- Collection:
- Chattanooga Sit-ins and desegregation
- Title:
- Scrapbook
- Creator:
- Hamilton County (Tenn.). Department of Education
- Date of Original:
- 1960-04-12/1960-07-31
- Subject:
- Public schools--Tennessee--Chattanooga
African Americans--Tennessee--Chattanooga
Civil rights--Tennessee--Chattanooga
Segregation in education--Tennessee--Chattanooga
School integration--Tennessee--Chattanooga
Race relations
Chattanooga (Tenn.)--Race relations
Hamilton County (Tenn.)--Race relations
Civil rights demonstrations--Tennessee--Chattanooga - Location:
- United States, Tennessee, Hamilton County, Chattanooga, 35.04563, -85.30968
- Medium:
- scrapbooks
- Type:
- StillImage
- Format:
- image/jpeg
- Description:
- Maroon and gold scrapbook. Contains newspaper articles about Chattanooga Public Schools. Dates of articles are April 12 through July 31, 1960. Articles glued onto pages. Dates of the articles are written on pages next to the articles. Scrapbook held together by maroon cord. The articles focus on the integration issue and sit-ins, demonstrations. April 12, 1960: There are four articles from the Chattanooga News Free Press for this date. The first, "Negro Seized in Bomb-Placing Near Another's Vine St. Home", reports that a Negro man, accused of placing three sticks of dynamite outside the home of another Negro on March 30, was put under bond for a grand jury investigation. The second article, "The Need and The Time", is an editorial opposing forced integration of public schools in Chattanooga, and urges Hamilton County voters to elect state representatives who would pass legislation that would present an alternative to forced integration. The third article, "Expel All Students Convicted of 'Misconduct', State Orders", reports that the State Board of Education ordered the dismissal from state-supported institutions of any student who in the future "shall be arrested and convicted of charges involving personal misconduct", such as sit-ins and other civil rights protest activity. The fourth article is a letter to the editor in which a local attorney suggests a plan for more funding for private schools which would not have to be integrated. April 13, 1960: There are two articles from the Chattanooga Times and three articles from The News Free Press for this date. The first Times article reports that in Nashville, police riot squads were called out twice to quell minor disturbance as students, mostly black, continued sit-in protests against segregated lunch counters. The second Times article is a letter to the editors that makes the argument that Communists are to blame for stirring up civil rights trouble, for the purpose of dividing America and weakening it enough to take over. The first Free Press article is an editorial praising the Chattanooga Police for their investigation of a recent bomb plot. The second Free Press article is an editorial praising the stance of the State Board of Education for its decision to dismiss any student attending a state school if they were convicted of misconduct, such as sit-ins or other civil rights protest activity. The third Free Press article reports that four Negro college students faced expulsion from school if convicted on disorderly conduct charges resulting from protests they participated in. April 14, 1960: There are three News Free Press articles for this date.The first Free Press article reports that police investigated a report of a sit down by several Negroes at a Krystal Restaurant in Chattanooga. The second article is a letter to the editor. The letter argues that local authorities should be able to decide whether or not their schools and businesses should be integrated. The third article is a letter to the editor, and argues against "race mixing" of any kind. April 15, 1960: There are three articles for this date, two from the Times, and one from the Free Press. The first Times article is a letter to the editor from some Birmingham residents, who take issue with the characterization of that city's police force and police chief, Bull Conner, by the Times. The second Times article is also a letter to the editor and uses the Bible to justify segregation. The Free Press article, an editorial, takes exception with the Florida Governor making disparaging remarks about the South in a speech he gave while he was in New Jersey. April 16, 1960: There is one article from the Free Press for this date. The article reports that a group of about ten young Negroes demonstrated against the segregation of downtown lunch counters, especially along Market Street, in the downtown area of Chattanooga. April 17, 1960: There are four articles from the Chattanooga Times for this date. The first article reports that twenty young Negroes carrying cardboard sign paraded the crowded downtown section (of Chattanooga) for four hours, and that the demonstrators, who began picketing some of the stores in the 700 and 800 blocks of Market Street were all but ignored by the thousands of last minute Easter shoppers. The second article reports on a disagreement in strategy that occurred at a conference for Southern Negro student leaders, with students advocating more drastic action and losing patience with the legal approach of the NAACP. The third article reports that a Negro man got into a car wreck with another vehicle carrying four men wearing robes, likely members of the Ku Klux Klan. The fourth article reports on the challenges facing the two newest members of the Chattanooga city school board. April 18, 1960: There are three articles from the Free Press for this date. The first article is an editorial describing the peaceful protests of lunch counters by blacks on Market Street. The article then goes on to basically warn blacks to keep their protests peaceful or they would face all sorts of retribution from the white majority. The second article reports a resumption of protests by blacks of downtown stores. The third article is a letter to the editor which laments the fact that the Federal government can tell anyone (especially this author) what to do. April 19, 1960: There are three articles from the Times and three articles from the Free Press for this date. The first Times article reports that a new tactic was put into effect by black protesters in Chattanooga, consisting of seven black ministers standing and praying silently on a traffic island at ninth and market streets, while holding a sign saying "We Pray For Our City In Christian Love Stop Jim Crow". The second Times article reports that former President Harry S Truman expressed the belief that Communists were engineering the student sit-downs at lunch counters in the south. The third Times article report that the bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Alabama has asked the national council of his church to repudiate a recent document expressing sympathy for the current Negro sitdown movement in the south. The first Free Press article reports that city school authorities were making an investigation to determine whether a recent conduct directive by Superintendent J.W. Letson was violated is a series of sit-down demonstrations at four downtown stores. The second Free Press article is a letter to the editor and argues that Methodist pastors are afraid to preach against church integration because the national Methodist authority was taken over by communist infiltrators who wanted to stir up trouble. The third Free Press article is a letter to the editor detailing the intertwining of politics, religion, and the issue of segregation and civil rights applied to Chattanooga. April 20, 1960: There are two articles from the Chattanooga Times for this date, and one article from the Free Press.The first article, a letter to the editor, decries the expulsion of students from public universities for participating in sit-ins and other anti-segregation protests, saying that it is undemocratic and stifles academic freedom. The second Times article reports on the ongoing protests against segregated businesses taking place along Market Street, saying that they were peaceful and "quiet". The Free Press article is an editorial condemning the bombing of the house of a prominent NAACP lawyer in Nashville. April 21, 1960: There are two articles from the Chattanooga Times for this date. The first article reports that Harry Truman claimed he was misquoted when it was reported that he said Communists were to blame for the sitdown movement by students in the south. The second article reports that Howard students who participated in the sitdown demonstrations at four downtown businesses came from their homes or churches, not school, Howard Principal C.C. Bond said. April 22, 1960: There are four articles from the Free Press for this date. The first article is an editorial bemoaning the policy of the Eisenhower administration in regards to the use of federal troops to enforce the integration of public schools (Little Rock, AR). The second article is a report on Evangelist Billy Graham's views on the subject of race. The third article reports that John W. Letson, superintendent of city schools, said that he felt there had been no violation of his conduct directive to city pupils by the sit-down demonstration by Howard students in a downtown store. The fourth article is a letter to the editor written by a Northerner giving his perspective on the race and segregation issues that were rocking the south. April 23, 1960: There is one article from the Chattanooga Times, and six articles from the Free Press for this date. The Times article reports that WDEF-TV, Channel 12 would not carry a CBS FYI program showing the organization of sit-in demonstrations in Nashville. The first Free Press article reports on the refusal of WDEF-TV to carry this program as well. The second Free Press article reports that Mississippi's new anti-sit-down law would get its first test when seven black men from Arkansas appear in court for entering a white bathroom at a gas station and seeking service at an adjoining cafe. The third Free Press article is a letter to the editor vehemently denouncing everything about the civil right movement and desegregation. The fourth Free Press article reports the sitdown protest of seven young blacks at a Kress lunch counter in downtown Chattanooga. The fifth article is an editorial describing the proposed amendment by an Ohio senator that would apply penalties to any citizen interfering with the carrying out of a Federal court order. The sixth article is a letter to the editor which argues that blacks have a higher rate of illegitimacy and a higher rate of venereal disease, and that integration may have cause some of this, and because of these "facts" desegregation would be dangerous to the society and white people. April 24, 1960: There is one article from the Chattanooga Times for this date. The article reports that southern students are being recruited for an "Interracial Action Institute" to be held in Miami in August. Applications being distributed stated that the participants would receive training in action, and that evaluation would be based on actual successes and failures experienced in direct, nonviolent action projects. April 25, 1960: There are three articles from the Free Press for this date. The first reports that three white men were accused of beating and shooting at a black man, one of whom was an ex-policeman. One of them men was fined $50 for assault and battery and put under a $500 bond for a grand jury investigation. The ex-policeman was fined $50 for drunkenness. The second article reports that the city school board has given final approval of the awarding of construction contracts for the new Orchard Knob Junior High School for Negroes. The third article is an editorial which argues that the term nonviolence is a misnomer, since one of the goals of civil rights activists is to try and incite violence through their tactics. April 26, 1960: There are two Times articles for this date. The first article reports that former president Harry Truman was sticking to his contention that he was misquoted when it was reported that he blamed communists for sit-ins and other protests in the south. The former President maintained his assertion despite there being audio recordings proving he did actually say that communists were to blame. The second article reports that a black farmer had his barn "mysteriously" burned down. The farmer said that it looked like it was deliberately set. April 27, 1960: There is one article from the Chattanooga Times, and one article from the News Free Press for this date. The Free Press article reports that the Chattanooga Board of Education filed a motion asking US District Judge Leslie R. Darr to eliminate all issues relative to the assignment of teachers form the recent integration suit filed in Chattanooga. The integration suit requests the court to issue an injunction restraining the board of education from assigning teachers to classroom duty on the basis of race and color. The Chattanooga Times reports on the same story regarding the integration suit. April 28, 1960: There is no material for this date. April 29, 1960: There is one article from the Chattanooga Times for this date. The article reports that fifteen black youth carrying Bibles staged a sit-in at the lunch counter of the F.W. Woolworth Co. at 729 Market Street for approximately 20 minutes. April 30, 1960: There are three articles for this date, two from the Times and one from the Free Press. The first Times article reports that black students staged sit-ins at four lunch counters at variety stores on Market street. The second Times article is a letter to the editor which criticizes the conditions at a work farm for legally troubles black youth, arguing that the "criminals" at this farm have an easier time and better amenities than law-abiding white folks in elementary schools in the same area. Basically the author argues that this somehow constitutes revers discrimination against whites. The Free Press article reports on the sit-in protests staged in four lunch counters on Market street, the same event reported in the Times article. May 1, 1960: There are two articles from the Times for this date. The first article reports that young blacks, many carrying Bibles staged sit-ins at four lunch counters on Market street, and that police had to break up several verbal altercations that broke out between whites and blacks. The second Times article reports that two incidents involving reported attacks on whites by blacks were investigated by city officers. May 2, 1960: There is on article from the Free Press for this date. The article is an editorial and, using statistics about the number of children attending independent, or private schools in New York City, makes the argument that Chattanooga could provide a sufficient number of private schools to accommodate those who wanted to avoid attending integrated public schools. The author calls the decision of the Warren Court ordering the integration of public schools unconstitutional, and is obviously an opponent of school integration. May 3, 1960: There is no material for this date. May 4, 1960: There are five articles for this date, three from the Times, and two from the Free Press. The first Times article reports that formal opposition developed to the Chattanooga board of education's proposal to exclude the teacher, principal, and other personnel assignment issue from the city school system integration suit in federal court, and that a brief was filed in the US District Court clerk's office in opposition to a motion to exclude the assignment issue. The second Times article reports that John Letson, superintendent of city schools addressed a luncheon hosted by the sons of the American Revolution on the topic of race and school integration, saying that some integration was inevitable. The third Times article is a letter to the editor which basically argues that the Supreme Court, in their integration decision, did not create a new law, but that it is up to Federal and local law making bodies to create laws which would comply with the decision of the court. The first Free Press article, reports on the integration motion filed with the US district Court regarding school integration, the same one reported by the Times. The second Free Press article reports on the talk that superintendent Letson gave regarding integration, the same one reported on by the Times. May 5, 1960: There are two article from the Free Press for this date. In the first, a letter to the editor, the author first establishes his non-racist bona fides, his church is integrated and he went to an integrated eastern college after all, then proceeds to argue that the Supreme Court acted unconstitutionally when issuing its integration decisions in the mid-1950s. The second article, also a letter to the editor, argues that sit-ins and other civil rights protests were harmful to the progress (what progress?) that was being made, and that the most serious racial incidents were occurring not in the south, but in the north. The author then gives some examples of the heinous Yankee race problem. May 6, 1960: There are three articles for this date, two from the Times, and one from the Free Press. The first Times article is a letter to the editor in which the author uses the Bible to argue that God separated the races and therefore man has no business trying to undo what God did. The second Times article reports that the teacher assignment issue was stricken from the Chattanooga school system integration suit in a decision which narrowed the case solely to the question whether the four black children initiating the litigation are entitled to have all city schools desegregated only at the pupil level. The Free Press article reports on the same integration suit decision as the Times article already described. May 7, 1960: There is no material for this date. May 8, 1960: There is one article for this date from the Chattanooga Times. It reports that the Times would be running a series of articles portraying in factual and dynamic terms the challenging story of black life in northern cities. May 9, 1960: There is one article for this date from the Times. The article focuses on "Negro Extremist" Adam Clayton Powell and his preaching of a message of black nationalism in his church in Harlem. The reporter comments on the more aggressive message of these black nationalists, calling them fascists. He goes on to note however that these extremists are a minority within the overall black population. The tone of the article is one of slight alarm however, as the author seems to believe that the resentment of large populations of urban blacks living in "ghettos" might herald the start of some new movement, some new era. May 10, 1960: There are five articles for this date, two from the Times, and three from the Free Press. The first Times article reports on crime among blacks in the "ghettos" of northern cities, focusing especially on New York. The article argues that though blacks are overrepresented in crime statistics in big cities in the north, it is not their race that leads them to a life of crime, but rather poverty. The article also argues that in the north whites and blacks are more isolated than in the south and this leads to an irrational fear by whites of blacks, and a tendency to group blacks into poor squalid areas where turning to crime is pretty much the only option left. The second Times article is a letter to the editor in which the author argues that Chattanoogans were surrendering too easily in the school integration fight and that many white residents would feel differently about the issue if they had children in the public school system. The first Free Press article reports that action was scheduled to be taken by the Knoxville Presbytery on the controversial question of whether to integrate its $243,000 camp and conference development on Watts Bar Lake. The second Free Press article is an editorial and laments the decision of Federal Judge Frank Hooper of Atlanta ordering Atlanta's public schools to comply with the Supreme Court ruling on the integration of public schools by September of 1961. The third Free Press article, a letter to the editor ridiculously tries to draw a parallel between the ancient pagan practice of child sacrifice and the Chattanooga school board's decision to integrate public schools, saying that they were sacrificing the children of the poor (those who couldn't afford to attend private schools) to the god of togetherness, while imagining a horrifying "coffee colored future" as the result of this barbarity. May 11, 1960: There are two articles for this date, one from the Times, and on from the Free Press. The Times article goes into a detailed description of the burgeoning movement, connected with black nationalism, black Islam. The author describes the religion and its tenets focusing mainly on its growth out of Harlem. The Free Press article reports that delegates to the Knoxville Presbyter voted to integrate their new camp and conference development on Watts Bar Lake. They voted to conduct one integrated session, and two segregated sessions at the camp over the summer. May 12, 1960: There are three articles for this date, one from the Times and two from the Free Press. The Times article details the plight of poor blacks in the slums of Harlem, and seeks to understand why they migrate from the south despite the awful conditions that confront them in the Harlem and other northern slums. Those the author interviewed still say the northern urban slums are better than the south they came from. The first Free Press Article reports that the city school board named one of its members, Raymond B. Witt Jr, to serve as chief counsel for the board in the pending school integration suit in federal court. The second Free Press article is an editorial which sentimentalizes the love and good feeling whites have for blacks in the south. May 13, 1960: There are four articles for this date, two from the Times, and two from the Free Press. The first Times article reports that fifty black boys and girls, all students at Howard School, were arrested at the S.H. Kress & Co. store, during a sit-in protest. The second Times article reports on the voting patterns of blacks in large Northern cities, calling them the last real bloc vote. The first Free Press article reports that one of the 50 teenage black boys and girls arrested on loitering charges after a sit-in at a downtown dime store was fined $50 in city court as the group's lawyer started a test case to determine the constitutionality of the ordinance invoked against them. The second Free Press article is an editorial which cites the case of a group of rowdy whites who were kicked out of some drive ins in the late fifties, which caused the city to pass an ordinance reinforcing property owner's right to use and control their property any way they saw fit. The author then argues that this law was applied to whites as well as blacks in sit-in demonstrations making it a fair and equitable law. May 14, 1960: There are four articles for this date, two from the Times and two from the Free Press. The first Times article reported 24 arrests and a protest march by 62 around the city jail block for approximately half an hour. The protest was in response to arrests of sit-in protesters the day before. The second Times article details the problems facing middle class blacks in suburbs, where their money and investments in housing are welcome, but where they a tacit kind of discrimination and racism. The article focuses especially on the Washington D.C. suburb of Mount Vernon. The first Free Press article reports the delay of the preliminary hearing for the 24 youths arrested in sit-in demonstrations due to the NAACP lawyer representing them taking ill. The second Free Press article is a letter to the editor which laments that the grown ups who force integration on their children do not practice what they preach when it comes to associating with members of the other race themselves. May 15, 1960: There is no material for this date. May 16, 1960: There is on article for this date from the Times. The article details the plight of Puerto Ricans in the north, noting that because of the lighter pigmentation of their skin would most likely result in their climb up the American social ladder easier. May 17, 1960: There are three articles for this date, two from the Times, and one from the Free Press. The first details the "lily white unions" of the northern cities and their attempts to keep out blacks. The second article reports that sit-in arrests were made for the third consecutive school day (Monday) at the S.H. Kress & Co. store on market street. The Free Press article reports that city policemen investigated two reports that white youths were attacked and beaten by black boys in Highland Park. May 18, 1960: There are two articles from the Times for this date. The first article reports that the Hamilton County juvenile court in effect went on record as "recognizing the right" of black juveniles to engage in sit-in demonstrations in limited numbers and orderly fashion. The second article details the lamentable state of housing conditions and housing opportunities available to blacks, both poor and reasonably well to do. May 19, 1960: There are six articles for this date, four from the Times, and two from the Free Press. The first Times article reports that city judge Riley Graham retired charges against 21 black sit-in demonstrators after the attorney for the S.H. Kress Co. said that management did not wish to prosecute. The second Times article reports that an order taking out of the suit for integration of Chattanooga's schools all pleading seeking to prevent assignment of teachers, principals, and other school personnel on the basis of race or color was signed by US District Judge Leslie Darr. The third Times article reports that F.W. Woolworth Stores would continue to refuse to serve blacks at lunch counters in the south. The fourth Times article details the use of the legal system and court decisions by blacks to fight back against the injustices they have suffered. The first Free Press article reports on the talk that Raymond B. Witt, member of the Chattanooga board of education delivered to a Rotary Club meeting regarding the state of education in Tennessee. The second Free Press article is an editorial arguing that the city ordinance that allows loitering charges to be brought against people by business owners was not racially motivated and its use not specific to the sit-in demonstrators. May 20, 1960: There are seven articles for this date, five from the Times and two from the Free Press. The first Times article is an editorial praising the speech gave by Raymond Witt of the Chattanooga board of education to the Rotary Club. The second article details the speech given by Witt at Rotary, on education in Tennessee and the challenges it faced. The third Times article reports that sit-ins resumed, but in smaller numbers, with no more than six to a group, as black students staged sit-ins at seven downtown stores. The fourth Times article reports that eleven black boys involved in sit-in demonstrations at Kress May 12 were made wards of the juvenile court Thursday and enjoined from participating in mass demonstrations where there were more than six of their number present. The fifth Times article argues that the NAACP had been left behind by the youth who were the true driving force behind the burgeoning civil rights movement, with sit-ins being the prime example of this. The first Free Press article reports the staging of sit-ins at seven lunch counters by groups of six. The second Free Press article reports that a black man who was injured in an altercation with policemen outside the downtown Kress store was released from Erlanger Hospital and booked at the city jail on charges of drunkenness, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, using public profanity, and assaulting an officer. May 21, 1960: There are two articles for this date, on from the Times, and one from the Free Press. The Times article is a letter to the editor lamenting the fact the claim that communists were somehow behind the sit-in demonstrations, arguing that blaming anything new or unorthodox on the communists is common, but not likely to be true. The Free Press article is also a letter to the editor and it praises the Free Press for its unflinching championing of all things biased towards white people. The author goes on to lament that property owners are so put upon by the federal government and champions any owner's right to serve whoever they wish. May 22, 1960: There are three articles for this date, one from the Times and two for the Free Press. The Times article summarized the plight of the black population in the North and in the south, and gives some insight into the new movements within the populace. He also examines the goals, the new radicals within the black community and the barriers that still existed for blacks in the country and what the blacks were planning to do to overcome these obstacles. The first Free Press article is a letter to the editor in which the author argues that those who would use the Bible to advocate integration or the idea that all people are equal are misreading that text. The second Free Press article reports that NAACP Counsel Thurgood Marshall announced that there would be no appeal at this time on US District Court Judge Leslie R. Darr's recent action striking the plea for racial mixing of teachers and pupils from the Chattanooga City Council integration suit. May 24, 1960: There is no material for this date. May 25, 1960: There are four articles from the Free Press for this date. The first article reports that lawyers for four black youngsters seeking admission to all-white Chattanooga public schools that they will take depositions in the case next month. The second article reports that juvenile judge Burrell Barker made 22 black boys and girls wards of the court for their part in demonstrations at a white lunch counter at Kress May 12, 13, and 16. The third article is an editorial that argues for less Federal government intervention in schools. The fourth article is a letter to the editor that praises an editorial from a previous issue written about the speech of Raymond Witt of the Chattanooga board of education on the state of schools in Tennessee. May 26, 1960: There is no material for this date. May 27, 1960: There are nine articles for this date, five from the Times, and four from the Free Press. The first Times article reports that 22 black boys and girls were made wards of the court for their participation in sit-in demonstrations May12, 13, and 16. The second Times article is a letter to the editor arguing that the Bible supports discrimination and regrets that the Methodist Church has come out in support of integration. The third article is a letter to the editor that uses the Bible to argue for integration and praises the Methodist Church for supporting it. The fourth Times article reports that recent action by Juvenile Court Judge Burrell Barker in granting black juveniles the right to engage in equality demonstrations in limited numbers and orderly fashion was hailed by the defense attorney representing the youth charged in some of the sit-in demonstrations. The fifth Times article is a letter to the editor in which the author vigorously disagrees with Judge Barker's ruling deeming it acceptable for black youth to engage in sit-in demonstrations as long as their numbers were small and they did it in an orderly fashion. The first Free Press article is a letter to the editor arguing that while he and other southerners don't hate blacks and are not racist, they don't think it is right for blacks or anyone else to dictate to private business owners who they must serve. The second Free Press article reports that Juvenile Court judge Barker issued an order for 19 more black youths arrested during a sit-in demonstration a the Kress store May 12, the same restraining order as before against more than six taking part in the lunch counter protests. The third Free Press article reports that a 23 year old black man drew a ten year prison term on a count of assaulting with the intent to ravish a white woman in the Confederate cemetery. The fourth Free Press article is an editorial decrying the fact that those school districts complying with integration got more federal aid for schools than those not complying. May 28, 1960: There is no material for this date. May 29, 1960: There are two articles for this date from the Times. The first article is an editorial and criticizes Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, an African American congressman from the north and desegregation crusader. The author's Cartesian has to do with Powell's attaching a desegregation amendment to a bill that would provide Federal aid to local school systems across the country. This action, according to the author of the editorial, would put the whole bill in jeopardy. The author believes that cities were basically being held hostage by rural congressmen and that federal aid was important in helping city school systems meet the basic requirements of their students. The second article is a letter to the editor in which the author argues that communis
- Metadata URL:
- http://chattanooga.pastperfectonline.com/archive/DCB0F3C3-C89C-415D-8229-370171440860
- Language:
- eng
- Original Collection:
- Hamilton County Department of Education Collection
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
- Rights:
-
