Newspaper Page Text
OKLAHOMA
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—APRIL, 1964—PAGE 7
Attorney General Says No Laws
Require Uniracial Institutions
OKLAHOMA. CITY
O klahoma’s attorney general
has ruled state laws do not
require racial segregation in state
training schools for boys and girls.
The opinion was issued by Charles
' Yesbitt in answer to a question by
William Y. Rose, director of the Okla
homa Human Rights Commission. Rose
said the commission sought the ruling
as part of its long-range program of
eliminating segregation in all state- op
erated institutions.
The four training schools—one each
! [ or white boys, white girls, Negro boys
and Negro girls—have been operated
traditionally on a segregated basis.
Rose said his group was curious
whether this was by law or by custom.
“It developed that in the past it was
almost a legal thing,” Rose said. “Coun
ty judges who committed boys and girls
were inadvertently perpetuating it.”
Designations Noted
Nesbitt’s opinion pointed out that,
when the schools were created, they
were designated as the State Training
School for White Girls, Tecumseh; the
State Training School for Negro Boys,
Boley; the West Oklahoma State Home
for White Children, Helena, and the
State Training School for Girls, Taft.
(Taft is an all-Negro community in
eastern Oklahoma. Also located there
' is Taft State Hospital, to which only
Negro mental patients are committed.)
The opinion said that, despite the
designations, the laws did not express-
• ly prohibit a white child from being
received at a school created for Negro
children, or vice versa.
The attorney general said children
received in the four schools are re
ceived upon commitments issued by
county judges.
“Said sections do not require such
: a judge to commit a white boy or girl
only to an institution which has been
created for white boys or white girls,
and the converse of this is true,” the
, opinion held.
The attorney general is of the opin
ion that, if a county judge would com-
■nit a Negro girl to a school created
and established for training white girls,
she should under the principles of law
announced by the Supreme Court of
e United States ... be received at
^d school.”
School Staffs
The opinion also said state statute
0 not act as a legal bar to raciall;
^segregated staffs at state trainini
c ools for boys and girls.
ar os ® his office had not gottei
of°tB t0 in * orm i n g the county judge
attorney general’s opinion,
tirm V e i°°ki n g forward to a situa
out W " ere they’ll commit chidren with
‘ re ® rd to race,” he said. “We’r
£“»■« 0Ur situation to see if we’r
.--g with the judicial process,
caus 6 n° Pe widespread publicity wil
c nanv„ *i em (the count y judges) t
a montK Clr T think we’ll wai
th or two to see what happens.
' ^h^plmen
^°ard Rejects Move
* ^ 0r Consultant
S Desegregation
Th
•‘OtifiL 0 ^Jah°ma City schoc
Bohanon U ' S District Judge
Nans tn ° n April 1 that U
nigop-, ,® m Pl°y an outside e
! he b 0 the court for a
Plan, s Permanent desej
on Feb. 28 h
^Posal weeks to decid
^Pulsi’ on WhiCh S£ dd car
Jitter which did not a<
Wh g , lts monthly mee
'onth c 7J t . discussed it du
noiif* dad decided
^ fulmi^^g is “ fair . 1
Sim t * le le S a l require!
“fSro pi a j?,°d Ta te, attome;
Ji>en i t dl, who criticized
: ebr Uarv S ? resented to the
stuZ’ Ml d he himself woi
? do So y "’ade if asked by t
jNi { ’ and he added that
Ju d ^ C0UW be f ° Und ^
^ 1 ? l0n s suggestion
on the **
“ The pIan submitted
P eri was drawn u
Oklahoma Highlights
The Oklahoma attorney general
ruled that state laws do not require
racial segregation of the state train
ing schools for boys and girls.
The Oklahoma City school board
failed to take immediate action on
a federal judge’s suggestion to hire
an outside expert to study its de
segregation plan but indicated a de
cision may be near.
Negroes who failed to get their
fellow patrons of a Negro school in
Oklahoma County to go along on a
de-annexation move have apparent
ly abandoned a threat to desegre
gate the white school.
A Negro girl involved in deseg
regation of Wewoka High School
four years ago was named the state’s
outstanding, all-around speech stu
dent.
sponse to an order handed down by
Bohanon July 11 in ruling on a racial
discrimination suit brought by a Negro
optometrist, Dr. Alfonzo Dowell, in be
half of his son (Dowell v. Board of Ed
ucation.)
Comments on Plan
After hearing the plan attacked by
Dowell’s attorney, and defended by
school officials, the federal judge said
the school board had “set down a very
fine, long range plan of integration.”
But he said there are flaws in it
and added he did not intend to ap
prove it “until I know that this is the
best plan.”
The plan has been operating and will
continue to operate while a new pjan
is sought, the judge said.
He said the 1954 U. S. Supreme Court
decision (in Brown v. Topeka Board
of Education) requires a “school plan
that gives Negroes equal opportunity
to white children, and Negroes the same
motivation to make good citizens as
white children should have.”
He emphasized he was without au
thority to order the school board to
hire a school desegregation expert to
make a study. However, he said such
a study would be well worth the cost
“and for the good of our children, both
black and white.”
Dr. Jack F. Parker, superintendent
of schools, indicated on March 27 that
the board’s discussions had dealt not
with whom should be hired to do the
suggested study but rather the “whole
question of the implication of the
judge’s suggestion.”
Terms of Plan
The board’s permanent plan, adopted
Jan. 14, declares attendance areas are
based on geography and building utili
zation; that special school services are
allowed all children who need them;
that student activities and faculties are
desegregated and that transfers are
given for reasons set out without re
gard to race, color, creed, religion or
national origin.
It specifically states the board in
tends to adhere to the neighborhood
school concept.
Tate attacked the plan on grounds
it contributes to the maintenance of
the status quo and tends to perpetuate
racial segregation and, therefore, is un
constitutional.
★ ★ ★
Negroes Announce Decision
Not To Seek Desegregation
Negro patrons rebuffed in an attempt
to get their school de-annexed from a
predominantly white district in Okla-
home County apparently will not carry
out a threat to desegregate the white
school. (SSN, March.)
A leader in the move said in March
his group will, instead, demand the
board improve facilities in Dunjee, the
Negro school.
Fourteen of the Dunjee patrons, led
by Antone Bridgett and C. L. Sloss,
have have been trying since August to
get the school de-annexed from the
Choctaw district in eastern Oklahoma
County. They circulated petitions ask
ing that Dunjee be annexed to the Ok
lahoma City school district.
They charged that the Dunjee school
has inadequate facilities. Specific com
plaints centered around vocational
courses and classroom space.
Vote to Remain
But in a “sentiment” election staged
by the Choctaw school board Feb. 25
the Dunjee patrons voted 293 to 89
in favor of remaining in the Choctaw
district.
Earlier, the protesting group had said
that, if the de-annexation effort failed,
they would send their children to the
white school.
On March 27, however, Bridgett said
this course would not be followed.
“Too many children in the district
TEXAS
41 Districts Added to
AUSTIN
orty-one districts were added
to Texas’ desegregation list
by the first official tabulation of
Texas Education Agency.
Counting districts which previously
had been reported unofficially to have
abolished segregation policies, 373
Texas systems were listed as “deseg
regated” although 104 of these reported
they have no Negroes this year and
one other is all-Negro.
Superintendents notified the agency
that Negroes are attending classes with
white pupils in these districts, not pre
viously reported desegregated, in the
following counties.
Bailey—Muleshoe, 78 Negroes attend
ing, desegregated high school; Bula,
17 Negroes, 12 grades.
Bee—Tynan, 18 Negroes, 12 grades.
Bosque—Morgan, one Negro, third
grade.
Brazos—Brazos County Independent
School District, 364 Negroes, first grade
only.
Castro—Nazareth, two Negroes, first
and second grades.
Clay—Henrietta, 24 Negroes, 12
grades.
Collingsworth—Samnorwood and
Dodson, seven Negroes each, 12 grades.
Dallas—Mesquite, 76 Negroes, first
grade.
Dawson—Dawson ISD, four Negroes,
12 grades.
Erath—Stephenville, 13 Negroes, 12
grades.
Falls—Marlin, 1,258 Negroes, first
grade; Rosebud 213 Negroes, first grade.
Fisher—Rotan, 70 Negroes, high
schools.
Freestone—Butler, a Negro school
Texas Highlights
Forty-one Texas districts were
revealed for the first time to have
desegregated, while many other dis
tricts reported they have taken the
step or have no segregation policy.
Rice University announced plans
to admit Negroes to full student
participation in 1965, following a
district judge’s ruling that the
founder’s restrictions on race and
tuition could be set aside on a jury
verdict these no longer are prac
tical.
Two officials of Texas Southern
University expressed concern that
most Negroes enrolling there must
take remedial courses before they
are able to do college work.
with 216 students reported it had de
segregated.
Gaines—Loop, one Negro, 12 grades.
Galveston—La Marque, 2,222 Ne
groes, 12 grades.
Graza—Close City, 11 Negroes, seven
grades.
Glasscock—Countywide district, one
Negro, 12 grades.
Gonzalez—Nixon, 53 Negroes, 12
grades.
Hale—Petersburg, 80 Negroes, high
school.
Hockley—Smyer, 25 Negroes, all
grades; Whitharral, four Negroes, 2
grades.
Hood—Granbury, 13 Negroes, 12
grades.
Award for Outstanding Speech Student
Guy H. Brown, Ronald K. Green, Jearline Franklin.
would be affected,” he said. “We want
to see the entire system cleaned up.
We’re going to demand that the facili
ties be put in Dunjee School.”
Bridgett said there is need for more
vocational courses, such as tailoring,
barbering, upholstering and cosmetol
ogy. He said Dunjee now offers only
agriculture and home economics and
“we’re not an agricultural commun
ity.”
He said his group has presented
this need to the school board but it
implied that money is not available at
present to make the requested ad
ditions.
Bridgett, a custodian at Truman Ele
mentary School in Oklahoma City, has
four children attending Dunjee. He said
the school also needs more classroom
space and a larger faculty to lighten
the load on the teachers.
The board denies that inadequacies
exist at Dunjee, saying it has spent
$200,000 there in the past two years.
It plans to spend another $40,000 or
$50,000 on Dunjee out of a $115,000
bond issue approved by the voters
March 24.
Miscellaneous
Negro Pupil Wins
Statewide Award
A Negro girl involved in the deseg
regation of the Wewoka, Okla., white
high school four years ago has been
named the state’s outstanding all-
around speech student.
She is Jearline Franklin, who will be
graduated from Wewoka High School
May 26, two days after she reaches her
17th birthday.
She was declared the 14th recipient
of the Ted W. Beaird Speech Award at
the annual State Speech Tournament
and Drama Festival at the University
of Oklahoma March 19-21. She was
one of some 500 students from across
the state who took part in the com
petition.
The award was presented by Guy
H. Brown and Ronald K. Green of the
University of Oklahoma Alumni As
sociation. It included a plaque and a
scholarship to the university.
Miss Franklin, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Haywood Griffis, attended We-
woka’s all-Negro Douglass School
through the seventh grade.
In her eighth-grade year, 1960-61,
the top six grades at Douglass were
discontinued and merged with the white
senior and junior high schools for fi
nancial reasons (SSN, October, 1959,
and March, 1960.)
Doubled Her Course
Jearline was one of about 85 junior
junior high and 80 senior high Negro
pupils who began attending classes with
white students in the fall of 1960. Be
cause of her scholastic record, she
doubled-up in her course work and
was allowed to skip her junior year.
“She’s a fine student and a fine girl,”
said Lloyd Power, Wewoka superin
tendent of schools. “She’s taking six
subjects this year.”
In the speech tournament, Jearline
competed in poetry interpretation, orig
inal oratory and interpretation of dra
matic literature. She had qualified for
state competition in seven events but
was limited to three by the tournament
rules.
Desegregation List
Johnson—Burleson, one Negro, all
grades.
Kerr—Kerrville high school, 175 Ne
groes in district.
Lamb—Sudan high sehool, 133 Ne
groes.
Live Oak—George West, one Negro,
12 grades.
Matagorda—Bay City, 830 Negroes,
and Palacios, 69 Negroes, all grades.
Nolan—Sweetwater junior and senior
high, 207 Negroes in district.
Nueces—Bluntzer, five Negroes, ail
grades; London, four Negroes, and Port
Aransas, three, first eight grades each.
Shackelford—Albany, 22 Negroes, first
four grades.
Sutton—Sonora high, 11 Negroes.
Victoria—Mission Valley, 20 Negroes,
nine grades.
Wichita—Electra, 52 Negroes, junior
and senior high grades.
Wilbarger—Lockett, 53 Negroes, all
grades.
Young—Graham high, 52 Negroes.
The statistics reflected the total num
ber of Negroes in each district, and
not necessarily the number attending
classes with whites. Many districts
maintain a fairly high degree of seg
regation, either through gradual deseg
regation programs, attendance areas, by
choice of students or a combination of
these factors.
Most of the districts listed are located
where desegregation had started pre-
viouly at nearby schools. An earlier
unofficial list showed 244 desegregated
school districts in Texas, including some
without Negro students.
Of an estimated 325,000 Negroes en
rolled in Texas schools, approximately
200,000 reside in the 263 districts which
have started desegregation in practice
or policy. The same districts have about
1,300,000 white students, compared with
a total of 2,035,000 in the state. Many
of the other districts have students
only of one race.
More than 45,000 Negro students live
in districts which reported desegrega
tion of all grades. In some cases, how
ever, these still operate certain schools
patronized solely by Negroes. By un
official estimates, about 18,000 Texas
Negroes attend classes which previous
ly were all-white.
Legal Action
Rice Gets Authority
To Ignore Racial
Provision by Founder
J
State District Judge William M. Hol
land signed a judgment authorizing
trustees at Rice University to disregard
restrictions in the founder’s will in
denture which limited enrollment to
white students and stated no tuition
would be charged. (Rice v. Carr, SSN,
March and previous.)
A jury had held that the restrictions
were “impractical.”
Trustees brought the suit, and the
only objections came from two former
students. It was not known whether
they will attempt to appeal Holland’s
ruling.
Dr. Kenneth S. Pitzer, president of
Rice, said the Houston University will
(See 41 DISTRICTS, Page 9)