New Pittsburgh Courier from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 13

Mil It's Negroes, Whites VCHMOND, Va. Eadal patterns la Virginia to IM laM fnlbnB w.U, k. I ml iaM Seats CxreBaa, Georgia, Alabama aad MlwiMippt where l.il AS A xre nm exeeeaa or eJoaery paraiwa uhh deiliea because of a geographical as wcB aa aaUleal attsuttnau Of Prince Edward County's approsJ anatety 11421 total popolaUoa, ahoat 8,481 are whltea aad SJRI are eefcire. FaranHle, the county seat, according to the aame tM oaana flgurea, had a total popolatioa of about MIS. at whan 545 were white, and 148 Net roe.

The near parity of the Negro and white population flftsne, however, carry aa brmriiuf oa the number of Negrees wha rote ia the county. The fact that alne ef tmmxj li achoota are white, ml rat. It aha eheald ha bora la mini that colored students brought the bmue of achool eqaaUiatkMi la eaaaty a head when they derided te strike acalnet raeinoe la April 1S5L IP KTftY INVOtVID At i.k. in the con tintiing tragedy of clotso schools in Prince Edward County is the future of such youngsters as these (left to right, foreground): Nsja, Mignon, 8, and Cochyeie, 6, daughters of the Rtv. L.

F. and Mrs. Griffin. Behind them are neighbor Less' children. Evelyn Cunningham: EVEX SO OFTEN a couple celebrating their silver or' golden wedding anniversary electa to get married again to each ether, I 'mean.

They throw a big party and call on the old pastor who wed them years ago. if he'i still around, and they ask all available mem bers of the original wedding party to re enact rotes. 1 Then they take their vows all over again. i am aigiuncance at in wnw pwKun inia. the man and wUa are saying that if they had to live iwir uvea over, uwy a uv uic mw way.

Having attended two or three ef these re mar 1 rsngea, rve had strange eaaoHeaS and eaanirtmg opm loaavl aevar cry Bke I da whea I ga to flna thae wad daags, 1 Jaat Stand there and wander If hath paritee reaOy. realy, realty aseaa It, ana If the Idea of hitch in this Northern Virginia coun ty. Facing the "integrate or "stay shut" choice posed by lawyers for the NAACP, and parents of Negro pupils, school authorities are rumored look Ing for an "out" to the vexing situation: 1. Opening the Negro schools throughout the county on a "voluntary basis." without be ing forced to do so on Federal Court order, and. 2.

Acquiescence on part of litigants and their lawyers In permitting the county board to use public lands for tuition grants to white students at tending "private schools" set up by the Prince Edward Foundation to maintain segre gation of the races in class rooms. Key "to" this impasse is con tained in two court rulings. Last March 4. the Virginia the case of Griffin vs. Prince Edward Board of Supervisors that the state's constitution does not "order" but only "authorizes" the county to ap propriate funds to maintain public schools.

Further compounding the. vexing issue in Prince Edward County was the Aug. 23. 1961 ruling by Federal istrici Judge Oren R. Lewis that stale and local tuition grants could not be used for Prince Edward children as long as public schools in the county remained closed.

en whether the schools could be ki'pi i avoid desejrregJ'ion. Still pcn! Ing before the high court, however, is the case of Allen vs. tiie Board of Supervisors, and also the key case of the L. Griffins. The latter Is the case In which the Rev.

L. F. Griffin. Prince Edward NAACP leader, sued in behalf of his son. Rev.

Mr. Griffin, long In the forefront of the Prince Edw ard cases, said of the decision: The State Court "followed the accepted pattern of the advocates of racism and those individuals who insist that the Negro is socially and morally Inferior." Attorney In the Griffin case has been Samuel W. Tucker. Other lawyers involved in the Prince Edward cases include Robert L. Carter.

New York City, Spottswood W. Robinson III. and Oliver Hill both of Richmond, representing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Whatever the present status of the Prince Edward County school situation, today it can truthfully be said to have been brought on through the studied intransigeftce of the county board of supervisors themselves. Inadequacy of school facilities for Negro children In the county was the cause of agitation on the part of their parents at, far bark as 1939 when a new hrik 'iigh school was erected in Farmville.

It opened that September oveTttwdrd and containing cafeteria. To relieve the situa tion the board did. however, erect three tar paper shacks beside the building. These con: stituted both a health and lire hazard. The shack auxiliary rooms were heated by i oil drums from which long stovepipes extended the length of the buildings.

It was against such conditions that in April, 1951. Negro students organized a strike refused to attend further classes. Striking students themselves contacted Attorneys Hill and Robinson in Richmond. The lawyers" advice to the students' parents was that the conditions would never be corrected "as long as Negro children were segregated on account of their race and color." The first Prince Edward County school equalization suit entered the District Court it Richmond. Va in May, 1951.

Three years later, along with similar suits originating in Clarendon County. S. To peka. Washington. D.

and Wilmington, Delaware, they resulted in the now famous May 17. 1954 Supreme Court ruling on desegregation of public schools. ALMOST FORGOTTEN now during the years Ion litigation over schools and desegregation of public classrooms, is the fact that these suits resulted in the main frcm dissatisfaction on the part of students themselves. They led hy striking against conditions generally. They set in motion a national reaction among Negroes.

whUi has become a swelling tide a wind of change. Twelve years after this Is the picture in the educationally embattled county: 1. A census last fall showed that at the time there were 1373 Negro children of school ae in Prinr Ffhvrd CUnty. 2. At five training centers, opened for Negro pupils last February, ar proximately 250 children were enrolled.

These were similar to 15 operating last year with an enrollment of 650. 3. An estimated 2S9 of the county's school age Negro children were enrolled in other counties, it was revealed, and 'another 400 were said to he attending school in states other than Virginia. The five "centers" opened last February, were under direction of Mrs. Dorothy Cron er.

Where the white Prince Edward County School Foundation has been able to raise in excess of $200,000 annually for t9 JO tiMtin tain its "private schools" for white pupils, even with the full backing of the NAACP. and colored parents, the cost to colored parents comes hard because of ecore mic reasons. Last February 5. the county hoard of supervisors unanimously rejected a $1,636 bill for tuition for tour colored pupils attending public schools in Springfield, Mass. Out of state grants for tuition of all Prince Edward County pupils have been forbidden by the Federal Court injunction, issued in Aug.

1961, and since extended. In a "last ditch" appeal on the school issue in the county, lawyers for the board appearing in court have attempted to place blame for dosed schools on the shoulders of the National Association for the Advancement of People. Still remaining the eyes of the world, however, is the fact alone among the school districts of the nation, Prince Edward County is the only one in the nation in which no public schools for, Negro or white children of school age ace being maintained. This hardcore segregationist pattern on a smaller scale I Y3 smg ap again waa Miieaaire.ee me wues. Everya Being a woman, I'm inclined to believe that It is Cmnbarhani the wife who first broaches the subject of providing TT this highlight for a 25th or 50th anniversary.

She probably introduces the matter with an innocent "Dear, have you ever regretted IV If II I IV yUXJLTULJ' i i xii ii i rj 7t ss'xb ar a a a a. a a a a UAOING THE RGHT Thi. is the Rev. Francis Griffin, Prince Edward County NAACP leader and a parent in the Fsdtral Court suit, in behalf of a son, in the school desegregation issue. 1 STtONG SUPTORT Theodore Brown (left of the AFL CIO preents the R.

Mr. Griffin with a check, in support of the schcol desegregation struggle, in the early days of the struggle. mm mm mm I mm nvai Special to The Coarler RICHMOND, Va. Barring some unforeseen change in attitude by the Prince Edward County board of school supervisors, September, 1962, will begin the fourth year during which public school doors have been locked to nearly 4.000 Negro and white children of school age. The board, in September, 1959.

refused to open public schools in order to evade a Federal Court order that said: "From this date classes must be conducted on a desegregated basis." Hardest hit victim in what has been called "one of the most senseless tragedies' in the history of American edu cation will again be the ap proximately 1.700 Negro children of school age. belonging marrying me? I mean, if you nan it to do again, would you? Nowr" I mean, honestly, you ran be frank. You ran say exactly what you think. 1 Just want to know." Well, first ol all, one of the reasons the couple has weathered the marital storm so long is the fart that the husband hardly ever says "exactly" what he thinks. And he knows very wefl that his spouse's insistence on candor is smoke screen, leadinr only to periL So, he says, like a good husband should.

"Why certainly rot, dear. Fve never for a moment regretted the years since you became my, bride. If I knew then what I know now, you would still be my heart's choice." Mytag, he retires to the television ehsir, havtnr sat the fog (teat Mm that a few months hence be wOl be standiar front af a preacher, proving to the world that he still loves bis bride and daeaat regret It Personally, I'm of i the opinion that people who've managed to make it through silver and golden anniversaries don't haveto take action to prove anything. Obviously, they are adjusted. Maybe not necessarily adjusted to, ever) body, but certainly to each other.

In i fact, they could actually be adjusted to' mutual distaste. i AXYWAT. I want some couple to level with me and tell me the whole story about what led up to the decision to re marry, and what thoughts ran through eaeh's mind and what the children and grand children felt; Also, I'd like to know what percentage of men initiate the plan for taking the vows again, '4 CAUSC OF STUDENT STRIKE These frame and tr p.per shacks, built adjacent to the R. R. Moton High School in 195 1.

constituted the health and fire hazards ever which Negro pupils refused to attend classes, and set off the Prince Edward suits which finally ended up in the U. S. Supreme Court in May, 1954. COST Of BIAS This is the R. R.

Moton High School, completed in 1953 at a cost of nearly one million dollars, in order to evade desegregation of classes' in the county. It has stood idle since 1 959. in ImPtt jJJ 1' i WHITE VICTIMS, TOO This it the "white" Farmville High School, aho by Prince Edward supervisors s'nee 1959. It is one of two such high schools in the county. fTl srf.

IT1 FTUCtS! 14 1 tl a laa JSfWW iwn.tatm uss SCHOOL PROPERTY i NO TRESPASSING UNMR PEHUTY OFlAft PRINCE EOVVARD COUNTr "SCHOOL BOARD rTn i wr i i lata t. i srarq i I pi nusl i rlWtl Kr 1 I mmmyfymimMimmmmmmiu fi I i il Wi iij SENSELESS TRAGEDY This is what happened to every school in the county when the board of supervisors decided to close all public school facilities rather than obey the court and desegregate classes. This is the Mary E. Branch Elementary School at the county seat, Farmville, Va. PEOPLE HEffiS THAT WHESG WXG tossed by the Musicians' Union for Z000 delegates and frirnds.at its national convention in Pittsburgh was really scm.

thing continuous musk in five different rooms, of the Penn Sheraton Hotel's J7'h 'floor by all kinds of ranging from big bands to trios and all the grog, in the world free Sotto Ve; That Washington. D. newsman is reportedly "tired" of his job and is openly campaigning for the hrtr" Vtmhs Laotiera spot at $18,000 to $20. 0U0 per annum. Insiders say he might getthe jtip'.

And how Phil Randolph railed off those Chicago, NALC folks from picketing in front of AFL. CIO headquarters as "being ill advised" Oh. how hard that Pittsburgh cutie lock it when she was eliminated from the "Miss Universe" competition. Her "friends" say she must have thought she could MwaLalameatic Atty.ltiboa win One of the prettiest graduates this spring was salvia Laalamantik of Indonesia who received her Bachelor of Education degree at Tuskegee Institute's exercises Verlee Fort of Bradenton. Fla, Gibr Junior College's top graduate, has been accepted at the University ef South Florida in Tampa Dr.

Theodore K. Lawless Chicago dcrrr.ato.o gist, presented with an' illuminated scroll at DiUard I commencement exercises ty Dr. Albert W. Dnt. president of the N.

O. school Dr. Adolpbr Furth has retired from the NCC faculty as chemistry prof. An Austrian, Dr. Furthe came to the Durham school in 1952 FAMU coach, Alonso (Jake I Gaitber received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from his alma mater.

Knoxville College Polks in Richmond. are mourning the death of Atpbon mm IV I a' Verlee Fori oach Gakher so (Old Doubt Loean. Puest at the last rites w.e Alvln (lite Juicerl Itittrfcerenn, "Little Fat." Leroy Twtraton, Sylvrster Boiling and Jolm (Smitty) Smith Charles Pinkney, the original "Buckwheat," is new residing in Richmond When Dee Clark failed to show for a gig in the Va. 4own. "SammTe," the shapely exotic dancer from D.

C. filicd trrquite capably Charlayne Hunter, pioneer Ne. ro co ed at the U. of Georgia, has won an all expenie paid trip to Africa and Europe sponsored by Delta Sigma The ta Sorority Ctunnar Mjt dar quip at the Howard U. "The integration of Negroes in American society has a heady proceeded so far that without any hesitation you can feel that what is good for America is good for the Negroes and equally you can feel that what is good for Negroes is good for Amer mmmm aBW yp v' 'T 'S It I I 'I vi).

L.U Crr a I I Dr. Furth Dr. Lawiesa 1 I I A I i SHUT OUT VICTIMS, such as these Prince Edward County children, were and still are victims of the educational blackout in the Northern Virginia area. other level with the Deep South states of Alabama, Mis gives the county the dubious sissippi, South Carolina and nri.licr a gymnasium or a distinction of standing on an Alaba.T.4. Although these four have kept open the doors of their public 'schools for both, races, none has yet made even token compliance with, the Supreme Court's 19" i ruling that desegregation cf public hools is the "Ktw of ihe la.

Carolyn Martia. salu tatorian of the Crestwood High School in Crestwood. Va. won scholarships totaling 20.0X1. She picked grants totaling nearly $10,000 which will sens her to Michigan State U.

through baccalaureate and graduate work in math Arty. Charles F. YVHsoa handed over S2.407.21 to FAMU a prexy. Dr. C.

W. Core a sum representing a donation from the FAMU General Alumni Association Baba Gonta lex with a stopover in Pittsburgh while en route to an engagement in Chi Visiting New York and Washinc ton for a two is Law rr nee ties? minister of HucarwhnKcnya. Mr. Sagial suirffVat Allegheny Coilcge in Meadvil'e from WZT Ihrough 19T9. In Pittsburgh for the big goings on last week Dean Martin Frank Sinalra Anon..