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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—FEBRUARY, 1964—PAGE 15 Mississippi (Continued From Page 1) tt -ho took office the day before. Gartin u-ho had held the number two office in the administrations of Gov. Hugh White gnd Gov. J. P. Coleman, called on Mis- sissippi 3113 to: "Be ready to wage a brave, deter ged and continuing battle against any invasion, from any source, by any group, of our heritage, sovereignty, constitutional rights and Southern tra ditions.” Lt. Gov. Gartin also pledged “in this battle I stand ready to make any per sonal or political sacrifice.” In a second message, delivered in person to the legislature Jan. 28, Gov. Johnson outlined some of the programs he will seek, and likewise bypassed any reference to segregation, sover eignty, national politics or states’ rights. It was labelled “the death of medio crity” in the “pursuit of excellence” and contained far-reaching recom mendations for stepped up research in all fields. Legal Action U. S. Court Upholds Judge’s Dismissal Of Federal Suits The U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap peals ruled Jan. 7 that the U. S. De partment of Justice lacked authority to file public school desegregation suits for individuals in military “impacted” areas. It upheld U. S. District Judge S. C. Mize, who had dismissed suits to desegregate the public schools at Gulf port and Biloxi. The decision also affected a similar suit filed to integrate public schools in Madison County, Alabama. In each case, the Department of Jus tice had asked for an injunction against school authorities to prevent them from assigning chlidren of military personnel and federal employes to schools on a segregated basis. The action was based on the premise that the school boards had accepted federal school aid as “im pacted areas,” which gave the govern ment jurisdiction in pupil assignment. The government also contended that in accepting the aid, the school authori ties had contracted not to segregate children of military personnel. ‘Not Under Obligation’ “We think it clear that the defendants are not under such a contractual obli gation,” the three-judge panel of ap pellate Judges Richard T. Rives and Ben F. Cameron, and District Judge Edwin F. Hunter Jr., said. “No one would be so rash as to claim that a local school board in either the ‘hard core’ states of Alabama and Mississippi would intentionally en- Correction A missing line caused an erroneous context in the Mississippi report for January. h» reference to a lawsuit pending on appeal before the U. S. Fifth Cir cuit Court of Appeals in New Or gans, in which a Greene County teacher, Ernestine Talbert, charged •hat her employment contract was copped after she tried to register to v ® ■ the report should have said: The U. S. Department of Justice Wed the suit, but U. S. District Judge w ‘ ham Cox of Jackson ruled there us no evidence to support the c urge that her civil rights had been 'lolated. - s to D mt °. a cont ract which it understood tlo fr de ^ or even Partial desegrega- der > races l n public schools un- A rn S iccc^diction,” the judges said, b, ■ 0re Improbable action can scarcely tmagined.” Provj4j C ° Urt sai< d that the federal law specjg 1118 t° r impacted area funds av ailabf sc h°°l facilities will be ai ents 6 to children for whom pay- th e i 316 made “in accordance with schoof^ S the state in which the ^ district is situated.” of th e , n d e< J out was the contention tegrg . e ral justice department that *ar jL 10n burdens the exercise of the er of the United States. War Power ‘Wet consequences of any attempted fde mui t erc ' se °t the war power out- ^ti° n ^ ar y bases without any author- a y on gress and during peace- S^ble^,. 6Xtreme as ' to be ‘ le d a dist ’• the court asserted. It ***8 bag I1C t court decision that Con- not e nacted a law providing Mississippi Highlights Mississippi’s new governor, Paul B. Johnson, said in his inaugural ad dress Jan. 21 that Mississippi is a part of the United States and its citi zens are “Americans as well as Mis- sissippians.” He sidestepped racial issues and pitched his message to wards establishing an improved na tional image for Mississippi. The U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal justice department lacked authority to bring school desegregation suits in military “impacted” areas. A federal district judge refused to order a Negro woman re-employed as a school teacher. a uniform national policy for educa tion of children of military personnel. The panel said the impacted area legislation left pupil assignment to the dictates of state law. “No occasion can arise for the sug gested unprecedented and extremely dangerous exercise of the war power to affect the operation of the public schools of the state,” the court said. ★ ★ ★ Court Refuses to Order Negro Teaelier Re-liired Citing a 1952 U. S. Supreme Court decision that “school authorities have the right and duty to screen the of ficials, teachers and employes as to their fitness to maintain the integrity of the schools as a part of ordered so ciety,” U.S. District Judge Claude Clay ton refused to order the Coahoma County Board of Education to rehire a Negro teacher. Mrs. Noelle M. Henry, wife of Aaron Henry of Clarksdale, state president of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, had taught in the county’s Negro schools for 11 years. She contended the board failed to rehire her for the 1962-63 school year because she and her hus band are engaged in civil rights activi ties. Mrs. Henry later amended her peti tion to add that she was not re-em ployed because of her husband’s in volvement in lawsuits and a criminal prosecution. The husband is challeng ing alleged discriminations against Ne groes in gaining voter status. He was also involved in a morals charge. Refused Amendment Judge Clayton ruled out the amend ment to the original petition because it changed the entire character of the case and was not presented promptly at the close of the hearing on the original complaint. The district judge also held that the evidence that formed the basis for the amended petition “came into the case in response to questions from the bench and did not result nor was it devel oped by questions from counsel.” However, Judge Clayton said in his order that the U. S. Court of Appeals may have the benefit of the court’s views with respect to these aspects of this case, and in event of an appeal, “it will be dealt with just as if the plaintiff’s motion to amend had been sustained here.” Judge Clayton pointed out that in Mississippi, teachers have no tenure but are employed on a one-year con tract basis. Principal Recommends “These contracts develop by the prin cipal of each attendance center recom mending to the county superintendent of education teachers for employment in his school,” Judge Clayton said. “If the county superintendent agrees with these recommendations, he recommends to the county board of education that the people so recommended be em ployed for that school as teachers for the next school year. “If the county superintendent does not agree with the recommendations made by the principal, he makes rec ommendations on his own initiative. In either event the board of education is powerless to employ anyone as a teacher in such a public school system unless that person is recommended by the county superintendent. “The evidence here is plain and un contradicted that the county superin tendent did not recommend plaintiff for employment. Hence, the board was without any authority to employ her and should not, therefore, properly be in this case. The board would be prop erly in the case (if it should be at all) only if the superintendent had recom mended plaintiff and the board had de clined to follow the recommendation. Plaintiff is entitled to no relief against the board.” Stating that the question raised in VIRGINIA Four More White Children Enroll In School Founded by Association RICHMOND TH he number of white children in classes conducted by the Prince Edward Free School As sociation increased from four to eight in January. The two sons and two daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Walter C. Lewis began attending the schools in January, ac cording to Dr. Neil V. Sullivan, super intendent. Approximately 1,600 Negroes are enrolled in the schools, which were opened last fall on a tuition-free basis. The association was formed through co-operation of federal, state and local authorities, and is financed by private contributions. The four newly enrolled white chil dren had not attended formal classes since the county’s public schools closed in 1959 to avoid court-ordered desegre gation. Confusion Before Most white children of the county have been attending classes conducted by the Prince Edward School Founda tion, but Lewis said “a lot of us were unable to send our kids to the private school.” He said that was not the only reason he didn’t send them. “As far as I was concerned,” he said, “I was willing to let my children go to the public school anyway. I had no objection to inte grated schools.” the proposed amendment to the com plaint was done by the court itself, Judge Clayton said: “Responding to questions put from the bench, the county superintendent stated that the reasons for his refusal to recommend plaintiff for employment were that the husband of the plaintiff had been convicted in a court of rec ord on a morals charge; that two libel suits were pending against the husband by the chief of police of Clarksdale and the Coahoma County prosecuting at torney (since upheld by the state su preme court), and, that he had been reliably informed that plaintiff would probably be sued to set aside as fraudu lent, conveyances of property made to her by her husband. “In essence as the court understands it from the sparse record made on trial, his position was that plaintiff’s husband had become notorious in the com munity and that plaintiff was ‘tarred with the same brush’ in the public mind by reason of her marriage and that she, too, probably would become personally and unfavorably involved in the public mind with the aforemen tioned fraud action. “And, that because of these circum stances she has become unsuited to teach young children. Assuming argu endo for the moment that the super intendent’s discretion is subject to judi cial review, it has long been recog nized that a teacher of young people occupies a sensitive position.” ‘Uncontradicted Evidence’ “In fact, the plain, uncontradicted evidence is that neither her member ship nor the membership of her hus band in the NAACP, nor the activities of either or both of them in working for the goals and objectives of this organization had anything to do with the refusal of the county superintend ent to recommend her to the board of education for re-employment for the 1962-63 school year,” he said. In support of that holding, Judge Clayton said the record shows that “she was recommended for re-employment and that she was re-employed for many years (11) after her membership and the membership of her husband in the NAACP, and the activities of both in the ‘civil rights’ area were well known to the defendant superintendent and his predecessor in office.” “There are no racial or civil rights overtones in this record with respect to plaintiff’s relationship with the pub lic school officials of Coahoma county nor with respect to the fact that she was not recommended for re-employ ment as a teacher,” he said. Mrs. Henry also had attacked a state law requiring that teachers file annually an affidavit fisting all organizations of which they are members. “Inasmuch as plaintiff in her present status as a non-teacher is not affected by this requirement, this issue is now moot,” Judge Clayton said. The style of the case was Noelle H. Henry v. Coahoma County Board of Education et al. Virginia Highlights Four more white children enrolled in classes of the Prince Edward Free School Association, bringing to eight the number of Prince Edward whites attending school with Negroes. A delegation of Negro educators complained to the State Board of Education that some textbooks used in Virginia’s public schools do not properly portray minority groups. S. W. Tucker, an NAACP attor ney active in many school desegre gation cases, announced his candi dacy for a congressional seat from Virginia’s Southside “Black Belt” area. Spottswood W. Robinson, III, a Negro attorney formerly active in desegregation suits in Virginia, was sworn in as a federal district judge. Lewis, a tobacco and cattle farmer, explained that he did not enroll his children in the free schools in Septem ber because “there was just so much confusion about the thing; I didn’t want to be rebellious to the community.” The Lewis children are Thomas Gene, 14; Betty Jo, 13; Edith Ann, 12, and James Ray, 10. James has never attended school before. ★ ★ ★ Juvenile petitions were sworn out Jan. 23 against six Prince Edward County youths, charging them with damaging an automobile owned by Dr. Neil V. Sullivan, superintendent of the Prince Edward Free School Association. Dr. Sullivan’s 1963 Buick was dam aged while he and his wife were out of town Oct. 31 and Nov. 5. (SSN, December, 1963.) William F. Watkins Jr., the county’s commonwealth’s attorney, said after the charges were filed in January that the incident occurred Halloween night, Oct. 31. The convertible top of the car was slashed, wax was smeared over the body and air was let out of the tires. According to Watkins, five of the six youths said they did not know that the superintendent of the free schools lived at the address. The car was parked in an open garage at the Sulli vans’ rented home in the Kingsville community about eight miles south of Farmville, the county seat. The juveniles, all white and ranging in age from 16 to 18, were to appear in the county’s juvenile court. Text of Order for Hearing Of School-Closing Issue As reported in the January Southern School News, the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 6 agreed to hear arguments March 30 on whether Prince Edward County may legally keep its schools closed. Here is the text of the court’s per curiam (by the court as whole) order in the case (Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County): “This case is one of the school segre gation cases which we dealt with nearly a decade ago in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 349 U.S. 294. After remand, numerous opinions were written by the District Court and the Court of Appeals but the mandate issued at the time of the Brown case has never been implemented. “In 1956 the Board of Supervisors decided not to levy taxes or appropriate funds for integrated public schools; and white children have attended white-only schools operated by the Prince Edward School Foundation, which has received state support. The District Court enjoined allowance of such support (198 F. Supp. 497) and that the public schools could not re main closed while public schools in other counties stayed open. 207 F. Supp. 349. Certiorari Granted “Thereafter litigation was instituted in the Virginia courts which resulted in a ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals that the Virginia Constitution compels neither the state nor the county to reopen the public schools in Prince Edward County or to furnish funds for that purpose. The Court of Appeals, prior to that decision, vacated the judgement of the District Court with instructions to abstain from further proceedings until the Virginia state decision became final (322 F. 2d 332)—a judgement which was stayed by Mr. Justice Brennan on Sept. 30, 1963, ‘pending the timely filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari.’ “The case is here on a petition for certiorari which raises not only the propriety of the judgement of the Court of Appeals insofar as it directed the District Court to abstain until the Virginia courts had acted, but other issues going to the merits. “In view of the long delay in the case since our decision in the Brown case and the importance of the ques tions presented, we grant certiorari and put the case down for argument March 30, 1964, on the merits as we have done in other comparable situa tions of Appeals. See 28 U.S.C. 1254 (1); Youngstown Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 584; Wilson v. Girard, 354 U.S. 524 U.S. 524, 526. Schoolmen Negro Educators Protest Textbooks Before State Board Some textbooks used in Virginia schools do not properly portray minor ity groups, a delegation of Negro educators told the State Board of Educations on Jan. 23. Dr. J. Rupert Picott, executive sec retary of the Virginia Teachers Associ ation (Negro), who headed the delega tion, told the board at a meeting in Richmond that he could cite about 20 instances in which textbooks are at fault in dealing with questions involv ing Negroes. He said the instances are both in “omission and commission.” Dr. Picott said he would supply fur ther details to Dr. Woodrow W. Wil- kerson, state superintendent of public instruction. Ask Better Treatment The delegation asked the board to inform book publishers that it favors better treatment of Negroes in text books. And the group urged that sup plementary texts be issued, where nec essary. The board said it would refer the matter to its textbook committee. Dr. Picott also urged members of the board to use their influence to have a Negro appointed to that body. He said this would be “to the advantage of the whole state of Virginia.” (Members of the board are appointed by the gov ernor. ★ ★ ★ The State Department of Education has dropped racial designations from the fist of schools in its annual educa tional directory. The latest directory was distributed early in January. Previously, the letter “N” has ap peared in parentheses after the name of each Negro school. The department also is dropping racial designations from schools listed in its annual report. ★ ★ ★ On July 6, 1963, Forrest E. Paulett was one of the members of the Albe marle County School Board ousted by the Board of Supervisors because the former body refused to rescind its ban on extracurricular activities in the schools. On Jan. 2, 1964, Paulette was named chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He had been elected to the board in November. Paulett was chosen as chairman by a 4-to-2 vote. All six members of the school board were dismissed by the county govern ing body as a result of last summer’s dispute, but the two members who had voted to rescind the ban were reap pointed. Paulett was one of the four not reappointed. (SSN, August, 1963.) ★ ★ ★ Twenty-one additional Negroes were assigned to predominantly white schools by the State Pupil Placement Board on Jan. 13. The assignments included four to one school in Prince George County, one to one school in Lynchburg, and 16 to three schools in Alexandria. (See VIRGINIA, Page 16)