THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUE
.esi ents
rlttesville
Differ
Widely
*
(Continued from Page 1)
at this year's reaction of the
6ple of Charlottesville to inte--
ition will in no way resemble
It in Front Royal, Va. The
iools will not be close, he
irmed.
'Ellis is wrong," William Nash,
native of Schuyler, Va., who
rks in Charlottesville, said.
'Well, yes, I think there will be
Ticulties-probably happen the
ne here as in Arkansas.
iolence Predicted . .
'I wouldn't like it," he hastened
add, "but that's what it would
Yes., I believe there will be
ilence."
Tash's oldest child will be three
ars. old this September. When
reaches school age, will he be
rolled in an integrated school?
'No, absolutely not," Nash re-
ed. "He would go to a private
hool someplace."
John Martin, a Negro student
Lo will enter the 10th grade at
- previously all-white Lane
gh School this fall, lives 12
cks from the school. He for-
rly attended Burley High, ive
ics away.
martin is expecting no difficul-
s. But if any action is taken
inst him, he is not sure what
will do.
I don't know. It depends," he
mitted. "I don't think 'I'l do
ything..
rother To Attend ...-
Martin has four brothers, one
whom will also attend Lane
gh School in September.
'I'd go back to Lane," 13-year-
1 Patricia Davis said. "I know
big sister is going back for
a 12th grade."
?atty said that a majority of
r friends' parents were sending
qm away to privatq schools.
'My parents gave me my
rice," she continued.
'There's going to be a CEF
harlottesville Educational Foun-
Lion) school built out in the
rntry. They're trying to get a
te tuition grant now from the
evernor.
'My parents signed me up, but
ion't know. They have to build
and get it ready by September.
reference Stated . .
I'd really rather go back to
ne," she said. "Just mothers
d retired teachers are offering
teach at the CEF."
?atty. added that she doubts
y can set up a "good enough"
cool in three months.
$he said that most of the high
ool students attending the CEF
iool will be eighth and ninth
aders.
'But the sophomores, juniors
d seniors are a part of Lane
ce they've been there such a
g time and I guess they just
1 it's their duty to stay," Patty
d.
'Some people don't want them
ie Negro students) in there.
'It really doesn't matter to me,"
i affirmed. "I wouldn't mind
being.in a class with them, but I
just don't want to take part with
them (socially)."
Solution Suggested .,..
Patty had her own solution for
any difficulties that may arise: "If
all the white children go back,
this will fill up the rooms. There's
a limit of 29-32 children per
class.
"If we fill them up, then the
colored children can't come in,"
she concluded.
The grandmother of a five-year-
old boy said guardedly about his
entering school, "I don't know
what his parents are going to do.
Sorry I couldn't help you more."
She slammed the door.
Patrick Mansfiel is an 18-year-
old ' graduate of a - Negro -high
school in Louisa, Va., 30 miles
from Charlottesville.
He said there was little reaction
in his community to the token
integration that will occur in
Charlottesville schools.
Suppose they integrate your
school? Mansfiel said, "It'd be
all right with me."
College Planned . . .
Next year he hopes to attend
Virginia State, a Negro college in
Petersburg, Va., where he will
major in biology.
"There's hardly any white folks
like the colored," two students at-
tending McGuffey Elementary
School said. The school board has
received one application for ad-
mittance to the school.
"Everybody in my room says
they'll leave if colored students
come," 12 - year - old Katherine
Lane, who will enter the sixth
grade in September, said. "And
if the colored hit anyone in my
room, they said ,they're going to
hit them right back."
Friends To Return . .,.
Her younger sister;, Phyllis, 10
years old, said, "Most of my
friends in the fourth grade will
stay at McGuffey. There's a girl
from New York who plays with
colored children all the time;
she'll come back."
Asked if' they personally ob-
jected' to attending classes, ith
Negro children, the sisters re-
plied, "Mothei said she wouldn't
like us to go to school here if
they come. She wants us to go to
a country school."
An elderly mother and her
daughter were sitting on the front
porch of their home in a low-
middle class residential section
of town.'
Both Residents . . *
The daughter has lived in Char-
lottesville 55 years, her mother
75. In 1925 she was graduated
from what is known as Old Lane
v
William Nash and Son Aylett Willis
, . , father predicts violence . . . favors separate schools
-Photo--Charlottesville Daily Progress
Fendall R. Ellis
. .expects 'drop in enrollment'
High School; her mother belongs
to the Class of 1903.
"We are opposed to integra-
tion," the daughter, who would
not give their names, said.
'We've lived in the South too
long to be any other way," she
said fanning herself. "Lawd, it's
hot, isn't it - must be 91 degrees.
"I expect there're more opposed
than for it. I believe in education'
for the colored people and I be-
lieve in their rights, but I cer-
tainly think they should have
separate and equal schools."
She told of one neighborhood in
Charlottesville v hich. has no
Negro residents within the school
district there.R
"But I hear the NAACP is try-
ing to get two families in there
so they can petition and send
the children to the white school.
'Sharing' Seen . . .
"If one school has to have!
them, then all schools should
share in it," the daughter con-
tinued. "But Virginia has such'
good facilities for the colored stu-
dents, I just don't see why they
want the schools integrated my-I
self.
"It'll be harder on the colored
children," she warned. "For 500
out of every 1,,000 bright white
students, I bet there aren't two in
a 1,000 bright Negro children."
The daughter has a 10-year-old
grandson at McGuffey Elemen-
tary. Sh3 made no comment about
plans for his education next year.
Little Talk . .
With a look in his eye of one
afraid to talk about the subject,
a Negro who lives 36 miles from
Charlottesville said few of his'
neighbors had discussed the situa-
tion.
Is there a possibility of difficul-
ty in integrating )the schools?
"No, indeed!" he replied em-
phatically. .
Mrs. Lula Craven is the grand-
mother of 11-year-old Barbara
and 16-year-old Ann Darnell.
Barbara will enter the sixth grade
at McGuffey and' Ann the 11th
grade in'high school
Both girls may enter integrated
schools this fall. Barbara said her
sister was definitely going back.
As for herself, "I wouldn't
mind," she drawled.
Decision Rests *
Mrs. Craven said the decision.
rests with her granddaughters.
"It depends upon the children
themselves whether they care to
mingle with them," she said.
"As far as the colored as con-
cerned," she continued, "I don't
think the older ones want it.
There're good colored and bad
coloreds, same as there are
whites."
Mrs. Craven doesn't expect any
difficulties when schools open in
September. She has heard noth-
ing about state tuition grants and
the possibility of her grandchild-
ren attending a private school..
"I haven't formed an opinion
yet" was the only statement she
made about the school board's ac-
some real good. I tell you the
truth: I really don't know.
"But I hope there won't be any,
trouble," Willis concluded.
"I was born and raised 20 miles
from here; I wasn't educated or
raised in the North and up to 10
years ago, I assumed segregation
was the right thing," Mrs. Roger
Boyle, wife of a University of Vir-
ginia dramatics professor said.
Mrs. Boyle, better known to her
reading public as Sarah Patton
Boyle, is the author of an article
that appeared in a 1955 edition of
the "Saturday Evening Post" ti-
tled "Southerns Will Like Inte-
gration."
Name Changed,.
The article was originally called
"We're Readier Than We Think,"
she said, but the magazine editors
changed it for effect. .
"It's all this mob psychology
sort of thing," Mrs. Boyle ex-
plained. "There were polls taken
here at the university, throughout
the state and the Soutl indicat-
ing that we are individually ready
for integration, but resisting as a
group.
"I still think we're readier than
we think," she continued. "Once
this massive resistance psychology
is changed, we'll move far.
"Of course, this depends on
when we get started and the legal
opposition that arises," she quali-
fled, "but we'll roll fast once we
get started."
In effect, the article recounted
the incident which aroused her
sympathies for integration. A
Negro student applied for en-
trance to the University of Vir-
ginia law school.
"There's going to be trouble,"
Phyllis and Katherine Lane
... don't want integrated schools'
Daily News Feature
by Norma Sue Wolfe
tion in assigning Negro students
to previously all-white schools.
"I really don't know. I don't
know exactly what to say," 32-
year-old Aylett Willis, who does
yard work for a living, said about,
the board's pupil assignment plan.
Willis, a bachelor, has a 10-
year-old brother who lives in the
country ad attends a Negro
school there.
"In my opinion, I believe they
should let the whites go to their
schools and colored to their own,"
Willis affirmed.
"Well, I tell you. You can find
some white folks real smart and
FADING CITIZEN PREDICTS:
Mrs. Boyle thought, but she began
questioning her friends as to their
opinions and gradually broadene
her inquiry to the university com-
munity-at-large.
She found that roughly 90 per
cent of the women favored admis-
sion of Negroes to the university
graduate schools and only five
per cent of a random 300 univer-
sity students objected strongly.
One answer she found charae-
teristic of her survey: "Well, per-
sonally I think that segregated
education is a handicap to both
races, but I'd probably be run out
of town if I went around saying
that."
Mrs. Boyle concluded her article
with the statement, "I do not
claim that the whole story of
Southern racial prejudice is a
myth, but I do stoutly maintain
that it is vastly exaggerated in
our own minds, as well as in those
of outsiders.
'Few Bellow'. .
"A few emotional individuals
bellow threats and hatred, a few
sensation lovers join them in the
din, and the large majority, com-
posed of good-willed but easy-
going and peace-loving citizens,
cower back, mistakenly assutning
that there is nothing they can do
about it because their 'number is
so small'."
The last paragraph of the arti-
cle read: "Our chief need, I think
is for the realization that if- we
believe in justice and equality for
all, we are not only on the side
of right but also on the side of
the majority, and that we shall
suffer no loneliness in our com-
munity if we stand up to , be
counted for what we believe."
Mrs. Boyle recently circled the
latter part of the paragraph in
ink and added the notation, "T'Ihis.
is the only part of this article
which I now feel is untrue."
Board Criticized .
After the action of the school
board this June, Mrs. Boyle criti-
cized ;them for assigning only two_
Negro students to white schools
voluntarily. The other nine were
to enter all-white schools in Sep-
tember through a court order; she
explained.
Archie Luck, of 300 Third St.,
is the only Negro working with
an all-white carpentry unit for a
local firm.
"It doesn't make any difference
to me," he said. "I'm working with
all whites now, but we work just
like brothers.
"I've never met a buflch as nice
and I think they feel the same
about me-no discrimination, no
distinction," Luck continued.
He has two children eligible to.
go to Lane High School. One Is
17 years old, the other 15.
"But, .automatically I say the
taxpayer's money has to be dis-
tributed.
Necessity Stated . .
"If it's a necessity, I'll keep. my
children where they are," Luck
said. "If the law says they should
go to school. with white childr&,
I'll say they should go."
His neighbor is George Bar-
bour, who work on the university
janitors' staff. Barbour is the
father of six children, three of
school age.
"Well, I tell you. My children
don't have to go to white schools,"
Barbour said. "It's immaterial to
me.
"But I'm not going to apply any
of mine to white schools. I don't
see any need for it," he explained.
Barbour predicted that .few
Charlottesville white residents will
send their children away to pri-
vate schools because of "the
MViller Se
e t, NOrmal' Desegregation
"There is such a thing as organic
owth: You plant a seed, manure
tend it and then the rains come.
"If not too many more Negro
idents are assigned to the Char-
tesville public schools and if no,
:ther litigation is stirred up be-
een now and September, my
pe and expectation is that de-,
gregation of these schools will
completely quiet and normal,"
e of the leading citizens of Char-
tesville, 'Va., prophesied,
Col. Francis Pickens Miller; an
dent opponent of the Byrd
mocratic machine, ran unsuc-.
ssfully for dovernor in 1949 and
r Sen. Harry F. Byrd's seat in
e United States Senate in 1952.
was educated at Washington
Lee University in Lexington,
, and Oxford University in
iland, which he attended for
ree years as a Rhodes scholar.
Eis wife is a graduate of both
yn Mawr College in Pennsyl-
nia and Oxford University. She
a correspondent for the London
onomist and contributing editor
the "New Republic."
esire Compliance . .
Both Colonel ani Mrs. Miller ex-
essed the hope that -there will be
derly compliance with the city.
ool board's pupil assignment
it has been thrilling to live here
this past winter."
Form Committee ..
A group of citizens, including
Colonel Miller, was very much con-
cerned about creating an atmos-
phere favorable to compliance with
Judge Paul's order. The 10 to 12
members were the city's largest in-
dustrialists, merchants, architects,
bankers, construction and life in-
surance men.
Although the men differed in
the way each felt about the court's
decision, Colonel Miller said all
were eager for the community to
avoid a situation similar to Little
Rock's.
First, the Colonel praised the
city mayor, Thomas J. Michie.
"We are very fortunate in our
mayor. He is a lawyer, a native of
Charlottesville, you see, and was
elected to the town council last
year by a two-to-one margin when
opposed by a 100 per cent segrega-
tionist.
"This gave him a great moral
advantage," Colonel Miller added.
"The majority of the city council
was with him in his desire to see
an orderly compliance with the
court order to re-open the schools
in September."
Colonel Miller also has been
working closely with John S. Bat-
tle, Jr., the son of the man who
defeated him as Governor.
Notes Atmosphere . ,.
"A lot of the good atmosphere
in the community is due to the
way City/Attorney Battle worked,"
he said.
In addition, the school board be-
haved "magnificently," Colonel
Miller reported.
"Several did not like the Su-
preme Court's decision at all, but
they knew what the situation was:
that it was very childish to oppose
the inevitable.
"When the time came for them
to vote, the board voted unani-
mously to reopen the schools in
September in compliance with the
federal court order," Colonel Miller
said. "This was a great triumph
for the community."
The dignified gentleman paused
to recall "a wonderful story" af-
fecting their unanimous decision.
"On the afternoon before the
Board reached its decision, I
visited one of the board members
in his office, which was right under
Monticello (the home of Thomas
Jefferson)," Colonel Miller said.
Feels Gaze .. .
His eyes twinkled: "I had the
feeling Mr. Jefferson was looking
down on us all the time."
The board member lived in an
area predominantly composed of
followers of the "white supremacy
people," Colonel Miller said. Be-
cause of the environment, the
Colonel was expecting that their
conversation might be difficult.
But almost before Colonel Miller
come before the court for com-
pliance."
Reason Unknown . . .
Judge Sobeloff was aware of the
importance of the occasion; he was
unaware of the reason why the
community and the town council
had acted with the unanimity it
did, Colonel Miller said.,
"The reason was that so many
people cared and worked actively
and voluntarily to create this at-
mosphere," he explained.,
Colonel Miller was asked about
his personal theory on Gov. J.
Lindsay Almond's sudden change
of tactics in January. On the 20th
of the month, the Governor de-
clared, "I will not yield. . ."
By the 28th, his tactics changed
to "The time has arrived to take a
new, thorough and long look at
the situation which confronts
us. . ..
Whatever happened in those
seven days was described by the
state's most widely circulating,
newspaper as "Virginia's leading
political mystery."
'No Mystery'. .
Colonel Miller believes there's
nothing mysterious about the Gov-
ernor's change in attitude. He used
every means at his disposal to
comply with the laws of Virginia
until it was perfectly evident that
nothing more could be done, the
Colonel explained.
"The Governor has always ques-
tioned the authority of the Su-
situation "perilously near one in
which it could have been hurt,"
Colonel Miller reported.
He knew of one case in which
an insurance official said that, if
massive resistance continued, he
would move his whole firm to West
Virginia.
Mrs. Miller recalled that, in an-
other case, the head of a nationally
known 'appliance corporation, with
a branch in Waynesboro, Va., said
that if he knew of the difficulties
beforehand, he would not have ad-
vised the company to bring its
plant to the state.
All in all, the four-year delay
in integration has cost the state
hundreds of thousands of dollars,
the Colonel estimated.
Would Colonel Miller describe
the Perrow Commission Plan, per-
mitting as little integration as pos-
sible with state tuition grants for
students who do not choose to at-
tend the public schools, as work-
able and realistic?
Cites, Practiclity . .
"I was for the old Gray Plan," he
replied. "The Perrow Commission
report is probably as practical a
plan as could have been proposed
at this time.
"Many lawyers I know are dubi-
ous about the future of the tuition
grants," Colonel Miller added. "Its
fate will largely be determined by
the private schools.
"If these schools are too suc-
cessful and if they rely too heavily
on these scholarships, they will, in,
effect, become public schools.
f the 11 Negro students who
e thus far been assigned to two
he city's public schools, nine
e ordered into white schools
year by United States Judge
n Paul. His action precipitated
I ~,.