Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MAY, 1964— PAGE 5-B
t cnYEARS IN REVIEW
Legislation
475 Legislative Actions
pertain to Race, Schools
(Continued from Page 1-B)
addressed to the New Orleans desegre
gation controversy and many de-
dared unconstitutional by federal
courts. In I960 alone, the Louisiana
General Assembly in four sessions pro
duced 81 pieces of legislation pertain-
, n g to school-race matters. Twenty-
two acts and resolutions—practically
the entire agenda of the First Extra
ordinary Session of 1960—were invali
dated by a three-judge U.S. district
court on Nov. 30 of that year.
Virginia, where “massive resistance”
was the official policy prior to court
decisions that knocked out key laws
intended to preserve or maximize
school segregation, produced 56 laws
on the subject during the 10 years,
including measures setting up a tui
tion-grants plan identified by Virgin
ians as the “freedom-of-choice” pro
gram and copied by several other states.
Varying Consequence
Georgia legislators have brought
forth 48 measures since the 1954 de
cisions. Arkansas’ total is 44, Mississip
pi’s 40, South Carolina’s 36 and Ala
bama’s 35. Florida, Tennessee and
North Carolina together approved 45
actions of varying consequence.
But numbers of legislative actions
have not proved to be fully indicative
of policies or attitudes—even of those
officials with the strongest pro-seg
regation policies. Some office holders
as Gov. Jimmie H. Davis of Louisiana
and his supporters, subscribed to a
“massive legislative” policy; other ad
ministrations, such as those of Govs.
John Patterson and George Wallace in
Alabama, preferred to stand on a
relatively small group of new laws.
Some of the laws have never been
invoked, even though they may re
main on the statute books and have
either been upheld or remain untested
j>y the courts for constitutionality. In
ennessee, for instance, a majority of
lts ^ measures addressed to school-
race matters are “enabling acts”— per-
! MSS ' ve as to their use by local school
hoards.
All the approximately 475 legislative
actions in the 17 states have fallen
generally into about 20 categories,
“rough some relatively minor mea-
^have been limited to single states
: rrns " aVC n °^ ^ a ^ en mto regional pat-
Scores Unconstitutional
Scores of acts and resolutions have
e n declared unconstitutional in fed
ora] ci
Prised
courts, including those that com-
but massive resistance” actions,
l- w ® majority of them remain on the
in ’ though in many cases not
01 actual effect.
•Among the first types of measures to
adopted Southern legislatures
cuii- 6 ™ ose designed to ease state re-
•lav er " 6nts un der which pupils might
0 f ® ° attend school with members
stj t A_? er ra ce. All 11 of the Southern
kgisl t' Ut n ° h°rder states—took some
PuIsq 3 1Ve act * on Pertaining to com-
school attendance. Four states
atteml^ eliminated compulsory-
a '°difie*? Ce requirements; Seven either
•Pactcrl ex istmg attendance laws or
aac e y- °? l f r laws affecting attend-
tayjL lrg ! nia restored compulsory at-
local h 2 enforcement in
allowed parents to
A. c ^ children from school,
states . TThig mainstay of Southern
of fgd ac ?2 readjustments in the light
bec n tlo y or< ^ ere< d desegregation has
atent 1 6 pu pil-assignment or place-
U Som^ 5 " ® uc h laws—enacted in all
coyjt t s laics— withstood early
held , two of them having been
hce, ^ ?, ^constitutional” on their
'^sp ec i , j ve come to be widely used
P^de < y when applications are
Pupn school transfers.
■ariou, a s si gnment laws prescribe
’’hdiug a , Cto rs other than race for
'hich .administrative decisions on
'ourts ^ 001 a chUd shall attend. U.S.
a ear U os 1958 noted that there
' Jjn stitm;° SSi , bll ity °f their being un-
Sot .! 0nall y. applied. In a more
‘ 1J( ^ c iarv ^ Ul( ^ e ^ e ” case, the federal
0r em Phasized that an assign-
" a dec aceme nt law cannot be used
r* be Nation plan in itself. It
2**t c °nstitutionaUy applied, the
» hvisu. ’ ° , y after desegregation is
established.
5act«d m application but also
• ’lessee , Southern states except
A?®- Wel P . border-state Okla-
e ” law Var ^ et i es °f “freedom-of-
s designed to prevent or
Possibility of children of
one race being forced to attend school
with children of another race. These
took several forms. A number of them
sought specifically to maintain both
biracial and uniracial schools, and
courts held against such concepts.
Also called a “freedom-of-choice”
concept (especially in Virginia) has
been the tuition-grant plan, adopted in
eight states. Under such programs,
public funds are to be provided with
which children may attend schools
other than those public schools to which
they regularly would be assigned.
Seven states limit the grants for use
in nonsectarian private schools in lieu
of attending public schools; Virginia
allows use of the grants to attend not
only private nonsectarian schools but
also public schools outside a pupil’s
regular attendance zone.
In addition to Virginia, states with
active tuition-grants programs include
Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina and
Alabama. A number of private schools
have been established specifically to
operate under these programs, but the
funds may also be used in pre-estab
lished nonsectarian private schools.
Mississippi has not yet launched a
tuition-grant or private-school pro
gram authorized by its legislature.
North Carolina has made no use of
its tuition-grant program.
Legislative action specifically author
izing or encouraging private schools
to be used in lieu of desegregated pub
lic schools developed in four of the
tuition-grant states: Alabama, Georgia
Louisiana and Virginia, also in Florida
during earlier years. Sale or lease of
public schools for private-school use
was made possible under laws en
acted in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina
and Virginia.
Running Debate
A running debate has continued up
to the present as to the efficacy of
tuition-grant programs, either as a
means of providing an alternative to
biracial public schools or as a step
toward increased freedom of the in
dividual, which some proponents call
it. But such programs continue, and are
being developed increasingly in some
states.
Most states have produced “pres
sure-valve” measures—most of them
little-used—to be applied in the event
of school desegregation crises. Three
states eliminated constitutional re
quirements that public schools be
maintained. All Southern states ex
cept Tennessee acted to permit closing
of public schools under certain cir
cumstances or in some instances to
require automatic closure in the event
of desegregation.
Governors or other public officials
have been granted various emergency
powers, including the power to close
schools in some instances, under en
actments in Florida, Georgia, Louisi
ana, Mississippi, South Carolina and
Virginia. In other states, Arkansas for
example, governors and other officials
have acted in some instances under
terms of other statutes such as police-
power provisions.
Withholding public funds from de
segregated schools has been the sub
ject of laws in Alabama, Arkansas,
Texas and Virginia. Discussion and
litigation has developed from such
laws, but their application was felt
mostly in Texas, where the legisla
ture made state funds to desegregated
schools conditional on approval of de
segregation by voters in a referendum.
The state attorney general in 1962 de
clared the law unconstitutional, after
it had continued in effect about five
years.
Prince Edward
In Prince Edward County, Va., one
of the communities included in the
1954 Supreme Court decision, the
county commissioners for several years
have simply refused to appropriate
funds for any public schools and none
have been operated.
A type of “pressure-valve” law so
far not invoked in public schools in
connection with segregation-desegre
gation issues is the “segregation-by
sex” measure, adopted in Alabama,
Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee and Tex
as. The legislators suggested that ob
jections to racial desegregation might
be lessened if boys and girls were in
separate schools.
Ten of the 17 Southern and border
states have divided evenly during the
past decade in their legislative actions
as to designating educational programs,
schools or pupils by race. While racial
designations were newly required by
actions taken in Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina and Vir
ginia, they were removed, for one
reason or another, by Alabama, Mis
souri, North Carolina and West Vir
ginia—and Virginia reversed its policy.
The seven states without recent
laws on race-designations pursue vary
ing policies. At least three border
states—Kentucky, Maryland and Okla
homa—where school desegregation is
considerably advanced, still have ref
erences to races in their basic school
laws, although they are considered
moot now. In contrast, some Deep
South states are without racial refer
ences in their school-administrative
laws although the schools remain
largely uniracial.
In the midst of controversies, liti
gation and various problems involving
race in education, nine states put
laws or resolutions on their records
providing for legal defense for school
board members, administrators and
others involved as defendants in law
suits seeking desegregation.
Revised Tenure
Teachers and other school personnel
have been affected by some legisla
tion. Measures revising tenure pro
visions have been enacted, and some
legislatures have prescribed discipline
of teachers for violation of policies on
the school segregation-desegregation
question. Provisions along these lines
were enacted in Alabama, Florida,
Louisiana, North Carolina and Vir
ginia. Five states that provide for pri
vate-school education, enacted laws to
protect the jobs of public-school
teachers transferring to private-school
faculties. Those states include Ala
bama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana
and Virginia.
In the face of mounting legal actions
seeking school desegregation, 10 of the
11 Southern states (excepting North
Carolina) enacted new laws or tight-
(See LEGISLATION, Page 6-B)
WEST VIRGINIA
Desegregation of Schools
Completes Full Circle
CHARLESTON
S CHOOL DESEGREGATION has
come full circle in West Vir
ginia in the 10 years since the
U.S. Supreme Court outlawed
segregation in the public schools.
At the beginning of the decade, the
state experienced white protests against
desegregation and Negro suits against
segregation. After a period of quiet
during the middle of the decade, re
newed protests and court suits have
returned to the school scene.
This in no way means there has
not been school desegregation. On the
contrary, every county with Negroes in
the population has a desegregated
school policy; all state-owned col
leges and universities have mixed stu
dent bodies, and practically every priv
ately owned college is desegregated.
In fact, statistics show that West
Virginia has moved farther away from
a segregated school program since the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 outlawed
separation of the races than any other
border or Southern state affected by
that action. This change did not occur,
however, without public turmoil, court
action and property destruction. Dem
onstrations occurred in many areas in
protest of the desegregation effort; nine
suits were filed in federal court; and at
least one school has been destroyed,
apparently by racists.
White Boycott
Such trouble does not appear to be
at an end. In the resort town of White
Sulphur Springs last month, students
boycotted the high school and pa
raded for two days. Court cases have
been reopened in Raleigh and Mercer
counties, accompanied by warnings
from the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People that
other suits might follow.
Within days after the Supreme Court
handed down its historic ruling in
the spring of 1954, the West Virginia
Board of Education issued an execu
tive order calling a halt to segrega
tion in the colleges under its jurisdic
tion. Shortly thereafter, the West Vir
ginia University Board of Governors
extended to all branches of the uni
versity a desegregation order that had
been applicable in the WVU graduate
school for 10 years.
The state school superintendent at
that time, W. W. Trent, suggested that
the 55 county boards of education bring
their systems into compliance with the
ROHRBOUGH
SMITH
court ruling. With full autonomy in
this field, the county boards did not
act with the promptness of the state
boards. It wasn’t until about 1960 that
the last racial barriers came down
at the county level.
During the intervening years, there
was a rash of anti-Negro demonstra
tions at the doors of public schools;
one judge threatened to fill the jails
until the feet of demonstrators stuck
out the windows; a consolidated school
was destroyed by dynamiting; other
schools burned mysteriously; and the
NAACP went to court to force hold
out counties to desegregate.
The first county system to order de
segregation was Monongalia. Another
that fell into line early was Taylor.
The superintendents of these systems
—Rex M. Smith and R. Virgil Rohr-
bough—have since been elevated to
the office of state superintendent, with
Rohrbough the first and Smith second.
Both elected to push for desegregation
with all deliberate speed.
Only one case has gone to trial to
force a county to desegregate. This
was in Greenbrier County, which has
strong Southern
sympathies. After
two days of testi
mony U.S. Dis
trict Judge Ben
Moore worked
out an agreement
for voluntary de
segregation with
contesting law
yers, and the bar
riers soon fell in
six other counties
where similar
suits had been brought.
After 10 years of desegregation, West
Virginia still has at least 88 all-Negro
schools. This fact comes from a study
by the two-year-old State Human
Rights Commission, which has urged
the State Board of Education to adopt
a policy of eliminating all Negro
schools in the next five years. The
commission’s study, admittedly incom
plete, says there are 76 elementary
schools, two junior high schools and
10 high schools serving only Negro
pupils. McDowell and Fayette lead all
other counties in the number of such
schools, with others existing in Kana
wha, Mercer, Raleigh, Jefferson, Mingo
and Wyoming counties.
Higher Education
In the area of higher education, de
segregation has been even more pro
nounced. Every state-owned college
and university has mixed student
bodies, except Glenville from time to
time, and Glenville is without Negroes
only because it is located in a rural,
agriculturally orientated region with
few Negroes in the population.
West Virginia has experienced de
segregation in reverse on the campuses
of West Virginia State and Bluefield
colleges. Large numbers of white stu
dents have enrolled at these institu
tions, which operated for Negroes only
prior to 1954. Today, almost 70 per
cent of the student body at West Vir
ginia State is white.
MOORE
Major Legislation on School Desegregation
17 Southern and Border States, Plus District of Columbia
LEGISLATION
X
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o
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.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Comnulsorv Attendance Amended or Repealed
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Emergency Powers to Officials
X
X
X
X
X
X
Freedom of Choice—Seg./Deseg
.. X
X •
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Human Rights Commissions
X X
X X
X
X
**
X
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Legal Defense Authorized
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Limitations of Federal Powers Proposed
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Private Schools: Authorized/Encouraged
.. X
X
X
X
X
Property Sold/Leased to
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Pupil Assignment
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Racial Designations: Removed
.. X
X
X
X
X
Required
X
X
X
X
X
Scholarships Out-of-State
.. X
X X
X
X
XXX
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Segregation by Sex
.. X
X
X
X
X
Segregation Committees
.. X
**
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
**
X
Sovereignty Commissions
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
State Constitutional Provision for Public Schools Removed ..
.. X
X
X
Teachers: Tenure/Removal
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
Protected in Private Schools
.. X
X
X
X
X
Tuition Grants to Schools/Students
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Withheld Aid to Deseg. Schools
.. X
X
X
X
X
X
X
*—D.C. Board of Commissioners **—Appointed without legislation
NOTE: The table indicates types of legislation passed, not the number. One
bill often included several features; several bills might duplicate each other.
Several laws included have been held unconstitutional or been repealed.