Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—APRIL, 1964—PAGE 17
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Mansfield Says Senate
May Debate Until Fall
(Continued From Page 1)
“imbalance” amendment even for the
5a ke of putting civil-rights supporters
in an embarrassing light. He said he
would not want to see children in rural
sections of his state carried “34 miles
a l on g narrow mountain roads” each
day to achieve a better racial distribu
tion in the schools.
Others who addressed themselves in
detail to the bill’s school desegregation
section included Sen. Spessard L. Hol
land (D-Fla.), who spoke for more than
three hours on March 19, and Sen.
Lister Hill (D-Ala.), who complained
that the language authorizing the At
torney General to bring desegregation
suits in the name of the federal gov
ernment constituted an infringement of
the right to trial by jury. Sen. Abraham
Ribicoff (D-Conn.) offered to introduce
a jury trial amendment if it would in
duce Hill to support the bill.
The bills’s Title VI, providing for
nondiscrimination in federally assisted
programs, also came under heavy fire.
Sen. John Sparkman (D-Ala.) charged
March 20 that the provision was in
conflict with the Johnson Administra
tion’s “war on poverty,” since it would
chiefly affect programs designed to
benefit low-income groups.
At the end of March, supporters of
the bill began presenting detailed jus
tifications of its provisions. The Sen
ate moved to convene each day at 10
a.m.—two hours earlier than the usual
starting time—and to sit later in the
evening in preparation for months of
extended debate.
School Boycott
Plans Cancelled
After Discussions
A threatened boycott of Washington
Public schools that had been scheduled
|°r April 20 was called off March 31
y Julius Hobson, chairman of the
ashington chapter of the Congress of
racial Equality (CORE).
After a closed CORE meeting, Hobson
°d reporters he was convinced that
“Strict School Supt. Carl F. Hansen
''' as acting in good faith” to meet
ost of CORE’s demands for school im
provements.
^Cancellation of the boycott plans fol-
ed a series of conferences between
”3®sen and Negro leaders. Civil-rights
/Sanizations * n Washington generally
opposed the idea of a boycott
agamst local schools.
Plans for the April 20 demonstration
tion”°^ eSt <<poor Quality of educa-
th e m sc h°°ls in poorer sections of
March 7 ~ e r e announced by CORE
de-j y Lighteen public schools were
Wortt M ^ ar ® e ^ s the threatened
Cn March 9 the Baptist Ministers’
Wre Supposed To Cheer!’
Knox, Nashville Banner
ft
D. C. Highlights
School desegregation and federal
fund cutoff provisions of the civil-
rights bill came under attack as Sen
ate supporters of the measure raised
the possibility of a summer-long de
bate.
A boycott of Washingon schools
that had been tentatively scheduled
for April 20 was cancelled by the
Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE). School Supt. Carl T. Han
sen and civil-rights leaders reported
substantial agreement on steps to re
solve school problems.
School Supt. Carl F. Hansen was
reappointed to a new three-year term,
with one member of the nine-man
Board of Education voting opposition
and one member abstaining.
A high Pentagon official announced
efforts to recruit more Negroes and
other minority group members as
students at the armed services acad
emies.
Conference of Washington and Vicinity,
representing a majority of the Negro
churchgoers in the metropolitan area,
issued a statement opposing the boy
cott. The ministers acknowledged that
there were problems in the school sys
tem, but said boycott sponsors had “not
sought to adjust their grievances
through channels.”
Eleven Negro leaders in a statement
on March 10 said the proposed school
boycott could not “favorably affect”
school problems and was unjustified “at
this time.” The group—including offi
cials of the NAACP and the Urban
League—said they would submit rec
ommendations to Hansen “to remedy
existing ills.”
Hansen ‘Receptive’
The superintendent, who had de
plored the announced plans for a boy
cott, said he would listen to the Ne
gro leaders’ recommendations “with a
great deal of receptivity.”
He met with the group in a two-
and-a-half-hour closed conference on
March 11, and agreed that more Dis
trict pupils should be transferred from
overcrowded to undercapacity school
buildings.
Hansen also expressed general agree
ment with proposals to set up a citi
zens’ committee to study school system
operations; to establish a large-scale
tutoring program; to survey schools and
ensure that all have adequate sup
plies, and to take steps to improve
the schools’ human relations program.
The meeting was described as cor
dial. The only major difference of opin
ion between the Negro leaders and
Hansen was in the superintendent s
continuing opposition to public busing
of students to under-capacity schools.
But Hansen agreed to step up the
school system's open enrollment policy,
and named eight elementary schools,
one junior and two senior highs that
would be “open” to receive students
from overcrowded buildings. The su
perintendent also agreed to study a
proposal to extend the school day in
overcrowded schools to provide a fuller
schedule for double-shift pupils
P-T A Opposition
Firm opposition to the boycott plan
was announced March 17 by the Dis
trict Congress of Parents and Teachers
and by the Potomac Presbytery, rep
resenting 48 Southern Presbyterian
churches. The church group expressed
“gratitude” to Hansen and the District
School Board for their efforts to im
prove the school system.
Hansen met with the CORE chair
man on March 23 and said after the
conference that “there is no difference
of opinion between any of us on the
need for maximum quality of education
for every child in our school system.”
Hobson said he was “encouraged by
what we heard” in the meet'ng and
hinted that the boycott might be called
off. He said he would ask CORE to re
examine its position.
After heated discussion at a March
24 meeting, the CORE chapter put off
a decision on cancelling the boycott.
But the boycott was called off and
Vintroux, Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette
Hobson said he and other civil rights
leaders would meet with Hansen April
30 to discuss further steps that might
be taken to cope with racial and edu
cational problems in the school system.
Hansen Gets New
Term as District
Superintendent
District School Supt. Carl F. Han
sen was reappointed to a three-year
term by action of the Board of Edu
cation March 18. Seven of the nine
Board members voted for the reap
pointment.
Mordecai W. Johnson, president
emeritus of Howard University, cast
the only “no” vote. Euphemia L. Haynes
abstained in the balloting. There was
no discussion of the reappointment dur
ing the meeting.
Hansen later expressed disappoint
ment that he had not been endorsed
by a unanimous vote.
Johnson, who has sharply criticized
teacher selection procedures in the
school system, said after the meeting
that he had decided to oppose Han
sen’s reappointment after long consid
eration, but would continue to support
the superintendent’s actions.
Mrs. Haynes said she abstained be
cause it was her understanding that
the superintendent’s work was to be
evaluated before the board acted on
a new term.
Previously as assistant school super
intendent and since 1958 as superin
tendent, Hansen has played a key role
in desegregation of the District school
system. He is the author of the sys
tem’s four-track plan of ability group
ing.
Negro Students
Urged To Enter
Service Academies
The top Defense Department offi
cial concerned with civil rights prob
lems said March 24 that he is trying to
recruit qualified Negro high school
graduates to enter the U. S. service
academies.
Only 32 Negro cadets now are en
rolled among 9,000 students at West
Point, Annapolis and the Air Force
Academy, said Alfred B. Fitt, deputy
assistant secretary of defense for civil
rights.
“Lots of Negro youngsters just don’t
dream they have a chance,” Fitt said.
He reported that he has been urging
school officials to encourage fully-qual
ified Negro youths to seek appointment
to the academies.
“We want to preserve the high stand
ards of the academies,” Fitt stressed.
He said the recruitment effort encom
passes Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Ameri-
cans and other minority group mem
bers as well as Negroes.
‘I’ll Talk You to Death’
Basset, Knoxville News-Sentinel
NORTH CAROLINA
Single State
Of Teachers
(Continued From Page 16)
Du Vissette v. Cabarrus County
Board of Education—Filed Oct. 25,
1963 in behalf of 108 Negro children.
Judge Stanley approved a plan giving
Negroes a June 15, 1964 deadline for
requesting reassignment for the 1964-
65 school year. Both sides are to con
fer before Feb. 15, 1965, to make plans
for the 1965-66 school year.
Ziglar et al. v. Reidsville Board of
Education—Filed Nov. 30, 1962, by par
ents of four Negro children. Two Ne
groes now attend two previously all-
white schools in Reidsville. Both sides
are to make plans for subsequent school
years and appear before Judge Stanley
in early 1965.
NAACP Comments
Jesse DeVore, public information di
rector for the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, said the three
consent orders “will enable some 500
Negro children in these school dis
tricts to immediately obtain a deseg
regated education during the 1964-65
school year by request.”
In addition to these cases, DeVore
said negotiations were far advanced in
Gill v. City of Concord Board of Edu
cation, Thompson v. Durham County
Board of Education, Gilmer v. City of
High Point Board of Education and
Ford v. Cumberland County Board of
Education. “It is expected that similar
consent agreements will be reached in
these cases within the next few weeks,”
DeVore said.
Attorney Derrick Bell of the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund, said this “free-
dom-of-ehoice” plan is advantageous
in that it enables Negro parents who
wish to have their children obtain a
desegregated education to obtain such
desegregated education at the earliest
possible time.
Board Policy
DeVore said, “The plan also removes
the need for the board by official or
unofficial policy, to grant transfers to
Negro and white students who other
wise would be assigned, against their
will, to desegregated schools.” He noted,
“Such practices are usually necessary
where the board is required to deseg
regate one or more full grades by as
signing all pupils according to non-
racial criteria.”
Attorney Bell emphasized that the
plans agreed upon are for one year
only and do not bar plaintiffs from
seeking, with court aid if necessary,
the desegregation of other aspects of
the school system including desegre
gation of teacher assignments.
“While all of the agreements thus
for reached are in the federal Middle
District of North Carolina,” said De
Vore, “it is hoped that similar agree
ments can be reached in both the east
ern and western parts of the state.”
★ ★ ★
High Point Delay
Judge Stanley postponed the pre
trial conference data of Gilmore et al
v. High Point City Board of Education
until April 16 to
give attorneys for
both sides time to
work out a deseg
regation plan
suitable to both.
The original suit
filed March 13,
1963, by parents of
eight Negro chil
dren seeking com
plete desegrega
tion of High Point
schools in the as
signment of teachers, students and
school personnel.
Lawyers for both sides have been
conferring during the current school
year, but request more time to make
an agreement. They are to meet by
April 10.
Currently 35 Negro students are at
tending six predominantly white
schools in High Point. The city has
approved a geographical pupil assign
ment plan to replace the old individual
assignment program.
★ ★ ★
Lexington Parents
Ask Desegregation
Parents of nine Negro children filed
suit March 4 in the U. S. Middle Dis
trict Court in Greensboro against the
Lexington City Board of Education, re
questing desegregation of the school
system in the assignment of teachers
and pupils.
The suit, Sowers et al. v. Lexington
City Board of Education, declared that
RIBICOFF
HILL
STANLEY
Association
Is Endorsed
the city school system operates on a
segregated basis in school zones, at
tendance areas, teacher assignments,
school personnel assignment, school
budgets and other facets of operation.
The complaint seeks “a preliminary
and permanent injunction enjoining
the Lexington City Board of Education,
its members and its superintendent
from continuing the policy, practice,
custom and usage of discriminating
against the plaintiffs and other Negro
citizens of Lexington . . . because of
race and color . . .”
The suit also seeks to get the school
board to transfer the plaintiffs to pre
viously all-white schools in the 1964-
65 school year or submit a plan for
a “unitary, nonracial” school system
for the 1964-65 school year.
Judge Edwin M. Stanley of the U. S.
Middle District Court granted the de
fendants a delay in the filing of an
answer. The school board is to answer
April 22.
C. A. Erickson, board chairman, said
the board and its lawyers needed more
time for study “in view of many new
developments in this area of the law,
including a number of fairly recent
decisions, which may affect the po
sition our board will take.”
Lexington operates six schools for
white children and three schools for
Negro children.
Schoolmen
Negro Majority
Goes No Further
Than High School
The number of Negroes graduating
from high schools in North Carolina
is increasing at a pace equal with that
of whites, but the number continuing
their education among Negroes is de
creasing in percentage. White high-
school graduates, however, are con
tinuing their education in a large per
centage.
These figures were revealed in the
March, 1964 issue of State School Facts,
published by the North Carolina De
partment of Public Instruction. The
figures are based on a survey of state-
high-school graduation figures between
1958 and 1963.
On a state level, 48,480 seniors fin
ished high school in 1963 compared to
40,128 in 1958, an increase of 20.8 per
cent. This percentage increase was the
same for both races (with whites in
cluding Indians), with white graduates
increasing from 30,223 to 36,524 and
Negroes increasing from 9,905 to 11,956.
A significant figure among Negro grad
uates is the great increase of boys,
34.6 per cent, from 4,415 to 5,941, to
only 9.6 per cent for girls, from 5,490
to 6,015. Negro boys comprised 49.7 per
cent of the 1963 graduates. Among
white boys, the increase was great, too,
with boys comprising 51.9 per cent of
1963 graduates, the first year more
boys than girls received high-school
diplomas.
The percentage of Negroes taking no
further training after high schools has
increased slightly during the past five
years from 60.9 per cent to 61.3 per
cent, with the increase being among
the boys. In 1963, 62 per cent of the
Negro boys did no further study, com
pared to 61.3 per cent in 1958. The
girls’ percentage remained the same,
60.7 per cent.
Among whites, the percentage end
ing formal education decreased from
49.7 per cent to 43.8 per cent.
A larger percentage of whites, 39.1,
enrolled in college than Negroes, 27.1
per cent, in 1963. Among whites more
boys, 37.3 per cent, than girls, 35 per
cent, went to college. More Negro girls,
30.6 per cent, however, attended college
than boys, 23.1 per cent. The five-year
increase among whites in college en
rollment, 33.7 per cent, was much
greater than that among Negroes, 15.5
per cent.
Figures for trade, nursing, business
and other schools showed that white
enrollment increased faster, 62.7 per
cent, than Negroes, 18.2 per cent. A
larger percentage of whites, 12.5, en
tered these schools than Negroes, 6.3
per cent.
More Negro high-school graduates by
per centage are joining the military
service, 5.3, an increase of 47 per cent
in five years, than whites, 4.6 per cent,
a decrease of 1.3 per cent.
Negroes protesting what they called
inferior schools and seeking the dis-
(See NORTH CAROLINA, Page 19)