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PAGE 8—JUNE, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
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OKLAHOMA
Three ‘Outside’ Educators Begin
Study of Oklahoma City Plan
OKLAHOMA CITY
'T' hree educators with race and
human relations experience
will begin in June an intensive
study of Oklahoma City’s school
desegregation plan.
All from outside the Oklahoma City
public school system, they were ap
pointed May 13 by U.S. District Judge
Luther Bohanon. The study is expected
to take 60 days.
The order naming the panel came
over objections of the Oklahoma City
Board of Education.
Its attorney, the late Walter A. Ly-
brand, argued that the court is without
jurisdiction to “take over the functions
of the school board and write a plan
of desegregation.”
Named by the court were Dr. William
R. Carmack, director of the Southwest
Center for Human Relations Studies,
University of Oklahoma; Dr. Willard
B. Spalding, assistant director of the
Co-ordinating Council for Higher Edu
cation, San Francisco; and Dr. Earl
McGovern, administrative assistant to
the superintendent of the New Rochelle,
N.Y., school system.
Experts Nominated
The men were nominated by U.
Simpson Tate, Wewoka, Okla., attorney.
He was invited by the court to submit
names of experts after the school board
declined to have the study made.
Tate represented Dr. A. L. Dowell,
Oklahoma City Negro optometrist, in
the litigation that led to Judge Bo-
hanon’s request for an “impartial, non-
preiudiced, non-biased, independent”
evaluation of the board’s permanent
desegregation plan.
Late in May, Carmack said the three
men appointed scheduled their first
meeting for June 5-6 in Norman, Okla.
He said they would make plans for
the study.
Although no chairman was designated
by the court, Carmack took the initia
tive in setting up the meeting because
he is closest to the scene. He had never
met the other two men and, as far as
he knows, they had not met each other,
he said.
Tate had with him at the May 13
court hearing Derrick A. Bell Jr., New
York, an attorney for the Legal Defense
and Educational Fund of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.
Bell cited the qualifications and back
ground of Spalding and McGovern, who
were not present, after Tate had Car
mack testify in person on the witness
stand.
Lybrand declined to question Car
mack, who was the only witness called.
Neither did he make any statement
beyond his motion claiming the court
Delaware
(Continued from Page 6)
from a school district unless it is in full
compliance” with the Delaware Code
dealing with deletions of taxables.
Small said he realized that the order
caught the Levy Courts at a bad time,
just as they were compiling tax lists.
The Sussex County Levy Court, on
May 5, voted to withhold action on
Small’s order until the next fiscal year.
Kent County, while taking no official
action, will apparently ignore the
order.
“We know nothing about it,” said
Mrs. G. Dorsey Torbert, deputy re
ceiver of taxes. “We know about the
telegram, but it is something fo’- the
school boards to work out,” she said.
While Small showed no concern over
a year’s delay, the vice-president of the
state board took an opposite view.
Opposite View
“It is a disgraceful situation when in
telligent school board members deli
berately try to evade state laws in order
to delay the integration of schools,” said
Dr. Hiram C. Lasher.
School boards in lower Delaware, he
said, have known of the law for years,
“but have not taxed the Negroes in
hopes they won’t attend the integrated
or all-white schools.”
The Millsboro district, in Sussex
County, for example, Dr. Lasher said
puts Negroes on the tax list only if
their children attend the white school.
“I am glad to see steps are being
taken to prevent this condition con
tinuing in the future,” he said.
Dr. Lasher lives in the Millsboro dis
trict.
Oklahoma Highlights
Three outside educators were
named by a federal judge to evaluate
Oklahoma City’s permanent desegre
gation plan.
A Negro was nominated for a state
House of Representatives post from
Oklahoma County. If elected, he will
be the first of his race to serve in
the legislature since early statehood.
was without jurisdiction to name the
three experts.
Likewise, Dr. Jack Parker, superin
tendent, and other school officials
present in court said they had nothing
to say when invited by Judge Bo
hanon to speak.
After approving the appointments, the
court called on the board to give the
three men its “full and unhampered”
co-operation, including access to all
records and documents.
At the outset of the hearing, Tate
said that, although the court had in
vited the nomination of three separate
persons or agencies, from whom one
would be chosen, he was asking that
all three be appointed.
He explained it was difficult to find
persons of the desired stature in the
field who have time to do the work.
Before Tate could call his witness,
Lybrand asked the court for permis
sion to read his “defendants’ response
to plaintiffs’ motion for survey of the
school system.”
Lybrand said that, if the intent of the
motion was to suggest persons to be
used only as witnesses, there was no
need for it.
‘All The Facts’
“The defendants have been and are
now so solicitous that all the facts be
known that the defendants offered
plaintiffs and those working with them
every opportunity to gain all pertinent
information to bring before the court,
all without the necessity for any court
order,” he said.
The school board attorney pointed
out that the plaintiffs’ motion asked
the court to order the three persons
be appointed as “assistants to the court
for the purpose of recommending . . .
a plan of desegregation.”
Lybrand then declared: “The defend
ants submit that this court is without
jurisdiction to take over the function
of the school board and write a plan
of desegregation. The function of the
court is to apply the law to such a
plan. The function of the court is to
weigh the evidence and decide whether
the board’s plan is lawful.”
He added the court is “particularly
without jurisdiction” to appoint as
sistants to help it write a desegrega
tion plan.
Jurisdiction Questioned
“Furthermore, the defendants submit
that the court is without jurisdiction
to assess as costs those monies neces
sary to employ and educate the three
persons named by the plaintiffs under
the guise of naming them assistants to
the court,” Lybrand concluded.
He then asked leave to object to the
introduction of any evidence on the
matter. The objection was overruled.
Carmack, 35 and a native of Decatur,
Ala., testified the major emphasis of
his training was in communication and
speech. He taught speech at the Uni
versity of Oklahoma before taking the
human-relations studies post.
In the last three or four years, he
said, he has been interested in the role
of communication in the process of
social change.
Carmack has co-authored a pamphlet
on factors involved in the Dallas public
school desegregation. It took account
of social action in relation to social
change and the role of communication.
He testified the Southwest Center’s
general approach is educational, not as
an action agency but as part of OU’s
interest in education. The center, he
said, has access to all of the facilities
of the university, including some na
tionally known educators.
Tate drew from Carmack his view
of how the study should proceed. The
OU man said the first task would be
accumulating factual material on school
zone boundaries, the racial and eco
nomic makeup of the community and
the correlation of this to the
boundaries.
He said the study should also go into
the distribution of races in each bi-
racial school, both in pupils and faculty,
the curriculum available and the con
ditions under which the school oper
ates, such as crowding, facilities, equip
ment and transportation.
He testified that the board’s past and
p esent assignment and transfer policies
should be described in detail, along
with its plans for changes.
“I suspect also that social scientists
ought to be involved in the study of
the effect of assignment of pupils and
the special effects of the educational
process as it is related to particular
children,” Carmack said.
All of this should be aimed, he con-
| eluded, at the effectiveness of the
j schools in educating all children to take
■ part in society.
In response to a question from Judge
Bohanon, Carmack affirmed that he has
cleared with proper university authori
ties the center’s participation in the
project.
Then the judge said: “The Oklahoma
City school board has filed what it
terms its long-range plan of integra
tion. The court hasn’t found any objec
tion (to it) but the evidence before
the court is insufficient to make an
evaluation whether it should or should
not be approved.
Faith and Progress
“I want to make sure the plan com
plies with the law as to good faith and
timely progress. Are you prepared to
make the study on this basis?”
“Yes, sir,” Carmack replied.
When the court asked about cost of
the study, Carmack replied that a num
ber of persons ought to be attached to
the project, some only for a single day
for collection of data. He estimated
that the study will take 60 days and
cost $5,000.
Bell then related to the court how
his office, at Tate’s request, arrived at
the selection of the other two men. He
said he asked for suggestions from
Myron Lieberman of the University
of Rhode Island, who had contacted
leading educators for their views on
the educational benefits of a desegre
gated school system and the problems
that arise in the transitional period.
Among the names suggested were
those of Spalding and McGovern.
Past Experience
Bell said Spalding has done work
on amending school boundary lines in
Cambridge, Mass., Springfield, Mo., and
Hood River County and Seaside, Ore.
He said McGovern did much of the
groundwork in the New Rochelle sys
tem after a federal court ruled that
there had been a history of gerry
mandering that resulted in segregation
of Negroes in one school, Lincoln. Mc
Govern worked out the plan under
which Lincoln eventually was closed,
Bell said.
Later, Bell told the court his mention
of the New Rochelle case was “simply
a reference,” implying he intended no
p ecedent or example for Oklahoma
City.
Bell said the cost estimate was not
firm but expressed the hope, because
of the importance of the situation, that
the court would not consider it the
overriding factor.
“Cost is not a serious consideration,”
Judge Bohanon replied. “The im
portant thing is to have a study made
that will benefit the children of Okla
homa City. Tm not concerned with the
cost, except that it not be excessive.”
Bell said the plaintiffs are ready to
assume any part of the cost the court
thinks proper. He also pointed to in
creasing interest by large foundations
in studies of this sort.
Bohanon then granted the motion for
hiring the three men to “aid the court
in determining what is a proper plan
of integration of the public schools of
Oklahoma City so that the actual work
ing and operation of the plan will be
in complete harmony with the Supreme
Court of the United States order in
such matters.”
Schoolmen
Veteran Attorney
Dies Suddenly
A man who played a key role in the
Oklahoma City school board’s com
pliance with the Supreme Court’s de
segregation rulings is dead.
Walter A. Lybrand, attorney for the
school board for 25 years and a former
member, died in his sleep May 28. His
age was not disclosed by the family
WEST VIRGINIA
Desegregation Proponent
Nominated for New Term
CHARLESTON
ormer Gov. Cecil H. Under
wood, seeking a second term
after four years on the sidelines,
easily won the Republican nom
ination for governor on May 12,
and Hulett C. Smith, former state
commerce commissioner, is the
Democratic nominee.
fore Congress, was successful in his
bid for renomination. His opponent,
a Huntington chemist, had somewhat
the same position as Byrd on civil
rights.
Community Action
Greenbrier Schools
While he was governor between 1956
and 1960, Underwood advocated and
encouraged a broadening of desegrega
tion in the public schools. During his
years in office the last of the segregated
counties dropped their school barriers.
Underwood also endorsed a strong de
segregation program during his two
years as chairman of the Southern
Regional Education Board.
Underwood, who worked as a vice
president for Island Creek Coal Co., one
of the nation’s largest coal producers,
du ing the past four years, is a former
college vice-president and faculty mem
ber.
Smith is a Beckley insurance execu
tive and vice-president of a junior col
lege there. During the campaign he did
not discuss the racial question, and at
no point was he questioned about it.
He had stronger opposition than Under
wood, but received more votes than his
three opponents combined. He ran with
the quiet support of Gov. W. W. Bar
ron, who is an outspoken supporter of
school desegregation.
U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, an op
ponent of the civil-rights bill now be-
but he was believed to be in his mid-
80’s.
He remained active in his law prac-
t’ce until the end.
The school board relied heavily on
Lybrand for legal advice. This was
pa ticularly true in the critical days of
' lie summer of 1955, when the board
deseg egated the Oklahoma City public
school system in compliance with U.S.
Supreme Court decisions.
Lybrand had a front-row seat for the
resulting desegregation of east-side
Oklahoma City schools in the fringe
areas between white and Negro resi
dential sections. His large white house,
surrounded by a white picket fence,
sits across the street from Culbertson
Elementary School, where the student
body has gone from all-white to bi-
racial to all-Neg-o.
One of Lybrand’s big legal battles
was defending the school board in the
racial discrimination suit brought by
Dr. A. L. Dowell, Oklahoma City Negro
optometrist (Dowell v. Board of Edu
cation) . He worked closely with the
board in devising the long-range de
segregation plan ordered by U.S. Dis
trict Judge Luther Bohanon.
Political Activity
Negro Nominated
For Legislature
Oklahoma could have its first Negro
member of the state legislature since
1909 as a result of May primary
elections.
John B. White, 32-year-old Oklahoma
City insurance man, won the Demo
cratic nomination in the Oklahoma
County District 4 House of Repre
sentatives race in the May 26 runoff.
He defeated Bill J. Dane, 34, a white
electrical contractor, by 825 votes after
trailing throughout most of the tabula
tion.
White will face Paule DeGraffenreid,
Republican nominee, in the November
general election.
Reported To Hire
Few Negro Teachers
The State Human Rights Commission
was told in Lewisburg May 20 that few
new Negro teachers have been hired
in the Greenbrier school system since
the schools were desegregated.
Lewisburg is the center of strong
Southern sympathies in a rich agricul
tural area in the southeastern part of
the state. Anti-desegregation demon
strations have been held in the county
on two occasions—back in 1954 when
the county school board first tried to
desegregate and again three months ago
as a protest against the use of Negro
students on athletic teams and as a
drum majorette.
The Human Rights Commission has
been holding periodic meetings in var
ious parts of the state, and at the Lew
isburg meeting a number of witnesses
testified. One of them, the Rev. R. J-
Watson of White Sulphur Springs, said.
“During the past 100 years Negroes have
been kept in the lower income brackets
We have had to live in substandard
housing . . .
“Why a.e we giving them (Negro
children) an education if we can’t in- j
tegrate them into the commercial life j
of the community? They don’t need an
education to dig a ditch.”
Other witnesses testified that the
mayors and councils of Greenbner
county communities have pledged their
co-operation in working to eliminate
discrimination.
Miscellaneous
Group Protests
‘Old South’ Ball
Marshall University president Stewa
H. Smith turned down a reques
Negro students April 29 that the ^
versity cease its official participati° n
“Old South Weekend.” _- v j c
As a result, members of the
Interest Progressives (CIP), a , a
civil rights organization, conduc ,
“formal, passive resistance P*"®
during the annual observance by
Alpha social fraternity. The OPP 0 ”^
of the observance also applaud ^
the American flag, rather t an
Confederate flag, was unfurled a ^ a t
university, bringing an end to
had been a custom for some > ea
“Old South Weekend” is a socl fJ ha
fair staged annually by Kappa
Members dress in Confedera e ^
forms, display Confederate a ’ a
“secede” from the university
weekend of partying, which is c
by an “Old South” ball.
★ ★ ★ ^
H Nelson, 66, the first 0 f
e on the West Virginia » *
cation, died April 27 at 1
dey after a long illness. o0 ce
irmerly of Charleston, e ® tor for
a state compensation ,
United Mine Workers and
lerous governmental 311 0 f th e
,1 nncts He was a member , 0
1953.