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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—APRIL, 1964—PAGE 3
FLORIDA
Violence Marks Month; Incidents
Interwoven with School Issues
MIAMI
\ J iolence seemed to dominate
school desegregation devel
opments in Florida during March
u-ith many of the incidents being
centered at Jacksonville.
■phe situation there had remained
tense since the Feb. 16 bombing of the
home of Mrs. Iona Godfrey whose six-
year-old son Donald is the only Negro
at previously all-white Lackawanna
Elementary School.
Neither was hurt but another occu
pant of the home required hospital
treatment.
On March 3, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, which had been working
intensively on the case, announced the
arrest of William Sterling Rosecrans,
30-year-old Indiana laborer, in connec
tion with the dynamiting. Rosecrans,
formerly of Anderson, Ind., was taken
into custody at St. Augustine, which
has also been the scene of racial inci
dents at homes of Negroes in deseg
regated schools.
Under Surveillance
The authorities said Rosecrans had
been under surveillance in Duval Coun
ty for four days after the dynamiting
and that 800 sticks of explosives were
found buried near his trailer home.
Rosecrans discovered FBI agents
searching his car and trailer, it was
announced, and fled to St. Augustine.
When he was arrested, he purportedly
told St. Johns Sheriff L. O. Davis that
he was “hot” and was being sought for
questioning in the Godfrey bombing.
Rosecrans underwent a polygraph
test in connection with other bombings,
in particular the dynamiting of a Negro
church in Birmingham in which four
Negro girls were killed. Police said he
was cleared in that case.
On March 10 he waived preliminary
hearing on the Godfrey charge and said
he would file a court pleading without
waiting for a grand-jury indictment.
He was placed under $25,000 bond.
Pleads Guilty
Two days later the federal grand jury
returned a true bill and Rosecrans
pleaded guilty to a two-count indict
ment. He will be sentenced April 10
by U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson.
Meanwhile, the FBI continued a
search for alleged accomplices. A police
statement said Rosecrans was known
to have associates among members of
the Ku Klux Klan in Duval County.
On March 12, five men, all identified
by the police as KKK members, were
taken into custody on charges of being
accessories.
They were Donald Eugene Spegal, 31;
Barton H. Griffin, 35; Jacky Don Har-
**> 25, and Willie Eugene Wilson, 31,
"1 of Jackson, and Robert Pittman
entry, 25, formerly of Jacksonville but
n ow residing in Smyrna, Term.
Klan Officers
Spegal, a truck driver, was said to
e treasurer of the Florida Klan. Griffin
described as exalted cyclops of the
obert E. Lee Klavem 8. Wilson was
owner titan—contact man— for the
( Klan and Gentry was gligraph
^cretary) of Klavem 8 and grand
exter (outer guard) of the state or
ganization.
five men denied complicity in the
b- .5 ey bombing. They were charged
co ® federal grand jury in a two-
mdictment which said:
did ' , er idants and co-conspirators
.combine, conspire, confederate and
ot her eac ^ other and with diverse
knov,y, P * rSons to the grand jury un-
tPtim'H t0 hfiure, oppress, threaten and
oitizen .Donald Godfrey, a Negro
Person ° . . United States, and other
e *ercise sun ilarly situated, in the free
c° Unt 1Se f d enjoyment of, and on ac-
secuj. j their having exercised a right
and la them by the Constitution
the riffift United States, namely
Public q , *° a ttend the Lackawanna
of D„ nhool and other public schools
Attom CoUnty > Florida.”
asked 20^ ^° r some °f the five men
fions att ? ays delay to prepare mo-
ludg e n r < i,.h 1 § the indictment. District
Motion j m A- McRae granted the
and set bond at $5,000 each.
I n ^° Students Involved
Jacksonville Riots
■ Vse „
P'S tensin'" GntS con tributed to the ris-
? 0 Pstr a ti n Jacksonville where de-
P°tels m downtown restaurants,
&o Ups , epartment stores by Negro
'^t'epce f Ve heen an almost daily oc-
, .^ith fp,? r m °re than a month,
hue Mavn runrL mg high, Jackson-
^fiidate f “ ay don Burns, a leading
tQ r governor in the May 5
William Sterling Rosecrans
Confessed dynamiting.
Democratic primary, announced he was
determined to maintain law and order.
Burns said he had deputized more than
400 city firemen to serve as auxiliary
policemen in case of civil disorders.
Negro groups, largely composed of
youths, began roaming through the
city, throwing rocks through wind
shields of passing cars and setting fire
to buildings. During the disturbances
on March 23, one Negro woman was
killed, and an unknown number of
whites and Negroes were beaten or
injured. More than 200 Negroes were
arrested, about 75 of them high-school
students under 17.
On March 24, the rioting continued.
Some of the most serious disturbances
were at the Matthew W. Gilbert and
the New Stanton high schools.
Student Disorder
At New Stanton a bomb scare caused
the evacuation of Negro students. No
bomb was found, but the students be
came disorderly and stoned the cars
of news reporters, injuring a photog
rapher. A correspondent for a national
news magazine was chased and beaten
and a news car was overturned and
set on fire.
Police arrested four students, one
charged with attacking a teacher. An
other young prisoner was forcibly res
cued from police and spirited away.
All those arrested were juveniles and
were turned over to the Juvenile Court
for handling.
In another incident a shotgun blast
was fired at the Central Adult School,
attended by whites, which is only a
block from the Jacksonville police sta
tion. One student dropped to the floor
to avoid injury and was showered by
broken glass.
Firemen Hampered
Several hours later a group of Negro
youths tried to set fire to the all-Negro
James Weldon Johnson junior high.
Firefighters who responded to the alarm
were hampered by rock-throwing
groups but succeeded in putting out the
blaze without serious damage.
Police said more than 1,500 youths
and adults took part in the day-long
rioting throughout the city.
As tensions continued to increase,
demands rose for biracial talks to re
store peace. Roy Wilkins, on behalf of
the NAACP, telegraphed Attorney Gen
eral Robert F. Kennedy to ask for
Schoolmen
federal intervention. The Justice De
partment was in contact with Jackson
ville authorities.
Other appeals were made to Gov.
Farris Bryant who said he would not
step into the situation unless the Jack
sonville officials asked for help.
Informal Talks
Mayor Bums, who had repeatedly
declined to set up an official biracial
commission with authority to take ac
tion, agreed to request a group of white
and Negro citizens to act informally.
Discussions began and the disorders
subsided.
As March ended an uneasy calm
existed. No recommendations had been
made, but the talks were continuing.
A complicating factor is the guber
natorial race in which Mayor Burns is
engaged. Some of his opponents made
the disorders an issue, contending that
the mayor’s alleged inaction was a con
tributing factor. Negro leaders also ex
pressed unhappiness at the lack of
official lines of communication between
the races.
Mayor Bums charged that some of
his political opponents were giving aid
and comfort to the demonstrators to
embarrass him politically.
★ ★ ★
Augustine Scene
St.
Of Demonstrations
As the situation seemed to ease at
Jacksonville it flared at St. Augustine,
the nation’s oldest city. There, too, ten
sions have existed for months.
Groups of young white and Negro
students, some Easter vacationers at
nearby resort cities, staged a series of
demonstrations over the weekend of
March 29.
Classes at the Murray High School,
attended by Negroes, were dismissed on
March 26 when a lunch-hour demon
stration got out of hand.
Student began marching through the
halls singing and banging on doors,
walls and furniture.
Athletic Coach Malcolm Jones said
the demonstrations were apparently
planned by some youngsters during
Florida Highlights
Violence was the theme of develop
ments during March at Jacksonville
and St. Augustine.
An Indiana laborer pleaded guilty
to dynamiting the home of a Jack
sonville Negro boy enrolled at a
white schol. Five Ku Klux Klan mem
bers were charged with complicity.
Racial disorders at St. Augustine
followed incidents of violence involv
ing families of Negro children at
tending white schools.
Federal Judge Simpson heard tes
timony that the pace of desegrega
tion in Duval and Volusia counties
was too slow.
Two Negro teachers were elected
officers of the desegregated Dade
Classroom Teachers Assciation.
The Florida High School Activi
ties Association approved athletic
contests between teams from white
and Negro high schools in Dade
Countv.
:ji £ >•.- I
Rock-Throwing at New Stanton High School
Jacksonville newsmen were the targets.
their bus ride to school. He said they
appeared to have some sort of plan
in mind when they reached the school.
As the word spread through the corri
dors and classrooms there was growing
tension during the morning hours.
When the disorders began, others
quickly joined in. “It was a spontane
ous reaction,” said Jones. “There was
pandemonium.”
School authorities said six white
youths, apparently vacationing college
students from outside the state, visited
the school during the morning and in
formally talked with groups of boys
and girls. They contributed to the
growing excitement, according to these
reports.
A spokesman for an integrationist
group from New England which had
been in St. Augustine for several days
said white students were at the school
but did not incite the demonstration.
Demonstrations Continue
Two white youths, police records
show, were taken into “temporary cus-
today.” Their names and disposition
of the cases were not made public.
Demonstrations continued on the fol
lowing days in downtown St. Augu
stine. Groups including members of
both races were turned away from
Easter services at several churches.
On Monday, March 30, police arrested
some 40 students. About half, they said,
were from Ivy League colleges and
joined local Negro groups in seeking
to register at hotels and motels and
to be served in St. Augustine restau
rants.
Worse violence flared on March 31
when an estimated 140 Negroes staged
a sit-down at the Ponce de Leon, one
of the early resort hotels built by
Henry M. Flagler. When they refused
to leave police brought in dogs and
herded the demonstrators outside. A
large numbers of arrests were made,
the prisoners being taken to jail in
vans.
Scene of Strife
St. Augustine has been the scene of
racial strife for more than a year.
School officials announced in federal
court last September, during progress
of a desegregation suit, that six Negro
children had been assigned to white
schools. Since then a number of inci
dents involving these youngsters and
their families have come to light.
The automobile belonging to a Ne
gro family whose three children were
assigned to the Fullerwood Elementary
School was set on fire. A Negro man
who sought to enroll for adult training
at a white high school was slugged on
his way home. The homes of two Ne
gro families having children at the
Fullerwood were set on fire.
In the aftermath of the latest flareup.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose
Southern Christian Leadership Confer-
Teachers Elect Two Negro Officers
Two Negro teachers were elected on
March 25 as officers of the Dade Class
room Teachers Association. The group
removed racial barriers to membership
last year.
Emanuel R. Fryer Jr. was unopposed
as district director and Miss Dorothy
Kelly won over a white opponent in
a contest for secretary.
Two other Negroes wound up in a
runoff for posts as treasurer and di-
rector-at-large. These races will be
decided at a later meeting.
★ ★ ★
Teacher desegregation has worked
well at the Miami-Dade Junior College,
according to President Peter Masiko Jr.
Five Negro faculty members, he said,
have been fully accepted by their white
colleagues and by the student body.
It has proved to be a “pleasant and
profitable experience” for the college
as a whole.
Robert Thomas, a teacher in the hu
manities and an assistant band direc
tor, said he had encountered no prob
lems since joining the faculty. “I en
joy my work,” he said. “I feel that
I am making a contribution to the
school and my morale is high.”
★ ★ ★
Interracial Athletics
Approved For Dade
Meeting in Gainesville on March 14,
the executive committee of the Florida
High School Activities Association ap
proved athletic competition between
teams at white and Negro high schools
in Dade County.
The committee acted on a request
by Dr. Joe Hall, Dade superintendent,
to treat all of Dade’s 22 high schools
equally without regard to race.
The association approved a desegre
gated track meet last fall. This second
special dispensation is broadened to in
clude sports of all kinds.
No other request for such action
has been received by the FHSAA,
which forbids interracial competition
in its bylaws.
Executive Secretary Floyd Lay said
the executive committee in effect told
the Dade authorities they were free
to make any arrangements for athletic
contests they wished.
Athletic directors at the Dade schools
generally approved the move. It was
pointed out that some interracial prac
tice games have already been held.
There may be no rush to arrange offi
cial games between white and Negro
teams, however, since most of the
schedules are worked out some time in
advance.
ence had representatives on the scene
at St. Augustine, wired Attorney Gen
eral Kennedy requesting the federal
government to withdraw support for
the city’s forthcoming celebration of
the 400th anniversary of its founding.
“In St. Augustine,” the telegram said,
“400 years of local control and states
rights have not led to the betterment
of relations but a denial of basic hu
man rights.”
Intervention Asked
The Florida Advisory Commission on
Civil Rights earlier called on Gov.
Bryant to intervene to “encourage re
spect for Negro rights and to take po
lice action to punish wrong-doers.”
Florida, the group said in a special
report, “has too much at stake to let
its image be tarnished.”
The committee asked the full U. S.
Commission on Civil Rights to schedule
a meeting in St. Augustine to go into
the situation fully.
★ ★ ★
In other action the advisory group
discussed conditions in Lee County,
which has yet to begin school desegre
gation. It said that county and its seat,
Fort Myers, are “living by tradition
in race relations without regard for
changes that are taking place and with
out regard for the demands of Negro
citizens for equal opportunity and
treatment.”
Policies in effect deprive Negro chil
dren of adequate schooling, the group
said. Particular attention was directed
to Sanibel Island, a noted shelling re
sort off the coast, where, the report
said, “there is a situation of the most
flagrant hardship with small children
spending five hours a day needlessly
being transported to and from schools
(on the mainland) despite a willing
ness of white residents of Sanibel to
have Negro children schooled there.”
Legal Action
School Plaintiffs
In Duval, Volusia
Request Revision
Plaintiffs in school suits involving
Duval and Volusia counties went into
federal court at Jacksonville March
27 to protest that the pace of desegre
gation under court order is too slow.
Judge Bryan Simpson, who approved
a grade-a-year desegregation plan be
ginning last September, accepted depo
sitions and heard arguments. He or
dered additional depositions to be taken
before he makes his decision.
Under the court-approved plan Ne
gro first graders were to be accepted
in the schools nearest their homes re
gardless of the racial makeup.
A deposition submitted by Earl M.
Johnson, NAACP attorney represent
ing the plaintiffs in both cases, said
only 13 first-graders were attending
with whites in Duval and only one
in Volusia.
There are 38 others in Volusia, how
ever, enrolled with white students in
higher grades.
Asks Acceleration
These figures indicated clearly, John
son contended, that the “stair-step”
plan is not working and must be re
vised and accelerated if the rights of
Negro children are protected.
Johnson asked that attendance areas
in the two counties be spelled out in
writing and not left to the “whim and
caprice” of school officials.
For the Volusia school board, at
torney Warren E. Hall Jr. said that
about 500 Neg o first-graders were eli
gible to attend all-white schools but
preferred to remain in Negro schools.
Many Negro parents, he declared,
are not eager to send their children
to white schools during their first years.
(See FLORIDA, Page 16)