j no r
During the week that followed n I j,
tudent was allowed to enter When,
-oopers left and National Guar t
rrived. the school was “P 6116 c^, 1
?w white children showed up. .
nly the 13 Negroes (one of whom
iter expelled for disciplinary r
'ere left.
At
Conflicting Orders
,t one time, Pruitt said, he had (
ring orders from three UacC
trees: the federal court, Gov. ^
1. later, a directive from flaw
Education Austin R. Meado s.
ication Austin n. v ,de
vs instructed the board quit
; service to white studen 0 tber ,
school and transferred to ^ -
ite schools. The service „
red for some three months,
itinued after the Christmas ^
ler oral instructions f rom ^
ige Johnson. „unuan c< v,
Wallace protestetd the disco ^
Pruitt felt he would be ^
ipt. State Troopers began ^ ^
students in patrol cars. tr a<k
;es were borrowed from a
ool. i dese# 1 * !
is for a countywide pja® 1 (g 4 pet' *
ion in the heavily NetT ^
t) county, Pruitt said: **
. . Under the circumstan ^ ; f
st today. I can conceiW^ b y , v
this time that would p
white people.” + 0 ed ^ J
•ruitt said that he has
his church in Tuskege f*
bitter feelings m the ha'
•cause of . . • the things th^ ^
1 to me, the things we b»'
ie the tnmss w i
feel it best not to; ^ thj
n to other churches outsi^ , ,,
imunity but we ha tein be r , j
rch in Tuskegee since SeP jn *** \ »
just been unbearable,
e had taught the Men's >
lis church (Methodist) *
(See ALABAMA, Page