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PAGE 16—MAY, 1965—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS ALABAMA State Superintendent Confers with Keppel Alabama Highlights MONTGOMERY labama Supt. of Education Austin R. Meadows said after a conference with the U.S. Com missioner of Education April 21 that he had a fuller understanding of what is expected of schools in compliance requirements under the Civil Rights Act. Meadows and two aides talked with Commissioner Francis Keppel in an effort to reach some understanding on the compliance issue which would en able the state systems to receive more than $52 million in annual federal aid. On April 2 (SSN, April), Keppel had written to Meadows expressing “grave concern as to whether this office can continue legally to provide funds to your department under the several pro grams which we administer.” In that strongly worded letter, Kep pel told Meadows that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars federal aid to segregated state and local ac tivities, “makes it clear that the opera tion of segregated schools—a dual school system for white and Negro pupils — constitutes discrimination which is prohibited by law.” Although 111 of Alabama’s 118 school districts have signed pledges of compliance or otherwise responded, from the persistence of segregation in most of them, Keppel said, “we can only conclude that they did not realize they were committing themselves to full and immediate compliance or they did not understand what full compli ance means.” Not Sufficient The signing of the assurance form is not sufficient in itself, Keppel said. After the April 21 conference with Keppel, Meadows said: “We talked over the controversial issues and we are going to continue to discuss and explore possible solu tions to the problem to keep the door open for the school children of Ala bama to benefit from federal funds.” Keppel had warned that desegrega tion plans must be submitted by early May “at the latest” for next fall. One point in the Meadows-Keppel discussion was whether the State De partment of Education could obtain and distribute federal aid when the State Board of Education had refused to sign the compliance form. Meadows personally signed the form after the board’s refusal (SSN, March and April). In mid-April, local and city school superintendents were warned, in an explanation prepared by a consultant to the U.S. Office of Education, to sub mit plans to desegregate beginning at both the top and bottom grades this faU. Meadows mailed the advisory, pre pared by G. W. Foster Jr., a law pro fessor in a consultant capacity with the U.S. Office of Education, with a brief explanatory note pointing out that Foster himself could not give as surances his “GuideHnes for Southern School Desegregation” would suffice in complying with the Civil Rights Act. Meadows advised local school of ficials that the information was “for your use or non-use as you see fit.” Foster pointed out that the U.S. Of fice of Education had not adopted court rulings as the standard for voluntary desegregation plans under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. But, he added, “It would appear unlikely the com missioner of education will accept less than required by judicial standards in passing on voluntary plans.” Independent Judgment The guidelines warned, that the ed ucation commissioner is free to reach an independent judgment on compli ance by all other school systems. (SSN, April.) “He is certainly not bound to follow lower court rulings which call for the most minimal amounts of desegrega tion,” Foster said. “It can be said with certainty that no plan will be approved which works exclusively from the top down. It will be essential for approval that there be in all instances desegrega tion which begins without restriction on the lowest grade levels in the school systems.” Beyond that, Foster said, any district which has a desegregation program that works from the first grade up “must either apply the policy to pre-school clinics and kindergartens or state that classes at these levels are not held.” Clearly, he said, the surest course “is to make the desegregation program available generally to all grades for the faU of 1965.” If less than this is done, Foster’s ad vice continued, “desegregation should Alabama Supt. of Education Aus tin R. Meadows reported, after a conference with the U.S. Commis sioner of Education, that he had acquired a better understanding of compliance requirements under the Civil Rights Act. Muscle Shoals City, Florence, Tuscumbia and Russellville an nounced plans to desegregate their city school systems completely by next fall. Total desegregation was also expected in the three county systems of Colbert, Franklin and Lauderdale by next fall. The Alabama Chamber of Com merce and 21 other business and professional groups advertised in all state papers, and in two na tional publications, enunciating a belief in obeying federal laws. Other state leaders also spoke out against “futile defiance.” be installed from the bottom of the system upward and from the top down.” Plans should emphasize, he added, provisions of notice of administrative details on initial assignment, reassign ment and lateral transfer. In a prepared statement April 7, Meadows insisted that Alabama had complied with the Civil Rights Act, but that the U.S. Office of Education had changed its original instructions to the state on how to qualify for continued federal aid. Keppel’s letter to him, he said, “specifically reverses his original in structions and Title VI itself in insist ing on a ‘desegregation plan’ from each and every Alabama school system be- What They Say Incidents, violence and state policy, as reflected in recent voter protests in Alabama, brought comments from state business, professional and political leaders which, while not directly in volving school desegregation, had broad application. The most important of these was an advertisement printed in every daily newspaper in the state, in the Wall Street Journal and in U.S. News and World Report, entitled “What We Be lieve And Where We Stand.” Signed by the Alabama State Cham ber of Commerce, the Alabama Bankers Association, Associated Industries of Alabama, Alabama Textile Manufac turers Association and a number of local Chambers of Commerce—22 sign ers in all—the ad called for law and order. Some excerpts: “We believe in the full protection and opportunity under the law of all our citizens, both Negro and White. . . We believe in the basic American heritage of voting and in the right of every eligible citizen to register and to cast his ballot. . . We believe in obedience to the law, even though some may question the wisdom of particu lar laws. . . We believe that communi cation between different elements of our society must be maintained. We urge leaders of both races to improve avenues of communication and under standing. While this has been done successfully in many local communi ties, we suggest that consideration be given to the establishment of positive new vehicles for communications be tween the races through all the state. . . We believe that an ever in creasing level of education is an im portant objective. . .” The ad also declared belief “in the basic human dignity of all people of all races.” It was the first such declaration by such a united group of business and professional leaders in the state. ★ ★ ★ Winton M. Blount, immediate past president of the Alabama State Cham ber of Commerce, said in a speech at Birmingham April 21 that “for too long, too many of us have permitted our region’s worst enemies to speak for Alabama.” He said the appearance of the ad, (above) “represents the most vital and significant statement which has come forth to date in response to the critical conditions with which Alabama has been faced.” He described Alabama as one of the fore such school system can receive federal funds.” Meadows said Title VI “nowhere uses the words ‘desegregation’ or ‘integra tion’ or any other synonym of similar meaning.” Alabama compliance agreements were signed, Meadows added, “in full faith and intent to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.” Target Date No school systems were listed as not being in compliance in the March 4 plan, he continued, because it was understood that the March 4 date was a target date and not a final deadline date. Only three county boards of educa tion—those of Bibb, Conecuh and Marengo counties—and only four city school systems—Bessemer (which filed suit March 11 challenging the HEW directive — SSN, April), Demopolis, Mountain Brook and Tarrant City— declined or failed to submit the agree ments, court order or a plan. “The systems that do not submit compliance agreements prior to July 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year, will,” Meadows said, “be properly listed with the U.S. Commissioner of Educa tion as a part of the state compliance agreement and such systems will be required to submit desegregation plans before ever receiving any federal funds or submit a federal court order on de segregation.” ★ ★ ★ School Boards Planning Total Desegregation The city boards of education of Muscle Shoals, Florence, Tuscumbia and Russellville revealed plans in late April for total desegregation of their schools next fall. The Sheffield board of education also was prepared to do the same, along ‘I Think I May Be Beginning To See It. . “last bastions of resistance to the changes that have swept the country in the last several years.” Without mentioning Gov. George Wallace by name, he criticized political symbols of defiance. He said Alabama must understand its problems and deal with them effectively or suffer the consequences. ★ ★ ★ Attorney General Flowers Explains His Position State Attorney General Richmond Flowers, long at odds with Gov. George Wallace’s campaign of all-out resistance in racial matters (SSN, April), ex plained his position in a Tuscaloosa speech April 22: “Just because I choose to speak factually and with reason and mod eration, and strongly disagree with the methods used by the governor of Alabama in his resistance to school integration, does not mean I am not a strong segregationist—I am. “The time has come, however, for someone to face all facts realistically and speak frankly and practically.” Flowers again attacked the Gov ernor’s “stand in the schoolhouse door” at the University of Alabama two years ago as “sheer demagoguery.” He continued: “We must face the fact that Alabama leadership and Alabama’s defiant at- ALABAMA O HIGHWAY DEPT. It-J eMetMApvr St. Louis Post-Dispatch with the Colbert, Franklin and Lauder dale county boards. All of the systems were reported to have embraced plans to desegregate on the basis of zoning or freedom-of- choice or both. City schools in Florence and Sheffield had token desegregation, it was re vealed, at the beginning of the last school term. Supt. Rufus R. Hibbett of the Flor ence board of education said: “The issue posed for Southern schools, including the Florence city system, by Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, is not whether they will desegregate. It is whether they will de segregate with or without continuing federal assistance.” The Tuscumbia announcement was made by Supt. R. E. Moore. Supt. James F. Moore Jr., of Muscle Shoals announced that the board there had agreed to comply with the law, be coming the first Colbert County school titude is painting us into a comer. If you will just look about you and ex amine the leadership ... of every state in the nation except our own, you must decide that everyone else in the coun try is wrong and we are right, and all you have to do is hate long enough and hate hard enough and all this will disappear and we will return to the days of complete segregation that our Southland once knew. . . “If we are going to survive as any thing but bitter, belligerent individuals, always looking back and never for ward, we must practice understanding, tolerance, moderation, and, above all, self-control.” In a statement earlier in the month, Flowers said Alabama “apparently stands alone in hopeless defiance,” while leaders in Mississippi and Lou isiana are “sparing their state what Alabama is going through. They are speaking out for moderation. They are profiting from Alabama’s mistakes where Alabama once could have prof ited from theirs . . . Segregation as we know it is gone. . .” ★ ★ ★ The Alabama Council on Human Re lations, in a release April 21, called for “one great month of progress” in racial relations in Alabama, to obtain equal opportunities for all. The proposal was prefaced with the observation that the “great majority of white citizens of Alabama are now ready to accept and facilitate change but are afraid to advocate it because the climate of opinion is determined by a vociferous minority which makes bold a lunatic and criminal fringe who commit acts of violence and intimida tion.” The 850-member council urged lead ership by office holders, law enforce ment agencies, churches, business, in dustry, labor groups and others. ★ ★ ★ Alabama Republican leader John Grenier, responding to U.S. Commis sioner of Education Francis Keppel’s compliance directives to Alabama (see Schoolmen), said all Alabamians should take a stand against accepting federal aid to education. “We should recognize (from Keppel’s letter to School Supt. Meadows) that federal controls will not stop with in tegration of schools, but will descend to individual members of local school boards to matters of textbook content, teacher qualification, school construc tion and many other matters.” Business Leaders Urge Law and Order on Funds system to announce plans for total desegregation. ★ ★ ★ Gov. George C. Wallace met with Negro educators April 16 to discuss a “war on dropouts.” The governor said he was appreciative of the interest of the Negro educators in seeing their institutions grow and flourish. Dr. R. D. Morrison, president of Ala bama A&M, in Huntsville, said he was “most pleased” at the governor’s inter est not only in the dropout problem but in the financial needs of Negro education generally in Alabama. School desegregation, according to reports, was not discussed. Representa tives included presidents of the major Negro state colleges, trade school direc tors and others. On the same day of the meeting, 13 civil rights demonstrators picketed in front of the offices of the State Depart ment of Education, protesting the fact that there are no Negroes on the State Board of Education and claiming that Negroes have no voice in educational policy. Legal Action Negroes Appeal Court’s Denial Negroes seeking total desegregation of Mobile public schools appealed, in April, U.S. District Judge Daniel H. Thomas’s denial of their request for “further relief’ and of their claim of a right to desegregated education. Judge Thomas refused March 31 to expand further the desegregation of Mobile schools he has ordered for the fall term (SSN, April). Negroes seek more rapid desegregation and assign ment to schools on the basis of near ness only. They also seek to relieve parents of the direct and personal re sponsibilities of requesting transfers from one school to another, a procedure approved by Judge Thomas. ★ ★ ★ Desegregation of Bullock County’s schools was expanded by two grades in the board’s plan for further desegrega tion in September. The county deseg regated grades nine, 10 and 12 in 1964 and had proposed to add only the 11th grade this fall. The Justice Department objected and the board offered to add grades seven and eight in September. A scheduled court hearing on the Justice Depart ment’s objections April 12 was can celled. However, objections remained on the exclusion of the first grade and the pace of desegregation. ★ ★ ★ A hearing on objections to the pace of desegregation in Montgomery schools, which began desegregation last fall, was continued from April 28 to May 5. ★ ★ ★ In Mobile, the Justice Department moved April 15 for dismissal of a 1964 suit brought by the government to force “instant” desegregation of Mobile schools because of the presence ° large numbers of federally connected children. Similar suits were filed against Birm ingham and Huntsville boards an other school systems in the South, the motion for dismissal, U.S. Attorney Vernol R. Jansen Jr. noted that the Supreme Court last December rul adversely on the government’s eflor to force desegregation as an exercise o inherent military powers. ‘Let’s Just Say You and I Are Segregated’ Chicago 1 l d< is S( 5] 4 19 i0 b it t 5( 51 I I