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Factual Uzxn>& ' yOL. II. NO- 3 127 More S New c Objective VO ‘SN3HJ.V SNO I S I A I 0 SNO 1 1 I S I (103V S31 nv«8 n VI0W030 JO A I NO 2 G003-H-S9 NfiT 1/1C5U llyiO SEPTEMBER. 1964 Desegregated MISSISSIPPI Public Schools Desegregated For First Time JACKSON T he Mississippi public school system was desegregated for the first time on Aug. 31, when 16 Negro children—12 girls and four boys—attended four first- grade classes with white pupils in Biloxi under federal court orders. Two days later, six-year-old Debra Lewis went to class with 89 first-grade classmates in Carthage. She, too, was I admitted under a federal court order. All were enrolled without incident. Mississippi was the last state to de segregate public schools, more than 10 I years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision of May 17, 1954, declaring compulsory segregation in the public schools unconstitutional. Registration in Jackson In Jackson, 43 first-grade Negroes registered on Aug. 20 for entrance into eight all-white elementary schools when schools opens on Sept. 14. They were told, in writing, that “priority of admissions will be based on proximity ot the resident to the schools . . . and I “ot related to race.” No first-grade Negro pupils applied j hr admission in the white elementary schools in Clarksdale, the fourth city in the state ordered to desegregate. Classes ' began on Sept. 3. A white boy did appear to enroll at > Negro school in Clarksdale. But offi cials rejected his application because his parents could not produce a birth certificate. The six-year-old’s applica tion was later withdrawn. J All of the federal court orders called or desegregation to begin on the first- IP^de level. 17 at Biloxi . Seventeen Negroes had registered ,* r'st-grade classes in Biloxi on Aug. ■ One was rejected, however, after it *as learned the child’s parents live ! ou tade the state. Biloxi, a few white mothers sat „ cars long after their children buiU- msic ^ e elementary school o‘ mgs ' ^ w ^**-e man waited at one G schools until the Negro children ^ walked inside. When yii n 1 ’ “ e turned and walked away, : 3 reporter: “Yeah, I saw them i; Snp,t U * 3 ^ ozen policemen were Bi] oxi w eac ^ the four schools coft. No crowds were permitted ^pher* 6 anc * re P°rters and photi were told to “keep movi when tl were toW to “ Su Pt h R ‘ n ed 1° stop - I *hooL j . Br °wn of the Bi: donn a i ® scnb ed the opening day abl e s ' He ^td there was no noti eCrease in white attendance. ’■o troi.Kl lt ^ Pate ^ no trouble, we .’, an d we expect no troub said. Teachers’ Attitudes g® P re Parations for the desegrf Pade /°r sa td, none of the firsi ■'■Svijjg ac ners expressed opposition 1 6 f r0 cb ddren. He said sever; Woes orwa rd to offer to teac ffSgestil teachers made numeroi le Sro an- 08 ., ° n the distribution of tl 1 “W i* up ns. i Wol W ®°°d co-operation from oi said" 0nn£ ^ an d from the city her* ^ool official was critical, how •-ring eaer al government activil 'Wters- desc g r egation. He calle assic* at t en h 0 n to the presence i W ana in tbe Justice Depar JJre au ofT ° f a . num her of Feder; . ® r 0v,- n investigation agents. at t8 P resen ce of the FI wpfele” v® schools “could have cause ? '"^Phs. ca use of their taking photc .V agants were not here to he “^Ur es • » but were here to tal ; ^t.” Case there had been any ir '°' J Ps in „ Sa jd that parent-teachi h'o in . ~ tin-tct th e j eacb the schools met _ segr e g a( .j° n an{ j f ormu i a t tsee biloxi, p age 14) Negro Twins at Jackson School First-graders approach door of Davis Elementary School to apply for admission. WASHINGTON REPORT U. S. School Aid Expected To Be Withheld This Year WASHINGTON fficials of the U.S. Office of Education expect to withhold federal school aid funds from some Southern districts during the current school year because of failure to desegregate classes. The action will be taken under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars racial discrimination “under any program or activity receiving fed eral financial assistance.” Members of the Office of Education staff and of the parent Department of Health, Education and Welfare, who have been meeting with Southern school officials to explain Title VI and other sections of the new law, reported that they had encountered widespread unfamiliarity with its provisions. One question posed by educators in these meetings is whether the existence of “separate but equal” school facilities constitutes “discrimination” under Title VI. The federal officials stress that it does—and has since the Su preme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education a decade ago. Other Questions However, other questions of inter pretation raised by Title VI are pre senting greater difficulty. Officials are trying to establish, for example, what degree of “deliberate speed” in deseg regation must be displayed by a school district in order for it to meet the cri terion of nondiscrimination. Though Title VI applies to all fed eral aid programs, it is pointed out that its application to schools is par ticularly troublesome since education is the only major area in which the courts have sanctioned a gradual ap proach to desegregation. Because of these difficulties—and be cause of political considerations as well, officials privately concede—spe cific regulations covering the distribu tion of school aid in accord with Title VI may not be promulgated until after election day in November. Allowing for this delay, however, and for the review procedures provid ed under Title VI, it is possible that the first fund cut-off actions may be taken early in 1965. Substantial Amount The amount of federal assistance potentially in jeopardy is substantial. The Office of Education estimates that its obligations to the 11 Deep South states under various aid programs will total more than $285 million in fiscal 1965, broken down as follows: Alabama $21,095,800 Arkansas 10,280,156 Florida 29,410,957 Georgia 26,059,201 Louisiana 15,206,081 Mississippi 12,611,843 North Carolina . . . 28,496,053 South Carolina .. 18,321,739 Tennessee 18,606,872 Texas 59,196,187 Virginia 46,520,191 Total ....$285,805,080 These figures include assistance for vocational education programs, higher education facilities construction, land- grant colleges, library services and construction, operating and capital outlay payments to “federally impact- (See U.S., Page 3) THE REGION Negroes in Biracial Classes Apparently Under 2 Per Cent T he new school year opened quietly with 127 newly desegregated school districts in the 11 Southern states. New desegregation this fall gives the South a total of 570 districts with policies admitting Negroes to schools with whites, at the kinder garten through high-school level. With the beginning of desegregated classrooms in Mississippi, every Southern state now has established biracial classes in both public graded schools and public colleges and universities. The 570 desegregated districts represent one-fourth of the 2,255 public school systems having both races enrolled. Another 738 districts have either an all-white or all-Negro enrollment. Less Than 2 Per Cent of Negroes Although one-fourth of the districts are desegregated, the number of Negroes in schools with whites apparently will remain below two per cent of the 2.9 million Negro students in the public schools. This evalu ation is based on estimates obtained by Southern School News corre spondents in nine of the 11 states; estimates were unavailable in two states. The last complete SSN survey in May determined that the 11 states had 1.18 per cent of their Negro students in schools with whites during the 1963-64 school year. The pace of new desegregation this fall continued about as strong as last year, when school desegregation activity picked up considerably. The 11-state area added 135 newly desegregated districts at school opening in August and September of 1963. In the border states, Kentucky added one new desegregated district and Oklahoma, two. This gives the 17 Southern and border states, plus the District of Columbia, a total of 1,289 desegregated districts, repre senting 43 per cent of region’s 3,026 districts having students of both races. The region has 3,093 districts that are either all white or all Negro. Every Southern state increased the number of desegregated districts this fall, ranging from one more in Louisiana to 24 in Texas and 25 in Virginia. The numher of districts desegregating in the Southern states were: Alabama, four; Arkansas, eight; Florida, five; Georgia, six; Mississippi, four; North Carolina, 21; South Carolina, 15; and Ten nessee, 14. Georgia has one other district, Houston County, planning to desegregate in January, 1965. All the new desegregation occurring in Alabama, Louisiana and Mis sissippi resulted from federal court orders. Only 25 of the 127 newly de segregated districts acted by court or der. All eight Arkansas districts opening their first biracial classes did so vol untarily. Texas Number Largest Texas continues to have the largest number of Negroes in schools with whites, reporting an estimated 25,000 for the new school year. Next are Vir ginia, with an estimated 6,000, and Florida, with approximately 6,652 Ne groes in biracial schools. Estimates on desegregated Negro students in the other states include: Arkansas, 898; Georgia, 1,000; Louisiana, 678; Missis sippi, 60; North Carolina, 3,250; and South Carolina, 261. Estimates were un obtainable in Alabama and Tennessee. One of the districts initiating a deseg regation policy for the first time is Prince Edward County, Va., where the court order to admit Negro students to white schools dates back to the U.S. Supreme Court’s original rulings on segregated schools in 1954. The district, which closed all its white and Negro (See 127 MORE, Page 11) In This Issue Monthly Reports Alabama 10 Arkansas 2 Florida 7 Georgia 15 Louisiana 9 Mississippi 1 North Carolina 5 South Carolina 12 Tennessee 6 Texas 4 Virginia 1 Washington 1 Special Articles The Region 1 Kentucky School Bums 16 College Exchanges 16 Books and the Issue 16 VIRGINIA Prince Edward County Opens Public Schools FARMVILLE FTER A FIVE-YEAR shutdown to avoid court-ordered deseg regation, Prince Edward County’s public schools opened Sept. 8. The schools were reopened by the county board of supervisors pur suant to a federal district court order based on a ruling by the United States Supreme Court. (Griffin v. Prince Edward School Board.) The first day’s enrollment totaled about 1,600, of whom all but seven were Negroes. The seven whites last year at tended the Prince Edward Free Schools, which were operated primarily for Ne groes under outside auspices. An eighth white pupil who attended the Free Schools graduated last spring. Nine of the 68 teachers in the county’s one high school and three elementary schools are white. — The private segregated school system of the Prince Edward School Founda tion opened Sept. 3 for the fall term with only whites in attendance. Nearly all of the county’s white childen have been attending the foundation’s schools since public schools closed in 1959. ★ ★ ★ Prince Edward County parents, whose children are enrolled in private segregated schools, received tuition grant payments on Aug. 5, and eight days later Negro attorneys asked a federal court to find the county super visors in contempt of court for author izing the payments. (Griffin v. Prince Edward County School Board.) The grants were voted by the board of supervisors at an unannounced meet ing late Tuesday night, Aug. 4. Parents were notified during the night, by tele phone and messenger, that applications could be made for the grants. Applica tions were processed during the night and checks issued. The parents cashed their checks early Wednesdey morning at a bank in Farmville, the county seat. One worker who helped process the applications was quoted as saying: “That’s the first time I’ve seen 500 people on Farmville streets at 3 a.m.” The motion to cite the supervisors for contempt was filed in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond on Aug. 13 by S. W. Tucker and Henry L. Marsh HI, attorneys for county Negroes. They asked also that the court compel the supervisors to bring suit against the Prince Edward School Foundation to recover any money the foundation received from grants. District Judge Oren R. Lewis of Richmond earlier had ruled, concern ing Prince Edward, that tuition grants could not be paid in the county while public schools were closed. The super visors presumably took the position that since they had voted money to reopen the schools Sept. 8, they could begin paying tuition grants. The grants—given on behalf of an estimated 1,200 children—were not is sued as part of the state-local tuition grants program. They are county grants, authorized by state law (Chap ter 461, Acts of the Assembly, 1960) but made up entirely of county funds. The supervisors authorized $310 for (See PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Page 8) LEWIS