Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16—SEPTEMBER, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
South Carolina
(Continued From Page 13)
“countenance indefinite delay in
elimination of racial barriers . .
He added that segregation because
of ethnic differences “is no longer
litigable.”
The filing of the suit against Cher-
aw’s schools was not unexpected inas
much as a group of Negroes applied
for transfer to white schools earlier in
the summer. They were rejected on
the grounds that their applications had
been received too late. A temporary
injunction was asked pending a trial
of the issues. No further action has
been forthcoming.
★ ★ ★
Transfer Plan Attacked
By Negro Attorneys
As they have done in other desegre
gation cases, Negro attorneys attacked
a court-approved pupil transfer plan
in Orangeburg School District 5 as “in
adequate and unreasonable.”
In a petition filed Aug. 24 in U.S.
District Court at Charleston, NAACP
lawyers asked Judge Charles E.
Simons Jr. to vacate his order approv
ing the plan for use in the 1965 - 66
school year.
Judge Simons, a former state legis
lator from Aiken County handling his
first desegregation case on the federal
bench, ordered the Orangeburg city
schools to admit 28 Negro plaintiffs in
a suit (Adams et al v. Orangeburg
School District 5). He announced his
decision Aug. 12. (See separate story).
Five Criteria
In ordering full-scale desegregation
next year, Judge Simons agreed to a
transfer plan involving five criteria
that permit some administrative lati
tude in judging requests for transfer.
Similar plans had earlier been ap
proved by Judge J. Robert Martin in
Charleston and subsequent desegrega
tion suits. Each time, they have been
attacked by the Negroes but as yet no
action has been taken.
The plan makes Negroes “rim the
hurdle of vague and conflicting
geographical, capacity and educational
considerations,” attorneys said in at
tacking the Orangeburg plan.
★ ★ ★
South Carolina’s Roman Catholic
schools, under orders from Bishop
Francis H. Reh to desegregate fully
this year, apparently will continue to
have mostly limited desegregation be
cause of space problems.
School Burns
Amid Tension
In Kentucky
MT. STERLING, KY.
A n all-Negro school here was
destroyed by fire Aug. 30
after several days of tension grow
ing out of school desegregation in
this community of 5,300 popula
tion 35 miles east of Lexington.
Police said the blaze at the DuBois
School and the burning the same day of
a Negro Masonic lodge building were
the work of arsonists.
It was the first major school deseg
regation violence in Kentucky for sev
eral years.
The Mt. Sterling board of education,
left without a building for Negroes, an
nounced Sept. 3 that the system’s 225
Negro pupils and 12 Negro teachers
would be “completely and immediately
integrated.”
Another 110 Negro pupils in adjacent
Montgomery County, who also had at
tended DuBois School, were enrolled
in formerly all-white county schools
after the fire.
Untested Policy
Until this year, both systems had fol
lowed a policy of voluntary desegrega
tion which had not been tested by
Negroes. Then the Mt. Sterling board
announced that it would begin actual
desegregation this term.
A dispute flared when 125 Negro
pupils showed up to register at white
schools during the week of Aug. 24.
School Supt. Jack Miller said that de
segregation was supposed to be limited
to 40 or 50 Negroes this year. Negro
parents, insisting on complete desegre
gation, threatened a federal court suit
and a boycott of the schools.
Then came the fire, which postponed
the opening of the fall term from Sept.
1 to Sept. 8 and caused the school board
to abandon what it called “the present
gradual plan of desegregation.” Negroes
make up about 23 per cent of the Mt.
Sterling enrollment.
On Aug. 26, The Rev. Fleming J. Mc
Manus, head of the 32 elementary and
five high schools maintained by the
church in the state, said, “We definitely
expect quite a few of our schools to
have some Negro pupils.”
A complete report is not yet avail
able but only seven Negroes entered
two previously all-white parochial
schools in Columbia and eight were ad
mitted at Spartanburg.
Token desegregation took place at
Charleston last year. A Catholic school
at Rock Hill has had mixed classes for
several years.
Community Action
Special Training
Given To Negroes
Changing Schools
Schools to prepare Negroes about to
enter previously all-white public
schools were held in Greenville and
Charleston during the late summer.
Staffed by volunteer teachers—
white and Negro educators, college
students, business and professional
men—the schools were designed to
prepare the young Negroes “both
psychologically and educationally for
the task which faces them in Septem
ber—enrolling in new schools, facing
situations which may be strange to
them.
The statement was made by the di
rector of the Greenville school, Miss
Sara Lowrey, retired head of the
speech department at Greenville’s
Furman University.
In spite of the fact that there were
no preparatory social sessions, Miss
Lowrey, a native of Mississippi, said
he believed that “more was accom
plished on the psychological level.”
Met in Church
Classes in Greenville, which ended
on July 31 after running for six weeks,
were held in the Springfield Baptist
Church. Fifty-five youngsters attended
—the same number as were cleared for
admission to white schools.
The students, who ranged from first
to 12th graders, were divided into age
and subject groups. Classes taught in
cluded English, math, history and how
to study. There was also a class in
French.
Initiative for the school was provided
by the American Friends Service Com
mittee’s civil rights office in Greens
boro, N.C. Some of the volunteer
teachers were from out-of-state.
The project was supported by the
Greenville Education Association, a
group made up of Negro parents. Texts
were supplied by Greenville schools.
Miss Lowrey decribed the students
as co-operative, courteous and re
sponsive.
Students and Churchmen
In Charleston, State NAACP Presi
dent J. Arthur Brown, whose daughter
was among 11 Negroes who attended
white Charleston schools last year, re
ported that several white students and
churchmen worked to acclimate the
young Negroes to having white in
structors.
“They’ve been tutoring the children
on how to conduct themselves and
what to expect,” he added.
Charleston approved 77 Negro trans
fer requests for the 1964-65 school
year. They will join nine holdovers
from the first year of token desegrega
tion.
★ ★ ★
Columbia Council Names
Groups To Seek Harmony
Two committees, composed of 25
white and 25 Negro community leaders,
were named Aug. 29 by the Columbia
City Council to work for “co-operation,
peace and harmony” between the
races.
The white and Negro committees are
to form a Columbia Community Re
lations Council, according to Mayor
Lester L. Bates in his announcement.
Many members of the new council
have worked together on informal com
mittees in the past to bring about
peaceful desegregation of a number of
community facilities in South Caro
lina’s capital city.
Included on the Negro committee
are Lincoln C. Jenkins, an attorney
who has handled a number of school
desegregation cases for the NAACP;
the presidents of Columbia’s two
Negro colleges, Benedict and Allen;
and a number of public schoolmen.
The white group included Dr. A. C.
Flora, former superintendent of Rich
land County School District 1 which
was desegregated Aug. 41. Also named
J
Negro Colleges Swap
F acuity,
Students With Other Schools
S everal Southern Negro col
leges have arranged student
and faculty exchange programs
with larger institutions for the
new school year.
Tuskegee Institute in Alabama set up
a cooperative program with the Uni
versity of Michigan and already, almost
40 staff and faculty members have made
exchange visits between the two insti
tutions. A major part of the program is
the development of a research program
in the social sciences, including a re
search institute on race relations at
Tuskegee.
The Michigan school will help Tuske
gee strengthen its liberal arts program
was John K. Cauthen, executive vice-
president of the S.C. Textile Manu
facturers Association who is widely
credited with arranging statewide sup
port for the peaceful desegregation of
Clemson College in 1963.
★ ★ ★
The Civil Rights Law and its effect
on public school education in South
Carolina was discussed in detail at a
four - hour meeting in Columbia
Aug. 18.
A number of leading businessmen,
educators, school trustees and state of
ficials attended the closed-door affair
in a midtown hotel.
Newsmen were barred and no state
ment was released after the meeting.
It was learned, however, that the
discussions ranged widely in the sub
ject area. Problems arising out of the
federal government’s policy of cutting
off impacted-area funds to segregated
school districts were treated fully. The
conferees wondered, for instance, what
would be the attitude of the govern
ment toward a district that had no
Negro applications.
South Carolina laws relating to
school segregation were explored, as
was pending desegregation in a num
ber of districts in the state.
What They Say
Negro Pupil Recalls
and the institute will assist the univer
sity in its work with Negro students.
Tuskegee also is to aid the university
in locating qualified Negro faculty
members.
Two Florida state-supported schools,
Florida State University and Florida
A&M University, have agreed to work
on a program this fall to help the latter
school retain its accreditation. The
Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools requires that 25 per cent of the
faculty members have Ph.D. degrees.
A Carnegie Foundation grant of $100,-
000 will enable at least 15 A&M in
structors with master’s degrees to study
at Florida State, across town, and com
plete their work on a doctorate.
State University of Iowa begins this
fall a one-year trial exchange of stu
dents with predominantly Negro schools
in the South. Two Iowa students will
attend the fall semester at Talladega
The SERS library recently acquired
these books:
BLACK NATIONALISM
by E. J. Essien-Udom. The Univer
sity of Chicago Press, Chicago, 367
pp.
In his study of the Muslim move
ment, the author had the background
of having lived for several years on
the Chicago South Side, where the
movement has its headquarters, and
winning the friendship and confidence
of the leader, Elijah Muhammad.
SEGREGATION AND THE BIBLE
by Dr. Everett Tilson. Abingdon
Press, Nashville, 176 pp.
Answers are suggested for these
three questions; “Does the Bible . . .
demand segregation? Or does it record
precedents . . . that can be construed
as props with which to support the
general principle of segregation? Or
. . . what are the implications of basic
biblical faith, if any, for the Christian
approach to this crucial problem in
human relations?”
College in Alabama while two Tafia
dega students are at Iowa. The program. '
calls for similar exchanges with addi
tional Negro schools in other states. *
A Carnegie Foundation grant of $3oo
000 will permit the University of Wis
consin to conduct a two-year faculty
exchange program with three state,
supported Negro schools: A&T College
at Greensboro, N.C., North Carolina
College at Durham, and Texas Southern 1
University at Houston.
Carnegie Foundation and Rockefeller
Foundation grants also supported 5
group of eight-week institutes this sum- I
mer to give quality academic expert
ence to 250 faculty members from Ne
gro colleges. The host schools were the
Woman’s College of the University 0 f
North Carolina at Greensboro, Indiana
University, Princeton University, Car
negie Institute of Technology and the
University of Wisconsin.
ANOTHER COUNTRY
by James Baldwin. The Dial Press, 1
New York, 436 pp. ’ j
Eight major characters in Greenwich 1
Village and Harlem confront the prob
lems of sex and race in this novel by
the author of “Another Country," “Go
Tell It on the Mountain,” and “Gio- 1
vanni’s Room.” 1
I
THE NEGRO LEADERSHIP CLASS
by Daniel C. Thompson. Prentice- 1
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963,
174 pp.
This study of Negro leadership in
New Orleans from 1940 to 1960 traces 1
the social origins of the leaders and ;
shows the varied influences that I
shaped them—family, profession, eco- :
nomics, environment and education.
TOWARD FAIR EMPLOYMENT
by Paul H. Norgren and Samuel E.
Hill. Columbia University Press, New
York, 1964, 296 pp.
THE BLACK JEWS OF HARLEM
by Howard Brotz. The Free Press of !
Glencoe (Macmillan Co.), New York.
1964, 144 pp.
Books and the Issue
Year with Whites
Summarizing her experiences as one
of 11 Negroes who were principals in
South Carolina’s first public school de
segregation last year, Millicent Brown
of Charleston said:
“It was no worse than I had expected,
and a lot nicer than I had anticipated.”
The 16-year-old girl was a sopho
more at downtown Charleston’s Rivers
High School. The daughter of J. Arthur
Brown, state president of the NAACP,
Millicent was the title plaintiff in the
successful desegregation ease of Brown
v. Charleston County School District 20.
The teenager admitted that it was a
bit lonely at first. She met most of her
closer firiends, she said, in the school
lunch line, where “there was usually a
smile.”
In a mid-August interview, Miss
Brown proudly showed off several in
scriptions in her annual.
Wrote a school beauty queen: “I am
so glad we met each other this year
... I hope we will be able to continue
through and graduate from high school
together.” Another wished her “health,
wealth, and happiness.”
Millicent ended the year with a
B-plus average and a 93 score on the
National Education Development test.
She was quick to praise her teachers,
whom she called “very co-operative,”
adding “Rivers has a great faculty.”
★ ★ ★
The state president of the NAACP
threatens Charleston School District 20
with another federal court suit—this
one aimed at desegregating public
school faculties.
J. Arthur Brown of Charleston sug
gested as much Sept. 2 after members
of his organization picketed separate
white and Negro teachers’ meetings.
“I feel sure a suit of this nature will
be instituted . . .” Brown said. He said
that it was his group’s understanding
that a successful federal court action
that put the first Negroes in Charles
ton’s city school last September also
eliminated discrimination in faculties
and facilities.
On the picket line outside a meeting
of District 20 Negro teachers, Russell
Brown, head of the NAACP’s Charles
ton chapter, said his organization was
“unhappy about the fact the meeting
is segregated and unhappy about the
fact the teachers are not doing anything
about it.”
W. E. B. DUBOIS: A STUDY IN MI
NORITY LEADERSHIP
by Elliott M. Rudwick. University of
Pennsylvania Press, 382 pp.
As one of the founders of the
NAACP, DuBois has been one of the
more controversial figures in activities
of Negroes in the field of civil rights.
The author is an assistant professor of
social welfare at Florida State Uni
versity.
ON BEING NEGRO IN AMERICA
by J. Saunders Redding. Charter
Books, New York, 1951, 156 pp.
The author writes: “. . . there is
something very personal about being a
Negro in America . . . one receives two
distinct impacts from certain experi
ences and one undergoes two distinct
reactions—the one normal and intrinsic
to the natural self; the other, entirely
different but of equal force, a prodigy
created by the accumulated conscious
ness of Negroness.”
ALMOST WHITE
by Brewton Berry. The MacMillan
Co., New York, 1963, 212 pp.
Mestizos, or groups of persons with
mixed blood known by such names as
Moors, Turks and Red Bones, reside
in a number of remote communities on
the eastern seaboard. The author, who
is chairman of the Department of So
ciology and Anthropology at Ohio State
University, visited some of these com
munities in South Carolina, New York,
Tennessee and Louisiana in prepara
tion for this study.
SLAVERY DEFENDED: THE VIEWS
OF THE OLD SOUTH
edited by Eric L. McKitrick. Pren
tice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,
180 pp.
Prof. McKitrick, of Columbia Uni
versity, has collected the writings from
the antebellum South in defense of Ne
gro slavery by such men as John C.
Calhoun, George Fitzhugh, Henry
Hughes, William J. Grayson, David
Christy, Edward A. Pollard and J.D.B.
DeBow, New York, 190 pp.
THE SLUM MAKERS
by Robert Tebbel. The Dial Press,
The major portion of the book con
cerns the problems and faults of the
housing business in the new suburbs,
but the race issue is discussed in the
chapter, “Antidiscrimination: Another
Housing Mess.”
DON’T JUST DEPLORE DISCRIMI
NATION, DO SOMETHING!
By W. H. M. Stover, Vantage Press,
New York, 1964, 189 pp.
AN EDUCATION IN GEORGIA
by Calvin Trillin. The Viking Press.
New York, 1963, 180 pp.
THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR
THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED
PEOPLE: A CASE STUDY IN PRES
SURE GROUPS
by Warren D. St. James. Exposition
Press, New York, 1958, 252 pp.
TEN YEARS OF PRELUDE
by Benjamin Muse. The Viking Press-
New York, 1964, 308 pp.
RACE AND RADICALISM
by Wilson Record. Cornell Universi.
Press, Ithaca, 1964, 237 pp.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION:
PAGES FROM A NEGRO WORKED
NOTEBOOK .
by James Boggs. Monthly “ eV1
Press, New York, 1963, 93 pp-
SCHOOL DESEGREGATION: DOCE'
MENTS AND COMMENTARIES
edited by Hubert Humphrey. T 0
Y. Crowell & Co., New York,
314 pp.
WHITE AND BLACK: TEST OF A
NATION Ro *.
by Samuel Lubell. Harper &
New York, 1964, 210 pp.
GUIDELINES: A MANUAL FOR Bl
RACIAL COMMITTEES a .
by George Schermer. Anti- e
tion League of B’nai B n >
York, 1964, 96 pp.
FAITH AND PREJUDICE:
GROUP PROBLEMS IN PROTES
CURRICULA nniver'
by Bernhard E. Olson, Ya e pp
sity Press, New Haven, 196 ,
THE KENNEDY YEARS AND
NEGRO T O hns° 0
or] i tori Vitz Dorit; E. • r»0-
THE BATTLE LINES vrnreho^
dited by Malcolm Boyd_ » ^ p p.
Sarlow Co., New York, l**.
R HUMAN BEINGS oNLY bu r?
iy Sarah Patton Boyle. The
>ress, New York, 1964, 127 P
WHITE AMERICA HoU ght°°
y Martin B. Duberman.
Rnston. 1964, 112 P