About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1965)
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE, 1965—PAGE 3 Georgia (Continued from Page 2) will be forced to transfer from school of his choice. Board of education in structed bus drivers, effective immedi ately, to seat boys on left side and girls on right side of school buses. Waycross—Will assign and transfer students next fall but no details avail able on grades affected. Tift County—Grades one, seven, nine and 12 will be desegregated when schools open for 1965-66 term. Rabun County—Eleven Negroes, eight in high schools and three in ele mentary schools, will attend previous ly all-white schools in September. Thomasville—Complete desegregation this fall. Dalton—Nine Negroes applied for ad mission to first grade and two for transfer to high school in previous all- white schools in the fall. Thomas County—All grades will be open to Negroes in September. Cedartown—Will drop all racial bar riers and let pupils attend schools of choice effective for the 1965-66 term. In The Colleges Educator Regains Honorary Title In 1954, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia stripped Dr. Guy H. Wells of his honorary title of president of the Women’s College of Georgia at Milledgeville. The action was taken because Wells who became sec retary of the Georgia Council of Interracial Co operation, urged compliance with the U. S. Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation in the public schools. Now Dr. Wells’ title has been re stored. He was notified by Dr. S. Walter Martin, acting chancellor, that the re gents had taken the action. Dr. Martin wrote: “We rejoice with you in this recognition of the fine work you did while you were active in the University System of Georgia.” Political Action WELLS Houston County Plan Approved by Court Houston County’s plan to desegregate i completely its school system by 1968 was approved by U. S. District Judge W. A. Bootle in Macon May 20. A suit was filed against the county board of education April 9 by the parents of 53 Negro pupils. The first, ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th grades will be desegregated this fall Under court order. Bootle said desegregation of faculties and the school bus system, demanded by the plaintiffs, could be decided after the classroom desegregation had prog ressed. What They Say Chairman Predicts Slow Desegregation State Board of Education Chairman Baines S. Peters of Manchester pre dicted that many Negroes are going to re main in their present schools and drat many white pupils will move out w hen their own classes are desegre gated in Georgia. The schools in this st ate, he said, will not be desegregated otl a wide scale for many years. ★ ★ ★ Nep. Quimby Melton Jr. of Griffin ^id in a speech that the greatest need *** the schools is “neither integration tl0r segregation, but common sense.” yi persons can help to ease tensions by the exercise of common courtesy,” 16 said. h. ★ ★ ★ °rmer Gov. Ernest Vandiver, con- ere d the leading candidate to suc- Gov. Carl Sanders, said “the ^bitenance of responsibility in a j^Hod of terrible transition” will be 6 major problem the next chief exi CUtiv e 0 f Georgia will face. WASHINGTON REPORT Vice President Says Mandate Inescapable (Continued from Page 1) governing body of the public colleges. The Alabama board’s position also could result in a withdrawal of sub stantial federal aid from local districts in the state, including 15 which have filed acceptable compliance data, since most federal school funds are disbursed through the state agency. Total federal assistance to Alabama elementary and secondary schools dis tributed through the state agency would amount to about $44 million in the new fiscal year, including more than $35 million under the school aid law recently enacted by Congress. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, who is in charge of co-ordinating the ad-v'Jrvot’-aUon’s civil rights activities, said in a New York speech May 20 that school dis tricts failing to comply with Title VI face not only a loss of federal funds but legal action to bring about desegrega tion. “In reality the choice is sim ply this: to continue receiving federal aid and to desegregate anyway,” Humphrey said. “A school district cannot escape the constitutional mandate to desegregate merely by rejecting all federal financial assistance. Those districts which do not meet the constitutional requirements will be subject to desegregation suits brought by the Department of Justice.” Eight Southern Governors Seek Easing of Criteria Eight Southern governors met with members of their states’ congressional delegations in Washington May 18 in an effort to bring about relaxation of Title VI compliance criteria. In a two-hour closed meeting, the governors charged that the Office of Education had gone beyond the Civil Rights Act in drafting desegregation requirements. Several members of Congress who left the meeting while it was in progress complained that the governors’ effort was “a waste of time.” But Gov. Carl ‘You Know, Jim, I Have The Strange Feeling He’s Shooting At Us’ Stockett, Baltimore Afro-American E. Sanders of Georgia, who presided over the conference, told reporters afterwards that agreement had been reached that each governor would work with his congressional delegation in an effort to bring about modifications in the requirements. Sanders said it would be up to local communities to decide “whether they want federal aid or not.” But, he added, “we certainly don’t want to have local people push the panic button.” ‘Defiance of Law’ Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama said the federal government was “in defiance of the law” in calling for de segregation under the Civil Rights Act, and Gov. Albertis S. Harrison of Vir ginia said federal regulations under Title VI were illegal and unworkable. Other governors attending the con ference were John J. McKeithen of Louisiana, Paul B. Johnson of Mis sissippi, Orval Faubus of Arkansas, Hayden Bums of Florida and Robert McNair of South Carolina. Gov. Dan K. Moore of North Carolina sent a repre sentative. Several of the governors hinted that senior Southern members of Congress could bring pressure to bear on the executive branch by threatening ap propriations cuts. But in Atlanta, where he was attending a conference on Title VI, Commissioner Keppel commented: “We haven’t any intention of changing policy.” Keppel added that the Office of Education would be “sensible” about application of Title VI. While the governors were conferring in Washington, civil rights leaders at a meeting on Title VI expressed dis satisfaction with the pace of school de segregation. William L. Taylor, staff director for the U.S. Civil Rights Com mission, said “virtually a whole genera tion” has gone through Southern schools since the Supreme Court’s school desegregation decision of 1954. “In the Deep South,” Taylor said, “97 per cent of the Negroes have gone through segregated schools. It is really hard to say that it has moved with all deliberate speed.” Open Letter In an “open letter” to President John son May 16, 300 Southerners—mostly Georgia educators and churchmen— said they were in “strong disagreement with the position being taken by South ern governors.” They added: “The position taken by the Office of Education—your position, Mr. Presi dent—meets with the approval of mil lions of Southerners. In 1955, the Supreme Court adopted the rule of ‘all deliberate speed’ in school desegre gation matters. For a tragic decade much of the South has involved itself in little deliberation, less speed. De segregation of public schools has been token.” Signers of the letter included Mrs. Sarah Mitchell, a member of the At- Baldy, Atlanta Constitution lanta Board of Education, Roman Catholic Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan of the Atlanta archdiocese, the Rev. John B. Morris of the Episcopal So cieties for Cultural and Racial Unity; Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild and Mrs John T. Patton, secretary of the United Churchwomen of Georgia. The Southern governors’ position was also attacked May 22 by four Re publican Senators and 15 Republican members of the House. The Senators— Clifford Case (N.J.), Jacob K. Javits (N.Y.), Hugh B. Scott (Pa.) and Hiram L. Fong (Hawaii)—said the governors’ suggestion of fiscal pressure on federal agencies was “pure and simple black mail.” ‘Delude Themselves’ “The governors delude themselves if they think such tactics can succeed,” the senators added. The House members declared: “The Southern governors oppose the principle ‘Don’t Worry—I’ll Help You Handle This’ Brooks, Birmingham News HUMPHREY Methods of Compliance HEW-441 Voluntary Plans Court Orders •d -d £ TJ | TS ■S s O 03 •d o ■d l ■d ■d o I ft 0 1 ft 6 0 5 o o V — s ft a> w State* x < X < Z as -M < s z Alabama (118) 55 0 53 13 33 7 0 4 2 Arkansas (411) 188 188 134 16 51 38 29 3 0 Florida (67) 2 2 52 2 5 45 0 13 13 Georgia (195) 77 3 110 3 48 59 0 6 5 Louisiana (67) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 Mississippi (163) 1 0 63 0 1 62 0 2 0 North Carolina (170) 6 1 153 8 71 74 0 0 0 South Carolina (1111 1 0 90 2 2 86 0 5 5 Tennessee (152) 133 11 11 1 4 6 0 8 8 Texas (1,420) 820 625 384 23 146 42 173 16 13 Virginia (137) 50 6 70 4 26 10 30 15 2 SOUTH (3,011) 1,333 836 1,120 72 387 429 232 77 49 Delaware (78) 54 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kentucky (205) 135 133 58 23 7 26 2 3 2 Maryland (24) 10 7 14 3 11 0 0 0 0 Missouri (678) 663 663 15 7 4 2 2 0 0 Oklahoma (1,092) 1,028 928 25 2 0 0 23 2 0 West Virginia (55) 50 48 3 0 1 2 0 2 0 BORDER (2,132) 1,940 1,795 115 35 23 30 27 7 2 REGION (5,143) 3,273 2,631 1,235 107 410 459 259 84 51 Total number of districts in parenthesis of the boycott as an instrument of the civil rights movement but have called upon Southern members of Congress to commit blackmail by withholding funds from HEW in matters having no relevance to civil rights. The governors would impose a boycott in reverse.” The Republican congressmen added that “there is evidence enough that the U.S. Office of Education is requiring anything but immediate compliance with the school desegregation provis ions of Title VI. But even if the depart ment were fully enforcing this anti segregation title, the path chosen by the governors would create chaos, confusion and discrimination of the worst kind.” NAACP Official Says Regulations Are ‘Weak’ The Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s regulations for enforce ment of Title VI were described as “weak” by an NAACP official on May 16. Jack Greenberg, director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., said Southern school systems have been led to be lieve that “they can drag their feet and nobody will make them desegregate.” Greenberg Critical Greenberg was particularly critical of the Office of Education for accepting freedom-of-choice desegregation plans as means of complying with Title VI. “A Negro family in rural Mississippi or Alabama will have no freedom of choice,” he said. “The South knows just what intimidation and habit will do. Freedom of choice means the status quo.” Greenberg said the Legal Defense Fund plans to de- v e 1 o p statewide school desegrega tion suits, instead of proceeding on a county-by county basis as in the past. He also announced ap pointment of a committee of educators to survey Southern school systems to determine whether they are complying with Title VI. The committee, headed by President John H. Fischer of Co lumbia University Teachers College, will appoint a panel of 100 school spe cialists who will serve as expert wit nesses when needed in court. Desegregation of Southern schools in compliance with Title VI is bringing a trend toward “wholesale dismissal” of Negro teachers as Negro pupils are as signed to formerly white schools, Greenberg charged in New York May 24. He said at least 500 of North Caro lina’s 12,500 Negro teachers will lose their jobs this year. Other reports of dismissals of Negro teachers have been received from Texas, Virginia, Georgia and Florida, Greenberg said. Telegram to Keppel In a telegram to Commissioner Kep pel, the NAACP declared: “The United States Constitution and Title VI require integration of teaching staffs as well as of pupils. Staff integration means hiring as well as dismissal without regard to race.” In Washington, a spokesman for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare said the Civil Rights Act pro vides no legal basis for preventing the dismissal of Negro teachers. “Federal funds are not used to em ploy teachers,” the spokesman said. “Under the law as written, there is nothing that we can do about it. We know that it is bad.” James M. Quigley, assistant secre tary of Health, Education and Welfare, said on May 18: “We’re trying to negotiate with school people to absorb Negro teachers when desegregating. But there is nothing in the Civil Rights Act that requires placing of Negro teachers. . . . There are going to be some Negro teachers who will lose their jobs. We are trying to get school people to hire teachers according to qualifications, but we have no law to back us up.” In a statement issued May 26, the National Education Association said it “deplores the dismissal of Negro teach ers as the result of racial discrimina tion in the process of transferring Ne gro students to formerly all-white schools.” The NEA said it would help find new teaching positions for Negro teachers who lose their jobs. GREENBERG De Facto Segregation Now Issue in South D e facto segregation in the schools continues as a major legal issue in the Northern and Western states and now has crossed the Mason-Dixon line to appear in court suits in the South. Southern school districts previously have been concerned with dealing with the type of school segregation imposed by state law and by official action, which the U. S. Supreme Court in its 1954 and 1955 decisions, ruled uncon stitutional and in violation of the 14th Amendment. The U. S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in two Virginia cases decided April 7, held that school boards have no constitutional duty to end the type of unofficial, or de facto, school segre gation resulting from residential pat terns. In each of the three instances in which the de facto segregation issue has been appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court within the past year, the court has refused to rule specifically on the question. Last May, the court refused to review a U. S. Seventh Court of Appeals decision in the Gary, Ind., case, which had upheld neighborhood schools even though they might result in de facto segregation. The next similar case before the Su preme Court came from the U. S. Sec ond Circuit Court of Appeals. The high court let stand the appellate court’s de cision that the New York City Board of Education could draw the boun daries of a Brooklyn school district to minimize racial imbalance. In the most recent de facto segrega tion case to be refused a review by the Supreme Court, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals had taken a position simi lar to that given in the Gary case. The court said in its ruling on the Kansas City, Kans., school system: (See DE FACTO, Page 10)
