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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