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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE, 1964—PAGE 3
TENNESSEE
Florida
Court Orders Desegregation in Two Steps
NASHVILLE
tt S. District Judge Bailey
L • Brown on May 22 ordered
the Madison County school dis
trict to desegregate grades one
through eight at the beginning of
the 1964-65 school year.
grown also directed the district,
which operates schools surrounding
Jackson in West Tennessee, to extend
desegregation to all high-school grades
with the opening of classes in the fall
of 1965.
The judge’s written order followed
ys announcement on May 14, at the
conclusion of a two-day hearing in a
suit brought by Negro plaintiffs, that
[, e would direct the Madison County
Board of Education to carry out the
two-step desegregation plan.
Also included in his order was de
segregation of school buses, cafeterias
and athletics.
The court handed down its formal
ruling a'ter a May 20 deadline for
receiving objections from attorneys for
both the school board and the Negro
plaintiffs.
Seven-Year Plan
During the hearing earlier in the
month at Memphis, the school board
presented testimony by Supt. James
Walker, Jackson Supt. C. J. Huckaba
and others in support of a stairstep
plan under which desegregation of the
district’s 13 white and nine Negro
schools would have been carried out
over a seven-year period.
The board filed the proposed plan
in July of last year (SSN, August)
after Judge Brown directed that it
submit a plan of desegregation.
In its proposed plan, the board had
suggested biracial classes in the first
three grades last fall, in grades four,
five and six in the fall of 1964, in
grades seven and eight in 1965 and in
an additional grade each year there
after.
The suit was delayed because of an
appeal by one of the school-board
members, Taylor Robinson, ^or a jury
trial, in the case. Robinson filed a peti
tion for a writ of mandamus in 1963
seeking to overturn Brown’s ruling
that the question of desegregation could
not be submitted to a jury.
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Ap
peals later rejected the petition and
the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 17
denied a petition of certiorari.
Negro parents who brought the suit
had asked for immediate desegregation
°f the school system.
Judge Disagrees On Time
In his ruling, Brown said:
We don’t believe the school board
ls going to need anywhere near the
me it is asking for.”
Brown instructed the school board
t0 notify the parents of all elementary
"*001 children at least 10 days before
Titration, set for June 19, that stu-
W’ts may enroll at the school of their
choice.
,’othe event of overcrowding at any
^ he schools, children residing near-
. e schools in which they have
istered will be given priority, under
Dlan.
Brown said the fact that a white
; .„h had been attending a white
v "0 Previously would not cause a
sch *1 s ^ u dent who lives closer to the
jJT be denied admission.
a hoi t district has an enrollment of
44 students, of whom about
mji / £ ent are Negroes. It was esti-
eleJ! tbat a 6out 2,400 Negroes are in
e * er ttentary grades.
^°Uov
Objections Filed
meat Brown’s May 14 announce-
co UM , sides filed objections to the
s Proposed plan.
the pi sc hool board complained that
?ati 0 p ^ Wou ld bring about desegre-
objeptef] 00 rapidl N- while the plaintiffs
:n c l ud . ot her features of the plan
for sp ® a fter-harvest opening dates
Bp . schools in predominantly Ne-
D^cultural areas.
said t i he hearin s?. one of the plain-
*° at tend wanted his two children
a desegregated school which
Progj^^rter an improved education
|Wt get hilled over it, but I
■' n J d j, „ m y children to come up
9 42. v declared Nathaniel Benson,
, f 'ashvm~° ld cab driver.
' an d T e attorney Avon N. Williams
^ re D r ks0n atto mey Emmett Bal-
^4 the ^ en . te d the plaintiffs. Ballard
, v aiw ational Association for the
T? “lecf 1 ?* Colored People assis-
^ ^ * be P aren ts” in the
and* 1 ^rroty Attorney Jack Man-
attorney Edwin F. Hunt of
Tennessee Highlights
The Madison County Board of
Education was ordered by U.S. Dis
trict Court to desegregate the first
eight grades when school reopens for
the 1964-65 term and to extend bi
racial classes to high-school grades at
the start of the next school year.
Complying with a federal court
directive, the Wilson County Board
of Education submitted a new plan
to carry out the court’s 1961 order
for desegregation of the school dis
trict.
Negro plaintiffs filed objections to
a revised desegregation schedule sub
mitted to the U.S. District Court by
the Franklin County Board of Edu
cation.
A ruling by the U.S. Sixth Cir
cuit Court of Appeals in the Mem
phis school desegregation case is
expected soon.
Johnson City’s voluntary grade-a-
year desegregation plan will con
tinue, according to a newsletter ap
proved by school officials.
Nashville were counsel for the school
board.
Originally, the Madison County
board was named in a joint suit along
with the Jackson City Commission,
which serves as the board of education
'or Jackson schools. (Monroe et al v.
Board of Commissioners of the City of
Jackson and the Madison County
Board of Education et al.)
The Jackson portion of the case,
however, was heard by Judge Brown
in August of 1963. The court approved
a separate desegregation olan for Jack-
son schools, and 40 Negro students
attended biracial classes at five
schools in that district during the past
school year.
Supt. Walker said the 1964-65 school
year will open July 20 for some schools
and on Aug. 24 for others. Some of the
schools are closed during the fall har
vest season, mostly in predominantly
Negro areas.
Walker also explained that the board
may rely on achievement level of stu
dents, without regard for race, in
grouping students within a grade in
the event o' overcrowding under the
plan.
The superintendent said he did not
expect any difficulties in carrying out
the court’s plan.
“The people of Madison County are
law-abiding,” he said, “and they will
do what the courts require.”
f.eeal Action
New Plan Submitted
By Wilson County
Wilson County Board of Education
on May 1 filed a new plan to carry out
the U.S. District Court’s 1961 order for
desegregation of the school district.
The plan was submitted in compli
ance with a directive by U.S. District
Judge William E. Miller who ruled last
September that his 1961 order restrain
ing the district from maintaining ra
cial segregation in policy, practice or
principle had not been followed.
Under the new plan, any student
would be permitted to enroll at the
school of his choice but any “dissatis
fied” student wishing to transfer from
one school to another would be re
quired to show “good cause” for mak
ing the change.
Students would be allowed to enroll
at a different school than they have
attended previously no later than July
15 for the coming school year. This
provision would apply to new students
enrolling for the first time as well as
to students graduating from elementary
schools.
Drop-out pupils who wish to return
to school would be required to enroll
in the school they previously attended,
unless a change of residence has oc
curred.
Open Enrollment
Negro plaintiffs were given 30 days
in which to file objections to the pro
posal. Their attorney, Avon N. Williams
Jr. of Nashville, described the plan as
“an open enrollment” policy.
If over-crowding resulted in some
o' the schools, under the plan, students
residing nearest the schools in which
they registered would be given pri
ority.
On Sept. 19, 1963, Judge Miller or
dered the board to submit a new zon
ing plan by May 1. He said at that
time: “I am not implying any bad
faith, but this directive (the 1961 order)
of the court has not been carried out.
That’s the reason we have this prob
lem.”
His ruling came after Negro attor
neys complained that Negroes were
being assigned to all-Ntegro schools and
white students were being assigned to
all-white schools.
Transfers Ordered
Miller also ordered the board to
transfer 12 additional Negro students
to three previously all-white schools.
Under the original plan, the district
was divided into school zones which
Miller held in 1963 must be revised.
During the past school year, about
25 Negro students attended biracial
classes at two elementary schools and
at Lebanon High School.
Under Miller’s 1961 order, which ap
plied to all 12 grades, the district began
desegregation in January of 1962. Sloan
et al v. Wilson County Board of Edu
cation, SSN, February, 1962 and pre
vious.)
During a hearing before Miller last
fall, school officials said the zoning
then in use was “reasonable and sound”
and gave any student “a right to apply
for reassignment at any particular
school.”
★ ★ ★
Ruling Expected Soon
On Memphis Appeal
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Ap
peals at Cincinnati is expected to rule
in the near future, perhaps in June, on
an appeal by Negroes to overturn U.S.
District Court’s approval of the Mem
phis school desegregation plan.
Negro plaintiffs contend that the
gradual desegregation plan, approved
by Judge Marion S. Boyd in May, 1963,
is inadequate. They have accused the
board o drawing school district lines
which would preserve de facto segre
gation.
They also attacked transfer provi
sions in the plan and appealed Boyd’s
ruling refusing to order teacher deseg
regation.
The appeals court heard arguments
on the appeal on April 18.
At that time, Jack Petree, attorney
for the board, said the zone boundaries
were established to preserve existing
neighborhoods. He also said the trans
fer clause had permitted some students
to transfer from schools of predomin
antly one race into biracial schools but
noted that more than half of the Negro
students assigned to predominantly
white schools had asked to be trans
ferred to Negro schools.
Memphis, which voluntarily began
desegregation in 1961, had 287 Negroes
attending the first grades of 14 pre
dominantly white schools under the
plan approved by Boyd during the
1963-64 school year.
Under the plan, approved by the
court, an additional grade would be
desegregated each year. Both the fifth
and sixth grades, however, are sched
uled to be desegregated this fall under
what school officials called a “commit
ment” at the time of the hearing.
Community Action
Clergymen Advocate
Total Desegregation
A group of 130 Nashville clergymen
called upon Mayor Beverly Briley to
support a four-point program including
complete desegregation of the public
schools.
Briley told the ministers, who pre
sented the request following an
hour-long march through downtown
Nashville, that the school proposal
“addresses itself to the board o" educa
tion.”
The clergymen, who also urged Bri
ley’s support of a public accommoda
tions ordinance and other civil-rights
proposals, conducted their march dur
ing a series of demonstrations which
were resumed by Negroes in late April.
Nashville has just completed its
seventh year of grade-a-year deseg
regation under a plan approved by the
federal courts.
Schoolmen
Johnson City Board
Favors Grade-a-Year
The Johnson City Board of Educa
tion on May 28 approved a “public
schools newsletter” which reflected a
policy of continuing the district’s grade-
a-year desegregation plan.
Bearing the names o' all board mem
bers, the newsletter was entitled “In
tegration in the City Public Schools”
and was approved about seven weeks
after the Johnson City Human Rela
tions Committee urged complete de
segregation of the system.
The newsletter cited what it called
(See TENNESSEE, Page 5)
Negroes Object to Revised Timetable
The Franklin County Board of Edu
cation’s revised timetable for extending
school desegregation throughout the
lower Middle Tennessee county has
met with objections from Negro plain
tiffs.
U.S. District Judge Charles G. Neese,
who on Jan. 2 ordered the board to de
segregate two Sewanee elementary
schools in the district in March, has not
set a date for hearing arguments in
connection with the amended plan.
Under the original schedule pro
posed by the board, the remainder of
the county’s schools would be desegre
gated gradually on the basis o' geo
graphical zones with the last three
zones coming under the plan in the
fall of 1969.
The revised plan, filed April 13,
called for desegregation of the last
three zones in the fall of 1968.
Plan Omitted
The board’s initial plan, which had
been ordered by the court earlier, also
included a transfer plan but this was
omitted from the new proposal.
Neese had called the transfer pro
visions “very definitely discriminatory
and unlawful” when he called for an
amended plan in March.
The amended plan provides that any
student may attend any school under
the specified timetable. It also prohibits
students from transferring from one
school to another because o' racial fac
tors.
Nashville attorney Avon N. Williams
Jr., counsel for the plaintiffs, said he
had filed objections to the plan be
cause it would require five additional
years to complete the desegregation
process.
Other Objections
Other objections contended the plan
was inadequate in that it was based on
geographical zones, that school facilities
in predominantly Negro areas are sub
standard, that it does not constitute a
nonracial zoning plan and that it out
lined no specific procedures for deseg
regation of teachers and other personnel
as sought in the suit.
The board proposed to desegregate
teachers and other school personnel in
accordance with the same timetable as
proposed for students.
Under Judge Neese’s January order,
13 Negro students were enrolled in
previously all-white Sewanee Public
School on March 2. The following day,
the court directed the board to amend
its plan and to transfer 13 other Negro
students from Kennerly Elementary
School, also ordered desegregated in
January, to the predominantly white
school. (SSN, March and previous.)
School officials said that seven other
Negro students wer transferred from
Kennerly to Sewanee Public School,
which they said did not have sufficient
facilities to allow the enrollment of
other students 'rom Kennerly. No white
students sought admission to the Ne
gro school.
Judge Neese held under advisement
the remainder of the board’s schedule.
Meanwhile, the school board in April
received a $50,000 check from the Se
wanee Community Chest Committee
for construction of four new class
rooms at Sewanee Public School.
Supt. Lewis H. Scott said construc
tion of the new classrooms is expected
to be completed by the opening of the
school year in September and that
plans call for the closing of the now
all-Negro Kennerly School.
(Continued from Page 2)
violence in Jacksonville, marked by
the dynamiting of the home of a Negro
boy attending a desegregated school.
The mayor repeatedly declined to
name an official biracial advisory com
mission, although he did sanction an
unofficial group. Some of his political
opponents charged him with some
responsibility for disorders.
His opponent for governor Mayor
Robert King High of Miami, made this
one of the basic issues in his challenge
of Bums. High strongly endorsed the
pending civil-rights bill and promised
to enforce it with vigor if elected.
Burns, who said he opposed the
civil-rights bill but insisted this was
not an issue in the governor’s race,
accused High of bidding for the Negro
vote.
Negro Vote Factor
For the first time in Florida history,
the Negro vote was an important factor
in a statewide political contest. High,
considered a complete outsider in the
first primary, won the runner-up spot
on the basis of bloc Negro voting.
An analysis showed that he won
almost all the predominantly Neg o
precincts in the state, carrying some
by more than 90 per cent.
In the second race, this again was a
factor in High’s favor. The Miami
mayor, however, carried only three
counties, all in South Florida, while
Burns carried the remaining 64. Some
in North Florida’s rural areas went
for Bums by more than 10 to 1.
Bums’ statewide vote was mo~e than
634,000 to 460,000 for High. The margin
would have been more decisive except
that High won his populous home
county of Dade by more than 2 to 1.
Election Seems Assured
Although opposed in the general
election by Republican Charles Holley
of St. Petersburg, Bums is considered
virtually certain to be Florida’s gover
nor for the next two years, with eligi
bility to run for a four-year term
thereafter. Florida is switching its gov
ernor’s election to “off years” when the
voters are not absorbed in the Presi
dential campaign.
Newspaper editorial opinion is that
Bums will give only lukewarm support
to civil rights actions and will try to
slow the pace of school desegregation
by all legal means.
The election was the first since segre
gation became an issue in which the
racial question dominated the discussion.
★ ★ ★
Another political contest that turned
on civil rights and school desegregation
involved Jack Gordon, member of the
Dade school board. Gordon was a
leader for full desegregation of the
school system and spearheaded the
drive that resulted in removing racial
qualifications for membership in the
Florida Education Association.
Gordon, seeking re-election, was
challenged for his desegregation stand
by Dr. Robert Butler, a chiropractor
and former school board member. Dr.
Butler also criticized him for being
a member of the American Civil Liber
ties Union. Gordon was assailed in
newspaper ads and in pamphlets bear
ing the names of organizations.
In a heated runoff, Gordon was the
victor by 20,000 votes.
A grand jury investigation has been
requested of the campaign tactics used.
“I don’t have any patience with this
kind of a campaign—bigotry, calcu
lated deceit and a cowardly business of
hiding behind ready-made organiza
tions,” Gordon declared.
He said the outcome also showed
approval of the school board’s desegre
gation policies. Dade had almost 5,000
Negro children attending classes with
white children at the close of the school
year.
Schoolmen
Boards Prepare
Fall Assignments
Most Florida school boards will pre-
care assignments of children for the
coming school year dining June. Al
most without exception, according to
state education officials, the 16 counties
that have started desegregation expect
to assign considerably more Negroes
to predominantly white schools next
September.
Only Lee County, so far, has indi
cated officially it will join the ranks of
the desegregated counties. Its plans so
far include only the elimination of a
Negro branch of its junior college and
assignment of Negro students to the
emaining campus.
But school officials say at least four
more counties will start desegregation,
making a total of at least 20 in 1964-65.