Newspaper Page Text
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
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State*
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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)