Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE 14—MARCH, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Politics (Continued From Page 13) In Texas, school segregation-deseg regation appears unlikely to be a political campaign talking point. De segregation of public schools and other facilities has proceeded markedly dur ing the past year, even in East Texas, adjacent to Louisiana. Texas Gov. John Connally, who was wounded when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, will be opposed for nomination in May to a second two-year term. Don Yarborough a Houston lawyer who also was Con- nally’s Democratic primary opponent two years ago again seeks the nomi nation. Neither is expected to venture far into race-relations as a campaign issue. C. S. Weakley Jr., a Dallas insurance man, is a Republican gubernatorial candidate. A Republican, Jack Cox, a Breckinridge oil man, waged a hard- fought campaign with Connally for the governorship in 1962. One of Texas’ two U.S. senators, John G. Tower, is a Republican identified with Sen. Gold- water’s forces. U.S. Sen. Ralph Yarborough, a Dem ocrat who is not related to Don Yar borough, will seek re-election this year. His Democratic opponents in clude John Van Cronkhite, a Dallas insurance man, and Gordon McLen don, a Dallas radio executive. Mc Lendon described himself as a con servative except on civil rights—“I’m a liberal on that.” Republican primary candidates for the senatorial nomina tion include Cox (Connally’s past op ponent); George Bush, a Houston oil- drilling executive; Dr. Milton Davis, a Dallas surgeon, and Robert Morris, Dallas lawyer. The Political Association of Spanish- Speaking Organizations, a militant group of Latin-Americans, charged last month in a meeting at Waco that Gov. Connally is guilty of “racism” and has “failed to represent all the people of Texas . . . (by) believing that property rights are superior to human rights and opposing the civil rights program of the late President Kennedy and President Johnson . . The organization endorsed Don Yar borough for governor and Ralph Yar borough for senator. North Carolina School segregation-desegregation has not been a major issue in North Caro lina politics, but there are racial over tones in the campaign for governor. Five candidates are in the field to succeed Gov. Terry Sanford, three of them Democrats and two Republicans. Neither Republican has made a state ment on race issues, but the Demo crats offer three shades of opinion and one has made a segregationist com mitment. L. Richardson Preyer of Greensboro, a former U.S. district judge, says the question of segregation or desegrega tion of schools has been settled by the courts and that race is a closed issue in North Carolina politics. His position is similar to that of Gov. Sanford. Dan K. Moore of Canton, a former Superior Court judge, has made this statement: “I do not believe you can legislate equality. It must be earned. To that end, the Negro deserves and should be given equality of opportu nity. This will not come through vio lence or by additional laws which take away private property rights in the name of civil rights. North Carolina should be allowed to work out its own problems.” Dr. I. Beverly Lake of Raleigh, a lawyer and former faculty member at Wake Forest College who ran against Sanford in 1960, advocated public ac ceptance of racially separated educa tion as being “in the best interest of all our children.” (See North Carolina report.) Previously, he said: “I shall strive to conserve and develop the friendly spirit of mutual helpfulness which has characterized the relations of white and Negro North Carolinians for generations. Through that spirit, we can move ahead to greater comforts and satisfactions for us all. Our tra ditional ways of life have proved their value to both our races.” Byrd’s Term Ending In Virginia, the term of Sen. Harry F. Byrd, long a major factor in politics and a principal backer of the state’s previous “massive resistance” policies, expires at the end of this year. In the forthcoming election, Byrd’s dif ferences with other Virginia leaders on segregation - desegregation issues may be underlined. Former Gov. J. Lindsay Almond Jr., who sponsored the state’s present “freedom - of - choice” educa tional program based on tuition grants for pupils attending schools outside their zones, became a federal judge on appointment of President Kennedy last year without the support of either Sen. Byrd or Sen. A. Willis Robertson. West Virginia’s 1964 campaign for governor will include advocacy of fur ther school desegregation. Bonn Brown, an Elkins lawyer, said he would en deavor to expand acceptance of deseg regation in the few counties where it remains on a voluntary basis. Former Gov. Cecil Underwood, again a candi date, has a record of outspoken ad vocacy for school desegregation. He is a former chairman of the Southern Regional Education Board. Meanwhile, a New York Negro law yer, Paul Zuber, is seeking write-in support as a Republican in the West Virginia presidential preferential pri mary, stating that he is seeking a forum for discussion of national school desegregation problems and other hu man-relations subjects. Maryland Senate Race In Maryland, the Senate seat now held by J. Glenn Beall, a Republican, is up for filling this year, and pos sibility has arisen that school-race issues will figure in the campaign. During January, an announced candi date, State Comptroller Louis J. Gold stein of Calvert County in Southern Maryland, was asked publicly by the state branch of the NAACP why his county was without even token deseg regation or a human-relations commis sion. Goldstein replied that Calvert County had both. He is backed by Democratic Gov. Millard Tawes. In Florida, where political cam paigns have been conducted without debate as to race-relations since an outspoken segregationist lost to LeRoy Collins in 1956, a primary is set for May to nominate candidates for gover nor and for the Senate seat held by Spessard L. Holland, a Democrat. In cumbent Gov. Farris Bryant has con tinued Collins’ policy of maintaining a “moderate” administration as to race-relations. Campaigns for both governors and U.S. senators are pending in Delaware and Missouri, where Govs. Elbert N. Carvel and John M. Dalton, Democrats, have supported school programs and other measures supported by Negroes. In Delaware, Carvel is considered among the likely candidates for the Senate seat now held by Republican John J. Williams. In Missouri, Sen. Stuart Symington’s term expires at the end of this year. Two Tennessee Senators Tennessee must elect two U.S. sena tors this year instead of one because of the death in 1963 of Sen. Estes Ke- fauver, a backer of civil-rights laws who is succeeded pending the election by Herbert S. Walters of Morristown on appointment of Gov. Frank G. Clement. Sen. Albert Gore, who with Kefauver failed to join other Southern senators and representatives in sign ing the Southern Manifesto in 1956, is expected to seek a third term. Announced candidates for the Ke fauver seat include U.S. Rep. Ross Bass of Pulaski, an announced supporter of the national administration’s civil- rights legislation, and M. M. Bullard of Newport, a longtime Kefauver backer. Gov. Clement, who recently appointed a State Commission on Hu man Relations to seek alleviation of race problems, himself is considered a possible Senate aspirant. Former Gov. Buford Ellington also is consid ered a possibility either against Gore or for the Kefauver vacancy. All the prospective Tennessee candidates are considered either liberals or “moder ates” on issues of race. John Kasper of Nashville, a native of New Jersey, who served federal prison sentences as a leader of dis orderly opposition to school-desegre gation at Clinton and Nashville in 1956 and 1957, was named March 1 as presi dential candidate of the National States Rights Party. In a meeting at Louis ville, the segregationist organization chose J. B. Stoner of Atlanta as Kas per’s running-mate. Kasper, now oper ator of an automobile service shop in Nashville, was not present at the con vention. Oklahoma must elect a senator to complete the un expired term of the late Robert S. Kerr, a longtime Demo cratic leader, but questions of racial school attendance are scarcely expected to occur. Kentucky, where public education now is largely desegregated, has no major statewide election scheduled this year. The subject of race came to the front in last year’s race for governor between Democrat Edward T. (Ned) Breathitt, supported by then-Gov. Bert T. Combs, and Republican Louie N. Nunn. Nunn charged that an executive order issued by Combs, forbidding ra cial discrimination by state - licensed firms and professions, was politically motivated to win Negro votes for Breathitt. Nunn also idenified Breathitt LOUISIANA Federal Judge Chides Both Sides In College Desegregation Case NEW ORLEANS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COUTt judge criticized both the “sinis ter” action of a plaintiff and the “frivolous defense” of a respond ent in a hearing at Baton Rouge in the case of McCoy v. State Board of Education which seeks desegregation of Northeast Louisiana State College at Mon roe. Judge E. Gordon West took under advisement on Feb. 14 the suit seeking enrollment of Sarah Louise McCoy for the current semester. During the hearing, Judge West ex pressed surprise when Miss McCoy ad mitted she had used an assumed name to get an official application form from the state-supported college. Questioned by the judge, the plaintiff testified she had used an alias to request the ap plication because she had been refused an application form on two previous occasions when she had applied under her own name. “Is the court suggesting any im propriety?” asked Norman Amaker, counsel for the plaintiff. ‘Sinister Reason’ "Yes, I’m saying there’s an impro priety in using a false name,” Judge West replied. “I think there’s usually a sinister reason in using an alias.” If there is anything sinister behind the plaintiff’s ruse to acquire an appli cation, Amaker responded, the methods of the college to bar Negroes are “dia bolical.” Subsequently, the president and the registrar of the college testified that they had not even considered Miss McCoy’s efforts to enroll because under state law, Northeast is described as a school for white students. Defense attorneys argued that the State Board of Education, respondent in the case, is an entity of state gov ernment and cannot be sued without its permission. They contended the plain tiff erred in not naming the individual members of the board as defendants. “Frivolous’ Position Attorneys for the plaintiff countered that this position was “clearly frivo lous,” and that the case of Baker v. Nicholls State College had voided the defendants’ claim. Registrar L. C. Oxford testified that Miss McCoy’s application was incom plete. He said two separate transcripts of her credits for two summer terms at Grumbling College, a state Negro insti tution, were submitted and that no record was filed to indicate whether she had taken other courses at other insti tutions between the two summer ses sions. Miss McCoy also has attended Southern University. Dr. George T. Walker, president of Northeast, said under questioning by the judge that a white student applying for admittance under similar circum stances may have been granted a pro visional admission and required sub sequently to file a proper application. Judge West said the explanation of the alleged application disorder was “nothing short of ridiculous.” He said he was in sympathy with the school’? administrative problems when there was reason behind them. in campaign statements as a supporter of the Kennedy administration’s poli cies on racial desegregation. Breathitt retorted that Nunn’s charges endan gered racial peace. Breathitt won the election by a narrow margin. Neither Georgia nor adjacent South Carolina has an election for governor nor U.S. senator this year. Georgia has given little indication of current polit ical activity bearing directly on school- race issues although the state’s one Negro legislator, State Sen. Leroy Johnson of Atlanta, has the support of Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. for a public-accommodations bill. Although the subject of race in edu cation is not prominent in political or legislative activities in South Carolina, the legislature’s school (segregation) committee continues to function. A move was reported under way to seek re-enactment of the state’s compulsory school-attendance law, which was re pealed in 1955 during a legislative ses sion which sought means to prevent future enforcement of biracial school attendance. Louisiana Highlights A federal district court judge chided both sides in a college deseg regation case, then took the case un der advisement. Change of an all-white elementary school to Negro use was under con sideration in East Baton Rouge Parish, where desegregation began last fall at the 12th grade level. Democratic nominee John J. Mc- Keithen was elected governor over Republican Charlton Lyons, but Lyons got 38 per cent of the vote cast. Congress of Racial Equality strat egy planners meeting in New Orleans said their attentions would be directed toward de facto school segregation in the North and voter registration in the South. “But I have no patience with frivo lous defenses,” he asserted. ★ ★ ★ In other legal action affecting Louisi ana schools: The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap peals at Houston on Feb. 11 heard arguments in the appeal of a case styled XJ.S. v. Bossier Parish School Board. In this suit, the U.S. Govern ment is seeking to gain admission to white schools for the children of Ne gro servicemen and federal employes stationed in Bossier Parish of north west Louisiana. The government contends that the school board, by maintaining segrega tion, has violated a contract under which it has received several millions of dollars in federal aid to help build and maintain public schools burdened with an influx of federal personnel. U.S. District Judge Ben Dawkins at Shreveport dismissed the government’s case on Aug. 20, 1963, and the govern ment appealed to the higher court. A hearing in the case of Williams v. Tberville Parish School Board was scheduled for Feb. 21, but was post poned for 30 days on the plea of de fense attorneys. U.S. District Judge E. Gordon West granted the postponement on Feb. 11 after attorneys Sam D’Amico and John W. Parker asked for more time to meet with school board mem bers and prepares the defense. The case was filed by NAACP coun. sel A. P. Tureaud Sr. on Jan. 23 ^ behalf of 11 Negro parents and their 20 children. The Feb. 21 hearings had been scheduled to determine if a preliminary injunction was warranted to prohibit parish school authorities from continu ing a policy of segregation. ★ ★ ★ Yet another suit was filed on Feb. 6 against the financially-beleaguered Jun ior University of New Orleans, one of the private schools heavily dependent for support upon the state grant-in-aid program. The latest action was filed by a construction company claiming $20.. 094 for renovation of the school’s building. The school faces other suits, one filed by 23 of its teachers asking $9,200 in back pay and another by St. Charles Associates, Inc., on a $395,838 mortgage note on the school building. ★ ★ ★ The Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 14 that the $3- million libel suit filed by Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker against a New Or leans newspaper and the Associated Press will be tried in Shreveport. Gen. Walker brought the suit against The Times-Picayune Publishing Corp. and the Associated Press in connection with reports on his activities on the Univer sity of Mississippi campus during the enrollment of James Meredith. Schoolmen East Baton Rouge May Convert All-White School The East Baton Rouge School Board, which inaugurated a court-ordered de segregation plan last fall in the 12th grade, is considering conversion of a presently all-white elementary school to Negro use. School Supt. Lloyd Lindsey recom mended the change for the Dufrocq Elementary School. White parents in the attendance zone object to the change. Explaining the reasons for his reco mmendation, Supt. Lindsey noted that the school now is attended by 297 white (See LOUISIANA, Page 15) Virginia (Continued From Page 13) first desegregation at the Baptist-re lated institution. The statement also said that Negroes would be admitted to certain evening graduate courses. Last May, a petition urging desegre gation of university classes was sub mitted to President George M. Modlin by the school’s Baptist Student Union. In June the Board of Trustees ap pointed a committee to study policies concerning integration, and it was on recommendation of this committee, in early February, that desegregation of some evening classes was authorized. ★ ★ ★ Early in February, four Negro stu dents from Hampton Institute, Hamp ton, Va., spent a day attending classes at Washington and Lee University, a private white institution in Lexington. Several W&L students are scheduled to return the visit this spring, in an exchange sponsored by the Episcopal Church. The exchange does not represent a move toward desegregation at W&L, President Fred C. Cole said on Feb. 13. ★ ★ ★ The Richmond New Leader on Feb. 5 editorially criticized Gov. Albertis S. Harrison Jr. for not appointing a Negro to fill a vacancy on the State Board of Education. The News Leader, generally consid ered a pro-segregation paper, said that the governor’s newest appointee, Mrs. Catherine Howell Hook, assistant pro fessor of education at Mary Washing ton College, was well quaified and could make a great contribution to the board. But, the editorial went on, the gov ernor should have taken advantage of the opportunity to appoint a qualified Negro to the board. About one-fifd] of Virginia’s population is Negro, said the paper, adding that “Negro interests, desires, ambitions, grievances all de serve representation by able Negro leaders” on official state boards, none of which now has Negro members. ★ ★ ★ Merger of the defunct Storer Colleg e of Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., and Virginia Union University of Richmond, nearing completion, Dr. Thomas Henderson, president of Virginia ion, said in an address here Feb- Storer, a college for Negroes, c os in 1954 after West Virginia disco ^ tinued segregation of its institutions higher learning. The college s ^ have been merged with those of ginia Union. Dr. Henderson, speaking at the nual Founders’ Day program a ^ ginia Union, a Negro college, sai merger will be complete when ce legal papers are filed in Virginia West Virginia. ★ ★ ★ 18- Grace Elizabeth Poindexter, ® ar-old senior at the Prince g( j, ee Schools, applied Feb. 1° 0 ssion to Longwood College- Dfficials of the state-supporte 's college, located in Prince . g y d it was the first applies i° ve received from a Negro. r -. G. Lankford Jr., president, s lege had received had -groes in the past, but that tde formal application. j to Vliss Poindexter said she ^ \