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PAGE 2—MARCH, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
♦
Johnson Denies Rumors of Compromise on Civil Right
s
(Continued From Page 1)
regarded the question of bypassing the
Judiciary Committee as a close one.
Unlike the situation expected in the
Senate, House debate on the civil-
rights bill was restrained and generally
good-humored. Passage followed nine
days of debate on some 140 amend
ments to the bill. The only noteworthy
change affecting the school provisions
was the addition of language stating
that the term desegregation does not
mean transporting students to end
racial imbalance.
As passed by the House, the bill
authorizes the Attorney General to file
school desegregation suits in cases
where he determines that individual
plaintiffs are unable to avail themselves
of legal recourse. It also provides for
federal financial and technical aid to
desegregating school districts.
State, Local Programs
Another title potentially affecting
education directs all federal agencies
to act against racial discrimination in
state and local programs receiving gov
ernment grants, loans or contracts. It
permits, but does not require, cutting
off funds where discrimination persists.
This title is expected to be one of the
targets of Southern attack during Sen
ate debate on the civil-rights bill.
On the motion of Southern members,
the House added to the bill a provision
creating a community conciliation serv
ice in the Commerce Department to
help mediate racial disputes. This had
been proposed last year by the admin
istration, but had been dropped on
grounds that it could be created by
executive order.
The final House vote on passage of
the bill showed 152 Democrats and 138
Republicans voting in favor, with 96
Democrats and 34 Republicans opposed.
Seven Democrats from states of the
old Confederacy voted for the bill—
Reps. Ross Bass (D-Tenn.), Richard H.
Fulton (D-Tenn.), Claude Pepper (D-
Fla.), Jack Brooks (D-Tex.), Henry B.
Gonzalez (D-Tex.), J. J. (Jake) Pickle
(D-Tex.) and Albert Thomas (D-
Tex.).
On the other hand, Reps. Louis Wy
man (R-N.H.) and John Lesinski (D-
Mich.) voted against the bill and issued
statements denouncing it as unconsti
tutional.
★ ★ ★
Johnson Appoints
Missouri Woman
To Rights Group
Appointment of Frankie Muse Free
man, a former Assistant Attorney Gen
eral of Missouri, as the first woman
member of the U.S. Civil Rights Com
mission was announced by President
Johnson Feb. 29.
Mrs. Freeman, 47, an official of the
National Council of Negro Women, was
one of the NAACP attorneys in a suit
that resulted in desegregation of St.
Louis housing projects. She has been
associate general counsel of the St.
Louis Housing and Land Clearance
Authority since 1956.
Mrs. Freeman’s appointment, subject
to confirmation by the Senate, will fill
one of two vacancies on the commis
sion. Last October, President Kennedy
accepted the resignations of Robert
Storey of Dallas, president of the
Southwestern Legal Foundation, and
Spottswood W. Robinson HI, who was
named to a federal district court judge-
ship in Washington.
The commission, created under the
‘He Can’t See Where He’s
Going, But You’ll Have To
Admit It’s Stylish’
Payne, Charlotte Observer
D. C. Highlights
President Johnson denied rumors
that the administration was willing
to compromise sections of the civil-
rights bill in order to obtain early
passage in the Senate. He said he
wanted a bill “exactly” in the form
of the measure passed by the House
Feb. 10. As the Senate prepared for
a filibuster, Sen. Richard B. Russell
(D-Ga.), leader of the Southern
forces, called for an all-out effort to
block passage.
Frankie Muse Freeman, a Negro
woman attorney from St. Louis, was
named by the President to fill one
of two vacancies on the U.S. Civil
Rights Commission.
The District Board of Education
approved a new 130-page curriculum
guide on “The Negro in American
History.” Chairman Adam Clayton
Powell (D-N.Y.) of the House Edu
cation and Labor Committee an
nounced that he would conduct an
investigation of history textbooks to
determine whether they ignore heroes
from minority groups.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.)
criticized District school officials for
distributing in the schools copies of
a pamphlet explaining the city’s new
“fair housing” regulations.
A student civil-rights group at
George Washington University with
drew its request for official recog
nition, charging that the university
had set unreasonable requirements.
Civil Rights Act of 1957, investigates
complaints of discrimination in voting,
housing, employment, education and
administration of justice. Under the
civil-rights bill passed by the House of
Representatives and now pending in
the Senate, the commission’s life would
be extended by four years and it would
be given additional powers to investi
gate allegations of vote fraud and to
serve as an information clearing house
on civil rights.
Mrs. Freeman, a native of Danville,
Va., has been a resident of St. Louis
since 1948. She is a graduate of Hamp
ton Institute and the Howard Univer
sity law school.
Her appointment to the commission
was hailed by its chairman, President
John Hannah of Michigan State Uni
versity, who said she had “rendered
valuable service as a member of the
Missouri Advisory Committee to the
commission since 1958.”
Others now serving on the commis
sion are Dean Erwin N. Griswold of
the Harvard University law school;
the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, presi
dent of the University of Notre Dame,
and Robert S. Rankin, professor of po
litical science at Duke University.
★ ★ ★
Two cities in Alabama and two in
Georgia were refused Supreme Court
reviews of school desegregation cases
on Feb. 17. (See Alabama and Georgia
reports.)
The Justices refused to review school
desegregation orders entered by lower
Federal courts for Birmingham and
Mobile, Ala., and for Savannah and
Brunswick, Ga.
★ ★ ★
Board Approves
Study of Negro
Role in History
“The Negro in American History,”
a new 130-page curriculum guide, was
approved by the D.C. Board of Educa
tion Feb. 19 for use in the schools to
“present a true picture of the place and
contributions of the Negro in the his
tory of our country.”
The manual, prepared by a nine-
member committee of Washington
school officials, was designed specific
ally for llth-grade American history
classes. However, it also will be adopted
for use in fifth- and eighth-grade his
tory courses.
The guide advises teachers to include
material on the role of all minority
groups in American history, and says
Negroes should be presented “as one
of the many ethnic groups that have
contributed to the making of our civil
ization.”
Joseph E. Penn, supervising director
for the school system’s history depart
ment and editorial chairman for the
guide, commented: “We don’t want
instructors to teach Negro history
separately from American history, but
as a part of it.” More than 85 per cent
of the pupils in Washington’s public
schools are Negroes.
The guide contains detailed informa
tion on the Negro’s role in history from
1434, when the Portuguese became the
first Europeans to take part in the
slave trade, to the 1963 March on Wash
ington.
“We’re not trying to make Negro his
tory,” Penn said. “If reports are not
documented, we don’t include them.
“The problem is that Negroes don’t
even know their own history. In dis
cussing the contributions of Negro
Americans, the stress is on Americans
more than anything else.”
★ ★ ★
Rev. Adam Clayton Powell (D-N.Y.),
chairman of the House Education and
Labor Committee, announced Feb. 27
that his committee soon would begin a
study of history text books to see
whether heroes who were members of
minority groups have been omitted.
Powell made the announcement in a
speech to the Capitol Press Club, an
organization of Negro newspapermen.
He said there are indications that school
texts have dealt unfairly with contri
butions made by minority groups.
In a recent conversation with a
White House aide—“one of the most
liberal men in a liberal group”—
Powell suggested that a Navy ship be
named for Crispus Attucks, the con
gressman said. The White House aide
asked, “Who’s he?”
Attucks, a runaway slave, was the
first man killed by British troops in the
American revolution.
★ ★ ★
Senator Criticizes
Use of Pamphlet
Distribution in public schools of a
pamphlet explaining the District of
Columbia’s “fair housing” regulations
was sharply criticized Feb. 27 by Sen.
Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.).
Byrd also questioned school officials
about curriculum materials prepared
by the District Commissioners’ Coun
cil on Human Relations.
The Senator, chairman of the Appro
priations Subcommittee that handles
District funds, complained that school
children had been asked to take home
copies of a pamphlet prepared by the
council. The pamphlet dealt with the
‘Did Y’All Forget Me,
Your Old Trainer?’
Engelhardt, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ban against housing discrimination is
sued in January by the district com
missioners.
Byrd asked School Supt. Carl F.
Hansen whether school children would
be permitted to distribute birth-con
trol information. Hansen replied that
this would undoubtedly not be allowed.
Controversial Material
Byrd said he cited birth-control in
formation to back up his view that no
controversial material should be dis
tributed by school children. He said the
housing order is highly controversial,
and may be unconstitutional. The fact
that the housing order had been of
ficially issued did not justify its dis
tribution, he added. Hansen defended
distribution of the pamphlets as official
information.
Byrd also questioned Hansen about
social studies curriculum materials al
legedly developed by the Human Re
lations Council, but Hansen said these
were still in the process of preparation.
Byrd said he would seek more infor
mation on the council’s operations.
★ ★ ★
Group Withdraws Request
For University Sanction
A student civil-rights group organ
ized last October at the George Wash
ington University withdrew on Feb. 13
its request for official sanction by school
authorities. A spokesman for the
group said the university had set un
reasonable requirements for official
recognition.
The organization, made up 0 f ^
students and known as the Georg e
Washington University Civil Rig},^
Group, said it would continue its a c
tivities on a somewhat curtailed basis
Without official sanction, organization;
are not permitted to use university
facilities.
While seeking recognition, the group
voiced support for the civil-rights bill
pending in the Senate, helped regista,
voters, raised about $120 for the Stu
dent Non-Violent Coordinating Com.
mittee and distributed civil-right;
pamphlets.
University officials gave the group
permission to organize last fall. When
official recognition was requested at
the end of a two-month organizational
period, the group was told that its
activities during the 60 days had gone
beyond signing up members, and that
the organizational interval would there-
fore have to be repeated.
Officers of the group said university
officials regarded it as “controversial.”
★ ★ ★
James Farmer, national director of
the Congress of Racial Equality, said in
New York City Feb. 23 that CORE
national headquarters had given per.
mission to their Washington local
chapter to conduct a school boycott in
the latter part of March.
Local CORE officials had earlier in
dicated that they were seeking approval
of their national organization, as well
as of other local civil-rights groups,
for a boycott to protest inadequacies
in the city’s public school system.
No specific boycott plans had been
announced at the end of February.
Too Much Height
Kennedy, Arkansas Democrat
KENTUCKY
Somerset Extends Desegregation
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LOUISVILLE
r I ’ he Somerset Independent
School District, desegregated
since 1956 at the high-school
level, will be desegregated at the
elementary and junior-high levels
in September of this year.
About 100 Negro pupils will be en
rolled in formerly all-white schools as
a result of the Board of Education’s
action in deciding to discontinue the
remaining Negro-only school, Dunbar
Elementary, which includes grades 1-8.
In announcing the action the week
of Feb. 10, the school board said it had
been requested by Negroes.
Dr. John P. Hill, board chairman,
said a formal request had been made
by the Dunbar Parent-Teacher Asso
ciation’s committee for action that “the
second part of the petition presented
to the board on March 5, 1956, be ap
proved and activated.”
Old Petition
The eight-year-old petition bore the
signatures of 113 Somerset citizens. It
asked that the secondary schools in the
city be desegregated immediately and
that steps be taken toward desegrega
tion in the elementary schools.
The Negro high school was discon
tinued that year and Somerset High
School was desegregated. Last fall it
enrolled 731 white students and 43
Negro students.
The present enrollment at Dunbar
Elementary is 102 pupils and Dr. Hill
said: “Indications are that there would
be less than 100 students enrolled
through the first eight grades next year.
Under the State’s minimum foundation
program, schools with less than 100
in the enrollment, that are in non-
Kentucky Highlights
The Somerset Board of Education,
prompted by Negro parents, acted to
complete a desegregation program
started in 1956.
The director of a desegregated
high school band complained that
a Mardi Gras parade crowd in New
Orleans abused his musicians be
cause of the Negro band members.
A bill seeking changes in state
laws involving education and race
was withdrawn the day after being
introduced in the state legislature,
apparently to ease the way for a
public-accommodations bill.
isolated areas, lose a large part of their
State financial support.”
This, he added, means that without
full State aid, a school “cannot operate
on a competitive basis with other
schools and that academic standards
will decline.”
★ ★ ★
Musicians Harassed,
Says Band Director
The director of a high-school band
charged that his musicians were buf
feted with rocks during a Mardi Gras
parade in New Orleans because there
were Negroes in the organization.
The band, from Jefferson County’s
Eastern High School, took third place
in a contest being held at New Orleans.
And despite the rock incident, director
C. Dexter Marsh said he hopes the
band can make the trip again next > -ear
if invited. .
Marsh said the crowd “would
cheering. Then they would spot a
Negro. Then they would yell out^coo
or Negro or something like that. :
He said the rocks thrown were sm i
but numerous and hit both band me ^ C
bers and instruments, splitting 0
girl’s lip. Marsh said objects are sol®
times thrown at bands in any P a ^ J
but that the abuse at the Mardi ^ j
was greater than usual and ^
tributable to the presence of Neg*
in the band. There were eight/"*
boys among the band’s 104 mem e . r .
Eastern High School, as a part 0 ^
Jefferson County system which ser
suburban Louisville, was desegreg
in 1956. *
Legislative Action
Bill Affecting
Race, Education
Withdrawn Early
e>V€<d
A bill which would amend or r ^
several statutes concerning ra
education was introduced in
General Assembly, but was wi
the next day. vil-rig^* 5
It was reported that other ci
advocates had urged the b s
Rep. Arthur L. Johnson, Jr., Negr0 es
ville Democrat and one of two ^
in the House, to withdraw th'e th a
cause they feared it wou u bliC'
chances of passing a proposed y
(See KENTUCKY, Page 3)