Evening star., 1950-08-20
Virginia Must
Face Racial Bias
Issue Directly
segregation Policy
! Seen at Stoke
In Many Suits
By Alex 4. Preston

siSN tNs
Virginia-plagued by Fedora
suits to establish equalized facili
4 ties for Negroes-now must fac
4 the issue directly: Whether he
4 policy of segregating Negroe
from white persons can continue
II Schools have been involved il
most of the suits brought to dat
# in behalf of the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of Col
ored People as well as individua
complainants. But the State con
stitution specifically requires tina
the races be segregated in thu
schools.
| "We have found that when W,
ask for equal facilities we do no
get them as long as they ar
I separate" Martin A. Martin, col
/ ored attorney of Richmond, VIII
brought many of the suits, salt
today.
"Om plan in the future is tt
ask for an end to segregation,
he told The Star by telephone.
First Direct Test.
Possibly the first direct test will
come from Gregory Swanson
Martinsville colored attorney, wht
last month was denied admission
to the University of Virginia. Mr.
Swanson, graduate of Howard
University here, has been prom.
1sed ''all the resources of the as
fSociation" by DR.. j. M. Tinsley
4 president of the State NAACP. HI
4 has filed suit in Federal court tt
force the university to admit him
The university's board of visi-
tors refused to admit Mr.. Swan
son despite warning from State
Attorney General j. Lindsay Al
mond, jr., that the boards posi-
tion could not be successfully
defended"
The boards position was taker
because of the prohibition in the
State constitution but Mr.. Almond
expressed grave doubt" that il
would apply to graduate schools
such as law school which Mr.
Swanson seeks to enter.
Mr.. Almond said that he be-
lieved that the lawmakers, in
writing Section 14O of the Con.
stitution that white and colorec
children shall not be taught ir
the same school" were speaking
about the public free schools and
not State-supported institutions
Of higher learning.
Colonial Beach Test.
Mr.. Martin told The Star that
Negroes will return to Colonial
Beach within d week to test the
sincerity of the towns answer to
an equalization suit filed there.
Ten persons asked the Federal
District Court to enjoin the town
from discriminating against them
in the use of public beaches anc
bathing facilities there. The
towns formal answer denies thi.
and Town Attorney George F
Mason. jr., recently said:
Negroes have had and nov
have equal privileges on the beach
They have never been denied an,
facilities. If they have not uset
them that's their own hard luck.
1t was test" of this tina
prompted Mr. Martin and groul
OF Negroes to stage sWimmins
party on the traditionally white.
only" beach of the summer resor
on August S. Fighting broke ou
and newspaper photographers wer,
mauled, principally by white per-
sons. Two white men were stabbed
and one colored man since ha
been held for grand jury actor
In one of the stabbingS.
Mr.. Martin, in reply to question.
ing, said the next swimming part,
would not be heralded but tha
the colored people would show u,
on the beach as a matter of courst
without prior notice, except pos
sloly to higher authorities.
Refers to Earlier Suits.
Referring to earlier suits by Mr.
Martin in behalf of the NAACP
the colored attorney said Kins
George County school officials hav'
done more to equalize facilitie
than any other locality in Vir
ginia.
Threatened with contempt
school officials there built addition
and installed modern equipmen
in the training school for Negroes
An identical suit against Glou
cester County school officials re
suited in fines totalling $1.OO
against four school officials fo
failure to equalize facilities. Thi
suit still is on the Federal Cour
docket and Mr.. Martin said h
has not visited Gloucester recentl
to determine whether satisfactor
improvements have been mad
there.
Two Bills Killed.
Early this year, the Virgini;
General Assembly killed two "civi
rights bills by Delegate Armi
stead Boothe of Alexandria. On
would have repealed State la,
requiring segregation on common
carriers such as buses and train:
in interstate commerce. The 9th
er would have established a nine
member commission on race rela
tons to study problems of Ne
groes.
These bills threatened to be tn
hottest political issue of the ses
sion If they ever reached tn
floors of the General Assembl
but a House of Delegates Com
1nittee put them to sleep with
vote of 8 to Z.
Asked what type of suits Ne
groes planned to institute in tn
future to bring the segregation
issue to the forefront, Mr.. Marti
said only that there were "sev