Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-11-28
COURT UPHOLD
SEGREGATION OF
NEGRO STUDENT

| Negro students will not be allowed
| to attend classes with white students
in the Douglas high school, This was
decided Saturday when the superior
court at Tombstone upheld the r;gnt
4 of the Douglas school board to seq
regate any children, colored or any
other, as regards buildings, so rong h.,
like facilities for each group of stu
dents in the degree of instruction is
| lprovided The ruling was made on
\ test case on the complaint of the fa-
kher Of a Douglas negro student de.
nandng admittance to the Douglas
| high school.
The decision was hanued down oy
Judge Franklin p. Laine, OF Clifton.
who sat IN the case for Judge Albert
M. Sames, who was occupied with
other cases. John F.. Ross, Cochise,
county attorney, and Harry Pickett
OF Douglas represented the Douglas
school board, and John Wilson Ross
Of Bisbee, represented the plaintiff
Judge Laine decided the, case on its
merits and the evidence presented,
without hearing the arguments of tho
opposing attorneys.
The court ruled that negro students
are not denied the advantages of fa-
cilities for a high school education, as
the defense showed that facilities for
negro students to take high school
work had been provided at the Fif-
teenth street school building, where
Mrs. Effie Autrey, a qualified higr
school teacher, is prepared to teach
all negro high school students. Pre-
vious to this year, these students have
been attending the colored school at
Fifth street and A avenue. Two negro
girls, sisters, now attending the teach
ers college at Tempe, are graduates
of this school.
Among those called from Douglas
as witnesses were r. L. Souers, super.
ntendent of the Douglas schools; Al
bert Stacy, George Dave and Mrs.
Thomas Harsell, members OF the
school board; Miss Helen L. Brown,
Cochise county superintendent OF
schools, and j. e. Carlson, Jr., prin-
cipal of the Douglas high schooi.
Souers, stacy, Carlson and Miss Brown
We're called to the witness stand on
thd case.
Asked if there had ever been any,
in the Douglas high school, Superin.
tendent Souers, Principal Carlson and
Board Member Stacy stated that there
had never been any discrimination as
regards facilities for education in the
Douglas schools, these facilities being
equal to all, but that certain definite
standards of distribution of students
i'll the schools was maintained.
When asked why negro students had
been permitted to register for high
school classes at the Douglas high
school and then segregated, the wit.
nesses for the defense stated that this
segregation was made because of the
growing discomfort among a larg,
number of patrons or the high school
and that the nigh school teacher had
Sbeen stationed at the Fifteenth street
there to avoid this disco~tent.
Y Douglas high school authorities
state that because of the comparative-
sly few negro students taking high
school work. those attending school,
in Douglas have a decided advantage
over white children in the same de-
gree OF instruction, because of closer
Personal attention they receive from
the teacher. There are only three.
negro students prepared to take high
school instruction, and it is under,
stood that these expect to take upl
high: school work under Mrs. Autrey
at the Fifteenth street school Monday
morning.