1961 US Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 2 - University of ...

The North Carolina Advisory Committee reported to the <strong>Commission</strong>
that the State Department of Public Instruction still maintains a division
of Negro education, in spite of the fact that the North Carolina General
Assembly in March 1955 and July 1956 revised the State's school laws
to eliminate all mention of race. The department justified this on
the ground that— 100
This division renders special assistance to Negro schools including
evaluation and accreditation of schools, supervisory activities,
preparation of curriculum materials, improvement in preparation of
teachers, in cooperation with institutions of higher learning for the
Negro race, and improvement in race relations.
It seems paradoxical that the State would eliminate the racial designation
of schools and yet maintain a division only concerned with Negro
schools.
Oklahoma
In Oklahoma, as hi Kentucky, State financial policy has forced the closing
of many small substandard Negro schools and admission of their
pupils to formerly white institutions. Since 1955, 186 Negro schools
have been abolished, leaving only 168 in the State. 101 The steady
closing of segregated schools would seem to lead to an increase in the
number of Negro pupils attending desegregated schools; but this does not
appear to have happened. In September 1960, although seven additional
Negro schools had closed, there were fewer Negro pupils in biracial
schools than in the previous year. The number decreased from 10,246
in September 1959 to 9,806 in September I96o. 102 The largest decrease
occurred at the junior high level. It appears that a substantial
number of Oklahoma Negroes, forced out of segregated schools, either
drop out entirely or enroll in other Negro schools—since the State's
relatively small Negro population has in fact increased. 103
Tennessee
Only 3 of Tennessee's 141 school districts enrolling both white and
Negro pupils had opened the doors of any white school to Negroes by
May 1959. Two years later, 6 out of 143 biracial districts had desegregated.
Only Virginia surpassed Tennessee in the number of districts
desegregated by court order during 1959-61. The three school districts
in Tennessee that admitted Negro pupils to formerly white schools did
so by order of a Federal court, although three other districts voluntarily
adopted a desegregation policy that has not yet resulted in biracial
school enrollment. 104
599611—81 B 5 1