72 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968

STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES

This round-up of events, developments and trends in civil rights, justice, politics, employment and other aspects of southern change, advancement and setback, comes from the Southern Regional Council staff and professional reporters.

ALABAMA The three-judge federal court which dom of choice and institute a system of supervises Alabama's statewide school de­ zoning, consolidation, or pairing in order segregation suit rejected on October 18 to end the dual school system. pleas from both Gov. Albert Brewer and Meanwhile, Mobile schools-which are the Alabama Education Association, which not covered by the statewide desegrega­ represents most of the state's 21,000 white tion order but are under a separate suit­ teachers, to modify an order of August 28 enrolled 2,800 Negro children in formerly directing 76 school systems to carry out white schools and 253 white children in extensive faculty and pupil desegregation. formerly all-Negro schools. This compares Governor Brewer arg ued that the with 632 Negro children who enrolled in court's order imposed " an impossible formerly all-white schools last year. The task" on local school superintendents and Mobile school system, the state's largest urged local officials not to cooperate with with 75,000 pupils, is operating under a the Justice Department, which he called limited zoning plan to achieve desegre­ "our adversary." gation. The court found, however, that 57 of Also on the education front, Gov. the 76 school districts had already com­ Brewer gave the teachers a four per cent plied with the court's directives or had pay raise as the new school year began. submitted good reasons explaining why A study by Auburn University's sociology they could not comply. department indicated that nearly one-half The remaining 19, the court said, either of the state's 3,230 teacher graduates from " failed to comply or fai led to state any the class of 1968 fai led to enter the teach­ acceptable reasons for noncompliance." i ng profession. Low pay was cited as a These were directed to appear in court p rime reason for the loss. on November 18 to show cause why they Former Gov. George Wallace, the third should not be required to abandon free- party presidential candidate, raised an es- • STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 73

timated $300,000 at a triumphant "home­ party had not complied with the state coming" celebration on Sept. 21 . Some law regardi ng qualification of candidates. .. 200 persons attended a $500-a-plate In a split decision, a three-judge federal luncheon honoring the former governor, court upheld Mrs. Amos' ruling, but the anothe r 1,300 attended a $25-a-plate din­ U. S. Supreme Court reversed the deci­ ner, and the day ended with more than sion and ordered the new party's nomi­ 15,000 Wallace partisa ns paying $10 to nees listed on the ballot. This meant that attend a giant rally at Montgomery's Gar­ two slates of presidential electors pledged rett Coliseum. to the National Democratic nominees After several false starts, Mr. Wallace would appear on the Alabama ballot. named his vice presidential running mate State Sen. Tom Radney of Al exander - retired Air Force Ge n. Curtis E. LeMay. City, who had previously indicated he Earli er, Mr. Wallace had reportedly settled would run for lieutenant governor in on forme r Gov. A. B. (Happy) Chandler 1970, announced he was quitting politics of Kentucky for the spot, but backed out in Alabama. As a delegate to the Demo­ after Mr. Chandler refused to modify his cratic Convention, Mr. Radney supported stand as an advocate of desegregation. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts Later Mr. Chandler charged that south­ for the presidential nomination. As a re­ western oil interests were controlling the sult of this support, he said, his family Wallace campaign and they had dictated received threats of viole nce, and several the decision to drop him. acts of vandalism were committed against Another Wal lace critic, however, his property. charged that the state of Alabama was In Tuskegee, where Negro voters out­ financi ng the Wallace campaign. State number whites by an estimated three-to­ Rep. Bryce Graham of Fl orence filed a one, Mayor Charles M. Keever, a white suit in federal court in Montgomery to moderate who has held office for four prevent Mr. Wallace from usi ng any state years, won reelection by a two-to-one resources in his presidential effort. Mr. margi n over Thomas Reed, a Negro busi­ Graham charged that "enormous amounts nessman. However, Frank Bentley, a Ne­ of state money, personnel, and property gro, defeated an incumbent white City have been and are bein g fl agrantly and Counci lman, John Sides. Negroes now unlawfully sq uandered." U. S. Di strict have control of the five-man city gov­ Judge Frank M. johnson, Jr., dismissed the erning body. suit, saying it was a matter for the state, Negroes were elected to city governing rather than the fede ral courts. bodies for the first time in the cities of Meanwhile, Mr. Wallace disclosed that Homewood, Jacksonville, and Uniontown. his personal net worth is somewhere in Laura Industries Inc., a Selma firm the neighborhood of $77,000, most of which manufactures ladies sportswear, which is in real estate and securities. has signed a contract with striking mem­ All three of the state's Republican Con­ bers of the International Ladies Garment gressmen-john Buchanan, William B. Worke rs Union. The contract will gain Dickinson, and Jack Edwards-announced the 500 e mployees a 30 per cent in crease they would vote for Mr. Wallace if he in wages and benefits over a three-year should carry the ir districts and the presi­ period. Th e strike was o rganized 14 dential e lection were thrown into the months ago with the support of ministers House of Representatives. who were active in the Southern Christian A slate of candidates offered by the Na­ Leadership Confe rence. At a victory cele­ tional Democratic Party of Alabama was bration on October 9, Ramelle MaCoy, deni ed position on the November 5 gen­ a union representative, declared: "This e ral election ballot in a ruling by Secre­ union doesn't have any black members, it tary of State Mabel Amos, who said the doesn't have any white members, and it 74 NEW SOUTH/FALIJ1968

doesn't have any green or purple mem­ Force General Ralph P. Swofford in charge bers. It just has members .... There are of the agency, now known as the Ala­ some people who don't want working bama Programs Development Office. He people to stick together, because when will administer the state's role in both working people stick together, they not Appalachian as well as Office of Economic only have something to say about work­ Opportunity programs. ing conditions, but they also have some­ The OEO announced that it was asking thing to say about the way this town, the Department of justice to investigate this county, and this state are run." "suspected financial irregularities" in the Also in Selma, an integrated local un­ administration of the Southwest Alabama ion of the United Steelworkers of America Farmers Cooperative, an organization of called a strike against Bush Hog Inc., a some 2,000 small farmers which markets firm which manufactures a brush cutting truck crops cooperatively. SWAFCA first machine and which is owned by Earl won approval from the OEO nearly two Goodwin, co-chairman of the finance years ago despite a veto by the late Gov. committee of the Wallace presidential Lurleen B. Wallace. campaign. Despite the impending investigation, In Montgomery, members of the Amal­ the OEO announced it was granting gamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Work­ SWAFCA another $595,751 for continued men of North America struck the Frosty operation. Morn meat packing plant in demand for a In lowndes County, an OEO grant of union contract. Union representatives $1,105,305 put into operation the first , claimed that more than one half the comprehensive medical program in Ala­ plant's 250 workers were on strike, but bama. acknowledged that most of the strikers The Rev. Charles Sullivan, a 27-year-old were Negro while most of those who stay­ Roman Catholic priest in Mobile, said he ed on the job were white. Company was asking a leave of his duties until the guards armed with shotguns stood at the replacement of the Alabama Diocese's plant entrances where the pickets march­ 82-year-old Archbishop Thomas j . Toolen, ed, and Bobby L. Adams, a union repre­ whom Father Sullivan called "incompe­ sentative, said local police failed to re­ tent." Bishop Toolen sai d no leave had spond to a request to provide protection been requested, but rather that Father to the pickets. Sullivan had "abandoned" his priestly In a more unusual strike, 700 inmates duties. of Atmore State Prison staged a sit-down Bishop Toolen also canceled a forum in protest over food, working conditions, in Mobile at which Catholic laymen and and medical aid at the state penal insti­ priests were to discuss Pope Paul VI's tution. Prison Commissioner A. Frank lee encyclical on birth control. said no demands were met, but that he Also in Mobile, the body of E. C. De­ wou ld be "glad to talk with prisoners loach, a 30-year-old Negro employee of about their grievances." Twenty leaders the State Docks, was found hanging by of the strike were transferred to Mont­ the feet in a dese rted school. Police gomery's maximum security Kilby Prison authorities said they did not attribute the for disciplinary action. death to racial tensions. No arrests have Meanwhile, Federal District judge Clar­ been made in the suspected murder. ence Allgood of Birmingham ordered the A new oil pool was discovered in Es­ state to desegregate its prison facilities for cambia County in Southwest Alabama, juvenile delinquents. and the state's geologists believe the pool On the poverty front, Gov. Albert may extend to several other counties. Brewer announced a reorganization of the U. S. District judge Frank M. Johnson, poverty program and placed retired Air Jr., ordered a new election for the Barbour STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 75

County Democratic Executive Committee the United States Supreme Court in its on the ground that Negro voters were dis­ landmark freedom-of-choice decision on criminated against in 1966 primary elec­ May 27 that it had to unify its system this tions. fall. When school opened at Gould, more Joe Jefferson of Triana, a Negro father than 200 white students did not attend. of seven with an income of $3,500 a year, The enrollment was 480 Negroes and 60 became the first Alabamian to receive a whites. The parents of many white stu­ low-cost housing loan for the rural poor dents moved out of town, others sent under a new program of the Farmers' their children to military schools and the Home Administration. rest awaited the opening of a private school. Gould's football squad began training with 41 Negroes and a w hite boy. ARKANSAS The coach was less than despai ring. He Half the state's biracial school districts predicted a much improved season. Gould began classes this fall with unitary sys­ is not considered typical. Those working tems, which was a considerable jump with federal school programs said most from 1967, but the figures were deceiv­ school districts had sufficient commu nity ing. Of the 215 school districts with both leadership to avoid this course. white and Negro students, 106 had abol­ The Arkansas Council on Human Rela­ ished separate schools altogether and 28 tions confi rmed w hat most people sus­ others had closed Negro schools for some pected was happening in the distri cts grade levels. These were for the most co nverting to unitary systems. In a state­ part small rural districts and districts with wide survey, the Council reported that only a small percentage of Negroes. The Negro teachers were not finding places big urban districts like little Rock, North in the totally integrated systems. " If the Little Rock, Pine Blu ff and West Memphis present trend of faculty desegregation and those in East and South Arkansas continues in the state, we are likely to, in with large Negro populations b ega n the next 10 years, find ourselves fighting operating for another year under free­ the same kind of desegregation fight as dom of choice. In the absence of imme­ happened in the North before the 1954 diate statistics on the number of Negroes Supreme Court decision when there were in integrated classes, knowledgeable ve ry few Negroes who taught in the pub­ school men guessed that the figure was lic schools outside of the Negro ghetto," less than 25 per cent of Negro enrollment. the report said. State Education Commissioner A. W. Ford One reaction to the Supreme Court's sa id the state had made considerable freedom-of-choice decision was the for­ progress toward integrated schools but mation of a new group dedicated to pro­ confirmed that there had been back­ tecting the freedom-of-choice arrange­ sliding in a few distri cts. In those, he said, ments. It is called Freedom, Incorporated, "there still hasn't been a breakthrough in and is headed by a Texarkana surgeon, community attitudes." Dr. Mitchell Young. Dr. Young sa id in Federal courts and the United States September that the organization had Department of Health, Education and spread to 17 states. Welfare made it clear that nearly all the For the first time since 1956, the Ark­ 81 districts with dual systems would have ansas Democratic Party rejected segre­ to start unified programs in 1969. Eleven gation politics in choosing its nominee Arka nsas districts operate under court or­ for governor. Veteran State Rep resenta­ ders and five have been told already that tive Marion H. Crank, a lackluster poli­ they must have unified districts in 1969. tician, nevertheless easily defeated Mrs. The most unsettling case is that of Gould Virginia johnson, wife of jim johnson, in Southeast Arkansas, which was told by the state's staunchest segregationist and 76 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968 chief Wallace supporter, for the nomina­ dent Hubert Humphrey's picture was tion. He received 64 per ce nt of the vote taken from the dais before the state con­ in the runoff. Mrs. Johnson had barely vention began and propped against a defeated liberal Ted Boswell, a political musty wall backstage. Most observers • unknown, for the runoff spot with Crank, thought Rockefeller, who kept the sup­ and Bruce Bennett, a former attorney gen­ port of most Negroes and liberal groups, eral who authored numerous segregation started out after the primaries on equal bills in the late 1950's, finished a weak terms with Crank. For the first time in fourth. Crank's credentials as a social re­ many years, Republicans lined up against former excited no one, most people re­ Democrats for every statewide office. calling his service in the legislature for In the aftermath of Little Rock's Au gust former Governor Orval E. Faubus. He riots, which came in the wake of bru­ sought out Negro leaders, however, and tality incidents at the Pulaski County admitted in a television interview that he Penal Farm, the Pulaski County Grand had voted for the massive segregation Jury launched an investigation of the packages pushed through the legislature farm. As the inquiry started, 13 Negroes under Faubus for political expediency. His filed suit in federal court challenging the rural Southwest Arkansas constituency make-up of the grand jury. It was made would have defeated him if he had voted up of elderly white businessmen and a any other way, he explained. Even Mrs. single Negro. The court ruled that the Johnson tried to break out of her hus­ grand jury would have to represent a band's mold in the runoff. Johnson and cross-section of the social and economic two minor candidates had been defeated groups of the county. The grand jury by Senator J. William Fulbright in the dropped its investigation and the Pulaski preferential primary and Johnson, who County Circuit Court arranged for a white had campaigned with his wife, dropped trusty accused in the slaying of a Negro • out of sight for her runoff race. She said inmate to plead guilty quietly to a re­ his only role in her administration would duced charge of involuntary manslaugh­ be that of a constitutional adviser. She ter. A new grand jury was selected and eschewed his practice of refusing to shake it included five Negroes. hands with Negroes, posed with Negroes Most importantly, the racial clashes for photographers and even placed one of produced some promises from the city her few campaign advertisements in a administration. Negro groups presented Negro newspaper. grievances to the city, many of them deal­ After his victory, Crank tried with a ing with the police department. The city modicum of success to persuade dissi­ manager board rejected many of the de­ dent liberals and reformers, who had mands, including a civilian police revi ew abandoned the party to help elect Repub­ board, but it promised some changes. lican Winthrop Rockefeller in 1966, to Among them : The new city manager will return. H e h ad s tat e Representative be directed to offer employment on his Charles D. Matthews, a 29-year-old liberal staff to a Negro ; an in-service training lawyer, installed as state party chairman, program is to be established to help and had the state conven tion delete Negroes pass civil service examinations; white supremacy from the party's state­ a rumor control center proposal w ill be ment of principles and adopt a relatively studied; the board will encourage Ne­ progressive platform. groes to apply for 10 new police posi­ Most progre ssives, however, remained tions; the Board will seek Negroes to wary of Crank's unsevered ties with the place on city boards and commissions; Faubus machine. Crank also refused to federal assistance will be used "to the endorse his party's national ticket, saying fullest extent possible" in city programs, he had his own race to run. Vice Presi- including the training of policemen. STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 77

attorney advised his commission the mer­ FLORIDA chants have no recourse under the law. The economics of a slowly changing Dade County is going to look ahead social order in the state of Florida offer a by providing special training for riot con­ paradox in achievement. trol police. The county manager filed a A recent newspape r survey in Miami, request for $161,000 in federal funds to fi­ the state's largest city, reveals that white nance such a program. merchants are slowly leavi ng the ghettos And the city counci l of Homestead, a of the city. In less than a decade, the municipality in south Dade County, voted service stores now have Negroes on both to spend $5,000 for riot control equip­ sides of the counter-owners and cus­ ment for use by a soon-to-be-established tomers. reserve police force of 25 members. The largest ghetto area in Miami is in Homestead is the center of conservatism Liberty City, scene of a short-lived dis­ in urban south Florida and home of South order during the Republican National Dade Hi gh School, which has been in a Convention in August. About 77 per cent turmoil over integration ever since classes of the businesses in Liberty City are now began in September. black-owned and in a stretch of nine The county's school board found itself, blocks, 48 out of 50 stores, rangi ng from as a result, in the middle of the argument barber shops to funeral homes, are owned between black and white parents. Trying by Negroes. And in another 10-block to be all things to all people, the board stretch, 46 of 62 stores have Negro own­ suffered a major loss of effectiveness and ership. Because of a shortage of capital, standing in the entire community. many have more than a single owner. The ever-growing dispute began when And here is the paradox. the 130 black students, less than 10 per The Greate r Miami Urban League and cent of the total enrollment at South the Economic Opportunity Program ac­ Dade, objected to the school's song, cuse the federal government, th rough "Dixie," the school's flag, Confederate the Small Busi ness Admini stration, of stars and bars, band uniforms, Confed­ holding the purse strings too tightly. The erate grey, and the football team's nick­ SBA recently announced plans locally to name, the Rebels. expand its own program for Negro busi­ The school board decided first this was nesses, but store owners o r potential e n­ strictly a school issue and referred the trepre ne urs com pI a in tha t SBA loan matter to the students themselves. Many requirements make it impossible for a debates, in and out of school, resulted in black man to qualify. a decision to hold an election. But the Tom Butler, SBA's South Florida direc­ Negro students, widely outnumbered, tor, explained at a recent workshop how boycotted it. he was searching for ways to cut through More argumentative Negro parents re­ the bureaucratic red tape but a spokes­ peatedly appeared before the school man for the EOP said that in two and a board to demand first, more definitive half years only 22 loans had been made action by the board itself, and second, to black me rchants. transfer of their children back to a pre­ When the Liberty City riots occurred, viously all-Negro high school. The board ten merchants asked the city government refused, except to o rder the superinten­ to pick up the tab for several hundred dent to draft a new set of principles for thousand dollars' worth of damage to school symbols. their stores. Misjudgment by city police, Parents, meanwhile, called a boycott who had to ca ll upon the National Guard of the schools and Negro attendance for assistance, is blamed for much of the dropped sharply for a si ngle day. The looting and fire bombings. But the city school then voted to allow any or all of 78 NEW SOUTH/FALIJ1968 the 130 blacks to transfer to any of 20 High School, and all because of econo­ high schools in the county, as long as they mics. furnished their own transportation. The Duval County, w here all high schools majority quickly returned to cl ass rooms in are disaccredited for failure of the pub­ all-Negro Mays High, having made their lic to financially support the system, re­ point that the existi ng psychological cli­ ported to a federal court there are 4,218 mate in South Dade High prohibited them Negro pupils in 74 predominantly w hite from participating in activities and pro­ county schools, but only nine whites in gressi ng in their studies. four predominantly Negro schools. Duval Meanwhile, the school board expects has 119,000 students. to hear soon from the superintendent Leon County (Tallahassee) has lifted its about a new policy and insists the trans­ ban on school social activities, brought fer of students was only temporary, a about by racial disorders in high school belief not exactly substantiated by previ­ corridors. ous decisions. The board will have four The pressures have increased upon new members next yea r but whether it higher education in Florida. United Black will have any strength and standing is a Students, who staged a si t-in last spring matter for opinion many months from in the office of Dr. Henry King Stanford, now. president of the University of M iami, have Chiefland and Levy County, in central won most of their battles with the U-M Florida, have long been the center of Ku administration. Klux Klan activity and a hotbed of racism. The changes are reflected in required Yet patrons of the Chiefland school sys­ reading lists that contain books with new tem overwhelmingly voted to recommend emphasis on the Negro's role in American that their local school board accept guide­ history. The reappraisal is even more • lines from the U.S. Department of Health, evident in the number of courses planned Edu cation and Welfare which will elimi­ for the spring quarter which include the nate Levy's dual school system by the label " Negro," " black," or " Africa." Next 1969-70 term. At stake is some $300,000 semester a student may select " The Negro for Levy's schools. W riter in the U. S." (English); " History of Rural Dixie County also has had its the Negro in the U. S." (history); " Eco­ integratio n p lans accepted by HEW and no mic D evelopment of Africa" (econo m­ a final decision w ill be made shortly to ics); " Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa" effect the program by the fall of 1969. (geography); " Th e Negro in American HEW officials studied the Lake County Cul ture" (American studies); and " The system to make certain local school of­ Negro in American Politics" (government). ficials are adhering to the federal guide­ It is wrong, says Dr. Stanford, to as­ lines. And a federal judge in Polk Coun­ sume the Negro has not already been ty ordered complete integration by the incl uded in some courses: "'Economics 1969-70 term. This suit, filed in 1963, of Poverty,' as one example, deals with labored through the many federal courts the economic development and change since that time. (And Polk County even relevant to problems of black people." named a Negro as administrative assistant And J. Calvin Leonard, chairman of the to the superintendent.) Human Relations Department, of f e r s In an ironic twist, the one school in courses considering all ghetto problems: Columbia County most nearly complying "You can' t talk about any of these prob­ w ith integration guidelines has been elim­ lems unless you talk about the changing .. inated as that county's school board social conditions of the nation." moved to provide a system that disre­ Dr. Stanford started a minor hass le by gards race as a factor in student assign­ a decision to abolish the playing of .. ment. Such was the fate of Fort White " Dixie" by the international ly known STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 79 University Band of The Hour. The Stu­ dent Government supported Dr. Stan­ GEORGIA ford's action but rebuked him for not In the midst of the Democratic Conven­ taking the students into his confidence tion in Chicago, State Agriculture Com­ prior to the edict. Students chant "We missione r Phil Campbell gave newsmen a want Dixie" at the University's football bristling, and some think rash prediction: games, but to no avail. No Democrat, he felt, would again wi n The new president of Florida A. & M. a statewide election in Georgia, at least University at Tallahassee, Dr. Benjamin in the lifetime of this generation. Perry, Jr., serves notice he will not stand The decision to seat a biracial challenge idly by and see his predominantly Negro delegation alongside the regular party's institution merged into the state uni­ mostly-white delegation appointed by versity system, an action considered by Gov. Leste r Maddox was enough to appall several legislatures. old-guard Georgia Democrats. Thei r op­ In his view, the merger would mean position was compounded by the fact not only a loss of identity now more than that the challenge delegation was led by 80 years old, but loss of a peculiar type State Rep. Julian Bond, a symbol of of curriculum which has trai ned some of emerging aggressive Negro leadership. Florida's outstanding Negro citizens. "As The challenge was based on the con­ long as we produce on this hill," says Dr. t~ntio n that the regular delegation, hand­ Perry, " I have confidence the Board of pi cked by Maddox and state party chair­ Regents will allow us to remain a separate man James Gray, was chosen in an un­ university." democratic fashion and that Negroes But a former professor at the University were not fairly represented. Seven o f the of Florida law school takes a divergent view of the state's education scene . 107 de legates and alternates were Ne­ • groes. Speaking from Howard University, where he fled for fea r of his life in April, 1968, It didn't he lp the regular's case that Stephen M. Boyer criticized the state's Maddox and Gray, both outspoken seg­ primary university as an intell ectual des­ regationists, had bolted the Democratic ert. Florida is a plantation state, says Party in 1964 to support Republican Barry Boyer, a young activist, and he thinks Goldwater for President. Gainesville, site of the University of Flo r­ " I tried hard not to make this a con­ ida, is a town in rural South Georgia test between Gov. Maddox and myself," rather than the center of an urban state. the soft-spoken Atlanta legislator said "At Florida, I see no hope," Boyer told after the convention approved the dual a Tampa TRIB UNE reporter, " not till the seatin g-a plan in which both the chal­ millenium-that there will be student re­ lengers and the Maddox delegates were bellion-student awareness, student con­ authorized to take their seats after signing sciouness. They are too concerned about a loyalty oath, with the 41 Georgia votes who is going to be homecoming queen." split evenly. The two groups served on Whether such a viewpoi nt is correct the floo r as separate but equal units may be determi ned at an early date by (two additional votes were automatically the State Department of Education. The alloted to Georgia for the state's national department, th rough an unusual testing committeeman and committeewoman). method, is establishing 381 pilot schools The majority of the conventioneers to determine how accreditation standards saw the matter strictly as a clash between affect the schools' performance-that is, Bond and Maddox. how much the schools actually teach the Vice President Hubert Humphrey, ac­ children, particularly the children who go cording to Lt. Gov. George T. Smith, in­ off to the University of Florida and other sisted that Bond be seated, because the Florida institutions of higher learning. Vice President didn't want to be put in 80 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968 the apparent position of supporting a for the Presidency at the 1972 De mocratic symbol of axe-handle resistance to Negro Convention. civil rights gains against a leader of the Former Gov. Carl Sanders, a leading Negro protest movement. contender for the governorship in 1970 Campbell and fou r other top Demo­ (Maddox cannot succeed himself under cratic state house officials and political Georgia law), is saying the clique erred powers announced several weeks after and the Democrats are still full of life in Chicago they were switching to the Re­ Georgia. publican Party. Another loyalist is Lt. Gov. George T. Indications are that Campbell made up Smith, who declared in a mid-October his mind during the convention, and he speech that Democrats have the "cour­ was apparently the key mover in the de­ age" to stand up and be counted for cision by the four others, Comptroller their party. Smith, who like Campbell, General jimmy Bentley, State Treasurer was a Maddox appointee, participated in Jack B. Ray, Public Service Commission a walkout of a substantial number of Chairman Crawford Pilcher, and Public regulars after the seating showdown at Service Commissioner Alpha Fowler. Chicago. The five make up Georgia's politically House Speaker George L. Smith, gen­ powerful " Capitol clique," and their de­ erally viewed as the most powerful legis­ fection was depicted by Georgia Repub­ lative figure, said his name has been on lican National Committeeman Howard the ballot for 30 years as a Georgia Demo­ (Bo) Callaway as a major breakthrough in crat and " I expect it to remain as long establi shing the GOP as an equal party in as I live." the state. In the opinion of Sanders, the defec­ Function of the clique has been to he lp tions give the party "a unique opportun­ individual members wi n re-election to of­ ity to permit new life and blood. You flee and to push for a united voice in couldn't have gotten fi ve vacancies at both the legislature and the Democratic the state capitol for love or money. It's Party. The group has been considered by a chance for new faces to appear." many to be the real core that has held Bentley, Campbell, Ray and Fowler are the party together in recent years. up for re-election in 1970. The group had planned to help Vice Wallace supporters, generally, viewed President Humphrey in Georgia this year the defections with contempt. Whatever in his bid for the Presidency, but that was their attitudes on race, most Wallace prior to the national convention. voters are not conservatives-at least not in the traditional big business-oriented Their ire was compounded by the fact Republican mold. that Humphrey had, according to them, Former State Revenue Commissioner privately promised prior to the conven­ Dixon Oxford was the only political fi gure tion that the Georgia delegation would who followed the clique's action. be fully seated, and that the Bond delega­ Two of Georgia's eight Democratic tion would be rejected. Congressmen, John Flynt and Bill Stuckey, The switchovers did not start an ava­ both acknowledged they were consider­ lanche of political defections as some ing a switch, but Flynt stood to lose 14 anticipated. Instead, rallying points are years of seniority since he would have to now appearing for the Georgia Demo­ go on the bottom of the Republican list cratic Party on the right, left and middle. and this move was in serious doubt. Gov. Maddox, for one, said he intends The bolt posed two questions: Person­ .. to remain a Democrat, although he was alities aside, where do most citizens of actively campaignin g for George Wallace Georgia really stand -conservative or and the American Independent Party. moderate-liberal? And, if there is a move­ And he d1sclosed he may have another go ment, what is its direction? .. STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 81 The defectors apparently think the an­ there were several developments of note swer is conservative on both counts. in the fall. • There are those who disagree, how­ In two communities, Ware and Pike ever. Three of the more notable of these Counties, black parents and students or­ are Lt. Gov. Smith, State Labor Commis­ ganized protest movements to express sioner Sam Caldwell and State Welfare grievances and local school authorities Director William H. Burson . granted concessions to end the demon­ While most Georgia politicians have strations. been either riding the fence, unsure of School student boycotts proved effec­ which direction to take, or, like Gov. tive in both places, and officials with the Maddox, romping hard on all-the-way predominantly Negro Georgia Teachers conservatism, Caldwell, Smith and Burson and Education Association say it may help have been moving toward the moderate lead militant demonstrations in other center. areas in the struggle for school deseg­ The Labor Commissioner's direction, regation. the most distinct of all, has been down­ State Prisons Director Robert J. Carter right shocking at times to some old reported that an "orderly" desegregation Georgia political hands. Examples have plan is being carried out in the state cor­ been his public endorsement of the late rections system, including the oft-criti­ Sen. Robert F. Kennedy before the tragic cized county-run public works camps, in Los Angeles assassination, his strong pub­ compliance with a federal court order. lic praise for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Carter says he has told wardens of following his death, and his open align­ county-administered camps to integrate ment with Negro organizations in the or close down and turn the prisoners over operation of the department. to the state's custody for reassig[lment. .. Burson's is not an elective office, but A citizens' commission named by Mad­ some politicians in Georgia are convinced dox to draft recommendations for pris­ he has aspirations for future political on reform continues to meet, but mem­ races. He, too, has aligned himself with bers seemed somewhat pessimistic that some Negro leaders. any permanent changes could be brought In Smith's case, there has been a grad­ by the panel in a system rooted in ual, but continuous shift on many issues. politics. Before the Democratic National Conven­ tion, he had publicly endorsed Humph­ LOUISIANA rey for the Presidency-a stand which With Louisiana heading down the road has caused him some wobbly-kneed mo­ to the right in the national political spec­ ments since the convention. He has en­ trum, Gov. John J. McKeithen, pressing dorsed the federal poverty program, hail­ his ambitions for a spot on the Demo­ ed Dr. King as a great Georgian, and taken cratic ticket, suddenly discovered that his similar positions on issue after issue. support of Vice President Hubert Hum­ In the September Democratic primary, phrey was creating some political anguish Sen. Herman Talmadge rolled up a 3-1 for himself back home. victory over a liberal 30-year-old Negro McKeithen had been wooing the Vice attorney, M aynard Jackson, Jr., of Atlanta. President for month~ in a low key move Talmadge's challenger did carry one to convince him that only a southern county, however- Hancock in middle governor could save the South for the Georgia. Sweeping into office with him, Democratic Party in November, and with­ in a notable breakthrough for Negro can­ out the South the party had no chance didates, was a Negro county commission nationally. c.ha\rman and a Negro ordinary. The governor was one of the first in the On other fronts of civil rights activity, nation to come out definitely in support 82 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968

of Humphrey for the party's nomination had at Chicago when the list was first for President. Adroitly, he qualified his compiled by the Democratic State Cen­ support, limiting it to "through the con­ tral Committee. Negro leaders felt they vention." shou ld have at least seven and a half and, It left an out. The governor, sitting in pressi ng their demands, finally increased the midst of the fury and fumes of Chi­ their strength to six and a half. cago, got the message from back home Two Negroes seeking voting delegate and took the out-departing the Demo­ seats at the Republican Convention, how­ cratic National Convention and the party ever, went to federal court for relief but nominees in the campaign. were turned down on the grounds they The governor an nounced following the had failed to exhaust remedies w ithin the convention, that he could not support party rules. Humphrey in his election bid because the The struggle over Negro voting strength Vice President, among other things, had on the delegation only tended to height­ viewed with favor the service of Chief en anti-national party sentiment among Justice Ea rl Warren. conservatives who control the state party Humphrey was left with the backing of apparatus. top labor officials, uncertain support from Conservatives, led by Plaquemines Par­ the ranks of labor, and Negroes who pre­ ish political boss Leander Perez, who is sumably have nowhere else to go. The the chief Wallace supporter in the state, Negro votes comprise about 20 per cent promptly moved to prevent Humphrey of the regi stration in the state but usually from using the state Democratic Party's lag behind whites in turnouts at the poll5. traditional emblem, the rooster. The is­ Gov. McKeithen had gone to the con­ sue wound up in court where a state dis· vention with dim, but flickering hopes trict judge rul ed Humphrey should get that so mehow he might wind up on the the insignia, which Perez estimated was Humphrey ticket. He presented himself as worth 75,000 votes through habit voting a favorite son candidate and just to show practices. the world Louisiana's racial progress, Negroes running for Democratic nomi­ McKeithen announced that the state's nation in congressional races were de­ only Negro legislator would second his feated by w hite incumbents. nomination. Rep. Joseph Waggonner won the 4th However, the Negro legislator, Rep. District race with 77 per cent of the vote, Ernest Moria! or New Orleans, had sec­ while Leon R. Tarver, Jr., a Negro from ond thoughts about the nomination Shreveport, polled 22 per cent. A third speech and steadfastly refused to confirm ca ndidate had one per cent. the governor's statement. Obviously con­ The Rev. Gilbert Harrison, Sr., Negro cerned abou t his own standing within the minister and school teacher from Colfax, Negro com munity, Moria! declined to was defeated by Rep. Speedy 0. Long commit himself beyond a vote for Mc­ in the 8th District. Long polled 50,370 Keithen as a member of the Louisiana votes, w ith Judge James N. Lee of Bunkie delegation. The dilemma resolved itself getting 22,038. Harrison had 10,626 votes when McKeithen withdrew as a favorite or 13 per cent. son candidate. A Negro candidate for city council in The fight over delegation strength by Baton Rouge made it into a runoff for Negroes brought them increased voting five seats in the Democratic second pri­ power at the Democratic National Con­ mary (Sept. 28). Joseph A. Delpit, an at­ vention, but had no effect on the state torney, promptly launched a campaign delegation at the Republican conclave in asking white voters to vote for him be­ Miami. cause he is a Negro and Negroes as a Negroes were allotted a total of threq class should be represented on the and a half votes of the 36 the delegation. council.

------l STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 83

Racial disorder flared in the town of cases." It said the difficulty of obtaining Rayne, La., following a fight between representation in Mississippi " is borne out whites and blacks that resulted in the by the literally hundreds of civil ri ghts death of a Negro. The incident occurred cases that come to us m which out-of­ Sept. 15 at a cafe and required a call out state lawyers have the laboring oar." of the town's 14 policemen and sheriff's The court added, " It is not overstate­ deputies to quell. ment that in Mississippi and the South Later the building' s windows were generally, Negroes with civil rights claims smashed and the interior ransacked. A or defenses have often found securing fire bomb tossed into it caused little representation difficult." damage. Night-riders and bombers after a sev­ City officials promptly placed a curfew eral months' pau se became active again in on the town, w ithdrawing it a week later September, leaving their calling cards in when tensions eased. widely separated parts of the state. First the home of Mrs. Vernon King, a worker in a Headstart program in Leake County MISSISSIPPI near Carthage, was fired into by night­ riders, narrowly missing the occupants. Out-of-state lawyers assisting Negroes Two nights later a home under con­ in civil rights cases in Mississippi won a stru ction for a Negro couple at Free significant victory in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Trade, a rural com munity 18 miles from Court of Appeals when the federal court Carthage, was bombed and severely dam­ threw out a rule severely limiting prac­ aged. Th e dwelling was being erected for tice of non-resident attorneys before the Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Gates in an area not federal district cou rt in southern Missis­ far from white residences. sippi. A white man whose home was 150 The rule, adopted by Federal District yards away said he heard the blast in the Judge Harold Cox for the district would early hours of the morning, " but I turned have restricted non-members of the Mis­ over and went back to sleep." Mrs. Gates sissippi bar to one appearan ce per year had been employed in a Headstart pro­ in his court. gram in Leake County. It was attacked by two groups of civil Mrs. Winston Hudson, president of the ri ghts lawyers who have been operating Leake County branch of the NAACP, said in Mississippi the past four years-the that a white fa mily once owne d the la nd Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under and sold it to the Gates to build the Law and the Lawyers Constitutional De­ home, a modest $8000 structure. fense Committee, both of which are mainly staffed by non-resident volunteer The following night, a cafe in a Negro attorneys. section of Hazlehurst, about 100 miles At the same time, the federal appeals south of Leake County, was bombed court also struck down a Cox rule re­ and virtually destroyed. Officers said that quiring attorneys who originally signed the cafe was owned by a white man, but pleadings in civil ri ghts cases to appear operated by a Negro. The cafe had not each time motions or preliminary pro­ been a site for civil rights activity, officers ceedings were held in the cases. said. The Fifth Circuit pointed out that of The town of Indianola in the Delta the 2200 lawyers in Mississippi, only 12 county of Sunflower became the scene of are Negro. " Of course all 12 are not al­ a Negro student boycott as schools open­ ways available . . . that is obviously an ed for the fall term. For two weeks, the inadequate reservoir ... moreover, there boycott, launched over the rehiring of is ample evidence in the record to dem­ principals of the Negro elementary and onstrate the burden of handling such high schools in Indianola, had varying 84 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968 stages of success, at times joined by as an at-large vote. The new law, however, many as 50 per cent of the student5. requires a runoff in each case where a Dozens of arrests of Negro youths in candidate does not receive a majori ty of and around the schools, as well as adults the vote. in other parts of the city, accompanied Several dozen Negro candidates quali­ the school boycott. fied to run for seats on county boards of The school boycott was finally called education. off after some white leaders invited Aaron Some counties elect members of the Henry of Clarksdale, state president of board from districts, while others elect the NAACP, to make an on-the-scene members at large. appraisal of the situation. Because of lack In recent sessions of the legislature, a of funds to tutor the youths taking part number of counties which have Negro in the boycott, Henry urged them to re­ population majorities in one or several turn to classes. districts, were permitted to hold at-large Unofficially, it was believed agreement elections of the education boards. was reached that the two Negro princi­ In the Democratic National Conven­ pals in question would not be back in tion at Chicago, the Loyal Democrats of their posts next year. Mississippi, an equally divided Negro­ Meantime, Federal District judge Wil­ white challenge delegation, was awarded liam Keady of the Northern District of the state's seats over the Mississippi regu­ Mississippi ruled unconstitutional an In­ lar Democratic delegation. dianola parade ordinance, opening the Along with recognition of the delega­ way for several protest marches in the tion, headed by Aaron Henry, Clarksdale, city. A black economic boycott has been the state NAACP president, and Hodding underway in Indianola since earlier in the Carter, Ill, young white Greenville news­ year. paper editor, the National Democratic Party also seated Charles Evers, Fayette, The U.S. Department of justice moved and Mrs. Pat Derian, jackson, as national into the scene meanwhile, filing school committeeman and committeewoman desegregation suits against the Indianola from Mississippi. and Belzoni municipal school districts. Shortly after the Democratic National At least 100 Negroes were candidates Convention, Gov. John Bell Williams an­ throughout the state for election as coun­ nounced he would support former Ala­ ty election commissioners. This was the bama Gov. George C. Wallace for Presi­ first time M ississippi has held elections dent on Wallace's American Independent for county election commissioners, under Party ticket. The regular State Demo­ a law passed by the 1968 legislature. cratic Executive Committee also unani­ Historically, three members of county mously announced its endorsement of election commissions were appointed, Wallace for President. one by the governor, one by the attorney The state campaign for the Humphrey­ general and one by the secretary of state. Muskie ticket in Mississippi was headed Suit had been brought more than a by Aaron Henry and Claude Ramsay, year ago by the Lawyers' Committee for state president of the Mississippi AFL­ Civil Rights Under Law attacking the sys­ CIO. tem, since all appointees traditionally were white. Before a determination could be made in the courts, the legislature, NORTH apparently expecting the appointive sys­ CAROLINA • tem to be struck down, changed the law and provided the elective system. Now Nine out of ten North Carolina Negroes five commissioners will be elected to the feel that Negroes in the state lack equal election commissions in each county, by opportunity. But six of ten whites di$ STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 85

agree; they say whites and Negroes have about what might cause riots: 74 per cent equal chances in employment, education say "outside agitators" and 55 per cent and other sectors of Tar Heel life. mention " Negro disrespect for law and These and many other findings are the order." result of a rare piece of poll-taking by Negroes disagree sharply. Lack of good Oliver Quayle and Company, Bronxville, jobs, say 72 per cent of the Negroes, can N. Y. The firm was working for the North cause riots. Forty-eight per cent of the Carolina Fund, the private effort started Negroes mention poor housing; only 21 five years ago " to break the cycle of pov­ per cent of the whites thought housing erty" for many North Carolinians. A fore­ might be a riot cause. Forty-three per runner by a year of the federal anti-pov­ cent of the Negroes say general prejudice erty efforts, and a brainchild of former and discrimination might cause riots; a Gov. Terry Sanford, the Fund, with seven fourth of the whites see these as possible million dollars in foundation money, causes of trouble. has spent the five years aiding educa­ When the two races look at each other tional, manpower training, low-cost hous­ for such traits as public behavior, de­ ing and communi ty organizing move­ pendability and intelligence, whites be­ ments across the state. Many of the Fund's lieve they are far superior to Negroes. original efforts were absorbed by the Eight of ten whites thought whites Office of Economic Opportunity and, in more intelligent and more dependable North Carolina, the Fund itself often pro­ than Negroes. Half the whites thought vided the required 20 per cent "local whites behaved better in public. • matching" funds, especially in areas The frequency of these conceptions of where local governments haven't been Negroes increases in relation to the level interested. of prejudice held by whites. Ninety-six True to its plan of 1963, the Fund offi­ per cent of the strongly prejudiced whites cially closed its doors on Sept. 30. Execu­ think whites smarter than Negroes. Fifty­ tive Director George H. Esser, Jr., said the five per cent of the Negro militants think Quayle poll-based on in-depth inter­ Negroes are smarter. views with more than 400 persons be­ Over-all, about 70 per cent of the Ne­ tween April 6 and 20 of this yea r-was groes say Negroes and whites behave sponsored to help North Carolinians " un­ about the same in public; half the Ne­ derstand one another and thus find mu­ groes think Negroes more dependable, tually acceptable solutions" to racial and and four out of ten Negroes think Ne­ rel ated problems. groes are smarter. Just how far North Carolina whites and In many other areas of behavior and Negroes are from " mutually acceptable personality traits, North Carolina whites solutions" was illustrated time and again see themselves as superior to Negroes. in the poll. Moreover, in many areas, A majority of whites see Negroes as Negroes and whites don' t even agree on being lazier, less trustworthy, more likely the nature of certain problems, or even to "goof off," and less likely to work that certain problems exist. hard. For both races, prejudice and militancy Negroes feel strongly that they do not tended to be greater in small towns and receive equal treatment from North Caro­ rural areas than among residents of North lina policemen. Ei ght of ten Negroes said Carolina's major urban centers. policemen treat them differently. Whites The black-white opinion clash was disagreed. Eight of ten whites believe clear throughout the set of questions and police treatment is equal, and nearly answers, designed both to elicit general eight of ten whites say treatment is also attitudes and strength of feelings. equal in the state's courtrooms. Whites, for example, have little doubt Three of four whites believe Negroes 86 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968 are no more likely to be arrested than make a difference in whether he can get whites, but four out of five Negroes see a good-paying job. their chances of being arrested as much North Carolinians all seem to agree .. higher than those of white people. that everyone is entitled to a safe and Nine of ten whites think policemen sanitary house, but eight of ten w hites are around " to protect you." Sixty per are generally opposed to open housing. cent of the Negroes agree, but three of Nine of ten Negroes favor it. ten think police are there " to keep an eye The Quayle analysis of the survey on you" and " to bother you." noted: " In this year of gaps, the racial gap Trust of policemen, or lack of it, was in North Carolina is wide. The enormity of also reflected in other questions. Half the the job entailed in closing it is brought whites said a police ca r cruising in their home by the substantial majority of neighborhood made them feel " more se­ whites who think everything is just dandy cure." Six of ten Negroes said the same . . . . White attitudes toward the Negro in car made them feel "curious" or " ner­ North Carolina are negative. The white vous." man himself expects these attitudes to On government in general, the total improve. This is something of a tacit response from both whites and Negroes admission and probably means that was less than a strong vote of confidence whites think other white attitudes will for local government or loca l government improve, for his are 'OK' by his own office-holders. Only six out of ten whites standards. Put another way, most North feel loca l politicians in the state repre­ Carolinians who are white do not classify sent the people of their community. The themselves as extremely racist and they attitude of Negroes about loca l govern­ feel that those in that category will im­ ment is even stronger; only one of four prove during the next five years. When Negroes thinks local office-holders rep­ you think about it, it means little expec­ t resent all the people. Half of the Negroes tation of massive change. On the other interviewed feel their official leaders do hand, the Negro has high expectation and not represent all the people. (Significant­ hope for change. ly, a fourth of the Negroes are undecided " Th ese differences point to ultimate on this question.) clash of one kind or another, and we be­ A vast majority of both races, nine out lieve the key is to make the majority of of ten, feel poor people should have a white people rea lize that they must un­ voice in politics when decisions affect dergo a further softening in attitudes to­ their well-being. Almost five out of ten ward the Negro ...." Negroes say they do not " fee l free" to go In summary, the Quayle analysis sai d: to city or county governments for help " We do not wish to be alarmists, but the w ith their problems; only one-tenth of racial climate in North Carolina is not the whites share this reservation. good .... The white considers the Negro North Carolina Negroes see jobs and inferior. The Negro knows his lot is in­ job training as important factors that ferior. Both races believe attitudes will could lift many of them out of poverty, improve, but there is genuine disparity give them equality and prevent race riots. as to what that means, for w hite people But Negroes and whites surveyed were here really believe the Negro has a fair dramatically split when asked if they felt chance and seem unwilling to come to that anyone who wanted a job could get grips with the real problems. Indeed, he it in North Carolina. feels things will improve because the Nine of ten whites said anyone could; Negro will pull himse lf up by his boot­ but only three of ten Negroes felt jobs straps, and he has no interest w hatsoever were available without prej udice. About in permitting the Negro to live in his own half the members of each race (48 per community. He is still prejudiced, and cent) felt that where someone lives does there is no other way we can say it. The STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES , 87 Negro expects more, is willing to fight for it is within our power to reward years of it, but is opposed to violence and riot­ unconstitutional state action against its ing. This is the one thing on which whites Negro citizens," sai d the opinion of judge and Negroes can ag ree-they oppose vio­ J. Skel ly Wright, filed for the District of lence. At the same time, a substantial Columbia circuit. majority of Negroes are willing to go all Thus, the court tied a voting literacy the way." test to the historical school segregation Of violence, the analysis said that in pattern: " Duri ng the entire period when North Carolina, because of the w ide dif­ the persons presently of voting age were ferences in racial attitudes, levels of of school age, the schools of Gaston achievement and treatment: " It is pos­ County were segregated ; indeed those sible in every community with a consid­ schools remai ned totally segregated until erable black population." 1965 w hen token integration was begun." A three-year-old desegregation su it To reinstate a literacy test now (it was against the state's largest school system, dropped in Gaston in March, 1966) when the combined city of Charlotte and statistics showed fewer than half the eli­ Mecklenburg County schools with more gible voters at the polls in the 1964 than 82,000 students (about one-third presidential election, would support " dis­ Negro), has been reactivated by local par­ criminatory state action" of the past, the ents. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board court concluded. of Education closed seven all-Negro More than 1,200,000 North Carolina schools two years ago in an effort to youngsters returned routinely to school wipe out the final vestiges of the dual classrooms in September, but in Hyde school system. Last year, about one-third and Pitt Counties, boycotts of schools of nearly 30,000 Negro students were in were encountered as a result of court-or­ integrated schools and every child was dered desegregation. taught at least part of the time by a In Hyde County (Swa n Q uarter), Ne­ teacher of a different race. The new mo­ groes stayed out of school most of the tion contends that attendance lines are first month protesting the fact that, in a drawn to leave some schools nearly all­ desegregation effort, many Negroes had white and others all-Negro. The Board of been assigned to formerly white schools, Education is considering so me public but no whites had been assigned to Ne­ discuss ions of the situation. Cha rlotte gro schools. In Pitt County (Greenville), schools (a long with those in Greensboro whites were keeping their children out and Winston-Salem) were the first to de­ for a time because they thought too many segregate in North Carolina, in the fa ll of Negroes were assigned. Th e boycotts de­ 1957. clined gradually in effectiveness, but ab­ Gaston County has lost its bid to es­ sences were still noticeably higher. cape from the provisions of the 1965 Vot­ ing Rights Act, and the first federal court decision upho lding the act apparently SOUTH has implications across the South. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 said CAROLINA that counties in which fewer than 50 per There are reports the Ju stice Depart­ cent of the eligible voters voted in the ment is planning to seek indictments in 1964 election would come under its pro­ the slaying of three Negro students last visions, including one prohibiting a liter­ Feb ruary in Orangeburg. j ustice Depart­ . .. acy test, unless the county involved went ment officials refuse to comment on the to court to get itse lf removed. Gaston situation, but at one time in the last six County tried. weeks five lawyers from the civil rights "Given the congressional purpose of division were in South Carolina investi­ • the Voting Rights Act, we do not believe gating. 88 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968

Meanwhile, South Carolina attorney Negro delegates voting in the minority to general Daniel R. Mcleod said it would seat the Julian Bond group. be " inappropriate" for the state to hold The Negro delegates led a group of ap­ an inquest in the deaths until federal proximately 100 Negro leaders in forming authorities complete their investigations. a Humphrey-Muskie campaign organiza­ Gov. McNair referred the matter to tion. Subsequently, a statewide "Citizens Mcleod after questions arose at a press for Humphrey-Muskie" organization was conference early in September. The gov­ formed, headed by Allendale banker ernor sa id there " is no question about Charles Laffitte, a close personal friend of the cause of death" and said it is con­ Gov. McNair. The two groups were work­ tained in the FBI report to the Justice ing together. Department and that he had urged Attor­ McNair named Ernest A. Finney of ney General Ramsey Clark to make a Sumter, a Negro who is chairman of the statement on the report. S. C. Advisory Committee to the U. S. Mcleod said the deaths at Orangeburg Civil Rights Commission, as a member represented " more than a normal case" of the newly-created five-member state and that the state had deferred to federal election commission. Finney, a delegate authorities from the beginning " because to the national Democratic Convention, of the nature of the incident and the ex­ was chairman of the Humphrey-Muskie pert ability of the FBI." campaign organization put together after If FBI findings are not made pub­ the convention. lic after all federal investigations are com­ pleted, Mcleod said the question of a In January, the election commission will coroner's inquisition should then be re­ replace the five constitutional officers considered. comprising the state board of canvassers McNair said that parents of the three and will hear protests and appeals from deceased students are expected to file elections. The other members are Demo­ suits in the matter. crats G. P. Callison of Greenwood, a The students were slain by state high­ former state senator who served on a way patrolmen on the edge of the S. C. special nine-member election law study State College campus after four days of committee whose sweeping recommenda­ racial conflict that began over a segre­ tions for election law change were ga ted bowling alley in Orangeburg. adopted by the legislature, and Mrs. A $34 million bond issue that includes Margaret Townsend of Charleston, former $5.5 million for S. C. State College has chairman of the Charleston County board been upheld as constitutional by Circuit of voter registration. Republican members Judge John Grimball. His decision is be­ are N. Welch Morrisette of Columbia and ing appealed to the state Supreme Court. Mrs. James A. Chapman of Spartangurg, Lt. Gov. John West addressed an as­ a sister-in-law of former state GOP chair­ sembly of students at S. C. State College. man Robert C. Chapman. About 60 walked out and were criticized At Esti ll, a small community in Hamp­ by President M. Maceo Nance for their ton County, four Negro candidates for rudeness. seats on town council were defeated de­ Twelve Negroes attended the national spite the fact that Negroes outregistered Democratic Convention from South Caro­ whites. There were 889 Negroes registered lina, six as delegates and six as alternates. and 671 whites. In the past, less than 100 They unanimously supported the nomina­ voters had turned out for town elections.

tion of Vice President Humphrey. They More than 200 Negroes voted, and it was t also negotiated an end to the unit ru le explained they thought this would be before it was abolished by the conven­ enough to win. More than 350 whites tion. The delegation split 24-4 on the turned out, however. " It's part of the seating of the Georgia delegation, with learning process" was the philosophical STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 89

comment of James L. Felder, field director technical deficiencies in their qualifying of the S. C. Voter Education Project. petitions. After Chicago, the Tennessee A Howard University law school grad­ McCarthy camp ceased to exist as such; uate, Felder successfully passed the state its treasurer announced that Tennesseans bar and was sworn in before the state for McCarthy would su pport Humphrey. Supreme Court Oct. 2. Miss Hendrix, a Ph.D. candidate at State Democratic Party executive direc­ Vanderbilt University, and other younger tor Donald L. Fowler, who is credited members of the McCarthy team, however, with playing a key role in expanding the found themselves unable to pay even lip role and bringing about full acceptance of service to the Democratic nominee. " He's Negroes within the state Democratic just lost touch w ith the whole new gene­ Party, is expected to return to his faculty ration, and with the blacks," explained position at the University of South Caro­ one student. In Knoxville, a University lma. Dr. Fowler is a professor of political of Tennessee senior announced that a science. "New Party" convention would be held Eugene McCarthy's South Carolina cam­ in Nashville. paign manager, Yale Unive rsity law stu­ No convention materialized. A last dent Gus Speth-a former Rhodes scholar minute, all-night effort was made to col­ from Orangeburg, issued a report charg­ lect the signatures needed to place on the ing that the Negroes on the S. C. delega­ ballot the names of three independent, tion " did not truly represent the Negro McCarthy-pledged e I e c to r s, Nashville community in the state." He pointed out social worker Hibbard Thatcher, Vander­ } that none voted for either McCarthy or bilt teaching fellow Roy Talbert, and An­ Channing Phillips. drew White, a black Nashville minister. Speth also charged the state Demo­ Election officials disqualified Thatcher and cratic Party with stacking the delegation White on grounds they lacked the re­ with Humphrey supporters and urged that quired 25 signatu res of regi stered voters, McCarthy and Kennedy supporters work and Talbert on grounds his petition was together to bring a new politics to South improperly worded. " It appears to me Carolina. that the Tennessee legislature did not in­ He suggested this should be done by tend to have independent electors for work at the precinct and county levels, Presi dent on the ballot," said Asst. State "but where it proves impossible to work Atty. Gen. Robert H. Roberts. within the party, I hope we shall not Although the establishment seemed shirk from forming a new party to im­ secure against attack from the new left in plement the goals synonymous with the November, it received two jolts in the names of Gene McCarthy, John and August 1 state and local elections. Party­ Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King," switching state legislator Charles Gal­ Speth stated. breath, a free-wheeling, fast-talking mave­ rick Nashville lawyer, won election to the state's Court of Criminal Appeals. And TENNESSEE Avon N. Williams, Jr., president of the "It showed me first hand how bureau­ Negro Tennessee Voters Council, gained cracy works," mused blonde Nancy Hen­ the Democratic nomination for a state drix, 25, as she surveyed the results of the senate seat from Nashville. In both cases, summer she and a handful of other Ten­ the result was to infiltrate into the system nesseans had spent supporting Eugene men who have long been loudly vocal McCarthy. about its flaws. Bureaucracy, it appeared, had won­ Galbreath successfully challenged a even to the point of keeping three would­ 50-year-old system under which Tennes­ be McCarthy electors off Tennessee's No·· see's higher ranking judges have been ap­ • vember ballot, on grounds there were pointed by governors and then perpetu- 90 NEW SOUTH/FALV1968 ally re-elected without se rious opposition. UT's Knoxville campus. But Georgia legis­ The victo ry also left many of his fellow lator Julian Bond, who had been invited attorneys distinctly ill at ease: the profes­ to appear on the same UT program, can­ si on's opposition to Galbreath's bid for celled his appearance because the school the bench was nearly unanimous - of prohibited Gregory's. " If the chancellor 4,000 lawyers to whom Galbreath sent of UT thinks the students are too simple­ letters requesting support, eleven took minded to hear Gregory, they are ob­ the trouble to reply. Now many of those viously too simple-minded to hear me," who didn't must try cases for the next explained Bond. six yea rs before j udge Galbreath. Dr. Andrew P. Torrence, vice president Avon Williams was one of two Negroes of Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, was nominated to the state senate; the other named president of Tennessee A&l State was J. 0 . Patterson of Memphis. Of the University, succeeding Dr. WalterS. Davis. two, the Nashville civil rights attorney is w ho retired after 25 yea rs at the helm of clearly the more militant; his victory was the black ca mpus. Torrence was named also significant in its unseating of his op­ over strong protest from A&l's national ponent in the primary, State Rep. Dorothy alumni association. The al umni said they Brown, a Nashville physician who was were critical not of the candidate chosen the first Negro woman elected to the by the State Board of Education, but of legislature. Dr. Brown ran with support the fact that the alumni were left out of from the administrations of Governor the selection process. Buford Ellington and Nashville Mayor Nashville's Metro Board of Education, Beverly Briley; she also refused to criticize refusing to revoke a suspension of all­ the state for its part in routing Interstate black Cameron High School from inter­ Highway 40 through black North Nash­ scholastic athletics, found its members ville. Williams, a critic of both administra­ named as defendants in a federal court tions, is also legal counsel for the 1-40 suit filed by Cameron students and par­ Steering Committee, which fought the ents. The post-basketball game disorders highway and won five significant modifi­ for which Cameron was suspended, the cations in the route. plaintiffs charged, were a product of the school board's own actions in perpetuat­ In Memphis, the Democratic primary brought defeats for two men long con­ ing "racial and socio-economic isolation si dered mainstays in the city's Negro lead­ of school ch ildren" by " conforming to community attitudes of white racial pre­ ership, State Representatives Russell B. Sugarman and A. W. Willis. Both were judice and discrimination." They asked U. S. Dist. Judge W illiam Miller to order defeated by other Negro candidates, with the board to re-zone Nashville schools in observers concluding that the losers had a manner that would produce " meaning­ failed to keep closely enough in touch ful integration." James Mock, new Ten­ with the new mood of militancy pro­ nessee field director for the Southern duced by the ga rbage workers' stri ke. Christian Leadership Conference, mean­ A Knoxville Negro, Theotis Robinson, while led 200 of Cameron's 1,300 stu­ Jr., meanwhile won Democratic nomina­ dents in protest demonstrations and tion to the state house in his campaign threatened to "close the schools" unless against two white opponents. the court action brought quick results, Protest pres idential candidate Dick including withdrawal of the suspension. Gregory, delighting a Vanderbilt Univer­ sity audience with a speech in which he TEXAS pledged, if elected, to " paint the White House black," sa id he knew nothing of There is evidence that such organiza­ the University of Tennessee action ban­ tions as the John Birch Society and the ning him from a scheduled address at Ku Klux Klan cooperated with the presi- STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 91

dential campaign of George Wallace in ficials in Texas than in such states as Texas. Many members of the Birch Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Society, in particular, were prominent in Two Texas cities, A ustin and San An­ American Independent Party affairs in tonio, have adopted open housing o rdi­ the state. It was charged by some that the nances and a third, Corpus Christi, was Birch Society staged a coup and took over considering such a law. At the initiative control of the Texas party. It is known of local realtors the Austin ordinance was that at least 15 of the party's 32-member challenged by petitions that required sub­ state committee are Birchers; some say mission of the question to voters. as many as 28 are members. It was unclear In Houston pickets were posted around whether the Bi rch people had consciously the school administration building to sought and won control or w hether their dramatize demands for a meeting with predominance is coincidental. It is true, the school board to discuss such matters however, that several anti-Birch or non­ as the teach ing of Negro history in public Birch leaders of the American Party were schools there. NAACP leader Roy Wilkins, displaced from the party's organizational in town on business, joined the picket structure, often to be replaced by JBS line briefly. Provisions have been made members. to include Negro history in existing his­ Broadened participation by members tory courses at Houston, as well as at Fort of racial minority groups in Texas is ex­ Worth. But Houston NAACP leaders say pected as a result of the national Demo­ they have a number of other grievances cratic Party's doing away with the unit 1 they w ish to discuss w ith the school rule in party conventions and, also, be­ board. cause of the national party's growing State Rep. Curtis Graves, Houston, a observance of the principle of minority Negro, believes Negro history is not ade­ groups having their rightful share of the quately portrayed in textbooks now in use decision-making. Texas liberals have in Texas. He promises to wage a fight on organized a shadow Democratic Party­ the question before the state again adopts the New Democratic Coalition of Texas­ its history textbooks, in 1970. Negro his­ somewhat along the lines of the Missis­ tory will be the subject of a course now sippi Freedom Democratic party, which being offered for the first time this fa ll has grown in influence in that state-to at the University of Texas at Austin. challenge the regular, conservative party. Forty-three Negro soldiers faced court­ The Texas liberals, hoping to do their martial action at Fort Hood after refusing part to broaden the role of minorities in orders to board transportation to await state politics, named a 124-member exec­ possible riot control duty in Chicago dur­ utive committee whose composition is to ing the national Democratic Convention. be one-fourth Negro and one-fourth The Negroes objected to their possibly Mexican-American (the other fourths be­ being ordered to fire upon or otherwise ing Anglo and youth- persons 27 and physically repel fellow Negroes. younger). The liberals are hoping their coa lition will be the vehicle that at last Leaders of the Student Nonviolent Co­ will give them control of the regular ordinating Committee have been under Democratic party machinery, in 1970 or intense police pressure lately. At Houston 1972. The coalition's long-range strategy the SNCC field secretary, Lee Otis john­ still is being worked out but the basic son, was convicted of se lling a marijuana idea is for the liberals to seek to develop cigarette to an undercover policeman. , precinct-level strength sufficient to form johnson was given a 30-year sentence by the basis for having the delegate votes an all-white jury. He actually gave the to take over the party. cigarette to the officer but under Texas A Southern Regional Council survey law that constitutes a sale. found fewer Negro elected public of- At Dallas SNCC leader Ernie M cMillan 92 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968 and his chief aide, Matthew Johnson, Six Negroes were seated on the Dem­ were given ten-year prison terms for al­ ocratic State Central Committee (they are legedly lead ing a raid on a Dallas grocery the first in history) at a re-organizational against which SNCC had organized a boy­ sess ion shortly after the national Demo­ cott. An estimated $211 damage was cratic Convention. done. The breakthrough-and the factors sur­ At Austin some twenty police officers rounding it-is expected to have a far were in the au dience of 80 or 100 when ranging effect on the staid old politics of SNCC workers from that city, Houston, the Commonwealth. A new era of across­ and Dallas met. After the meeting two the-board participation in the party is SNCC members were arrested in con­ beginning, and as far as the old line state nection with an auto theft case. politicians are concerned it is more sig­ A number of Texas public school sys­ nificant than the rise of George Wallace. tems have been prodded by the U. S. As in other sou thern states, W allace's Office of Education for not dropping ra­ third party bid for President attracted cial barriers effectively and fast enough. more support than had been expected. It A Department of Health, Education and was no surprise for Wallace support to Welfare survey shows that three of four blossom in the black belt rural Virginia Texas Negro school children attended Southside, but when substantial Wallace segregated schools in 1967-68, though followings showed up after the Chicago Texas led the South in integration of convention in liberal labor unions in the schools. big shipyards on Hampton Roads, and in 1 Fifty-nine of the state's 1,278 school the western regions of the state where districts were sent letters last March there are few Negroes and few racial warning of possible cases of noncom­ problems, it became anything but a pliance with civil ri ghts laws. Of the 59, laughing matter. fourteen have submitted unsatisfactory Three Democratic congressional can­ desegregation plans. Another 80 or 90 didates - Reps. David Satterf ield, Ill, of letters were prepared for Texas school the Richmond area 3rd District and John districts urging submission of a satisfac­ 0. Marsh of the Shenandoah Valley 7th, tory desegregating plan by the end of and Danville's W. C. " Dan" Daniel who September. was no mina ted to succeed retiring Rep . There are signs that the federal courts William M. Tuck - disassociated their are wearying of the snai l's pace of school campaigns from Vice President Hubert desegregation in the region. The 5th Ci r­ H. Humphrey. They went so far as to cu it Court of Appeals has ordered hear­ pledge to vote for whoever should carry ings held by inferior courts to determine thei r respective districts should the pres­ the practical effects of the two basic ap­ idential election end up in the House of proaches to school desegreation - the Rep resentatives. freedom-of-choice and the geographic at­ Daniel, although from the o ld Virginia tendance zone plans. conservative school of Democrats, found himself with the dominant white vote of VIRGINIA the district split almost evenly between Nixon and Wallace. His GOP opponent, A decade has sl ipped by si nce Virginia Weldon Tuck of South Boston and a closed white sc hools in the fa ll of 1958 cousin of the retiring Democrat, had the in a drastic effort to avert integration. Old advantage of the Tuck name. And the concepts began to change as a res ult of race had fu rther complications in the that move and finally the high council of independent candidacy of Miss Ruth Har­ the state's long dominant political force vey, Danville NAACP lawyer. has been opened to the minority race. Satterfield, opposed by Republican STATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES 93

John Hansen of Chesterfield, faced dif­ of the Nansemond Board of Supervisors, ficulties because his conservatism had failed to oppose the re-election of Con­ disenchanted Negroes who make up gressman Abbitt as state party chairman . • about half of the voting force in Rich­ This displayed Riddick's "acceptance of mond. Marsh found himse lf under fire the conservative point of view and his from both Republica ns and Wallace fol­ willingness to accept tokenis m," they lowers for being the only Virginia con­ said. gressman to vote against the unseating of An exchange of public statements fol­ Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell. (Marsh lowed in w hich Riddick contended he says his vote was based on the belief the was in a delegation headed by Governor House was exceeding its co nstitutional Godwin that operated under the unit rul e. authority.) The 13 Negro members of the delega­ In addition to M iss Harvey, two other tion were in the minority and Godwin Negro candidates entered the congres­ could cast the entire vote for Abbitt re­ sional races as independents. They were gardless of the minority, Riddick said. S. W. Tucker, Jr., of Emporia, the NAACP' s Then he further explained: chief Virginia counsel, who faced State " It would have been the worst sort of Democratic chairman and 4th District folly for us to bite the hand that was Rep. Watkins M. Abbitt for the second feeding us. Gov. Godwin was committed time, and the Rev. J. Cornelius Fauntleroy to Mr. Abbitt. Under Governor Godwin, of Newport News who bowed into Negroes have obtained something like 27 politics as a challenger of 1st District Rep. or 28 appointments to state boards and Thomas N. Downing. commissions. Nine Negroes were in the state dele­ " In the convention, the white hierar­ gation to Chicago and talk of a rival dele­ chy, including the governor and the 4th gation was abandoned. District congressman, dropped the bars of Dr. W. Ferguson Reid of Henrico segregation. For the first time we got del­ County, the first Negro member of the egates to the national convention and Virginia House of Delegates since Re­ seats on the state centra l committee." construction was named to the central The executive board of the VIVL met in committee along with five others of his speci al session and agreed that Riddick's race. They are the Rev. Henry Maxwell hands were tied at the convention, and of Newport News, Arthur Freeman and that he was there as a delegate from Dr. Benjamin L. Lambert, Ill, of Richmond Nansemond County rather than as an of­ and Mrs. Vivian Mason of Norfolk, and ficer of the league. A unanimous vote of John Morco nes of Sterling. confidence in Riddick was cast by the In the wake of a state Democratic Pa rty board. Convention battle marked by substantial Riddick's reference to the opening of gains for the liberal faction on the central state boards and commission to Negroes committee, a controversy erupted be­ under Godwin pointed up the success of tween leaders of Negro voter organiza­ a long drive to get minority race repre­ tions. Calls for the resignation of Moses sentation on the State Board of Welfa re A. Riddick as executive secretary of the and Institutions. Shortly before the state Virginia Independent Voters L eague party convention at Salem, Godwin ap­ (VIVL) were sounded by Dr. William S. pointed Victor J. Ashe, a resident of Vir­ Thornton of Richmond, chairman of the ginia Beach and a lawyer in the long, Virginia Crusade for Voters, and the Rev. drawn-out Norfolk school desegregation Curtis W. Harri s, president of the Virginia case, as the first Negro member of the unit of the Southern Christian Leadership board. Conference. The Norfolk case is now believed to be They charged that Riddick, a member the longest co ntinuing school desegrega- 94 NEW SOUTH/FALU1968 tion case in the nation. It was 10 years only to be returned to Judge Hoffman. ago this September that a state trooper It was again remanded from the ap­ knocked on the door of then School peals court last May 31 with instructions Board Chairman Paul Schweitzer and for a more flexible attendance plan to be 10,000 white students in Norfolk were tried. The appeals court held that while locked out of six schools. Norfolk's neighborhood schools concept Th e schools reopened with integration may be valid, it cannot be approved if in February 1959, but the case that led to residence in a neighborhood is denied the desegregation has never left the Negroes solely on the ground of color. courts. " The Norfolk case will never end," A mandate is expected from the 4th Federal District Judge Walter E. Hoffman Circuit shortly and Hoffman is preparing of Norfolk said as the anniversary of the for a new round of hearings. Federal Dis­ school closings rolled around. trict Judge Robert R. Merhige of Rich­ The case originated in the U. S. Eastern mond in September also ordered a back­ District Court of Virginia on May 10, log of almost a doze n pending school 1956, and many times it has been taken cases moved into position on his docket to the U. S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals for ea rly consideration.

1968 SOUTHERN STATES' PRESIDENTIAL ...• ELECTION RESULTS BY PERCENTAGE "

1; State Nixon Humphrey Wallace Alabama 14.2 19.7 66.1 Arkansas 30.8 30.3 38.9 Florida 39.6 31.5 28.9 Georgia 30.2 26.9 42.9 Louisiana 23.3 28.5 48.2 Mississippi 13.9 22.9 63.2 North Carol ina 39.5 29.2 31.3 South Carolina 38.9 29.4 31.7 Tennessee 37.7 28.3 34.0 Texas 38.0 39.3 22.7 Virginia 43 .3 32.8 23.9