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PAGE 2—APRIL, 1965—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
ARKANSAS
About 200
LITTLE ROCK
A bout 200 of the 412 school dis
tricts in Arkansas have signed
to comply with the 1964 Civil
Rights Act, state education com
missioner A. W. Ford said March
24. A few days earlier he had
said that he expected “all but a
handful” to be in compliance this
year.
Specifically, 12 more biracial districts
have announced their intention to
comply, in addition to four the
previous month. They are Walnut
Ridge, Sloan-Hendrix of Imboden,
Greenbrier, Guy-Perkins, East End of
Perry County, Monticello, Jonesboro,
Pocahontas, Conway, Benton, Dumas
and Star City. Previously listed were
DeWitt, Crossett, Clinton and Mayflow
er. Of these only Monticello, Dumas,
Star City, DeWitt and Crossett—all in
southeast Arkansas—have any signifi
cant number of Negroes.
Aside from those, Commissioner Ford
said March 16 that 33 districts in North
Arkansas had been notified that their
compliance with the Civil Rights Act
had been accepted by the federal Of
fice of Education. They have no Negro
students.
The subject dominated schoolmen’s
activity over the state, as it has for
several weeks. Meetings public and
private were going on in many com
munities as school boards and their
patrons sought to come to grips with
the law.
Outcome Dreaded
Commissioner Ford cited evidence
that many schoolmen dread what is to
come. Announcing on March 12 that
three men had resigned from the State
Department of Education for higher
paying jobs elsewhere, he said he
could fill these vacancies and more
with school superintendents in the
state who are willing to change jobs
for less pay.
Although several representatives of
the federal government have been
in the state in the last several months
to explain the Civil Rights Act to
schoolmen, the schoolmen heard still
another one, Dr. Wayne O. Reed, asso
ciate U.S. commissioner of education, on
April 1 and 2 at Little Rock. Ford, still
getting queries about the law every day,
referred the questioners to Reed.
Ford himself was hoping to be en
lightened. He hoped, after hearing
Reed, to be in a better position to re
spond to HCR 27, a resolution adopted
by the Arkansas General Assembly
which adjourned March 11, asking the
education department to furnish in
formation about the Civil Rights Act.
Kept Up Late
Reed spoke Thursday night, April 1,
and Friday morning, both times in
general terms on educational purposes
and financing. It was learned that after
the Thursday night speech, school su
perintendents kept him up until 1:15
a.m. Friday answering questions about
the Civil Rights Act.
Reed said most of the questions were
specific ones about specific situations in
superintendents’ districts, and he de
clined to quote them.
But as to the schoolmen’s attitudes,
Reed said he was impressed and opti
mistic. “They’re really trying to under
stand the law. It makes me very en
couraged,” he said.
Reed said he told the superintendents
that every school district would have to
make a start this year on desegregation
and that how much desegregation
would constitute compliance would vary
according to circumstances from district
to district.
Assurance Approved
Reed brought with him a letter giving
official approval to the Arkansas State
Board of Education’s assurance of
compliance.
Ford discussed the Civil Rights Act,
along with other school problems, at a
meeting of the education department
staff March 15. He said all but a hand
ful of districts would comply because
they cannot afford to lose federal aid.
Such loss could be offset only by in
creases in local taxes, he noted.
“Unless the people vote the taxes,
their schools would become non
competitive,” Ford said. “Any school
which doesn’t get federal aid can’t
compete with the schools down the
road and in the next town,” he said.
‘Big Problems’
He named no districts he thought
might not comply but said they would
be the ones with the “big problems.”
They are in South and East Arkansas,
the territory with the heaviest Negro
population.
He expressed full confidence in the
School
Districts Sign Compliance Assurances
way the Office of Education would
handle the Civil Rights Act but said
it would not be satisfied with evasions.
U.S. Education Commissioner Francis
G. Keppel and his staff are “dedicated
educators committed to obey the law,”
he said.
“I have no doubt in my mind that
if the Civil Rights Act were presented
to the people of Arkansas it would be
rejected, but that is no longer the
issue,” Ford said. “This is the law
passed by Congress. We are a consti
tutional government, not a federation
of states. That was settled years ago.”
Ford mentioned that his grandfather
fought and was wounded for the fed
eration principle. He said Gov. George
C. Wallace is fighting a losing battle
and as a former judge ought to know
it.
“I expect to live by the law in letter
and spirit if permitted to do so. I say
this knowing I’m a hired hand. And
so are you,” he said, to laughter.
★ ★ ★
School district plans on desegrega
tion learned during March:
Walnut Ridge and Sloan Hendrix of
Imboden, which are adjoining districts
in Lawrence County, met together
March 11 and decided to comply with
the Civil Rights Act. Each district has
about 10 Negro students to be admitted
to formerly white schools. (The third
district in Lawrence County is Hoxie
which desegregated voluntarily in 1955;
it now has one Negro student.)
Conway made its announcement
March 11 in a statement by Supt. H.
L. Stanfill, asking for patience and
understanding. He said the plan for
desegregation would not be disclosed
until it has been approved by the fed
eral government. Conway had been
educating Negro students from five
nearby districts for $175 a year tuition
but announced previously that it
would raise the tuition to $400 a year
beginning next fall and wanted to know
by March 1 whether any of the five
would continue sending Negro students
to Conway. None met the deadline.
Those five are:
Clinton in Van Buren County, May
flower, Greenbrier and Guy-Perkins in
Faulkner County and East End in Per
ry County. (Clinton and Mayflower’s
plans were in SSN, March, 1965.) All
five are small rural districts with fewer
than 20 Negroes each.
Pocahontas announced March 11 that
it would desegregate. Bill Wofford,
member of the school board, said
Pocahontas had only 13 Negro pupils,
five of whom are sent to high school
in Newport and the other eight attend
a Negro elementary school in Pocahon
tas. The five will be transferred to the
white high school. Wofford said the
Negro parents had asked that the
elementary children be kept segre
gated but that he did not know
whether the board would agree. The
Pocahontas enrollment is about 1,400.
Benton had signed a statement of
compliance with the Civil Rights Act
but was told March 11 that this was
not sufficient. The board agreed to
draw up a desegregation plan. Benton
has an enrollment of about 3,500 with
about 100 Negroes.
Announced at Meeting
Monticello announced its plans
March 16 at a meeting of about 400
white school patrons. Dr. J. B. Holder,
board president, said a desegregation
plan had not been drawn up, but Supt.
Arkansas Highlights
Nearly 200 of the 412 Arkansas
school districts have signed to comply
with the 1964 Civil Rights Act. State
education commissioner A. W. Ford
said he expected that all but a few
would comply this year.
Twelve more biracial districts let
it be known during March that they
would desegregate in compliance
with the Civil Rights Act.
The State Board of Education’s as
surance of compliance was officially
approved in Washington.
A federal judge ordered the
Hulbert-West Memphis School Dis
trict to file a desegregation plan by
April 20.
Negro plaintiffs in the Fort Smith
desegregation case appealed to the
federal appeals court seeking im
mediate admission to high-school
grades.
In the El Dorado desegregation
lawsuit, Negro plaintiffs filed objec
tions to the two-grade-a-year plan
offered under court order.
Dr. Jerry D. Jewell of Little Rock,
a dentist, 1965 Arkansas president of
the NAACP, said he would concen
trate on desegregation of education
this year.
Clyde Ross and W. K. Ball, the board’s
attorney, outlined some possibilities.
Ball said that if no Negro student ap
plied for admission to a white school,
then the district could both maintain
segregation and comply with the act.
He also said that no white child
would be required to attend a Negro
school. The Pine Bluff Commercial
commented that this was “a rather
conservative interpretation of the Civil
Rights Law” and seemed to conflict
with the advice being given Monticello
and other Southeast Arkansas districts
by George W. Foster Jr., consultant to
the U.S. Office of Education. Monti
cello has an enrollment of about 1,700
with about 200 Negroes.
Monticello was one of the Southeast
Arkansas districts that had been meet
ing as a group and planning to make
their desegregation announcements at
the same time. That apparently “is a
thing of the past,” Ross said. The
districts have diverse problems and the
simultaneous announcement turned
out not to be feasible, he said, but the
superintendents will continue to meet
and advise each other.
Three Grades
Jonesboro, the state’s seventh largest
city at 21,418 (1960) announced March
20 that it would comply with a de
segregation plan to begin with the first,
second and ninth grades next Septem
ber. The enrollment is about 4,500
with 475 Negro students. All 12
grades would be desegregated by
1968-69 under the plan. All Negro
students now attend the Booker T.
Washington School, which President
Richard Cole of the school board said
would become a “free choice” school.
In September, Negro students in the
first, second and ninth grades will have
their choice of attending Washington
School or a previously white school.
Star City announced it would comply
at a meeting of about 300 school
patrons March 1. School board presi
dent Dayton Fish said no desegregation
plan had been drawn up yet. Star
City has about 1,500 students including
about 500 Negroes.
Dumas announced March 9 at a
meeting of teachers. President Thomas
F. Shea of the school board said no
desegregation plan had been drawn up
yet. During the month Shea and other
board members went before several
civic clubs and school meetings to ex
plain the situation. Dumas has an en
rollment of about 2,000, about half of
them Negroes.
★ ★ ★
Regional meetings of the Arkansas
School Boards Association were held
during March on “State and Federal
Legislation.” At every one the message
on federal legislation was that the Civil
Rights Act would have to be obeyed
if a district expected to continue re
ceiving federal aid.
At Marked Tree March 17, Paul R.
Fair of Little Rock, deputy superin
tendent of schools, told board members
that “the Civil Rights Act permeates
all federal legislation.”
At Pine Bluff March 1, Herschel
Moore, school plant services director
of the state education department, said
the act “is the law of the land and it
will be enforced. I have never been
more convinced of anything than I am
of that.”
About 30 board members and ad
ministrators from Jefferson County
were present and there was consider
able grumbling after Moore’s speech.
One board member wanted to know
how to desegregate a school with 400
Negroes and 100 white students with
out downgrading the level of education.
Another wanted to know if a district
would be required to desegregate “if
the Negroes were satisfied with their
setup and we’re satisfied with ours.”
At Nashville March 17, Dr. Haskin
Pounds of the University of Arkansas,
executive secretary of the association,
took up the subject. He mentioned that
the government could take legal action
to force desegregation on those dis
tricts that fail to act voluntarily. He
said paying tuition to send Negro stu
dents to another district for their
education is not acceptable.
About 135 Negro teachers met March
18 at Pine Bluff with Mrs. Ruby Mar
tin of Washington, staff attorney for
the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights.
They were worried about their jobs
if desegregation became a fact. Mrs.
Martin said the Civil Rights Act re
quires the assignment of teachers on
a nonracial basis, but that nothing in
the act could guarantee any particular
person employment.
Legal Action
West Memphis
Action Ordered
After a one-day hearing March 8
in which the defense offered no testi
mony, the Hulbert-West Memphis
School District was ordered by Federal
District Judge Gordon E. Young to
submit a desegregation plan to him
by April 20. This was in the lawsuit
(Yarbrough v. Weaver, SSN, February)
filed on Jan. 28 in the Jonesboro
division of Federal District Court for
the Eastern District of Arkansas by 12
Community Action
Action Urged on Special Schools
The Arkansas Council on Human
Relations in a resolution adopted
March 6 called on the state to desegre
gate its schools for the blind and deaf.
Gov. Orval E. Faubus had announced
on Feb. 8, that the board which op
erates the schools would comply with
the 1964 Civil Rights Act and that this
would not change the operations of
the schools. The state has a school for
the white blind, one for the white deaf
and a third for both the blind and deaf
Negroes.
★ ★ ★
The North Little Rock Council on
Human Relations sent letters March 8
to the business and civic leaders of the
city asking for support in its campaign
to get the North Little Rock School
Board to speed up its desegregation
plan.
The board voluntarily desegregated
the first and second grades last Sep
tember, but Negro leaders have been
demanding action for years at the
junior and senior high-school level.
The demand now is for prompt de
segregation of all 12 grades.
Before the Rotary Club March 12,
Mayor William F. Laman named the
school situation including desegregation
as one of the major problems facing
the city. He is a former school board
member. In Arkansas, school districts
are separate governmental units and
have no connection with city govern
ments.
“Like it or not, integration is here
and the members of the school board
are waiting to hear from you as to
what you want done,” the mayor told
the Rotarians.
★ ★ ★
Dr. Jerry D. Jewell of Little Rock
a dentist, is the president this year of
the Arkansas Conference of Branches
of the NAACP, succeeding George W
Howard Jr. of Pine Bluff, a lawyer.
Dr. Jewell has been practicing at
North Little Rock since his graduation
six years ago from the Meharry School
of Dentistry at
Nashville, Tenn.
He has taken an
active part in
NAACP affairs
and Negro civil
rights efforts ever
since he came to
Little Rock.
He said the
NAACP would
emphasize deseg
regation of edu
cation this year
and would promote the principle of
making the neighborhood school the
one every pupil should attend regard
less of race.
“We feel schools all over the state
should be open to all children in the
community. We feel the white child
suffers when he is not allowed to com
pete with the Negro child,” he said.
West Memphis Negro children .
their parents.
B. J. Yarbrough, father of two
the plaintiffs and president of
Crittenden County Branch of *T
NAACP, was the only witness, tu
told of attempts by him and others -
get their children admitted to the jj
white schools, beginning with a l ette ".
he wrote to the school board in j jr.-
asking about the board’s policy on d t
segregation.
Yarbrough contended that this lettf.
resulted in his losing his job as •-
automobile mechanic. “My bossr^-
finally said to me after the secon-
meeting with him that he would have
to let me go—that they were going ..
boycott his business,” he testified.
Other letters and petitions were ser
to the school board in 1963 and 19^
and then some Negro students tried tc 1
register last September at the all-white !
junior and senior high schools. Befor
school started, Yarbrough said, thev
filled out transfer forms but received
no reply to them so they went to the
white schools on the first day of
school. There they were given another
set of transfer forms to fill out and on
Sept. 24 all of them received notice
from the school board that their trans
fers had been declined, he testified.
‘Real Meaning’
Under cross-examination by Her- I
schel H. Friday Jr. of Little Rock,
attorney for the school board, Yar
brough admitted that he lived closer
to the Negro schools than to the white
schools, but “We are asking that all
schools in this district be integrated-
that is the real meaning—to get all
schools in the district integrated."
Friday asked, “Do you feel colored
parents should have the right to send
their children to predominantly colored
schools?” Yarbrough said yes.
George Howard Jr. of Pine Bluff.
Negro attorney for the plaintiffs, re
phrased the question and Yarbrough (
said, “If it is left up to the Negro par- !
ents alone, they might send their
children to colored schools—when
they really wanted them to attend in- ,
tegrated schools—out of fear.”
Howard asked, “When you said you
wanted total integration, did you
mean staffs, teachers and personnel?
Yarbrough said, “Yes, yes, from top to
bottom.”
Judge’s Remarks
Before giving his ruling, Ju<te c
Young made some preliminary re -
marks. “This is the first school integra
tion suit filed in
Eastern Arkansas
—but it probably
will not be the
last,” he said.
[This overlooks
the one at Dollar
way at Pine
Bluff.] He then
reviewed his own
Arkansas back
ground as a law
yer at Malvern
and Pine Bluff , s
and his 13 years on the Pi ne
School Board. a
Then, “You gentlemen know as "
as I do what the law is in these c _
. . . Enforced segregation is not c0
tutional and the plaintiffs here
entitled to relief.” .. j. e
He said he took an oath as 3
to uphold the Constitution and
tend to comply.” The board cneni ^
took substantially the same ° a ' ^ e
reminded them. “It is sometimes
easy way to say let the federal J ^
do it, but you have duties as we
I . . . . You with your collect 1 ''* (0
dom and knowledge will he a ^
render a better decision on y° ur „ ^
institution than a federal judge>
young
said.
23
At a PTA meeting March -- Q -
West Memphis High School w '^
M. Shultz discussed the J aWS ^ s t r ict
other problems facing the
“The type of plan that will he pr
ed has not yet been deterrrun ■ . ^
are many- factors that must be " ^
and studied before such a p 311
presented,” he said. . watch 1 ^
Shultz said the board is pot*^
to see what happens to the j in
desegregation plan, filed Ma
federal court at El Dorado.
Vo Guarantee ^
led “If we had h^”
grated school sys ^ pO
ot have Wfifjgainst *
Id have been filed jjr
e Rock system h 33 ^ >
for a number of i e ^ e sU i-
continually haVin |^."
ther filed a S a j nst * r g of **
• i directors
1