{"response":{"docs":[{"id":"bcas_bcmss0837_71","title":"Arkansas Department of Education's (ADE's) Project Management Tool","collection_id":"bcas_bcmss0837","collection_title":"Office of Desegregation Management","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, 39.76, -98.5","United States, Arkansas, 34.75037, -92.50044","United States, Arkansas, Pulaski County, 34.76993, -92.3118"],"dcterms_creator":["Arkansas. Department of Education"],"dc_date":["1999-09/1999-12"],"dcterms_description":null,"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Little Rock, Ark. : Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Central Arkansas Library System."],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":["Office of Desegregation Monitoring records (BC.MSS.08.37)","History of Segregation and Integration of Arkansas's Educational System"],"dcterms_subject":["Education--Arkansas","Little Rock (Ark.). Office of Desegregation Monitoring","School integration--Arkansas","Arkansas. Department of Education","Project managers--Implements"],"dcterms_title":["Arkansas Department of Education's (ADE's) Project Management Tool"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["Butler Center for Arkansas Studies"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/bcmss0837/id/71"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["documents (object genre)"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n\n   \n\n\n   \n\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n  \n\nLittle Rock School District, plaintiff vs. Pulaski County Special School District, defendant.\nIN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION RECEIVED SEP 1  1999 om LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT PLAINTIFF v. No. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, et al. DEFENDANTS NOTICE OF FILING In accordance with the Court's order of December 10, 1993, the Arkansas Department of Education hereby gives notice of the filing of ADE's Project Management Tool for August, 1999. Respectfully Submitted, MARK PRYOR Attorney General --r\nti /_ /? TIMOTHY G. t\n__AUG1ER '#95019 Assistant Attorn~ neral 323 Center Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 682-2007 Attorney for Arkansas Department of Education EIVE IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION SEP 1 19 q LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL PLAINTIFFS V. NO. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL DEFENDANTS MRS. LORENE JOSHUA, ET AL INTERVENORS KATHERINE W. KNIGHT, ET AL INTERVENORS ADE'S PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL In compliance with the Court's Order of December 10, 1993, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) submits the following Project Management Tool to the parties and the Court. This document describes the progress the ADE has made since March 15, 1994, in complying with provisions of the Implementation Plan and itemizes the ADE's progress against timelines presented in the Plan. IMPLEMENTATION PHASE ACTIVITY I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS A. Use the previous year's three quarter average daily membership to calculate MFPA (State Equalization) for the current school year. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 ~~~ gry tb~ii\\fetm~!f9Q ~Y~!!?.I~ ~t qg!y ~j~:11~~\n!b\nIR G~fiji\niiifijij ihi I\nqqaljiijtf 5 f).1rjpifig fbtY $~/QQf~QpJ~tJ p~figgl ijgjtj$\\ffi~iitt. B. Include all Magnet students in the resident District's average daily membership for calculation. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS (Continued) B. Include all Magnet students in the residenl District's average daily membership for calculation. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 !-ilff1m~, 1~nfqmJi112n ~Y~1.,i~1ilf Wv@1I 1s.$$il\u0026amp;ijEoe~1Bm\nf~tjfqtJi a~1o~u:iAPi$..tt:p~fig1i@\\JmigmM C. Process and distribute State MFPA. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 On July 31 , 1999, distributions of State Equalization Funding for FY 98/99 were as follows: LRSD - $46,560,574 NLRSD - $26,187,899 PCSSD - $55,864,014 The allotments of State Equalization Funding calculated for FY 98/99 at July 31, 1999, subject to periodic adjustments, were as follows: LRSD - $46,560,574 NLRSD - $26,187,899 PCSSD - $55,864,014 D. Determine the number of Magnet students residing in each District and attending a Magnet School. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 @ig en tn~ IntrmtJ,en ivij/1i~!~11f~@ios ~,11i1gfi\n1\n1\n,i ~1\n1~~Jgrem $$!Om 4bJ$tJq pet@:11 a.mi:tstm$1'lrn\nE. Desegregation Staff Attorney reports the Magnet Operational Charge to the Fiscal Services Office. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing, as ordered by the Court. 2 IJ I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS (Continued) E. Desegregation Staff Attorney reports the Magnet Operational C~arge to the Fiscal Services Office. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 lll\\1l11~1lfl1\\\\t!1III1l.llll~iiiRil!l1ll~1i1il:1i~ri1t~[III M~~rit g~i)t!!w: @mmift~~ !~ ieentnQ tni~ 1ntffiiijt10.ro$.t\u0026amp;~a Pt tn\u0026amp; itt ~tt~#ni\u0026amp; ijJnglgit~#Jn m~ 1mt.tiimgo#m.n B!?ni F. Calculate state aid due the LRSD based upon the Magnet Operational Charge. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 i~~~ eg f~i 1,nt2rmi1!2r ijx~u~e,~i ~ti~ 5.R it~1ijf~ij ~JQqJy ?11 1g~ijtitleoo ~~IOQW$UPHftq PMP?:il\nadjustm~ot~\nG. Process and distribute state aid for Magnet Operational Charge. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 Distributions for FY 98/99 at July 31 , 1999, totaled $9,144,784. Allotment calculated for FY 98/99 was $9,144,784 subject to periodic adjustments. H. Calculate the amount of M-to-M incentive money to which each school district is entitled. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Calcujate.clfo(FY ~91.oq, sub]e.ct to p~ripflic atjjs.Jmrits. I. Process and distribute M-to-M incentive checks. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, September - June. 3 I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS (Continued) I.  Process and distribute M-to-M incentive checks. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Distributions for FY 98/99 at July 31, 1999 were: LRSD - $3,780,351 NLRSD- $1,941 ,173 PCSSD - $7\n391 ,306 The allotments calculated for FY 98/99 at July 31 , 1999, subject to periodic adjustments, were: LRSD - $3,780,351 NLRSD- $1 ,941 ,173 PCSSD - $7,391 ,306 J. Districts submit an estimated Magnet and M-to-M transportation budget to ADE. 1. Projected Ending Date 2. Ongoing, December of each year. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 In September 1998, the Magnet and M-to-M transportation budgets for FY 98/99 were submitted to the ADE by the Dist.ricts. K. The Coordinator of School Transportation notifies General Finance to pay districts for the Districts' proposed budget. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing, annually. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 ~~r~~ 1!\n~:::to~ihn\nf ~i~~~~:tm1~~~~r~e1\n:11M~Wti~~l~i~iii~11!.llr.91 Coordinator is currentfy performing this functionii.\\st~ad of R$.g\\tialg Y:vJJs.od}~' ir,dicat~g lr}tt,elmplimentatiof} p.[ijh L. ADE pays districts three equal installments of their proposed budget. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing, annually. 4 I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS (Continued) L. ADE pays districts three equal installments of their proposed budge( (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 ~1llltllll~lili~,r~1,1~ll1ill1:li1llllii!f lllr\nl1l~ll~l\\1i ~\u0026amp;!\ni#!lhiffiilm?#it~l ii 4P!i 1ij~g\nfflg 1$)!9w\\Qg ti~a ij\n~H P~t~ t qr EM gijr~~\ni !limll\n1'!l~!~~fig:1_ ~AARQ t liji@!?ij!li . l$$St!H$1\\i\u0026amp;IiP~QQ M. ADE verifies actual expenditures submitted by Districts and reviews each bill with each District's transportation coordinator. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing, annually. 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 In August 1997, the ADE transportation coordinator reviewed each district's Magnet and M-to-M transportation costs for FY 96/97. In July 1998, each district was asked to submit an estimated budget for the 98-99 school year. In September 1998, paperwork was generated for the first payment in the 1998- 99 school year for the Magnet and M-to-M transportation program. School districts should receive payment by October 1, 1998. N. Purchase buses for the Districts to replace existing Magnet and M-to-M fleets and to provide a larger fleet for the Districts' Magnet and M-to-M Transportation needs. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing, as stated in Exhibit A of the Implementation Plan. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 In FY 94/95, the State purchased 52 buses at a cost of $1,799,431 which were added to or replaced existing Magnet and M-to-M buses in the Districts. The buses were distributed to the Districts as follows: LRSD - 32\nNLRSD - 6\nand PCSSD - 14. 5 I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS (Continued) N. Purchase buses for the Districts to replace existing Magnet and M-to-M fleets and to provide a larger fleet for the Districts' Magnet and M-to-M Transportation needs. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) The ADE purchased 64 Magnet and M-to-M buses at a cost of $2,334,800 in FY 95/96. The buses were distributed accordingly: LRSD - 45\nNLRSD - 7\nand PCSSD - 12. In May 1997, the ADE purchased 16 Magnet and M-to-M buses at a cost of $646,400. In July 1997, the ADE purchased 16 Magnet and M-to-M buses at a cost of $624,879. In July 1998, the ADE purchased 16 new Magnet and M-to-M buses at a cost of $695,235. The buses were distributed accordingly: LRSD - 8\nNLRSD - 2\nand PCSSD- 6. Specifications for 16 school buses have been forwarded to state purchasing for bidding in January, 1999 for delivery in July, 1999. The ADE accepted a bid on 16 buses for the Magnet and M/M transportation program. The buses will be delivered after July 1, 1999 and before August 1, 1999. The buses will be distributed accordingly: LRSD - 8\nNLRSD - 2\nPCSSD - 6. 0 . Process and distribute compensatory education payments to LRSD as required by page 23 of the Settlement Agreement. 1. Projected Ending Date July 1 and January 1, of each school year through January 1, 1999. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Obligation fulfilled in FY 96/97. P. Process and distribute additional payments in lieu of formula to LRSD as required by page 24 of the Settlement Agreement. 1. Projected Ending Date Payment due date and ending July 1, 1995. 6 I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS (Continued) P. Process and distribute additional payments in lieu of formula to LRSD as required by page 24 of the Settlement Agreement. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Obligation fulfilled in FY 95/96. Q . Process and distribute payments to PCSSD as required by Page 28 of the Settlement Agreement. 1. Projected Ending Date Payment due date and ending July 1, 1994. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Final payment was distributed July 1994. R. Upon loan request by LRSD accompanied by a promissory note, the ADE makes loans to LRSD. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing through July 1, 1999. See Settlement Agreement page 24. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 The LRSD received $3,000,000 on September 10, 1998. As of this reporting date, the LRSD has received $20,000,000 in loan proceeds. S. Process and distribute payments in lieu of formula to PCSSD required by page 29 of the Settlement Agreement. 1. Projected Ending Date Payment due date and ending July 1, 1995. 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 Obligation fulfilled in FY 95/96. T. Process and distribute compensatory education payments to NLRSD as required by page 31 of the Settlement Agreement. 1. Projected Ending Date July 1 of each school year through June 30, 1996. 7 I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS (Continued) T. Process and distribute compensatory education payments to NLRSD as required by page 31 of the Settlement Agreement. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Obligation fulfilled in FY 95/96. U. Process and distribute check to Magnet Review Committee. 1. Projected Ending Date Payment due date and ending July 1, 1995. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Distribution in July 1997 for FY 97/98 was $75,000. This was the total amount due to the Magnet Review Committee for FY 97 /98. Distribution in July 1998 for FY 98/99 was $75,000. This was the total amount due to the Magnet Review Committee for FY 98/99. Q!~f n9t12r lh ~~Ixc tg~~r torF :Y~ ~199 '.is S.@?~ Q\nmm~ w~i f6ij t6i~t~mPYiW ge.JJh\u0026lt;M.9 grj~fl8.Y!!3W Cqm.fu!ffgijff:5 ~/QQl V. Process and distribute payments for Office of Desegregation Monitoring. 1. Projected Ending Date Not applicable. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Distribution in July 1997 for FY 97/98 was $200,000. This was the total amount due to the ODM for FY 97/98. Distribution in July 1998 for FY 98/99 was $200,000. This was the total amount due to the ODM for FY 98/99. D,Js1r~~!8D iQ ~Y!'J99~for F'(~~/QQyv~ $2QQ[QQQ\n[bl W~$lb! fgf~i ~ffi94'1t c:tgJpJh~ QPMf citFX ~9fOQ. 8 I) II. MONITORING COMPENSATORY EDUCATION . A. Begin testing and evaluating the monitoring instrument and monitoring system to assure that data is appropriate and useful in monitoring the impacts of compensatory education programs on disparities in academic achievement for black students and white students. 1. Projected Ending Date January 15, 1995 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 In May 1995, monitors completed the unannounced visits of schools in Pulaski County. The monitoring process involved a qualitative process of document reviews, interviews, and observations. The monitoring focused on progress made since the announced monitoring visits. In June 1995, monitoring data from unannounced visits was included in the July Semiannual Report. Twenty-five per cent of all classrooms were visited, and all of the schools in Pulaski County were monitored. All principals were interviewed to determine any additional progress since the announced visits. The July 1995 Monitoring Report was reviewed by the ADE administrative team, the Arkansas State Board of Education, and the Districts and filed with the Court. The report was formatted in accordance with the Allen Letter. In October 1995, a common terminology was developed by principals from the Districts and the Lead Planning and Desegregation staff to facilitate the monitoring process. The announced monitoring visits began on November 14, 1995 and were completed on January 26, 1996. Copies of the preliminary Semiannual Monitoring Report and its executive summary were provided to the ADE administrative team and the State Board of Education in January 1996. A report on the current status of the Cycle 5 schools in the ECOE process and their school improvement plans was filed with the Court on February 1, 1996. The unannounced monitoring visits began in February 1996 and ended on May 10, 1996. In June 1996, all announced and unannounced monitoring visits were completed, and the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The Districts provided data on enrollment in compensatory education programs. The Districts and the ADE Desegregation Monitoring staff developed a definition for instructional programs. 9 11. MONITORING COMPENSATORY EDUCATION (Continued) A.  Begin testing and evaluating the monitoring instrument and monitoring system to assur~ that data is appropriate and useful in monitoring the impacts of compensatory education programs on disparities in academic achievement for black students and white students. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) The Semiannual Monitoring Report was completed and filed with the Court on July 15, 1996 with copies distributed to the parties.  Announced monitoring visits of the Cycle 1 schools began on October 28, 1996 and concluded in December 1996. In January 1997, presentations were made to the State Board of Education, the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee, and the parties to review the draft Semiannual Monitoring Report. The monitoring instrument and process were evaluated for their usefulness in monitoring the impacts of compensatory education programs on achievement disparities. In February 1997, the Semiannual Monitoring Report was filed. Unannounced monitoring visits began on February 3, 1997 and concluded in May 1997. In March 1997, letters were sent to the Districts regarding data requirements for the July 1997 Semiannual Monitoring Report and the additional discipline data element that was requested by the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee. Desegregation data collection workshops were conducted in the Districts from March 28, 1997 to April 7, 1997. A meeting was conducted on April 3, 1997 to finalize plans for the July 15, 1997 Semiannual Monitoring Report. Onsite visits were made to Cycle 1 schools who did not submit accurate and timely data on discipline, M-to-M transfers, and policy. The July 15, 1997 Semiannual Monitoring Report and its executive summary were finalized in June 1997. In July 1997, the Semiannual Monitoring Report and its executive summary were filed with the court, and the ADE sponsored a School Improvement Conference. On July 10, 1997, copies of the Semiannual Monitoring Report and its executive summary were made available to the Districts for their review prior to filing it with the Court. In August 1997, procedures and schedules were organized for the monitoring of the Cycle 2 schools in FY 97/98. 10 II. MONITORING COMPENSATORY EDUCATION (Continued) A. Begin testing and evaluating the monitoring instrument and monitoring system to assure that data is appropriate and useful in monitoring the impacts of compensatory education programs on disparities in academic achievement for black students and white students. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) A Desegregation Monitoring and School Improvement Workshop for the Districts was held on September 10, 1997 to discuss monitoring expectations, instruments, data collection and school improvement visits. On October 9, 1997, a planning meeting was held with the desegregation monitoring staff to discuss deadlines, responsibilities, and strategic planning issues regarding the Semiannual Monitoring Report. Reminder letters were sent to the Cycle 2 principals outlining the data collection deadlines and availability of technical assistance. In October and November 1997, technical assistance visits were conducted, and announced monitoring visits of the Cycle 2 schools were completed. In December 1997 and January 1998, technical assistance visits were conducted regarding team visits, technical review recommendations, and consensus building. Copies of the infusion document and perceptual surveys were provided to schools in the ECOE process. The February 1998 Semiannual Monitoring Report was submitted for review and approval to the State Board of Education, the Director, the Administrative Team, the Attorney General's Office, and the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee. Unannounced monitoring visits began in February 1998, and technical assistance was provided on the school improvement process, external team visits and finalizing school improvement plans. On February 18, 1998, the representatives of all parties met to discuss possible revisions to the ADE's monitoring plan and monitoring reports. Additional meetings will be scheduled. Unannounced monitoring visits were conducted in March 1998, and technical assistance was provided on the school improvement process and external team visits. In April 1998, unannounced monitoring visits were conducted, and technical assistance was provided on the school improvement process. 11 II. MONITORING COMPENSATORY EDUCATION (Continued) A. Begin testing and evaluating the monitoring instrument and monitoring system to assure that data is appropriate and useful in monitoring the impacts of compensatory education programs on disparities in academic achievement for black students and white students. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) In May 1998, unannounced monitoring visits were completed, and technical assistance was provided on the school improvement process. On May 18, 1998, the Court granted the ADE relief from its obligation to file the July 1998 Semiannual Monitoring Report to develop proposed modifications to ADE's monitoring and reporting obligations. In June 1998, monitoring information previously submitted by the districts in the Spring of 1998 was reviewed and prepared for historical files and presentation to the Arkansas State Board. Also, in June the following occurred: a) The Extended COE Team Visit Reports were completed, b) the Semiannual Monitoring COE Data Report was completed, c) progress reports were submitted from previous cycles, and d.) staff development on assessment (SAT-9) and curriculum alignment was conducted with three supervisors. In July, the Lead Planner provided the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Committee with (1) a review of the court Order relieving ADE of its obligation to file a July Semiannual Monitoring Report, and (2) an update of ADE's progress toward work with the parties and ODM to develop proposed revisions to ADE's monitoring and reporting obligations. The Committee encouraged ODM, the parties and the ADE to continue to work toward revision of the monitoring and reporting process. In August 1998, the ADE Implementation Phase Working group met to review the Implementation Phase activities for the previous quarter The Assistant Attorney General, the Assistant Director for Accountability and the Education Lead Planner updated the group on all relevant desegregation legal issues and proposed revisions to monitoring and reporting activities during the quarter. In September 1998, tentative monitoring dates were established and they will be finalized once proposed revisions to the Desegregation Monitoring Plan are finalized and approved. In September/October 1998, progress was being made on the proposed revisions to the monitoring process by committee representatives of all the Parties in the Pulaski County Settlement Agreement. While the revised monitoring plan is finalized and approved, the ADE monitoring staff will continue to provide technical assistance to schools upon request. In December 1998, requests were received from schools in PCSSD regarding test score analysis and staff Development. Oak Grove is scheduled for January 21, 1999 and Lawson Elementary is also tentatively scheduled in January. 12 Ill. A PETITION FOR ELECTION FOR LRSD WILL BE SUPPORTED SHOULD A MILLAGE BE REQUIRED A. Monitor court pleadings to determine if LRSD has petitioned the Court for a special election. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing. 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Ongoing. All Court pleadings are monitored monthly. 8. Draft and file appropriate pleadings if LRSD petitions the Court for a special election. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 To date, no action has been taken by the LRSD. 13 IV. REPEAL STATUTES AND REGULATIONS THAT IMPEDE DE:SEGREGATION A. Using a collaborative approach, immediately identify those laws and regulations that appear to impede desegregation. 1. Projected Ending Date December, 1994 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section IV.E. of this report. B. Conduct a review within ADE of existing legislation and regulations that appear to impede desegregation. 1. Projected Ending Date November, 1994 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section IV. E. of this report. C. Request of the other parties to the Settlement Agreement that they identify laws and regulations that appear to impede desegregation. 1. Projected Ending Date November, 1994 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section IV.E. of this report. D. Submit proposals to the State Board of Education for repeal of those regulations that are confirmed to be impediments to desegregation. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section IV.E. of this report. 14 I , I f IV. REPEAL STATUTES AND REGULATIONS THAT\"IMPEDE DESEGREGATION (Continued) E. Submit proposals to the Legislature for repeal of those laws that appear to be impediments to desegregation. 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 A committee within the ADE was formed in May 1995 to review and collect data on existing legislation and regulations identified by the parties as impediments to desegregation. The committee researched the Districts' concerns to determine if any of the rules, regulations, or legislation cited impede desegregation. The legislation cited by the Districts regarding loss funding and worker's compensation were not reviewed because they had already been litigated. In September 1995, the committee reviewed the following statutes, acts, and regulations: Act 113 of 1993\nADE Director's Communication 93-205\nAct 145 of 1989\nADE Director's Memo 91-67\nADE Program Standards Eligibility Criteria for Special Education\nArkansas Codes 6-18-206, 6-20-307, 6-20-319, and 6-17- 1506. In October 1995, the individual reports prepared by committee members in their areas of expertise and the data used to support their conclusions were submitted to the ADE administrative team for their review. A report was prepared and submitted to the State Board of Education in July 1996. The report concluded that none of the items reviewed impeded desegregation. As of February 3, 1997, no laws or regulations have been determined to impede desegregation efforts. Any new education laws enacted during the Arkansas 81 st Legislative Session will be reviewed at the close of the legislative session to ensure that they do not impede desegregation. In April 1997, copies of all laws passed during the 1997 Regular Session of the 81 st General Assembly were requested from the office of the ADE Liaison to the Legislature for distribution to the Districts for their input and review of possible impediments to their desegregation efforts. In August 1997, a meeting to review the statutes passed in the prior legislative session was scheduled for September 9, 1997. On September 9, 1997, a meeting was held to discuss the review of the statutes passed in the prior legislative session and new ADE regulations. The Districts will be contacted in writing for their input regarding any new laws or regulations that they feel may impede desegregation. Additionally, the Districts will be asked to review their regulations to ensure that they do not impede their desegregation efforts. The committee will convene on December 1, 1997 to review their findings and finalize their report to the Administrative Team and the State Board of Education. 15 IV. REPEAL STATUTES AND REGULATIONS THAT IMPEDE DESEGREGATION (Ct:\u0026gt;ntinued) E.  Submit proposals to the Legislature for repeal of those laws that appear to b~ impediments to desegregation. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) In October 1997, the Districts were asked to review new regulations and statutes for impediments to their desegregation efforts, and advise the ADE, in writing, if they feel a regulation or statute may impede their desegregation efforts. In October 1997, the Districts were requested to advise the ADE, in writing, no later than November 1, 1997 of any new law that might impede their desegregation efforts. As of November 12, 1997, no written responses were received from the Districts. The ADE concludes that the Districts do not feel that any new law negatively impacts their desegregation efforts. The committee met on December 1, 1997 to discuss their findings regarding statutes and regulations that may impede the desegregation efforts of the Districts. The committee concluded that there were no laws or regulations that impede the desegregation efforts of the Districts. It was decided that the committee chair would prepare a report of the committee's findings for the Administrative Team and the State Board of Education. The committee to review statutes and regulations that impede desegregation is now reviewing proposed bills and regulations, as well as laws that are being signed in, for the current 1999 legislative session. They will continue to do so until the session is over. The committee to review statutes and regulations that impede desegregation will meet on April 26, 1999 at the ADE. The committee met on April 26, 1999 at the ADE. The purpose of the meeting was to identify rules and regulations that might impede desegregation, and review within the existing legislation any regulations that might result in an impediment to desegregation. This is a standing committee that is ongoing and a report will be submitted to the State Board of Education once the process is completed. The committee met on May 24, 1999 at the ADE. The committee was asked to review within the existing legislation any regulations that might result in an impediment to desegregation. The committee determined that Mr. Ray Lumpkin would contact the Pulaski County districts to request written response to any rules, regulations or laws that might impede desegregation. The committee would also collect information and data to prepare a report for the State Board. This will be a standing committee. This data gathering will be ongoing until the final report is given to the State Board. ~D ~H!Y g\n1~~g\niijij semmli!~~ m~t~i !b~ 1\nlb~ 88ffiffi/~(~~ ~l~ DB~ rieei ~tl.!~-I 9tf~9Hl~!l9D m~tm~x 9.~tt~b!!XlP99tmtiP9!9!filR~B~ P~~~tt~~!!An\nand at$ ${ill W.:iiJibQJOt $ resp6ii$ijJrqffi tlje ttit~H-~ tlf$lfit$ iii RUla$kf.Qqijrjty( 16 V. COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLES A. Through a preamble to the Implementation Plan, the Board of Education will reaffirm its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement and outcomes of programs intended to apply those principles. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 The preamble was contained in the Implementation Plan filed with the Court-on  March 15, 1994. B. Through execution of the Implementation Plan, the Board of Education will continue to reaffirm its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement and outcomes of programs intended to apply those principles. C. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Ongoing Through execution of the Implementation Plan, the Board of Education will continue to reaffirm its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement by actions taken by ADE in response to monitoring results. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Ongoing D. Through regular oversight of the Implementation Phase's Project Management Tool, and scrutiny of results of ADE's actions, the Board of Education will act on its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 17 V. COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLES (Continued) D. Through regular oversight of the Implementation Phase's Project Management Tool, and scrutiny of results of ADE's actions, the Board of Education will act on its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 At each regular monthly meeting of the State Board of Education, the Board is provided copies of the most recent Project Management Tool (PMT) and an executive summary of the PMT for their review and approval. Only activities that are in addition to the Board's monthly review of the PMT are detailed below. In May 1995, the State Board of Education was informed of the total number of schools visited during the monitoring phase and the data collection process. Suggestions were presented to the State Board of Education on how recommendations could be presented in the monitoring reports. In June 1995, an update on the status of the pending Semiannual Monitoring Report was provided to the State Board of Education. In July 1995, the July Semiannual Monitoring Report was reviewed by the State Board of Education. On August 14, 1995, the State Board of Education was informed of the need to increase minority participation in the teacher scholarship program and provided tenfative monitoring dates to facilitate reporting requests by the ADE administrative team and the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee. In September 1995, the State Board of Education was advised of a change in the PMT from a table format to a narrative format. The Board was also briefed about a meeting with the Office of Desegregation Monitoring regarding the PMT. In October 1995, the State Board of Education was updated on monitoring timelines. The Board was also informed of a meeting with the parties regarding a review of the Semiannual Monitoring Report and the monitoring process, and the progress of the test validation study. In November 1995, a report was made to the State Board of Education regarding the monitoring schedule and a meeting with the parties concerning the development of a common terminology for monitoring purposes. In December 1995, the State Board of Education was updated regarding announced monitoring visits. In January 1996, copies of the draft February Semiannual Monitoring Report and its executive summary were provided to the State Board of Education. 18 V. COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLES (Continued) D. Through regular oversight of the Implementation Phase's Project Management Tool, and scrutiny of results of ADE's actions, the Board of Education will act on its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) During the months of February 1996 through May 1996, the PMT report was the only item on the agenda regarding the status of the implementation of the Monitoring Plan. In June 1996, the State Board of Education was updated on the status of the bias . review study. In July 1996, the Semiannual Monitoring Report was provided to the Court, the parties, ODM, the State Board of Education, and the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee. In August 1996, the State Board of Education and the ADE administrative team were provided with copies of the test validation study prepared by Dr. Paul Williams. During the months of September 1996 through December 1996, the PMT was the only item on the agenda regarding the status of the implementation of the Monitoring Plan. On January 13, 1997, a presentation was made to the State Board of Education regarding the February 1997 Semiannual Monitoring Report, and copies of the report and its executive summary were distributed to all Board members. The Project Management Tool and its executive summary were addressed at the February 10, 1997 State Board of Education meeting regarding the ADE's progress in fulfilling their obligations as set forth in the Implementation Plan. In March 1997, the State Board of Education was notified that historical information in the PMT had been summarized at the direction of the Assistant Attorney General in order to reduce the size and increase the clarity of the report. The Board was updated on the Pulaski County Desegregation Case and reviewed the Memorandum Opinion and Order issued by the Court on February 18, 1997 in response to the Districts' motion for summary judgment on the issue of state funding for teacher retirement matching contributions. During the months of April 1997 through June 1997, the PMT was the only item on the agenda regarding the status of the implementation of the Monitoring Plan. The State Board of Education received copies of the July 15, 1997 Semiannual Monitoring Report and executive summary at the July Board meeting. 19 V. COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLES (Continued) D. Through regular oversight of the Implementation Phase's Project Management Tool, and scrutiny of results of ADE's actions, the Board of Education will act on its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) The Implementation Phase Working Group held its quart3rly meeting on August 4, 1997 to discuss the progress made in attaining the goals set forth in the Implementation Plan and the critical areas for the current quarter. A special report regarding a historical review of the Pulaski County Settlement Agreement and the ADE's role and monitoring obligations were presented to the State Board of Education on September 8, 1997. Additionally, the July 15, 1997 Semiannual Monitoring Report was presented to the Board for their review. In October 1997, a special draft report regarding disparity in achievement was submitted to the State Board Chairman and the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee. In November 1997, the State Board of Education was provided copies of the monthly PMT and its executive summary. The Implementation Phase Working Group held its quarterly meeting on November 3, 1997 to discuss the progress made in attaining the goals set forth in the Implementation Plan and the critical areas for the current quarter. In December 1997, the State Board of Education was provided copies of the monthly PMT and its executive summary. In January 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed and discussed ODM's report on the ADE's monitoring activities and instructed the Director to meet with the parties to discuss revisions to the ADE's monitoring plan and monitoring reports. In February 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed and approved the PMT and discussed the February 1998 Semiannual Monitoring Report. In March 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed and approved the PMT and its executive summary and was provided an update regarding proposed revisions to the monitoring process. In April 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed and approved the PMT and its executive summary. In May 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed and approved the PMT and its executive summary. 20 /\nV. COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLES (Continued) D. Through regular oversight of the Implementation Phase's Project Management T col, and scrutiny of results of ADE's actions, the Board of Educati9n will act on its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) In June 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed and approved the PMT and its executive summary. The State Board of Education also reviewed how the ADE would report progress in the PMT concerning revisions in ADE's Monitoring Plan. In July 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed and approved the PMT and its executive summary. The State Board of Education also received an update on Test Validation, the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Committee Meeting, and revisions in ADE's Monitoring Plan. In August 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed and approved the PMT and its executive summary. The Board also received an update on the five discussion points regarding the proposed revisions to the monitoring and reporting process. The Board also reviewed the basic goal of the Minority Recruitment Committee. In September 1998, the State Board of Education reviewed the proposed modifications to the Monitoring plans by reviewing the common core of written response received from the districts. The primary commonalities were (1) Staff Development, (2) Achievement Disparity and (3) Disciplinary Disparity. A meeting of the parties is scheduled to be conducted on Thursday, September 17, 1998. The Board encouraged the Department to identify a deadline for Standardized Test Validation and Test Selection . . In October 1998, the Board received the progress report on Proposed Revisions to the Desegregation Monitoring and Reporting Process (see XVIII). The Board also reviewed and approved the PMT and its executive summary. In November, the Arkansas State Board of Education reviewed the PMT and its executive summary. The Board also received an update on the proposed revisions in the Desegregation monitoring Process and the update on Test validation and Test Selection provisions of the Settlement Agreement. The Board was also notified that the Implementation Plan Working Committee held its quarterly meeting to review progress and identify quarterly priorities. In December, the State Board of Education reviewed the PMT and its executive summary. The Board also received an update on the joint motion by the ADE, the LRSD, NLRSD, and the PCSSD, to relieve the Department of its obligation to file a February Semiannual Monitoring Report. The Board was also notified that the Joshua lntervenors filed a motion opposing the joint motion. The Board was informed that the ADE was waiting on a response from Court. 21 V. COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLES (Continued) D. Through regular oversight of the Implementation Phase's Project Management Tool, ar:id scrutiny of results of ADE's actions, the Board of Education will act on its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) In January, the Arkansas State Board of Education reviewed the PMT and its executive summary. The Board also received an update on the joint motion of the ADE, LRSD, PCSSD, and NLRSD for an order relieving the ADE of filing a February 1999 Monitoring Report. The motion was granted subject to the following three conditions: (1) notify the Joshua intervenors of all meetings between the parties to discuss proposed changes, (2) file with the Court on or before February 1, 1999, a report detailing the progress made in developing proposed changes and (3) identify ways in which ADE might assist districts in their efforts to improve academic achievement. In February, the Arkansas State Board of Education reviewed the PMT and its executive summary. The Board was informed that the three conditions: (1) notify the Joshua lntervenors of all meetings between the parties to discuss proposed changes, (2) file with the Court on or before February 1, 1999, a report detailing the progress made in developing proposed changes and (3) identify ways in which ADE might assist districts in their efforts to improve academic achievement had been satisfied. The Joshua lntervenors were invited again to attend the meeting of the parties and they attended on January 13, and January 28, 1999. They are also scheduled to attend on February 17, 1998. The report of progress, a collaborative effort from all parties was presented to court on February 1, 1999. The Board was also informed that additional items were received for inclusion in the revised report, after the deadline for the submission of the progress report and the ADE would: (1) check them for feasibility, and fiscal impact if any, and (2) include the items in future drafts of the report. In March, the Arkansas State Board of Education reviewed the PMT and its executive summary. The Board also received and reviewed the Desegregation Monitoring and Assistance Progress Report submitted to Court on February 1, 1999. On April 12, and May 10, 1999, the Arkansas State Board of Education reviewed the PMT and its executive summary. The Board also was notified that once the financial section of the proposed plan was completed, the revised plan would be submitted to the board for approval. On June 14, 1999, the Arkansas State Board of Education reviewed the PMT and its executive summary. The Board also was notified that once the financial section of the proposed plan was completed, the revised plan would be submitted to the board for approval. 22 V. COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLES (Continued) D. Through regular oversight of the Implementation Phase's Project Management Tool, and scrutiny of results of ADE's actions, the Board of Education will act on its commitment to the principles of the Settlement Agreement. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) On July 12, 1999, the Arkansas State Board of Education reviewed the PMT and its executive summary. The Board also was notified that once the financial section of the proposed plan was completed, the revised plan would be submitted to the board for approval. 99~49?~!~~ 1~g\nf6,g ~~~Q~ !~!~ ?~4112f ~Y~l!BQ fiy/~y\nii~I~ f1Mill ibP ii i!~SPYY~tim1m~rxf inti: ~@ yj!! ~i 6!1fi~2 :19~1 Wi ti~ Q~se9.f~ij!flt!MNftiQ ~t!g~~~!}f~QS~fll~g}pQ!g P~t~~9Yl9 sut:imltt.Jbg ~913@ ttJ6itte\\ii~w $.: ~pprgx~1 ij$.!2#Bt:i~ ti.l\u0026amp;h wt~ nn~Jit.~~t 23 VI. REMEDIATION A. Through the Extended COE process, the needs for technical assistance by Dis'trict, by School, and by desegregation compensatory education programs will be identified. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 During May 1995, team visits to Cycle 4 schools were conducted, and plans were developed for reviewing the Cycle 5 schools. In June 1995, the current Extended COE packet was reviewed, and enhancements to the Extended COE packet were prepared. In July 1995, year end reports were finalized by the Pulaski County field service specialists, and plans were finalized for reviewing the draft improvement plans of the Cycle 5 schools. In August 1995, Phase I - Cycle 5 school improvement plans were reviewed. Plans were developed for meeting with the Districts to discuss plans for Phase II - Cycle 1 schools of Extended COE, and a school improvement conference was conducted in Hot Springs. The technical review visits for the FY 95/96 year and the documentation process were also discussed. In October 1995, two computer programs, the Effective Schools Planner and the Effective Schools Research Assistant, were ordered for review, and the first draft of a monitoring checklist for Extended COE was developed. Through the Extended COE process, the field service representatives provided technical assistance based on the needs identified within the Districts from the data gathered. In November 1995, ADE personnel discussed and planned for the FY 95/96 monitoring, and onsite visits were conducted to prepare schools for the FY 95/96 team visits. Technical review visits continued in the Districts. In December 1995, announced monitoring and technical assistance visits were conducted in the Districts. At December 31, 1995, approximately 59% of the schools in the Districts had been monitored. Technical review visits were conducted during January 1996. In February 1996, announced monitoring visits and midyear monitoring reports were completed, and the field service specialists prepared for the spring NCA/COE peer team visits. 24 VI. REMEDIATION (Continued) A. Through the Extended COE process, the needs for technical assistance by District, by School, and by desegregation compensatory education programs will be identified. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) In March 1996, unannounced monitoring visits of Cycle 5 schools commenced, and two-day peer team visits of Cycle 5 schools were conducted. Two-day team visit materials, team lists and reports were prepared. Technical assistance was provided to schools in final preparation for team visits and to schools needing any school improvement information. In April and May 1996, the unannounced monitoring visits were completed. The unannounced monitoring forms were reviewed and included in the July monitoring report. The two-day peer team visits were completed, and annual COE monitoring reports were prepared. In June 1996, all announced and unannounced monitoring visits of the Cycle 5 schools were completed, and the data was analyzed. The Districts identified enrollment in compensatory education programs. The Semiannual Monitoring Report was completed and filed with the Court on July 15, 1996, and copies were distributed to the parties. During August 1996, meetings were held with the Districts to discuss the monitoring requirements. Technical assistance meetings with Cycle 1 schools were planned for 96/97. The Districts were requested to record discipline data in accordance with the Allen Letter. In September 1996, recommendations regarding the ADE monitoring schedule for Cycle 1 schools and content layouts of the semiannual report were submitted to the ADE administrative team for their review. Training materials were developed and schedules_ outlined for Cycle 1 schools. In October 1996, technical assistance needs were identified and addressed to prepare each school for their team visits. Announced monitoring visits of the Cycle 1 schools began on October 28, 1996. In December 1996, the announced monitoring visits of the Cycle 1 schools were completed, and technical assistance needs were identified from school site visits. In January 1997, the ECOE monitoring section identified technical assistance needs of the Cycle 1 schools, and the data was reviewed when the draft February Semiannual Monitoring Report was presented to the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee, the State Board of Education, and the parties. 25 VI. REMEDIATION (Continued) A. Through the Extended COE process, the needs for technical assistance by District, by School, and by desegregation compensatory education programs will be identified. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) In February 1997, field service specialists prepared for thcJ peer team visits of the Cycle 1 schools . NCA accreditation reports were presented to the NCA Committee, and NCA reports were prepared for presentation at the April NCA meeting in Chicago. From Marcti to May 1997, 111 visits were made to schools or central offices to work with principals, ECOE steering committees, and designated district personnel concerning school improvement planning. A workshop was conducted on Learning Styles for Geyer Springs Elementary School. A School Improvement Conference was held in Hot Springs on July 15-17, 1997. The conference included information on the process of continuous school improvement, results of the first five years of COE, connecting the mission with the school improvement plan, and improving academic performance. Technical assistance needs were evaluated for the FY 97 /98 school year in August 1997. From October 1997 to February 1998, technical reviews of the ECOE process were conducted by the field service representatives. Technical assistance was provided to the Districts through meetings with the ECOE steering committees, assistance in analyzing perceptual surveys, and by providing samples of school improvement plans, Gold File catalogs, and web site addresses to schools visited. Additional technical assistance was provided to the Districts through discussions with the ECOE committees and chairs about the process. In November 1997, technical reviews of the ECOE process were conducted by the field service representatives in conjunction with the announced monitoring visits. Workshops on brainstorming and consensus building and asking strategic questions were held in January and February 1998. In March 1998, the field service representatives conducted ECOE team visits and prepared materials for the NCA workshop. Technical assistance was provided in workshops on the ECOE process and team visits. In April 1998, technical assistance was provided on the ECOE process and academically distressed schools. In May 1998, technical assistance was provided on the ECOE process, and team visits were conducted. 26 /, / VI. REMEDIATION (Continued) A. Through the Extended COE process, the needs for technical assisfance by District, by School, and by desegregation compensatory education programs will be identified. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) In June 1998, the Extended COE Team Visit Reports were completed. A School Improvement Conference was held in Hot Springs on July 13-15, 1998. Major conference topics included information on the process of continuous school improvement, curriculum alignment, \"Smart Start,\" Distance Learning, using data to improve academic performance, educational technology, and multicultural education. All school districts in Arkansas were invited and representatives from Pulaski County attended. In September 1998, requests for technical assistance were received, visitation schedules were established, and assistance teams began visiting the Districts. Assistance was provided by telephone and on-site visits. The ADE provided inservice training on \"Using Data to Sharpen the Focus on Student Achievement\" at Gibbs Magnet Elementary school on October 5, 1998 at their request. The staff was taught how to increase test scores through data disaggregation, analysis, alignment, longitudinal achievement review, and use of individualized test data by student, teacher, class and content area. Information was also provided regarding the \"Smart Start\" and the \"Academic Distress\" initiatives. On October 20, 1998, ECOE technical assistance was provided to Southwest Jr. High School. B. Identify available resources for providing technical assistance for the specific condition, or circumstances of need, considering resources within ADE and the Districts, and also resources available from outside sources and experts. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section VI.F. of this report. C. Through the ERIC system, conduct a literature search for research evaluating compensatory education programs. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 27 VI. REMEDIATION (Continued) C.  Through the ERIC system, conduct a literature search for research evaluating D. compensatory education programs. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 An updated ERIC Search was conducted on May 15, 1995 to locate research on evaluating compensatory education programs. The ADE received the updated ERIC disc that covered material through March 1995. An ERIC search was conducted in September 30, 1996 to identify current research dealing with the evaluation of compensatory education programs, and the articles were reviewed. An ERIC search was conducted in April 1997 to identify current research on compensatory education programs and sent to the Cycle 1 principals and the field service specialists for their use. An Eric search was conducted in October 1998 on the topic of Compensatory Education and related descriptors. The search included articles with publication dates from 1997 through July 1998. Identify and research technical resources available to ADE and the Districts through programs and organizations such as the Desegregation Assistance Center in San Antonio, Texas. 1. Projected Ending Date Summer 1994 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section VI.F. of this report. E. Solicit, obtain, and use available resources for technical assistance. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section VI.F. of this report. F. Evaluate the impact of the use of resources for technical assistance. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 28 VI. REMEDIATION (Continued) F. Evaluate the impact of the use of resources for technical assistance. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 From March 1995 through July 1995, technical assistance and resources were obtained from the following sources: the Southwest Regional Cooperative\nUALR regarding training for monitors\nODM on a project management software\nADHE regarding data review and display\nand Phi Delta Kappa, the Desegregation Assistance Center.and the Dawson Cooperative regarding perceptual surveys. Technical assistance was received on the Microsoft Project software in November 1995, and a draft of the PMT report using the new software package was presented to the ADE administrative team for review. In December 1995, a data manager was hired permanently to provide technical assistance with computer software and hardware. In October 1996, the field service specialists conducted workshops in the Districts to address their technical assistance needs and provided assistance for upcoming team visits. In November and December 1996, the field service specialists addressed technical assistance needs of the schools in the Districts as they were identified and continued to provide technical assistance for the upcoming team visits. In January 1997, a draft of the February 1997 Semiannual Monitoring Report was presented to the State Board of Education, the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee, and the parties. The ECOE monitoring section of the report included information that identified technical assistance needs and resources available to the Cycle 1 schools. Technical assistance was provided during the January 29-31, 1997 Title I MidWinter Conference. The conference emphasized creating a learning community by building capacity schools to better serve all children and empowering parents to acquire additional skills and knowledge to better support the education of their children. In February 1997, three ADE employees attended the Southeast Regional Conference on Educating Black Children. Participants received training from national experts who outlined specific steps that promote and improve the education of black children . On March 6-9, 1997, three members of the ADE's Technical Assistance Section attended the National Committee for School Desegregation Conference. The participants received training in strategies for Excellence and Equity: Empowerment and Training for the Future. Specific information was received regarding the current status of court-ordered desegregation, unitary status, and resegregation and distributed to the Districts and ADE personnel. 29 VI. REMEDIATION (Continued) F. Evaluate the impact of the use of resources tor technical assistance. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) The field service specialists attended workshops in March on ACT testing and school improvement to identify technical assistance resources available to the Districts and the ADE that will facilitate desegregation efforts. ADE personnel attended the Eighth Annual Conference on Middle Level Education in Arkansas presented by the Arkansas Association of Middle Level Education on April 6-8, 1997. The theme of the conference was Sailing Toward New Horizons. In May 1997, the field service specialists attended the NCA annual conference and an inservice session with Mutiu Fagbayi. An Implementation Oversight Committee member participated in the Consolidated COE Plan in service training. In June and July 1997, field service staff attended an SAT-9 testing workshop and participated in the three-day School Improvement Conference held in Hot Springs. The conference provided the Districts with information on the COE school improvement process, technical assistance on monitoring and assessing achievement, availability of technology for the classroom teacher, and teaching strategies for successful student achievement. In August 1997, field service personnel attended the ASCD Statewide Conference and the AAEA Administrators Conference. On August 18, 1997, the bi-monthly Team V meeting was held and presentations were made on the Early Literacy Learning in Arkansas (ELLA) program and the Schools of the 21st Century program. In September 1997, technical assistance was provided to the Cycle 2 principals on data collection for onsite and offsite monitoring. ADE personnel attended the Region VI Desegregation Conference in October 1997. Current desegregation and educational equity cases and unitary status issues were the primary focus of the conference. On October 14, 1997, the bi-monthly Team V meeting was held in Paragould to enable members to observe a 21st Century school and a school that incorporates traditional and multi-age classes in its curriculum. In November 1997, the field service representatives attended the Governor's Partnership Workshop to discuss how to tie the committee's activities with the ECOE process. 30 VI. REMEDIATION (Continued) F. Evaluate the impact of the use of resources for technical assistance. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) In March 1998, the field service representatives attended a school improvement conference and conducted workshops on team building and ECOE team visits. Staff development seminars on Using Data to Sharpen the Focus on Student Achievement are scheduled for March 23, 1998 and March 27, 1998 for the Districts, In April 1998, the Districts participated in an ADE seminar to aid them in  evaluating and improving student achievement. In August 1998, the Field Service Staff attended inservice to provide further assistance to schools, i.e., Title I Summer Planning Session, ADE session on Smart Start, and the School Improvement Workshops. All schools and districts in Pulaski County were invited to attend the \"Smart Start\" Summit November 9, 10, and 11 to learn more about strategies to increase student performance. \"Smart Start\" is a standards-driven educational initiative which emphasizes the articulation of clear standards for student achievement and accurate measures of progress against those standards through assessments, staff development and individual school accountability. The Smart Start Initiative focused on improving reading and mathematics achievement for all students in Grades K-4. Representatives from all three districts attended. On January 21, 1998, the ADE provided staff development for the staff at Oak Grove Elementary School designed to assist them with their efforts to improve student achievement. Using achievement data from Oak Grove, educators reviewed trends in achievement data, identified areas of greatest need, and reviewed seven steps for improving student performance. On February 24, 1999, the ADE provided staff development for the administrative staff at Clinton Elementary School regarding analysis of achievement data. On February 15, 1999, staff development was rescheduled for Lawson Elementary School. The staff development program was designed to assist them with their efforts to improve student achievement using achievement data from Lawson, educators reviewed the components of the Arkansas Smart Initiative, trends in achievement data, identified areas of greatest need, and reviewed seven steps for improving student performance. Student Achievement Workshops were rescheduled for Southwest Jr. High in the Little Rock School District, and the Oak Grove Elementary School in the Pulaski County School District. 31 VI. REM ED IA TION (Continued) F. Evaluate the impact of the use of resources for technical assistance. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) On April 30, 1999, a Student Achievement Workshop was conducted for Oak Grove Elementary School in PCSSD. The Student Achievement Workshop for I I Southwest Jr. High in LRSD has been rescheduled. , On June 8, 1999, a workshop was presented to representatives from each of the Arkansas Education Service Cooperatives and representatives from each of the three districts in Pulaski County. The workshop detailed the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program (ACTAAP). On June 18, 1999, a workshop was presented to administrators of the NLRSD. The workshop detailed the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program (ACTAAP) . In \nygfii 1.~ j~~~~ er01~~i!20t!!~ixi!2em~r1:en Yfix~ 12 tner~iii ~fq~ini 1ii:!lrJ1fi ilti1ild1t!~ff 11s1t11 ~~h~o1\\$.Jff! :lV~topm~mt?tHv.itig$\nf tlhg 5..HWn~a 32 VII. TEST VALIDATION A. B. Using a collaborative approach, the ADE will select and contract with an independent bias review service or expert to evaluate the Stanford 8, or 9ther monitoring instruments used to measure disparities in academic achievement between black students and white students. 1. Projected Ending Date March, 1995 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 On March 29, 1995, letters were sent to four national experts about conducting a test bias validation of the Stanford Achievement Test, Eighth Edition, Form K (SAT-8). Dr. Paul Williams, Deputy Director of Educational Testing Service (ETS), contacted the ADE in April of 1995 concerning the proposal for validating the SAT-8 test. The ADE requested that Dr. Williams conduct a validity study of test items used in the SAT-8. Dr. Williams submitted a final proposal for his services. The ADE Bias Review Test Committee met Friday, July 7, 1995, and approved Dr. William's contract proposal. The final contract was forwarded to Dr. Williams for his signature. The contract was signed in August 1995, thereby, completing this goal. By April 1994, establish a bias review committee to oversee the bias review process, and invite representatives of the Districts and parties to meet with the bias review committee. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 Complete. ADE established a Bias Review Committee in April 1994. In accordance with the Implementation Plan, representatives from the Districts and the parties were invited to attend and participate in this and all meetings of the Bias Review Committee. C. Upon completion of test validation procedures by the bias review service or expert, the ADE will adopt and use a validated test as a monitoring instrument. 1. Projected Ending Date March 1995 and ongoing 33 VII. TEST VALIDATION (Continued) C. Upon completion of test validation procedures by the bias review service or expert, t~e ADE will adopt and use a validated test as a monitoring instrument. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 Dr. Paul Williams met with the staff of the Psychological Corporation to review their methods and procedures. In August 1995, he met with the staff at Georgia State University to review the statistical methods that would be used in the analysis. Dr. Williams reported difficulty with the bias-review study in receiving the names of the bias panel and the complete SAT-8 data set from the Psychological Corporation. Dr. Williams submitted an invoice totaling $8,961 for Task I activities of the SAT-8 validity study for partial fulfillment of the test validation study. On December 6, 1995, a contract extension for Dr. Williams was reviewed by the Legislative Council. In January 1996, he indicated that he was in the final stages of the test validation, and the ADE was presented a draft report in March 1996. In May 1996, Dr. Williams stated that the wrong data sets were sent to him by the Psychological Corporation resulting in Task 3 having to be redone. A new draft of the final report was received by the ADE in July 1996. In August 1996, copies of the test validation report were provided to the State Board of Education and the ADE administrative team for their review. On September 10, 1996, the LRSD notified the ADE that they had reviewed the test validation report and would like to meet with the ADE to discuss the report. The ADE Director indicated that he would schedule a meeting with the LRSD to discuss the report. In October 1996, historical files and data were provided to the ADE Director, the ADE Assistant Director for Technical Services, and the ADE Assistant Director for Planning and Curriculum for their review in preparation for a meeting with the LRSD regarding the validity study. Test validation procedures by the expert have been completed. A recommendation was drafted proposing the use of the SA T-8 by the ADE as the validated test for monitoring. The ADE is presently working to arrange a meeting with the Administration of the LRSD to discuss the test validation study. Effective September 22, 1997, the State Board of Education hired a new Director of the General Education Division, which should allow the ADE to move forward in this matter. 34 VII. TEST VALIDATION (Continued) C. Upon completion of test validation procedures by the bias review service or expert, the ADE will adopt and use a validated test as a monitoring instrument. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) In October 1997, the GED Director was updated on the history of the test validation process to provide the Director with background information in preparation for a meeting with the LRSD. In February 1998, ADE staff met with senior staff members to discuss the test validation and appropriate test scores for consideration by the LRSD. The  ADE Director met with the Superintendent of the LRSD to discuss test validation issues. In June 1998, the ADE Director directed the Assistant Director for Accountability to recommend staff to discuss how the ADE would measure LRSD's progress toward meeting the loan forgiveness thresholds of the Settlement Agreement. Plans were made to meet with the staff Tuesday, June 30, 1998. The Test Validation Committee met on June 30, 1998, and discussed the following: 1. The appropriateness of the use of scaled scores on the SAT-8 test as the metric for assessing LRSD compliance with the loan forgiveness provisions of the Settlement Agreement\nand 2. The need for an independent analysis of LRSD students' test scores to determine compliance or noncompliance with loan forgiveness standard, and who would bear the cost of such an independent analysis. The Test Validation Committee met on September 10, 1998, to review recent correspondence from LRSD and to further discuss issues related to the loan forgiveness provisions of the Settlement Agreement. A follow-up administrative meeting was held on October 13, 1998, to discuss issues related to the test validation process. Participants included Tim Gauger, Assistant Attorney General, Dr. Charity Smith, Lead Planner for Desegregation, and Frank Anthony, Assistant Director for Accountability. A meeting was scheduled with Dr. Les Carnine, LRSD Superintendent and Mr. Ray Simon, ADE Director, regarding Test Validation and loan forgiveness provisions of the Settlement Agreement on May 12, 1999. 35 VII. TEST VALIDATION (Continued) C. Upon completion of test validation procedures by the bias review service or expert, the ADE will adopt and use a validated test as a monitoring instrument. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) On June 14, 1999, the State Board of Education was briefed on the status of LRSD's refusal to make principal and interest payments into escrow as required by the loan provisions of the Settlement Agreement and related documents. The Board requested that a draft motion to enforce the Settlement Agreement be prepared and submitted to the Board for review and discussion at the Board's next regularly scheduled meeting. On July 12, 1999, the State Board of Education authorized the filing of a motion to compel LRSD to make interest and principal payments into escrow pursuant to the loan provisions of the Settlement Agreement. 3 6 VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING A. Through an interactive process with representatives of desegregating districts, identify in-service training needs. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section VIII.D. of this report. 8 . Develop in-service training programs to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. C. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section VIII.D. of this report. Implement in-service training programs to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section VIII.D. of this report. D. Evaluate in-service training programs developed and executed to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 In April 1995, the Tri-District Staff Development Committee were provided an overview of the Scott Alternative Learning Center's operation and met with students and staff. In May 1995, the Districts were in the process of self-assessment and planning for fall staff development. 37 VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING (Continued) D. Evaluate in-service training programs develo\"ped and executed to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) The Districts worked on staff development to be incorporated into their fall 95/96 preschool calendars. The uniqueness of each district's needs and their schools was considered in the planning by utilizing the results of needs assessment instruments. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on September 13, 1995 to plan for an ADE administered Classroom Management grant. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on September 19, 1995 to finalize the Classroom Management grant proposal. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on October 24, 1995 to discuss program and staff development evaluation models that might be available to the Districts. On November 15, 1995, the ADE met with an ODM representative to discuss the progress the ADE had made in attaining the objectives outlined in the Implementation Plan with regard to inservice training. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on November 21 , 1995 to discuss upcoming training events and various NLR programs that focus on non-academic needs. A new program consisting of placing a graduate student of social work, a field supervisor, and a OHS worker in the district at no cost to the district was discussed. Additionally, NLR provided an overview of their program for credit deficient students. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on December 19, 1995 to discuss information dealing with ways to broaden the perspective of multicultural education. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on January 17, 1996 to discuss proposed changes in the standards regarding media centers and NLRSD's staff development strategic planning committee. The committee reviewed a video on diversity produced by the Arkansas Elementary Principals Association. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on February 21 , 1996 to discuss the implications of budget cuts on staff development programs and PCSSD's request for unitary status for their staff development program. They also discussed the need for computer literacy, technology training, and acquisition of hardware and software by the Districts. 38 IJ VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING (Continued) D. Evaluate in-service training programs developed and executed to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. (Continued)  2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on March 27, 1996 to discuss available resources concerning sexual harassment. ADE regulations in relation to staff members attending professional association conferences as well as the district staff development and potential sites for training seminars were also discussed. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on April 30, 1996 to discuss the reconfiguring of Jacksonville Junior High, PCSSD professional development schedules, and APSCN on-line time lines. A tour of the Washington Magnet school was also conducted. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee received a demonstration of UALR's Baum Decision Support Center's capabilities regarding consensus and planning on May 29, 1996. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee did not meet during September, October, and November 1996 because of scheduling conflicts and the extended medical leave of the ADE liaison. On December 18, 1996, the Tri-District Staff Development Committee met to discuss the linkage between the Implementation Plan, staff development, and student achievement. On January 21, 1997, the Tri-District Staff Development Committee met and discussed sharing middle school strategies and the Districts' training catalogs. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on February 25, 1997 to discuss their current staff development programs and an overview of the relationship of their current programs with their desegregation plans. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on March 26, 1997 to observe the Great Expectations Program. The principal and mentor teachers provided information on the components and philosophy of the program, and students demonstrated selected components. The PCSSD may adopt the program for selected schools in their district. The committee was provided with an update of pertinent information on resources available to the Districts. The committee decided that the ADE liaison to the committee would gather documentation of completed staff development directly from the Districts, instead of the Districts providing this information at the committee meetings. 39 VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING (Continued) D. Evaluate in-service training programs developed and executed to address in-service. training needs of desegregating districts. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) New information on teacher licensure and rules and regulations was shared with the Tri-District Staff Development Committee at their April 1997 meeting. A report was presented to the committee on information from the Arkansas Council for Social Studies about an October 1997 meeting on integrated curriculum. The Districts will provide principal retreats this summer as a part of their staff development. The PCSSD will sponsor a renowned speaker on strategies to serve at risk youth in August 1997 in which the committee is invited to attend. The LRSD shared survey results from a pilot administration to four teachers in each district. The survey found the sample to be strong in content but lacking in context and process. Plans to address these needs will be developed. In another survey to certified and non-certified LRSD staff, stress management was the major concern. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on May 14, 1997 to participate in a teleconference with the five 1996 awardees of the National Awards Program for Model for Professional Development. The PCSSD shared their summer and fall staff development catalog with the members. The committee will reconvene in the fall of the 97 /98 school year. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee is scheduled to meet on September 30, 1997 to discuss collaborative actions for FY 97/98. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on September 30, 1997 to discuss their staff development for the 1997 /1998 school year. The PCSSD had a pre-school in-service for the faculty, and the LRSD conducted a Principals Academy with an expert on the math and science initiative which lasted several days. The NLRSD is providing staff development by satellite. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on October 28, 1997. The LRSD and NLRSD shared some of their staff development course offerings with the committee, and the PCSSD discussed ways of optimizing opportunities for staff development with specific emphasis on the junior high school conflict resolution training. In November 1997, the Lead Planner provided technical assistance to Central High School staff regarding data disaggregation, test score analysis and ways to improve student achievement. 40 VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING (Continued) D. Evaluate in-service training programs developed and executed to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on November 25, 1997 to discuss the Standards for Staff Development. The LRSD will begin providing technology training to their employees in January by utilizing business teachers. Additionally, they discussed a collaborative venture of the Districts involving a workshop from Chicago on a program called \"Great Expectations.\" The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on December 16, 1997 to discuss technology plans, strategies for obtaining information currently being provided to the education cooperatives, scheduling of Arkansas history, and the development of a comprehensive list of locations available for staff development. Members agreed -to bring information on available locations to the January meeting and have set a tentative completion date for the project of May 1998. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on January 27, 1998 to share information for developing a comprehensive list of locations available for staff development. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on February 24, 1998 to work on the development of the list of locations available for staff development. The committee also discussed the meeting on student achievement sponsored by the ADE for the Districts, principals' staff development in the Districts and emphasis on improving achievement as reflected on the SA T-9. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on March 19, 1998 to discuss the math and science grant received by the LRSD, the Districts' inservice calendars for August, TESA and Student-Team Learning trainers, and team building for staff. The ADE Deputy Director is scheduled to discuss ways the committee can strengthen their relationship with the regional cooperatives at their May meeting. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on April 27, 1998 to discuss their proposal for involvement with the regional cooperatives. The ADE Deputy Director is scheduled to discuss committee's concerns regarding their relationship with the regional cooperatives at their next meeting. 41 VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING (Continued) D. Evaluate in-service training programs developed and executed to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met Thursday, May 21, 1998, in the Instructional Resources Center at Little Rock School District. Dr. Woodrow Cummins, ADE Deputy Director, joined the group to discuss ways to develop a closer connection with the Education Service Cooperatives. He also discussed other issues concerning Tri-District Staff Development. Tentative plans were made to meet with the Teacher Center Coordinators at their next regular meeting. The next Central Office meeting will be at 9:00 a.m., Thursday, September 29, 1998, in the PCSSD. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee will attend the Educational Cooperative Teacher Center Coordinators' meeting September 1, 1998, in the ADE auditorium. The next regular meeting of the committee is tentatively set for 9:00 a.m., Thursday, September 29, 1998, in the PCSSD Central Office. The Tri-County Staff Development Committee met Monday, August 24, 1998, at PCSSD central office with four members present: Marion Woods, LRSD\nDoug Ask and Mary McClendon, PCSSD\nand Betty Gale Davis, ADE. Topics of discussion included the September 1 meeting scheduled with the regional cooperatives' teacher center coordinators\nthe staff development task force on which Marion Woods is serving\nthe property tax issue\nand various mathematics and reading programs being used in the districts. The committee met Tuesday, September 1, 1998, with the Teacher Center Coordinators, at which time Dr. Woody Cummins presented. Six Tri-District Staff Development Committee members were present: Marion Woods, LRSD\nDoug Ask and Mary McClendon, PCSSD\nDana Chadwick and Estelle Crawford, NLRSD\nBetty Gale Davis, ADE. The next committee meeting will be 9:00 a.m., Thursday, September 24, 1998, at the Little Rock District Instructional Resources Center. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met Thursday, September 24, 1998, at the Instructional Resources Center, Little Rock, with five present: Marion Woods and Dr. Bonnie Lesley, LRSD\nDoug Ask, PCSSD\nDana Chadwick, NLRSD\nand Dr. Betty Gale Davis, ADE. Topics of discussion included the meeting with the regional cooperatives' teacher center coordinators\nthe staff development task force on which Marion Woods is serving and the NSCI training\ntraining provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)\ntraining provided by Casio\nand the proposal of a Principals Academy. 42 VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING (Continued) . D. Evaluatein-service training programs developed and executed to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) Doug Ask will serve as representative to the October 6, 1998 meeting of the Teacher Center Coordinators. He will submit to Donna Harris, president of the group, a request for one other member of the Tri-County Committee (Dana Chadwick) to attend the meeting. Representatives for future meetings (second Tuesday of each month) will be: Marion Woods, November\nMary McClendon, December\nDana Chadwick, January. The next committee meeting will be 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 13, 1998, at the North Little Rock School District Central Office. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met on Tuesday, October 13, 1998, in the NLRSD Administration Building. Doug Ask represented the committee at the Teacher Center Coordinators' meeting in Fayetteville, October 6. He shared with the Tri-District Committee information regarding the upcoming NSCI/Smart Start Training. James Smith spoke with the group about Amendment 4. Members of the Tri-District Staff Development Committee also met with the Teacher Center Coordinators, Wednesday, October 28. Doug Ask, Marion Woods, and Esther Crawford were trained as facilitators, October 29, for the initial Smart Start Summit to be held November 9-12, 1998. Marion Woods will represent the committee at the next regular Teacher Center Coordinators' meeting, Tuesday, November 3, 10:00 a.m. at the ADE. The next Tri-District Committee meeting will be at 9:00 a.m., November 10, in the PCSSD Administration Building. Members of the Tri-District Staff Development Committee met several times with the Teacher Center Coordinators in preparation for the Smart Start Summit. During the Smart Start Summit, they served as facilitators. The meeting planned for November 10 was postponed due to the conflict with the Summit. Doug Ask, Marion Woods, and Esther Crawford met with the Teacher Center Coordinators on Tuesday, December 1, 1998, for the regular monthly meeting. Principal topics discussed were the Smart Start Initiative and Principals' Institute. The next meeting of the Teacher Center Coordinators is scheduled for January 6, 1999, 9:00 a.m., in the ADE Auditorium. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee will meet at 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 8, 1998, at the Little Rock School District Instructional Resources Center. 43 VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING (Continued) D. Evaluate in-service training programs developed and executed to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) Doug Ask, PCSSD\nMarion Woods, LRSD\nand Esther Crawford, NLRSD, met with the Teacher Center Coordinators on Tuesday, December 1, 1998, for the regular monthly meeting. Principal topics discussed wecre the Smart Start Initiative and Principals' Institute. The Teacher Center Coordinators held their monthly meeting on January 6, 1999, 9:00 a.m., in the ADE Auditorium, with Doug Ask, Marion Woods, and Esther Crawford in attendance .. At the January meeting, the primary focus was on the Smart Start Initiative. Dates for the future committee meetings have been tentatively scheduled to coincide with meetings with the Teacher Center Coordinators. Due to the Tri-District Committee's involvement with the Smart Start Initiative, no formal meeting of the committee was held in January. Members of the TriDistrict Staff Development Committee met with Teacher Center Coordinators, January 6 and 25, 1999, preparing for and facilitating Smart Start activities. Dates for future meetings have been tentatively scheduled to coincide with meetings of Teacher Center Coordinators. The Tri-District Staff Development Committee met Wednesday, February 17, 1999, at the Best Western lnntowne with four members in attendance. Most of the discussion centered on Smart Start and Character Centered Teaching. A March meeting date was not determined. Members of the Tri-District Staff Development Committee met with the Teacher Center Coordinators at their regular monthly meeting, April 6, 1999, at the ADE. Much of the meeting centered on the Smart Start Initiative and the Getting Smarter Summer Conference to be held in Hot Springs, July 28- 31 , 1999. The next meeting of the Tri-District Staff Development Committee will be May 11, 1999, at the Northeast Arkansas Educational Cooperative, Walnut Ridge. Members of the Tri-District Staff Development Committee met with the Teacher Center Coordinators at their regular monthly meeting, Tuesday, May 11 , 1999, at the Northeast Arkansas Educational Cooperative, Walnut Ridge, with Mary McClendon, PCSSD, Marion Woods, LRSD, Esther Crawford, NLRSD, and Janinne Riggs, ADE, attending. Much of the meeting centered on the Smart Start Initiative. The next meeting was scheduled as a retreat, June 7-9, 1999, at Hot Springs. Members of the Tri-District Staff Development Committee met with the Teacher Center Coordinators for their annual retreat, June 7-9, 1999, at Hot Springs. The next regular meeting will be in September, the date and place to be announced later. Summer activities will include the Getting Smarter Conference. 44 I\n( VIII. IN-SERVICE TRAINING (Continued) D. Evaluate in-service training programs developed and executed to address in-service training needs of desegregating districts. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) tyfimber. pf th~ -r:i,:01strict.Staff Developmentbrnmitt~e !-net#uring the  Gettin~ ml3ctirtPrif~rence\n ~u1y2a'.'-s ~\nIt9~~} ~(~gtspHggs/ fn roltao.er~\\!99 with the treach~r C~pfor Coordinators, those parliclpatirig in theconfereric~ ijs facilitators 1NeregDoug Ask, PCSSD\nEsther Cr~qrd, NLRSQ\nand. Marion Woods, LRSD, .The next regulafme~ting v,,illt,?~jfi Septembef,.th~ 9atejind plf)c\neJp p~ ~11!19i.Jn~~d later. rr\nargedJ:i~cH/~n\u0026amp; +~st. ror stQden($u~ssi ? W9fKP9P ~im~p at impr:oy,ryg ifitefpr~!~~ioci f m::,s! ~~ta ~fl~ ~pply!hg t~~t. ~nW!~~ge toward more eff~ctiy~ lesson pla~pir'ig/ \\\\.ias adaptedfofpresentatidh iii cobJQnction With tli~ Multicultural lnstit.ute. Members of. the Standards Assurance Unit (Dee Qox, Betty Gale Davis, Bop' Maddox, and Lonzo Gatlin) presented an all-day workshop (Target, Teach., and Test fqr Student Success) for Pulaski County Special School pistric:tJri connection with the Multicultural Institute, July 27,1999. 45 IX. RECRUITMENT OF MINORITY TEACHERS A. . Facilitate communication between the Districts and Arkansas colleges and universities with teacher education programs. 1. Projected Ending Dates (See dates on individual key activities) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 A staff member of the ADE's certification department attended all of the college career days in FY 94/95 in Arkansas and one out-of-state. In FY 95/96, ADE certification staff members attended career and job fairs at the following colleges and universities: Philander Smith College\nUAM\nHSU\nATU\nUCA\nASU\nUA-Pine Bluff\nUA-Fayetteville\nHarding University\nSAU\nand Jackson State. ADE certification staff met with representatives from the Districts to ensure they were aware that ADE personnel were available to provide assistance in recruitment and certification of minority teacher candidates. A job fair was conducted at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff on December 4, 1996. The Districts were advised of the ADE's availability for providing assistance in recruitment and certification. In February 1997, ADE certification staff members attended teacher job fairs at Henderson State University, Arkansas Tech University, and University of Central Arkansas to facilitate communication between the Districts and Arkansas colleges and universities with teacher education programs. ADE certification staff members attended teacher job fairs at Harding University, UA-Fayetteville, UA-Pine Bluff, and ASU in April 1997 to facilitate communication between the Districts and Arkansas colleges and universities with teacher education programs. From April 16, 1997 through May 6, 1997, ADE certification staff members attended teacher job fairs at Philander Smith College and SAU to facilitate communication between the Districts and Arkansas colleges and universities with teacher education programs. Additionally, ADE staff attended an out-ofstate teacher job fair at Jackson State University at Jackson, Mississippi. Recruitment activities were suspended for the summer, but they will resume in the later part of September for FY 97/98. On September 25, 1997, the ADE's Professional Licensure Supervisor attended a career day job fair at Philander Smith College to provide support to the Districts in recruiting teachers. 46 IX. RECRUITMENT OF MINORITY TEACHERS (Continued) A. Facilitate communication between the Districts and Arkansas colleges and universities with teacher education programs. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) On November 6, 1997, the Professional Licensure Supervisor attended a career day job fair at the University of the Ozarks in order to facilitate the Districts' recruitment efforts. Recruitment activities will resume in February 1998. Representatives of the ADE's Professional Licensure Unit attended job fairs at Arkansas Technical University, UCA, ASU and the University of Memphis fron:i February 26, 1998 through March 12, 1998. A representative from the ADE's Professional Licensure Unit attended job fairs at UA-Fayetteville and Harding University on March 30, 1998 and April 2, 1998, respectively. Representatives from the ADE's Professional Licensure Unit attended job fairs at Philander Smith College, SAU and North East Louisiana in April 1998. The staff members of Professional Licensure have scheduled college and university job fairs as they become aware of them. They have scheduled ATU, UCA, ASU, Harding, and UA-Fayetteville. The Professional Licensure staff assisted NLRSD in getting the spring minority graduate list from all college and university teacher education programs. The Licensure unit scheduled staff to attend job fairs coming up this spring. Representatives for the Professional Licensure Unit attended job fairs at ATU, UCA, and ASU from February 25, 1999 through March 9, 1999. Representatives for the Professional Licensure Unit attended job fairs at Harding, UA-Fayetteville, and UAM from March 25, 1999 through April 7, 1999. Representatives for the Professional Licensure Unit attended job fairs at Philander Smith, April 13, 1999 and Grambling University, April 15, 1999. B. Beginning in 1994, by May and November of each year, Districts will supply to the ADE information about shortages of teachers by grade and subject area. 1. Projected Ending Dates Ongoing, as stated. 47 IX. RECRUITMENT OF MINORITY TEACHERS (Continued) B. Beginning in 1994, by May and November of.each year, Districts will supply to the ADE information about shortages of teachers by grade and subject area. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 Letters were sent in May, August, and December 1995 to the Districts requesting information regarding teaching positions available by grade and subject areas. In May and November 1996, the Human Resources offices of the Districts were requested to provide information regarding teaching positions available by grade and subject area. The ADE sent follow-up letters requesting information from the Districts regarding teacher shortages in February 1997. The NLRSD and the PCSSD indicated that they expect teacher shortages in the areas of Special Education, Mathematics, the Sciences, Foreign Language, English as a Second Language and Gifted and Talented Education. On May 20, 1997, information was requested from the Districts regarding teacher shortages. Follow-up letters were sent in July 1997. On November 5, 1998, letters were sent to the three schools in Pulaski County requesting a list of foreseeable teacher shortages. In May 1999, requests were made to the Pulaski County Schools for a list of teacher openings and grade levels. In June 1999, the Professional Licensure Unit received a list of teacher shortage areas and openings for Pulaski County Schools. C. Beginning in 1994, by May and December of each year, request information from colleges and universities about the numbers and types of minority-teacher graduates. 1. Projected Ending Dates Ongoing, as stated. 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 In May and December 1995, letters were sent to all Deans and Certifying Officers of Institutions of Higher Education in Arkansas requesting information on minority teacher graduates. Letters were sent to all Deans and Certifying Officers of Institutions of Higher Education in Arkansas in May and November 1996 requesting information on minority teacher graduates. 48 -  IX. RECRUITMENT OF MINORITY TEACMERS (Continued) C. D. Beginning in 1994, by May and December of each year, request information from colleges and universities about the numbers and types of minority-teacher graduates. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) In May and December 1997, letters were sent to all Arkansas colleges and universities with teacher education programs requesting minority teacher graduate information. On May 14, 1998, letters were sent to all Arkansas colleges and universities with teacher education programs requesting minority teacher graduate information. On August 1, 1998, the ADE Office of Professional Licensure sent advance notice to all Deans/Certifying Officials regarding the change in format for complete minority teacher candidate information. On November 5, 1998, letters were sent to Deans and Certifying Officials requesting a list of their fall minority teacher education graduates which will be sent to the three Pulaski County Schools. In May 1999, requests were made to all colleges and universities for their spring minority graduates for 1999. In June 1999, the ADE Office of Professional Licensure received minority graduate reports from colleges and universities. Within 30 days of receiving data from colleges and universities provide the Districts data on teacher openings to the colleges and universities on minority graduates to the Districts. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 In June 1995 and January 1996, ADE sent the information received from Arkansas colleges and universities on minority teacher education graduates to the Districts. In July 1996 and January 1997, ADE sent the information received from Deans and Certifying Officers on minority teacher education graduates to the Districts. On February 3, 1997, a list of minority teacher graduates from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville was forwarded to the Districts as an addendum to the list of graduates compiled on January 16, 1997. 49 IX. RECRUITMENT OF MINORITY TEACHERS (Continued) D. Within 30 days of receiving data from colleg~s and universities provide t.he Districts data on teacher openings to the colleges and universities on minority graduates to the Districts. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) The ADE provided the Districts with the Minority Teacher Graduate Report compiled from the minority teacher graduate informatiorf received from Arkansas colleges and universities in July 1997 and January 1998. The 1998 Fall Minority Teacher Graduate Report from colleges and universities have been forwarded to the three Pulaski County School District. Information from the three Pulaski County School Districts regarding vacant teaching positions are being forwarded to the colleges and universities. In July 1999, the minority graduate reports from the colleges and universities were mailed to all Pulaski County Schools. Job openings for Pulaski County Schools were mailed to all colleges and universities. E. Each November, ADE will request information from the Districts on the effectiveness of ADE's minority recruitment assistance, including an assessment of the minority teacher candidates' database. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 On November 30, 1994, letters were sent to the Districts requesting feedback on the effectiveness of the ADE's minority recruitment assistance. Follow-up letters were sent on March 17, 1995 since no responses had been received. Additional follow-up letters were sent to the Districts in August 1995 because the ADE had received no responses from the Districts. A planning and evaluation meeting was scheduled on January 11, 1996 with representatives from the Districts. The Districts did not attend the meeting. In February 1997, letters were sent to the Districts requesting feedback on the effectiveness of ADE's minority recruitment assistance. The NLRSD and the PCSSD submitted favorable evaluations concerning the effectiveness of the ADE's recruitment assistance efforts. The ADE did not received any information from the LRSD regarding this matter. 50 . ,) X. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO MINORITY TEACl-jER CANDIDATES A. Assist ADHE in identifying, analyzing, addressing and eliminating racial disparities in the allocation of scholarships. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section X.D. of this report. B. Representatives of the ADE and the ADHE will work together, review ADHE's available data to identify racial disparities in allocation of scholarships. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section X.D. of this report. C. Using its knowledge about public schools, teacher education and certification, and through a collaborative effort with the Districts, ADE will analyze racial disparities in ADHE scholarship allocations. ADE will report its findings, conclusions, and recommendations about racial disparities in allocating scholarships to ADHE. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 The information for this item is detailed under Section X.D. of this report. D. Working with the ADHE, the ADE will use its relationships in the public education institutional settings to assist implementation of measures designed to reduce racial disparities in allocation of scholarships. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 In April 1995, ADE met with representatives of ADHE concerning identification and analysis of possible disparities in scholarship allocations. 51 ,e X. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO MINORITY TEACHER CANDIDATES (Continued) D. Working with the ADHE, the ADE will use its relationships in the public education institutional settings to assist implementation of measures designed to reduce racial  disparities in allocation of scholarships. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) In June 1995, a collaborative effort was made between the ADE and ADHE to enhance the rate at which minorities were applying for the 1995 teacher scholarships with special emphasis on the areas of science, math, and foreign language through a direct mail program. In July 1995, representatives from the ADE and the Districts met to review the scholarship applications. The Implementation Committee on Financial Assistance to Minority Teacher Candidates discussed ways to increase minority awareness of the scholarships available for minority teacher applicants. The committee agreed to meet quarterly to identify, analyze, and address eliminating racial disparities in scholarships. The committee met in December 1995 to discuss the distribution of scholarships for the 95/96 school year. The committee meets on a continuous basis to review scholarship distributions and discuss ways of improving the pool of applicants for minority teacher scholarships as detailed further in Section X. E. of this report. E. Monitor the allocation of scholarships to minority students by the ADHE\nevaluate the impacts of new approaches and new legislation on an ongoing basis. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 During the May 1995 Legislative session, Acts 188, 189 and 259 regarding scholarships were passed. A meeting to monitor and analyze the distribution of scholarships for the 95/96 school year was held on December 15, 1995. The committee met on June 7, 1996 to review the scholarship applications for minority teacher candidates for the 96/97 school year. Representatives from the ADHE stated that the ADHE expected to have the resources to fund: 56 scholarships under the Emergency Secondary Education Loan Program\n100 scholarships under the Minority Teacher Scholars Program\nand 13 scholarships under the Minority Masters Fellows Program. The committee also discussed ways of increasing the scholarship applicant pools, and a recommendation was made to make scholarships available to part-time students. 52 X. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO MINORITY TEACHER CANDIDATES (Continued) E. Monitor the allocation -of scholarships to minority students by the ADHE\nevaluate the impacts of new approaches and new legislation on an ongoing basis. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) In September 1996, a proposal was submitted to the Assistant to the Director for Legislative Services recommending the Legislature offer minority teacher scholarships to part-time students. The committee met on October 23, 1996 to review the scholarships awarded for the 96/97 school year. The following scholarships were funded: 60 scholarships totaling $144,266 for the Emergency Secondary Education Loan Program\n20 scholarships totaling $107,500 for the Minority Masters Fellows . Program\n109 scholarships totaling $505,093 for the Minority Teacher Scholars Program\nand 258 students in the Freshman/Sophomore Minority Grant Program received scholarships totaling $374,000. In March 1997, information on minority teacher scholarships and how to apply was provided to the Districts and Arkansas colleges and universities. The Districts were informed of ADHE's scholarship promotional efforts and legislative updates. The next meeting of the committee will be in September 1997. On April 8, 1997, notifications were sent to all Arkansas colleges and universities on the Minority Teacher Scholars Program reminding them that the deadline for receiving applications was June 1, 1997. This information was also provided to the Districts. The Minority Teacher Scholarship Committee will meet on October 9, 1997 to discuss the scholarships awarded for FY 97/98. The Minority Teacher Scholarship Recruitment Committee met on October 9, 1997 to discuss the scholarships awarded for FY 97/98. The ADHE Assistant Coordinator for Student Financial Aid provided a comprehensive presentation on scholarships awarded for the 97/98 school year There were 235 scholarships awarded in the Freshman/Sophomore Minority Scholarship program totaling $344,988. The Emergency Secondary Education Loan program awarded 52 scholarships for a total of $119,370. There were 83 scholarships for $403,520 awarded in the Minority Teachers Scholars program. The Minority Masters Fellows program awarded 20 scholarships for a total of $73,750. The ADHE representative indicated that during the 1997 regular legislative session legislation was passed to allow hispanics and asians to participate in the minority scholarship programs. It was stated that the average GPA for minority teacher scholarship recipients had increased to 3.13, and that the dollars awarded in the Minority Masters Fellows program were down from last year because most of the recipients were part-time students. 53 - X. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO MINORITY TEACHER CANDIDATES (Continued) E. Monitor the allocation of scholarships to minority students by the ADHE\nevaluate the impacts of new approaches and new legislation on an ongoing basis. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) The committee discussed numerous avenues that might be utilized to inform minority applicants of scholarships available. Communication with the faculty of Arkansas colleges and universities regarding the availability of scholarships was discussed as a way of informing teaching students of possible resources available to them. The next quarterly meeting of the Minority Teacher Scholarship Recruitment Committee will be February 19, 1998. The quarterly meeting of the Minority Teacher Scholarship Recruitment Committee scheduled for February was canceled since only the NLRSD and an ADE representative were present at the scheduled meeting place. The meeting has not been rescheduled at this time. The Minority Teacher Scholarship meeting was rescheduled for March 26, 1998. The Minority Teacher Scholarship Recruitment Committee met on March 26, 1998. The committee was updated on the requirements and application packets were distributed for the Emergency Secondary Education Loan Program (ESELP), Minority Teacher Scholars Program (MTSP), and Minority Masters Fellows Program (MMFP). The deadline for applications was April 1, 1998 for the ESE LP and June 1, 1998 for the MTSP and MMFP. The scholarships will be awarded in July 1998. A committee member requested that ADHE send scholarship applications to the schools as well as the district offices to ensure that their teachers and students were apprised of the scholarships available. It was suggested that the colleges submit prospective graduate information for use by the Districts no later than April since the Districts begin the interview process of Spring graduates in May. The ADE Implementation Plan currently requires that the ADE request information on minority teacher graduates in May, and then it is distributed to the Districts in June or July. A representative from the ADE Teacher Licensure Unit was present at the meeting and stated that the ADE would try to accommodate the Districts with this request, but she cautioned that colleges and universities are reluctant to provide tentative graduate information. The next committee meeting is scheduled for July 30, 1998 at the NLRSD offices. 54 X. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO MINOR_ITY TEACHER CANDIDATES (Continued) E. Monitor the allocation of scholarships to minority students by the ADHE\nevaluate the impacts of new approaches and new legislation on an ongoing basis. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) The Minority Teacher Scholarship Meeting was held July 30, 1998. Donna Elliot, ADE Program Support Manager was appointed to the Committee. She indicated that advance notification would be mailed to all University Deans/Certifying Officials regarding the change in format for more thorough minority teacher candidate information. A complete report will be forwarded and reported in the September PMT. Disparities in minority scholarship distributions were not evidenced in the draft report. Lillian Williams, Arkansas Department of Higher Education, submitted the following report on Minority Teacher Scholarships Distribution: 1998-99 PROGRAM STATISTICS PROGRAM NAME APPROPRIATION AWARDED #STUDENTS Freshman/Sophomore 250,000 250,000 Estimated 300+ ESEL 81 ,717 121,250 50 * Minority Teacher 450,000 445,000 89 ** Scholars Minority Masters Fellows 80,000 80,000 30 * Please note that only 81 ,717 was appropriated for the ESEL Scholarship, however, additional repayment funds were used to award an additional 39,533 totaling 121 ,250. ** 11 Students are pending passing the PPST. The report on Minority Teacher Scholarships Distribution was presented October 8, 1998, by the Education Lead Planner during the Break the Mold Workshop: Teacher Recruitment and Retention, sponsored by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. The group was informed about the following: 1. Projected Teacher shortages in Mathematics, Special Education, and Foreign Language 2. Collaborative efforts of the ADE and the ADHE to recruit teachers by funding more than 450 scholarships for applicants interested in teaching annually 3. Reasons new teachers give for leaving the profession 4. The ratio of minority teachers to minority students. 55 X. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO MINORITY TEACHER CANDIDATES (CLntinued) E. Monitor the allocation of scholarships to minority students by the ADHE\n. evaluate the impacts of new approaches and new legislation on an ongoing basis. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) The Minority Teacher Scholarship Committee met on November 2, 1998 in the Pulaski County District Conference Room. The committee received (1) an update on the distribution of scholarships, (2) reviewed the scholarship information booklets, (3) approved the quarterly report of progress. The committee also identified, as a legislative issue, the need to allow part-time students access to scholarships. The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for February 2, 1999. A recommendation was received by the Committee on Financial Assistance to Minority Teacher Candidates regarding the Emergency Secondary Education Loan. The Committee recommended that the Arkansas State Legislature increase the minority teacher candidate pool by offering the Emergency Secondary Education Loan to part-time students. The Committee noted that a number of persons currently serving our education system as substitute teachers would take advantage of the assistance offered, if they could receive assistance for part-time student status. Many prospective minority teacher candidates, and candidates seeking advanced degrees are unable to serve our students and go to school on a full-time basis. The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for February 2, 1999. The next quarterly meeting was rescheduled for February 21 , 1999, to accommodate all participants. The quarterly meeting of the Minority Teacher Scholarship Committee was held on February 21, 1999, in the Little Rock School District. Representatives from all three districts in Pulaski County, the ADHE and the ADE attended the meeting. A scholarship report update and scholarship applications and deadlines for the 1999 school year were provided. Information regarding the national focus on teacher shortages and recruitment were distributed. The committee discussed the status of the following bills related to teacher recruitment: SB31 , \"an act to make emergency secondary education loans available to students enrolled as a major in a program of study leading to teacher certification for foreign languages and special education .\" HB1466 \"state supported colleges and universities must report to Department of Education the name, address, and major of each minority student completing college requirements for licensure as school teacher.\" S8237 \"to make technical amendments to various sections of the Arkansas Code Annotated relative to public education.\" 56 IJ X. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO MINORITY TEACHE\nR CANDIDATES (Continued) E. Monitor the allocation of scholarships to minority students by the ADHE\nevaluate the impacts of new approaches and new legislation on an ongoing basis. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 (Continued) S8261 \"to encourage teachers to participate in and complete NBPTS Certification by authorizing the Department of Education to pay full tuition and incentive bonuses.\" $8113 \"to amend A.C.A.  6-17-410 to clarify that the Department of Education will pay criminal record check fees for certain public education employees.\" The quarterly meeting of the Minority Teacher Scholarship Committee was held on May 13, 1999 at the ADHE. Representatives from all three districts in Pulaski County, ADHE, and ADE attended the meeting. A scholarship report update and scholarship application deadline for the 1999 school year were provided. Information regarding the new rules and regulations for professional development that are to go out for public comment were distributed. The committee discussed the status and impact of the following Acts related to teacher recruitment: Act 905 (formerly HB1466)\nAct 391 (formerly SB237)\nAct 58 (formerly 8B261)\nAct 226 (formally 8B113). 9nl2~y@@J\n1~~~ngjijl~n YYiJliais) A.,IB~Q~~ R@B~~IDPl f ~iQb\nr ggyltmn\npffljff..q m~fllY.kidg f.pft n MJribfiJYlli~#.h~f $..hmr$.hf P P1$!f/.p~ntfii 57 XI. MINORITY RECRUITMENT OF ADE STAFF A. . Administer the ADE Minority Recruitment Plan developed by the ADE staff and Board of Education and officially adopted by the Board of Education (see Exhibit B for the ADE's Minority Recruitment Plan with specific objectives and time lines). 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31 , 1999 The Minority Recruitment Committee met on April 14, 1995. New committee members were assigned tasks and goals to increase the effectiveness of the Minority Recruitment Plan. At the Minority Recruitment Committee meeting on May 18, 1995, the committee was divided into four working sub-teams to update the annual plan. Each team focused on one of the four goals in the Minority Recruitment Plan and monitored specific task completions. From June to October 1995, subcommittees met and worked on monitoring the progress of the ADE in accomplishing the tasks outlined in the Minority Recruitment Plan.  In September 1995, the ADE reached an agreement with the Arkansas Statewide Systemic Initiative (ASSI) for conducting an audit of the Minority Recruitment Plan. The committee reviewed the recommendations and comments for updating the plan at the November 1995 meeting and reviewed the final draft at the December meeting. The ASSl's audit findings were presented to the committee on January 16, 1996. It was determined during the initial review that the files were incomplete to the extent that an accurate audit was not possible. The auditor met with the committee in March 1996 to review the additional documentation in the files. The auditor prepared the final report in April 1996 indicating that of the 89 actions contained in the Minority Recruitment Plan, 74 of the items had been completed, nine were in progress, and six had not been started. The audit stated that of the 22 items in Goal 1, 15 were completed, one was in progress, and six had not been started. Goal 2 contained 14 items, 13 of which were completed and one in progress. Goal 3 consisted of 30 items with 29 items completed and one in progress. Goal 4 consisted of 23 items with 17 items completed and six in progress. 58  XI. MINORITY RECRUITMENT OF ADE STAFF (Continued) A. Administer the ADE Minority Recruitment Plan developed by the ADE staff and Board of Education and officially adopted by the Board of Education (see Exhibit B for the ADE's Minority Recruitment Plan with specific goals, objectives and time lines). (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) The Minority Recruitment Committee met on June 6, 1996 to discuss updates and revisions addressed in the audit and the new racial/gender report on  Grades 21 and above. Since the completion of the audit, Goals 2.3.4 and 3.3.8 were completed, and a list of recommendations for retention activities was written. Also, a random sample of ADE employees was asked to fill out questionnaires, but only a limited number were returned. In August 1996, the Minority Recruitment Committee met and discussed the actions necessary to complete Goals 1 and 4 contained in the Minority Recruitment Plan. At the September 1996 meeting, the committee was updated on the progress of all four goals in the Minority Recruitment Plan. The committee heard an analysis of application and hiring practices and discussed the relevance of the data. Suggestions made by the State Board of Education regarding the Employee Tracking Data Check Sheet were discussed at the February 1996 meeting of the Minority Recruitment Committee. Goal 1 of the Minority Recruitment Plan will be completed when the employee tracking sheet is finalized. The Minority Recruitment Committee met on March 14, 1997 and March 27, 1997 to discuss the draft Revised Minority Recruitment Plan and progress toward completing Goal 4. The committee passed a motion to omit Section 1.1 from Goal 1 of the draft revised plan. Additionally, the committee suggested that communication be made an integral part of each goal of the revised plan . The committee discussed the need for professional training programs, incentives for educational opportunities, and upward mobility for all staff within the ADE. In an effort to complete Goal 4, a representative from the ADE communication section presented development costs for media materials to the committee. Additionally, a representative from the ADE MIS section discussed the possibility of using the network to disseminate information to employees. It was suggested that the committee continue to receive assistance from MIS on the orientation video . 59 XI. MINORITY RECRUITMENT OF ADE STAFF (Continued) A. Administer the ADE Minority Recruitment Plan developed by the ADE staff and Board of Education and officially adopted by the Board of Education (see Exhibit B for the ADE's Minority Recruitment Plan with specific goals, objectives and time lines). (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) In an effort to represent all sections within the ADE, the committee recommended that representatives from the ADE communication and MIS sections be added as members to the committee. Currently, neither section is represented on the committee. The Minority Recruitment Committee met on April 18, 1997 to discuss the need to revise the action steps for each of the committee's four goals. The committee decided to schedule a two-day retreat in an effort to review all goals and actions. The Minority Recruitment Committee met on May 19, 1997 to discuss the agenda for the annual retreat and revisions to the action plan emphasizing recruitment and retention at all grade levels. A two-day annual retreat was held on June 18-19, 1997 at the Teacher Retirement Building. The retreat facilitated the revision of the Minority Recruitment Committee's action plan for their four goals. Dr. Gary Chamberlain, UALR faculty member, served as the facilitator. The revised plan was distributed to the Minority Recruitment Committee at their July 18, 1997 meeting for final approval before it is submitted to the administrative team and the State Board of Education. The Minority Recruitment Committee meeting scheduled for September 12, 1997 was rescheduled for September 30, 1997 due to members scheduling conflicts. The meeting will be reported in the November PMT. The Minority Recruitment Committee met with the ADE Deputy Director in November 1997 to provide him with a copy of the revised plan and receive his input on the plan. The revised Minority Recruitment Committee (MRC) plan was approved at the December 1997 State Board of Education meeting. The MRC met in January 1998 to discuss the implementation of the revised MRC plan. Reports and documentation of progress in completing the components of each goal will be reported at the next meeting. 60 - XI. MINORITY RECRUITMENT OF ADE STAFF (Continued) B. Monitor minority representation at alt levels of ADE and assess the effectiveness of the ADE Minority Recruitment Plan. 1. Projected Ending Date Ongoing 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 As of August 1995, the ADE had hired or transferred 38 employees in Grades 21 and above in the General Education Division. This group was composed of 11 black females, 5 black males, 16 white females, 4 white males, 1 other female, and 1 other male. The racial composition of the these employees was 52.6 percent non-minority and 47.4 percent minority. As of October 1995, there were 161 filled positions in the GED in Grades 21 and above. There were 27 minorities or 22.9 percent in Grades 21 and above. An analysis on Goal 1 regarding application and hiring practices was presented at the September 1996 meeting. Samples of graphs and tables for presenting the data were distributed at the meeting. The Minority Recruitment Committee met on December 13, 1996 to discuss the latest draft of the ADE Employee Tracking Data Check Sheet. The committee recommended various format changes including the addition of a table of contents and an executive summary. The committee met on January 17, 1997 to continue the discussion on the draft ADE Employee Tracking Data Check Sheet. The Assistant Director for Planning and Curriculum agreed with all but three of the committee's recommendations for the employee tracking sheet. He requested that the committee continue discussions on this matter. The Minority Recruitment Committee met on February 14, 1997 to discuss the status of the Employee Tracking Data Check Sheet. The committee also discussed the lack of minority employees in some areas and the loss of several minority employees and the possibility of revising the new Minority Recruitment Plan. The committee received information on Arkansas pupil enrollment by race at their March 14, 1997 meeting. Arkansas enrollment figures for October 1, 1996 revealed that 73.7% of all students are white, 23.4% are black, 1.8% are hispanic, 0.7% are asian, and 0.4% are native american. To assess the effectiveness of the action steps for each goal, agenda items were developed for the committee's June retreat. The committee recommended that invitations be sent to Senator Beebe, Julie Cullen, Gene Wilhoit, and all State Board members. 61 XI. MINORITY RECRUITMENT OF ADE STAFF (Continued) B. Monitor minority representation at all levels of ADE and assess the effectiveness of the ADE Minority Recruitment Plan. (Continued) 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 (Continued) At the May 1997 Minority Recruitment Committee meeting, the committee discussed reviewing the most recent quarterly hiring and retention report and revisions to the action plan at the annual retreat. c Discussions during the July retreat focused on the current plan, the original purpose of the plan, and necessary changes with input provided by committee members and speakers from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, Employment Securities, and the ADE. At the January 1998 MRC meeting, it was decided that the chair and secretary would prepare a report on minority representation within each unit and section and present it to the committee at the next meeting. The Minority Recruitment Committee met on June 11, 1998, to discuss new membership for the committee and plans for a retreat. The committee recommended a new design and composition of the committee to represent each of the seven sections of the Arkansas Department of Education and included Grade 20's and below. The Minority Recruitment Committee met on July, 16, 1998, to discuss implementation of new membership for the committee for FY98/99, and to update plans for the September retreat. The Minority Recruitment Committee met on August 11 , 1998 with Dr. Dave Westmoreland, Acting Chairperson. Members were notified that the dates for the September Retreat are September 10-11 , 1998 at the Teacher Retirement Building, Little Rock Arkansas. New Members were introduced and background materials regarding the purpose and progress of the MRC were distributed to new members. The sel\nThis project was supported in part by a Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives project grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Council on Library and Information Resoources.\n   \n\n   \n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n\u003cdcterms_creator\u003eArkansas. 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Department of Education","Little Rock School District","Education--Arkansas","Education--Evaluation","Education and state","Educational law and legislation","Educational planning","Education--Economic aspects","Magnet schools","School management and organization","School improvement programs","School integration"],"dcterms_title":["Court filings: District Court, order; District Court, Arkansas Department of Education's (ADE's) response to Little Rock School District's (LRSD's) motion to modify the settlement agreement as regards the magnet schools; District Court, districts' motion for pre-judgment interest; District Court, Arkansas Department of Education's (ADE's) response to the districts' motion for pre-judgment interest; District Court, notice of filing, project management tool"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["Butler Center for Arkansas Studies"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/bcmss0837/id/1731"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":["Available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any other use requires permission from the Butler Center."],"dcterms_medium":["judicial records"],"dcterms_extent":["86 pages"],"dlg_subject_personal":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"The transcript for this item was created using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and may contain some errors.  :\u003ei.J:\u003eHN W Wt{ I tit'! I IN TRE UNITED STATE DISTRICT COURT F:ASTF.RN T\u003eTSTRTr.T OF ARKAN.~4.~ WESTEP-1\\l DIVT..S!ON LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT, * Plaintiff, * vs. PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT WO. 1, et al., Defendants, * \"' * No. LR-C-82-866 OPTIONAL FORM 99 (7-90) r. UI MRS. LORENE JOSHUA, et al., Intervenors, F\u003ex f  fax~ ;2 .., lr_ - I  ;;.-- . ,:; ?!-oL ofJ.'-----c~--'-~--=-='__,'--~~r'----,-....,,10C....:.,~~- N::iN 7:)40.,01-311-7386 5099-101 GENERAL SERVICES AOMlNIST~ATIO\"'( Y. .- \\THEP-'NE .NIGHT, et al., rntcrvenors. ORDER The Little Rock, North Little Rock; and Pulaski. County School Districts (\"Districts\") filed a motion requesting that t,.,is Coun order the State to distribute funds to the Pulaski County Educational Cooperative upon fon-...a.tion of the cooperative [docket no 3271]. The State responded [docket no_ 3275] and the Districts replied to the response [docket no. 3284]. Having carefully considered the matter, the Court denies the motion_ I_ In 1985, the Arkansas Legislature authorized the State Board of Education to establish a state funded system of multi-county educational cooperatives in Atkansas.1 The legislature intended the cooperatives to \"provide to school districts which choose to use them assistance in .. 1 1985 Atk. Acts 349 (codified at Ark. Code Ann. 6-13-1002). - - - - 3 2 95 ----- -- - ----- - SEP- 8-99 WED 10:12 SUSAN W WRIGHT FAX NO. 5013246576 P. 02 - . meeting or exceeding accreditation standards and equalizing educational opportunities. \"2 In I 987, the Districts agreed to form the Pulaski County Educaticna} Cooperative,' and this Court approved the agreement.' Subsequently, the parties agreed to settle the State's liabiiity in this case and formulated a settlement agreement, which eliminated the Pulaski County Educational Cooperative. This Court, in an Order issued by the Honorable Henry Woods, transferred the funds previously eannarked for the cooperative to the budget of the Metropolitan Supervisor. See Little Rock Sch. Dist. v. Pulaski County Special Sch. Dist., 716 F. Supp. 1162, .. .. . 1165 (E.D. Ark. 1989). In light of Judge Woods's Order, the parties agreed that the funds should be .. used to develop effective compensatory and remedial education programs designed to eliminate achievement disparities between black and white students and for other purposes intended to enhance desegregation.\"~ Accordingly, the parties amended Part ill.E of the settlement agreement as follows: State funding for the Pulaski County Education Service [Cooperative] has ceased and the funds were reallocated to the Metropolitan Supervisor by order of the Court. Should these funds no longer be required by the Metropolitan Supervisor, they will be used to assist the ADE [Arkansas Department of Education] in securing the services of trained consultants to develop effective compensatory, remedial education programs designed to eliminate achievement disparities between black and white students and for other purposes intended to enhance desegregation.' 2 Ark. Code. Ann. 6-13-1002. 3 Docket no. 737. 4 Docket no. 739. 5 Docket no. 1263, joint submission 2, ,i 9. 6 Docket no. 1263, joint submission 3, Part III, E. SEP- 8-99 WED 10:12 SUSAN W WRIGHT FAX NO, 5013246576 P. 03 In 1990, the Eighth Circuit directed this Court to \"approve the parties' settlement agreement as written by them\" and converted the Office of Metropolitan Supervisor to the Office of Desegregation Monitoring (\"OD~f'). See Little Rock Sch. Dist. v. Pulaski County Special Sch. Dist., 9.21 F.2d 1371, 1394 (8t1t Cir. 1990). In an Order clarifying the obligation of the State with respect to the ODM, this Court stated, \"While (the Office of Metropolitan Supervisor' s] name has been changed and the scope of its function narrowed to monitoring the parties' compliance with the settlement plans, the office ~ .. still exists . . . . Therefore, the State is obligated under the terms of the settlement agreement to continue funding the ODM.\"7 Before the regular session of the 1999 Arkansas General Assembly, the Districts requested that a Pulaski County Educational Cooperative be established. The General Assembly appropriated $328,618 for the cooperative but conditioned the disbursement of funds upon the \"entry of a final, nonappealable order\" in this case relieving the State \"of any further obligation to provide funds for the operation of the federal Office of Desegregation Monitoring (ODM) or any successors to ODM. \"1 II. The Districts maintain this Court should invalidate the appropriation contingency and clear the way for the Districts' receipt of co-op funding. According to the Districts, the appropriation contingency conflicts with the parties' settlement agreement Wlth the State. Both the agreement and the legislation appear to be consistent in one important respect: 7 Docket 1442, page 4.  1999 Ark. Acts 1392  17. 3 SEP- 8-99 WED 10:12 SUSAN W WRIGHT FAX NO. 5013246576 P. 04 - both intend that there will be no cooperative as long as the State is funding the ODM. The legislation reflects this intent unambiguously, while the agreement merely st~tes that funding for the cooperative has ceased and has been reallocated to the ODM. 9 Assuming (without deciding) that the Court bas subject matter jurisdiction to invalidate the contingency, the Court finds that there exist no grounds for such invalidation. The ODM continues to function and receive state funds . Until the State stops funding the\u003cODM by order of the Court, there is no need to address the issue of the alleged conflict between the legislation and the settlement agreement.  In conclusion, the Court finds that the Arkansas General Assembly's appropriation contingency regarding a Pulaski County Educational Cooperative does not obstruct the State's current obligations under the settlement agreement. That being the case, this Court must deny the the Districts' motion. m. THEREFORE, it is hereby ordered that the Pulaski County School Districts' combined motion regarding the Pulaski County Educational Cooperative be DEN1ED l docket no. 3 271). ~t'lr\\be-r IT rs so ORDERED TillS __ DAY OF .A0Ct:ffl1', 1999 ~~tp: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 1 The agreement refers to the Metropolitan Supervisor, but, as noted above, the latter was reconstituted as the ODM. THIS DOCUMENT E~AED ON DOCKET SHEET IN :;QMP_wNC~ 'Nl~Le 58 ANO~P ON - 1/--. av - RECEIVED SEP 1 3 1999 OfflCE Or A TIORNEY GENERAL OF ARKANSAS DESEGREGATION MONITORING September 10, 1999 M. Samuel Jones, III Wright, Lindsey \u0026 Jennings 2000 NationsBank Bldg. 200 West Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 Richard Roachell 401 W. Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, AR 72201 John W. Walker John Walker, P.A. I 723 Broadway Little Rock, AR 72201 Mark Pryor Christopher Heller Friday, Eldredge \u0026 Clark 2000 Regions Center 400 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201-3493 Ann Brown 201 E. Markham, Suite 510 Little Rock, AR 72201 Stephen W. Jones Jack, Lyon \u0026 Jones 3400 TCBY Tower 425 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 Re: Little Rock School District v. Pulaski County Special School-District No. 1, et al USbC No. LR-C-82-866 Dear Ms. Brown and Gentlemen: Enclosed for your record is a copy of the Arkansas Department of Education's Response to the Little Rock School District's Motion to Modify the Settlement Agreement as regards the Magnet Schools that I have filed this date with the Clerk of the Court. TG/nc encl. 1 Respectfully, ~/:_ ~ - Tim ger Assistant Attorney General 323 Center Street Suite 200  Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 682-2007  FAX (501) 682-8084 Internet Website http://www.ag.state.ar.us/_ IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN .DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION RECEIVED SEP 1 3 1999 OFFICE OF DESEGREGATION MONITORING LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT PLAINTIFF v. No. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, et al DEFENDANTS ADE'S RESPONSE TO LRSD'S MOTION TO MODIFY THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AS REGARDS THE MAGNET SCHOOLS On July 9, 1999, the Arkansas Department of Education (\" ADE\") submitted its objection to the Magnet Review Committee's May 7, 1999 letter to the Court In that letter the MRC sought the Court's approval \"of a change in the grade structure and number of seats at the magnet schools for the 1999-2000 school year.\" In its July 9 submission ADE pointed out that the Settlement Agreement (paragraphs II.D. and ILE.) placed limits on the State's obligation to fund the magnet schools, and that while ADE did not object to the proposed changes in grade structure and enrollment in the magnets, ADE did object to the MRC' s proposal to the extent it assumed or implied that the State would be required to pay costs associated with magnet student enrollment in excess of the seating capacities set forth in the Settlement Agreement No other party filed objections to the MRC' s May 7 letter, nor did any other party file a timely response to ADE' s July 9 submission. On August 27, 1999, LRSD filed a \"Response to ADE and Motion to Modify Settlement Agreement\" In this pleading LRSD concedes, as it must, that the Settlement Agreement limits the State's funding obligations as regards the magnet schools. LRSD argues, though, that in addition to the proposed changes in grade structure and enrollment, \"the MRC determined that ADE and the [Districts] should share the cost increase in the same proportion each party now pays to support the Magnet Schools.\" From this premise, LRSD argues that ADE is bound by (or is estopped from objecting to) increases in the State's financial obligations necessitated by the restructuring and increases in enrollment In the alternative, LRSD argues that the Settlement Agreement should be modified to increase the State's financial responsibility for the magnet schools because of a \"significant change in circumstances,\" i.e., LRSD's decision to restructure its schools. LRSD' s arguments are without merit, and its motion to modify the Settlement Agreement must be denied. A. The State Is Not Bound By Or Estopped From Objecting To The MRC's Recommendations LRSD' s response and motion is premised on LRSD' s belief that the MRC voted unanimously not only to recommend changes in grade structure and seating capacities in the magnet schools, but also to recommend that the State and the Districts \"share the cost increase [necessitated by the restructuring and increases in enrollment] in the same proportion each party now pays to support the Magnet Schools.\" While the MRC did vote to recommend changes in grade structure and number of seats in the magnets, the - record is ambiguous, at best, on whether the MRC voted on the financial implications of 2 - those changes or made any recommendations at all concerning the relative financial burdens of the State and the Districts. This Court's June 18, 1999 order characterized the MRC's May 7 letter as a request \"for approval of a change in grade structure and number of seats at the magnet schools;\" the Court's order says nothing about the FY 2000 magnet school budget generally, or how costs would be allocated among the parties specifically. The MRC's May 7 letter states that on December 15, 1998 the Committee unanimously approved changes \"L11 the grade structure and number of seats\" in the magnets for the 1999-2000 school year. The letter's discussion of the budgetary impact of the proposed changes contains only estimates,1 and the MRC' s discussion of each party's projected \"share\" of the estimated FY 2000 budget is clearly based only upon the assumption that the State would continue to pay half the total costs of the magnet school budget But even if one accepted LRSD's characterization of what the MRC actually voted on and what it did not, LRSD has not cited any authority for the proposition that the recommendations of the MRC are binding on the parties, particularly when as here the MRC's recommendations purport to require one or more of the parties to assume obligations in contravention of the terms of the Settlement Agreement As has been the case with previous recommendations of the MRC, this Court entered an order giving all 1 The MRC's May 7, 1999 letter refers _.to its estimate as a \"projected calculation\" and acknowledges that a final 1999-2CXXJ magnet school budget would be submitted to the Court by June 1999. Given the MRCs uncertainty concerning the projected FY 2CXXJ budget on May 7, 1~, one can safely assume that the M~C harbored a similar uncertainty about the budgetary impact of the proposed changes in grade structure and attendance in the magnets on December 15, 1998, when the MRC voted on those proposed changes. 3 -- - - ' .. - parties notice of the MRC' s May 7 letter and set a deadline for the parties to file objections. If, as LRSD contends, the parties are bound by the MRC' s recommendations, why then would the Court submit those recommendations to the parties and provide an opportunity to object? The answer is simple: The MRC' s recommendations are precisely that - recommendations - which carry no force unless and until approved by the Court after giving the parties the opportunity to voice objections. B. LRSD's Decision To Restructure Its Schools As Part Of Its Revised Plan Does Not Tustify A Modification Of The Settlement Agreement Recognizing that the MRC has no authority to unilaterally modify the Settlement Agreement, LRSD implies that ADE should not be permitted to invoke the provisions of the Settlement Agreement because ADE did not object to LRSD' s Revised Desegregation and Education Plan (which makes reference to restructuring of LRSD's schools and the magnets). LRSD argues further, in the alternative, that the Settlement Agreement should be modified to the State's detriment because circumstances have changed so as to make such a modification equitable. Neither argument has merit LRSD's implication that the State should have objected to the Revised Plan in order to preserve its rights under paragraphs II.D. and II.E. of the Settlement Agreement borders on the frivolous. When the LRSD presented its Revised Plan for the Court's approval, it affirmatively represented to the Court and the other parties that its Revised Plan did not and would not alter or amend the Settlement Agreement in any way: 4 This Revised Desegregation and Education Plan (\"Revised Plan\") shall supercede and extinguish all prior agreements and orders . . . with the follawing exceptions: a. the Pulaski County School Desegregation Case Settlement  Agreement as revised on September 28, 1989 (\"Settlement Agreement'') .. Revised Plan, 1.1. Thus, at the time LRSD submitted its Revised Plan to the Court for approval, there was no reason for the State to believe or even suspect that the Revised Plan would change, alter or cucumvent the limits on the State's financial obligations contained that are set forth in paragraphs II.D. and ILE. of the Settlement Agreement LRSD's request for a \"modification\" of the Settlement Agreement must also be denied. As an initial matter, the LRSD should be estopped from arguing that the restructuring required by its Revised Plan justifies a modification of the Settlement Agreement The LRSD affirmatively represented to the Court and the parties that its Revised Plan would not supercede or extinguish the terms of the Settlement Agreement, and while the LRSD undoubtedly inserted this language in its Revised Plan with an eye toward preserving those aspects of the Settlement Agreement favorable to the LRSD, the LRSD cannot have its cake and eat it, too. In light of the language of the Revised Plan, LRSD should not now be heard to argue that the restructuring required as part of the Revised Plan requires or justifies a modification of the Settlement Agreement Even if LRSD were not estopped, LRSD' s request for a modification of the Settlement Agreement must be denied because no modification is warranted or 5 ,. - . --  necessary in order for the magnet schools to be restructured as set forth in the MRC' s May 7 letter. In support of its request for a modification, LRSD argues that \"the MRC's action in restructuring the Magnet Schools promotes desegregation'' and \"would further the goal of achieving a unitary school district\" ADE has no quarrel with these general assertions; indeed, ADE made it dear in its response and reiterates here that ADE does not object to the restructuring of the magnets or to the changes in enrollment described in the MRC' s May 7 letter. The ADE does object though, to being saddled with financial obligations for the magnets in excess of the limits set forth in the Settlement Agreement and conspicuously absent from LRSD' s motion is any allegation that it or the three Districts collectively2 would be unable to pay the costs of the magnet school program that pursuant to the Settlement Agreement the State cannot be made to bear. The LRSD, which \"bears the burden of establishing that that a significant change in circumstances warrants revision of the [consent] decree,\" has therefore failed to even allege that a modification of the Settlement Agreement is warranted. or necessary to effectuate the MRC' s recommended changes in grade levels and enrollment While the LRSD would undoubtedly like the State to pay as much as possible toward the operation of the magnet schools, the Settlement Agreement places limits on the State's financial obligations to the magnet schools and the State is not willing to 2 Neither the NLRSD nor the PCSSD objected to the MRCs proposal, and neither the NLRSD nor the PCSSD filed any form of response to the ADE' s objection. 6  waive them. LRSD' s desire to increase the State's financial contribution to the magnet schools, by itself, does not and cannot justify a modification of the Settlement Agreement Accordingly, the ADE respectfully requests that LRSD's motion to modify the Settlement Agreement be denied. Respectfully Submitted, MARK PRYOR Attorney General Assistant Attorne neral 323 Center Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 682-2007 Attorneys for Arkansas Department of Education 7 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Timothy Gauger, certify that on September 10, 1999, a copy of the foregoing document will be served by U.S. mail, postage prepaid, on the following person(s) at the address(es) indicated: M. Samuel Jones, m Wright, Lindsey \u0026 Jennings 2000 NationsBank Bldg. 200 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 John W. Walker John Walker, P.A. 1723 Broadway Little Rock, AR 72201 Richard Roachell 401 W. Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, AR 72201 Christopher Heller Friday, Eldredge \u0026 Oark 2000 Regions Center 400 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201-3493 Stephen W. Jones Jack, Lyon \u0026 Jones 3400 TCBY Tower 425 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 Ann Brown 201 E. Markham, Ste. 510 Little Rock, AR 72201 ~Tim~ger 8 EDWARD L. WRIGHT (1Q03-U77) ROBERTS . LINOSEY (1913-1991) ISAAC A. SCOTT, JR . JOHN G. LILE WRIGHT, LINDSEY \u0026 JENNINGS LLP ATTORNEYS AT LAW JOHN 0 . DAVIS JUDY SIMMONS HENRY KIMBERLY WOOD TUCKER RAY F. COX. JR . GORDON S. RATHER , JR. TERRY L. MATHEWS DAVID M . POWELL ROGER A. GLASGOW C. DOUGLAS BUFORO. JR . PATRICK J. GOSS ALSTON JENNINGS . JR . JOHN R. TISDALE KATHLYN GRAVES M. SAMUEL JONES Ill JOHN WILLIAM SPIVEY 111 LEE J. MULDROW N.M. NORTON CHARLES C. PRICE CHARLES T. COLEMAN JAMES J . GLOVER EDWIN L. LOWTHER . JR . CHARLES L. SCHLUMBERGER WALTER E . MAY GREGORY T . JONES H. KEITH MORRISON BETTINA E . BROWNSTEIN WALTER McSPADOEN ROGER 0 . ROW! NANCY BELLHOUSE MAY Mr. John Walker John Walker, P.A. 1723 Broadway Little Rock, Arkansas 72206 Ms. Ann Brown ODM Heritage West Building, Suite 510 201 East Markham Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Mr. Richard Roachell Roachell Law Firm 401 W. Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 RE: PCSSD Dear Counsel and Ms. Brown: 200 WEST CAPITOL AVENUE SUITE 2200 LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72201-3699 (501) 371-0808 FAX (501) 376-9442 WEBSITE : www.wlj .com OF COUNSEL ALSTON JENNINGS RONALD A. MAY M. TODD WOOD Writer' s Direct Dial No . 501-212-1273 mjonesCwl/.com September 13, 1999 TROY A. PR ICE PATRICIA A. SIEVERS JAMES M. MOODY, JR , KATHRYN A. PRYOR J. MARK DAVIS CLAIRE SHOWS HANCOCK KEVIN W. KENNEDY JERRY J. SALLINGS FRED M. PERKINS Ill WILLIAM STUART JACKSON MICHAEL 0 . BARNES STEPHEN R. LANCASTER JUDY ROBINSON WILBER BETSY MEACHAM KYLE R. WILSON C. TAO BOHANNON OOHS. McKINNEY MICHELE SIMMONS ALLGOOD KRISTI M. MOODY J. CHARLES DOUGHERTY M. SEAN HATCH PHYLLIS M. McKENZIE ELISA MASTERSON WHITE JANE M. FAULKNER ROBERT W. GEORGE J. ANDREW VINES JUSTIN T. ALLEN R. MARGARET DOBSON Mr. Christopher Heller Friday, Eldredge \u0026 Clark 400 W. Capitol, Suite 2200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Mr. Stephen W. Jones Jack, Lyon \u0026 Jones 3400 TCBY Tower 425 West Capitol Avenue Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Mr. Timothy Gauger Assistant Attorney General 323 Center Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 CFF!C~ Di: lll\u0026REGATION MONITGRl,'JG Enclosed is a copy of Districts' Motion for Pre-Judgment Interest which is being filed today. MSJ/ao Encl. 127205-v1 Cordially, WRIGHT, LINDSEY .\u0026 JENNINGS LLP c':~,111 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT V. NO. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, ET AL. MRS. LORENE JOSHUA, ET AL. KATHERINE KNIGHT, ET AL. SEP l 1 1999 vtf!CE OF DESEGREGATION MONIJUUI PLAINTIFF DEFENDANTS INTERVENORS INTERVENORS DISTRICTS' MOTION FOR PRE-JUDGMENT INTEREST 1. On June 16, 1999, this Court ordered the State to pay pre-judgment interest on the sums previously paid by the State, pursuant to Court order, for teacher retirement and health insurance benefits. 2. On July 28, 1999, the Court reduced this order to a money judgment which was then satisfied by the State. 3. Recently, pursuant to a stipulation among the parties, the districts agreed to abandon their appeals concerning the \"106% issue\" and the State agreed to forego any appeal regarding the court-ordered pre-judgment ;nterest. 4. The referenced orders concern teacher retirement and health insurance benefits which were owed for the years preceding 1998-99. 5. On May 11, 1999, the three districts filed an amended motion moving for an order requiring payment of the teacher retirement and health insurance benefits due 126286-v1 - for 1998-99. The State responded to this motion on August 19, 1999, and thereafter made the principal payments of these sums on September 2, 1999. 6. Attached as Exhibit A is a worksheet calculating pre-judgment interest on the sums owed for 1998-99 at the current federal interest rate of 5.2240%. This calculation and methodology is identical to that previously approved by the Court on July 28, 1999, for the pre-1998-99 award. 7. Pursuant to this calculation, the districts contend that the LRSD is owed $191,991 .04 in pre-judgment interest, that the PCSSD is owed $95,995.52, and that the NLRSD is owed $31 ,998.51. WHEREFORE, the districts pray for a total pre-judgment interest award of $319,985.07 to be allocated as described above and for all proper relief. 126286-v1 Respectfully submitted, WRIGHT, LINDSEY \u0026 JENNINGS LLP 200 West Capitol Avenue, Suite 2200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-3699 (501) 371-0808 FAX: (501) 376-9442 By  -' .\u003e\"-\\ , v~,~ - l._'-- -~ M. Samue1 Jones Ill (76060) Attorneys for Pulaski County Special (~chool 9if\u003etrict / 2 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE On September~. 1999, a copy of the foregoing was served by U.S. mail on each of the following: Mr. John W. Walker John W. Walker, P.A. 1723 Broadway Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Mr. Christopher He!ler Friday, Eldredge \u0026 Clark 2000 First Commercial Building Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Ms. Ann Brown QOM Heritage West Building, Suite 510 201 East Markham Street - Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Mr. Richard W. Roachell Roachell and Street First Federal Plaza 401 West Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Mr. Timothy Gauger Assistant Attorney General 323 Center Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Mr. Stephen W. Jones 3400 TCBY Tower 425 West Capitol Avenue Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 126286-v1 M.~)Jonesj7 3 -- - . . . ,  ::  I .. - -- - - . . - . - --- - --- - -- INTEREST CALCULACTION FOR TEA. AET. \u0026 HEAL TH INSURANCE COURT ORDERED FUNDING -INTEREST RATE - 5.2240% 1998-99 AMT. - $10,288,773 - DATE MO. PAY AMT. INTEREST TOT. DUE I 08/31/98 $925,989.57 $925,989.57 09/30/98 $925,989.57 $3,975.92 $1,855,955.06 I 10/31/98 $925,989.57 $8,234.54 $2,790,179.17 11/30/98 $925,989.57 $11,980.19 $3,728,148.93 I 12/31/98 $925,989.57 $16,541.13 $4,670,679.63 I 01/30/99 $925,989.57 $20,054.49 $5,616,723.69 I 02/28/99 $925,989.57 $23,312.63 $6,566,025.90 I 03/31/99 $925,989.57 $29,132.29 $7,521,147.76 I 04/30/99 $925,989.57 $32,293.54 $8,479,430.87 I I 05/31/99 $925,989.57 $37,621 .72 $9,443,042.16 I 06/30/99 $1,028,877.30 $40,545.58 $10,512,465.04 09/02/99 $96,293.03 $10,608,758.07 09/02/99 PAID AMOUNT $10,288,773.00 INTEREST DUE $319,985.07 ~ $319,985.07 I LASO SHARE (~\u003e- -- 91,991.04 I PCSSD SHARE \\ \\'' _:;,, $95,995.52 NLRSD SHARE ~- \u003c'~ \\) $31,998.51 I , --~,_ I ---~-, ~ . ' W ,:...) , I I - 0:..:___,, I (v(~/ I ~ 00 I C. I S; :~\"- ,- :'\\_--' I (,,.\u003e.' .) '. ( ) ) I /'r ) ~ --:::-:_l 1, \\\") I \\ . , . I / ' ~ _, .. I - EXHIBIT I I? . IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION RECEIVED SEP 2 3 1999 ufflCEOF JESEGREGATION MOHITORINS LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT PLAINTIFF v. No. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, et al. ADE'S RESPONSE TO THE DISTRICTS' MOTION FOR PREJUDGMENT INTEREST DEFENDANTS On September 13, 1999, PCSSD (presumably on behalf of all three Districts) filed a \"motion for prejudgment interest\" In this motion the Districts seek an award of $319,985.07 in \"interest'' on amounts paid by the State to the Districts on September 2, 1999. The September 2 payments represented adjustments for teacher retirement and health insurance matching costs for fiscal year 1999. The Districts' motion must be denied. First, it is a misnomer to call the Districts' request as one for \"prejudgment interest'' because no judgment has been entered with respect to retirement or health insurance payments to the Districts for FY 1999. The Districts' motion can be more accurately characterized as a motion to establish some form of periodic payment schedule in future years for retirement and health insurance payments to the Districts and to establish an obligation to pay some form of \"interest'' if those payments are not timely made. As such, the Districts' motion must be denied because the Districts have already agreed to accept the methodology used to create - Court's Exhibit 504, a methodology that contemplates a single, post-fiscal-year payment to the Districts. Having agreed to such a methodology, the Districts should not now be permitted to essentially \"reopen\" the litigation concerning the retirement/health insurance remedy so as to establish some sort of monthly or other periodic payment obligation on the part of the State. Second, under the methodology used to create Exhibit 504, retirement and health insurance adjustment payments due the Districts for a particular fiscal year cannot be known - and therefore cannot be calculated with any certainty - until that fiscal year has ended and full-year data on retirement and health insurance costs (including costs attributable to ODM employees) is available for that year. As regards fiscal year 1999, there is no dispute that ADE made FY 1999 retirement and health insurance adjustment payments to the Districts in a timely manner after the FY 1999 data was made available to ADE. There is no allegation of untoward delay on the part of the State, and the Districts do not appear to contest the State's calculations of the appropriate amounts due each District Awarding interest to the Districts under these circumstances - whether one calls it \"prejudgment'' interest or some other form of interest - would be inequitable. Accordingly, ADE respectfully requests that the Districts' motion be denied. 2 Respectfully Submitted, MARK PRYOR Attorney General Assistant Attorn eneral 323 Center Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 682-2007 Attorneys for Arkansas Department of Education 3 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Timothy Gauger, certify-that on September 27, 1999, I caused a copy of the foregoing document to be served by first class U.S. Mail on the following person(s) at the address(es) indicated: M. Samuel Jones, III Wright, Lindsey \u0026 Jennings 2000 Nations Bank Plaza 200 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 John W. Walker John Walker, P.A. 1723 Broadway Little Rock, AR 72201 Richard Roachell 401 W. Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, AR 72201 Christopher Heller Friday, Eldredge \u0026 Clark 2000 First Commercial Bldg. 400 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 Stephen W. Jones Jack, Lyon \u0026 Jones 3400 TCBY Tower 425 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 Ann Brown Office of Desegregation Monitoring 201 E. Markham, Ste. 510 Little Rock, AR 72201 4 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT  EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION RECEIVED OCT 1 1999 OfFICE OF DESEGREGATION MOMITOPJm; LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT PLAINTIFF v. No. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, et al. DEFENDANTS NOTICE OF FILING In accordance with the Court's order of December 10, 1993, the Arkansas Department of Education hereby gives notice of the filing of ADE's Project Management Tool for September, 1999. Respectfully Submitted, MARK PRYOR Attorney General Assistant Attor General 323 Center Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 682-2007 Attorney for Arkansas Department of Education IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL PLAINTIFFS V. NO. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL DEFENDANTS MRS. LORENE JOSHUA, ET AL INTERVENORS KATHERINE W. KNIGHT, ET AL INTERVENORS ADE'S PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL In compliance with the Court's Order of December 10, 1993, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) submits the following Project Management Tool to the parties and the Court. This document describes the progress the ADE has made since March 15, 1994, in complying with provisions of the Implementation Plan and itemizes the ADE's progress against timelines presented in the Plan. IMPLEMENTATION PHASE ACTIVITY I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS A. Use the previous year's three quarter average daily membership to calculate MFPA (State Equalization) for the current school year. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. 2. Actual as of September 30, 1999 iti:TI:~1;~~:~e~iw~i~zt~'tji,~~,i!l!~i~~f~ i/li~i~1r.ii~11ifll .~li~il(g'a.:m; 8. Include all Magnet students in the resident District's average daily membership for calculation. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June.  This project was supported in part by a Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives project grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Council on Library and Information Resources. "},{"id":"bcas_bcmss0837_1088","title":"\"Guidelines for School Improvement Planning,\" Division of Instruction, Little Rock School District","collection_id":"bcas_bcmss0837","collection_title":"Office of Desegregation Management","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, 39.76, -98.5","United States, Arkansas, 34.75037, -92.50044","United States, Arkansas, Pulaski County, 34.76993, -92.3118","United States, Arkansas, Pulaski County, Little Rock, 34.74648, -92.28959"],"dcterms_creator":null,"dc_date":["1999-09"],"dcterms_description":null,"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Little Rock, Ark. : Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Central Arkansas Library System."],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":["Office of Desegregation Monitoring records (BC.MSS.08.37)","History of Segregation and Integration of Arkansas's Educational System"],"dcterms_subject":["Little Rock (Ark.)--History--20th century","Little Rock School District","Education--Arkansas","Educational planning","School improvement programs","School discipline","School facilities","School management and organization"],"dcterms_title":["\"Guidelines for School Improvement Planning,\" Division of Instruction, Little Rock School District"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["Butler Center for Arkansas Studies"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/bcmss0837/id/1088"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["documents (object genre)"],"dcterms_extent":null,"dlg_subject_personal":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n\n   \n\n\n   \n\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n  \n\nThis transcript was created using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and may contain some errors.\nThis project was supported in part by a Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives project grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Council on Library and Information Resoources.\n   \n\n   \n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n   \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n \n\n\n   \n\n  \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n   \n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n   \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n "},{"id":"noa_sohpcr_k-0266","title":"Oral history interview with Mabel Williams, August 20, 1999","collection_id":"noa_sohpcr","collection_title":"Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement","dcterms_contributor":["Cecelski, David S.","Southern Oral History Program"],"dcterms_spatial":["United States, North Carolina, Union County, 34.98837, -80.53073","United States, North Carolina, Union County, Monroe, 34.98543, -80.54951"],"dcterms_creator":["Williams, Mabel R."],"dc_date":["1999-08-20"],"dcterms_description":["Mabel Williams paints a vivid picture of segregated Monroe, North Carolina, detailing the subjugation that ate away at African Americans' sense of self. Among those who resisted was Williams's husband, Robert, the descendant of a long line of assertive African Americans, who slept with a pearl-handled revolver under his pillow. Williams remembers Robert for much of this interview, describing how his militant, assertive conviction in racial equality clashed with the rigid segregationist mentality in Monroe. Unable to assimilate in the way that many African Americans did, Robert earned the ire of white city fathers, who prevented him from finding employment in a quest to injure him and his family and undermine his masculinity. The local newspaper stopped printing his letters, one of his only safety valves for expressing the frustrations that gave him migraine headaches. But these efforts at stifling Robert's activism failed; he only grew more determined to resist white supremacy, arming himself and training fellow African Americans in armed self-defense. Guns became an important part of the Williamses' lives, whether on Robert's hip or on the seat of the car next to Mabel. Thus protected, Robert organized demonstrations to desegregate an all-white swimming pool, and even ran for mayor. Williams eventually left not only Monroe, but the United States altogether. This interview is a detailed account of the life and work of one civil rights activist who believed in violent resistance in a time of nonviolent protest.","The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata."],"dc_format":["text/html","text/xml","audio/mpeg"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":null,"dc_relation":["Forms part of Oral histories of the American South collection."],"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["African American women civil rights workers--North Carolina--Monroe","African American women political activists--North Carolina--Monroe","African American radicals--North Carolina--Monroe","Civil rights movements--North Carolina--Monroe","Direct action--North Carolina--Monroe","African Americans--Segregation--North Carolina--Monroe","African Americans--Civil rights--North Carolina--Monroe","Monroe (N.C.)--Race relations"],"dcterms_title":["Oral history interview with Mabel Williams, August 20, 1999"],"dcterms_type":["Text","Sound"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/K-0266/menu.html"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["transcripts","sound recordings","oral histories (literary works)"],"dcterms_extent":["Title from menu page (viewed on Oct. 31, 2008).","Interview participants: Mabel Williams, interviewee; David Cecelski, interviewer.","Duration: 03:07:53.","This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hillapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.","Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers."],"dlg_subject_personal":["Williams, Mabel R.","Williams, Robert F. (Robert Franklin), 1925-1996"],"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":null},{"id":"bcas_bcmss0837_1397","title":"Report: ''Report on the Little Rock School District's Preparations for Implementation of its Revised Desegregation and Education Plan,'' Office of Desegregation Monitoring, United States District Court, Little Rock, Ark.","collection_id":"bcas_bcmss0837","collection_title":"Office of Desegregation Management","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, 39.76, -98.5","United States, Arkansas, 34.75037, -92.50044","United States, Arkansas, Pulaski County, 34.76993, -92.3118","United States, Arkansas, Pulaski County, Little Rock, 34.74648, -92.28959"],"dcterms_creator":["Office of Desegregation Monitoring (Little Rock, Ark.)"],"dc_date":["1999-08-11"],"dcterms_description":null,"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Little Rock, Ark. : Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. 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Department of Education"],"dc_date":["1999-08"],"dcterms_description":null,"dc_format":["application/pdf"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":["Little Rock, Ark. : Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Central Arkansas Library System"],"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":["Office of Desegregation Monitoring records (BC.MSS.08.37)","History of Segregation and Integration of Arkansas's Educational System"],"dcterms_subject":["Little Rock (Ark.)--History--20th century","Office of Desegregation Monitoring (Little Rock, Ark.)","Little Rock School District","Arkansas. Department of Education","Education--Arkansas","Education--Economic aspects","Education--Evaluation","Education--Finance","Education and state","Educational law and legislation","Educational planning","School management and organization","School employees","Teachers--Salaries, etc.","Retirement","School integration","School improvement programs"],"dcterms_title":["Court filings: District Court, amended motion for an order directing the State to distribute the districts' teacher retirement and health insurance damages; District Court, notice of filing, Office of Desegregation Management report, ''Report on the Little Rock School District's (LRSD's) Preparations for Implementation of its Revised Desegregation and Education Plan''; District Court, Arkansas Department of Education's (ADE's) response to the districts' amended motion for an order directing the State to distribute the districts' teacher retirement and health insurance damages; District Court, response to Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) and motion to modify settlement agreement; District Court, brief in support of response to Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) and motion to modify settlement agreement; District Court, notice of filing, Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) project management tool"],"dcterms_type":["Text"],"dcterms_provenance":["Butler Center for Arkansas Studies"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/bcmss0837/id/1704"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":["Available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any other use requires permission from the Butler Center."],"dcterms_medium":["judicial records"],"dcterms_extent":["80 pages"],"dlg_subject_personal":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":"The transcript for this item was created using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and may contain some errors.  RECEIVED AUG 9 1999 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS OFFICE OF WESTERN DIVISION DESEGREGATION MONITORING LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT PLAINTIFF V. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, ET AL DEFENDANTS INTER VEN ORS INTER VEN ORS MRS. LORENE JOSHUA, ET AL KATHERINE KNIGHT, ET AL AMENDED MOTION FOR AN ORDER DIRECTING THE STATE TO DISTRIBUTE THE DISTRICTS' TEACHER RETIREMENT AND HEAL TH INSURANCE DAMAGES For their amended motion, the Little Rock School District (LRSD), North Little Rock School District (NLRSD) and the Pulaski County Special School District (PCSSD) (the \"Districts\") state: 1. On February 18, 1997, this Court found that the state changed its method of funding the teacher retirement program to the detriment of the districts and in violation of the settlement agreement. This Court made the same finding with respect to the health insurance matching program on April 22, 1997. On July 1, 1998 the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this Court's decisions with respect to teacher retirement and health insurance and directed this Court to decide what relief would be appropriate for the districts. 2. After a hearing, all of the other parties agreed to accept the state's proposed - methodology for calculating damages. That methodology is set forth in Court's Exhibit 504. See Exhibit A to \"Motion for an Order Directing the State to Distribute the Districts' Undisputed Teacher Retirement and Health Insurance Damages,\" filed February 9, 1999. 3. On February 9, 1999 the districts asked the Court to order the state to pay the undisputed amount shown in Exhibit 504 for the 1996-97 and 1997-98 school years. On March 4, 1999, this Court entered the requested order. The districts' efforts to reach an agreement with the state for payment for the 1998-99 school year and future years have been unsuccessful. The districts must therefore seek an order from this Court requiring those payments. 4. Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, the state should be ordered to reimburse the districts each year on the same monthly schedule as equalization funding using prior year average participation numbers and current state minimum required contribution numbers, with adjustments to be made in September of each year using current year actual participation numbers. ~or the 1998-99 school year, the state should be ordered to immediately pay the districts the amount necessary to bring it into compliance with this paragraph. The districts have agreed that the total amount of damages calculated according to the methodology set forth in Court's Exhibit 504 should be distributed each year as follows: 60% to LRSD, 30% to PCSSD and 10% to NLRSD. WHEREFORE, the districts pray that the state be ordered to immediately pay the districts' damages for the 1998-99 school year calculated in accordance with Court's Exhibit 504 subject to an amendment in September, 1999; and, using the methodology in Court's Exhibit 504, to reimburse the districts in future years on the same monthly schedule as equalization  funding using prior year average participation numbers and current year state minimum required contribution numbers, with adjustments to be made each September based on current year actual 2 participation numbers; and that the districts be awarded interest, costs, attorneys ' fees and all other just and proper relief to which they may be entitled. Respectfully submitted, LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRJCT FRJDAY, ELDREDGE \u0026 CLARK 2000 Regions Bank Bldg. 400 West Capitol Avenue Little Rock, AR 72201 501/376-2011 ~ PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRJCT M. Samuel Jones WRJGHT, LINDSEY \u0026 JENNINGS 200 NationsBank 200 West Capitol Avenue Little Rock, AR 72201 501-371-0808 NORTH LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRJCT Steve Jones JACK, LYON \u0026 JONES 3400 TCBY Tower 425 Capitol Avenue Little Rock, AR 72201 501-375-1122 3 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that a copy of the foregoing has been served on the following on this 51h day of August, 1999: Mr. John W. Walker JOHN WALKER, P.A. 1723 Broadway Little Rock, AR 72206 Mr. Richard Roachell Roachell Law Firm 401 West Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, AR 72201 Ms. Ann Brown Desegregation Monitor Heritage West Bldg., Suite 510 201 East Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72201 Mr. Timothy G. Gauger Office of the Attorney General 323 Center Street 200 Tower Building Little Rock, AR 72201 4 Melissa Guldin Associate Monitor Norman Marshall Associate Monitor Horace Smith Associate Monitor u.s';fh.ED EASTi=RN o,srr,c ' '~.vRT ,, T t,,,,,,NS!\\S Report on the r. u ,.. l .ti ti l  ,-,09 Little Rock School District's  1 ..:.:., ' '1~ ~ . Preparations for Implementation of it~v-' ... :.:. .'.\" ::'.-.;-; f'L .::- .-  -.., Revised Desegregation and Education Pfair  .,_ -' K August 11, 1999 Office of Desegregation Monitoring l[.S. District Court Little Rock, Arkansas Ann S. Brown Federal Monitor - i:-;,~ Gene Jones Associate Monitor Margie Powell Associate Monitor Polly Ramer Office Manager IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION RECEIVEO AUG 2 o 1999 OFFICE OF DESEGREGATION MONiTORINQ. LITfLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT PLAINTIFF v. No. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, et al DEFENDANTS ADE'S RESPONSE TO THE DISTRICTS' \"AMENDED MOTION FORAN ORDER DIRECTING THE STATE TO DISTRIBUTE THE DISTRICTS' TEACHER RETIREMENT AND HEALTH INSURANCE DAMAGES\" On May 11, 1999, the Districts filed a motion requesting immediate partial payment of their fiscal year 1999 teacher retirement and health insurance \"damages.\" In that motion the Districts also requested that, for FY 2000, they should be paid such damages \"on the same monthly schedule as equalization funding using prior year average participation numbers and current state minimum required numbers, with adjustments to be made in June of each year using current year actual participation numbers.\" In its response to that motion, filed May 25, 1999, ADE noted that the methodology used to create Court's Exhibit 504 - the methodology the Districts \"agreed to accept ... for calculating damages\" - requires full-year data on school district employee health insurance participation, for the Districts and for all other school districts in the State. Further, the methodology used to create Exhibit 504 also requires - full-year data concerning health insurance participation by employees of the ODM. As of the date of its response, such data was not available because FY 1999 had not ended and LRSD had not yet provided to ADE data concerning ODM employee health insurance participation for FY 1999. In their \"amended\" motion the Districts again ask for immediate payment of their teacher retirement and health insurance damages for FY 1999. In addition, the Districts have only slightly modified their proposed schedule for such damage payments for FY 2000. With respect to FY 2000 and beyond, the Districts now state: Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, the state should be ordered to reimburse the districts each year on the same monthly schedule as equalization funding using prior year average participation numbers and current state minimum required contribution numbers, with adjustments made in September of each year using current year actual participation numbers. Amended motion, ,r 4.1 With respect to the Districts' request for \"immediate\" payment of their FY 1999 retirement and health insurance damages, the motion is moot. ADE has now obtained complete full-year FY 1999 data on school district retirement costs and health insurance participation and has also received from LRSD full-year FY 1999 retirement and health insurance data for ODM employees, which has enabled it to perform the \"Exhibit 504\" 1 In its initial motion filed May 11, the Distric:ts correctly noted that there were issues concerning teacher retirement and health insurance\" damages\" that had not been resolved by this Court. The Districts' amended motion has deleted any reference to unresolved issues, but unfortunately unresolved issues still exist. LRSD and PCSSD have appealed this Court's June 16, 1999 order, in which this Court rejected the Districts' contention that they were entitled to damages to compensate them for more than 100% of their actual retirement and health insurance costs.  2 - damage calculations for FY 1999. See Exhib~t A hereto. The attached calculation and supporting paperwork have already been submitted to the Department of Finance and Administration and warrants payable to the Districts, in the amounts indicated on Exhibit A hereto, should be available shortly. The Districts' request for monthly payments during FY 2000, based upon some form of II averaging\" of prior year's participation data, should be denied. As the Districts admit, the Districts \"agreed to accept the state's proposed methodology\" for calculating damages, and that methodology clearly requires full-year actual cost data for the Districts and all other school districts in the State before the calculation may be performed. More important, though, is the fact that the Districts' proposal makes little sense in light of the way the Exhibit 504 calculations are performed and in light of the availability of the data necessary to perform the Exhibit 504 calculations. For example, as best ADE understands it, the Districts' proposal would require payments II on the same monthly schedule as equalization funding,\" which means that some sort of estimated payment would need to be made in August of each fiscal year. At the same time, however, the Districts' motion appears to concede th~t in some circumstances final data for the prior fiscal year's damage calculation might not be available until the September after the fiscal year has ended,2 and as the Districts know, information 2 Amended motion, 1 4 (requesting\" adjustments to be made in September of each year using actual participation numbers [for the prior fiscal year]). 3 concerning school district retirement matching costs is not available until sometime in October of the fiscal year. While ADE is willing to agree to some form of interim payment schedule in which estimated payment or payments would be made to the Districts at some point or points during the fiscal year with a final accounting and adjustment to be performed when compete fiscal year data is available, the \"monthly payment\" plan proposed by the Districts, as best ADE can understand it, makes little sense. Accordingly, the Districts' motion should be denied. Respectfully Submitted, MARK PRYOR Attorney General Assistant Attorney neral 323 Center Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 682-2007 Attorneys for Arkansas Department of Education 4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Timothy Gauger, certify that on August 19, 1999, I caused a copy of the . foregoing document to be served by first class U.S. Mail on the following person(s) at the address(es) indicated: M.SamuelJones,m Wright, Lindsey \u0026 Jennings 2000 NationsBank Plaza 200 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 John W. Walker John Walker, P.A. 1723 Broadway Little Rock, AR 72201 Richard Roachell 401 W. Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, AR 72201 Christopher Heller Friday, Eldredge \u0026 Oark 2000 First Commercial Bldg. 400 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 Stephen W. Jones Jack, Lyon \u0026 Jones 3400 TCBY Tower 425 W. Capitol Little Rock, AR 72201 Ann Brown Office of Desegregation Monitoring 201 E. Markham, Ste. 510 Little Rock, AR 72201 5 \\ Page 1 State 1998-99 Equalization Additional Distribution Equalization Est. Total for Est Funding Pursuant Eimdin1 D!.lnifii11 D!.lnifit!I R!.lguir!.ld to Qrd!.lr / / Little Rock School District: $ 46,660,674 $ 14,681,738 $ 6,966,462 $ 7,616,276 $ 6,173,264 North Litlle Rock School District: $  26,187,899 $ 4,914,660 $ 3,917,710 $ 996,941 $ 1,028,877 Pulaski County Special School District: $ 66,864,014 $ 10,032,813 $ 8,367,266 $ 1,676,666 $ 3,086,632 State Totals: $ 1,340,461,886 $ 200,602,491 $ 200,633,098 $ 10,288,773 $ 10,288,773 14.96% ~('c . -,~ ~~ T ~ 11--:r r:\u003e ,1,.(. o~~ -\" ...... ._ ---- -------- RECEIVED AUG 3 1 1999 OFflCE 01- DESEGREGATIOtl MONITORING ufol6~cijRT IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT C'OSRllT'J DISTRICT ARKANSAS EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS AUG 2 7 1999 WESTERN DIVISION JAMES W McCORMACK, CLERK LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT By: OEP. CLERK PLAINTIFF V. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, ET AL DEFENDANTS RESPONSE TO ADE AND MOTION TO MODIFY SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT For its Response and Motion, the Little Rock School District (\"LRSD\") states: 1. LRSD's revised Desegregation and Education Plan requires the reorganization of , LRSD's grade structure to employ the middle school concept in all schools including Magnet - Schools. The Arkansas Department ofEducation (\"ADE\") did not object to this aspect of the revised Desegregation and Education Plan. 2. The Magnet Review Committee has approved a change in the grade structure and the number of seats at the Magnet Schools for the 1999 school year. According to the MRC's letter to the Court seeking approval of its action, the entire MRC, including the two ADE representatives, voted to change the grade structure and to increase the number of seats in the Magnet Schools. The MRC determined that ADE and the three Pulaski County School Districts should share the cost increase in the same proportion each party now pays to support the Magnet Schools. This is a fair and reasonable approach supported unanimously by representatives of all the parties concerned. 3. The MRC's May 7, 1999 letter to the Court asked the Court to approve a proposed increase in ADE's share of Magnet School funding in the amount of$567,270.00. With respect to the proposed increase in the number of Magnet School seats, the proposed cost increase, and the allocation of the increased costs among the parties, the MRC Chairperson told the Court: \"All MRC members agree to the described changes, and the MRC respectfully requests the Court's approval of these changes.\" 4. The ADE now objects to the changes proposed unanimously by the MRC. No other party has made an objection. The MRC's request should be approved by the Court. 5. The total number of seats potentially funded by ADE under the settlement agreement is 4,065. If the Court does not approve the MRC proposal in its entirety, the Court should at least require the State to continue to fund this number of seats regardless of the fact that the location of some of the seats has been changed because ofrestructuring. 6. The terms of the settlement agreement and the Allen letter obligate ADE to help LRSD achieve unitary status. Magnet Schools are an important part of that effort. A modification of the settlement agreement to permit the changes unanimously supported by the MRC would be a permissible modification of an equitable decree to further the purpose of the decree. WHEREFORE, for the reasons set forth above and in the accompanying Brief, LRSD requests a hearing and prays for an Order approving the MRC's action described in its May 7, 1999 letter to the Court and, if necessary, for an Order modifying the settlement agreement to the extent necessary to approve the MRC's action. 2 Respectfully submitted, LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT CHRISTOPHER HELLER JOHN C. FENDLEY FRIDAY, ELDREDGE \u0026 CLARK 2000 Regions Bank Bldg. 400 West Capitol A venue Little Rock, AR 72201 501/376-2011 Christopher Heller CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that a copy of the foregoing has been served on the following on trusZ}__ ~y of August, 1999: Mr. John W. Walker JOHN WALKER, P.A. 1723 Broadway Little Rock, AR 72206 Mr. Richard Roachell Roachell Law Firm 401 West Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, AR 72201 M. Samuel Jones WRIGHT, LINDSEY \u0026 JENNINGS 200 NationsBank 200 West Capitol Avenue Little Rock, AR 72201 Ms. Ann Brown VIA HAND DELIVERY Desegregation Monitor Heritage West Bldg., Suite 510 201 East Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72201 Mr. Timothy G. Gauger Office of the Attorney General 323 Center Street 200 Tower Building Little Rock, AR 72201 Steve Jones JACK, LYON \u0026 JONES 3400 TCBY Tower 425 Capitol A venue -==~ ~--- 3 9E~E!l'~~ ufol~~~RT .AUG 31 1999  OFFICEOF fGREGATION MONITORJNQ EASTERN DISTRICT ARKANSAS IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT AUG 2 7 1999 EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION JAMES W McCORMACK, Qbg~K By: -----'\"Rifl6DE\"P~m\u0026EfRfRi LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT PLAINTIFF V. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, ET AL DEFENDANTS BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF RESPONSE TO ADE AND MOTION TO MODIFY SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT The MRC Correctly Decided the Magnet School Issue The Little Rock School District's (\"LRSD\") Revised Desegregation and Education Plan (\"Revised Plan\") requires that LRSD change its grade structure: Middle Schools. LRSD shall establish a schedule for the orderly conversion of some or all of its Junior High Schools to Middle Schools for grades 6, 7 and 8 and move the 9th grade to High Schools. As a part of this conversion, LRSD reserves the right fo -change the grade level structure at all of its schools, including Magnet Schools. Revised Plan 3.4. No party objected to this requirement of the Revised Plan. The Magnet Review Committee (\"MRC\") is the policy making group which governs the Magnet Schools hosted by the Little Rock School District. The MRC is composed of representatives of the parties in the Pulaski County desegregation case with two representatives from the Arkansas Department of Education. On December 15, 1998, the MRC voted unanimously to approve a change in the grade structure and the number of seats at the Magnet Schools for the 1999-2000 school year. The reasons for that vote are set forth in the MRC Chairperson's May 7, 1999 letter to the Court seeking approval of the MRC action. The MRC decisions described in the May 7th letter are clearly the product of cooperative hard work by representatives of all the effected parties. Even though representation on the MRC is weighted in favor of the Arkansas Department of Education, the MRC members were able to reach a unanimous agreement about all of the issues related to restructuring the Magnet Schools. That agreement is well described in the May 7th letter which should be adopted by the Court. ADE's Position is Directly Contrary to its MRC Representatives The ADE has objected to the MRC action and now takes a position directly contrary to the position taken by its two representatives on the MRC. ADE argues that its funding obligations for the Magnet Schools should be limited in accordance with the terms of the settlement agreement. The MRC clearly decided to proportionately increase the funding obligations of the three Pulaski County School Districts and the ADE and seeks the Court's permission to alter the terms of the Magnet School stipulation and the March 1989 settlement agreement to the extent necessary to implement its decision concerning restructuring of the Magnet Schools. ADE Should be Estopped to Oppose its MRC Representatives The representatives of the MRC worked on this issue for a long time before their December 15, 1998 decision. The ADE has been on notice for all of that time about the position taken by its representatives and, ultimately, the vote of the MRC. After all the time and effort devoted to this issue by the MRC, the ADE should not be allowed to take a position directly contrary to the position taken by its representatives and relied upon by the other members of the MRC for almost a year. This Court has the equitable power to prevent the State from attempting to nullify the position taken in good faith by the State's representatives on the MRC. The Eighth Circuit Court 2 of Appeals has previously addressed an estoppel argument in this case. In LRSD v. PCSSD, 56 F.3d 904,914 {8th Cir. 1995) the Eighth Circuit discussed Joshua's estoppel argument that LRSD should be barred from closing Ish because Ish's low attendance was due to LRSD's failure to implement its recruitment duties. The Eighth Circuit resolved Joshua's estoppel argument as follows: We have recognized that \"estoppel is an equitable doctrine, and it should not be given effect beyond what is necessary to accomplish justice between the parties.\" Maitland v. University of Minnesota, 43 F.3d 357, 364 {8th Cir. 1994). Justice would not be served by requiring Ish to remain open when the evidence indicates that the goal of desegregation will be served by closing it. Thus, Joshua's estoppel argument must fail. Id. at 915. In this case, however, the MRC's action in restructuring the Magnet Schools promotes desegregation. Thus, ADE could appropriately be estopped from attempting to reverse the position taken by its two representatives on the MRC. - Modification of the Settlement Agreement In addition to its equitable power to estop the ADE from taking a position contrary to its MRC representatives, this Court clearly has the authority to approve the MRC's action by granting a modification of the settlement agreement to the extent necessary to implement the MRC' s decision. The United States Supreme Court in Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, 502 U.S. 367, 116 L.Ed.2d 867 (1992) outlined the standard for modification of a consent decree: [A] party seeking modification of a consent decree bears the burden of establishing that a significant change in circumstances warrants revision of the decree. If the moving party meets this standard, the Court should consider whether the proposed modification is suitably tailored to the changed circumstance. Id. at 393, 116 L.Ed.2d at 866. The Eighth Circuit applied the Rufo standard in affirming this Court's decision to close Ish Incentive School and to assign the former Ish attendance zone students 3 to the new King Interdistrict School. See LRSD v. PCSSD, 56 F.3d 904, 914 (8th Cir. 1995). It held that modification was appropriate where the modification furthered the goal of desegregation. Id. The Eighth Circuit's application of Rufo is consistent with the rule of equity which allows the Court to modify an equitable decree to further the purpose of the decree. See e.g., Larkin Minnesota, Inc. v. Wray, 881 F.Supp. 1413, 1419 (D. Minn. 1995). It is also consistent with decisions from other jurisdictions which have identified myriad changed circumstances which justify modification. See, e.g., Jacksonville Branch, NAACP v. Duval County School Board. 978 F.2d 157 4, 1582 (11 th Cir. 1992) (\"Modification [ of a consent decree] may be considered when ( 1) a significant change in facts or law warrants change and the proposed modification is suitably tailored to the change, (2) significant time has passed and the objectives of the original agreement have not been met, (3) continuance is no longer warranted, or ( 4) a continuation would be inequitable and each side - has a legitimate interest to be considered.\"). Therefore, the issue before the Court is whether the MRC action described in its May 7, 1999 letter would further the goal of achieving a unitary school system. The Magnet Schools were among the very first methods to promote desegregation agreed upon by the parties to this case. They predate the settlement agreement. It has always been a priority among the parties, through their representatives on the MRC, to make certain that the Magnet Schools are well run and adequately funded. The Magnet Schools have established a reputation as providing a high quality education in a racially balanced setting. The MRC' s decision makes good sense for the Magnet Schools and will enable those schools to continue to promote county wide desegregation. This Court should therefore 4 adopt and approve the action of the MRC described in its May 7, 1999 letter, even if it is necessary to modify the settlement agreement to the extent necessary to do so. The changed circumstance which required MRC action is the restructuring ofLRSD schools for educational reasons. The MRC's decisions about how the adjust the Magnet School program in response to restructuring are suitably tailored to the changed circumstance. They represent the minimum necessary change to the settlement agreement in order to fairly maintain the educational and financial foundations of the Magnet Schools. Conclusion The Arkansas Department of Education should be estopped from taking a position directly contrary to the position taken for the past year by its MRC representatives. If the Court determines that an estoppel is not appropriate in this case, the Court should modify the settlement agreement to the limited extent necessary to implement the MRC's decision. Respectfully submitted, LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT Christopher Heller John C. Fendley FRIDAY, ELDREDGE \u0026 CLARK 2000 Regions Bank Bldg. 400 West Capitol A venue Little Rock, AR 72201 501/376-201 i 5 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that a copy of the foregoing has been served on the following on this'Z7~ of August, 1999: Mr. John W. Walker JOHN WALKER, P.A. 1723 Broadway Little Rock, AR 72206 Mr. Richard Roachell Roachell Law Firm 401 West Capitol, Suite 504 Little Rock, AR 72201 M. Samuel Jones WRIGHT, LINDSEY \u0026 JENNINGS 200 NationsBank 200 West Capitol A venue Little Rock, AR 72201 6 Ms. Ann Brown VIA HAND DELIVERY Desegregation Monitor Heritage West Bldg., Suite 510 201 East Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72201 Mr. Timothy G. Gauger Office of the Attorney General 323 Center Street 200 Tower Building Little Rock, AR 72201 Steve Jones JACK, LYON \u0026 JONES 3400 TCBY Tower 425 Capitol Avenue Little Rock, AR 72201 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION RECEIVED SEP 1  1999 Off!CH'f DESmRESA1UlY ~ LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT PLAINTIFF v. No. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, et al. DEFENDANTS NOTICE OF FILING In accordance with the Court's order of December 10, 1993, the Arkansas Department of Education hereby gives notice of the filing of ADE' s Project Management Tool for August, 1999. Respectfully Submitted, MARK PRYOR Attorney General Assistant Attorney neral 323 Center Street, Suite 200 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 682-2007 Attorney for Arkansas Department of Education IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL PLAINTIFFS V. NO. LR-C-82-866 PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL DEFENDANTS MRS. LORENE JOSHUA, ET AL INTERVENORS KA THERINE W. KNIGHT, ET AL INTERVENORS ADE'S PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL In compliance with the Court's Order of December 10, 1993, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) submits the following Project Management Tool to the parties and the Court. This document describes the progress the ADE has made since March 15, 1994, in complying with provisions of the Implementation Plan and itemizes the ADE's progress against timelines presented in the Plan. IMPLEMENTATION PHASE ACTIVITY I. FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS A. Use the previous year's three quarter average daily membership to calculate MFPA (State Equalization) for the current school year. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June. 2. Actual as of August 31, 1999 i~!iiiifi~i;~iwdi~t~~~,j~,~!%.\\~~!~}ii~~lifiil!!il!~l:~~i~il'~411 i;ij t6i B. Include all Magnet students in the resident District's average daily membership for calculation. 1. Projected Ending Date Last day of each month, August - June.  This project was supported in part by a Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives project grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Council on Library and Information Resources. "},{"id":"geh_vhpohr_318","title":"Oral history interview of Mortimer Augustus Cox, tape 1 of 2","collection_id":"geh_vhpohr","collection_title":"Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Alabama, Jefferson County, Birmingham, 33.52066, -86.80249","United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018","United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383","United States, Hawaii, Honolulu County, Honolulu, 21.30694, -157.85833","United States, North Carolina, Onslow County, Camp Lejeune, Montford Point, 34.72433, -77.41441"],"dcterms_creator":["Brown, Myers; Johnson, Ahnekii","Cox, Mortimer Augustus, 1919-2001"],"dc_date":["1999-07-26"],"dcterms_description":["In part one of this two-part interview, Mortimer Cox describes his experiences as a black Marine in the Pacific during World War II. He discusses the reasons why he chose the Marines, having enlisted in the Corps as one of the first black Marines and describes the extraordinary lengths they had to go to to prove themselves. He recalls his encounters with prejudice and eventual acceptance.","Mortimer Cox was a Marine in the Pacific during World War II.","MORTIMER COX VETERANS HISTORY INTERVIEW Atlanta History Center July 26, 1999 Interviewer: Myers Brown Transcriber: Stephanie McKinnell TAPE 1 of 2 Myers Brown: . . . full name, and date of birth, and place of birth, just some general information now. Mortimer Cox: All right, I'm Mortimer Augustus Cox. Why they named me that, I'll never know. I was born April 15,1919, in Birmingham, Alabama. MB: When did you first move here to the Atlanta area? MC: I moved to Atlanta June of 1946, September of 1946. I had decided to use my GI Bill for college education. It's interesting how I selected—everybody asks me why did you select Atlanta and why did you select Morris Brown College as school. I'm a son of a coal miner in the steel mills of Birmingham. Returning from the war and my experience in the Marine Corps said to me that—while my parents could not afford me the privilege of college, I graduated from high school in 1937. Knowing that I had the opportunity to utilize the GI Bill of Rights, I decided I would do that. I didn't see a future in the steel mill. On the basis of my experience in the Marine Corps, I wrote every black, historically black college in this country in a large city. I was concerned that I needed a large city in order to supplement my income because I was married at that time. Most of them in '46 was overfilled with the returning World War II veterans and I began to get , “We're full.” Finally I received a letter from Morris Brown in Atlanta, Georgia, and they said they had an opening and they would accept me. They wanted a $5 deposit on my room, incidentally. And I could afford that, so I took that. That's why I chose Atlanta. MB: When did you first hear of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and America's involvement? Do you know where you were when that happened? MC: Exactly. I'll never forget it. I was at a Sunday afternoon tea, that was what we had in my community, teas on Sunday. They were church related activities, and of course you would always go and do such exciting things as dance, maybe, but spin the bottle and kiss the girl, yes!, and we would always attend those. That was late Sunday afternoon that year, and we were there, and someone happened to turn on the radio, and we heard it on the radio, and the President was speaking, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and, of course, all of us had registered for the draft, but we were just waiting on our number to go up. All of the teenage boys were there, and the girls, and we listened for the rest of the afternoon. I don't think we spinned the bottle at all that day because we were concerned. But I can remember, I can remember the house, and quite often, if I'm in Birmingham, I'll drive past. And the lady's name was Mrs. Pittman, and as I said there's where I was December 7, 1941. But it's very clear in my mind because it changed my life. Int: When did you get drafted or enlisted? MC: In 1942, I began to think seriously, and the draft was on all young men. And, of course, I was thinking I did not want the Army because blacks were limited in the Army. I had a brother who had volunteered several years earlier and what he was doing did not impress me. Of course, the travel was always intriguing, but just the activity did not impress me. The Navy from what I had seen, I had seen blacks who were in uniform but most of them were either butlers or waited tables aboard ship. That did not appeal to me. There was a paper which was printed, a black newspaper, the Birmingham Daily World, it was a branch of the Atlanta Daily World. It was printed in Atlanta but it was primarily news about blacks in there. I saw the announcement that the Marine Corps was accepting blacks, and of course I thought this was a challenge. I realized they didn't have the kind of segregation that existed in the other major services. So I thought I would go down just to get some more information, and I went to the post office, and I found myself taking the test, and I passed the test and I was sworn in that day. I guess if I'd had to think about it, I don't know what I would have done, but when I found myself being given the oath of office and then told I was a Marine, and I was no longer subject to the draft, that of course gave me some relief. Now I did not immediately go in. I didn't know why. I went back home and from, that was June, I guess about June 12, I believe it was, and I went back home. All my friends were being drafted and were going in the service. I was home, I had heard nothing from the Marine Corps at all, and it was only in late August of '42 I received my orders. “You will report to Camp Montford Point, New River, North Carolina,” on such and such a date with a ticket aboard the train to North Carolina, and that was the first [notice] I had. When I got there, there were very few blacks. I believe I only saw about five or six blacks. That was September 1. And, of course, over the next several days they were bringing more in, so I ended up being in what we call the First Platoon of blacks, the first 40 men who began training. I was in that outfit and I began, I found myself in boot camp at that time becoming a Marine. It was very traumatic. We had a situation where there were no blacks to provide the initial training so these were all whites who were to give us the boot training, and if you know anything about what boot training incurred, it was traumatic. Those of us from the south did not have as much of a culture shock as those young men who were coming out of Chicago, out of New York, and out of the Midwest, who came and found themselves in Washington, D.C., and they'd have to move in the back of the train, so they came onboard in the camp angry. . . . Interestingly enough, most of that group of 40 men had some college, some were graduates out of college. It was a ______, why I don't know, maybe they were the ones who could pass the initial test, but they were angry and very, very hostile, so it was [difficult], because that special service group that was assigned to give us our training did it with the enthusiasm that I guess the Marines have had for 200 years prior to that, so it was an experience. It was hard to differentiate what was racial and what was required of training. The rigors of training is to get you to think as a group, so those of us who had never been into it, I had never been to a camp. Years later as I got older and began to broaden my experience, I could see that in day camp. Youngsters are taught to think as a group and be responsible for the group, so I could understand it. But I had never had that experience, and I suppose most of the youngsters who were there had not had that kind of experience so we did not know what was racial and what was training, so it was very, very difficult. Int: Did you all talk about it? MC: Very traumatic. Int: Did the southerners talk to the northerners? MC: Uh-huh. We almost took a kind of attitude that we were responsible for the group. So first of all, we felt a closeness to those black leaders who were pushing for equal opportunity for blacks, like A. Phillip Randolph and the guy who was head of the National Urban League and NAACP, who were actually talking to the President looking for opportunities for young people in service. And we felt obligations, especially those from the south. You had youngsters out of Talladega, in Talladega, Alabama, Alabama A\u0026M in Montgomery, Morehouse College and Clark [Atlanta University] here, so those educated blacks began to take an attitude that we can't let the race down. They don't want us in the Marine Corps, but we cannot fail. If we fail it will be because they just made the decision, not that we could not do it. So we began to form what we did not know were support groups at night. We would rehash those traumatic experiences that an individual had had and try to put it in perspective. And looking back during the earlier years when students began to integrate white institutions, that was one thing that I tried to get our organization, the Montford Point Marines, that's a national group of black Marines, to form those kinds of groups in the black community, to get young people to realize and see the big picture, as we would always say. You know, do your task and do it well. But it never really happened. But it was very difficult to go through that training and keep everybody concerned. MB: Now how old were you when you went to . . . MC: I tell you, I had been out of high school since 1937, so I was what, '42, 18, I was 23. MB: Were you older or younger or about the same age as most? MC: About the same age. As soon as the Marine Corps had to accept, later on in '43, the Marine Corps had to accept selective service, which was a body of men that selective service, a local selective service [office] would refer to the service, and they would be assigned out. When they began to get that kind of person, you began to get younger, more hostile blacks who didn't understand, didn't want to be in the war anyway, but they realized they had to. But that was my age. Jacksonville [North Carolina] was an experience. It was a small town that depended on the Marine barracks for its existence. But they didn't take kindly to black Marines, and the black Marines were really the ones closest to them. The Marine barracks was farther out across the railroad tracks so they viewed us as outsiders, and they felt we weren't going to be there long. I guess maybe it was assumed that “This is a trial and if they fail, it will close.” So that was our first impression. But it was, truly there were some experiences that even I remember. And being raised all my life in the south other than just going to New York or Washington to visit relatives or something, it was traumatic to me. Because there was always—in Birmingham where I was born and reared, there was always even downtown, theaters and cafés, you had all of your social organizations and your churches and school groups. But here in Jacksonville, it was a country town with very few blacks and no “black society” so it was traumatic. The bus drivers had never had to adjust to black troops. And if we wanted—the closest liberty places were either in Wilmington, New Bern or Lamar, where they had black populations, so most was ready to take a bus. But the bus drivers would always enforce segregation. You had to be in the back seat. So you formed two lines, which was unusual, you know, hard to accept because I had on the uniform just like you. But usually about four or five blacks would get on the back seat and he would fill up the bus with the white troops. So that got to be a problem, especially with those of us who were then moved up where we began to replace the special service troops and we were becoming NCO's ourselves. We had to deal with the fact that here's a youngster on leave, then he comes back AWOL and it's not his fault, because we had experienced first hand that you just couldn't get the bus. You know when only five of you can get out on that bus, you know what I mean, so they were more likely to be absent without leave. So, we increasingly began to press the commanding officer. Now it's to his credit that the person who was selected as commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Woods, accepted the position because he wanted to do it. He actually asked for the assignment, and I've heard him tell me a million times why he had, the name of the group of 51st Defense Battalion, and his pride and joy was that he, how he selected 51st. He said he selected the “5” and the “1” because of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The two persons that appear on the five and one dollar bills were most liked by blacks, and that was how he got it. But he was very, very, very fair and the only thing that really bothered me, as a colonel with the long tenure in the Marine Corps, he could look you in the eye and tell you, I can't control this, and he couldn't. But he would come up with a point with buses, he would assign the troop trucks to go to cities like New Bern and carry them on liberty. So we had our own trucks. Interestingly enough, whites who were running late and missed the last bus would be begging and pleading “let us on your bus,” because we could stay a little later, we didn't have to abide by the bus schedule. And you always assigned noncommissioned officers, so that the MPs which were old Marines that resented the blacks did not have to interface with us. So that they would always say, “Where is your NCO?” and turn them over. “I caught him doing such and such a thing.” And of course we would handle it. But it was interesting enough, I can remember one night, they found me in 1953 [43?], and I just happened to remember that because I can remember when my wife and I got our first house and quit rooming and got an apartment. They built apartments on the base for black non-coms who had a family, so the family's there. When I married, my wife and I had an apartment there. And we were laughing. In December of that year, out in Jacksonville on that coast, it was very cold. The wind is awful. Easily on a cold day you can feel little flakes of ice in the wind. But the deal is when it's cold, coal is limited. They would not let the troops, and we had to buy coal to heat the apartment, would not sell us any coal. Coal would come in and we'd go down to pick up some coal and they'd say, “No, all of this is promised.” So finally we convinced Colonel Woods, the commanding officer, we have a problem. He said what, we told him, and immediately we had a mountain of coal for the steam boiler to do the heating on the base. And he says, “That's our coal. Get you some trucks and back up the pile and get all the coal you need.” So we never bought no more coal, it was that kind of thing. But he was a thoughtful caring person. The camp was not all bad, we had some plusses. There was a young lieutenant who was assigned, he was a radical they said. I guess he was a forerunner of the so-called hippies. Robert Troop, and I had seen some movies, he was out of Hollywood, but he knew all the band leaders, the actors who were black and everything. We had a movie, but by the time we got the movies from the main base, they would be old. He had a contact in Hollywood he could call, and of course they would send movies in. Most of the band leaders then, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, he knew them, and he would have them on the base. One of the most interesting articles, I mean incidents, on the base, is that the commanding officer of the total camp, Camp Lejeune, heard that we had a black boxer who was very good. I can't think of his name, but he was coming to give us an exhibition as the result of Lt. Troop's invitation, and everybody wanted to see it. He wanted to see the bout. He came down, and the guys, like most youngsters, are noisy. And you know how you are at a boxing gig. That bothered that CO and he issued an order for all of the troops to be quiet, and of course we said you're on our turf, you know, and this is for us and you're just a guest here. He had really turned them off because at the time he came over to see the troops, we really trained the troops to be very precise in drilling and to do it exact, and it was a thing of beauty to watch those young fellows drill. And he had, in talking to them, said—he was just returning from the Pacific. And he says, “You know, I'm just back from the Pacific. I've seen women Marines, I've seen dog Marines, and now I see you people.” And I guess he was trying to make a point, I believe in my heart, now that I reflect on it, he was trying to make a point. “Now when I see you people, I know we are at war.” And, of course, the guys are afraid to boo a general, but the next time, he was coming this particular night, and the guys say, he's going to see it by himself, we're not going, and we'll just pass over the camp. And we knew, to Colonel Woods, that was going to put him in a pretty bad light to be a camp commander and be told, the commander of the total camp is coming and none of your troops will be there, so we didn't know what to do. So we decided we would declare what we called a punishment, that you will do a camp cleaning, nobody would say anything. Well, the troops go on punishment and that was going to be our way of doing it. But the colonel came in, he sent for his non-coms then and asked them, fellows, I can't let this, guys got to be there, he's going to know something, you know. But we did relent and the troops did go, but it's that kind of thing that you had openly. Int: Where was your first assignment? MC: My first assignment as I told you, I came in to be assigned to the 51st Defense Battalion. About [1943] when the war had changed, I suppose troops were addressed [?] then. Interestingly enough the whites were gone. They kept the 51st Defense Battalion, but they realized they would have to have a cadre of troops to continue training those blacks who had come in there out of the selective service, so they set up what they called recruit depot training, and Colonel Woods took that camp, and another colonel took over the 51st Defense Battalion, and he asked me if I would be one of those who would stay. He said they like my style, they like my leadership qualities, will you stay. And, of course at that time, I had—it's interesting, the story goes back to the six blacks who made PFCs. That was the first time in the history of the Marine Corps blacks ever made it. I was one of those. And I had, by this time I think I was a buck sergeant. They had to pull the whites out and they had to put us on fast track for promotion, so we were about every three months getting a promotion, and that's unheard of in the Marine Corps. But he had asked me to stay and to serve as first sergeant of “A” company, which was the first recruit training company we were going to have, and, of course, that's when I decided to get married. I says, I'm going to be here, and he told me all about the plans for apartments, and “you'll be here for the rest of the war just training troops.” Gee, that was nice. So I accepted. It was at that point that I began to get over ___. But in 1944, the commanding officer of Camp Lejeune then returned from the Pacific to do duty back in the states, he had been out long enough, and he came over, and he had seen black troops overseas. But always under the supervision of white non-coms, and he came over and saw first sergeant, black sergeant, he was amazed. He had been on Saipan incidentally, the first activity of blacks in the Pacific, but the Japanese, they didn't know that the troops had been trained. They thought all they could do was handle supplies, but when the troops came through, they laid down, grabbed weapons and began to stop the Japanese. And, of course, at that point, there was an article in Time magazine, it was right after, it was a sailor aboard the ship who grabbed the gun and actually to, began to do like at Pearl Harbor, and all of that came back, so it began to take an attitude. His feeling was the troops would be better off, he looked around and saw a whole cadre of black non-coms that he didn't know existed. So he then said that he was going to begin to send black non-coms out. That must have been midsummer '44. And with my seniority and my connections with Colonel Woods, I would always miss it, [they'd take] somebody else, and finally Colonel Woods said, “Sergeant, they're going to get you, you're going to have to go, you've got to be selective.” And, of course, there was a company with a friend of his who was going over with the 36th, and he wanted me, and Colonel Woods wanted me to go because he felt that he could do a good deed through a friend of his. And of course I had to go, and that was traumatic, but I went and got in Pearl Harbor December 15, five days before Christmas, lonely, mad, and deserted, and not knowing what I was going to do. But it was Pearl Harbor and Honolulu at Christmas time, I guess it was nice. But we did, and of course, the rest is history, because in '44 we began doing immediately maneuvers and training immediately after Christmas and that led right up to February of '44 or '45 then isn't it?, yeah, '45. MB: Now which unit were you assigned to when you went to Pearl Harbor? MC: We were assigned with a unit of what they call a depot company, a battalion I guess it was, something new for the Marine Corps, which handled all the supplies. See, the Marine Corps prior to that had had encounters in which it would go ashore and was able to supply itself [by] scrimmages. But for the first time, the Marine Corps found itself out at Saipan which would need reinforcements, medical personnel, would be the only thing the same as the Army, because they were fighting the war just like an Army, but it was not equipped to handle that, so they began to come up with depot companies with full detail, armaments, you know, armaments and the whole ammunition supply. We had to supply all the troops as you went, remember, because they could only carry so much during initial action. So we were assigned to one of those companies, and we began to maneuver loading and reloading. We wore out the equipment during January and the first of February prior to Iwo Jima just training, so that by the time we got to Iwo Jima, we were just like the Army going aboard with the artillery, coming on in phases with the supplies, and that's what the company and I did. We handled more ammunition, we handled clothing, water, and all the wonderful brandy that they gave you, and that's another whole story, but that was nice. MB: But you were there training until February, and then in February? MC: Yes, we actually went to Iwo Jima and was there when the flag, every time you see that flag, it brought on a different kind of meaning, because I had no idea, I had . . . [TAPE changed] . . . I had nothing to compare it with. I thought it was difficult but I just thought that was war and it was only on reflection that it really, really . . . and the deaths, I had never seen that much death before in my life, and that of course bothered me, and I was certain that I was not going to get off. But— MB: When did you actually go ashore on Iwo Jima? Did ya'll go? MC: Yes. We went, it went by D-plus D-Day, D-Day is D and the day after is D-1. We went D-5 and that was because you just couldn't get ashore because everything just logged up and the what it was about D-5 when you actually see the flag raising on Iwo Jima, which the Japanese could actually pinpoint any island. They could look and see a group of men, they'd know exactly how to set their weapons and hit it, so that just naturally tied the troops up on the beaches, and you couldn't until . . . that's the importance of Mount Suribache and the flag raising. So, yes, when you saw the flag up, you knew that they had conquered the island where they could actually, it's a mountain, it's a top of the mountain, and they had pinpointed and all of our control so that once they put the flag up, that was a symbol to the troops that that was secure, then you no longer had to fear the being attacked with emplaced guns from their mountain. But we went in and they, we were, there was no place for you to hide with Marine Corps at invasions, whether you're going in D- or D-10, they needed you. But it was nasty black sand, just as black as that chair, and by the first full day with the body parts and the bodies, flies were big and it was a stink that you never would forget. MB: When you were on shore, how close did you guys deploy to the front, I mean, did you have people taking supplies up to the front or were they coming back to you? MC: No, you carried the supplies. The only man I lost in my company, I had 160 men in my company, and course I was first sergeant, I laugh about it now. First sergeants do nothing but receive the reports and hand it out, that's his responsibility. But it, there's no background. Iwo Jima's not large enough, very small island, not any larger I would say than what you call Buckhead, so that you're on the front line when you're there. So it is, it was an experience. Int: Did the company you were in, were they all black? MC: All black, yes. The officers were white. That's a whole different story. After the war, after Iwo Jima, we returned to Hawaii for rest and well, what they call R\u0026R. Rest and recreation. That was very good duty. We were stationed on the big island of Hilo, that's the big island of Hawaii, Hawaii itself . . . Honolulu is on Oahu . . . but it's the largest island, primarily sugarcane, pineapple, and bananas. We were assigned a camp for black troops. They had some trouble. Most of the Hawaiian, true Hawaiians, were at that time, back in the ‘40s, were on the big island and living in small cities around Hilo. Hilo was where most of the tourists would come in, that was a city like Honolulu is, but in the camp which is out in the suburbs, that was a Dole pineapple camp and they decided to put us in this camp as black troops, thought we'd get along with the natives better, which we did, it was just like being in Paradise, having been on Iwo Jima, that black sand, with no food, to be able to reach out of your window and pick a ripe banana, you know, for breakfast, eat all the pineapple you want, you know, it was quite well. But even that did not last because after about, I guess about two months after that, everybody said, well, we got the, right after Easter when Iwo Jima was secured, and let's see, the European war was over around August I believe it was of '45. Do I remember my history correct, I'm thinking about how I lived it. I can remember that, I can remember hearing, on that island, that Franklin Roosevelt died down in Warm Springs, that Truman became president and that we were gearing up at that time again to do the maneuvers again for another march. We did not know it at that time what it was going, or where it was going to be, but we were doing about the same thing we had done back in September, and after you've done it once, you did this before, you know what happened. But then in September the first bomb was dropped on Nagasaki [Hiroshima]. We did not know it, only then we had put together that we were getting, preparing to invade Japan. Because we began to do certain things. You would not have the sand beaches, which told us that we were going into a port. So we did some, we were praying for the second bomb, you know, and I still do not blame . . . . Historians now second-guess Truman about that second bomb but I thank him for it because we didn't, so that when they finally surrendered, we actually covered the territory that we were preparing to invade. And we went in the naval base on the southern island of Japan, Sasabo, the naval base in Japan. We actually made the occupation for that section of the island that we were going to, I imagine everybody took what they were supposed to do. But there is where the end, the war ended. I had been in now four years. I'd been overseas, I had rank, and they began to let you out based on the points system. And then December of '45 I had the points, and I applied at that point to be released. And of course I had an opportunity and I knew most of the people who were in charge, and they kept saying, you're going to go back on a nice liberty ship, you're not going to go. And finally I said I'll take anything. It was after Christmas and I told my wife I was coming home and I didn't. And I waited, I waited all of January of '46 and nothing good came through. Finally about the end of January, I said, I'll take whatever it is. And I got an LST, an LST is a flat bottomed ship that can pull up on the beach, and I came back from Japan on an LST. That was a trip that all I wanted was the United States, and I wanted to get back home again, I was ready for the war . . . . I am not a soldier, I would get the orders for the company _______. And the thing that bothered me, and I hear it now, on September, I mean on July 26, 1999, at 0100 you will . . . you know, move to such and such and report to so and so. That bothers me, you know, you have nobody enters into . . . I remember telling Colonel Woods the day I got my orders to report to the company that I had, and that was away. And my wife was there, alone, didn't know anyone there on the base, but I had not had chance enough to get the furniture and get everything moved, you know. And I was just about ready to tell him I'm not going to do it, they're going to have to shoot me or something, I'm not going to leave my wife here, you know, alone. She's never been away from home. But he said, “Sergeant, we're going to tell your wife, we're going to pack the furniture, we're going to see that she gets on a train, see that she gets home, you've got nothing to worry about.” I said, “Colonel, I believe you but I don't believe them other folks out there.” MB: Did, can you describe for me when you landed at Guadalcanal, what you were wearing, what you were carrying, uniform, equipage, head to toe? If you can. MC: Fatigues, I had fatigues, just straight fatigues. MB: Chamois or… MC: What we called the olive green, twill like, like this. It's about this color, maybe like these trousers. It was olive green. You had a helmet, a steel helmet, that was it. We left Norfolk, it was a wonderful trip for a country boy to leave Norfolk go down the Pacific and take about three or four days through the Panama Canal. Didn't even feel like it was cold, it was in October, and once you got down to Hilton Head, the sun was out, you pull off your clothes and lay on the beach on a nice new USS named after a county in New York, see they were having these liberty ships. And we just thought we were going to heaven, you know what I mean. And then load up in Panama, we had to wait because the ships went through the canal based on priority, and I guess our priority wasn't high enough. So we just sit there and you'd go on liberty one day and every other day you'd go on liberty and see the nice girls out there, I guess we had more money because we didn't have anything to do with the money we had, we were going overseas. But it was wonderful, and to experience the Panama Canal. That I really appreciated. It was only when we got to the west coast and we joined then the armada with the battleships, the destroyers, the other troop ships, and we went from Northern Japan because we went in the water then, no smoking at night, you know, no lights on the deck, always with your gear if you were on the topside. You could never go topside with the, not full gear and prepared to evacuate because you never knew when you were going to be struck with a torpedo or something. MB: Were you carrying weapons at Iwo Jima or were you wearing a sidearm? MC: I wore a sidearm, which didn't seem to be accurate enough, a .45. That wasn't enough. I finally took on a carbine which was a rifle and could be accurate up to about 200 yards, and I had fired it so I knew I could do it, and I wanted to be able to shoot. A .45 is alright for hand to hand combat, when you're close up on you, but you could miss, I could miss you firing if I wasn't very careful, this distance, with a .45. But carbines or something like that, but most troops carried that. The first sergeant was required with a sidearm. That looks good in the states, you want something maybe more effective. MB: Were the rest of the men in your company also carrying carbines? MC: All of them. You were issued a carbine in boot camp, that was yours. That was your baby, you kept it, you never let a piece of rust show on it, and you carried it with you. And the only time you could _____ that was when it wouldn't fire. MB: Everybody tells stories about the famous Marine Kbar knife, did you guys carry those Kbars? MC: No, no. We did not. See really and truly most of the weapons where Marines had been fighting hand to hand in World War II, they began to change. We began to see a change for that because that was a different kind of war, you began to go like down in the Pacific, you remember Haiti and all of that, well the Marines, the “halls of Montezuma” you know down in Mexico, all of that stuff, that was when they had the hand to hand combat. We did, when I first went in, jujitsu and all of that was in for hand to hand combat. But increasingly the Pacific did away from that, Japanese say they'll shoot you down, no hand to hand . . . MB: What kind of food did they give you? MC: Food was always good at installations like camp, good cooks, always. Yeah, I can remember I was telling you about Hilo on the big island of Hawaii there on the top of what is the mountain name, I've forgotten, it looked like Texas, and they have beef cows. We would send up every day and get steaks, steaks that were about that thick and about that big. And I had a mess sergeant who could really cook a steak, you know. And, well, that was it, they'd really be a roast and not a steak. But the food at all the installations is as nice as, I was reading either this year or last year, about the Marine Corps birthday, there's always a good meal. And I was thinking about it and how wonderful it was, but now in combat, you're going to have K rations, and all K rations taste alike. But Marine Corps, the only outfit I imagine attached to the Navy would be aboard ship because you've got an installation for cooking. MB: As far as your equipment, uniform, anything like that, was there any piece of equipment you thought was really useful, a real good thing to have, or was there stuff that you thought why on earth did they ever issue me this, this is a piece of garbage? MC: Marines always had good equipment, course you didn't put up with a rifle. See you were talking about weaponry. When I went in, we learned to fire the Thompson submachine gun. You see because it was hand to hand, you could move in a group of people. That was the kind of activity the Marine Corps had up until World War II. But in World War II and the type of activity that we had, we began to shift. I did fire, I fired the Thompson sub for, just for qualification. What else did I fire? We had the BAR, it was an automatic weapon, and of course every Marine up until the time I went through boot training had to fire the '03, that's the old rifle that you had to cock, and you had to fire and qualify with it before you got with the new rifle that had the, you know, you could fire, what, eight rounds? And with the, with the . . . MB: The M-1. MC: Right, right. The M-1 was relatively new to World War II, but you had to qualify. I qualified as a sharpshooter. Qualified as a sharpshooter on the BAR and the Thompson sub, and the '45, yeah. MB: Now after you were discharged and you took your GI Bill and you came here to Atlanta, went to school, what did you do after you got out of school? MC: After I finished school? I took all of my GI Bill, what, 48 months, I took every penny. The government does not now owe me anything, and I went four years through college. I really had the plan of being a lawyer. My plans were to finish Morris Brown and I took what they called the pre-law which was heavily history and government. And in the second year I joined my fraternity and one of my assignments as joining that fraternity, this Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, was to identify, you know . . . was to meet a person in the profession I intended to go into. I met a young attorney who had just finished Howard University and he gave me some advice and I kidded him about it. He died a couple of years ago, but I never let him forget it, he gave me a rude awakening. He said to me he wouldn't advise it. I really wanted some support and I asked him why. And he told me, unless you have a family who can buy you a law library and support your office for two years with at least a secretary, if you don't have that, I wouldn't advise you to suffer through law school. And I was angry when I left him, I was foaming, why would he talk to me like, why would he bust my dream. And I went back, but the more I began to think about it, that with my total investment, I had gone to college against my father's advice. His advice was . . .U.S. Steel had saved me, see during the war if you were drafted and you had a job, that company had to promise you a job when you returned. And they had given me that job and I think I worked about three months and finally I said I can't do this, this is too hard. And he said I was crazy, “you're married, you ought to be buying a home. Take the GI Bill and buy you a house,” you see, which is his right, eh, I can't do that. And I guess his wish is, then the last thing he told me and my wife, one more year, she was in junior college, she had been teaching with a certificate for two years college and while overseas I convinced her, you go ahead to college and finish college while you're, I'm overseas, that will give you something to do. Because she's going to go back to teach. “No, I don't want you to teach, you go back and finish college and stay with my daddy.” And she had another year, and he says if you go don't come back here. And I guess he still, I think he still viewed me as a child and I realized I wasn't ever going back and I felt if I went and went through Howard and got a law degree and had to go back home, I would have failed. So I made up my mind, I had changed my major. Well, I couldn't change it because I had a subject. I began to take courses in business administration. I never will forget, I went in a bookkeeping course and I think why am I doing this, I'm almost a junior and I'm going here taking a freshman course but I did. I took as many courses as I could and by that time my advisor said if I was going, I would decide to go the school of business at Atlanta University that I would not have to have, I could still get the courses, but I went through and did my two years for the master's at AU. And the last semester and my thesis, I did not have enough time but my counselor with the Veterans Administration said he wouldn't give me a check which I did not need, I had full time employment there, but he would pay the tuition and give me the supplies, so I was able to finish it, all of it under the GI Bill. Immediately after that, I had been selling home appliances. You couldn't buy refrigerators, washing machines, and all that right after the war and they were just coming. And I was very creative, did quite well, I think I made more money there than I ever did, you know just commission. But in conjunction with that, I had specialized—they didn't have a specialty in the school of business at Atlanta University then—but I leaned towards marketing and that's where my interest was. Well, connected with my selling, I knew every professor on the campus, knew every professional in the city, including Maynard Jackson's father, because I was selling them what they needed. So that, Johnson Publishing Company, at that time, Ebony and Jet, Johnny Johnson had, most of his advertisements in his magazines were cigarettes, beer, and maybe cold drinks, no hard advertising, automobiles and clothing and that kind of thing. And he in his wisdom decided that he wanted to go into that area, and he came looking for someone in Atlanta [to represent the magazines]. And he said everywhere he went and explained what he wanted, even on the campus, they'd tell him, “You need to see Mortimer Cox, he's just your person.” And I did, and I did quite well. I went with Johnson Publishing Company, and I enjoyed the work. It was travel. Johnny Johnson was a peculiar person, had a mind for it. For the first time in my life, you know, I traveled first class, because he said the people you need to meet are never in coach, you know. And I kind of like that. In the best hotels, I would go down and eat in the finest dining rooms, you know, and you would meet people. But it was an exciting thing. I was very instrumental in getting the Chrysler Corporation, advertising cars. Then clothing, Eagle suits, I remember that. And food, you know Chase \u0026 Sanborn Coffee, that kind of thing, just what the marketing gave me, that I would come out. Atlanta would always show, I remember distinctly in '52, Rich's downtown [store], and we ran a half-page ad with Eagle clothes, which was a good line of suits at that time. I wanted to set the same ad up into Rich's store for men on Forsyth Street and the buyer looked at me like “You're crazy, what, put an ad with a black magazine with the Rich's downtown?” Yes, what's wrong with it? I wanted to put my Ebony sign in the store. “Let me think about it.” So I went back and got all my friends and said, “You go to Rich's and ask for this outfit.” Now I knew all of them were not going to buy, but by the time I did it, the guy said he'd never seen an ad generate that kind of activity. And all these guys, they were college professors, businessmen, you know, ministers and that kind of thing, they could afford it. So then he said to me, “I've never had that.” He said “That's unusual and I sold some outfits.” He said, “I've got to do something nice with that ad, I don't know.” I said, “All I want to do is to get that ad, get a photographer and shoot it. And then you do whatever you want.” I didn't say it had to be up there for two weeks. He said, that's all you want, he said he can do that. So he sent the decorator and all, they set the window just like it. I shot it. Eagle has never figured out to this day how they couldn't get it done in New York, Los Angeles or anywhere else but here in Rich's in Atlanta. But they were impressed with that. I would have stayed with him but after I stayed with him almost two years, he wanted me to move to Detroit. I'd been to Detroit because I had a brother there, and Detroit had begun to deteriorate in terms of crime downtown in the city. I just didn't want to go. My wife had begun to teach, she had come over and gotten her masters and she was teaching in the public school system. I was doing quite well myself and I saw no reason. I finally told him, and he did terminate me right on the spot, sent me home. But my concern, he was rich, and as I looked back over, I'm in a position in a career that I could do, I knew I could do it, I knew I could be successful, but Johnson and Johnson had their own little magazine and the publisher couldn't afford me. So I had to make a choice. I can't afford the risk because I had put all my investment into having that kind of life. I left that company. He didn't fire me, he told me if I needed a recommendation, you know, and now that I'm old and I look back, I would have done the same thing. “And I'm going to pay you a good salary and I need to do what's best for the company. If you don't want to take it, I'll let you go.” Now that is just common good sense to me, as I age, of course I was angry at the time because I felt the man did me an injustice. That was the best he had, you know. But I left. On my way—I was in Chicago and he had given me two weeks termination pay and my vacation—and on my way, I bumped into a guy I knew who told me about a company in Owatana who was looking for a guy in sales, and it was Josten, in Owatana, Minnesota, just south of Milwaukee. He called a guy from Chicago, the guy says, “Hey, I'll come to Atlanta and see you.” I came back, he came and within two days I was headed back to Josten to learn their business of selling high school rings and supplies to high school students. I took that job, did well. I made more in that year than I'd ever made because I was, I could sell to schools, I could sell to high school girls. You had to do it on competition, and I was competing with white salesmen in the south. None of them could offer what I was. I was a black professional going into black high schools, and I could make a speech to some high school students that would make a principal of a white school say I was the best thing that had ever been in there, because they did not see black professionals. I was driving a new car, dressed nice, and that was it, so I had the edge on them. They were saying I wasn't a good salesman, you know what they was saying, you're not a good salesman, you've just got the edge on, you're a black salesman. And most of the other companies at that time were getting into looking for black salesmen to do that. Now I could begin to see some ripples. I could begin to see integration coming, and I said if I make this investment and establish it, if the schools integrate and you've still got white superintendents who control the schools, where would I be? Because this has never happened in this country before, so I had to make a decision. I'd better get into something a little bit moving. By this time, my wife was doing alright teaching, you know, working, and I began to say, you know, I'm getting older, I'd better start looking for a career. At this time, I guess, the housing authority was looking for a person, and they wanted a housing manager, and that was a pretty good salary at that time. My wife didn't like to travel either, so I left that job and went with the housing authority. And I guess the old sociology that I had, and I've always had an interest in people, I've always worked in my church, began to make a difference in the housing. I kept saying that these people, even though they're poor, want the same thing that you and I want where we live. They can't do it without a job, and how can they get a job, and I would ____ a guy who couldn't pay his rent. I had developed a plan where employers who were looking, and these were the people who were first line supervisors, I got to know them, and I could pick up the phone, I got this kind of guy, he'll come out and give you a good job, and I'd tell him it was a good job, it's got tenure, you can keep it and take care of your family. So increasingly, first line supervisors began to tell others, “I can get good people who want to work, call Cox out at Bowen Homes and see.” So, increasingly, one day the guy with the Urban League came to me and said, “You know, you're doing what we do anyway, and I can give you a better salary.” So I took it, and I went. So I enjoyed it, it was very rewarding. That's about it. MB: Thank you very much. MC: That's a picture of the first platoon of blacks being trained at Montford Point. MB: Are you in this picture? MC: Uh-huh, I can't find me. MB: You can't find you? MC: No, I've looked and looked. Now you can see the white training officers. These are the first black . . . MB: Now you're wearing? MC: Those pith helmets. Now in this book, yes, this is the first six PFCs who were promoted, the black marines who were promoted at Camp Lejeune. I was the first person, that's Bostick [?], Davis, Hashmon [?] and Johnson. He actually stayed in and upon retirement was a sergeant major. He stayed in. These two stayed in after the war. That's Huff, and that's Allen. [All talking at once.] MC: That's Cox, Bostick, Davis, Johnson, Huff, and Allen. God, I haven't done that in years. It's just deteriorating after 50 some years, and I would hate for that to happen. Fifty-six years ago today, let me tell my wife I did that. MB: So when was this photograph taken? MC: 1943. There's a picture in my dress blues. MB: And what is this rank you've got here? MC: I was a platoon sergeant. My rank, I always acted ahead of my rank, I was acting first sergeant there. They couldn't promote you fast enough. The white troops would get so angry, boy, when I made corporal. See you made corporal, in those dress blues, you would get that blue stripe and that it, that was it. Their prime hope was to make corporal so you got a blue stripe. You came in and in a short time you had it. I remember, it was in '43. My wife and I was waiting a train to Washington, where were we, Raleigh?, and I was out and two Marines came out and said, “You haven't been in service, do you know we'll make you prove that you could wear those chevrons.” You know, that red stripe down there. My wife was standing up there, and they were ready to fight, so all you got to do is just prove it, if you can handle yourself that was it. Boy, I says, “OK, I'll take you one at a time.” One came up, he gave me his best blow, I gave him my best blow, and he went sailing back. I was in good shape. I hit the other one, he went sailing back. Both of them started getting up to come again, you know my wife's standing there, she's scared to death. Two MPs turned the corner, I was never so happy to see two MPs because I'd given my best shot and they were getting up, I guess they'd been in the Marine Corps for 15, 20 years. But “prove that you can wear those stripes.” MB: [looking at photos] Tell us when and where. MC: That's December 1944 in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu. MB: Who is that with you? MC: That is my gunnery sergeant, that's the mess sergeant. McCord. That's McCord, the gunnery sergeant, and that's Sergeant Wingate, the mess sergeant. Good cook, too, good cook. MB: And the other person is you? MC: It's me. MB: And that is in? MC: Hawaii, in Honolulu. MB: Honolulu… MC: Honolulu, 1944. MB: Tell us what this is. MC: That is a diary, and it seemed to me at one of the Marine parties, someone gave me that book, and I said I was going to keep it. I did keep it completely until January of '44, I got married and quit writing in it. I did write one entry upon discharge. But the interesting thing, the interesting thing that I see in that, and I didn't know it at the time, there is no bitterness and that is amazing to me. I interpreted everything that was happening to me without the bitterness. You know, I was frustrated quite often, I could tell every time I was frustrated with troops when they misunderstood because they would usually, during boot camp, they get so angry with you, they swear that “I ever see you, you will not live,” you know. And I know that that didn't happen, because the moment they completed, they are like, what can I give you. All my life I have traveled and I would never—I was in San Francisco one year, and, why was I there? It was a police gathering in a hotel downtown and, unbelievable, this guy came over and started talking, “I know you from somewhere, I know you from somewhere,” and was pleasant. He just kept talking, he had been a Marine. And I don't even remember his name, he remembered just my features and he was pleasant, and we started talking, “How have you been” and all of this and finally he said, “Were you in service?” I said I was in the Marine Corps, and when I said Marine Corps, he said, “Sergeant Cox,” just like that, and he carried me all over the city, introduced me, “This man made a man out of me, you know.” He was either chief of detectives or something like that of San Francisco police. But it's that kind of thing that made such an impact. My brother was, worked at Chrysler in Detroit, and one day a guy said to him, you know, “The only guy I know named Cox was Sergeant Cox in the Marine Corps, if I ever see him, I'm going to kill that SOB.” You know, that kind of thing. My brother didn't say, “That is my brother.” I was visiting one day, and all it was, we were walking somewhere, and he tried to change direction. Pretty soon that guy looked and spotted me and he said, “Sergeant Cox,” hugged me. He [my brother] said, “I don't understand that, you said you were going to kill my brother.” He said, “Man, that's the way you feel, but this man made a man out of me.” And it goes across the board like that, a guy gets through. Because you do, you see a child who is brilliant, bitter, and mean turn out to be a lovely person who can do anything, and we all do, so it makes a difference."],"dc_format":["video/quicktime"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":null,"dcterms_publisher":null,"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":["Veterans History Project oral history recordings","Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center"],"dcterms_subject":["Segregation--United States","World War, 1939-1945--Equipment and supplies","World War, 1939-1945--Participation, African American","World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American","Iwo Jima, Battle of, Japan, 1945","Guadalcanal, Battle of, Solomon Islands, 1942-1943","Rifles","M1 carbine","Browning Automatic Pistol","Troup, Robert W., Jr., 1918-1999","Woods, Samuel A., Jr., 1893-1968","Morris Brown College","United States. Marine Corps. Depot Company, 36th","United States. Marine Corps. Defense Battalion, 51st","United States. Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944","Browning Automatic Rifle"],"dcterms_title":["Oral history interview of Mortimer Augustus Cox, tape 1 of 2"],"dcterms_type":["MovingImage"],"dcterms_provenance":["Atlanta History Center"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/318"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":["This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required."],"dcterms_medium":["video recordings (physical artifacts)","mini-dv"],"dcterms_extent":["1:00:52"],"dlg_subject_personal":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":null},{"id":"geh_vhpohr_313","title":"Oral history interview of Mortimer Augustus Cox, tape 2 of 2","collection_id":"geh_vhpohr","collection_title":"Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018","United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383"],"dcterms_creator":["Brown, Myers; Johnson, Ahnekii","Cox, Mortimer Augustus, 1919-2001"],"dc_date":["1999-07-26"],"dcterms_description":["In part two of this two-part interview, Mortimer Cox describes his post-war years in Atlanta, Georgia, including his education and work experience.","Mortimer Cox was a Marine in the Pacific during World War II.","MORTIMER COX VETERANS HISTORY INTERVIEW Atlanta History Center July 26, 1999 Interviewer: Myers Brown Transcriber: Stephanie McKinnell TAPE 1 of 2 Myers Brown: . . . full name, and date of birth, and place of birth, just some general information now. Mortimer Cox: All right, I'm Mortimer Augustus Cox. Why they named me that, I'll never know. I was born April 15,1919, in Birmingham, Alabama. MB: When did you first move here to the Atlanta area? MC: I moved to Atlanta June of 1946, September of 1946. I had decided to use my GI Bill for college education. It's interesting how I selected—everybody asks me why did you select Atlanta and why did you select Morris Brown College as school. I'm a son of a coal miner in the steel mills of Birmingham. Returning from the war and my experience in the Marine Corps said to me that—while my parents could not afford me the privilege of college, I graduated from high school in 1937. Knowing that I had the opportunity to utilize the GI Bill of Rights, I decided I would do that. I didn't see a future in the steel mill. On the basis of my experience in the Marine Corps, I wrote every black, historically black college in this country in a large city. I was concerned that I needed a large city in order to supplement my income because I was married at that time. Most of them in '46 was overfilled with the returning World War II veterans and I began to get , “We're full.” Finally I received a letter from Morris Brown in Atlanta, Georgia, and they said they had an opening and they would accept me. They wanted a $5 deposit on my room, incidentally. And I could afford that, so I took that. That's why I chose Atlanta. MB: When did you first hear of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and America's involvement? Do you know where you were when that happened? MC: Exactly. I'll never forget it. I was at a Sunday afternoon tea, that was what we had in my community, teas on Sunday. They were church related activities, and of course you would always go and do such exciting things as dance, maybe, but spin the bottle and kiss the girl, yes!, and we would always attend those. That was late Sunday afternoon that year, and we were there, and someone happened to turn on the radio, and we heard it on the radio, and the President was speaking, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and, of course, all of us had registered for the draft, but we were just waiting on our number to go up. All of the teenage boys were there, and the girls, and we listened for the rest of the afternoon. I don't think we spinned the bottle at all that day because we were concerned. But I can remember, I can remember the house, and quite often, if I'm in Birmingham, I'll drive past. And the lady's name was Mrs. Pittman, and as I said there's where I was December 7, 1941. But it's very clear in my mind because it changed my life. Int: When did you get drafted or enlisted? MC: In 1942, I began to think seriously, and the draft was on all young men. And, of course, I was thinking I did not want the Army because blacks were limited in the Army. I had a brother who had volunteered several years earlier and what he was doing did not impress me. Of course, the travel was always intriguing, but just the activity did not impress me. The Navy from what I had seen, I had seen blacks who were in uniform but most of them were either butlers or waited tables aboard ship. That did not appeal to me. There was a paper which was printed, a black newspaper, the Birmingham Daily World, it was a branch of the Atlanta Daily World. It was printed in Atlanta but it was primarily news about blacks in there. I saw the announcement that the Marine Corps was accepting blacks, and of course I thought this was a challenge. I realized they didn't have the kind of segregation that existed in the other major services. So I thought I would go down just to get some more information, and I went to the post office, and I found myself taking the test, and I passed the test and I was sworn in that day. I guess if I'd had to think about it, I don't know what I would have done, but when I found myself being given the oath of office and then told I was a Marine, and I was no longer subject to the draft, that of course gave me some relief. Now I did not immediately go in. I didn't know why. I went back home and from, that was June, I guess about June 12, I believe it was, and I went back home. All my friends were being drafted and were going in the service. I was home, I had heard nothing from the Marine Corps at all, and it was only in late August of '42 I received my orders. “You will report to Camp Montford Point, New River, North Carolina,” on such and such a date with a ticket aboard the train to North Carolina, and that was the first [notice] I had. When I got there, there were very few blacks. I believe I only saw about five or six blacks. That was September 1. And, of course, over the next several days they were bringing more in, so I ended up being in what we call the First Platoon of blacks, the first 40 men who began training. I was in that outfit and I began, I found myself in boot camp at that time becoming a Marine. It was very traumatic. We had a situation where there were no blacks to provide the initial training so these were all whites who were to give us the boot training, and if you know anything about what boot training incurred, it was traumatic. Those of us from the south did not have as much of a culture shock as those young men who were coming out of Chicago, out of New York, and out of the Midwest, who came and found themselves in Washington, D.C., and they'd have to move in the back of the train, so they came onboard in the camp angry. . . . Interestingly enough, most of that group of 40 men had some college, some were graduates out of college. It was a ______, why I don't know, maybe they were the ones who could pass the initial test, but they were angry and very, very hostile, so it was [difficult], because that special service group that was assigned to give us our training did it with the enthusiasm that I guess the Marines have had for 200 years prior to that, so it was an experience. It was hard to differentiate what was racial and what was required of training. The rigors of training is to get you to think as a group, so those of us who had never been into it, I had never been to a camp. Years later as I got older and began to broaden my experience, I could see that in day camp. Youngsters are taught to think as a group and be responsible for the group, so I could understand it. But I had never had that experience, and I suppose most of the youngsters who were there had not had that kind of experience so we did not know what was racial and what was training, so it was very, very difficult. Int: Did you all talk about it? MC: Very traumatic. Int: Did the southerners talk to the northerners? MC: Uh-huh. We almost took a kind of attitude that we were responsible for the group. So first of all, we felt a closeness to those black leaders who were pushing for equal opportunity for blacks, like A. Phillip Randolph and the guy who was head of the National Urban League and NAACP, who were actually talking to the President looking for opportunities for young people in service. And we felt obligations, especially those from the south. You had youngsters out of Talladega, in Talladega, Alabama, Alabama A\u0026M in Montgomery, Morehouse College and Clark [Atlanta University] here, so those educated blacks began to take an attitude that we can't let the race down. They don't want us in the Marine Corps, but we cannot fail. If we fail it will be because they just made the decision, not that we could not do it. So we began to form what we did not know were support groups at night. We would rehash those traumatic experiences that an individual had had and try to put it in perspective. And looking back during the earlier years when students began to integrate white institutions, that was one thing that I tried to get our organization, the Montford Point Marines, that's a national group of black Marines, to form those kinds of groups in the black community, to get young people to realize and see the big picture, as we would always say. You know, do your task and do it well. But it never really happened. But it was very difficult to go through that training and keep everybody concerned. MB: Now how old were you when you went to . . . MC: I tell you, I had been out of high school since 1937, so I was what, '42, 18, I was 23. MB: Were you older or younger or about the same age as most? MC: About the same age. As soon as the Marine Corps had to accept, later on in '43, the Marine Corps had to accept selective service, which was a body of men that selective service, a local selective service [office] would refer to the service, and they would be assigned out. When they began to get that kind of person, you began to get younger, more hostile blacks who didn't understand, didn't want to be in the war anyway, but they realized they had to. But that was my age. Jacksonville [North Carolina] was an experience. It was a small town that depended on the Marine barracks for its existence. But they didn't take kindly to black Marines, and the black Marines were really the ones closest to them. The Marine barracks was farther out across the railroad tracks so they viewed us as outsiders, and they felt we weren't going to be there long. I guess maybe it was assumed that “This is a trial and if they fail, it will close.” So that was our first impression. But it was, truly there were some experiences that even I remember. And being raised all my life in the south other than just going to New York or Washington to visit relatives or something, it was traumatic to me. Because there was always—in Birmingham where I was born and reared, there was always even downtown, theaters and cafés, you had all of your social organizations and your churches and school groups. But here in Jacksonville, it was a country town with very few blacks and no “black society” so it was traumatic. The bus drivers had never had to adjust to black troops. And if we wanted—the closest liberty places were either in Wilmington, New Bern or Lamar, where they had black populations, so most was ready to take a bus. But the bus drivers would always enforce segregation. You had to be in the back seat. So you formed two lines, which was unusual, you know, hard to accept because I had on the uniform just like you. But usually about four or five blacks would get on the back seat and he would fill up the bus with the white troops. So that got to be a problem, especially with those of us who were then moved up where we began to replace the special service troops and we were becoming NCO's ourselves. We had to deal with the fact that here's a youngster on leave, then he comes back AWOL and it's not his fault, because we had experienced first hand that you just couldn't get the bus. You know when only five of you can get out on that bus, you know what I mean, so they were more likely to be absent without leave. So, we increasingly began to press the commanding officer. Now it's to his credit that the person who was selected as commanding officer, Colonel Samuel Woods, accepted the position because he wanted to do it. He actually asked for the assignment, and I've heard him tell me a million times why he had, the name of the group of 51st Defense Battalion, and his pride and joy was that he, how he selected 51st. He said he selected the “5” and the “1” because of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The two persons that appear on the five and one dollar bills were most liked by blacks, and that was how he got it. But he was very, very, very fair and the only thing that really bothered me, as a colonel with the long tenure in the Marine Corps, he could look you in the eye and tell you, I can't control this, and he couldn't. But he would come up with a point with buses, he would assign the troop trucks to go to cities like New Bern and carry them on liberty. So we had our own trucks. Interestingly enough, whites who were running late and missed the last bus would be begging and pleading “let us on your bus,” because we could stay a little later, we didn't have to abide by the bus schedule. And you always assigned noncommissioned officers, so that the MPs which were old Marines that resented the blacks did not have to interface with us. So that they would always say, “Where is your NCO?” and turn them over. “I caught him doing such and such a thing.” And of course we would handle it. But it was interesting enough, I can remember one night, they found me in 1953 [43?], and I just happened to remember that because I can remember when my wife and I got our first house and quit rooming and got an apartment. They built apartments on the base for black non-coms who had a family, so the family's there. When I married, my wife and I had an apartment there. And we were laughing. In December of that year, out in Jacksonville on that coast, it was very cold. The wind is awful. Easily on a cold day you can feel little flakes of ice in the wind. But the deal is when it's cold, coal is limited. They would not let the troops, and we had to buy coal to heat the apartment, would not sell us any coal. Coal would come in and we'd go down to pick up some coal and they'd say, “No, all of this is promised.” So finally we convinced Colonel Woods, the commanding officer, we have a problem. He said what, we told him, and immediately we had a mountain of coal for the steam boiler to do the heating on the base. And he says, “That's our coal. Get you some trucks and back up the pile and get all the coal you need.” So we never bought no more coal, it was that kind of thing. But he was a thoughtful caring person. The camp was not all bad, we had some plusses. There was a young lieutenant who was assigned, he was a radical they said. I guess he was a forerunner of the so-called hippies. Robert Troop, and I had seen some movies, he was out of Hollywood, but he knew all the band leaders, the actors who were black and everything. We had a movie, but by the time we got the movies from the main base, they would be old. He had a contact in Hollywood he could call, and of course they would send movies in. Most of the band leaders then, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, he knew them, and he would have them on the base. One of the most interesting articles, I mean incidents, on the base, is that the commanding officer of the total camp, Camp Lejeune, heard that we had a black boxer who was very good. I can't think of his name, but he was coming to give us an exhibition as the result of Lt. Troop's invitation, and everybody wanted to see it. He wanted to see the bout. He came down, and the guys, like most youngsters, are noisy. And you know how you are at a boxing gig. That bothered that CO and he issued an order for all of the troops to be quiet, and of course we said you're on our turf, you know, and this is for us and you're just a guest here. He had really turned them off because at the time he came over to see the troops, we really trained the troops to be very precise in drilling and to do it exact, and it was a thing of beauty to watch those young fellows drill. And he had, in talking to them, said—he was just returning from the Pacific. And he says, “You know, I'm just back from the Pacific. I've seen women Marines, I've seen dog Marines, and now I see you people.” And I guess he was trying to make a point, I believe in my heart, now that I reflect on it, he was trying to make a point. “Now when I see you people, I know we are at war.” And, of course, the guys are afraid to boo a general, but the next time, he was coming this particular night, and the guys say, he's going to see it by himself, we're not going, and we'll just pass over the camp. And we knew, to Colonel Woods, that was going to put him in a pretty bad light to be a camp commander and be told, the commander of the total camp is coming and none of your troops will be there, so we didn't know what to do. So we decided we would declare what we called a punishment, that you will do a camp cleaning, nobody would say anything. Well, the troops go on punishment and that was going to be our way of doing it. But the colonel came in, he sent for his non-coms then and asked them, fellows, I can't let this, guys got to be there, he's going to know something, you know. But we did relent and the troops did go, but it's that kind of thing that you had openly. Int: Where was your first assignment? MC: My first assignment as I told you, I came in to be assigned to the 51st Defense Battalion. About [1943] when the war had changed, I suppose troops were addressed [?] then. Interestingly enough the whites were gone. They kept the 51st Defense Battalion, but they realized they would have to have a cadre of troops to continue training those blacks who had come in there out of the selective service, so they set up what they called recruit depot training, and Colonel Woods took that camp, and another colonel took over the 51st Defense Battalion, and he asked me if I would be one of those who would stay. He said they like my style, they like my leadership qualities, will you stay. And, of course at that time, I had—it's interesting, the story goes back to the six blacks who made PFCs. That was the first time in the history of the Marine Corps blacks ever made it. I was one of those. And I had, by this time I think I was a buck sergeant. They had to pull the whites out and they had to put us on fast track for promotion, so we were about every three months getting a promotion, and that's unheard of in the Marine Corps. But he had asked me to stay and to serve as first sergeant of “A” company, which was the first recruit training company we were going to have, and, of course, that's when I decided to get married. I says, I'm going to be here, and he told me all about the plans for apartments, and “you'll be here for the rest of the war just training troops.” Gee, that was nice. So I accepted. It was at that point that I began to get over ___. But in 1944, the commanding officer of Camp Lejeune then returned from the Pacific to do duty back in the states, he had been out long enough, and he came over, and he had seen black troops overseas. But always under the supervision of white non-coms, and he came over and saw first sergeant, black sergeant, he was amazed. He had been on Saipan incidentally, the first activity of blacks in the Pacific, but the Japanese, they didn't know that the troops had been trained. They thought all they could do was handle supplies, but when the troops came through, they laid down, grabbed weapons and began to stop the Japanese. And, of course, at that point, there was an article in Time magazine, it was right after, it was a sailor aboard the ship who grabbed the gun and actually to, began to do like at Pearl Harbor, and all of that came back, so it began to take an attitude. His feeling was the troops would be better off, he looked around and saw a whole cadre of black non-coms that he didn't know existed. So he then said that he was going to begin to send black non-coms out. That must have been midsummer '44. And with my seniority and my connections with Colonel Woods, I would always miss it, [they'd take] somebody else, and finally Colonel Woods said, “Sergeant, they're going to get you, you're going to have to go, you've got to be selective.” And, of course, there was a company with a friend of his who was going over with the 36th, and he wanted me, and Colonel Woods wanted me to go because he felt that he could do a good deed through a friend of his. And of course I had to go, and that was traumatic, but I went and got in Pearl Harbor December 15, five days before Christmas, lonely, mad, and deserted, and not knowing what I was going to do. But it was Pearl Harbor and Honolulu at Christmas time, I guess it was nice. But we did, and of course, the rest is history, because in '44 we began doing immediately maneuvers and training immediately after Christmas and that led right up to February of '44 or '45 then isn't it?, yeah, '45. MB: Now which unit were you assigned to when you went to Pearl Harbor? MC: We were assigned with a unit of what they call a depot company, a battalion I guess it was, something new for the Marine Corps, which handled all the supplies. See, the Marine Corps prior to that had had encounters in which it would go ashore and was able to supply itself [by] scrimmages. But for the first time, the Marine Corps found itself out at Saipan which would need reinforcements, medical personnel, would be the only thing the same as the Army, because they were fighting the war just like an Army, but it was not equipped to handle that, so they began to come up with depot companies with full detail, armaments, you know, armaments and the whole ammunition supply. We had to supply all the troops as you went, remember, because they could only carry so much during initial action. So we were assigned to one of those companies, and we began to maneuver loading and reloading. We wore out the equipment during January and the first of February prior to Iwo Jima just training, so that by the time we got to Iwo Jima, we were just like the Army going aboard with the artillery, coming on in phases with the supplies, and that's what the company and I did. We handled more ammunition, we handled clothing, water, and all the wonderful brandy that they gave you, and that's another whole story, but that was nice. MB: But you were there training until February, and then in February? MC: Yes, we actually went to Iwo Jima and was there when the flag, every time you see that flag, it brought on a different kind of meaning, because I had no idea, I had . . . [TAPE changed] . . . I had nothing to compare it with. I thought it was difficult but I just thought that was war and it was only on reflection that it really, really . . . and the deaths, I had never seen that much death before in my life, and that of course bothered me, and I was certain that I was not going to get off. But— MB: When did you actually go ashore on Iwo Jima? Did ya'll go? MC: Yes. We went, it went by D-plus D-Day, D-Day is D and the day after is D-1. We went D-5 and that was because you just couldn't get ashore because everything just logged up and the what it was about D-5 when you actually see the flag raising on Iwo Jima, which the Japanese could actually pinpoint any island. They could look and see a group of men, they'd know exactly how to set their weapons and hit it, so that just naturally tied the troops up on the beaches, and you couldn't until . . . that's the importance of Mount Suribache and the flag raising. So, yes, when you saw the flag up, you knew that they had conquered the island where they could actually, it's a mountain, it's a top of the mountain, and they had pinpointed and all of our control so that once they put the flag up, that was a symbol to the troops that that was secure, then you no longer had to fear the being attacked with emplaced guns from their mountain. But we went in and they, we were, there was no place for you to hide with Marine Corps at invasions, whether you're going in D- or D-10, they needed you. But it was nasty black sand, just as black as that chair, and by the first full day with the body parts and the bodies, flies were big and it was a stink that you never would forget. MB: When you were on shore, how close did you guys deploy to the front, I mean, did you have people taking supplies up to the front or were they coming back to you? MC: No, you carried the supplies. The only man I lost in my company, I had 160 men in my company, and course I was first sergeant, I laugh about it now. First sergeants do nothing but receive the reports and hand it out, that's his responsibility. But it, there's no background. Iwo Jima's not large enough, very small island, not any larger I would say than what you call Buckhead, so that you're on the front line when you're there. So it is, it was an experience. Int: Did the company you were in, were they all black? MC: All black, yes. The officers were white. That's a whole different story. After the war, after Iwo Jima, we returned to Hawaii for rest and well, what they call R\u0026R. Rest and recreation. That was very good duty. We were stationed on the big island of Hilo, that's the big island of Hawaii, Hawaii itself . . . Honolulu is on Oahu . . . but it's the largest island, primarily sugarcane, pineapple, and bananas. We were assigned a camp for black troops. They had some trouble. Most of the Hawaiian, true Hawaiians, were at that time, back in the ‘40s, were on the big island and living in small cities around Hilo. Hilo was where most of the tourists would come in, that was a city like Honolulu is, but in the camp which is out in the suburbs, that was a Dole pineapple camp and they decided to put us in this camp as black troops, thought we'd get along with the natives better, which we did, it was just like being in Paradise, having been on Iwo Jima, that black sand, with no food, to be able to reach out of your window and pick a ripe banana, you know, for breakfast, eat all the pineapple you want, you know, it was quite well. But even that did not last because after about, I guess about two months after that, everybody said, well, we got the, right after Easter when Iwo Jima was secured, and let's see, the European war was over around August I believe it was of '45. Do I remember my history correct, I'm thinking about how I lived it. I can remember that, I can remember hearing, on that island, that Franklin Roosevelt died down in Warm Springs, that Truman became president and that we were gearing up at that time again to do the maneuvers again for another march. We did not know it at that time what it was going, or where it was going to be, but we were doing about the same thing we had done back in September, and after you've done it once, you did this before, you know what happened. But then in September the first bomb was dropped on Nagasaki [Hiroshima]. We did not know it, only then we had put together that we were getting, preparing to invade Japan. Because we began to do certain things. You would not have the sand beaches, which told us that we were going into a port. So we did some, we were praying for the second bomb, you know, and I still do not blame . . . . Historians now second-guess Truman about that second bomb but I thank him for it because we didn't, so that when they finally surrendered, we actually covered the territory that we were preparing to invade. And we went in the naval base on the southern island of Japan, Sasabo, the naval base in Japan. We actually made the occupation for that section of the island that we were going to, I imagine everybody took what they were supposed to do. But there is where the end, the war ended. I had been in now four years. I'd been overseas, I had rank, and they began to let you out based on the points system. And then December of '45 I had the points, and I applied at that point to be released. And of course I had an opportunity and I knew most of the people who were in charge, and they kept saying, you're going to go back on a nice liberty ship, you're not going to go. And finally I said I'll take anything. It was after Christmas and I told my wife I was coming home and I didn't. And I waited, I waited all of January of '46 and nothing good came through. Finally about the end of January, I said, I'll take whatever it is. And I got an LST, an LST is a flat bottomed ship that can pull up on the beach, and I came back from Japan on an LST. That was a trip that all I wanted was the United States, and I wanted to get back home again, I was ready for the war . . . . I am not a soldier, I would get the orders for the company _______. And the thing that bothered me, and I hear it now, on September, I mean on July 26, 1999, at 0100 you will . . . you know, move to such and such and report to so and so. That bothers me, you know, you have nobody enters into . . . I remember telling Colonel Woods the day I got my orders to report to the company that I had, and that was away. And my wife was there, alone, didn't know anyone there on the base, but I had not had chance enough to get the furniture and get everything moved, you know. And I was just about ready to tell him I'm not going to do it, they're going to have to shoot me or something, I'm not going to leave my wife here, you know, alone. She's never been away from home. But he said, “Sergeant, we're going to tell your wife, we're going to pack the furniture, we're going to see that she gets on a train, see that she gets home, you've got nothing to worry about.” I said, “Colonel, I believe you but I don't believe them other folks out there.” MB: Did, can you describe for me when you landed at Guadalcanal, what you were wearing, what you were carrying, uniform, equipage, head to toe? If you can. MC: Fatigues, I had fatigues, just straight fatigues. MB: Chamois or… MC: What we called the olive green, twill like, like this. It's about this color, maybe like these trousers. It was olive green. You had a helmet, a steel helmet, that was it. We left Norfolk, it was a wonderful trip for a country boy to leave Norfolk go down the Pacific and take about three or four days through the Panama Canal. Didn't even feel like it was cold, it was in October, and once you got down to Hilton Head, the sun was out, you pull off your clothes and lay on the beach on a nice new USS named after a county in New York, see they were having these liberty ships. And we just thought we were going to heaven, you know what I mean. And then load up in Panama, we had to wait because the ships went through the canal based on priority, and I guess our priority wasn't high enough. So we just sit there and you'd go on liberty one day and every other day you'd go on liberty and see the nice girls out there, I guess we had more money because we didn't have anything to do with the money we had, we were going overseas. But it was wonderful, and to experience the Panama Canal. That I really appreciated. It was only when we got to the west coast and we joined then the armada with the battleships, the destroyers, the other troop ships, and we went from Northern Japan because we went in the water then, no smoking at night, you know, no lights on the deck, always with your gear if you were on the topside. You could never go topside with the, not full gear and prepared to evacuate because you never knew when you were going to be struck with a torpedo or something. MB: Were you carrying weapons at Iwo Jima or were you wearing a sidearm? MC: I wore a sidearm, which didn't seem to be accurate enough, a .45. That wasn't enough. I finally took on a carbine which was a rifle and could be accurate up to about 200 yards, and I had fired it so I knew I could do it, and I wanted to be able to shoot. A .45 is alright for hand to hand combat, when you're close up on you, but you could miss, I could miss you firing if I wasn't very careful, this distance, with a .45. But carbines or something like that, but most troops carried that. The first sergeant was required with a sidearm. That looks good in the states, you want something maybe more effective. MB: Were the rest of the men in your company also carrying carbines? MC: All of them. You were issued a carbine in boot camp, that was yours. That was your baby, you kept it, you never let a piece of rust show on it, and you carried it with you. And the only time you could _____ that was when it wouldn't fire. MB: Everybody tells stories about the famous Marine Kbar knife, did you guys carry those Kbars? MC: No, no. We did not. See really and truly most of the weapons where Marines had been fighting hand to hand in World War II, they began to change. We began to see a change for that because that was a different kind of war, you began to go like down in the Pacific, you remember Haiti and all of that, well the Marines, the “halls of Montezuma” you know down in Mexico, all of that stuff, that was when they had the hand to hand combat. We did, when I first went in, jujitsu and all of that was in for hand to hand combat. But increasingly the Pacific did away from that, Japanese say they'll shoot you down, no hand to hand . . . MB: What kind of food did they give you? MC: Food was always good at installations like camp, good cooks, always. Yeah, I can remember I was telling you about Hilo on the big island of Hawaii there on the top of what is the mountain name, I've forgotten, it looked like Texas, and they have beef cows. We would send up every day and get steaks, steaks that were about that thick and about that big. And I had a mess sergeant who could really cook a steak, you know. And, well, that was it, they'd really be a roast and not a steak. But the food at all the installations is as nice as, I was reading either this year or last year, about the Marine Corps birthday, there's always a good meal. And I was thinking about it and how wonderful it was, but now in combat, you're going to have K rations, and all K rations taste alike. But Marine Corps, the only outfit I imagine attached to the Navy would be aboard ship because you've got an installation for cooking. MB: As far as your equipment, uniform, anything like that, was there any piece of equipment you thought was really useful, a real good thing to have, or was there stuff that you thought why on earth did they ever issue me this, this is a piece of garbage? MC: Marines always had good equipment, course you didn't put up with a rifle. See you were talking about weaponry. When I went in, we learned to fire the Thompson submachine gun. You see because it was hand to hand, you could move in a group of people. That was the kind of activity the Marine Corps had up until World War II. But in World War II and the type of activity that we had, we began to shift. I did fire, I fired the Thompson sub for, just for qualification. What else did I fire? We had the BAR, it was an automatic weapon, and of course every Marine up until the time I went through boot training had to fire the '03, that's the old rifle that you had to cock, and you had to fire and qualify with it before you got with the new rifle that had the, you know, you could fire, what, eight rounds? And with the, with the . . . MB: The M-1. MC: Right, right. The M-1 was relatively new to World War II, but you had to qualify. I qualified as a sharpshooter. Qualified as a sharpshooter on the BAR and the Thompson sub, and the '45, yeah. MB: Now after you were discharged and you took your GI Bill and you came here to Atlanta, went to school, what did you do after you got out of school? MC: After I finished school? I took all of my GI Bill, what, 48 months, I took every penny. The government does not now owe me anything, and I went four years through college. I really had the plan of being a lawyer. My plans were to finish Morris Brown and I took what they called the pre-law which was heavily history and government. And in the second year I joined my fraternity and one of my assignments as joining that fraternity, this Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, was to identify, you know . . . was to meet a person in the profession I intended to go into. I met a young attorney who had just finished Howard University and he gave me some advice and I kidded him about it. He died a couple of years ago, but I never let him forget it, he gave me a rude awakening. He said to me he wouldn't advise it. I really wanted some support and I asked him why. And he told me, unless you have a family who can buy you a law library and support your office for two years with at least a secretary, if you don't have that, I wouldn't advise you to suffer through law school. And I was angry when I left him, I was foaming, why would he talk to me like, why would he bust my dream. And I went back, but the more I began to think about it, that with my total investment, I had gone to college against my father's advice. His advice was . . .U.S. Steel had saved me, see during the war if you were drafted and you had a job, that company had to promise you a job when you returned. And they had given me that job and I think I worked about three months and finally I said I can't do this, this is too hard. And he said I was crazy, “you're married, you ought to be buying a home. Take the GI Bill and buy you a house,” you see, which is his right, eh, I can't do that. And I guess his wish is, then the last thing he told me and my wife, one more year, she was in junior college, she had been teaching with a certificate for two years college and while overseas I convinced her, you go ahead to college and finish college while you're, I'm overseas, that will give you something to do. Because she's going to go back to teach. “No, I don't want you to teach, you go back and finish college and stay with my daddy.” And she had another year, and he says if you go don't come back here. And I guess he still, I think he still viewed me as a child and I realized I wasn't ever going back and I felt if I went and went through Howard and got a law degree and had to go back home, I would have failed. So I made up my mind, I had changed my major. Well, I couldn't change it because I had a subject. I began to take courses in business administration. I never will forget, I went in a bookkeeping course and I think why am I doing this, I'm almost a junior and I'm going here taking a freshman course but I did. I took as many courses as I could and by that time my advisor said if I was going, I would decide to go the school of business at Atlanta University that I would not have to have, I could still get the courses, but I went through and did my two years for the master's at AU. And the last semester and my thesis, I did not have enough time but my counselor with the Veterans Administration said he wouldn't give me a check which I did not need, I had full time employment there, but he would pay the tuition and give me the supplies, so I was able to finish it, all of it under the GI Bill. Immediately after that, I had been selling home appliances. You couldn't buy refrigerators, washing machines, and all that right after the war and they were just coming. And I was very creative, did quite well, I think I made more money there than I ever did, you know just commission. But in conjunction with that, I had specialized—they didn't have a specialty in the school of business at Atlanta University then—but I leaned towards marketing and that's where my interest was. Well, connected with my selling, I knew every professor on the campus, knew every professional in the city, including Maynard Jackson's father, because I was selling them what they needed. So that, Johnson Publishing Company, at that time, Ebony and Jet, Johnny Johnson had, most of his advertisements in his magazines were cigarettes, beer, and maybe cold drinks, no hard advertising, automobiles and clothing and that kind of thing. And he in his wisdom decided that he wanted to go into that area, and he came looking for someone in Atlanta [to represent the magazines]. And he said everywhere he went and explained what he wanted, even on the campus, they'd tell him, “You need to see Mortimer Cox, he's just your person.” And I did, and I did quite well. I went with Johnson Publishing Company, and I enjoyed the work. It was travel. Johnny Johnson was a peculiar person, had a mind for it. For the first time in my life, you know, I traveled first class, because he said the people you need to meet are never in coach, you know. And I kind of like that. In the best hotels, I would go down and eat in the finest dining rooms, you know, and you would meet people. But it was an exciting thing. I was very instrumental in getting the Chrysler Corporation, advertising cars. Then clothing, Eagle suits, I remember that. And food, you know Chase \u0026 Sanborn Coffee, that kind of thing, just what the marketing gave me, that I would come out. Atlanta would always show, I remember distinctly in '52, Rich's downtown [store], and we ran a half-page ad with Eagle clothes, which was a good line of suits at that time. I wanted to set the same ad up into Rich's store for men on Forsyth Street and the buyer looked at me like “You're crazy, what, put an ad with a black magazine with the Rich's downtown?” Yes, what's wrong with it? I wanted to put my Ebony sign in the store. “Let me think about it.” So I went back and got all my friends and said, “You go to Rich's and ask for this outfit.” Now I knew all of them were not going to buy, but by the time I did it, the guy said he'd never seen an ad generate that kind of activity. And all these guys, they were college professors, businessmen, you know, ministers and that kind of thing, they could afford it. So then he said to me, “I've never had that.” He said “That's unusual and I sold some outfits.” He said, “I've got to do something nice with that ad, I don't know.” I said, “All I want to do is to get that ad, get a photographer and shoot it. And then you do whatever you want.” I didn't say it had to be up there for two weeks. He said, that's all you want, he said he can do that. So he sent the decorator and all, they set the window just like it. I shot it. Eagle has never figured out to this day how they couldn't get it done in New York, Los Angeles or anywhere else but here in Rich's in Atlanta. But they were impressed with that. I would have stayed with him but after I stayed with him almost two years, he wanted me to move to Detroit. I'd been to Detroit because I had a brother there, and Detroit had begun to deteriorate in terms of crime downtown in the city. I just didn't want to go. My wife had begun to teach, she had come over and gotten her masters and she was teaching in the public school system. I was doing quite well myself and I saw no reason. I finally told him, and he did terminate me right on the spot, sent me home. But my concern, he was rich, and as I looked back over, I'm in a position in a career that I could do, I knew I could do it, I knew I could be successful, but Johnson and Johnson had their own little magazine and the publisher couldn't afford me. So I had to make a choice. I can't afford the risk because I had put all my investment into having that kind of life. I left that company. He didn't fire me, he told me if I needed a recommendation, you know, and now that I'm old and I look back, I would have done the same thing. “And I'm going to pay you a good salary and I need to do what's best for the company. If you don't want to take it, I'll let you go.” Now that is just common good sense to me, as I age, of course I was angry at the time because I felt the man did me an injustice. That was the best he had, you know. But I left. On my way—I was in Chicago and he had given me two weeks termination pay and my vacation—and on my way, I bumped into a guy I knew who told me about a company in Owatana who was looking for a guy in sales, and it was Josten, in Owatana, Minnesota, just south of Milwaukee. He called a guy from Chicago, the guy says, “Hey, I'll come to Atlanta and see you.” I came back, he came and within two days I was headed back to Josten to learn their business of selling high school rings and supplies to high school students. I took that job, did well. I made more in that year than I'd ever made because I was, I could sell to schools, I could sell to high school girls. You had to do it on competition, and I was competing with white salesmen in the south. None of them could offer what I was. I was a black professional going into black high schools, and I could make a speech to some high school students that would make a principal of a white school say I was the best thing that had ever been in there, because they did not see black professionals. I was driving a new car, dressed nice, and that was it, so I had the edge on them. They were saying I wasn't a good salesman, you know what they was saying, you're not a good salesman, you've just got the edge on, you're a black salesman. And most of the other companies at that time were getting into looking for black salesmen to do that. Now I could begin to see some ripples. I could begin to see integration coming, and I said if I make this investment and establish it, if the schools integrate and you've still got white superintendents who control the schools, where would I be? Because this has never happened in this country before, so I had to make a decision. I'd better get into something a little bit moving. By this time, my wife was doing alright teaching, you know, working, and I began to say, you know, I'm getting older, I'd better start looking for a career. At this time, I guess, the housing authority was looking for a person, and they wanted a housing manager, and that was a pretty good salary at that time. My wife didn't like to travel either, so I left that job and went with the housing authority. And I guess the old sociology that I had, and I've always had an interest in people, I've always worked in my church, began to make a difference in the housing. I kept saying that these people, even though they're poor, want the same thing that you and I want where we live. They can't do it without a job, and how can they get a job, and I would ____ a guy who couldn't pay his rent. I had developed a plan where employers who were looking, and these were the people who were first line supervisors, I got to know them, and I could pick up the phone, I got this kind of guy, he'll come out and give you a good job, and I'd tell him it was a good job, it's got tenure, you can keep it and take care of your family. So increasingly, first line supervisors began to tell others, “I can get good people who want to work, call Cox out at Bowen Homes and see.” So, increasingly, one day the guy with the Urban League came to me and said, “You know, you're doing what we do anyway, and I can give you a better salary.” So I took it, and I went. So I enjoyed it, it was very rewarding. That's about it. MB: Thank you very much. MC: That's a picture of the first platoon of blacks being trained at Montford Point. MB: Are you in this picture? MC: Uh-huh, I can't find me. MB: You can't find you? MC: No, I've looked and looked. Now you can see the white training officers. These are the first black . . . MB: Now you're wearing? MC: Those pith helmets. Now in this book, yes, this is the first six PFCs who were promoted, the black marines who were promoted at Camp Lejeune. I was the first person, that's Bostick [?], Davis, Hashmon [?] and Johnson. He actually stayed in and upon retirement was a sergeant major. He stayed in. These two stayed in after the war. That's Huff, and that's Allen. [All talking at once.] MC: That's Cox, Bostick, Davis, Johnson, Huff, and Allen. God, I haven't done that in years. It's just deteriorating after 50 some years, and I would hate for that to happen. Fifty-six years ago today, let me tell my wife I did that. MB: So when was this photograph taken? MC: 1943. There's a picture in my dress blues. MB: And what is this rank you've got here? MC: I was a platoon sergeant. My rank, I always acted ahead of my rank, I was acting first sergeant there. They couldn't promote you fast enough. The white troops would get so angry, boy, when I made corporal. See you made corporal, in those dress blues, you would get that blue stripe and that it, that was it. Their prime hope was to make corporal so you got a blue stripe. You came in and in a short time you had it. I remember, it was in '43. My wife and I was waiting a train to Washington, where were we, Raleigh?, and I was out and two Marines came out and said, “You haven't been in service, do you know we'll make you prove that you could wear those chevrons.” You know, that red stripe down there. My wife was standing up there, and they were ready to fight, so all you got to do is just prove it, if you can handle yourself that was it. Boy, I says, “OK, I'll take you one at a time.” One came up, he gave me his best blow, I gave him my best blow, and he went sailing back. I was in good shape. I hit the other one, he went sailing back. Both of them started getting up to come again, you know my wife's standing there, she's scared to death. Two MPs turned the corner, I was never so happy to see two MPs because I'd given my best shot and they were getting up, I guess they'd been in the Marine Corps for 15, 20 years. But “prove that you can wear those stripes.” MB: [looking at photos] Tell us when and where. MC: That's December 1944 in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu. MB: Who is that with you? MC: That is my gunnery sergeant, that's the mess sergeant. McCord. That's McCord, the gunnery sergeant, and that's Sergeant Wingate, the mess sergeant. Good cook, too, good cook. MB: And the other person is you? MC: It's me. MB: And that is in? MC: Hawaii, in Honolulu. MB: Honolulu… MC: Honolulu, 1944. MB: Tell us what this is. MC: That is a diary, and it seemed to me at one of the Marine parties, someone gave me that book, and I said I was going to keep it. I did keep it completely until January of '44, I got married and quit writing in it. I did write one entry upon discharge. But the interesting thing, the interesting thing that I see in that, and I didn't know it at the time, there is no bitterness and that is amazing to me. I interpreted everything that was happening to me without the bitterness. You know, I was frustrated quite often, I could tell every time I was frustrated with troops when they misunderstood because they would usually, during boot camp, they get so angry with you, they swear that “I ever see you, you will not live,” you know. And I know that that didn't happen, because the moment they completed, they are like, what can I give you. All my life I have traveled and I would never—I was in San Francisco one year, and, why was I there? It was a police gathering in a hotel downtown and, unbelievable, this guy came over and started talking, “I know you from somewhere, I know you from somewhere,” and was pleasant. He just kept talking, he had been a Marine. And I don't even remember his name, he remembered just my features and he was pleasant, and we started talking, “How have you been” and all of this and finally he said, “Were you in service?” I said I was in the Marine Corps, and when I said Marine Corps, he said, “Sergeant Cox,” just like that, and he carried me all over the city, introduced me, “This man made a man out of me, you know.” He was either chief of detectives or something like that of San Francisco police. But it's that kind of thing that made such an impact. My brother was, worked at Chrysler in Detroit, and one day a guy said to him, you know, “The only guy I know named Cox was Sergeant Cox in the Marine Corps, if I ever see him, I'm going to kill that SOB.” You know, that kind of thing. My brother didn't say, “That is my brother.” I was visiting one day, and all it was, we were walking somewhere, and he tried to change direction. Pretty soon that guy looked and spotted me and he said, “Sergeant Cox,” hugged me. He [my brother] said, “I don't understand that, you said you were going to kill my brother.” He said, “Man, that's the way you feel, but this man made a man out of me.” And it goes across the board like that, a guy gets through. Because you do, you see a child who is brilliant, bitter, and mean turn out to be a lovely person who can do anything, and we all do, so it makes a difference."],"dc_format":["video/quicktime"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":null,"dcterms_publisher":null,"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":["Veterans History Project oral history recordings","Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center"],"dcterms_subject":["Race relations--Georgia--Atlanta","African Americans--Employment--Georgia--Atlanta","College integration--Georgia--Atlanta","Woods, Samuel A., Jr., 1893-1968","Rich's (Retail store)","United States. Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944","Integration--Georgia--Atlanta"],"dcterms_title":["Oral history interview of Mortimer Augustus Cox, tape 2 of 2"],"dcterms_type":["MovingImage"],"dcterms_provenance":["Atlanta History Center"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/313"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":["This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required."],"dcterms_medium":["video recordings (physical artifacts)","mini-dv"],"dcterms_extent":["13:36"],"dlg_subject_personal":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":null},{"id":"noa_sohpcr_k-0814","title":"Oral history interview with Chandrika Dalal, July 22, 1999","collection_id":"noa_sohpcr","collection_title":"Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement","dcterms_contributor":["Jilani, Andrew","Southern Oral History Program"],"dcterms_spatial":["United States, North Carolina, Chatham County, 35.70258, -79.25535","United States, North Carolina, Chatham County, Pittsboro, 35.72015, -79.17724"],"dcterms_creator":["Dalal, Chandrika"],"dc_date":["1999-07-22"],"dcterms_description":["Chandrika Dalal discusses her experiences as an Indian immigrant in the United States. Despite her husband's alcoholism and excessive gambling in India, she agreed to move with him to the United States since she saw in the move an opportunity to improve her family's life. Upon arrival in California, she moved in with her recently emigrated brother. There, Dalal worked in her brother's hotel business. She came to appreciate the diversity and economic opportunity that California offered but later relocated with her brother to rural North Carolina. She felt more secure there than she did in California but had difficulty being accepted because of cultural and language barriers. She faced other problems, too, including what she describes as police harassment and punitive city codes that she says prevented her from earning a livelihood as a restaurateur. To earn money, she found work at the University of North Carolina as a housekeeper. Despite her husband's refusal to provide financial security for their family, Dalal upheld traditional Indian gender norms. She believed her cultural beliefs to be superior to what she saw as the moral corruption in America, which she learned about largely from television shows. Even though her daughters arrived in the United States as toddlers and assumed an American identity, she says that they still experience ethnic discrimination. In turn, says Dalal, her daughters' Americanization creates a distance between them and her family in India because they know little of Indian customs, language, and traditions, a state of affairs she greatly regrets.","The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata."],"dc_format":["text/html","text/xml","audio/mpeg"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":null,"dc_relation":["Forms part of Oral histories of the American South collection."],"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["East Indian American women--North Carolina","East Indian American businesspeople--North Carolina--Pittsboro","East Indian Americans--Civil rights--North Carolina","East Indian Americans--Cultural assimilation--North Carolina","Americanization"],"dcterms_title":["Oral history interview with Chandrika Dalal, July 22, 1999"],"dcterms_type":["Text","Sound"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/K-0814/menu.html"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["transcripts","sound recordings","oral histories (literary works)"],"dcterms_extent":["Title from menu page (viewed on Nov. 10, 2008).","Interview participants: Chandrika Dalal, interviewee; Andrew Jilani, interviewer.","Duration: 01:07:21.","This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.","Text encoded by Kristin Shaffer. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers."],"dlg_subject_personal":["Dalal, Chandrika"],"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":null},{"id":"noa_sohpcr_k-0817","title":"Oral history interview with Kanwal Rahman, July 15, 1999","collection_id":"noa_sohpcr","collection_title":"Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement","dcterms_contributor":["Bhandari, Rajika","Southern Oral History Program"],"dcterms_spatial":["United States, North Carolina, Orange County, 36.0613, -79.1206","United States, North Carolina, Orange County, Chapel Hill, 35.9132, -79.05584"],"dcterms_creator":["Rahman, Kanwal"],"dc_date":["1999-07-15"],"dcterms_description":["Kanwal Rahman left Bangladesh for the United States in 1991, looking forward to earning a public health degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The second thoughts she had as soon as she got on the plane were compounded by her workload; feeling alone and overworked, she wanted at once to return home. She stayed on, however, determined to prove her worth and hopeful that she might use her success to benefit her home country. Eight years later, at the time of this interview, Rahman has found her niche, and some good friends, in the Chapel Hill area. But she has not lost that sense of connection with Bangladesh, and feels acutely the sense of separation from her family there. In this interview, she reflects on her experience and her efforts at adjustment. One of the most difficult adjustments to make was embracing the American ethic of independence, the opposite of the interdependent, even dependent, posture she learned as one of five daughters of a very successful father. In making this adjustment, Rahman uncovered hidden strengths, but concedes, too, that she worries for her future as a single Asian woman in America. This concern dramatizes her enduring connection to Bangladeshi culture and the way in which assimilation challenges the core of at least one immigrant's sense of self.","The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata."],"dc_format":["text/html","text/xml","audio/mpeg"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":["eng"],"dcterms_publisher":null,"dc_relation":["Forms part of Oral histories of the American South collection."],"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":null,"dcterms_subject":["Bangladeshi Americans--North Carolina--Chapel Hill","Women immigrants--North Carolina--Chapel Hill","Bangladeshi Americans--Cultural assimilation--North Carolina--Chapel Hill","Americanization","Autonomy (Psychology)--United States"],"dcterms_title":["Oral history interview with Kanwal Rahman, July 15, 1999"],"dcterms_type":["Text","Sound"],"dcterms_provenance":["University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/K-0817/menu.html"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":null,"dcterms_medium":["transcripts","sound recordings","oral histories (literary works)"],"dcterms_extent":["Title from menu page (viewed on Nov. 25, 2008).","Interview participants: Kanwal Rahman, interviewee; Rajika Bhandari, interviewer.","Duration: 00:44:17.","This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.","Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers."],"dlg_subject_personal":["Rahman, Kanwal"],"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":null},{"id":"geh_vhpohr_316","title":"Oral history interview of Lorenzo Bell, tape 1 of 2","collection_id":"geh_vhpohr","collection_title":"Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["Austria, Vienna, Vienna, 48.20849, 16.37208","Italy, 42.833333, 12.833333","United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018","United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383","United States, Georgia, Richmond County, Augusta, 33.47097, -81.97484","United States, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia, 39.95233, -75.16379"],"dcterms_creator":["Brown, Myers; Johnson, Ahnekii","Bell, Lorenzo, 1925-2001"],"dc_date":["1999-07-09"],"dcterms_description":["In part one of this two-part interview, Lorenzo Bell recalls his experiences as a black soldier in Italy and Austria during World War II. He describes his training and life in an artillery unit, and relates experiences as a black soldier in a segregated army.","Lorenzo Bell was a soldier in Italy during World War II.","VETERANS HISTORY INTERVIEW LORENZO BELL Atlanta History Center – July 9, 1999 Transcribed by Stephanie McKinnell Myers Brown: First of all, would you state your name and today's date, and that'll do it for the first question. Lorenzo Bell: Alright, my name is Lorenzo Bell. The date is July 9, 1999. MB: What was your place of birth and where did you grow up? LB: What was my place of birth and where did I grow up? I was born in Augusta, Georgia. I grew up during my early teen years in Augusta, Georgia. I was later, after my 17th birthday, I migrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. MB: What year were you born? LB: What year I was born? It was 1925. MB: When you moved to Philadelphia, what prompted that move to Philadelphia? Did your family move there, or did you move there by yourself? LB: When I moved to Philadelphia, and what prompted my move to Philadelphia was I wanted to get a good government job. My family did not move there. I was there living with an aunt on my mother's side. MB: What did you do once you moved to Philadelphia? LB: When I was in Philadelphia, what did I do when I was in Philadelphia? First I was 17 years old. I had to go get a working permit from a local school to be able to work. After obtaining the working permit, I got a job working in the shipyard, well the navy yard actually, in Philadelphia. And I worked as a sheet metal mechanic helper. And I worked on the battleship USS Wisconsin, which it took three years to complete. MB: Was that the only ship you worked on, did you just focus on working on that one? LB: Yeah, the only ship we worked on and what we focused on was mostly the USS Wisconsin. MB: Were there other African-Americans that were working on the same project with you? LB: Sure, there was a quite a few. MB: As you were doing the work there at the shipyard, were the, was there must interaction between the blacks and the whites working on the ships, or did everybody kind of stay to themselves, how did that work? LB: Well, what I actually was going on while I was working the shipyard, everybody had to mingle. Everybody had a job to do, and they had a supervisor who would come around in the morning and would tell them what the blueprints, what had to be done. There was no controversy. Most time that was spent, that I spent was going checking out tools. And after checking out tools, I would come back to the job and would assist the mechanic. MB: What year did you start working in the shipyard? LB: I started working in the shipyard in 1944, no, let me see, I started working in the shipyard in 1943, it was September of 1943. MB: When was your birthday, when did you turn 18? LB: I turned 18, well, when did I turn 18? It was that November 8, 1944. I turned 18 in Philadelphia. But because my friends were going in the service, I moved my age up, instead of November 8, I moved to October 16 in order to get in the service, and then I was drafted earlier. MB: What day did you actually get drafted, when did you… LB: In January, I don't know what year did I actually get, I believe I got drafted in January of '44. But I was set on the a three-week leave to get business and everything straightened out, so I had to return to service on the 17th of February, 1944. MB: And you wanted to do the war? LB: Sure I wanted to go into the, did I want to get into the war, sure I wanted to go. Because all the boys at that time were leaving, they wanted to go into the service. Matter of fact, I asked for the navy because I had been working on the ships, and what they gave me?, army. MB: And how did you get drafted, because I would think working in the shipyard would have been a protected war industry? LB: How did I get drafted, because I'm a nonessential worker. Only essential workers were deferred, given a draft status. Or if I had been 4F, that's what they classified that wasn't qualified physically to go into the service. MB: Once you were drafted, you went through those number of weeks where you had to get everything in order. Where were you sent for your basic training? LB: My basic, well it was, sent me for my basic training, I was sent to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Yeah it has always been our fort. And we did about 6-8 weeks of basic training. MB: What basic training, and you actually got into some wartime experiences, when you look back did you think your basic training had you prepared you for that? LB: When I look back to see whether my basic training prepared us, yeah we were well prepared because most of the recruits at that time were just out of high school, and they were mostly boys from the, from the east coast. We were fairly small because they selected us for a field artillery, and at that time you didn't have any blacks in the field artillery. It was considered as a high branch of service. The only thing that the blacks was selected to go in the most was quartermasters or a trucking outfit or some rear echelon duties. So we were considered privileged. In taking basic training, there was another white outfit called the 16th field artillery. We were called the 16th separate field artillery. So that was a disparity among the two groups. MB: Were the drill instructors, were they white or black? LB: Our drill instructors were white at basic training, yeah our drill instructors, they were white. MB: Did you want to go into the war even though you knew you might be doing trucking or quartermaster? LB: Did I want to go into war? MB: Even though you knew you might be doing a lower type of job? LB: Did I want to go in the war knowing that I might take a lower type of job? Sure, I wanted to go into the war because we felt that was a privilege, and we took pride in serving our country because the black press had been pleading, why couldn't we, we was Americans, why couldn't we take part in the war. They had papers such as the Pittsburg Courier, the Chicago Defender, the Amsterdam News, they were all _____ why the Negro couldn't fight, it was his country as much as anybody else's. MB: Right. So when did you actually get your assignment to the field artillery? Did that happen as you went in? LB: I actually got my assignment to the field artillery when we passed basic training, we were shipped to Ft. Wachucka, Arizona while we was assigned to the 92nd Buffalo Division. And this Buffalo Division was the forerunner of the cavalry during the Indians, during the wars with the Indians and their troops were Buffalo soldiers helped in the struggle then, so we was the forerunner, it was the forerunner of our outfit. MB: Give us your full regiment, company, battalion, division, give us the whole nomenclature all the way up the chain. LB: All right, you want the whole nomenclature of my outfit. OK, we went to the Ft. Wachucka, AZ, we was assigned to the 92nd Division. The division consists of infantrymens, artillery mens, medics, and you have certain breakdowns, which I have a book that will break it all down to you. But in my outfit, we had, the five we had in the artillery, that was four battalions: 597, 598, 599, and 600. OK, the 597 and 598 battalions, they were, had the 105mm howitzer. The 598 and 600 had the 155mm howitzers. And each battalion had a ____ that was in charge, and each battalion had four companies: Co A, Co B, Co C, and Co D. I don't exactly know how many men at that time consisted of, but I'd say around 10 men to a company. MB: Which company were you in? LB: I was in B company. MB: Of the? LB: 598, which company was I in, Co B, 597 field artillery, 92nd Division. MB: When were you first deployed outside of the United States? LB: Well, we left, we were first deployed outside of the United States when we went to Italy. I believe it was in September of '44. We went in from ____, Italy. We went immediately to a camping area, and we stayed there for about a week, living in what we call shelter halves. Each man had a half of a tent, and boy did it rain in Italy during that time. It seemed like the monsoon season hit Italy when we was there. Then we got assigned, so each artillery had to support an infantry battalion or regiment rather, and that was their job. We stayed in the rear echelon somewhat between 6 and 7 miles behind the infantry. And our job was to supply the infantry or whoever with fire when it was needed. They would call down a fire mission and say battery B 20 rounds charge 5 side wheel ___ 5 command. Each shell has 7 charges, powder bags. Alright, you had a gun, you had a man that opened the breech, and you had a man that was put the shells together, put the shells and drop the charges in, and pass it along and slid in the breech, and you had a man to close the breech. Then a man would pull the lanyard cord to fire the gun. My job, I was a gunner. So therefore, when a command came down, battery B elevate 15 degrees or depress 20 degrees right so many degrees or left so many degrees. My job was to get on that gun straddle the leg and look through the sites which was somewhat centered to a surveillance pole which have red lights facing and we would aim on it. The enemy couldn't see the light but we could see the light because we were facing it. And line off of that particular sight which we were going to depress or elevate so many degrees. And then after we got that, we commenced firing whenever the order came down. COUNTER 182 But each charge would determine how far the shell was going. If you put five shells that means that we're going to shoot five miles. Seven shells was the maximum. If you wanted to shoot seven miles. Mission would come down, like if the infantry sent out a patrol and they got caught, they wanted a smoke screen. So they had to bail them out. We _____ the fire. If a convoy, enemy convoy came on, they said if we see an enemy convoy because we had a man up in the observation, up near the front line, that would call down for a fire mission on the convoy. After we completed the mission, the call would come down, mission competed. MB: The infantry unit you were supporting was an all black unit as well? LB: An all black unit, because we were, the unit we supported, it was an all black unit. But there were times we went along with the Japanese division, yeah the Nissei division, the 442nd. It was one of the most, it was actually a sacrificial lamb. More Nissei's that any other soldier got purple hearts than any other soldiers during World War II. They was fierce fighters. We were assigned tot he 5th Army, General Mark Clark's army. And also was assigned to us the 750th tank battalion, we were with them also. They had an _____ which the aircraft were flown on the aircraft, and we was assigned with that outfit. But the Germans, we were fighting the Germans, but the Germans had what they ____, and I remember they were screaming ammunition. The Germans what they would do is paint a bullet with the red cross and they had their guns on half tracks. They would load our guns from the side of a building and fire on us and load them back and we couldn't tell where the muzzle blast was coming from. But we couldn't fire on them unless we got instructions from Washington or the command headquarters because we was thinking that they was a hospital. That's the kind of tactics they were using on us. MB: How much were you subjected to incoming German anti-battery fire? LB: We were subjected to incoming German battery fire practically every afternoon. During that time we had to go back about two miles to get our food. Two or three men at a time. German's would see us going back, and they would, with a large man would fire on us and they would pin us down sometimes. We had to wait ____ to get our food. We used to laugh about our guys only old men was in service with us. They were, some was 40 years old. But what had happened was, _____ back to get defense jobs and they got caught in the draft, and they were complaining about they couldn't run until the Germans started firing on us, and boy. We were due. We went into a place, we had to first dig those guns in, cover them up with cover with sandbags on the side. We'd be _____ made place for ourselves. And then we would dig a big hole in the ground maybe 5 feet, 6 feet, or maybe about 8, and get logs and put over the top and fill sandbags and put a tarpaulin over it. And that's what we stayed in. We had candles and flashlights while we was fighting. And we fought in shifts. We had twelve hour shifts. We would fight 12 hours, then the next crew would relieve us. We didn't stay on the front line the whole time, next shift would come on. They would stay from 12 to 12 the next day then we went on at 12 the next day till 12 at night. That's the way the war was fought. MB: What were you issued as far as personal sidearms, were you issued Garands or M-1 carbines, or just revolvers, or did you carry anything? LB: Well our personal weapons that we were issued were 30-30 carbines. Semiautomatics. We had a clip that would hold 15 rounds. Some would have another clip wallet to the back so all they'd have to do is flip clips and actually we could have 16 rounds because we could keep one round up in the chamber and that would give us 15 more rounds of ammunition. MB: What did you think of that gun, was it good? LB: Yeah, it was pretty good. There was a lot of play in, course you had to be steady with it. It had a lot of recoil and it would jump around, but as far as it being accurate, it was really accurate. MB: Did everybody on the gun crew have one? LB: Sure, everybody had a gun. He had to carry the gun at all times and keep it, keep his gun, you know maintenance on his gun. That was required every day. Same thing about this howitzer. After we fired a fire mission, we had to go and swab them out and clean them up. Because they would tell us we was indispensable, but those guns, it would take months to get a gun but they could get a new troop. So we kept our equipment in good shape. During the rain, we would take the guns and turn them down. ______ shoulder, turn the barrel down to carry that way. MB: Ya'll had 105's, right? LB: Yeah, we had 105's, that what ammunition we had. MB: How often did you have to move the guns? Did ya'll move them forward as the infantry advanced or did ya'll pretty much stay put? LB: How often did we move the guns? Depending on how often they actually advanced. Sometimes we would stay in one position for two months just mainly firing on convoys and what have you. Then as the infantry, in one case, going through I think it was Luka, Italy, we advanced so fast, we went into an area before the infantry got there. So _____ told our commander that if he didn't get us back as quickly as he could, he was going to court martial everything, every button he had on his outfit. But we usually stayed in a position place for quite a long time. We stayed in a town like Pisa for quite some time until all the people there knew us almost by name. COUNTER 298 MB: How did the Italian people see you, how did they respond to you? LB: Well, how did the Italians respond to us, at first they were a little curious. Because there had been so much propaganda. Some of the troops that came through, the white troops, had told them that we were cowboys, we ate babies, we had tails, don't have no dealing with us. But when we got to a town and we took up time with the children and there was a lot of candy and cigarettes that we would give. At time for our meals some of the fellows, you know, see we didn't get but one mess of food, he would get two, he would come back for seconds in order to feed the children and their families. So _____ when we came there, and they cried when we left. We go out, a typical example would be a radio. When we came, when we went up the coast up to Genoa, we came back to _____, and that was a posted sign off limits. There was one time I was young, which was ______ spoke up for his troops. He tore the sign down and said my troops help took this town, and this will be their town, so he put that town off limits to nothing but the 92nd division. MB: You had mentioned to us in a previous conversation about how your unit managed to get back Columbus' ashes or something like that, can you tell us that story? LB: Yeah, up in Genoa, Italy, I guess it was during his birthday, some of the Italians had taken Columbus' ashes and hid them in the mountains. So we had a big ceremony and we restored the ashes. The 92nd division, they had a black choir with probably from the 40's and 50's and probably into the 60's was called Wings over Jordan, a singing group. I think they was from out of Cleveland, Ohio, but I know it was Ohio. And they came over and helped us in the celebration, and that was quite a feat for us. That brought back a lot of good feelings among everyone. I may also mention that in order to keep the morale up, we had shows that come over. There was a show called Shuffle Along that _____ Cicily. OK, then we had sport events. We had football, spaghetti bowl between the Japanese soldiers and the 92nd division troops, in the 92nd division. And we had USO's. MB: Who won the football game? LB: I can't recall, I don't believe we did, but anyway, I can't recall. Because we had one player that he played football in Atlanta, his name was John Moody. Moody, he played on that team, but he had been a Morris Brown student before going in the service? Int: Did it make you feel better, did you like it when… MB: Sure, sure, it built our morale, it really helped our morale. And when we went over and we saw the black red cross, USO workers. And we saw a lot of blacks that came out of Ethiopia was there, because you know at one time Italy went down in Ethiopia. They was there. So whenever you see a black that would make us feel good. We took, we felt proud, you know. You would see such shows, blacks, it would built our morale up. Int: Did you get lots of letters, when did the mail come? LB: Well, when did the mail come and the letters that we got? Int: ______ stay in touch with you all? LB: No, it wasn't hard to get in touch with us, but the mail had to come through the APO. We would get it, sometimes it would be a month late. People would send us packages, they ____ some two and three months earlier. And we could never mention where exactly we were, we would always say somewhere in Italy in order to, in order to offset the enemy. Int: You weren't allowed to say where you were? LB: We were not allowed to say where we were, but we could just only say somewhere in Italy. And our APO No. was a New York, APO New York. That was the European theater of operations. Int: You said that you were called colored, did the Italians and the Germans have any names for you? LB: We were called colored, other names, did Germany have names for us? The Germans had a lady they called American Axis Sally, and they would throw leaflets telling us why we were over there fighting, we did not have anything to fight for. Int: They just passed out to black soldiers? LB: They passed it out, leaflets. Int: Not to everybody, just the black soldiers. LB: Well they did drop it from the air. They'd drop it and it would tell us why are you over here fighting? The Germans are not your enemy, the Americans are your enemy, that's who you should be fighting. They were trying to ____ our morale down, but we didn't go for that, we didn't accept that. But the Italians never did, the Italians accepted us COUNTER 428 TAPE 1 SIDE B COUNTER 001 …. as their liberators. Some of the ____ they were just there, thought they were just there. They didn't try to win friends, __________. I don't mean to be sounding like I'm being prejudiced or biased or anything, but that's the truth. And we were there, they were just amazed, they would come up to us and rub our skin because, they had never seen a black before. And they would come up touching your back, thought you had tails, and after they find out we were human same as anybody else and how they acted, they were very friendly and had no trouble out of them. Now occasionally a guy would pull a few tricks like selling cigarettes, they were gypping them out of cigarettes or something like that sometimes. I still have a ten pack of cigarettes in a carton they would have five backs and maybe had some sodas or something in the bottle. When they open it up and pay for it, they find no cigarettes. Anyway ___________________ at the bar. A black soldier was no good, you know that black soldier was no good. But we had our own club that we'd go to and had trucks that would carry us every night or every day whenever we wanted to go. MB: Was there, kind along the same line that you asked, I don't know if we picked it up, but US troops, they referred to you as colored units, is that right? LB: Right. The US troops referred to us as colored units. Colored or Negro. At that time, we didn't have any blacks known as blacks or Afro-Americans, we were known as colored or Negro. MB: Was that a term you found particularly offensive, or what would you have, if that wasn't acceptable, what would you have preferred to have been called? LB: At that time, do I consider those terms to be offensive? No, because we had been conditioned for a long time that we were colored. And whenever we signed any kind of major, or paper, or any value, you made a race, we always would be colored and later would be either Negro. That was accepted during that time, that was an accepted name. But the one name that we could not accept was the n-word, nigger. Now we were offended a lot of time by that name, we were called that. Int: Did anyone call you that? LB: Oh sure. Sure. Did anyone call us that name, niggers, oh sure. Let me give you one incidence in the United States. We were traveling from Ft. Bragg coming through Atlanta. We ate at the, on Decatur Street at a place called the Metropolitan Café. We had meal tickets. The white troops went to Rich's, they ate at the Magnolia Room. So _____ back up to Union Station, we were going to Arizona, it was a troop train. When we got to Little Rock, Arkansas, now this is as vivid to me as if it were happening today. The porter came through and said he would have pull the _________. We wanted to know why, and he said it would best if we pull the ________. Now I know at that time, we couldn't even have, it might have started it out going through Little Rock, AK. We could not be on a troop train. So we met a lot of racism. Course there was a cloud at that time of the South but we met a lot of racism. Not only did the fight the war over there we had, some of the troops had to fight a war right here. I recall a time, one incidence, here in Georgia, a black _____ came through, I don't know exactly what time it, but he got shot just driving through the town, so there has always been hostility during that time. So things haven't always been like that anymore, you know. Int: Did you sometimes see the colored troops that were left over in uniforms and supplies, brand new stuff? LB: Oh sure. Well most of our equipment was new, the equipment was new, we got new equipment. Course that's the thing about it, a lot of time we were hard… Well the equipment that we got, once a week if we could, we would go back to the rear echelon and take a shower, and we'd get a clean outfit, everything clean, socks. At night we would take socks off and put them to our chests and dry them out because we were in a lot of snow over there, and we got clean. Int: So almost every week you got like a different uniform? LB: Yeah if we could get back to the rear echelon, we'd get sprayed and get a different uniform, I mean a change of uniform, clean uniform. MB: Was there any, well talking about uniforms, was there any particular piece of uniform or equipment that you thought was a really good thing to have? I mean, on the same token, was there any piece that you thought was worthless and lot of guys threw them away and got lost or something like that? LB: Well any good uniform that I though was valuable or we could use or wasn't no good, for example, when I went in the service, everybody was issued these, what they call thermal underwear now. I never could get any because they didn't have my size. And I went through the entire army without having a thermal underwear. Int: Were they too small? LB: Yeah, because of my size, I never did get them. See you would get in what you were issued. If you were issued a sweater, what were those kind of jackets that we had?, I can't recall the name of them now. If ______, that's what you got. There was one case that in Italy, they had some troops over there from, called Sengalese, they were from out of Africa. There were ____ with the British, yeah, I think they was attached to the British. They would, they went barefoot, and they were going on the front lines, sneak up on the enemy and cut his neck and like an outpost and sneak up and wake the enemy up and he would just panic to see that, but they were getting paid by the ears, and then _____ they were cut. And so one asked me for a jacket, he had one of these British ____ jackets from, field jacket, and I didn't know what he was saying, he ______ and so I didn't want to do, and he got so mad and said they ever pull this knife, these swords, whatever they call them, sabers, or whatever, they're going to have cut _____ after they cut themselves. So I gave him my jacket, so I went a long time without one. COUNTER 92 MB: So when you were talking about what you ate, you usually went back to the rear and ate, two or three miles. So usually you were getting hot food, right, from a kitchen, or were you eating C-rations? LB: Well, the food that we were getting when we went back to the rear echelon, it was usually hot food. Now, most food that we got was dehydrated food such as eggs, milk, and each day, we got a bar of candy, chocolate candy, and a pack of cigarettes. And at that time, they had a different brand of cigarettes, I think such as Lucky Strikes, Camels, and ______. There were seven guys in the group that had been smoking the same brand of cigarettes. By me not smoking _______ Camels, I'd always give them to somebody else or something like that. The only time that we ate C-rations we were moving so fast that we couldn't get nothing else and we got C-rations. But the infantry, they were the ones that got most of the C-rations. Int: What was your favorite piece that you ended up using the most of your equipment, was there something that you used everyday? LB: Well, the favorite piece of the equipment that I had to use everyday, I would say was my helmet. The reason I say my helmet, because we would take what I call a can of canned heat and light it and put the helmet over it and get hot water to shave with. We had a net to go over our helmet to camouflage. Also we had a net that go around our gun to correspond with the terrain, so that would be most important that I used everyday. MB: When you moved the gun, were the guns moved by deuce and a half's or? LB: When they moved the guns, the guns were moved by we had _____ movers, 2 ½ ton trucks. And we rode. We didn't walk. We rode everywhere we went. The infantry was all the unfortunate, we were fortunate to ride. And we had this song about When the Caissons Go Rolling Along, we roll along in the trucks. MB: What was your first engagement, what was the first time you guys actually participated in combat action? LB: What was the first time that we participated in combat? I believe I was in Pisa, Italy. We got our first dose of comat. MB: That would have been in, when? LB: That was in '45 I believe it was, '45 because we stayed in the area a long time without doing anything, just waiting to be called, and that was in '45. I don't know why I think it was, I can't say exactly what month it was in, because we had our big push in November of '45 I think it was, but we had been fighting before then, but we got the enemy pushed and we kept them going. But occasionally we, now I came in contact in Pisa with some misfortunates to a lot of the troops, but I was fortunate. There was a guy in our outfit named Howard Bellamy from Indianapolis, Indiana, which you call ____town. We were in Pisa, and we decided to go to the USO. While we were in the USO\u003c Bellamy said lets go get some vino, you know that's the word, Italian word for wine. And you got the blanco and the rose, so we would go into town and get some wine. We'd been gone about 15 minutes and the USO blowed up. But this is what happened. They had stowed some mines from the sea, the New Guinean sea I think it was, into the basement, and some kind of way they were set off. I had one buddy, his name was Bill, and he was from Memphis, but he got saved because he was sitting on a piano stool and it blew him behind the piano, but we missed that incidence just by about 15 minutes. Because we decided to go to get wine. MB: In your company, did everybody survive the war? LB: My company was very fortunate. We had one sergeant which we told him if you have anything wrong with your lines, your sight, do it before nightfall. And he didn't adhere to the command to the request. And he went out that night and he got shot. And there was one incident where that the Germans fired into our position between where we were staying, but it happened to be a dud, didn't go off. MB: So if all of those counter artillery barrages, they really didn't accomplish much except to keep ya'll pinned down? LB: Keep us pinned down mostly. And kept us away from getting at the food or what have you. But we didn't know effective with ours because we had the air force over there with us. We had, I think the 332nd Air group with us, they came out of Tuskeegee. They were very effective, and they called them the, what was it, the word for black in German, you know the German air force called Luftwaffe, but they were very fortunate in supplying our air power. MB: Where were you when you heard the Germans had surrendered, and where did you get that information? LB: It happened in '44? Oh, where was I when the Germans surrendered. I believe we were up near around Genoa and we heard that the Germans had surrendered. And we said now we know when we'll be going back home. So in November I think of that year, the deactivated the 92nd division and they started this points system which is points, so many points for each 6 months you stayed in service. And if was rumored that the unit was going to come back to the United States as a whole, but some of the guys said that they came back to the United States, it wasn't going to be the same because there was going to be a lot of destruction because they felt like they were entitled to a lot more than they were going to get, so they decided they would deactivate the outfits and send them on a points system. So therefore, I was shipped, and a few more of us were shipped to Vienna, Austria by freight, packed in like cattle, on a freight car to Vienna, Austria to join the 3478th trucking company, it was a supply company. MB: What did you do once you were there? LB: When we were there, and what did we do when we were there in Austria? We hauled supplies, we got stuff like for the armored troops, we got American liquor for the officers, we went to place in the mountains that people needed rations and food to carry them the food, and the 5th Army rest center up in, I think that was ______ Garden, one of those places, that we carried food and picked up supplies. Int: Everyone that was doing that was black? LB: Was everything doing that with us, yeah they were black. They were black. Now when we were in Austria, the city was divided into four zones, sections. There's a section for the French, a section for the Russians, a section for the English, and a section where I was stationed. And we went from one section to another section, we had to use a pass to go through. The Russians were the only troops that were allowed to carry artillery pieces, I mean, their guns all the time. We couldn't carry guns, they carried their guns all the time. So we would make different areas like _________ and take up supplies in the trucking outfit. Go ____________ and pick up different things for the outfit, and I got to become dispatcher for the outfit. I was assistant dispatcher, and the ______ so my job was in charge of to make sure all the vehicles were in good running order and keep a record of a, a log of the maintenance work to be done and make sure each vehicle had two drivers assigned, make a report on what details each man was supposed to carry out and perform and then turn in that report to headquarters every day. MB: When did you finally get discharged? LB: I was discharged, when did I finally get discharged? I was discharged in June 11, 1946, at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. Because I went back to Philadelphia for a brief stay, then I came back to Augusta. MB: How did you end up coming to Atlanta, and when did you come to Atlanta? LB: How did I end up coming to Atlanta? Alright, my first wife, I put emphasis on first because this is my third wife, but anyway, my first wife she was an Atlantan, and she wanted to come back home, and I had been working at Camp Gordon and they had a reduction in force, and so I came to Atlanta to seek employment, and that's how I got here to Atlanta. When I got to Atlanta, my first job was with the Atlanta Broom Company. That's where I worked for a while. My father-in-law, he was instrumental in getting that job for me. And then I was __________ to work as a food chemist _______ called the Dairy Tech Corporation. It was out there in Sage Hill, it was __________ right down from Channel 5, I call it channel 5, and we was manufacturing chemists for ______ ice cream plants, and I got that job, I stayed there almost 25 years, but we moved to Doraville after I was there about 18 years, we moved up to Doraville. MB: What year then did you move to Atlanta? COUNTER 264 LB: I came to Atlanta in I think it was September or October 1953. And I've been here ever since. MB: I have heard, and I don't know how true it is, maybe you can clear it up for us, that the white officers that were put in charge of all black units generally tend to be southerners, was there any truth to that? LB: Was all white troops that was put in charge of the blacks was southerners? Well I can't say all but the majority was southerners. Now, I must give this due respect that all those white officers, were not all you might call racist because one of the best officers that I met, he was from Mississippi, white officer. Most of your racists came from your top brass because they wanted perfection. What they did, this is what happened. They conscripted a lot of the troops, the black troops, prior to World War II, they had a work going on called the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, and the guys in this, the government were paying them money to dig sewers and ditches and drains, and whatever. So when the war started, they got those guys. Threw them in the army. None of them was _________, a lot of them had never worn a suit of clothes until they got in the army, _____ or something like that. So they tried to teach them in schools, at Ft. Wachita they had these schools, and they would teach them how to be a good soldier, how to comply with the law, what it meant to be a private. Private Pete was a good boy, Private Pete was a good soldier, and that kind of basic, they taught them how to read. So naturally when they perform on the battlefield, there was a little cowardice, there was a little frightening, but as a whole, they stood up and fought. There was some misjudgments when one of our generals, he directed fire and killed a lot of his own men because he _________ should have been. When things went wrong, the black officers got the ____ for it because a lot of them were incompetent. I'm not saying this out of context, you got outfit put together real quick because ________ Jones _____ he was the brother-in-law of __________ who was chief of staff under President Truman. And he wanted to make a big showing, he wanted to make esprit de corps out of his black troops. He wanted to make a big showing. When he took over, and when we got assigned to the 5th army under General Mark Clark, he too, himself, he wanted to be like this General Patton. He wanted to be another Patton, and he wanted everything in perfection, and if something went wrong, he always thought that the troops were not _________ couldn't do a good job. And our General, he felt that regardless of how much education some of the black soldiers had, they still weren't qualified to do a good job. And the only time he really spoke up for us was when we went into the town of _________ and he declared the town off limits to everybody except the 92nd division since they took that town it was their town. But he felt, to show how incompetent he was, during the Korean war, they sent him to the Korean war and he failed. Int: You got a good conduct medal because of what, good conduct? LB: I got a good conduct medal, yeah I got a good conduct medal and I got two campaign medals. The good conduct medal was for being out of trouble, not getting intoxicated, not getting in fights, and you know, getting along with your fellow soldiers? Int: Did a lot of people get in fights? LB: Oh yeah, there was quite a few scuffles, you know, there was a lot of people, and whenever you find a bunch of men together, there's going to be ribbing and get drunk and resent one another, you know, so there was a few scuffles. There was nothing that the MPs couldn't handle because they ruled with an iron fist. We had MPs in our outfit, you couldn't compromise with them. Well, I ain't going to say bad as storm troopers but they used some of those tactics you know what I mean? MB: Your MPs in the 92nd Division, were they black or white MPs. LB: The MPs of the 92nd Division, they were black. But they were ________ to the _____ the white _____, the were _____. They couldn't hear nothing but he said do, and that was carry out, that was the law, they were the law. But there was a lot of incompetence, but in spite of all that, soldiers fought well in my outfit, but the ______ 92n was one of the best field artillery outfits all around, we got highly recommendation, we got highly praised. General Coburn, he was one of the best qualified, he was a white general. We had a lot of officer was a little mediocre, you know frightened. Who wouldn't be frightened when you face an enemy like those Germans were fierce fighters. But the propaganda, one thing I said, propaganda didn't get to us. We received the Stars and Stripes everyday telling us what's going on on the western front, what was happening over in the Pacific and how it was trying to tear morale down, so we didn't pay any attention, and what General Patton was going, how he was advancing, so we got information. COUNTER 409 TAPE II SIDE A COUNTER 000 Int: When you got back home, did you feel like you got respect from everybody or did you feel like white Americans didn't feel like you did? LB: When I got back home did I feel like I had the respect of everybody? I was still young. All I wanted to do was get me a good job and get married. I say that was all I wanted to do, and I got, I went in as a boy, I came out as a man. I lost all my young teenage years, from 18, I lost those. So I didn't know anything about 20 years old, 19 years old, those years went by me, I was in service, so all I wanted to do was get me a job and settle. But there was a buddy of mine, he enticed me into going to school, he said lets go back to school, he said the government will pay you to go to school. So we got enrolled in college and we were getting $65 a month I think it was for going to school. And after I got married, the amount increased to $102 or something like that a month. But anyway I… [tape repeats until COUNTER 32] went to that school and got interested in school so I stayed in school. But my first primary reason, I just wanted to get out of the service and get home. But I can't say whether I got the respect. Because when I get home, things were very cheap then. They had a system they called the 52/20. They would try to place you in the same type of work you were doing before you went in the service. So what we would do, we had to go down to the unemployment office and sign up each week if you were, couldn't find no job, you would get $20 a week until you got a job. So the jobs at that time, base salary at that time was averaging $20 a week on the job. By the time we took our social security, we were getting something like $18 or something. So we said what the heck, we working for $18 something week and I'm going to get $20 and not work. So we refused those little old jobs, it was menial work like working in the brickyard or some menial task, and it was supposed to give you some _____ of the work you were doing when you was in the service like truck drivers, that's what they put me down for. My spec called for me being a truck driver after I went through that trucking outfit. I couldn't get the jobs so we stayed around and got the little money every week. So there was no jobs much to do at that time, but there was no welfare. Everybody was working because ______ was so cheap then. MB: So when you went to school, was that on the GI Bill? LB: When I went to school, that was on the GI Bill. MB: And where did you go to school? LB: I went to Payne College down in Augusta, GA. MB: What was your degree in, did you graduate from Payne? LB: No, I was lacking two hours. MB: Two hours? LB: Two hours. I got married and I was lacking two hours. Then I came to Atlanta, and I was going to transmit my transcript and do up here and got connected as a food chemist and didn't want to leave, so my major was social studies and my minor was secondary education. But I never pursued it because this guy that I got with, he trained me into doing chemical work in this ice cream and dairy supply company. And I stayed there for almost 25 years. MB: When did you go and work for Oglethorpe? LB: Went to Oglethorpe back in 1981. MB: And you just… LB: I started out as a custodian, there was an opening for maintenance, they put me in the maintenance, and I stayed there until 1990, and I retired in December of 1990. I came back as a part time worker in July of 1991, and I stayed there about six years, stayed there until nineteen, got away now, but anyway, I went back to my old job and worked there six weeks and I couldn't make it. There was so many new products and there was a little animosity among some of the workers because I came in, they made me a production manager and they though that it should have been given to somebody within the position that had been there, and so they wouldn't tell me nothing, you know wouldn't work for me, so I gave it up and went back to Oglethorpe. The job, my position was still open, so I stayed at Oglethorpe until March of ‘9_, as a part time worker, maybe working three days a week, because I was on social security. At that time I could only make so much money. MB: We'll stop this. Mr. Bell tell us a little bit about this piece. LB: Alright about this piece here, that piece was made from a shell, a 105 mm howitzer shell. I contacted with an Italian machinist. He wanted some shells to make to some equipment some stuff he wanted to make, and he asked me what would I like to some memorabilia, and I said, well could you make you a little wine glass or wine, and so he made this with the shell from a casing of one of our mm howitzer shells, and he put my name on it, and _____, Italy on it. MB: Can you turn it a little bit so we can see what's on the other side there, you're going the right way. Yeah, keep turning it. So an Italian fellow made this? LB: Yeah, he made this for me, he was a machinist and he had, after you get the names on it, show you how the top comes off. MB: Go ahead and show us how the top screws off. LB: Alright the top screws off, you see the screws up in there, and here you see you got a, just like a wine glass. You know over there, if you go to their house and they're having a meal, they'll ask you ____, and just like to me wine to them just like we drink water here, and if you left you'll insult them if you didn't accept the wine. And they made some very good wine. But anyway, this is supposed to symbolize the shell, like our shells, that was the shell part that came out and this was the housing where they sit, and but they were like that, so that's what this is symbolizing. You see how the bottom, work piece of art he did on the bottom left. They said Italia, _____ Italia in Italy. MB: This picture here… LB: Tell you about this picture here, this picture here was salute to a 48 states, I think that was during Independence Day. And this is my outfit, that's _____ 597th field artillery. But I think I am missing from this picture, I think I was on details or something. You may note each gun has someone ____ that's how they had ____ gun, we had four guns in our company, B company. And each other company had four guns. This is my outfit, it was during a ceremony we had over there, down in Pisa, Italy. I don't know what the occasion was, we always had some kind of celebration or ceremony for something that happened back in the states. But anyway, if you see ______ the little guys with their eyes squatted, that's my picture. MB: We're going to try to focus in on your picture. Tell us about this little photograph here. LB: This was a photograph where the ashes were being carried to the next resting place of Columbus. They had been brought down from the hills where the Italians hid them during the German occupation, campaign there. So this is being taken away now to the final place, where the second place, where they're going to put them back to the original place and store it, I don't know where the resting place was, but this is going back to the original place. MB: OK, tell us about this photograph. LB: This picture was the soldiers is giving the ashes that were brought down from the hills to put them on the caisson to be carried out to its original resting place. And that's the division chaplain, he was giving the invocation ceremony, and the group that was behind there was a famous Wings Over Jordan, that was the famous black choir that used to sing during the 50's, 40's and 50's. Come on the radio every Sunday morning, they were noted for their spiritual singing, and they were over to help us celebrate. The soldiers holding ashes and… MB: OK, what is this? LB: This is the Wings Over Jordan choir, they came all the way to Genoa, Italy, to help us celebrate this occasion, a momentous prestigious occasion. They were a singing group, sang back in the 40's and 50's and it was a famous spiritual group. And so they came over, and that's what they were doing. And we were really proud to see them, anybody from the United States at home, it made us, it lifted our morale, it was a great morale booster to see them come all the way overseas to be with us. That was the band that played for all occasions for the division, the entire division would march and do ___ the band was there to play. MB: All African-American band? LB: All African-American band. 597th Field artillery, 92nd Division. MB: Where was this picture taken? LB: That picture was taken in Pisa, Italy. MB: Are you in this picture? LB: Yeah, I'm somewhere but I don't know where it is, I wouldn't be able to find me, I think I'm on the tail end. Because usually they would have the tall men in the front and let it escalate down, and I'm in the background or somewhere, I don't know where I am in that picture. MB: So was this taken in probably '45? LB: Yes, in '45. MB: Tell me about this again. LB: This was some kind of ceremony we was having, Verazze, Italy, I don't know what occasion it was for, I can't recall, but it was for some kind of occasion. That was part of the band, some kind of victory celebration, probably some kind of victory celebration. MB: Alright, who are these fellows? LB: These are members of the 347th trucking outfit. This picture was taken in Vienna, Austria. This is taken in '45, well very end of '45, '46?, I can't remember. '46. MB: Are you in this picture? LB: I am in this picture. MB: Which one are you? LB: There I am right there. MB: Right there. LB: Uh huh. MB: Do you know who any of these other fellows are? LB: No I don't. I know this guy he was from Kansas City. This guy here, he was from New York. Mel, he was from North Carolina. This guy here, he was from St. Louis I think. But I don't know. Johnny, he was from New York, but I don't know where they are, I never heard them anymore. Once we left… MB: Tell me what this is. LB: This here is a pass for, it says Vienna, Austria, back in 1946, the latter part of '45 and early part of '46. Each soldier needed a pass to get through the four different sections, mainly the northern section, the French section, the British section, and the western section. They would need a pass to go from one section to the other, with your name on it and on the other side… MB: Yeah, go ahead and turn it over for us. LB: OK. On this side you see here, the note that you've got the four different country flags. And each, there's writing in Russian, French, and American. MB: And you said something about when you were in Vienna that Americans and the French and British weren't allowed to carry weapons? LB: No we were not, only the Russians, they're the only ones that carried weapons. And also the Russians, when we was in that trucking outfit, we had to take our steering gear and ________ a chain to the ________ and loop it around the steering gear and lock it whenever we'd get out of the truck because the Russians were stealing the trucks. MB: The Russians were stealing the American trucks? LB: The American trucks. They were taking them. And the Russians, they didn't ask for anything, like they wanted something, they would just take it. MB: How did the Russians respond to you, both being black and also as an American? LB: We were the, we would ask them different questions. They would say _____ the won't, they would just take it. But they didn't, they were very friendly, but they would give us schnapps, not schnapps, vodka, the ___ vodka, sometimes we would exchange vodka with them for gasoline, gasoline for vodka they wanted gasoline, but anything they wanted they would take it, they didn't ask. Didn't have the courtesy to ask. COUNTER 242"],"dc_format":["video/quicktime"],"dcterms_identifier":null,"dcterms_language":null,"dcterms_publisher":null,"dc_relation":null,"dc_right":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dcterms_is_part_of":["Veterans History Project oral history recordings","Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center"],"dcterms_subject":["Artillery--United States","World War, 1939-1945--Participation, African American","World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American","105mm Caliber gun","United States. Army. Infantry Division, 92nd","United States. Army. Field Artillery Battalion, 597th","United States. Army. Regimental Combat Team, 442nd","Wings over Jordan (Choir : Cleveland, Ohio)","Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (Philadelphia, Pa.)","United States. Army--Artillery","United States. Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944","Buffalo Soldiers"],"dcterms_title":["Oral history interview of Lorenzo Bell, tape 1 of 2"],"dcterms_type":["MovingImage"],"dcterms_provenance":["Atlanta History Center"],"edm_is_shown_by":null,"edm_is_shown_at":["http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/316"],"dcterms_temporal":null,"dcterms_rights_holder":null,"dcterms_bibliographic_citation":null,"dlg_local_right":["This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required."],"dcterms_medium":["video recordings (physical artifacts)","mini-dv"],"dcterms_extent":["1:50:00"],"dlg_subject_personal":null,"dcterms_subject_fast":null,"fulltext":null},{"id":"geh_vhpohr_317","title":"Oral history interview of Lorenzo Bell, tape 2 of 2","collection_id":"geh_vhpohr","collection_title":"Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews","dcterms_contributor":null,"dcterms_spatial":["Austria, Vienna, Vienna, 48.20849, 16.37208","Italy, Varazze, 44.3592996, 8.5753273","United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018","United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383"],"dcterms_creator":["Brown, Myers; Johnson, Ahnekii","Bell, Lorenzo, 1925-2001"],"dc_date":["1999-07-09"],"dcterms_description":["In part two of this two-part interview, Lorenzo Bell describes his experiences as a black soldier in Italy and Austria at the end of World War II. He describes his post-war life and the racism he encountered at home.","Lorenzo Bell was a soldier in Italy during World War II.","VETERANS HISTORY INTERVIEW LORENZO BELL Atlanta History Center – July 9, 1999 Transcribed by Stephanie McKinnell Myers Brown: First of all, would you state your name and today's date, and that'll do it for the first question. Lorenzo Bell: Alright, my name is Lorenzo Bell. The date is July 9, 1999. MB: What was your place of birth and where did you grow up? LB: What was my place of birth and where did I grow up? I was born in Augusta, Georgia. I grew up during my early teen years in Augusta, Georgia. I was later, after my 17th birthday, I migrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. MB: What year were you born? LB: What year I was born? It was 1925. MB: When you moved to Philadelphia, what prompted that move to Philadelphia? Did your family move there, or did you move there by yourself? LB: When I moved to Philadelphia, and what prompted my move to Philadelphia was I wanted to get a good government job. My family did not move there. I was there living with an aunt on my mother's side. MB: What did you do once you moved to Philadelphia? LB: When I was in Philadelphia, what did I do when I was in Philadelphia? First I was 17 years old. I had to go get a working permit from a local school to be able to work. After obtaining the working permit, I got a job working in the shipyard, well the navy yard actually, in Philadelphia. And I worked as a sheet metal mechanic helper. And I worked on the battleship USS Wisconsin, which it took three years to complete. MB: Was that the only ship you worked on, did you just focus on working on that one? LB: Yeah, the only ship we worked on and what we focused on was mostly the USS Wisconsin. MB: Were there other African-Americans that were working on the same project with you? LB: Sure, there was a quite a few. MB: As you were doing the work there at the shipyard, were the, was there must interaction between the blacks and the whites working on the ships, or did everybody kind of stay to themselves, how did that work? LB: Well, what I actually was going on while I was working the shipyard, everybody had to mingle. Everybody had a job to do, and they had a supervisor who would come around in the morning and would tell them what the blueprints, what had to be done. There was no controversy. Most time that was spent, that I spent was going checking out tools. And after checking out tools, I would come back to the job and would assist the mechanic. MB: What year did you start working in the shipyard? LB: I started working in the shipyard in 1944, no, let me see, I started working in the shipyard in 1943, it was September of 1943. MB: When was your birthday, when did you turn 18? LB: I turned 18, well, when did I turn 18? It was that November 8, 1944. I turned 18 in Philadelphia. But because my friends were going in the service, I moved my age up, instead of November 8, I moved to October 16 in order to get in the service, and then I was drafted earlier. MB: What day did you actually get drafted, when did you… LB: In January, I don't know what year did I actually get, I believe I got drafted in January of '44. But I was set on the a three-week leave to get business and everything straightened out, so I had to return to service on the 17th of February, 1944. MB: And you wanted to do the war? LB: Sure I wanted to go into the, did I want to get into the war, sure I wanted to go. Because all the boys at that time were leaving, they wanted to go into the service. Matter of fact, I asked for the navy because I had been working on the ships, and what they gave me?, army. MB: And how did you get drafted, because I would think working in the shipyard would have been a protected war industry? LB: How did I get drafted, because I'm a nonessential worker. Only essential workers were deferred, given a draft status. Or if I had been 4F, that's what they classified that wasn't qualified physically to go into the service. MB: Once you were drafted, you went through those number of weeks where you had to get everything in order. Where were you sent for your basic training? LB: My basic, well it was, sent me for my basic training, I was sent to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Yeah it has always been our fort. And we did about 6-8 weeks of basic training. MB: What basic training, and you actually got into some wartime experiences, when you look back did you think your basic training had you prepared you for that? LB: When I look back to see whether my basic training prepared us, yeah we were well prepared because most of the recruits at that time were just out of high school, and they were mostly boys from the, from the east coast. We were fairly small because they selected us for a field artillery, and at that time you didn't have any blacks in the field artillery. It was considered as a high branch of service. The only thing that the blacks was selected to go in the most was quartermasters or a trucking outfit or some rear echelon duties. So we were considered privileged. In taking basic training, there was another white outfit called the 16th field artillery. We were called the 16th separate field artillery. So that was a disparity among the two groups. MB: Were the drill instructors, were they white or black? LB: Our drill instructors were white at basic training, yeah our drill instructors, they were white. MB: Did you want to go into the war even though you knew you might be doing trucking or quartermaster? LB: Did I want to go into war? MB: Even though you knew you might be doing a lower type of job? LB: Did I want to go in the war knowing that I might take a lower type of job? Sure, I wanted to go into the war because we felt that was a privilege, and we took pride in serving our country because the black press had been pleading, why couldn't we, we was Americans, why couldn't we take part in the war. They had papers such as the Pittsburg Courier, the Chicago Defender, the Amsterdam News, they were all _____ why the Negro couldn't fight, it was his country as much as anybody else's. MB: Right. So when did you actually get your assignment to the field artillery? Did that happen as you went in? LB: I actually got my assignment to the field artillery when we passed basic training, we were shipped to Ft. Wachucka, Arizona while we was assigned to the 92nd Buffalo Division. And this Buffalo Division was the forerunner of the cavalry during the Indians, during the wars with the Indians and their troops were Buffalo soldiers helped in the struggle then, so we was the forerunner, it was the forerunner of our outfit. MB: Give us your full regiment, company, battalion, division, give us the whole nomenclature all the way up the chain. LB: All right, you want the whole nomenclature of my outfit. OK, we went to the Ft. Wachucka, AZ, we was assigned to the 92nd Division. The division consists of infantrymens, artillery mens, medics, and you have certain breakdowns, which I have a book that will break it all down to you. But in my outfit, we had, the five we had in the artillery, that was four battalions: 597, 598, 599, and 600. OK, the 597 and 598 battalions, they were, had the 105mm howitzer. The 598 and 600 had the 155mm howitzers. And each battalion had a ____ that was in charge, and each battalion had four companies: Co A, Co B, Co C, and Co D. I don't exactly know how many men at that time consisted of, but I'd say around 10 men to a company. MB: Which company were you in? LB: I was in B company. MB: Of the? LB: 598, which company was I in, Co B, 597 field artillery, 92nd Division. MB: When were you first deployed outside of the United States? LB: Well, we left, we were first deployed outside of the United States when we went to Italy. I believe it was in September of '44. We went in from ____, Italy. We went immediately to a camping area, and we stayed there for about a week, living in what we call shelter halves. Each man had a half of a tent, and boy did it rain in Italy during that time. It seemed like the monsoon season hit Italy when we was there. Then we got assigned, so each artillery had to support an infantry battalion or regiment rather, and that was their job. We stayed in the rear echelon somewhat between 6 and 7 miles behind the infantry. And our job was to supply the infantry or whoever with fire when it was needed. They would call down a fire mission and say battery B 20 rounds charge 5 side wheel ___ 5 command. Each shell has 7 charges, powder bags. Alright, you had a gun, you had a man that opened the breech, and you had a man that was put the shells together, put the shells and drop the charges in, and pass it along and slid in the breech, and you had a man to close the breech. Then a man would pull the lanyard cord to fire the gun. My job, I was a gunner. So therefore, when a command came down, battery B elevate 15 degrees or depress 20 degrees right so many degrees or left so many degrees. My job was to get on that gun straddle the leg and look through the sites which was somewhat centered to a surveillance pole which have red lights facing and we would aim on it. The enemy couldn't see the light but we could see the light because we were facing it. And line off of that particular sight which we were going to depress or elevate so many degrees. And then after we got that, we commenced firing whenever the order came down. COUNTER 182 But each charge would determine how far the shell was going. If you put five shells that means that we're going to shoot five miles. Seven shells was the maximum. If you wanted to shoot seven miles. Mission would come down, like if the infantry sent out a patrol and they got caught, they wanted a smoke screen. So they had to bail them out. We _____ the fire. If a convoy, enemy convoy came on, they said if we see an enemy convoy because we had a man up in the observation, up near the front line, that would call down for a fire mission on the convoy. After we completed the mission, the call would come down, mission competed. MB: The infantry unit you were supporting was an all black unit as well? LB: An all black unit, because we were, the unit we supported, it was an all black unit. But there were times we went along with the Japanese division, yeah the Nissei division, the 442nd. It was one of the most, it was actually a sacrificial lamb. More Nissei's that any other soldier got purple hearts than any other soldiers during World War II. They was fierce fighters. We were assigned tot he 5th Army, General Mark Clark's army. And also was assigned to us the 750th tank battalion, we were with them also. They had an _____ which the aircraft were flown on the aircraft, and we was assigned with that outfit. But the Germans, we were fighting the Germans, but the Germans had what they ____, and I remember they were screaming ammunition. The Germans what they would do is paint a bullet with the red cross and they had their guns on half tracks. They would load our guns from the side of a building and fire on us and load them back and we couldn't tell where the muzzle blast was coming from. But we couldn't fire on them unless we got instructions from Washington or the command headquarters because we was thinking that they was a hospital. That's the kind of tactics they were using on us. MB: How much were you subjected to incoming German anti-battery fire? LB: We were subjected to incoming German battery fire practically every afternoon. During that time we had to go back about two miles to get our food. Two or three men at a time. German's would see us going back, and they would, with a large man would fire on us and they would pin us down sometimes. We had to wait ____ to get our food. We used to laugh about our guys only old men was in service with us. They were, some was 40 years old. But what had happened was, _____ back to get defense jobs and they got caught in the draft, and they were complaining about they couldn't run until the Germans started firing on us, and boy. We were due. We went into a place, we had to first dig those guns in, cover them up with cover with sandbags on the side. We'd be _____ made place for ourselves. And then we would dig a big hole in the ground maybe 5 feet, 6 feet, or maybe about 8, and get logs and put over the top and fill sandbags and put a tarpaulin over it. And that's what we stayed in. We had candles and flashlights while we was fighting. And we fought in shifts. We had twelve hour shifts. We would fight 12 hours, then the next crew would relieve us. We didn't stay on the front line the whole time, next shift would come on. They would stay from 12 to 12 the next day then we went on at 12 the next day till 12 at night. That's the way the war was fought. MB: What were you issued as far as personal sidearms, were you issued Garands or M-1 carbines, or just revolvers, or did you carry anything? LB: Well our personal weapons that we were issued were 30-30 carbines. Semiautomatics. We had a clip that would hold 15 rounds. Some would have another clip wallet to the back so all they'd have to do is flip clips and actually we could have 16 rounds because we could keep one round up in the chamber and that would give us 15 more rounds of ammunition. MB: What did you think of that gun, was it good? LB: Yeah, it was pretty good. There was a lot of play in, course you had to be steady with it. It had a lot of recoil and it would jump around, but as far as it being accurate, it was really accurate. MB: Did everybody on the gun crew have one? LB: Sure, everybody had a gun. He had to carry the gun at all times and keep it, keep his gun, you know maintenance on his gun. That was required every day. Same thing about this howitzer. After we fired a fire mission, we had to go and swab them out and clean them up. Because they would tell us we was indispensable, but those guns, it would take months to get a gun but they could get a new troop. So we kept our equipment in good shape. During the rain, we would take the guns and turn them down. ______ shoulder, turn the barrel down to carry that way. MB: Ya'll had 105's, right? LB: Yeah, we had 105's, that what ammunition we had. MB: How often did you have to move the guns? Did ya'll move them forward as the infantry advanced or did ya'll pretty much stay put? LB: How often did we move the guns? Depending on how often they actually advanced. Sometimes we would stay in one position for two months just mainly firing on convoys and what have you. Then as the infantry, in one case, going through I think it was Luka, Italy, we advanced so fast, we went into an area before the infantry got there. So _____ told our commander that if he didn't get us back as quickly as he could, he was going to court martial everything, every button he had on his outfit. But we usually stayed in a position place for quite a long time. We stayed in a town like Pisa for quite some time until all the people there knew us almost by name. COUNTER 298 MB: How did the Italian people see you, how did they respond to you? LB: Well, how did the Italians respond to us, at first they were a little curious. Because there had been so much propaganda. Some of the troops that came through, the white troops, had told them that we were cowboys, we ate babies, we had tails, don't have no dealing with us. But when we got to a town and we took up time with the children and there was a lot of candy and cigarettes that we would give. At time for our meals some of the fellows, you know, see we didn't get but one mess of food, he would get two, he would come back for seconds in order to feed the children and their families. So _____ when we came there, and they cried when we left. We go out, a typical example would be a radio. When we came, when we went up the coast up to Genoa, we came back to _____, and that was a posted sign off limits. There was one time I was young, which was ______ spoke up for his troops. He tore the sign down and said my troops help took this town, and this will be their town, so he put that town off limits to nothing but the 92nd division. MB: You had mentioned to us in a previous conversation about how your unit managed to get back Columbus' ashes or something like that, can you tell us that story? LB: Yeah, up in Genoa, Italy, I guess it was during his birthday, some of the Italians had taken Columbus' ashes and hid them in the mountains. So we had a big ceremony and we restored the ashes. The 92nd division, they had a black choir with probably from the 40's and 50's and probably into the 60's was called Wings over Jordan, a singing group. I think they was from out of Cleveland, Ohio, but I know it was Ohio. And they came over and helped us in the celebration, and that was quite a feat for us. That brought back a lot of good feelings among everyone. I may also mention that in order to keep the morale up, we had shows that come over. There was a show called Shuffle Along that _____ Cicily. OK, then we had sport events. We had football, spaghetti bowl between the Japanese soldiers and the 92nd division troops, in the 92nd division. And we had USO's. MB: Who won the football game? LB: I can't recall, I don't believe we did, but anyway, I can't recall. Because we had one player that he played football in Atlanta, his name was John Moody. Moody, he played on that team, but he had been a Morris Brown student before going in the service? Int: Did it make you feel better, did you like it when… MB: Sure, sure, it built our morale, it really helped our morale. And when we went over and we saw the black red cross, USO workers. And we saw a lot of blacks that came out of Ethiopia was there, because you know at one time Italy went down in Ethiopia. They was there. So whenever you see a black that would make us feel good. We took, we felt proud, you know. You would see such shows, blacks, it would built our morale up. Int: Did you get lots of letters, when did the mail come? LB: Well, when did the mail come and the letters that we got? Int: ______ stay in touch with you all? LB: No, it wasn't hard to get in touch with us, but the mail had to come through the APO. We would get it, sometimes it would be a month late. People would send us packages, they ____ some two and three months earlier. And we could never mention where exactly we were, we would always say somewhere in Italy in order to, in order to offset the enemy. Int: You weren't allowed to say where you were? LB: We were not allowed to say where we were, but we could just only say somewhere in Italy. And our APO No. was a New York, APO New York. That was the European theater of operations. Int: You said that you were called colored, did the Italians and the Germans have any names for you? LB: We were called colored, other names, did Germany have names for us? The Germans had a lady they called American Axis Sally, and they would throw leaflets telling us why we were over there fighting, we did not have anything to fight for. Int: They just passed out to black soldiers? LB: They passed it out, leaflets. Int: Not to everybody, just the black soldiers. LB: Well they did drop it from the air. They'd drop it and it would tell us why are you over here fighting? The Germans are not your enemy, the Americans are your enemy, that's who you should be fighting. They were trying to ____ our morale down, but we didn't go for that, we didn't accept that. But the Italians never did, the Italians accepted us COUNTER 428 TAPE 1 SIDE B COUNTER 001 …. as their liberators. Some of the ____ they were just there, thought they were just there. They didn't try to win friends, __________. I don't mean to be sounding like I'm being prejudiced or biased or anything, but that's the truth. And we were there, they were just amazed, they would come up to us and rub our skin because, they had never seen a black before. And they would come up touching your back, thought you had tails, and after they find out we were human same as anybody else and how they acted, they were very friendly and had no trouble out of them. Now occasionally a guy would pull a few tricks like selling cigarettes, they were gypping them out of cigarettes or something like that sometimes. I still have a ten pack of cigarettes in a carton they would have five backs and maybe had some sodas or something in the bottle. When they open it up and pay for it, they find no cigarettes. Anyway ___________________ at the bar. A black soldier was no good, you know that black soldier was no good. But we had our own club that we'd go to and had trucks that would carry us every night or every day whenever we wanted to go. MB: Was there, kind along the same line that you asked, I don't know if we picked it up, but US troops, they referred to you as colored units, is that right? LB: Right. The US troops referred to us as colored units. Colored or Negro. At that time, we didn't have any blacks known as blacks or Afro-Americans, we were known as colored or Negro. MB: Was that a term you found particularly offensive, or what would you have, if that wasn't acceptable, what would you have preferred to have been called? LB: At that time, do I consider those terms to be offensive? No, because we had been conditioned for a long time that we were colored. And whenever we signed any kind of major, or paper, or any value, you made a race, we always would be colored and later would be either Negro. That was accepted during that time, that was an accepted name. But the one name that we could not accept was the n-word, nigger. Now we were offended a lot of time by that name, we were called that. Int: Did anyone call you that? LB: Oh sure. Sure. Did anyone call us that name, niggers, oh sure. Let me give you one incidence in the United States. We were traveling from Ft. Bragg coming through Atlanta. We ate at the, on Decatur Street at a place called the Metropolitan Café. We had meal tickets. The white troops went to Rich's, they ate at the Magnolia Room. So _____ back up to Union Station, we were going to Arizona, it was a troop train. When we got to Little Rock, Arkansas, now this is as vivid to me as if it were happening today. The porter came through and said he would have pull the _________. We wanted to know why, and he said it would best if we pull the ________. Now I know at that time, we couldn't even have, it might have started it out going through Little Rock, AK. We could not be on a troop train. So we met a lot of racism. Course there was a cloud at that time of the South but we met a lot of racism. Not only did the fight the war over there we had, some of the troops had to fight a war right here. I recall a time, one incidence, here in Georgia, a black _____ came through, I don't know exactly what time it, but he got shot just driving through the town, so there has always been hostility during that time. So things haven't always been like that anymore, you know. Int: Did you sometimes see the colored troops that were left over in uniforms and supplies, brand new stuff? LB: Oh sure. Well most of our equipment was new, the equipment was new, we got new equipment. Course that's the thing about it, a lot of time we were hard… Well the equipment that we got, once a week if we could, we would go back to the rear echelon and take a shower, and we'd get a clean outfit, everything clean, socks. At night we would take socks off and put them to our chests and dry them out because we were in a lot of snow over there, and we got clean. Int: So almost every week you got like a different uniform? LB: Yeah if we could get back to the rear echelon, we'd get sprayed and get a different uniform, I mean a change of uniform, clean uniform. MB: Was there any, well talking about uniforms, was there any particular piece of uniform or equipment that you thought was a really good thing to have? I mean, on the same token, was there any piece that you thought was worthless and lot of guys threw them away and got lost or something like that? LB: Well any good uniform that I though was valuable or we could use or wasn't no good, for example, when I went in the service, everybody was issued these, what they call thermal underwear now. I never could get any because they didn't have my size. And I went through the entire army without having a thermal underwear. Int: Were they too small? LB: Yeah, because of my size, I never did get them. See you would get in what you were issued. If you were issued a sweater, what were those kind of jackets that we had?, I can't recall the name of them now. If ______, that's what you got. There was one case that in Italy, they had some troops over there from, called Sengalese, they were from out of Africa. There were ____ with the British, yeah, I think they was attached to the British. They would, they went barefoot, and they were going on the front lines, sneak up on the enemy and cut his neck and like an outpost and sneak up and wake the enemy up and he would just panic to see that, but they were getting paid by the ears, and then _____ they were cut. And so one asked me for a jacket, he had one of these British ____ jackets from, field jacket, and I didn't know what he was saying, he ______ and so I didn't want to do, and he got so mad and said they ever pull this knife, these swords, whatever they call them, sabers, or whatever, they're going to have cut _____ after they cut themselves. So I gave him my jacket, so I went a long time without one. COUNTER 92 MB: So when you were talking about what you ate, you usually went back to the rear and ate, two or three miles. So usually you were getting hot food, right, from a kitchen, or were you eating C-rations? LB: Well, the food that we were getting when we went back to the rear echelon, it was usually hot food. Now, most food that we got was dehydrated food such as eggs, milk, and each day, we got a bar of candy, chocolate candy, and a pack of cigarettes. And at that time, they had a different brand of cigarettes, I think such as Lucky Strikes, Camels, and ______. There were seven guys in the group that had been smoking the same brand of cigarettes. By me not smoking _______ Camels, I'd always give them to somebody else or something like that. The only time that we ate C-rations we were moving so fast that we couldn't get nothing else and we got C-rations. But the infantry, they were the ones that got most of the C-rations. Int: What was your favorite piece that you ended up using the most of your equipment, was there something that you used everyday? LB: Well, the favorite piece of the equipment that I had to use everyday, I would say was my helmet. The reason I say my helmet, because we would take what I call a can of canned heat and light it and put the helmet over it and get hot water to shave with. We had a net to go over our helmet to camouflage. Also we had a net that go around our gun to correspond with the terrain, so that would be most important that I used everyday. MB: When you moved the gun, were the guns moved by deuce and a half's or? LB: When they moved the guns, the guns were moved by we had _____ movers, 2 ½ ton trucks. And we rode. We didn't walk. We rode everywhere we went. The infantry was all the unfortunate, we were fortunate to ride. And we had this song about When the Caissons Go Rolling Along, we roll along in the trucks. MB: What was your first engagement, what was the first time you guys actually participated in combat action? LB: What was the first time that we participated in combat? I believe I was in Pisa, Italy. We got our first dose of comat. MB: That would have been in, when? LB: That was in '45 I believe it was, '45 because we stayed in the area a long time without doing anything, just waiting to be called, and that was in '45. I don't know why I think it was, I can't say exactly what month it was in, because we had our big push in November of '45 I think it was, but we had been fighting before then, but we got the enemy pushed and we kept them going. But occasionally we, now I came in contact in Pisa with some misfortunates to a lot of the troops, but I was fortunate. There was a guy in our outfit named Howard Bellamy from Indianapolis, Indiana, which you call ____town. We were in Pisa, and we decided to go to the USO. While we were in the USO\u003c Bellamy said lets go get some vino, you know that's the word, Italian word for wine. And you got the blanco and the rose, so we would go into town and get some wine. We'd been gone about 15 minutes and the USO blowed up. But this is what happened. They had stowed some mines from the sea, the New Guinean sea I think it was, into the basement, and some kind of way they were set off. I had one buddy, his name was Bill, and he was from Memphis, but he got saved because he was sitting on a piano stool and it blew him behind the piano, but we missed that incidence just by about 15 minutes. Because we decided to go to get wine. MB: In your company, did everybody survive the war? LB: My company was very fortunate. We had one sergeant which we told him if you have anything wrong with your lines, your sight, do it before nightfall. And he didn't adhere to the command to the request. And he went out that night and he got shot. And there was one incident where that the Germans fired into our position between where we were staying, but it happened to be a dud, didn't go off. MB: So if all of those counter artillery barrages, they really didn't accomplish much except to keep ya'll pinned down? LB: Keep us pinned down mostly. And kept us away from getting at the food or what have you. But we didn't know effective with ours because we had the air force over there with us. We had, I think the 332nd Air group with us, they came out of Tuskeegee. They were very effective, and they called them the, what was it, the word for black in German, you know the German air force called Luftwaffe, but they were very fortunate in supplying our air power. MB: Where were you when you heard the Germans had surrendered, and where did you get that information? LB: It happened in '44? Oh, where was I when the Germans surrendered. I believe we were up near around Genoa and we heard that the Germans had surrendered. And we said now we know when we'll be going back home. So in November I think of that year, the deactivated the 92nd division and they started this points system which is points, so many points for each 6 months you stayed in service. And if was rumored that the unit was going to come back to the United States as a whole, but some of the guys said that they came back to the United States, it wasn't going to be the same because there was going to be a lot of destruction because they felt like they were entitled to a lot more than they were going to get, so they decided they would deactivate the outfits and send them on a points system. So therefore, I was shipped, and a few more of us were shipped to Vienna, Austria by freight, packed in like cattle, on a freight car to Vienna, Austria to join the 3478th trucking company, it was a supply company. MB: What did you do once you were there? LB: When we were there, and what did we do when we were there in Austria? We hauled supplies, we got stuff like for the armored troops, we got American liquor for the officers, we went to place in the mountains that people needed rations and food to carry them the food, and the 5th Army rest center up in, I think that was ______ Garden, one of those places, that we carried food and picked up supplies. Int: Everyone that was doing that was black? LB: Was everything doing that with us, yeah they were black. They were black. Now when we were in Austria, the city was divided into four zones, sections. There's a section for the French, a section for the Russians, a section for the English, and a section where I was stationed. And we went from one section to another section, we had to use a pass to go through. The Russians were the only troops that were allowed to carry artillery pieces, I mean, their guns all the time. We couldn't carry guns, they carried their guns all the time. So we would make different areas like _________ and take up supplies in the trucking outfit. Go ____________ and pick up different things for the outfit, and I got to become dispatcher for the outfit. I was assistant dispatcher, and the ______ so my job was in charge of to make sure all the vehicles were in good running order and keep a record of a, a log of the maintenance work to be done and make sure each vehicle had two drivers assigned, make a report on what details each man was supposed to carry out and perform and then turn in that report to headquarters every day. MB: When did you finally get discharged? LB: I was discharged, when did I finally get discharged? I was discharged in June 11, 1946, at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. Because I went back to Philadelphia for a brief stay, then I came back to Augusta. MB: How did you end up coming to Atlanta, and when did you come to Atlanta? LB: How did I end up coming to Atlanta? Alright, my first wife, I put emphasis on first because this is my third wife, but anyway, my first wife she was an Atlantan, and she wanted to come back home, and I had been working at Camp Gordon and they had a reduction in force, and so I came to Atlanta to seek employment, and that's how I got here to Atlanta. When I got to Atlanta, my first job was with the Atlanta Broom Company. That's where I worked for a while. My father-in-law, he was instrumental in getting that job for me. And then I was __________ to work as a food chemist _______ called the Dairy Tech Corporation. It was out there in Sage Hill, it was __________ right down from Channel 5, I call it channel 5, and we was manufacturing chemists for ______ ice cream plants, and I got that job, I stayed there almost 25 years, but we moved to Doraville after I was there about 18 years, we moved up to Doraville. MB: What year then did you move to Atlanta? COUNTER 264 LB: I came to Atlanta in I think it was September or October 1953. And I've been here ever since. MB: I have heard, and I don't know how true it is, maybe you can clear it up for us, that the white officers that were put in charge of all black units generally tend to be southerners, was there any truth to that? LB: Was all white troops that was put in charge of the blacks was southerners? Well I can't say all but the majority was southerners. Now, I must give this due respect that all those white officers, were not all you might call racist because one of the best officers that I met, he was from Mississippi, white officer. Most of your racists came from your top brass because they wanted perfection. What they did, this is what happened. They conscripted a lot of the troops, the black troops, prior to World War II, they had a work going on called the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, and the guys in this, the government were paying them money to dig sewers and ditches and drains, and whatever. So when the war started, they got those guys. Threw them in the army. None of them was _________, a lot of them had never worn a suit of clothes until they got in the army, _____ or something like that. So they tried to teach them in schools, at Ft. Wachita they had these schools, and they would teach them how to be a good soldier, how to comply with the law, what it meant to be a private. Private Pete was a good boy, Private Pete was a good soldier, and that kind of basic, they taught them how to read. So naturally when they perform on the battlefield, there was a little cowardice, there was a little frightening, but as a whole, they stood up and fought. There was some misjudgments when one of our generals, he directed fire and killed a lot of his own men because he _________ should have been. When things went wrong, the black officers got the ____ for it because a lot of them were incompetent. I'm not saying this out of context, you got outfit put together real quick because ________ Jones _____ he was the brother-in-law of __________ who was chief of staff under President Truman. And he wanted to make a big showing, he wanted to make esprit de corps out of his black troops. He wanted to make a big showing. When he took over, and when we got assigned to the 5th army under General Mark Clark, he too, himself, he wanted to be like this General Patton. He wanted to be another Patton, and he wanted everything in perfection, and if something went wrong, he always thought that the troops were not _________ couldn't do a good job. And our General, he felt that regardless of how much education some of the black soldiers had, they still weren't qualified to do a good job. And the only time he really spoke up for us was when we went into the town of _________ and he declared the town off limits to everybody except the 92nd division since they took that town it was their town. But he felt, to show how incompetent he was, during the Korean war, they sent him to the Korean war and he failed. Int: You got a good conduct medal because of what, good conduct? LB: I got a good conduct medal, yeah I got a good conduct medal and I got two campaign medals. The good conduct medal was for being out of trouble, not getting intoxicated, not getting in fights, and you know, getting along with your fellow soldiers? Int: Did a lot of people get in fights? LB: Oh yeah, there was quite a few scuffles, you know, there was a lot of people, and whenever you find a bunch of men together, there's going to be ribbing and get drunk and resent one another, you know, so there was a few scuffles. There was nothing that the MPs couldn't handle because they ruled with an iron fist. We had MPs in our outfit, you couldn't compromise with them. Well, I ain't going to say bad as storm troopers but they used some of those tactics you know what I mean? MB: Your MPs in the 92nd Division, were they black or white MPs. LB: The MPs of the 92nd Division, they were black. But they were ________ to the _____ the white _____, the were _____. They couldn't hear nothing but he said do, and that was carry out, that was the law, they were the law. But there was a lot of incompetence, but in spite of all that, soldiers fought well in my outfit, but the ______ 92n was one of the best field artillery outfits all around, we got highly recommendation, we got highly praised. General Coburn, he was one of the best qualified, he was a white general. We had a lot of officer was a little mediocre, you know frightened. Who wouldn't be frightened when you face an enemy like those Germans were fierce fighters. But the propaganda, one thing I said, propaganda didn't get to us. We received the Stars and Stripes everyday telling us what's going on on the western front, what was happening over in the Pacific and how it was trying to tear morale down, so we didn't pay any attention, and what General Patton was going, how he was advancing, so we got information. COUNTER 409 TAPE II SIDE A COUNTER 000 Int: When you got back home, did you feel like you got respect from everybody or did you feel like white Americans didn't feel like you did? LB: When I got back home did I feel like I had the respect of everybody? I was still young. All I wanted to do was get me a good job and get married. I say that was all I wanted to do, and I got, I went in as a boy, I came out as a man. I lost all my young teenage years, from 18, I lost those. So I didn't know anything about 20 years old, 19 years old, those years went by me, I was in service, so all I wanted to do was get me a job and settle. But there was a buddy of mine, he enticed me into going to school, he said lets go back to school, he said the government will pay you to go to school. So we got enrolled in college and we were getting $65 a month I think it was for going to school. And after I got married, the amount increased to $102 or something like that a month. But anyway I… [tape repeats until COUNTER 32] went to that school and got interested in school so I stayed in school. But my first primary reason, I just wanted to get out of the service and get home. But I can't say whether I got the respect. Because when I get home, things were very cheap then. They had a system they called the 52/20. They would try to place you in the same type of work you were doing before you went in the service. So what we would do, we had to go down to the unemployment office and sign up each week if you were, couldn't find no job, you would get $20 a week until you got a job. So the jobs at that time, base salary at that time was averaging $20 a week on the job. By the time we took our social security, we were getting something like $18 or something. So we said what the heck, we working for $18 something week and I'm going to get $20 and not work. So we refused those little old jobs, it was menial work like working in the brickyard or some menial task, and it was supposed to give you some _____ of the work you were doing when you was in the service like truck drivers, that's what they put me down for. My spec called for me being a truck driver after I went through that trucking outfit. I couldn't get the jobs so we stayed around and got the little money every week. So there was no jobs much to do at that time, but there was no welfare. Everybody was working because ______ was so cheap then. MB: So when you went to school, was that on the GI Bill? LB: When I went to school, that was on the GI Bill. MB: And where did you go to school? LB: I went to Payne College down in Augusta, GA. MB: What was your degree in, did you graduate from Payne? LB: No, I was lacking two hours. MB: Two hours? LB: Two hours. I got married and I was lacking two hours. Then I came to Atlanta, and I was going to transmit my transcript and do up here and got connected as a food chemist and didn't want to leave, so my major was social studies and my minor was secondary education. But I never pursued it because this guy that I got with, he trained me into doing chemical work in this ice cream and dairy supply company. And I stayed there for almost 25 years. MB: When did you go and work for Oglethorpe? LB: Went to Oglethorpe back in 1981. MB: And you just… LB: I started out as a custodian, there was an opening for maintenance, they put me in the maintenance, and I stayed there until 1990, and I retired in December of 1990. I came back as a part time worker in July of 1991, and I stayed there about six years, stayed there until nineteen, got away now, but anyway, I went back to my old job and worked there six weeks and I couldn't make it. There was so many new products and there was a little animosity among some of the workers because I came in, they made me a production manager and they though that it should have been given to somebody within the position that had been there, and so they wouldn't tell me nothing, you know wouldn't work for me, so I gave it up and went back to Oglethorpe. The job, my position was still open, so I stayed at Oglethorpe until March of ‘9_, as a part time worker, maybe working three days a week, because I was on social security. At that time I could only make so much money. MB: We'll stop this. Mr. Bell tell us a little bit about this piece. LB: Alright about this piece here, that piece was made from a shell, a 105 mm howitzer shell. I contacted with an Italian machinist. He wanted some shells to make to some equipment some stuff he wanted to make, and he asked me what would I like to some memorabilia, and I said, well could you make you a little wine glass or wine, and so he made this with the shell from a casing of one of our mm howitzer shells, and he put my name on it, and _____, Italy on it. MB: Can you turn it a little bit so we can see what's on the other side there, you're going the right way. Yeah, keep turning it. So an Italian fellow made this? LB: Yeah, he made this for me, he was a machinist and he had, after you get the names on it, show you how the top comes off. MB: Go ahead and show us how the top screws off. LB: Alright the top screws off, you see the screws up in there, and here you see you got a, just like a wine glass. You know over there, if you go to their house and they're having a meal, they'll ask you ____, and just like to me wine to them just like we drink water here, and if you left you'll insult them if you didn't accept the wine. And they made some very good wine. But anyway, this is supposed to symbolize the shell, like our shells, that was the shell part that came out and this was the housing where they sit, and but they were like that, so that's what this is symbolizing. You see how the bottom, work piece of art he did on the bottom left. They said Italia, _____ Italia in Italy. MB: This picture here… LB: Tell you about this picture here, this picture here was salute to a 48 states, I think that was during Independence Day. And this is my outfit, that's _____ 597th field artillery. But I think I am missing from this picture, I think I was on details or something. You may note each gun has someone ____ that's how they had ____ gun, we had four guns in our company, B company. And each other company had four guns. This is my outfit, it was during a ceremony we had over there, down in Pisa, Italy. I don't know what the occasion was, we always had some kind of celebration or ceremony for something that happened back in the states. But anyway, if you see ______ the little guys with their eyes squatted, that's my picture. MB: We're going to try to focus in on your picture. Tell us about this little photograph here. LB: This was a photograph where the ashes were being carried to the next resting place of Columbus. They had been brought down from the hills where the Italians hid them during the German occupation, campaign there. So this is being taken away now to the final place, where the second place, where they're going to put them back to the original place and store it, I don't know where the resting place was, but this is going back to the original place. MB: OK, tell us about this photograph. LB: This picture was the soldiers is giving the ashes that were brought down from the hills to put them on the caisson to be carried out to its original resting place. And that's the division chaplain, he was giving the invocation ceremony, and the group that was behind there was a famous Wings Over Jordan, that was the famous black choir that used to sing during the 50's, 40's and 50's. Come on the radio every Sunday morning, they were noted for their spiritual singing, and they were over to help us celebrate. The soldiers holding ashes and… MB: OK, what is this? LB: This is the Wings Over Jordan choir, they came all the way to Genoa, Italy, to help us celebrate this occasion, a momentous prestigious occasion. They were a singing group, sang back in the 40's and 50's and it was a famous spiritual group. And so they came over, and that's what they were doing. And we were really proud to see them, anybody from the United States at home, it made us, it lifted our morale, it was a great morale booster to see them come all the way overseas to be with us. That was the band that played for all occasions for the division, the entire division would march and do ___ the band was there to play. MB: All African-American band? LB: All African-American band. 597th Field artillery, 92nd Division. MB: Where was this picture taken? LB: That picture was taken in Pisa, Italy. MB: Are you in this picture? LB: Yeah, I'm somewhere but I don't know where it is, I wouldn't be able to find me, I think I'm on the tail end. Because usually they would have the tall men in the front and let it escalate down, and I'm in the background or somewhere, I don't know where I am in that picture. MB: So was this taken in probably '45? LB: Yes, in '45. MB: Tell me about this again. LB: This was some kind of ceremony we was having, Verazze, Italy, I don't know what occasion it was for, I can't recall, but it was for some kind of occasion. That was part of the band, some kind of victory celebration, probably some kind of victory celebration. MB: Alright, who are these fellows? LB: These are members of the 347th trucking outfit. This picture was taken in Vienna, Austria. This is taken in '45, well very end of '45, '46?, I can't remember. '46. MB: Are you in this picture? LB: I am in this picture. MB: Which one are you? LB: There I am right there. MB: Right there. LB: Uh huh. MB: Do you know who any of these other fellows are? LB: No I don't. I know this guy he was from Kansas City. This guy here, he was from New York. Mel, he was from North Carolina. This guy here, he was from St. Louis I think. But I don't know. Johnny, he was from New York, but I don't know where they are, I never heard them anymore. Once we left… MB: Tell me what this is. LB: This here is a pass for, it says Vienna, Austria, back in 1946, the latter part of '45 and early part of '46. Each soldier needed a pass to get through the four different sections, mainly the northern section, the French section, the British section, and the western section. They would need a pass to go from one section to the other, with your name on it and on the other side… MB: Yeah, go ahead and turn it over for us. LB: OK. On this side you see here, the note that you've got the four different country flags. And each, there's writing in Russian, French, and American. MB: And you said something about when you were in Vienna that Americans and the French and British weren't allowed to carry weapons? LB: No we were not, only the Russians, they're the only ones that carried weapons. And also the Russians, when we was in that trucking outfit, we had to take our steering gear and ________ a chain to the ________ and loop it around the steering gear and lock it whenever we'd get out of the truck because the Russians were stealing the trucks. MB: The Russians were stealing the American trucks? LB: The American trucks. They were taking them. And the Russians, they didn't ask for anything, like they wanted something, they would just take it. MB: How did the Russians respond to you, both being black and also as an American? LB: We were the, we would ask them different questions. They would say _____ the won't, they would just take it. But they didn't, they were very friendly, but they would give us schnapps, not schnapps, vodka, the ___ vodka, sometimes we would exchange vodka with them for gasoline, gasoline for vodka they wanted gasoline, but anything they wanted they would take it, they didn't ask. Didn't have the courtesy to ask. 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