Dublin Core
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
» Confederate flags, dispersed)
i +
_By CATHERINE MACKIN
Herald-Examiner Gorrespondent With Hearst Headline Service
WASHINGTON, July 13—Face the ineyitable,
obey the courts and get rid of hypocrisy—that's
the basic formula followed by Atlanta, Ga., in its
progressive march towards peaceful desegregation.
Atlanta’s mayor, Ivan Allen, has been asked
to come here July 26 to
tell Congress how this sys-
tem works.
So far, it's proyen very
successful, and in an in-
terview he told why.
“In less than two years,
industrial Atlanta—with a
population 40 per cent Ne-
gro—has integrated schools,
public accommodations and
employment with hardly a
flurry of discontent,
The mayor will testify
before the Senate Com-
merce Committee current-
ly holding hearings on the
public accommodations title
of President Kennedy’s civil
rights package.
Mayor Allen is hesitant
to appear boastful in dis-
cussing Atlanta’s triumph
over segregation in the ra-
cially troubled South.
But he did say he has
try for clues to how it’s
done.
“I've héard from people
in towns large and small
and far too numerous to
mention,
“They all want to know
how we went about it,” he
said.
Stated simpiy, if was
court orders and voluntary
decision.
The first step took place
in September, 1961, when,
in accordance with a court
order, Atlanta desegregated
schools.
The following month, de-
partment, variety and chain
stores knocked down racial
barriers.
In January, 1962, all city
facilities were desegregated.
“We just took down the ‘No
Colored’ signs,” Mayor Al-
Ten said.
area after Brooks urged about)
been contacted by civic of
ficials from across the coun- —
Atlanta's
Success
Explained
among Atlanta’s downtown
theater owners did away
with discrimination in May,
1962, and a year later, Ya-
cial barriers were dropperi
in the city’s fire depart-
ment, the last municipal
agency to integrate,
CASE OF THE POOLS)
The courts this year heli
that if Atlanta’s swimmi
pools were to open, th
would have to be ini
grated. On June 12, t
pools did so and without
major incident.
Last June 18, the citys
18 leading motels and ln:
voluntarily desesre-
tels
gated and, a short time lat-
er, Atlanta's 23 major fes- |
taurants followed suit.
The city had no master
plan for desegregation but
in each instance appropri-
racial, were set up to guide
the process. :
The hotel and motel own-
ers, for example, met for 15
months before they were
ready to put a plan into
operation. The chain, varl-
ety and department stores
took only six months.
“In Atlanta, we had the
benefit of having a great
deal of educated people in
the Negro community who
have provided very effec-
tive and responsible leader-
ship,” Mayor Allen said.
“On the other hand, the
white people were willing
to face up to the problem,
get rid of their hyprocrisy
and realize the inevitable.
“Both white and colored
knew the future of the
community depended on
ite
Throughout the desegre-
gation Mevement, there
have been repeated demon-
strations, but not serious.
“There have been some
who thought we went too
fast and others who claimed
e were too slow,” the
ayor said.
plaints, we've managed, to
keep the peace.”
He spoke highly of the
‘conduct among both the
white and Negro communi
ties.
GREAT PATIENCE
Besidés responsible lead-
ership shouldered by the
Negroés, he said they dem-
onstrated patience “because
they knew the effort to de
segregate was being made,”
The white people, partic-
ularly those with border-
line feelings, controlled
themselves when they
might have spoken or
fought against integration,
he said.
Atianta is the business
center of the southeast sit-
uated in a metropolitan
area of 1,1 million,
Of its 500,000 citizens,
200,000 are Negro.
Among the 150,000 regis-
tered to vote, 45,000 ore
Negro.
Atlanta has six colleges
and universities that have
been traditionally Negro
and of its 6000 city em-
ployes, 32 "per cent are
Ae
Sunday, July 14, 1963 coc
‘14 More-
Danville
Jail Creaks —
| DANVILLE, Va., Ttily 13 1. |
—Smallseale picketing by
Negro: civil rights demonstra~
tors kept harried Danyille po-
lice om the run today. By
early evening, 14 pickets had |
been arrested and jailed.
The arrests stemmed from
picketing in two downtown
department stores by smali
groups of \ placard-carrying
marchers protesting allezed
discriminatory hiring poli
cies.
“Thus, fittle by little, jead-
ers in the civil rights pro-
test movement which
began May 31 approached
their declared objective of
filling the local jail.
. Today's arrests brought ‘to.
107'the number of demonsfra-
tors taken into custody and
\placed behind bars
\since Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. Called on Negroes to “fill .
}up the jail” last Thursday.
| Wour of those arrested have
|been released on bond. Six
were juveniles and were
here: |
turned over to their parents.
The others refused hail.
A voluntary agreement
i
Whites |
March in
Savannah
SAVANNAH, Ga., July 13)
(UPI)X—Police broke up a pro-
segregation march today of
about 100 whites who were led
by a former detective carrying |
a revolver in his belt.
It was the first march of its|
kind in the nation’s racial|
turmoil which has been|
marked mainly by demonstra-
tions conducted by integra:
tionist groups. r
NO TROUBLE
There were no incidents.)
The whites, some carrying,
peacefully when a police cap-
tain interrupted the march.
They had walked about three
blocks. |
The marchers were mostly
members of the “Calvacade
for White Americans,” a
local extreme segregationist
‘group headed by Henry |
Brooks a former detective. |
Brooks said he carried a
revolver hecause of tele:
phone calls he has received
threatening his family and
home,
The march began from a)
park in the city’s outlying,
800 whites present to form a)
column and proceed to the
downtown area.
Negroes have conducted mu-
merous anti - segregation
marches here and earlier this
week police used tear gas <
disperse them.
“It’s a shame when white
people can’t do the same
things Negroes have been
doing,” Brooks said.
The group returned to the)
. park, piled into automobiles)
and a pickup truck and then
paraded through town with
their lights on and honking
their horns. Crowds gathered
at intesections and applaud-| |
ed them.. Police maintained! |
a close watch on the cars.
ate committees, usually bi-
Negro.
a