Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—MARCH, 1965—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
X
TENNESSEE
Every School District
(Continued from Page 1)
ance of Compliance forms signed by
local school officials.
The commissioner said 136 of the
school districts signed assurances of
compliance. Eight others submit
ted copies of federal court orders
and the remaining eight systems of
fered plans of desegregation. Warf said
the desegregation plans and copies of
court orders also would be presented
to federal officials.
66 Districts Previously
Prior to Warf’s announcement, the
number of desegregated districts in the
state totaled 66, according to records
of Southern Education Reporting Serv
ice.
There was no immediate indication
as to whether any of the remaining
86 districts had enrolled Negroes in
previously all-white classes. Of the 152
districts, 11 have no Negro students
residing within their boundaries.
The commissioner had announced last
month that 110 of the school systems
had pledged compliance, but he with
held public release of the list of dis
tricts until it had been completed.
Shortly after passage of the Civil
Rights Act last year, Warf notified all
of the districts that the State Depart
ment of Education would not be re
sponsible for making up any loss of
federal funds which might arise
through the failure of local boards of
education to comply with the law.
$25 Million in Aid
Action by the school districts, ac
cording to some officials, assures that
they will continue to be eligible for
an estimated $25 million in federal aid
during the fiscal year which begins
July 1.
Some public officials had warned
earlier that the failure of one district
to conform to the Civil Rights Act
might cut off federal funds to the
entire state.
During a meeting with many local
school superintendents in December,
the commissioner said all districts
would have to comply with the law or
risk the consequences of losing federal
assistance.
“I don’t like it any better than anyone
else, but it is something that has to
be done,” Warf told the superintend
ents. Since he be
came commission
er late in 1982,
Warf has insisted
that public
schools must ac
cept the elimina
tion of racial dis
crimination in the
operation of the
school system.
In addition to
pledges of compli-
warf ance by the 152
public school districts, Warf also said
he would submit to federal officials
similar agreements authorized by the
State Board of Education on Feb. 5 in
behalf of all schools, services and
agencies under its control.
These agreements pledged compliance
by the state’s seven colleges and uni
versities, which already were desegre
gated, as well as Tennessee’s new sys
tem of area vocational-technical
schools, technical institutes, vocational
rehabilitation program, high school
vocational education classes and the
Surplus Property Agency.
North Carolina
(Continued from Page 5)
solved that the above organizations
(National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People, Greensboro
Citizens Association and Guilford
County Council of Colored Parents and
Teachers) and concerned citizens go on
record as asking for legal aid from the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund.”
Dr. George C. Simpkins Jr., president
of the Greensboro NAACP, said:
“We’re going to take them to court.
We have four predominantly Negro
schools with a total enrollment of 500
which are not accredited. But all of the
white schools are accredited.”
★ ★ ★
Gov. Dan K. Moore in his address
to the state legislature Feb. 5 said:
“I do not foresee the necessity for
specific legislation in the area of human
relations, but I do welcome any advice
and suggestions you may have. Your
interest and mine are identical: Pro
tecting the rights of all North Carolin
ians and insuring that every citizen has
an opportunity to develop his talents
and use these talents to help us build
a better North Carolina.”
They also applied to the state’s four
special schools, some of which had been
operating on a biracial basis in the
past.
The 66 public school districts listed
by Southern School News previously
as desegregated in practice or by policy
included five that were added since
Jan. 1. They are Campbell County,
which was ordered by U. S. District
Court to lower racial barriers; and
Giles County, Dyersburg, Dyer County
and Sullivan County, all of which made
announcements as they voted to sign
the Assurances of Compliance.
Districts that submitted copies of
their court orders included Campbell
County, Nashville-Davidson County,
Franklin County, Madison County,
Chattanooga, Jackson, Knoxville and
Johnson City.
Instead of Proof
At least eight other districts in
volved in federal court suits at the
beginning of desegregation or since
they started biracial classes, chose to
sign Assurances of Compliance instead
of submitting proof they are following
court directives. Some of these districts,
however, have acted voluntarily to
accelerate the pace of desegregation
beyond the schedule outlined in their
court-approved plans.
The eight districts that presented
plans of desegregation as compliance
with the federal requirement included
three that had not been listed previous
ly as desegregated. They were Harde
man County and McNairy County in
West Tennessee, and Sweetwater, in
East Tennessee.
Others submitting plans of desegre
gation were Hamilton County, Monroe
County, Sevier County, Kingsport and
Franklin, all of which previously were
listed as desegregated.
Districts not previously listed by
Southern School News as desegre
gated but which Warf said signed
Assurances of Compliance included 54
county systems, 19 city systems and 10
special school districts.
The county systems included Benton,
Bledsoe, Blount, Cannon, Carroll, Car
ter, Cheatham, Chester, Cocke, Crock
ett, Cumberland, Decatur, Fayette,
Fentress, Gibson, Grainger, Greene,
Grundy, Hamblen, Hancock, Hardin,
Haywood, Henderson, Hickman, Hous
ton, Jackson, Jefferson, Lake, Lauder
dale, Lincoln, Macon, Marion, Marshall,
Meigs, Moore, Morgan, Perry, Pickett,
Polk, Rhea, Roane, Robertson, Scott,
Sequatchie, Smith, Stewart, Sumner,
Tipton, Trousdale, Unicoi, Union, Van
Buren, Wayne and Weakley.
City districts in this category in
cluded Alamo, Athens, Bells, Browns
ville, Clinton, Covington, Dayton, Eto
wah, Fayetteville, Friendship, Lexing
ton, Maury City, McMinnville, Milan,
Morristown, Newport, Rockwood,
Shelbyville and Trimble.
Special school districts previously
unlisted by SSN as desegregated but
which signed the pledges:
Atwood in Carroll County, Crockett
Mills in Crockett County, Gadsden in
Crockett County, Hollow Rock-Bruce-
ton in Carroll County, Huntingdon, Mc
Kenzie, Oneida, Richard City, South
Carroll County and Trezevant.
Previously Listed
Districts which had been previously
listed by SSN as desegregated in prac
tice or policy but also among those
signing the assurance forms included
32 county systems, 18 city systems and
three special school districts.
The county districts included Ander
son, Bedford, Bradley, Claiborne, Clay,
Coffee, DeKalb, Dickson, Dyer, Giles,
Hawkins, Henry, Humphreys, Johnson,
Knox, Lawrence, Lewis, Loudon,
Maury, McMinn, Montgomery County-
Clarksville, Obion, Overton, Putnam,
Rutherford, Shelby, Sullivan, Warren,
Washington, White, Williamson and
Wilson.
City districts in this category were
Alcoa, Bristol, Cleveland, Dyersburg,
Elizabethton, Greeneville, Harriman,
Humboldt, Lenoir City, Manchester,
Maryville, Memphis, Murfreesboro, Oak
Ridge, Rogersville, Sparta, Tullahoma
and Union City.
The special school districts included
Lebanon, Paris and Watertown.
The seven state colleges and univer
sities for which Warf was authorized to
sign pledges of compliance included:
Austin Peay State College, Clarks
ville; East Tennessee State University,
Johnson City; Memphis State Univer
sity, Middle Tennessee State College,
Murfreesboro; Tennessee Polytechnic
Institute, Cookeville; Tennessee A&I
University, Nashville; and the Univer
sity of Tennessee, which has facilities
at Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis and
Martin.
The four special schools include the
Tennessee School for the Blind, Nash-
in State Agrees to Federal Terms
Tennessee Highlights
State Education Commissioner J.
Howard Warf announced that all of
Tennessee’s 152 public school dis
tricts have pledged compliance with
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
A federal judge at Knoxville told
Negro attorneys the Civil Rights Act
“does not require racial balance” in
the public schools.
Chattanooga’s new in-service train
ing program for teachers in desegre
gated schools was launched on Feb.
15.
Gov. Frank G. Clement’s requested
appropriation of $100,000 for his
Commission on Human Relations
was approved by the General Assem
bly. Pending before the lawmakers
was a resolution advocated by Gov.
George Wallace of Alabama to give
states exclusive jurisdiction of the
public schools through an amend
ment to the U.S. Constitution.
Community Relations Service Di
rector LeRoy Collins said in Nash
ville the nation is far away from
“full enjoyment of civil rights by
all citizens.”
Educational facilities for Negro
students in the Johnson City district
were criticized as inferior.
ville; Tennessee Preparatory School,
Nashville; School for the Deaf, Knox
ville, and Alvin C. York Institute,
Jamestown.
★ ★ ★
Chattanooga Program Trains
Teachers for Biracial Schools
The Chattanooga Board of Education
on Feb. 15 launched its in-service
training program to train teachers of
both races to work in desegregated
schools.
About 75 teachers attended an orien
tation session at Orchard Knob Junior
High School to start the first phase of
the two-stage project, sponsored by
the board with assistance of the Uni
versity of Chattanooga.
About 175 teachers will participate
in the program, one of the first of its
kind in the South, before it is com
pleted in June.
Groups of 25 teachers each are tak
ing the training over a three-month
period.
‘Laboratory Center’
Under the program, which is being
financed largely by federal funds, a
“laboratory center” was established to
assist both white and Negro teachers in
their training for jobs in desegregated
classrooms.
Among the objectives, according to
W. F. Smith, program director, are to
acquaint teachers with sociological and
phychological causes of prejudice and
problems of economic deprivation and
cultural differences, and to train teach
ers to apply knowledge and under
standing in classes.
Smith also said attention is being
given to development of curricula for
students with culturally different back
grounds, factors affecting achievement
levels of students, and studies of cul
tural patterns of students and teachers.
Legal Action
Legislative Action
State’s Agency
On Human Rights
Gets $100,000
The General Assembly on Feb. 24
approved Gov. Frank G. Clement’s
request for a $100,000 appropriation to
finance operation of the Governor’s
Commission on Human Relations dur
ing the next two years.
Funds for the commission were in
cluded in the Clement Administration’s
$1,563,000,000 bud
get for the 1965-67
biennium, which
was passed unani
mously by the
State Senate.
As the measure
received over
whelming ap
proval by the
House of Repre
sentatives on Feb.
23, an East Ten
nessee lawmaker
sought unsuccessfully to remove the
appropriation for the commission.
Rep. G. L. Aderhold of Etowah,
chairman of the House Labor Com
mittee, said the funds were not neces
sary in view of the Civil Rights Act of
1964. Aderhold’s position had been en
dorsed by the Tennessee Citizens’
Council executive committee.
Clement established the commission
in Jaunary, 1964, to make studies and
recommendations dealing with human
relations.
Statutory Authority
Clement was asked at a Feb. 18 press
conference if he would recommend
giving the commission statutory au
thority. He replied:
“There is no specific legislation ready
for introduction at this time. The fed
eral government . . . has established
the rights, and the only question is the
extent to which this state government
wants and is willing to move into this
field ...”
In response to questions on whether
he will urge passage of other civil
rights legislation, Clement expressed
the view that “these matters should be
handled at the state level” but said no
decision had been reached on other
legislation.
Rep. A. W. Willis Jr. of Memphis,
the assembly’s first Negro member since
before the turn of the century, an
nounced plans to introduce an economic
opportunity bill calling for $2.8 million
in funds for local community action
programs.
Willis, who also has offered a meas
ure to establish $1.25 per hour as the
minimum wage for all workers except
private household employes, said $1.8
million was available from the federal
government. Under the minimum wage
bill, domestic servants would be paid
at least 95 cents per hour.
★ ★ ★
In other legislative action, a resolu
tion urging an amendment to the U.S.
Constitution to give the states “sole and
exclusive jurisdiction” of the public
school system was introduced on Feb
23.
Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace,
who has been campaigning for the
amendment, earlier had predicted the
Tennessee lawmakers would approve
the resolution.
The proposal was introduced bv R
W. E. Michael of Sweetwater
signed by 13 other representatives ^
already has been approved by a*
Louisiana and Alabama legislatures *
Requested in the resolution is' I
addition to the 19th Amendment to th
U.S. Constitution to prohibit fecW
interference in the “inherent rights” t
states to operate their public schools'
What They Say
Collins Predicts
‘Long, Lonely Road’
On Civil Rights
LeRoy Collins, director of the Com
munity Relations Service, said in Nash
ville on Feb. 2 that the United States
is a “long, lonely way down the road
from full enjoyment of civil rights by
all citizens.”
The former Florida governor made
the statement in an address at Vander
bilt University School of Law.
Collins said there is a need for more
lawyers who will accept civil rights
cases, “not as apologists, not shrinking
in fear, but as courageous advocates
for American right and justice.”
Collins cited as an example a city
of 60,000 people in which, he said
there was no attorney “who was willing
to appear on a public platform simply
to explain—not to defend—” the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.
The speaker was introduced by for
mer Gov. Buford Ellington who served
with Collins as a member of the service
last year. Ellington recently was ap
pointed by President Johnson as
director of the Office of Emergency
Planning.
★ ★ ★
Carl Braden, field staff member of
the Southern Conference Educational
Fund, Inc., contended on Feb. 9 that
the House Un-American Activities
Committee is “used to attack white
people in the South who stand to
integration.” |
“We are witnessing McCarthyism in
the South because all other weapons of
the segregationists are failing,” Braden ^
said in a speech at Vanderbilt Uni
versity at Nashville.
Braden’s address, dealing largely with
freedom of speech, was presented be
fore an audience which at times shout
ed disagreement with some of his
statements. ‘
The desegregation leader said th e
Un-American Activities Committee, be"
fore which he once refused to answer
questions, should be abolished.
★ ★ ★
Dr. Sol Adler of East Tennessee State
University at Johnson City on Fe • -
told the Council for Community Con
cern that Negro students in d°T 1S \.
City are being subjected to infen
educational opportunity. , j
Adler called for the city boar_
education, which is under federal
order to desegregate all gr a d es _,(j c
teaching staffs next fall, to
facilities and curriculum in
schools. for
“The community must U reSS par a-
answers to questions of what prep ^
tion the school board is makms
integration in the fall,” he said-
The council’s committee on eo ^
reported it is preparing to offer u
(See TENNESSEE, Page V
Judge Says Balance Not Required
U.S. District Judge Robert L. Taylor
declared on Feb. 5 that the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 “does not require racial
balance” in public school districts.
Taylor made the statement to Negro
attorneys as they expressed objections
to a complete desegregation plan sub
mitted by the Knoxville Board of Edu
cation.
Representing a group of Negro plain
tiffs, Nashville attorney Avon N. Wil
liams Jr. told the court that while
Negro students are being admitted to
formerly all-white schools, white pupils
residing in what are now Negro zones
are transferred to other schools.
“It’s apparent to any reasonable per
son that racial factors are considered,”
Williams said.
Taylor, allowing the plaintiffs until
April 1 to file a petition setting out
their complaints, replied that his court
would not be used to achieve racial
balance in the schools.
The judge also rejected a request by
Negro attorneys who asked that school
board officials be required to notify
each parent by
mail at the end of
the school year as
to which school
his child would
attend the follow
ing term.
“Pm not going
to order the board
to write letters to
each parent,”
Taylor said,
“that’s a matter to
be left to the
sound discretion of the board. This
court is not going to run the schools.”
The special hearing was called in
connection with plaintiffs’ objections to
the school board’s plan for desegrega
tion of all grades, which was L placed
into use last September.
TAYLOR
,. u
rhe Knoxville district, wiucn ^
segregation under f f der ^ n0 ir^
lers in 1960 (Goss et al v. (jed
Education), had
of
egregation through the (j, e
si*
prior to the opening
>4-65 school year. gsk^
Vs Negro attorneys last > \ 0 pe^- :
tt o o:..*u r-';-™,a r.ourt of
order an acceleration .
board officials anno^ ^ con'
when
of the
tb**
ird omciais .
all grades would #
cted on a biracial basis
4-65 term began. .Aents
Vn estimated 450 Negro s s cho°'
rolled in biracial classes a Uj e rs &
s year, leaving about 4,
-Negro schools. intend
•’laintiffs in the case c jgqiia
ird’s plan does not con 1 in F
>visions to end discrunin
looI system. „ rpse nted b
zoning plan is to be P
i 5
* J 1- A wn 1 1