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PAGE 14—APRIL, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
MISSISSIPPI
School Trustees Defer Plan Until Hearing Held in May
JACKSON
rustees of the Jackson Mu
nicipal Separate School Dis
trict are awaiting outcome of a
May 18 federal district court
hearing on the merits of a deseg
regation suit sponsored by the
National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People
before drafting a grade-by-grade
plan which District Judge S. C.
Mize has ordered submitted by
July 15.
Judge Mize’s order on March 4 was
a temporary injunction restraining and
enjoining the trustees from requiring
segregation of the races in the Jackson
public schools and for assignment of
students to classes on a nondiscrimina-
tory basis “with all deliberate speed.”
Judge Mize noted that the temporary
injunction is not final and could be af
fected by the May 18 hearing of the
issues on their merits.
The July 15 plan must call for de
segregation in at least one grade during
the school year beginning in the fall
(August and September).
In a formal statement the day of
Judge Mize’s order in the case of
Darrell Kenyatta Evers v. Jackson
Municipal Separate School District, the
trustees said:
“This preliminary injunction was is
sued without permitting counsel for
any of the parties to offer evidence,
however, the court assured all parties
that full opportunity would be given
to present all relevant and competent
evidence at the trial on the merits.
“With the continued support of the
mayor and commissioners of the city
of Jackson and the superintendent of
schools of the district, the trustees of
the district will continue to resist and
oppose this litigation by every legal
and constitutional means available.”
In a statement March 10, the execu
tive committee of the Jackson Citizens’
Council said:
“We urge the Jackson school board
not to give an inch toward comply
ing with NAACP demands to inte
grate the public schools of our city.
We reassure members of the board,
Mayor Thompson and other public of
ficials, as stated in the past, that they
have the full support of the 7,000 mem
bers of the Jackson Citizens’ Council
in refusing to permit the evils of race
mixing to wreck our public schools.
Tokenism Called ‘False Straw’
“Certainly no one can ignore the dis
mal fate of so-called integrated schools
in the north, where chaos and violence
have invariably turned them into
blackboard jungles; nor can any ‘mod
erate’ cling to the false straw of token
ism. For the NAACP and other Negro
pressure groups have made it clear be
yond all doubt that token integration
today means massive integration to
morrow, not only of students, but of
faculties and administrators as well.
“We as parents and patrons of the
Jackson public schools do not propose
under any circumstances to stand idly
by and see our own children become
victims of the Negro revolution now
openly proclaimed by its leaders.
“We admire, and offer full support
to those parents who are intervening
in court on behalf of their children
and our children, and who propose to
offer irrefutable proof of the adverse
effects of integration on both races.
“We call on the citizens of Jackson,
and on all citizens throughout Missis
sippi, to join as one united people in
throwing back this imminent threat to
our public schools of which we are
all justly proud.”
Says Delay Unneeded
Relative to the school board’s state
ment of inability to offer evidence at
the May 4 hearing, Judge Mize said
that under a U. S. Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals mandate reversing his dis
missal of the case “I consider it my
duty to grant the temporary injunction
and there is no necessity for further
delay.”
The court of appeals order issued
in New Orleans Feb. 13, reversed Judge
Mize’s dismissal of the Jackson case,
along with those
from the city of
Biloxi and Leake
County (Carth
age) on grounds
the plaintiffs had
not exhausted ad
ministrative rem
edies on the local
level. The New
Orleans court
mandated Judge
Mize’s district
court to give the
petition for temporary injunction
“prompt consideration.” (SSN, March.)
At the May 18 hearing, Judge Mize
also will consider the petition filed by
two white Jackson parents to enjoin
the school board from desegregating
the schools. Following hearings in the
Jackson case, Judge Mize then will
hear the Biloxi and Leake County
suits on their merits.
In ordering submission of desegre
gation plans by July 15, Judge Mize
told the trustees that “integration
should be made fully without any vio
lence and discord and as much tran
quility should be sought as possible.”
Counsel for the NAACP had in
formed the court of appeals they had
not attempted to utilize provisions of
the state pupil-assignment statute for
transfer of their clients to white schools
because “the exhaustion of remedies
provided in the statute would prove
futile and inadequate in view of the
state policy of segregation.”
Community Action
Legislators Score
‘Ole Miss’ Teachers
For Their Speeches
Two University of Mississippi pro
fessors have been criticized in speeches
on the House and Senate floors at the
current biennial session of the Missis
sippi legislature.
Dr. James Silver, professor of his
tory since 1936, was the target of Sen.
Corbett Patridge of Schlater and Rep.
Malcolm Mabry of Dublin, a former
student of Dr. Silver. Their criticism—
which included a demand for his dis
missal from the faculty—stemmed from
a speech by Dr. Silver in Memphis in
which he referred to Mississippi as a
“closed society.”
Dr. Russell Barrett, professor of po
litical science since 1954, was assailed
by Sen. W. M. Jones of Brookhaven,
for a speech in Jackson March 17 at
the inaugural meeting of the Univer
sity of Mississippi School of Medicine
chapter of the American Association
of University Professors. Dr. Barrett
is a former president of the University
of Mississippi chapter and was recently
elected to the national council of the
AAUP. He said the university’s na
tional reputation in the James Mere
dith desegregation crisis was salvaged
by the AAUP in 1962. «
Criticisms of Dr. Silver have been
waged since his speech in Asheville,
N. C., last November when he first
referred to Mississippi as a “closed
society.” That was his address as out
going president of the Southern His
torical Society.
Speaks at Southwestern
Dr. Silver repeated much of his
original speech in an appearance at
Southwestern at Memphis, a Presby
terian liberal-arts college. He said as
many as 2,000 youths would demon
strate in Mississippi this summer
against its segregated way of life.
“They are idealistic—they are willing
to take chances,” Dr. Silver was quoted
as saying. “They are going to clash
with the deputy sheriffs of the state
who are unalterably opposed to them.
I rather suspect there’s going to be
somebody killed.”
Dr. Silver said it would be the
“strongest protest that has been seen
In the Colleges
John Frazier, recently named to the
board of directors of the National As
sociation for the Advancement of Col
ored People and state president of its
intercollegiate division, was refused for
the fifth time when he applied for ad
mission to the University of Southern
Mississippi at Hattiesburg on March 9.
He said he plans to apply for the slim
mer quarter.
Frazier, who is 22 and from Green
ville, now is attending Tougaloo South
ern Christian College near Jackson.
Frazier told newsmen that USM offi
cials said he was not eligible to regis
ter because he had not submitted an
application for the spring quarter with
in the specified time. He was accom
panied to the campus by another Ne
gro, J. C. Fairley, a Hattiesburg busi
nessman, and two white ministers iden
tified as the Rev. Gath Barber and
Rabbi J. B. Miller, both of Wichita,
Kans.
Mississippi Highlights
Trustees of the Jackson Munici
pal Separate School District said
they would await action at a May
18 federal district court hearing on
the merits of a pending desegrega
tion suit before drafting a court-
ordered grade-by-grade plan.
A Negro, John Frazier, lost his
fifth effort March 9 to enroll at the
University of Southern Mississippi
at Hattiesburg, but said he would
apply again for the summer quarter.
Two University of Mississippi pro
fessors were criticized on the floor
of the current biennial session of
the legislature. They are Dr. James
W. Silver, professor of history, who
has criticized Mississippi as a
“closed society,” and Dr. Russell
Barrett, professor of political science.
in Mississippi so far against the state’s
segregation policies.”
“Somebody’s got to counteract the
idiocy put out by the speakers sent
out by the state sovereignty commis
sion,” he said.
The university professor called Aaron
Henry, druggist of Clarksdale and state
president of the NAACP branches, “the
greatest man in Mississippi today.”
Urges Discharge
Taking his cue from that address,
Sen. Patridge on March 19 called for
the immediate discharge of Dr. Silver.
“He (Silver) is opposed to everything
we stand for in this state,” Sen. Pat
ridge, a delta planter, said, “I am out
raged that the taxpayers have to pay
the salary of a man like this. I can’t
see why the legislature will tolerate
such an idiot to teach in this state.
“The responsibility of getting rid of
this man rests on our shoulders.
“When a professor says that anyone,
white or colored, is going to get killed
—and sanctions it—it is time to get rid
of him.”
In a second speech on the Senate
floor March 27, Sen. Patridge again
attacked Dr. Silver.
‘On the Threshold’
He said that “we stand on the
threshold of social survival or destruc
tion—no longer is this trouble just
rumor but a grim reality.”
“We sit complacently by and let a
person tread the length and breadth
of our great nation deceitfully and
cowardly expanding the subject of ra
cial hate, calling our people backward,
ignorant and with a closed society. I
speak of Dr. James Silver.
“The time has come for action. We
are past the talking stage.
“I call on this body (the Senate)
today to direct the chancellor at the
University of Mississippi, along with
the board of trustees, to drastically
reduce the salary and duties of Dr.
Silver and to stifle his degrading ac
tivities. Our future—not in the years
to come—but within the next months
and days depend on this immediate
action.
“If the chancellor and the board do
not act in relation to Dr. Silver, then
I say let us, the members of the legis
lature, assume the responsibility that
we asked the people to place in our
hands and do the job—and do it well.
“I have been told that this is exactly
what Dr. Silver wants us to do. If we
When the three men drove on the
campus at Hattiesburg in a station
wagon, a campus police car escorted
them to the rear of the student serv
ices building.
No Incidents
There were no incidents and no
crowds. Newsmen were barred from
the registration area and the adminis
trative offices.
Frazier entered the office of acting
director of admissions Sam Anzalone in
the Student Service Building. He said
school authorities were “very polite
and cordial.”
Frazier said he was told his petition
for admission was being rejected be
cause he had not complied with a regu
lation of the Board of Trustees of
State Institutions of Higher Learning
that new students must apply to reg
ister at least 20 days before the start
of a new term.
fire him, he will get national fame. I
say then, it is better that he get na
tional fame than for us to receive
racial death.
“This is the last time I shall raise
my voice in these chambers on this
subject. I place this matter in the
hands of this body, under the leader
ship of the governor.”
Speech in House
Rep. Mabry, addressing the House of
Representatives March 23, asserted that
“the time has come for the people of
this state to rise in righteous indigna
tion and demand of the board of
trustees and/or the University of
Mississippi chancellor that this so-
called professor be dismissed.”
“I am sick and tired and fed up
with Silver and a few others up there
at Ole Miss,” he said. “I for one—as a
legislator, as an alumnus of Ole Miss
and as a Mississippian—am ready to
join in any effort, short of violence of
course, to help rid the university and
the state of such a character as James
Wesley Silver.”
“This man Silver has taken it upon
himself to go all across America—at
the taxpayers’ expense—to spread un
truths about the very state which has
given him employment and security
since 1936—when he first came to
the university,” he said.
Stating that the enrollment at the
University of Mississippi had dropped
by approximately 10 per cent the cur
rent academic year, Representative
Mabry told the house:
“Dr. Silver’s damnable distortions of
the truth and half-truths (as contained
in his ‘closed society’ speech) are go
ing to cause other parents all over this
state to refuse to send their sons and
daughters to this institution. Ole Miss
—a great institution—can’t afford an
other 10 per cent drop next year. Sil
ver does us nothing but harm and we
are paying for it.”
Rep. Mabry said he had been in
formed that “Silver is in the process
of completing a book about the so-
called James Meredith incident. You
can imagine how much objectivity will
be found within the pages of this book.
Just imagine the picture he will paint
of Mississippi.”
Dr. Silver told the Associated Press
he recalled teaching Mabry, whom he
described as “the kind of person who
writes letters to the editor and pro
tests a number of things.”
Faculty Police Group
Sen. Jones’ criticism of Dr. Barrett
centered around a statement relative
to formation of a faculty policing group
during the September-October, 1962,
rioting when Meredith was enrolled
under a federal court order and under
protection of 30,000 United States sol
diers and 500 federal marshals.
Jones questioned the professors’ right
to set up patrols on the campus and
criticized their public statements about
integration.
Dr. Barrett said “the university
would never have gotten through the
year (1962-63) with the reputation
it did without the AAUP (the American
Association of University Professors).”
He said that as a result of the Mere
dith crisis the university’s reputation
was “not very good at best.”
The professor was quoted as saying
before the Medical Center chapter’s
inaugural meeting that “the university
was really falling to pieces prior to the
night of Sept. 30 (1962) and what hap
pened (rioting in which two men were
killed) was no compliment to any uni-
The applicant said he had felt an
application he had submitted for the
1963 winter quarter was still “active”
and would be carried over to spring
quarter. However, school authorities
said a new application is required for
each term.
No statement was issued by univer
sity authorities.
Sought Reversal
Frazier told newsmen he had ap
peared before the college board in
Jackson Feb. 20 seeking a reversal
of the turndown for the winter quarter
which he said was reportedly because
he “allegedly” did not submit his
records to the university in time.
He said he received a letter from
the board Feb. 29 advising that it had
declined to review the case. Frazier
said the board concluded “that there
was no proper matter before it for re
view and that no relief could be
granted as to your request.”
University Again Turns Down Negro
MIZE
versity that purports to be a univer.
sity.”
Dr. Barrett said the AAUP members
“organized the first faculty policing 0 f
a campus” and that about 40 profes
sors “roamed the campus at night with
flashlights looking for students who
might have been causing trouble.” He
said the AAUP-dominated faculty sen
ate at the university played a “major
role—private of course—in working out
the problems arising from the integra
tion crisis.”
Dr. Barrett said the Ole Miss AAUP
chapter sponsored the raising of legal
defense funds for art professor G. Ray
Kerciu, who was charged by a law
student with desecrating the Confed
erate flag and exhibiting assertedly
obscene art work. The charges against
Kerciu, a native of Michigan, were
dropped before the case came up in
court, and the professor left the uni
versity.
Writer Raises Question
Relative to Rep. Mabry’s suggestion
that Dr. Silver should resign or be
gotten rid of, Charles Dunagin, mem
ber of the editorial staff of the Mc-
Comb Enterprise-Journal and former
Ole Miss student, said in a column
March 26 that a few things should be
considered before either of the legis
lator’s suggestions is put into action.
Dunagin listed these points:
• To fire Silver would be to lend
credence to his charge that Mississippi
is a ‘closed society.’ It also would help
get him more speaking engagements
than at present and would give him
more fuel for speeches out of the state.
The fact that Silver is now on the
staff of the university serves as proof
that there must be academic freedom
there.
• To fire Silver under pressure from
the legislature would place the accredi
tation of state schools in jeopardy since
political interference would surely be
charged.
• Silver has been a professor at Ole
Miss for more than 20 years and either
he has been a good one or someone has
been derelict in letting him remain at
the university for that long. It cannot
be charged that he successfully puts
his ideas into the minds of his students
because there are too many of his
former students over the state who
prove the contrary.
“Mabry is one of them. And so are
some of the others asking that Silver
be fired,” Dunagin concluded.
Political Action
Three Negroes May
Seek House Seats
Three Negroes, one the mother of
two children, have qualified tentative
ly as candidates for the U.S. House 0
Representatives in the June 5 Missis
sippi Democratic primary. They are.
Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, 46-year-o
Council of Federated Organizations
worker in a Negro voter registration
campaign and resident of Ruleville.
will oppose Rep. Jamie Whitten (
Miss.) in the Second Congressional Ihs
■ict. i
J. M. Houston, 74-year-old retire"
imiture dealer of Vicksburg, who
ppose Rep. John Bell Williams (
liss.) in the Third Congressional
•ict.
The Rev. J. Earl Cameron, 31-ye^'
Id pastor of Faith Tabernacle Bap
hurch at Hattiesburg, against
1. M. Colmer (D. Miss.) in the fn
ongressional District. ^
Reps. Whitten and Williams ^
fegro opponents in the 1962 ele
Opposing Rep. Whitten was -.my
ferrell Winston Lindsey of \
prings, while Rep. Williams’ °P p< ? a , n .
•as R. L. T. Smith, grocer of
The Rev. Mr. Lindsey polled Afle
otes to Rep. Whitten’s 34,322,
ep. Williams’ Negro opponent
Legal Action
Second Trial Set
For de la Beckwith
de la
The second trial for Byron fjreeU'
Beckwith, white salesman ° ..^CP
wood, for the murder of Negro _ Juf> e
leader Medgar Evers in Jack g ;jj
12, 1963, has been set for AP cQur t
Hinds County (Jackson) cjr ?*~ 1 i 0 cke d
A 12-man all-white jury dea" feb .
six-to-six at Beckwith’s firs (Jr-
7, and a mistrial was ordered J
cuit Judge Leon Hendrick.
Evers was shot down m
way of his home.