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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)