Arkansas State press. [volume] (Little Rock, Ark.) 1941-1959, 1946-01-11
SIGNIFICANT LOCAL.
TRENDS IN l945
Continued from Page y

sas AME Layhien against Bish-
op Geo. E. Curry. The fight
ended only with the elimination
of the Bishop from local domi-
nance, The STATE PRESS car
ried full and complete reports
of this controversy from its be-
ginning to its conclusion.
The outstanding event in local
education was the hiking up of
the salaries of the Little Rock
teachers. The raise was made
after the Teachers Salary Suit
in which Attorneys Marshall,
Booker and others represented
the colored teachers of Little
Rock, but before the final an
nouncement of the judgment
court of appeal. The ending of
hostilities affected the public
school otherwise, increasing the
number of persons available for
teaching and returning l.. M.
ChriStophe to active work in the
new capacity of Principal of
Dunbar high school and Dean
of Dunbar Junior College.
In general, education for Ne
groes in Little Rock continued
to be inadequate. There is not
enough and the right kind of it;
business training being exceed
ingly limited, and trade train
ing in Dunbar being even less
than in former years. Clerical
help was discontinued altogeth-
er but was reinstated at the close
of the year. There still is little
provision for recreation, parti-
cularly at Dunbar. Teacher
training still clings in the Jun
ior College to an outmoded pat
tern set by the early needs of
the Negro but not accepted by
recognized colleges, Students
completing the teachers cours-
es at Dunbar usually lose those
hours when they continue their
college training. A number of
patrons and persons have been
discontinued with the emphasis
on money raising which has per-
sisted in Dunbar ever since its
beginning. At times in the past
there have been rumors of IT.
Irregularities. Discipline reached
its low in the early part of the
year, but is steadily improving
The new administration starts
with the favor of the people,
and they are expecting to see
progress in these particulars.
One of the favorable tendencies
of the present authorities is their
tendency to appoint the best
available personnel.
Allied to the growing breadth
of the utterances of some of the
public officials of the state is
the clear statement of some pri-
vate individuals especially For
rest Rozzell who made a clean
cut statement of the necessity for
full and fair employment of the
Negro in the course of a forum
at Arkansas Baptist College, and
Reverend j. M. Mccormick who
delivered over the radio a flam-
ing rebuke for the ruffianly
slapping of a Negro mother
with baby in arms whose hus-
band, a first lieutenant, had a
short time before given his life
for his country.
In l945, the political situation
showed some improvement with
Negroes holding the privilege
of voting in Primaries in this
state but excluded from run
ming in it as candidates for Of
flee. Not many Negroes, how
ever, will avail themselves of
the opportunity to vote in the
Democratic primary. There was
an increased interest in the pay
ment of poll taxes.
Considerable interest attach
ed in l945 to the attitudes OF
Arkansas public officials. The
Governor manifested a forth
right interest in an Industrial
School for Negro Girls, and the
only drawback to the erection
of the building at present is the
difficulty in fixing upon an ac-
ceptable location The Mayor
of Little Rock pronounced in
favor of a park and a swimming
pool for Negroes. This pro-
nouncemcnt has not yet led to
concrete reality; but the deter