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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MAY, 1964—PAGE 7-A
TENNESSEE
Civic Group Finances Enlargement Of Biracial School
NASHVILLE
T he Franklin County Board
of Education at Winchester
on April 18 received a $50,000
check from the Sewanee Com
munity Chest Committee for con
struction of four new classrooms
at newly desegregated Sewanee
public School.
Supt. Lewis H. Scott said construc
tion is expected to be completed in time
for the opening of school in September.
Scott said plans call for the now all-
Negro Kennerly Elementary School to
be closed at the beginning of the new
school year with more than 30 Negro
students now attending the school to
be enrolled at Sewanee Public School.
Under an order issued Jan. 2 by
U. S. District Judge Charles G. Neese,
13 Negro students were enrolled in the
previously all-white school on March
2. (Hill et al v. Franklin County Board
of Education, SSN, January and
previous.)
Zones Ordered
The following day, the court directed
the board to amend its gradual desegre
gation plan by creating zones in the
Sewanee school district and assign
pupils to schools according to their
places of residence.
Kennerly School also was ordered
desegregated, but no white students
sought admission to the Negro school.
School officials said they originally
agreed to enroll 19 Negro students at
. the Sewanee school and rejected re
quests from about 25 others because of
insufficient classroom space.
The Community Chest agreed to con-
Teimessee Highlights
A $50,000 check for the construc
tion of new classrooms at a newly
desegregated school was presented
to the Franklin County Board of Edu
cation by the Sewanee Community
Chest Committee.
Scholarship requirements for ath
letes at Memphis State University
are the same for Negroes as they are
for white students, Dr. C. C. Hum
phreys, MSU president, said.
The Johnson City Human Relations
Committee recommended complete
desegregation of the city school dis
trict.
duct a fund-raising campaign for
money to finance the four additional
classrooms.
During conferences between both
sides in the suit, school officials agreed
to accept seven more Negroes at
Sewanee Public School.
At the request of the plaintiffs and
the board, Judge Neese postponed the
deadline for the board to amend its
plan, pending outcome of the fund
raising campaign.
Dr. Charles Winters, a member of
the Community Chest Committee, said
April 11 that the board had agreed to
build the classrooms.
Dr. T. Felder Dorn, chairman of the
committee, said the agency had ob
tained the funds in the form of a loan
from a bank and that a public sub
scription program would be carried out
to repay the loan. At last report, about
$30,000 of the funds had been pledged.
Dr. Winters said if bids on the
construction are too high, the money
collected will be returned to the con
tributors. The proposed construction
also is subject to approval of the State
Board of Education.
Miscellaneous
MSU President Says
Sports Scholarships
Open For Negroes
Dr. C. C. Humphreys, president of
Memphis State University, said April 6
that Negro athletes are eligible for
scholarships on the same basis as white
students.
Humphreys told newsmen the state
ment did not represent an announce
ment of a new policy. “There has been
no policy,” he said.
Humphreys said “a student now in
school can go out for any team. It is up
to the coach whether he wants him to
have a uniform.”
Any student recommended by the
coach to the athletic committee for a
scholarship is eligible if he meets other
admissability requirements, he added.
Memphis State, which began admit
ting Negroes in 1959, has no Negroes on
its athletic teams at present, Humph
reys said.
★ ★ ★
T. J. Griffin, chairman of the Free
dom Committee of the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Colored
People, in April charged the Memphis
Board of Education with “discrimina
tory practices.”
In a letter to Hugh H. Bosworth,
board chairman, Griffin said that dem
onstrations last fall ended after it had
been “stated several times that these
problems could be solved without dem
onstrations.”
Large groups of Negroes last fall
staged demonstrations protesting dou
ble-shift schedules at some Negro high
schools.
Community Action
Full Desegregation
Urged By Group
Complete desegregation of schools
was the principal recommendation of
the Johnson City Human Relations
Committee April 7 in a letter to Mayor
Ross Spears Jr.
Spears released the contents of the
letter, but made no comment concern
ing whether action will be taken on
the recommendation.
The committee established, to serve
in an advisory capacity to the mayor,
urged that the Johnson City Board of
Education complete desegregation of all
schools as rapidly as possible and that
the all-white Science Hill High School
be desegregated in all grades beginning
this September.
The committee’s letter said the cur
riculum in Negro schools is not on the
same level as that in the white or pre
dominantly white schools and contended
that all students, regardless of race, are
entitled to the same offerings of subjects
for study.
Johnson City schools voluntarily be
gan desegregation in the fall of 1961 and
now have 36 Negroes in biracial classes
in the first three grades at four schools,
in addition to several Negro students at
tending vocational training classes.
The district, which has about 6,100
students, including about 700 Negroes, is
in upper East Tennessee.
★ ★ ★
Negroes resumed demonstrations in
Nashville on April 27 and their leaders
said they would continue until their de
mands, including complete school de
segregation, are met.
Many Negro junior and senior high-
school students participated in the dem
onstrations, which were directed pri
marily toward support for a local pub
lic-accommodations ordinance.
Nearly 100 people were arrested dur
ing the first week of demonstrations,
which resulted in minor injuries to 18
demonstrators and seven policemen.
School officials asked police to help
prevent “agitators” from enticing stu
dents to leave their classrooms for the
demonstrations, which were joined in
by some white persons.
Nashville and Davidson County
schools have desegregated the first
seven grades. Under federal court-ap
proved plans, one additional grade is to
be desegregated each year.
MARYLAND
Sensenbaugh
Named State
School Head
BALTIMORE
Dr. James A. Sensenbaugh,
school superintendent of
Frederick County, was named in
April as the next Maryland super
intendent of schools. Selected by
jhe Maryland Board of Education,
yr. Sensenbaugh will succeed Dr.
Thomas G. Pullen Jr., retiring at
of May after serving since
hi setting forth Dr. Sensenbaugh’s
Tialifucations, the state board stressed
*^ Lat during his eight years as
Jjrwerick County’s superintendent he
as effected the complete integration
° the public schools . . . with the ex-
JPhon of one two-room [Negro]
ool which will be closed this
year . . »
^jariier in April the state board had
. the Maryland Commission on
jj rrac ial Problems and Relations that
j^ould appoint a state superintendent
SuKmL comrn itted to desegregation,
of ^ Uently the executive secretary
e interracial agency personally ap-
the board’s choice.
vi °usly an assistant superinten-
haufflf 1 ^timore County, Dr. Sensen-
his v. burned as superintendent to
q c °unty
:956 rederic k
reo a# When deseg-
iX 011 had n °t
* tl under
Hang" Predomi
5
\
t
t
^ I
c
* I
i
■■■ 1 rur al coun-
?V °gSn S gan /
”al el "”. of ffrad-
the “"Nation of
?at e ^ ne segre-
saall L* 0stl y
! ^d ard and *ub-
Hicfc ?’ schools
Sd '°°l no serve d the county’s Negro
The eou? v tion a h° ut 1,400 pupils.
% nt y has about 14,000 white pu-
, Th, _
-ateg A—'- C1 “ cl u oi me state Doara
’’’tit js r^t the one remaining Negro
SENSENBAUGH
'‘dicateg ,? Unceme nt of the state board
’’ait ^ the one remaining Negro
^Uld e closed out this June, which
co^,, 6 Fr ederick the third Mary.
For a to abolish all-Negro classes.
j.. recount of Frederick’s pro-
■ Sc i>SN ’ December, 1959.)
y 5 kach e j^ e , ri k au Sh, now 54, received
from r <^’ mas ter’s and doctor’s de-
Jfpon ° lumbia University.
>6 J^thement, Dr. Pullen will be-
1 ent of the University of
Maryland Highlights
Maryland’s top public-school post
has been awarded to a county su
perintendent who directed one of the
most comprehensive desegregation
programs in the state.
Steps to accelerate school deseg
regation became a subject of dis
cussion during April in three county
districts.
A racial question on the University
of Maryland’s student application
form has been made an issue by the
state interracial agency.
★ ★ ★
Speedup Proposals Bring
Discussion and Controversy
Steps to accelerate school desegrega
tion stirred discussion and controversy
in three Maryland counties in April.
In Baltimore County, opposition arose
to recommendations in a staff report of
the county’s Human Relations Commis
sion that the pupils in three all-Negro
elementary schools (and possibly a
fourth) be reassigned to predominantly
white schools as of next September and
that the former Negro buildings be
used as annexes “on a racially mixed
basis” to relieve overcrowded condi
tions at other county schools.
The staff report was presented to the
county Board of Education as pickets
outside represented a county chapter
of the Maryland Petition Committee, a
segregationist group of about 10 years’
standing. Three county councilmen also
expressed opposition to the plan, and
“forced school integration” became an
election issue for some congressional
candidates entered in Maryland’s May
19 primaries.
Thorough Study
The president of the Anne Arundel
County Board of Education, Mrs. John
H. Norris, told the press on April 23
that a thorough study of desegregation
progress in her county had been under
way for two or three months. Mrs.
Norris said she had asked the county
superintendent, Dr. David S. Jenkins,
to make the study and present recom
mendations as soon as possible.
Announcement of the study followed
criticism from at least three sources.
An outgoing county grand jury in April
called attention to the continued exis
tence of all-Negro schools in Anne
Arundel and questioned the “direction
and extent” of compliance with Su
preme Court decisions. A county
spokesman for the Congress of Racial
Equality said in April that official ex
planations of procedures which it had
received did “not represent any con
scious effort” to comply with the coun-
(See MARYLAND, Page 8-A)
GEORGIA
Plan For Bibb County
MACON
A DESEGREGATION PLAN of the
Bibb County (Macon) Board
of Education was approved April
27 by U.S. District Court Judge
W. A. Bootle, who ordered it into
effect “forthwith.” The board set
May as the period in which appli
cation may be submitted by 11th
grade students for transfer to the
12th grade of a different high
school.
Only transfers of 12th grade students
will be permitted in September when
desegregation begins, with the 10th and
11th grades to be included in 1965-66,
the ninth in 1966-67, the eighth in 1967-
68, the seventh in 1968-69, the fifth and
sixth in 1969-70, the fourth in 1970-71,
the second and third in 1971-72 and the
first grade in 1972-73.
Judge Bootle rejected objections to
the plan raised by Negro plaintiffs, who
had filed the desegregation case against
the board in August, 1963. He also
denied an injunction sought by the
plaintiffs against the board, saying they
“do no need” it since “they already
have more than that. The solemn
promises of the members of this stable
board made to this court through their
counsel and through the testimony of
their officers are stronger than an in
junction.” But Judge Bootle retained
jurisdiction in the case.
The Bibb County Board of Education
is a self-perpetuating board. The junior
and senior high schools are segregated
by sex.
The judge made no ruling on the
plaintiffs’ request that teachers, prin
cipals, supervisors and other profes
sional school personnel be assigned on
a non-racial basis. He said the court
might consider it at a later date.
★ ★ ★
In Columbus, U. S. District Judge J.
Robert Elliott ruled April 2 that Mus
cogee County’s grade-a-y, r school de
segregation plan is “reaso- able and
legally adequate.”
Under the plan, the schools will be
desegregated a grade-a-year, beginning
with the 12th grade in September. Four
Negroes have been accepted for enroll
ment in previously all-white schools.
Judge Elliot said, “The plan has
already been put into operation and
every request has been approvd. There
is no need for judicial interference.”
Dr. William Henry Shaw, superin
tendent, said three Negroes would enter
Baker High and one will enter Colum
bus High this fall. Pupils who failed to
apply for transfer within a 15-day ap
plication period in February “forfeited
any further right to transfer,” Shaw
, .said.
Georgia Highlights
A federal district court ordered
Bibb County to desegregate next
September under a grade-a-year plan
suggested by the board of education.
A similar plan was approved by a
court for Muscogee County.
Albany, scene of past racial trou
ble, registered 81 Negroes to enter
first and second grades in white
schools this fall.
Desegregation methods were be
ing studied by a committee of the
Richmond County (Augusta) Board
of Education.
A federal appellate court heard
arguments on whether desegregation
should be speeded up in Chatham
and Glynn counties.
Earlier, Negroes had said that the
gradual desegregation plan was inade
quate, the city and county still main
tained attendance areas that would
retain segregation, and the burden
should not be on the Negroes to apply
for transfer to the predominantly white
schools.
A. J. Land, board attorney, defended
the gradual plan, saying chaos could
result if complete desegregation were
ordered at once.
★ ★ ★
Eighty-one Negro children registered
for the first and second grades at
previously white schools in Dougherty
County (Albany). A week of registra
tion for the fall school term, ordered
by a federal court, ended April 10. An
estimated 1,700 Negro students in
Albany are eligible for the first and
second grades.
Earlier, T. R. Finley, coordinator of
the Dougherty County school system,
said the registration “went as smooth
as glass and there were no incidents”
in the South Georgia city, which has
been the scene of several racial
upheavals.
In March a federal court had ordered
the school board to desegregate the
first and second grades of its public
schools and two vocational schools this
September. The board previously had
adopted a grade-a-year plan and it had
been approved by U. S. District Judge
J. Robert Elliott. Negro parents, how
ever, appealed and the Fifth U.S. Cir
cuit Court of Appeals ordered the
modification.
The Negroes registered at the school
they want to attend in Dougherty
County but under the approved plan
they will not necessarily attend these
Approved
schools. Student assignment will be
made on the basis of proximity to the
school, student capacity and avail
ability of transportation facilities.
★ ★ ★
The Richmond County Board of Edu
cation (Augusta) appointed a special
committee to study methods by which
local schools wifi be desegregated. The
move came after Superior Court Judge
C. Wesley Killebrew ruled in effect
that portions of the act establishing the
county board and pertaining to
separate schools for white and Negro
students are unconstitutional.
Three Negroes from the Augusta
chapter of the NAACP asked for de
segregation of the schools in April, 1963.
The board petitioned the court for
Clarification of its separate schools
clause and the court upheld a demurrer
to the petition filed by the Negroes.
★ ★ ★
The U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap
peals has taken under consideration
arguments on swifter school desegrega
tion in two Georgia systems. Circuit
Judge Griffin Bell of Atlanta said it
was indefinite when a decision would
be handed down.
The Georgia systems are Savannah
and Brunswick, where the 12th grades
were desegregated last fall. Glynn
County (Brunswick) voluntarily de
segregated. Chatham County (Savan
nah) did so under court order.
Mrs. Constance Baker Motley,
NAACP attorney appearing before the
federal appellate court, asked the court
to rule out legal defenses of racially
segregated schools under any theory.
“It is essential for this court to put
to rest the question of whether this can
be litigated again,” she said.
Ten Years Ago
Mrs. Motley noted that the U. S.
Supreme Court outlawed segregated
public schools ten years ago, and has
reaffirmed the ruling four times. She
said arguments over the basic issue of
segregation were taking more time and
causing more delay in desegregation.
“The way to stop that is to rule now,”
she said.
Complete desegregation of the Glynn
County system and desegregation of
the first four grades in Chatham
County, plus two a year thereafter,
was asked.
Questioning Mrs. Motley at length
about specific requests relating to each
city, Judge Bell said, “You say you are
against gradualism, but you pray for
that in your brief.”
Mrs. Motley said that only partial de-
(See GEORGIA, Page 8-A)