Newspaper Page Text
page 14—FEBRUARY, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
NORTH CAROLINA
Freedom of Choice Is Upheld in Durham Suit
WINSTON-SALEM
he U.S. Fourth Circuit Court
of Appeals ruled Jan. 27 that
the Durham City Board of
Education must abide by a free
dom of choice decision by U.S.
District Judge Edwin M. Stanley
on July 7, 1963.
This action was taken in the Wheeler
v. Durham City Board of Education and
Spaulding v. Durham City Board of
Education cases, both filed in 1960 orig
inally.
Judge Stanley had ordered the Dur
ham city board to open all elementary
and junior high schools to Negro chil
dren during the 1963-64 school year,
and to open the high schools in addi
tion in 1964-65. Stanley also had re
fused to approve a Durham proposal for
desegregation of schools.
The Durham school board filed ap
peal of Judge Stanley’s action Nov. 13,
1963. The appeals court heard the case
Jan. 20.
Board at Liberty
The appeals court stated:
“The school board is at liberty to
propose at any time a revised plan for
desegregation, and the District Court is
fully empowered to deal with it in ac
cordance with this court’s earlier opin-
• _ »
ion.
During the hearing, Marshall T.
Spears, attorney for the Durham city
school board, said the board had been
placed in “an impossible administrative
position.” He said some schools had be
come overcrowded and faced the dan
ger of losing accreditation. He also said
the school board would like to present
its alternative plans for desegregation.
Judge Stanley had rejected a one-
grade-a-year plan presented by Dur
ham in April, 1963. This plan also in
cluded a school attendance area setup,
which the judge rejected. Judge Stan
ley received the case after the appeals
court had ruled Oct. 12, 1962, that the
city school board was illegally applying
the North Carolina Pupil Assignment
Law.
Speaking for the Negro plaintiffs,
James M. Nabrit in of New York, a
National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People attorney, said:
“The Durham City school board has
had great success in the past with their
tactics to delay integration and now
they are merely trying to continue with
that tactic.”
★ ★ ★
Negroes File Lawsuit
Against Buncombe County
Parents of 32 Negro children filed
suit Jan. 24 in the U. S. District Court
in Asheville against the Buncombe
County Board of Education, charging
that the county discriminated against
Negro children in school assignment
procedure. Their action came only 17
days after the county school board an
nounced an attendance area, step-by-
step plan to end school desegregation
by the 1967-68 school year.
The action, designated Bowditch et al
v. Buncombe County Board of Educa
tion et al, seeks an injuction to stop
the board from discriminating in any
manner against Negro school children
and professional personnel, starting
with the 1964-65 school year.
Buncombe County had desegregated
its schools voluntarily for the first time
in September, 1963, enrolling 12 Negro
children in grades one, two and three
at the previously all-white Haw Creek
Elementary School.
Judge Wilson Warlick has not an
nounced a date for the hearing. The
suit was filed by attorney Ruben J.
Dailey.
Demands of Suit
The Negro suit asks the following:
• All Negro children be permitted
to enter schools of their choice, nearest
their homes.
• The school system assign students
and professional personnel on a non-
racial basis.
• Board members and the school su
perintendent “be enjoined from contin
uing the policy, practice, custom and
usage of discriminating against the
plaintiffs and other Negro children of
Buncombe County because of race or
color, and for the other relief . . .”
The suit made these claims:
Buncombe County operates 25 public
schools, but Negro elementary school
children are assigned to one of two Ne
gro schools, Shiloh or Carver. High-
school students in the county must at-
North Carolina Highlights
The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled that the Durham City
Board of Education must permit Ne
gro children freedom of choice in
attending schools, upholding a dis
trict court ruling of July 7, 1963.
Parents of 32 Negro children filed
suit against the Buncombe County
Board of Education, asking that the
county desegregate assignments of
students and teachers. The suit was
filed 17 days after the county an
nounced a four-year plan for schools
desegregation.
The North Carolina Board of
Education approved the teacher
training program of two predomi
nantly white colleges, but deferred
action on the program of a Negro
college.
The State Bureau of Investigation
was ordered to investigate leaflets
injecting the racial issue into a ref
erendum on the proposed consolida
tion of the Pasquotank County and
Elizabeth City school systems.
tend the Stephens-Lee High School, a
Negro high school in Asheville. No Ne
gro high school is operated by the
county.
On Jan. 7 the Buncombe County
Board of Education adopted a desegre
gation plan with the following points:
•First-grade pupils of both races will
be assigned to the elementary school in
their own attendance area.
• Promoted pupils will be reassigned
to the same school or to the school of
higher rank (high school or junior high
school) in their attendance area.
• A parent or guardian of any pupil
of grades 1-4 assigned to a school out
side his attendance area may request
reassignment to his area school within
10 days after receiving the report-card
assignment.
• Assignments on this basis will be
made in grades 1-8 in 1965-66, grades
1-10 in 1966-67, and grades 1-12 in
1967-68.
• Pupils not previously assigned to
schools in the county will be assigned
according to the new plan in accord
ance with their grades in school.
• The county school board has the
right to change the assignment of any
pupil as the need may arise.
★ ★ ★
U. S. District Court ordered the Har
nett County Board of Education to ad
mit 27 Indian children to white ele
mentary schools, in an edict handed
down Jan. 2 by Judge Wilson Warlick
in Raleigh.
His ruling, however, applied only to
the 27 children involved in the case.
This was the latest action in Chance
et al v. Harnett County Board of Edu
cation, originally filed Oct. 17, 1960. In
dian children have been attending the
Dunn High School since 1961.
The county operates an elementary
school for Indian children, but not a
high school for them. Dr. I. Beverly
Lake, a Democratic Party hopeful for
governor in the party primary, was an
attorney for the county.
Harnett County also is currently in
volved in a suit by 19 Negro children
seeking school desegregation, (Felder et
al v. Harnett County Board of Educa
tion), filed Oct. 9, 1963.
Schoolmen
Negroes Propose
Five-Point Plan
For Craven County
Negroes filed a petition with the
Craven County Board of Education Jan.
7 proposing a five-point plan to deseg
regate the county school system. An
attorney, Reginald L. Frazier, and four
other (Negroes met with the county
board Jan. 6 to ask for:
• Naming of Negroes to the school
board.
• Employment of Negroes in other
than menial tasks.
• Assignment of teachers on a non-
racial basis.
• Assignment of pupils to schools of
their choice.
• Assignment of students to schools
nearest their home if a geographical
plan of assignment is used.
The Statesville chapter of the Na
tional Association for the Advancement
of Colored People asked the Iredell
County Board of Education to desegre
gate its schools in a letter to the school
board Jan. 13. T. V. Mangrum, vice
president of the chapter, signed the
letter.
It asked for a plan to operate schools
on a nonracial basis in pupils, teachers
and other personnel. Currently, schools
operated in the county are on a segre
gated basis. Cities in the county, in
cluding Statesville and Salisbury, are
operated on a desegregated basis.
★ ★ ★
Teachers Study Proposal
To Drop Racial Barriers
The all-white North Carolina Educa
tion Association announced Jan. 12 that
it will study a proposal to drop racial
barriers from requirements for mem
bership. Dr. Frank Fuller of East Caro
lina College, state president of the
NCEA, said elective and appointive of
ficials of the organization will present
a constitutional amendment to drop the
word “white” from the NCEA consti
tution.
This proposal will be brought before
the NCEA Delegate Assembly when it
meets in March. If the assembly ap
proves, it will then be voted upon by
the association’s 35,600 members. A
two-thirds majority is required for
passage.
If the amendment passes, Fuller said,
local NCEA units would still have the
option of admitting non-white mem
bers. The NCEA also could establish
more than one local unit in a school
administrative unit.
Negro teachers of the state belong
to the North Carolina Teachers Asso
ciation. With two state bodies the NCEA
In the Colleges
The North Carolina State Board of
Education on Jan. 9 approved teacher
training programs at two predominantly
white state colleges, but deferred action
on the program at a Negro college. The
state plans to operate under a new sys
tem of certifying teachers in the future.
Teachers will be certified by their
colleges rather than by the state board,
if the new college program is approved
by the state board. Under the present
program, the state board certifies
teachers upon their graduation from
college.
The state board approved the teacher
education programs of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
East Carolina College, but deferred ac
tion on Winston-Salem State College.
The board criticized training programs
at all three schools.
Students at the two white state-sup
ported colleges in teacher training will
be certified by the colleges upon gradu
ation. Those at Winston-Salem State
will operate under the old setup.
Winston-Salem State is one of three
state-supported Negro colleges special
izing in teacher training. It was the
only one of the three seeking approval
under the new program at this time.
Its critics asked for improvement in
organization, admission requirements,
faculty, physical facilities and other
areas. The college also was asked to
improve the college curriculum.
★ ★ ★
Dr. William C. Archie, director of the
North Carolina State Board of Higher
Education, described the state’s new
community college plan as an oppor
tunity to learn.
Speaking before the Faculty Club of
Duke University in Durham, Dr. Archie
said:
“The underlying philosophy of the
community college can be rather simply
put. These institutions are to provide
an appropriate education for every boy
has had problems in connection with
national organizations. Problems also
arise with affiliated Student NEA
groups from integrated colleges.
Miscellaneous
Governor Orders
SBI To Investigate
Source of Leaflets
Gov. Terry Sanford requested the
State Bureau of Investigation to inves
tigate the source of unsigned leaflets
bringing up the racial issue in a Pas
quotank County referendum Jan. 14.
The proposal to merge the Pasquotank
County and Elizabeth City city schools
districts into one unit lost by 133 votes.
Leaflets passed out among white peo
ple urged “our white friends” to vote
for the merger and were signed by an
apparently non-existent Interracial
Group for Consolidation.
Another leaflet distributed among
Negroes declared that consolidation
would perpetuate school segregation.
This leaflet was unsigned.
“The integrity of elections is at
stake,” Sanford said. “We should learn
all we can about the use of such un
ethical practices.”
Wade Bruton, attorney general, or
dered the SBI to determine if any laws
were violated and to discover who put
the leaflets out.
★ ★ ★
Jasper Brown, a Negro father who
took four of his children to a previ
ously all-white school Jan. 22, 1963 in
Caswell County, plans to move to
Washington, D. C., he announced Jan.
9 in Yanceyville.
He was sentenced on Nov. 19 to 90
days for shooting and wounding a white
man, N. L. Oliver Jr., age 20, in con
nection with the school issue.
and girl without respect to color or
creed.”
The state’s 1963 Act on Higher Edu
cation permits a city, county or area
to establish a community college with
state help.
★ ★ ★
Food helped to soothe and smooth the
path of desegregation in Southern col
leges, Theodore Minah of Duke Uni
versity said Jan. 30 at Chapel Hill. He
addressed the National Association of
College and University Food Services
meeting at the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill and at Duke
in Durham. He is president of the as
sociation.
Speaking on “The Role of Food Serv
ice in Higher Education,” Minah said:
“In many of our Southern colleges
and universities the dining halls were
integrated long before the communi
ties, and this gave the students from
the South their first opportunity to dine
with members of other races.
“This proved to be highly successful
in spite of the apprehensions of the
adults, except in a very few cases. The
students, both white and colored, found
that they had many worthwhile and in
teresting things to discuss, and soon
the atmosphere became relaxed.
“This helped to calm the fears of
many of the townspeople and they
were gratified to learn that this could
take place without upsetting their ‘way
of life.’ ”
★ ★ ★
Gov. Terry Sanford appointed biracial
state commission to administer the
North Carolina phase of the federal
government’s Higher Education Facili
ties Act of 1963. The governor also
appointed an integrated advisory com
mittee of 12 presidents of public and
private colleges to serve this commis
sion.
State Board Approves Training
For Teachers at Two Schools
D. C.
(Continued From Page 13)
The D.C. schools are overcrowded
Hobson said, and have inadequate
libraries and laboratories, as well aj
poorly trained teachers. About f 0Ur
out of five pupils in the school system
are Negroes.
“If we could get 45 per cent of th e
school children out for two or thiee
days, it would be quite effective ’
Hobson said. He said his plans did
call for a boycott by teachers.
Suggests “Backfire’
Deputy School Supt. John M. Riec^
told reporters he doubted that a boy.
cott would help remedy conditions ia .
the schools, and he suggested that the
protest might “backfire.”
“When it comes right down to j(
who loses?” Riecks asked. “The chil-
dren are the ones who will suffer.”
Riecks said the Board of Education
and School Supt. Carl F. Hansen have
“time and time again attempted to
remedy these things,” and have made
some headway despite steady enrol],
ment increases.
Hobson said the possibility of a boy.
cott would be discussed with national
CORE leaders at a meeting Feb. 21 in
New York City, and with local organiz
ations during the month. CORE leaders
figured prominently in a one-day boy-
cott of New York City schools on Feb.
3, which was observed by about one-
third of the city’s pupils and was hailed
as successful by organizers of the
demonstration.
★ ★ ★
‘Exchange Visits’
Of Pupils Studied
D.C. school officials are studying
plans for a series of “exchange visits”
among pupils of various schools as part
of a program drawn up by the edu
cation system’s Committee on Human
Relations.
The program, to be put into effect
this year, was circulated to school of
ficials early in January by School
Supt. Carl F. Hansen. He emphasized
“the need for each school to involve
its personnel in an active program of
human relations interests and activi
ties.”
The “exchange visit” plan calls for
pupils from one part of the city to
visit a school in another part to join
in classroom activities, assembly pr°-
grams or sports events.
Other measures recommended by the
Committee on Human Relations in
clude:
• A weekend camp workshop f° r
committee members and two teachers
from each school building to consider
human-relations education.
• An expanded secondary-school ef
fort to teach students proper conduct
at athletic events.
• PTA programs devoted to human-
relations problems.
• An experimental school camping
program for fifth- and sixth-g 1 " 3 e
pupils.
North Carolina may share in $18 r3 ‘'.
lion in funds in three years under
act. The new commission will np
velop a state plan which will be
proved by the U. S. Commissioner
Education. It will then be in charge
administering the funds. _
One Negro is on the main co ,
sion, and three Negro college P
dents are members of the a
body. ii-vilk
State Rep. Sneed High of Faye _
is chairman of the commission. • 0
old L. Trigg of Salisbury is the n
member. Negro presidents on ^ gS ^e
visory group are Dr. Samuel F- p
of North Carolina College,
Perry of Johnson C. Smith Um ^
and Dr. Kenneth R. Williams o
ston-Salem State College.
★ ★ ★
A Negro college choir, * e j
C. Smith University choir of
has been selected as the officia . (e d
casting choir during 1964 by e
Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. th e j
The choir will record music ^
Protestant Hour, the National f()r
Pulpit and the Church of °ie pj.S-A
the United Presbyterian Churcn,
* * * at the
nnbert A. Gaddy, a s f wor Co ]lege-
school of North Carolina ^ ^
edominantly Negro school, ° &
anted to the lands divisi n
5. Department of Justice n ^
on, D. C. He was named u ^ ^
ors program open to stu g e »"■"
20 percent of their classe .