Civic Association Learns About SES Desegregation

by Leslie Lytle
Messenger Staff Writer

At the March 6 business and dinner meeting, the Sewanee Civic Association (SCA) reaffirmed its decision to charge a $10 subscription fee for the Classifieds email list administered by the organization. Following the business meeting, retired Franklin County High School teacher Marilyn Davidheiser presented a program on the desegregation of Sewanee Elementary School.

Classifieds list manager Elizabeth Clark Duncan said the board reviewed all the comments generated by the announcement to charge a $10 fee for using the list. The board revisited the fee issue and decided fee payment will coincide with the Civic Association’s fiscal year. Current subscribers are entitled to use the service for free until Aug. 31. Those who recently paid the fee in response to the announcement will receive an extended subscription through Aug. 31, 2014. For SCA dues-paying members, a subscription to the service is included in the $10 membership fee. Fee-paying Classifieds subscribers may participate as active voting members of the SCA if they attend meetings.

Addressing a question by a guest about the appropriate use of Classifieds, Duncan said the email service was intended to provide a vehicle for information sharing. Individuals wishing to engage in debate and express personal opinions, she said, should use the “forum” feature accessed via the website <groupspaces.com/Sewanee>. Questions about the service should be addressed to the SCA board via email to <sewaneecivic@gmail.com>.

In the program, SCA vice-president Susan Holmes said the story behind the desegregation of Sewanee Elementary School (SES) was particularly timely, since 2014 is the 50th anniversary of the 1964 court-ordered desegregation. 

In a lawsuit filed in December of 1963, four Sewanee African-American families (the Hills, Sisks, Statens and Turners) and four white families (the Bates, Camerons, Camps and Goodsteins) joined together to file a lawsuit requesting that SES comply with the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that declared state laws establishing “separate but equal” school facilities were unconstitutional.

 During the 1960s, 29 lawsuits to compel integration were filed in Tennessee:19 initiated by the Department of Justice and 10 initiated by individuals. The SES lawsuit was the only case jointly initiated by African-American and white plaintiffs. Of the 29 instances of desegregation by litigation, 17 cases remain under court jurisdiction. Franklin County is among these.

Following desegregation, Davidheiser said, 30 black educators were placed in integrated schools, but they were replaced by white teachers when they retired. Davidheiser said certain factors would need to be addressed for the Franklin County Public Schools to close the case and be released from court jurisdiction, notably an imbalance in hiring practices and the FCHS school’s “fight song, ‘Dixie.’”

In response to a suggestion by Duncan, Holmes will investigate the SCA sponsoring a historical marker at SES to commemorate desegregation. 

At the April 17 meeting of the SCA, the final meeting of the academic year, the organization will elect officers for next year, approve the budget and name the recipient of the 2013 Community Service Award. The annual award honors individuals and organizations who have made an outstanding contribution to the community.