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2 V ■h Factual Southern School News Objective VOL II. NO. 4 ALABAMA Assembly Calls For Amendment Fo Constitution MONTGOMERY T he Alabama legislature, called into a one-day special session on Sept. 21 by Gov. George C. ! Wallace, unanimously passed a resolution designed to force an amendment to the U.S. Consti tution giving all control of schools to the respective states. Wallace said he would wage a na tionwide campaign to get the required two-thirds of the states to pass similar resolutions. The governor said this is not impossible: “I tell you that total federal control of our public school system is not inevitable and that to fight it is not futile. “The resolution I ask you to enact... will constitute the first step—the first shot—in a battle to preserve the most democratic institutions on earth, local public schools. We are going to take this crusade across the country . . . We shall use every resource and power at our command.” All Aspects The resolution stated that states shall control all aspects of public schools and declared that federal courts would have no jurisdiction in school legisla tion. Wallace said he would recommend the resolution at the Southern Gov- I emors’ Conference in San Antonio, Tex., in October: “I will ask every governor there to sponsor a similar resolution in their state legislatures.” Wallace said that “many people throughout this land share our views of home rule and states’ rights.” He said many people would lend their support: “We can wrest control of the schools away from the all-powerful oentralized government. It may take one, two, four or six years, but it can he done.” He said he intended to try to get the resolution passed in all of the other ? states: "We are going to rim a tull-scale campaign on this thing.” Superintendent Endorses State Superintendent of Education Austin R. Meadows endorsed the reso- ution, with the statement that he *ould urge other state school super intendents to support similar reso- utions in their states. Meadows wntinued: Our resolution, while it was tailored Alabama specifications, is one that ® completely non-partisan and non- racia l Hut at the same time is Ameri can. , ,^ e are now under the thumb of th 6ra ^ con trol in public education, a ° U §H direct and indirect methods. | I°* ever > I am fully confident we will ^‘ually win the battle against fed- ^ control of schools—because such ji H°1 would necessarily be used to ~” rc >y the American system of rep- ' democracy . . . ctat °rship nations have always w _ n control of their educational sys- iY ca Pturing the minds and souls of ^ youth, and making slaves of them, t no * Happen in America, but Happen unless federal seizure (See AMENDMENT, Page 7) Governor Wallace Endorsing amendment. MISSISSIPPI Desegregation At Jackson Starts Quietly JACKSON r I ^ hirty-nine Negro first-grade pupils entered eight formerly white public schools in Jackson on Sept. 14 under federal court orders. The elementary school de segregation—the third to come to Mississippi — was peaceful and without incident. Jackson police and school officials imposed tight security as the Negro children entered the schools. Also, 10 Department of Justice officials headed by John Doar of Washington were nearby and watched the proceedings. An unidentified Negro boy, accom panied by his mother, entered Gallo way School shortly before 8 a.m. and became the first of his race to enter a white school in Jackson since public schools opened in 1846. He left with his mother shortly after entering, how ever, and school officials said the mother had requested a transfer to an all-Negro school. Later in the morning, however, the child returned and the mother asked that the request be with drawn. Jackson school officials had previous ly approved the applications of 44 Negroes seeking entrance into the first grade. However, five did not appear when school opened. 13 Biracial Schools Fifty-eight Negro first-graders are attending 13 previously all-white pub lic schools in three Mississippi school systems, all under federal court orders. The breakdown: • Jackson: 39 Negroes in eight schools. • Carthage: 1 Negro in one school. • Biloxi: 18 Negroes in four schools. (See 39, Page 8) VO ‘SN3h.lv noisiaio sno111s t noDv S3 i yvas11 VI0U03D JO AlWfl eooz-y-s9 unr OCTOBER, 1964 w more colleges, Universities Open Without Race Restrictions S outhern colleges and universities started the new academic year with 15 more institutions accepting both whites and Negroes. Five of these are public-supported and ten are private. The 11 Southern states have 214 institutions of higher learning that are supported by tax funds at the city, county or state level, and 131 of these—or over 60 per cent—now have desegregation policies. There are 114 predominantly white public institutions that will ac cept Negroes and another 60 remain segregated. Of the 40 public col leges for Negroes, 17 will accept whites. Among the private and church schools, less than half are desegre gated. At least 136 of the 299 non-public institutions have known policies admitting both races. These include 111 of the 239 predomi nantly white schools and 25 of the 60 predominantly Negro schools. Additional privately operated schools could have desegregated without public notice. Slightly More Than Half Combining the public and private school figures, the 11-state area has a total of 267 desegregated colleges—slightly over half of the 513 colleges and universities. Six Southern states had started desegregation at the college level several years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling on school segregation. Arkansas, the first to act, voluntarily admitted a Negro to the University of Arkansas in 1948. Court orders compelled Louisiana, Texas and Virginia to desegregate in 1950, North Carolina in 1951, and Tennessee in 1952. Since 1954, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Caro lina have admitted Negroes to state colleges and universities with whites. All five acted only by court order and South Carolina was the last to comply, desegregating in early 1963. Arkansas, Norh Carolina and Tennessee have started desegregation at all their public colleges and universities, as have all the bor der states. The new desegregation this fall occurred in public colleges of Geor gia, Louisiana, and Texas; private schools in Alabama, Arkansas, PUBLIC SCHOOLS Desegregation This Fall Rises to 139 Districts N ew desegregation reported in September increased to 139 the number of Southern public school districts that desegregated this fall for the first time. The 11 states in the South have a total of 583 desegregated districts with policies to admit Negro students to the same schools with whites. These districts represent more than one- fourth of the 2,255 public school sys tems having both races enrolled. The South has another 734 districts that either have all-white or all-Negro enrollments. This year’s increase in new desegre gation, at the kindergarten through high-school level, slightly exceeds the 135 desegregated districts added dur ing school opening in the fall of 1963. Texas, which accounts for half of the 583 desegregated districts, leads the 11-state area in the number of newly desegregated districts this fall and last. The number of new districts acting in each state this fall and the total de segregated are: Desegegated State New Total Alabama 4 8 Arkansas 11 24 Florida 5 21 Georgia 6 10 Louisiana 1 3 Mississippi 4 4 North Carolina 25 65 South Carolina 15 16 Tennessee 15 60 Texas 28 292 Virginia 25 80 TOTALS 139 583 Complete figures on public school enrollment still were unavailable at the (See 139 DISTRICTS, Page 6) Public College Desegrega tion State White No. D.t Negro No. D.t Total No. D.t Alabama 7- 3 2-1 9- 4 Arkansas* 7- 7 1-1 8- 8 Florida 20-13 11-2 31-15 Georgia 18- 8 3-1 21- 9 Louisiana 10- 7 3-1 13- 8 Mississippi 19- 1 6-0 25- 1 North Carolina* 11-11 6-6 17-17 South Carolina 5- 3 1-0 6- 3 Tennessee* 6- 6 1-1 7- 7 Texas 50-46 4-3 54-49 Virginia 21- 9 2-1 23-10 TOTALS 174-144 40-17 214-131 ♦All desegregated. tFirst number is total of schools, and second is number of these desegregated. North Carolina, South Carolina, Ten nessee and Virginia; and both public and private colleges in Florida. New and extended college and uni versity desegregation by states follows: Alabama—Auburn University, which desegregated its graduate division earlier this year, registered its first two Negro undergraduates this fall. The two were among the 12 Negro students who had desegregated the first Macon County, Ala., school last year at Tuskegee. Sacred Heart Col lege, a Roman Catholic school at Cull man, accepted its first Negro student in September. Arkansas—A desegregation policy began this year at three private schools: Crowley Ridge Junior College, Paragould, one Negro; Hendrix College (Methodist), Conway, policy; and Little Rock University, Little Rock, seven Negroes. Florida—Lee County closed Dunbar Junior College, for Negroes, and de segregated Edison Junior College, formerly all-white. Putnam County followed a similar policy, closing all- Negro Collier Blocker Junior College and merging the student body with St. Johns River Junior College. In Sara sota, New College, a private school with Congregational-Christian Church assistance, opened this year without requirements in regard to race or creed. Georgia—A newly opened junior college, Brunswick College, admitted six Negroes its first semester. A branch of Georgia Institute of Tech nology, Southern Technical Institute at Marietta, has three Negroes this fall for the first time. Georgia Tech admitted Negroes in 1961. Louisiana—A formerly all-Negro, public school, Southern University at New Orleans, had to admit a white graduate student by order of a federal court. (See COLLEGES, Page 2) WASHINGTON REPORT $8 Million Fund to Aid School Desegregation ^ This Issue ^°nthly Reports .. l .. 3 .. 6 .. 9 .. 2 .. 1 .. 5 ..11 ..10 .. 4 ..12 .. 1 1 1 4 WASHINGTON N $8 million appropriation for the U. S. Office of Education to carry out school desegregation activities under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by Congress just before it adjourned on Oct. 3. The sum was part of a $13 million total for civil rights activities requested by the Administration in a supplemen tal appropriations bill. Funds were also approved for the new Community Re lations Service in the Department of Commerce ($1.1 million); the Depart ment of Justice ($1.09 million); the Civil Rights Commission ($2.5 million), and the Department of Labor ($100,000). The Office of Education will use its share of the civil rights funds for activ ities authorized under Title IV of the act. These include offering financial and technical assistance to school districts planning to desegregate; establishing training institutes for administrators and educational staff involved in de segregation, and conducting a two-year study of the pace of compliance with the Supreme Court’s school desegrega tion decision of 1954. House passage of the supplemental appropriation bill came Sept. 22 after only passing reference to the civil rights funds. Rep. H. R. Gross (R- Iowa) unsuccessfully challenged the allocation for the Civil Rights Commis sion, and Rep. John M. Ashbrook (R- Ohio‘ commented that Southern Demo crats who had opposed the Civil Rights Act were “strangely silent” about the funds to ca. ry out its provisions. There was no response from the Southern members of the House. Senate approval of the supplemental appropriations measure came in the adjournment rush on Oct. 2. The bill also provided funds for a number of other Government activities, including the new anti-poverty program estab lished under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. ★ ★ ★ A government report on compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will be issued this fall by three agencies concerned with the act’s enforcement, former Florida Gov. LeRoy Collins an nounced Sept. 22. Collins, who now heads the Com munity Relations Service established under the law, said the report, based on a comprehen sive survey, will be prepared by his agency, the Civil Rights Di vision of the De partment of Jus tice and the Civil Rights Commis sion. A spokesman for the Commun ity Relations Service indicated that the report would be ready by the end of October. At a luncheon of the Women’s Na tional Press Club, Collins said comp liance with the act has been “far greater than anyone had expected.” “There is not a single city—North or South—in which there has not been a substantial increase in the abolishment of discrimination since the act was passed,” he said. Even Mississippi, he added, contains “outstanding examples of compliance with this law.” ‘New Bridges’ Collins said he hoped the Commun ity Relations Service, a conciliation agency established within the Depart ment of Commerce, would “build new bridges so that compliance can be brought about without the harshness of litigation.” He reported that the service has been asked to mediate in 42 instances, and has settled two of them. Collins de clined to identify specific situations in which the service is involved because (See CONGRESS, Page 10) COLLINS