Newspaper Page Text
Factual
Objective
Southern School News
TEN YEARS IN REVIEW
Special 16-Page Section Marking a Decade Since the School Desegregation Decision of May 17, 1954
VOL. 10, NO. II—SECTION B
NASHVILLE, TENN.
MAY, 1964
Southern School News, June 8, 1955
LEGISLATION
475 Legislative Actions
Pertain to Race, Schools
By TOM FLAKE
J^egislatures of the 17 Southern
and border states have ap
proved approximately 475 acts
resolutions related to segre
gation-desegregation of public
Plication during the past 10
years.
Prompted by the U.S. Supreme
°urt’s decision in 1954 against com
pulsory rac i a i segregation in public
* °°ls, legislators responded in most
n 6 s that required segregation by law.
The
such
responses have varied widely for
(I reasons as geography, popula-
n ratios of the races, and attitudes
’, s * a ^ e leadership.
out 95 per cen t Q f the legislative
^ The Review
P e cial Articles
Schools 1-B
°urt Actions 1-B
I . 1
©elation ... 1-B
^e the South 2-B
.e^ers 2-B
opulation Shifts 2-B
facts
Education 3-B
^ J on Film 3-B
Les^r? ^ rom Decisions 8-B
VjT] Background 9-B
Chr °nology 12-B
^ History 16-B
'tat
e Reports
^hairu
ArC" 13 11-B
- Ka nsas
Bela.
jn 4-B
4-B
Florid ° f Columbia 14 -B
SgTa '
Nucky
uand
10- B
7-B
7-B
11- B
A^ rolina 6-:
6-B
T^essee
B
^as
i
^ Vi
‘rginia
.13-B
.16-B
. 3-B
.14-B
,15-B
. 5-B
activity on the subject has been in the
11 Southern states. Only about 25 mea
sures have been enacted or adopted
in the border states of Delaware, Ken
tucky, Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma
and West Virginia—and most of these
were steps toward compliance with
the court decision.
In general, actions of Southern state
assemblies have been intended in wide
ly varying manners to prevent, delay
or limit the admission of Negroes to
schools with whites. Some measures
have called for alternatives to conven
tional public-school operations; others
have been primarily counter-actions
or protests against federal participa
tion in educational policy-making.
Actually, lawmaking in the light of
judicial action got under way before
1954. Federal courts already had ruled
for admissions of Negroes with whites
in cases involving colleges, and some
Southern states enacted laws on such
subjects as pupil assignment and
“equalization” programs before deci
sions in the School Segregation Cases
were announced.
Dealt Directly
But only about a half-dozen pre-
1954 statutes dealt directly with the
issue decided by the Supreme Court,
and two of these were border-state
moves against segregation. By the end
of 1954, however, the legislatures of
Louisiana, Mississippi and South
Carolina had completed 10 enactments
pertaining to the fast-rising issue. In
1955, there were 30 actions and in 1956,
a record 96 pieces of legislation were
produced. During the next five years,
the numbers ranged from 31 to 93
annually, but in 1963 the total fell to
11-—the lowest of the decade.
Little major legislation on school-
race matters appears in prospect for
1964. Many legislatures do not con
vene regularly during even-numbered
years. Those that are meeting are in
volved in such other issues as legisla
tive reapportionment and educational
financing, both of which may have
racial overtones but are not directly
addressed to the subject.
Louisiana is by far the leader in
numbers of enactments, with a total
of 131 for the decade, many of them
(See 475, Page 5-B)
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Fewer Than One in Ten Negroes
Attending Schools with Whites
By JIM LEESON
en years of school desegrega
tion in the Southern and bor
der region end this month with
fewer than 10 per cent of the
Negro students attending public
elementary and high schools with
whites.
When the U.S. Supreme Court first
ruled against “separate but equal”
schools on May 17, 1954, the 17 South
ern and border states, plus the Dis
trict of Columbia, maintained segre
gation at the elementary and high
school level. A small number of public
colleges and universities in the region
already had desegregated, beginning
as early as 1936.
By the end of the 1954-64 decade,
the border area had enrolled more
than half of its Negro students in de-
COURT ACTIONS
Tn its 1954 decision that “sep-
arate educational facilities are
inherently unequal,” the U.S. Su
preme Court established a new
constitutional principle. Precisely
what this principle meant in
terms of practical operation of a
public-school system was not
spelled out. Now, 10 years later,
the courts have added some flesh
to the bare bones of the original
decision. The affected states are
learning what they can do and
what they cannot do if they are
to maintain constitutionally op
erated school systems.
In its 1955 decision, the Supreme
Court indicated that “the vitality of
these constitutional principles cannot
be allowed to yield simply because of
segregated elementary and high
schools; all of its public institutions of
higher learning were desegregated. The
11 Southern states, by 1964, had only
one per cent of the Negro students in
biracial schools; more than half of
the public institutions of higher learn
ing have dropped racial barriers to
admission.
The sharp difference in the pace of
desegregation in the two areas—South
ern and border—reflects the attitudes
these areas took toward the 1954
and the May 31, 1955, rulings of the
Supreme Court. Most school districts
in the six border states and in the
District of Columbia complied with a
minimum of resistance. But in the 11
Southern states, the rulings met with
determined efforts to hold desegrega
tion to a minimum.
Each of the border states had poc
kets of Southern sentiment, which
disagreement with them.” It also sug
gested that among the factors which
might be taken into consideration in
the transition to a racially non-dis.
criminatory school system were the
physical condition of the school plant,
the transportation system, personnel
and revision of school districts and
attendance areas.
The late Justice Robert Jackson pre
dicted that the Supreme Court opinion
would usher in “a generation of liti
gation.” The legislatures of some of the
Southern states have done their best
to make Justice Jackson’s prediction
a good one. The chief means of achiev
ing delay in compliance have been
legislation and litigation. Laws have
been passed by the scores to make de
segregation difficult, if not impossible.
These laws are assumed to be con
stitutional until declared unconstitu-
(See SOME, Page 8-B)
kept desegregation to a minimum, but
generally the public and official atti
tude was to comply with the decision,
and on a large scale. The big cities of
Baltimore, Louisville and Washington,
for example, adopted programs that
placed most of their students in biracial
schools within one or two years. After
the first period of willing compliance
in the border states during the early
years, additional desegregation in the
South came slowly and reluctantly.
Border-state legislatures considered
few bills on the school desegregation
issue and the 25 that passed generally
encouraged the change. Southern leg
islators, in the past decade, adopted
almost 450 laws and resolutions dealing
with desegregation—most of them de
signed to delay or limit the admission
of Negroes to schools with whites. The
state and federal courts in the South
received more than 300 lawsuits on
school desegregation and related issues,
while the border-area courts had to
deal with only about 85.
By 1955, school desegregation had
begun in the District of Columbia and
every border state—Delaware, Ken
tucky Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma
and West Virginia. The Southern states
acted more slowly. Within the first two
years of the 1954 ruling, only Ark
ansas, Tennessee and Texas had some
biracial classes. In the 1956-57 school
year, no additional states acted. But
a single Southern state acted in each
of the following school years: North
Carolina, 1957-58; Virginia, 1958-59;
Florida, 1959-60; Louisiana, 1960-61;
and Georgia, 1961-62. Two other Sou
thern states, Alabama and South Car
olina, resisted desegregation until 1963-
64.
One Southern state, Mississippi, op
erated its public grade schools on a
segregated basis for the entire 10-year
period. However, three Mississippi
school districts face court orders to
desegregate next fall.
The transition from segregated to
desegregated schools followed three
patterns in the region: Compliance,
tokenism and defiance. Several dis
tricts, usually the larger cities in the
border area, immediately accepted the
(See FEWER, Page 2-B)
In Decade, Flesh Added
To Bones of Decision
School Desegregation, 1954-64
Grades Kindergarten-12 in 17 Southern and Border States and D. C.
School Districts Enrollment In Desegregated
Districts
Negroes
In Schools
with Whites
1954-55 South
Border ...
With Negroes
Total and Whites
... 4,355 3,337
... 6,214 907
Deseg.
3
156
159
78
329
White
6,105,378
2,438,611
8,543,989
6,349,790
2,470,787
Negro
2,315,062
323,752
White
NA
NA
Negro
NA
NA
No.
23
NA
%t
.001
NA
NA
.115
NA
Region ...
1955-56 South
Border ....
... 10,569
... 4,204
... 5,654
4,244
2,909
912
2,638,814
2,417,798
324,539
NA
419,670*
NA
NA
21,299*
251,247
NA
2,782
NA
Region ...
... 9,858
3,821
407
8,820,577
2,742,337
NA
272,546
NA
NA
1956-57 South ....
... 4,055
2,885
110
6,478,796
2,437,893
524,539
26,285
3,514
.144
Border ...
... 5,642
810
573
2,645,015
360,408
1,323,405$
298,989
106,878§
NA
Region ...
... 9,697
3,695
683
9,123,811
2,798,301
1,847,944$
325,274
110,392§
NA
1957-58 South ....
.. 3,047
2,090
137
6,770,710
2,538,554
638,842
51,949
3,829
.151
Border ...
... 5,467
813
621
2,656,865
385,397
1,313,919$
325,337
127,677$
NA
Region ...
... 8,514
2,903
758
9,427,575
2,923,951
1,952,761$
377,286
131,506$
NA
1958-59 South ....
... 3,227
2,095
144
6,938,867
2,609,447
752,357
85,494
3,456
.132
Border ...
... 4,647
780
596
2,711,653
398,971
1,509,156$
361,528
142,352$
NA
Region ...
... 7,874
2,875
740
9,650,520
3,008,418
2,261,513$
447,022
145,808$
NA
1959-60 South ....
... 3,164
2,095
153
7,225,977
2,636,320
1,000,997
148,391
4,216
.160
Border ...
... 3,852
756
602
2,777,822
420,943
1,550,024$
372,022
191,114
45.4
Region ...
... 7,016
2,851
755
10,003,799
3,057,263
2,551,021$
520,413
195,330
6.4
1960-61 South ....
... 3,115
2,095
172
7,358,920
2,660,438
1,449,040
305,167
4,308
.162
Border ...
... 3,548
744
611
2,824,798
436,429
1,657,090$
400,996
212,895
49.0
Region ...
... 6,663
2,839
783
10,183,718
3,096,867
3,106,130$
706,163
217,203
7.0
1961-62 South ....
... 3,063
2,265
214
7,549,251
2,792,186
1,922,545
486,698
6,725
.241
Border ...
... 3,307
782
698
2,856,477
457,402
1,661,282$
431,419
240,226
52.5
Region ...
... 6,370
3,047
912
10,405,728
3,249,588
3,583,827$
918,117
246,951
7.6
1962-63 South ....
... 3,038
2,279
277
7,739,629
2,842,315
2,742,728
644,764
12,868
.453
Border ...
... 3,160
775
702
2,915,921
486,016
2,023,419
451,870
251,797
51.8
Region ...
... 6,198
3,054
979
10,655,550
3,328,331
4,766,147
1,096,634
264,665
8.0
1963-64 South ....
... 2,994
2,256
443
7,919,371
2,894,563
3,544,181
985,690
34,110
1.18
Border ...
... 3,127
772
717
3,002,046
514,125
1,858,134$
496,756
281,731
54.8
Region ...
... 6,121
3,028
1,160
10,921,417
3,408,688
5,402,315$
1,482,446
315,841
9.3
*—Estimated §—Missouri and West Virginia not included,
f—Negroes in schools with whites compared to total Negro enrollment NA—Not Available
|—Missouri not included