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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)