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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—FEBRUARY. 1964— PAGE 7
GEORGIA
Muscogee Sued;
Bibb County
Plan Ordered
MACON
F ive Negroes filed a suit Jan.
13 to desegregate Muscogee
County (Columbus) white
schools.
The plaintiffs asked a preliminary in
junction to permit them to enroll in
Columbus white high schools and a
permanent injunction to abolish segre
gation in the same schools.
U. S. Judge Robert Elliott promised
a speedy hearing.
The suit was filed for Janice A.
Bryan and Deidre L Bryan by their
mother, Helen M. Bryan, and for Jerry
L. Lockett, Gwendolyn Lockett and
Jim H. Lockett Jr., by their mother,
Armanda Lockett. Defendants include
the board of education of Muscogee
County school district; Brice Carson,
director of personnel; James Y. Moul
trie, director of instruction;Nathan Pat
terson, supervisor of service; and Wil
liam Henry Shaw, superintendent of
education.
In Muscogee County, there are 41
white schools with 25,914 students and
17 Negro schools with 10,150 students.
Negroes make up 28 per cent of the
school population.
Plan Ordered
A U. S. District Court ordered the
Bibb County (Macon) Board of Edu
cation on Jan. 24 to submit by Feb.
24 a plan for a “prompt and reasonable
start” toward desegregation of the pub
lic schools.
Judge W. A. Bootle signed a four-
page order submitted to him by agree
ment of attorneys for the Negro plain
tiffs and the school board. An order
form agreement was reached between
attorney C. Baxter Jones, representing
the board, and Donald L. Hollowell,
Atlanta Negro attorney representing
the plaintiffs. The order was then pre
sented to the judge.
After adoption and filing of the de
segregation plan by the school board,
the plaintiffs, 44 Negro children and
their parents, will have 20 days in
which to file objections, if any. Then
the judge will set a date for a hearing
on the plan and for further orders
from the court.
Bibb County Negroes first filed a re
quest for desegregation more than nine
years ago. The suit (Bivens et al v.
Board, of Public Education etc. et al)
was filed Aug. 14, 1963, after the Bibb
hoard by an 11-4 vote turned down a
Negro request for voluntary desegre
gation. At the time, the board majority
expressed a “deep conviction” that de
segregated schools would be detri
mental to both races.
The earliest time that Negroes could
i, atbn *tted to presently all-white
schools presumably would be next Sep
tember.
There are 34 white schools in Bibb
ounty with 21,083 students and 17
I 'tegro schools with 12,717 students. Ne
groes make up 38 per cent of the school
Population in the county.
ctivities connected with school de-
Missouri
(Continued From Page 6)
jj? first Negro student was admitted,
far.?";? a W> ar ently have been no Negro
Th y - memb ers.
rolln? * nsbtute had a total full-time en-
U e ent °f 227 students, including two
Was ?q S ’ ™ autum n, 1955. Total faculty
fiad 2.W autumn, 1963, the institute
With t stuc * ents , including five Negroes,
C0l, >Hent d faCUlty ^ ^ spobesman
Cit^ A^ e dormitories of the Kansas
grated ? bns htute are completely inte-
n umbe ^“ ree students out of a total
“g i" °f 125 students are Negro.
Past so Ur evenin S faculty and in the
tepresen? 6 , members °f our day faculty
Haw a i; e ° a . variety of races, mixed
“q Chinese, etc.
lute to 1S t ? le P°hcy of the Art Insti-
l he sam Gm ? ° y ab faculty and staff on
that j s 6 bas rs as students enrolled—
cr eed. hr re §ardless of race, color or
by the p, 0WeVer ’ 1 have been informed
tot, t 0 i eaa °1 the Faculty that he has
Plication knowledge, received an ap-
sit >ee join r ° m a ^ Tc ® ro teacher or artist
teer of tbe institution in the sum-
Was alsQ 6 ,,ihe visiting artists who
s Peake r a ? ^ onor s Day Convocation
Was tbe 1961-62 academic
” oodrnft ® ro artist, Professor Hale
’ Tlew York University.
Georgia Highlights
A school desegregation suit was
filed in Muscogee County (Colum
bus) and the Bibb County (Macon)
board of eduaction was ordered to
submit a desegregation plan by Feb.
24. In Washington, the U.S. Supreme
Court agreed to examine Atlanta’s
reverse stairstep desegregation pro
gram.
Negro pupils who skipped school
to participate in downtown demon
strations in Atlanta may be discip
lined.
segregation cropped up in a third
county, Spalding, when the Griffin
chapter of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
issued a statement outlining desegrega
tion requests and taking exception to
the building of separate vocational
schools now being planned under a re
cent bond issue. The chapter said its
members “protest the extravagance
and waste in building two separate
schools.”
Griffin is about 35 miles south of
Atlanta. Thirty-three per cent of the
Negroes in the Spalding County school
system are Negroes. The total school
population is 8,687.
* * *
High Court To Examine
Atlanta Stairstep Plan
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Jan.
13 to examine the 12-year reverse stair
step desegregation plan used in Atlanta
public schools.
Under the plan, the 11th and 12th
grades were desegregated in the 1960-
61 school year, the 10th grade was
desegregated in the 1961-62 term and
the ninth grade was opened to Negroes
in former white schools last fall.
The plan works on a pupil-transfer
basis. Negroes want the planned span
of 11 years for complete desegregation
shortened to seven years and desegre
gation based on redrawing of school
zone lines. They argue that a dual
system still will be in effect even after
the plan is completely implemented
and further contend that the staff will
still be segregated. They said approval
of the program runs counter to prev
ious Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals decisions and said
the plan guarantees continuance of
separate schools so completely that it
has been adopted by Savannah, Mobile
and Birmingham schools, where only a
handful of Negroes have been admitted
to previously all-white schools.
Previously Upheld
The Negroes asked U. S. District
Judge Frank A. Hooper of Atlanta for
a speedup order but he denied it. The
Fifth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals
was appealed to, but that court upheld
the plan on June 17, 1963, by a 2 to 1
vote.
The U. S. Supreme Court will hear
arguments on the case some time next
fall and then hand down a written
opinion.
There are 50,473 white and 45,711
Negro students in the Atlanta schools.
It was reported in the January, 1964,
Southern School News that 52 per
cent of the Atlanta school population
is Negro. This is erroneous. The cor
rect figure is 48 per cent. Figures on
the Atlanta schools are Department of
Education estimates since the city sys
tem does not report by race.
Miscellaneous
Demonstrators May
Face Discipline
Atlanta Negro school students who
skipped classes to participate in down
town demonstrations may be discip
lined.
J. Y. Moreland, principal of Wash
ington High School, said no decision
had been reached on the exact nature
of the discipline. He said 70 or 80
of Washington’s 3,200 students walked
out to join a group of about 150 Ne
groes who sang and staged a sitdown
strike in front of Mayor Ivan Allen’s
office and unsuccessfully attempted to
obtain service at two short-order res
taurants.
John Lewis, chairman of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
which led the marchers, said the high-
school pupils were recruited “to play
hookey for freedom” in an attempt to
emphasize what he called overcrowded
conditions and inadequate facilities at
Negro schools in Atlanta.
Disciplinary action normal in cases
of truancy would be taken against stu-
TEXAS
Two Church-Related Institutions
Announce Desegregation Policies
SADLER
AUSTIN
B aylor (Baptist) and Texas
Christian (Disciples of
Christ) universities enrolled Ne
gro undergraduates in evening
classes for the new semester in
new desegregation programs.
Five Negroes enrolled at Baylor,
which is located at Waco. Its trustees
announced a desegregation program in
November. (SSN, December.)
Twelve more Negroes registered for
evening classes at TCU in Fort Worth,
making a total of 40 Negroes there.
None applied for enrollment as regular
undergraduates. Its trustees a few days
earlier had voted for immediate, full
desegregation of all facilities. While di
vision of the board’s 32 members at
tending the special meeting was kept
secret, the decision was announced as
less than unanimous.
Chancellor M. E. Sadler strongly rec
ommended the move in a two-hour
closed session, which was described as
“spirited.”
TCU, operated by the Disciples of
Christ, is located at Fort Worth. Its
divinity school has accepted students of
all races for 15
years. Negroes
also have attended
TCU evening
classes, mostly
conducted off-
campus at Gen
eral Dynamics’
aircraft factory
and at Carswell
Air Force Base.
Two years ago,
the final two years
of a nursing de
gree course was opened to Negroes as
well as whites.
The latest action opens all depart
ments and facilities of the college, in
cluding dormitories, on a nonracial
basis. Coach Abe Martin told question
ers that he has no immediate plan to
recruit Negro football players.
TCU’s desegregation leaves Rice Uni
versity as the only one among eight
schools in the Southwest Athletic Con
ference to continue racial bars, al
though none of the others as yet has
Negroes on its varsity teams. Two Ne
groes are candidates for track at the
University of Texas.
Rice University’s trustees are seeking
court permission to eliminate the all-
white policy imposed by its founder’s
will.
TCU has 6,800 students enrolled. Sev
eral applications by Negroes to enroll
as undergraduates have been turned
down in the past. Church, faculty and
student groups have urged integration.
★ ★ ★
President Julius Glickman and Vice
President Greg Lipscomb of the Uni
versity of Texas Students Association
wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge
Ben Rice Jr., urging him to expedite
decision of a lawsuit to desegregate all
university-owned housing. (Sanders v.
Ransom, filed Nov. 8, 1961).
The case has been heard and rebut
tals were filed finally on July 9, 1963.
Judge Rice has been hospitalized fol
lowing surgery in recent weeks.
The student officials’ letter told the
judge that demonstrations probably
would continue until the court an
nounces its decision. The University of
Texas maintains separate dormitories
for white and Negro girls. Some hous
ing for men is biracial; some all-white.
★ ★ ★
At Prairie View A&M, all-Negro in
fact but desegregated by policy, Presi
dent E. B. Evans reported satisfactory
progress in negotiating complaints from
students.
A faculty committee has been meeting
with a group called Students for
Equality, Liberty and Freedom (SELF).
Student government leaders all re
signed last October in protest against
certain administration policies. Nego
tiations so far have dwelt with chang
ing the student government, greater
access to laboratory and library, and
more dormitory space.
dents found to have been absent with
out excuse, according to Dr. Raul
Stephens, assistant superintendent of
schools.
The action came a few days after
Negro leaders, following lengthy and
acrimonious debate, accepted a “battle
plan” designed to “totally desegregate
the city of Atlanta.”
Texas Highlights
Baylor University enrolled five
Negro undergraduates in evening
classes, and Texas Christian Uni
versity enrolled 12, also for even
ing classes, in new desegregation
programs. TCU trustees in a split
decision had just approved immedi
ate, complete integration of its fa
cilities.
Patrons filed a federal court law
suit to speed up grade-a-year deseg
regation started at Denison Independ
ent School District.
After a hearing, U. S. District
Judge Joe J. Fisher took under ad
visement desegregation lawsuits filed
by Negroes at Beaumont and nearby
Hamshire-Fannett ISD.
A lawyer for Negroes at George
town argued in U. S. Circuit Court
that the stairstep plan of desegrega
tion is unconstitutional.
Wounded Gov. John Connally drew
Don Yarborough, a liberal Democrat
who ran him a close race in 1962,
as an opponent for this year’s nomi
nation.
Legal Action
Lawsuit Filed
To Speed Plan
In Denison ISD
Denison Independent School District,
in North Texas, was named as defend
ant in a lawsuit seeking to speed up
the “stairstep” de
segregation start
ed in September,
1963. The case
filed in U.S. Dis
trict Judge Joe
W. Sheehy’s court
at Sherman on
Jan. 9, 19 6 4,
named Donald
Price and Melvin
Price, minors, as
plaintiffs against
Denison ISD, the
City of Denison, and H. W. Goodgion,
superintendent of schools.
Ten Negro parents of 16 school-age
children signed the petition for com
plete desegregation of the Denison
schools in September, 1964. Ten Negroes
enrolled last fall in desegregated first-
grade classes. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit
describe this grade-a-year voluntary
program as “too little and too late.”
★ ★ ★
Federal Judge Joe J. Fisher took
two school desegregation cases under
advisement, after hearings at Beau
mont, and a ruling is expected this
spring.
One case, Brown v. Hendrix, filed
Sept. 9, 1962, is for desegregation of
Beaumont ISD. The board in Septem
ber, 1963, initiated
without court or
der a stairstep 12-
year program
starting in the
first grade. The
petitioners,
whose children
are in higher
grades, want
Judge Fisher to
order them en
rol 1 e d without
waiting on the
stairstep program.
The second case, Richard v. Christ,
filed Sept. 18, 1962, seeks desegregation
of Hamshire-Fannett School, also in
Jefferson County. Its governing board
has not adopted any desegregation plan,
and the hearing was of Negro patrons
seeking an order for the school board
to admit their children. Judge Fisher
heard the two cases together.
Stairstep schools desegregation also
was attacked before the U.S. Fifth Cir
cuit Court of Appeals, meeting in
Houston, in a case involving George
town ISD (Miller v. Barnes, filed Sep
tember, 1962). The Central Texas dis
trict has ordered grade-a-year desegre
gation to start in September, 1964.
Price A. Ashton of Austin, attorney
for 30 Negro children plaintiffs, said
FISHER
this does not comply with the U.S.
Supreme Court’s decree for “deliberate
speed” in that Georgetown’s full de
segregation would be delayed until
1975, or 21 years after the Supreme
Court held compulsory segregation of
public schools to be unconstitutional.
None of the 30 plaintiffs would benefit
by this plan, Ashton said.
William S. Lott, attorney for the
Georgetown board, said that complete
desegregation this year would over
crowd existing all-white schools in the
district.
★ ★ ★
Eleven former students of Rice Uni
versity, including U.S. Rep. Albert
Thomas (D.-Houston), filed a petition
with State District Judge Phil Peden,
asking favorable consideration of a suit
filed by the school’s trustees to construe
the founder’s will so Negroes could be
admitted and tuition charged (Rice v.
Carr, filed Feb. 21, 1963).
William Marsh Rice, in a bequest of
funds that started the college in 1891,
specified that it would be operated for
white students only and without any
tuition charge. Trustees want the court
to let them disregard these restrictions
as being outmoded.
One group of Rice ex-students has
called for strict construction of the
will, and opposes the trustees’ request
(SSN, July, 1963).
Miscellaneous
Texas Klan
Leader Dies
Horace Sherman Miller, 62, of Waco,
self-styled leader of “The Aryan
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” died
during January. His organization ap
parently gained few followers in
Texas, even during the height of the
racial desegregation controversy a few
years ago.
Miller wrote prolifically to editors of
various publications, the Waco City
Council and others, and once sent Klan
application blanks to the British royal
family and members of Parliament. His
writings mostly were highly critical of
racial integration.
★ ★ ★
Four thousand persons turned out for
a reception honoring Mrs. Charles E.
White, Negro member of the Houston
school board. Sponsors said the number
was about 10 times as many as they had
expected to attend the Rice Hotel func
tion. None of Houston’s other school
board members was present. There has
been a rift between Mrs. White and
other members (SSN, January).
Political Action
Don Yarborough
To Face Connally
Don Yarborough, 37-year-old Hous
ton attorney, announced he will again
oppose John Connally for the Demo
cratic nomination for governor. Con
nally, who won nomination over Yar
borough and then won a hard race
against Republican Jack Cox in 1962,
is still recuperating from the bullet
wound inflicted on Nov. 22 when Pres
ident Kennedy was assassinated in
Dallas.
Yarborough, a political liberal with
strong support from Negroes, Latin-
Americans and labor union members,
said he felt Texas voters are entitled
to a choice between his political phil-
sophy and Connally’s more conserva
tive views.
C. S. Weakley Jr., a Dallas insurance
man, has announced as a Republican
candidate for the office.
Don Yarborough is no relation to
U.S. Sen. Ralph Yarborough, although
their political philosophy and following
are similar.
Sen. Yarborough will be opposed for
Democratic renomination by John Van
Cronkhite, a Dallas public-relations
man. Seeking the Republican senatorial
nomination are Jack Cox, a Brecken-
ridge oil man who was Gov. Connally’s
opponent two years ago; George Bush,
Houston oil-drilling executive and son
of a former U.S. Senator from Connec
ticut; Dr. Milton Davis, Dallas surgeon;
and Robert Morris, Dallas lawyer.