Aaron v. Cooper Supplemental Record of Appellees

    SUPPLEMENTAL RECORD OF APPELLEES.

United States  Court of Appe a l s
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

No. 15,675
CIVIL.

JOHN AARON, A MINOR, AND THELMA AARON, A 
MINOR BY THEIR MOTHER AND NEXT 
FRIEND, (MRS.) THELMA AAEON, A FEME 
SOLE, ET AL., APPELLANTS,

vs.

WILLIAM G. COOPER, M.D., AS PRESIDENT OF 
BOARD OF TRUSTEES, LITTLE ROCK INDE­
PENDENT SCHOOL D I S T R I C T ,  ET AL., 
APPELLEES.

APPEAL FROM T H E  U NITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE 
EASTERN  DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS.

PILED

FEB ~ 7 1957 

E. E. KOCH



United States  Court of A p p e a l s
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

No. 15,675
CIVIL.

JOHN AAEON, A MINOR, AND THELMA AARON, A 
MINOR BY THEIR MOTHER AND NEXT 
FRIEND, (MRS.) THELMA AARON, A FEME 
SOLE, ET AL., APPELLANTS,

vs.

WILLIAM Gf. COOPER, M.D., AS PRESIDENT OF 
BOARD OF TRUSTEES, LITTLE ROCK INDE­
PENDENT SCHOOL D I S T R I C T ,  ET AL., 
APPELLEES.

APPEAL PROM TH E UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE 
EASTERN  DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS.

INDEX.
O riginal P r in t

Supplem ental Record of A ppellees...........................................  1 I
T ranscrip t of P roceedings........................    1 1

Testim ony for D efen d an ts ,........................................................ 1 1



O riginal P r in t
Virgil B lo s s o m ........................................................................... 1 1

D irect E xam ination  ............................................................  1 1
Fundam ental Princip les involved in im plem enting

w ith F airness to  a l l ......................................................  1 1
Cross-Exam ination ..............................................................  6 5



[fol. 1] (Supplemental Record of Appellees)
In the United States District Court, Eastern District of

Arkansas, Western Division,
John Aaron, et al., Plaintiffs, 

vs.
William G. Cooper, et al., Defendants.

Testimony of V irgil B lossom.

Direct Examination.
As Superintendent I was instructed to prepare a plan to 

implement the decree of May 17, 1954, in the Brown case. 
There are fundamental principles involved in implementing 
with fairness to all. The principles followed were these:

1. To continue to accept the moral obligation of provid­
ing maximum educational opportunities to all children— 
that is to try to accept the responsibility which is inherent 
with all boards of education to go into an integrated pro­
gram with as good or a better program than you had in a 
segregated system. By the plan it was sought to imple­
ment desegregation with the necessary safeguards to pro­
tect the quality and standards of our educational program. 
(18)

2. To provide the best quality and the greatest quantity 
of education which is economically feasible in this District.

3. To provide a program of public education in harmony 
with the Federal law.

[fol. 2] “ 4. To provide the best possible education for
each child in the light of his individual ability and achieve­
ment.

“ 5. To provide a teachable group of children for each 
teacher employed by the District. In other words, the



2

schools are to be integrated so as not to create a situation 
wherein the teachers themselves have groups of pupils 
which create impossible jobs of adequate instruction.

“ 6. To foster sound promotion policies which we have 
had to do in order that the yearly responsibility of group­
ing children for instructional purposes will result in better 
rather than poorer educational outcome for all children.

“ 7. To provide the necessary flexibility in the school 
curriculum for each child and from one attendance area to 
another. In a school district with as large a geographic 
area as Little Rock the educational achievements and the 
socio-economic background vary from one area to another, 
and it requires a careful and analytical study to see that 
the school is carrying out the prime function of providing 
a quality program for each child in the light of his in­
dividual needs and in the light of the geographic needs of 
the newly created attendance areas.

“ 8. To select, procure and train an adequate school 
staff for the implementation of an integrated school pro­
gram.

“ 9. To provide the necessary “ in service” training for 
the school staff to prepare them for the implementation of 
this program of integration.

“ 10. To provide the necessary educational program and 
special education for the deviates or for exceptional chil­
dren dealing with the mentally retarded, the physically 
handicapped, the speech correction cases, etc.

“ 11. To provide the opportunity for children of at­
tending school in the attendance area where the residence 
of their parents or legal guardian is located.

[fob 3] “ 12. To provide the information necessary for
public understanding, acceptance and support.

“ 13. To foster sound administrative practices in the 
handling of all matters relating to any school problem 
which will guarantee the same opportunity and the same 
quality program to all children; and



3

“ 14. To maintain as a part of the total educational 
program of Little Rock School District the present extra­
curricular and club program for the benefit of all children. 
(19-21)

I have found a pretty strong feeling in this community 
that this is the best way to go about it. I have not found 
general acceptance, but I have found a feeling that there 
is no better way to do it, and that this is as good a plan as 
they know of.

Q. “ The plan has met with general acceptance of the 
people in the Little Rock District?

A. “ I would say yes, sir.” (21)

In Little Rock School District there are from 110,000 to 
112,000 people. (22)

All of these fourteen points were included in our think­
ing when the plan was prepared. The schools in Little 
Rock have been on a segregated basis since they were 
created in 1870.

The maps which have been introduced in evidence were 
necessary in order to prepare attendance areas for the 
District. I know of no other way of doing it. You do not 
know where you are going without counting your children 
and locating them. The preparation of these attendance 
areas was necessary in order that the plan may be fully 
utilized. (37-38).

White teachers and colored teachers are on the same 
salary scale. The scale is based on two factors: Academic 
training and the number of years of acceptable service. 
The same basic curriculum is taught all children. That 
does not mean that the curriculum from one attendance 
area to another is not different. It is different where the 
needs of the children call for a change in curriculum in 
order to improve the educational program of the child, but 
basically it is the same. (39)



4

[fol. 4] The percentage of white pupils to white teachers 
and colored pupils to colored teachers is almost identical. 
(41) The pupil-teacher ratio is approximately thirty per 
teacher, both colored and white. (43)

At present we have three high schools. Central High 
School accommodates between 2,500 and 2,600. Horace 
Mann High School accommodates 925. Technical High 
School accommodates 225 to 250. It provides a technical 
program, and the number of students varies with the pro­
gram offered as to the number you can accommodate. A 
new high school is now being constructed. It will accommo­
date 925. (45) Attendance areas have been prepared for 
the Horace Mann High School, the Central High School 
and the new West End High School. They were deter­
mined by spot maps on which we located our children with 
reference to the facilities within the school buildings al­
ready constructed and the one contemplated so we could 
know whether we could provide seats and teachers for a 
school program to serve the children who lived within those 
designated areas. They were also constructed on the basis 
of giving consideration to the importance of transportation 
to and from school. In the way the attendance areas are 
planned, the schools will accommodate the students within 
those designated areas. Those areas were laid out follow­
ing the May 20th statement of the Board. Six attendance 
areas have been prepared for the junior high schools. They 
are on a tentative basis because they have doubled and 
that makes the problem more complicated insofar as the 
selection, procurement and training of teachers, the offer­
ing of curricular programs and the caring for the individual 
needs of the children are concerned. We wanted to have the 
benefit of profiting by any mistake as we moved through 
it to provide the change that could result in a better pro­
gram for a group of youngsters or an individual youngster, 
whichever it may be, and we wanted to keep the curriculum 
flexible. For example, in some areas most of the students 
[fol. 5] are college bound. Constant revision is made in 
view of the stated principle of providing a better educa­
tional program for the geographic area which the school 
serves and for the individual child within that area, and



with the administrative problems in the selection, procure­
ment and training of teachers. The same principle is ap­
plicable to all levels. At present we have six junior high 
schools and we know there will be another not too far off. 
(50)

Horace Mann High School was not planned as a high 
school. It was planned as a junior high school when we 
were on a segregated basis. In order to comply and to take 
the necessary steps to integrate, Horace Mann High School 
was called back, redesigned to fit into this plan, and was 
made a high school in order to provide adequate attendance 
areas to serve the needs of the children under the stated 
principles or this program. In order to comply in good faith, 
we changed this to a high school and were able to occupy it 
in February, 1956. It accommodates 925 pupils. The West 
End High School is now under construction. In our opinion 
it is necessary to have this school completed in order to 
comply with the integration decision and at the same time 
maintain standards of quality in an educational program. 
It will accommodate 925 students. (55)

[fol. 6] Testim ony of V ikgil B lossom.

Cross-Examination.

I prepared a great part of the plan and the remainder 
was prepared under my jurisdiction. In preparing attend­
ance area charts there is more of a problem when you face 
integration than there is on a segregated system. The prob­
lem arises because of the grouping of youngsters in an inte­
grated system as against a segregated system. Race enters 
into it insofar as the inherent responsibility of the School 
Board is concerned. The second decision laid down the gen­
eral principles under which schools should be desegregated 
but it did not relieve us of any responsibility we had in pro­
viding a quality education program. The taking of a sep­
arate census for white and colored is necessary to satisfy 
the need of a properly planned curriculum for a specific set 
of children. The race problem comes into it in that the socio­
economic background of one is different from the other.



6

You do not have the same achievement record in the two 
races and that becomes important when you go to satisfying 
the needs of those youngsters, and that is an administrative 
problem.

Q. “ Doctor, isn’t that a problem that is true of all 
people—aren’t we all different individually!

A. “ Yes, sir, but if you want us to do a good job for 
your race and integrate, then you have to give us the time 
to do that job.”

The taking of a census is nothing, but when you interpret 
it into a school program for specific children, then your ad­
ministrative and educational problems arise. (87-90)

I am not saying that we are going to undertake to pro­
vide a separate curriculum for white and colored children 
in an integrated school. Under our present system the at­
tendance area is city-wide. All while children are embraced 
in that program and ail colored ehildern are embraced in 
another. When we restrict the geographical areas we re­
strict that to a certain group of youngsters. It is reason­
able and sensible to take the time to plan the basic program 
for the individual group of youngsters in a specific area and 
try to attain the educational objective of providing a pro- 
[fol. 7] gram that serves the specific needs of the individual 
children.

Q. “ What I am trying to arrive at, Doctor—Professor 
—is how does the knowing of the name and address and 
date of birth and race of a child affect that problem that 
you are discussing?

A. “ The date of birth has nothing to do with it; the ad­
dress has plenty to do with it in that it makes up the com­
ponent group of children in a specific attendance area.

Q. What does race have to do with it ?
A. “ Race has to do with nothing except the reflection of 

the individual needs as they may differ from one child to 
another, or the state of achievement of one child or one 
group of children, when it comes to group those children for 
instructional purposes, if we’re going to continue to place 
an emphasis on the inherent responsibility of quality educa­
tion.



7

Q. “ But you group them after you get them in the 
school, don’t you?

A. “ Yes, sir.
Q. “ I still don’t see then what this attendance area busi­

ness on a racial—
A. “ Because it makes a different group of children, and 

entirely different, and if you had been a school administra­
tor you would not ask me that question.” (91-92)

There are different course offerings in one high school 
from another. When you restrict the program you change 
those offerings. There are some offerings that we offer 
purely on a racial basis one way or another at the present 
time. That may not be done, so those records have to be 
revised. The guidance records, the health records, the com­
bining of all of it, which are important in child welfare. 
That cannot be done over night. It is an administrative 
problem. Records in the lives of school children today mean 
a great deal more than they did ten or fifteen or twenty 
years ago. Their records are required for college entrance, 
by various institutions within the country, and by the Fed­
eral Government. When children are taught on an integrat­
ed basis, it becomes a matter of having a record that is 
common to both races which will cover the aspects of the 
educational program to be offered in that area. In the past 
the records of colored children have differed from those of 
white children in course offerings. I am not necessarily say- 
[fol. 8] ing that the course need of a negro child is differ­
ent from that of a white. It is just the educational problem 
of providing a good educational program. By tolerance, I 
mean tolerance of the problems of administration, of fi­
nance, of selection of teachers, and all problems that relate 
to a school. (93-95.)

School finances are affected by shifting of population, the 
increase of school children, need of greater facilities and 
more teachers, and every problem in the school budget. It 
has nothing to do with integration, but it has to do with a 
quality program. We now have enough money to build the 
high school in question. At present we have two academic 
and one technical high school. We have six junior high



schools. We have enough junior high schools to put them 
physically in the seats, but not enough to educate them. (96- 
98)

There is a great difference in taking a child and putting 
him in a seat in the school and providing the required edu­
cational program. When you get him in the seat your prob­
lem has just started. Physically providing a seat is no as­
surance of an educational program. All of the attendant 
problems begin at that point when you try to hold to your 
standards of education.

Q. “ Is it your suggestion to the Court that integration 
of the schools is going to lower the standards of your 
schools?

A. “ Integration of the court can, if it is unwisely done 
or hastily done.

Q. “ In other words, if i t ’s done too hastily, it will lower 
standards ?

A. “ Yes, sir, that is my opinion.
Q. “ Tell us how.
A. “ All right, sir. At the present time, Mr. Tate, the 

range of I. Q. in the colored race in Little Rock School Dis­
trict is from 50 to 140. In the white race i t ’s from 50 to 150. 
The average I. Q. is 90 in the colored race and 104 in the 
white. Now, the educational achievement of the white race, 
because of centuries of culture and opportunity and all of 
that behind them has given them an advantage. Now they 
have that advantage. Now the school must begin with the 
child where he is, not where we would like for him to be, 
and that’s where the problem begins.” (99-100)

We do have whites at 50 and 140 and we do have colored 
at 50 and 140, but when it comes to the practical side of do­
ing the school program you would he affected because when 
[fob 9] you do to grouping thirty children in a classroom 
and you have some of them in one extreme and some in the 
other, you can give the teacher an impossible task unless it 
is done right. Here we are dealing with 21,000 pupils and 
not one pupil. (99-101)

Seven days after the plan was adopted the Supreme 
Court gave the definition we were waiting for. It called for



“ all deliberate speed,” and not “ immediately” . Since May 
31, 1955, we have done a great many things which have al­
ready been discussed. I have talked to groups who have di­
verse interests. I have talked to colored groups who asked 
for integration day before yesterday; I have had other 
groups asking that we never integrate, and then I have the 
middle-of-the-roaders.

Q. “ That is just a matter of desire, but as far as your 
program is concerned to educate the public, do you look 
with interest toward a colored child any different than you 
do toward a white child as far as education is concerned!

A. “ I hope not. Because I do not, that is why I am 
pressing for this plan. ’ ’ (102-104)

In my opinion it is ill-advised to begin the program with 
inadequate facilities. The inadequacy of the West End 
High School was one which was first apparent. We have in­
adequacies also now in the elementary level as pointed out 
by the auditorium rooms, basement rooms, all of which re­
flect over-crowding. Over-crowding is a spasmodic thing 
which varies from one time to another. We should [hot] 
add the problem of over-crowding to the problems of a 
poorly planned curriculum and changed situation and 
changed attendance areas. The teachers have enough to 
cope with as it is.

Q. “ I see. So that you are saying that the mere putting 
of a negro child in a certain school with a white child creates 
an administrative problem, is that right?

A. “ Not one, but the group that we deal with, the total 
population. I cannot look at one child. I have got to look 
at 21,000.

Q. “ All right, then if you say that putting 9,000 colored 
kids in a mixture of—if you say putting 5,484 negro children 
with 16,242 white children that would create an administra­
tive problem ?

A. “ Yes, sir, I do.
Q. “ You say that would be true today?
A. “ Yes, sir, tomorrow or the next day.



10

[fol. 10] Q. “ So that no matter how long you wait you 
are going to have the same problem?

A. “ Yes, sir.
Q. “ So that the waiting doesn’t help you'?
A. “ Oh, no, I would not agree to that. The waiting 

gives time for understanding, for program planning, for 
the specific needs, for curriculum, the provision of the 
facilities, the training of the teachers, the meeting of the 
myriad problems of administration. (102-106)

Q. “ So that your primary interest is in maintaining the 
standard rather than obeying the court, is that right!

A. “ No, it is not. My primary interest is to obey the 
law and to protect those standards in the interest of all 
children. (107)

Q. “ So how is the completion of West End High School 
going to affect the attendance of the negro children in the 
public schools ?

A. “ It is going to affect it in that the whites will be 
pulled out. The programs will be planned for the different 
areas. You are assuming in each instance that we are just 
going to offer the same program, and you are assuming 
that we are going to integrate for the sake of integration 
and completely ignore the responsibility of a School Board 
for a quality program. You want to integrate for in­
tegration’s sake. (110)

Q. “ Now you said that one of the theories that you 
worked on is the selection and procurement and training of 
an adequate staff to implement this program. Have you 
selected your staff so far?

A. “ Yes, sir, not for complete integration. We are 
working at the job.

Q. “ I see. May I ask you, sir, what different situations 
arise in selecting a staff for an integrated system that 
wouldn’t arise in selecting for a segregated system?

A. “ Well, white teachers have never in the history of 
our State taught colored children. That is a completely 
new problem—“ Are you willing to teach colored children?” 
That is a problem that has arisen because of integration. 
It has to be handled. It has to be handled in their train­
ing, and integration brought that problem and nothing else.



11

Q. “ Have you faced that problem!
A. “ Yes, we are trying to face it.
Q. “ Have yon solved i t !
A. “ No, (117)
Q. “ Have you integrated your teachers!
A. “ As far as classroom assignments, no; as far as 

working on this problem in preparation for it, yes. (119)
Q. “ Now, Item 9, you say you find it necessary to pro­

vide “ in-service” training programs for your staff. Have 
you started your in-service program yet!

A. “ Yes, we have. (120)
ffol. 11] Q. “ Yes, sir, but Dr. Blossom, I still am not 
clear on whether you are saying it is harder to teach a 
stupid colored child than it is to teach a stupid white child!

A. “ No, I am not, but I am saying that when the stupid 
ones or the bright ones come in numbers because of integra­
tion, your problem is entirely different.

Q. “ Then are you saying that integration is going to 
increase the number of stupid children!

A. “ No.
Q. “ Well, what are you saying, sir!
A. “ I am saying that there is a displacement of chil­

dren. That in creating teachable groups, integration itself 
changes the very structure of your school system when you 
put them together, and the problem is much greater in 
creating a group of youngsters that could be taught by a 
teacher.” (122)

It is the job of the teacher in the classroom to group 
these children and our policies are to have no more than 
three groups of youngsters from grade 1 to 6 that a teacher 
has to deal with in a classroom. When you go up in the 
junior high school, our school program begins to be de­
partmentalized, and the problems are entirely different. 
We commence to approach them on a single teacher basis.

Q. “ All right, but now will the mixing of the races 
alone affect that!

A. “ Yes, sir, it will, my friend; yes, sir, it will.
Q. “ Then how will delaying integration alleviate it!
A. “ It will give us time to know where we are going. 

The size of this problem is just big enough to take that 
much time. (123)



12

Q. “ So that what you are saying is that you don’t know 
when you are going to get around to integrating, do you?

A. “ No, I am not saying that at all. 1 am saying that 
we in these phases are going to do this job and I am saying 
that by this program it is faster than a grade at a time 
program, and I am saying that it is about as expeditious 
a way as this can be done in this community and safeguard 
the principles of integrating* the schools and protecting the 
quality and standards of our educational program.” (129)

I cannot see any reason for making a distinction as to 
Technical High School. Our problem is that of education 
in all three. They should be considered in the same light 
and should be started at the same time. (132)

I was given the assignment to prepare a plan of integra­
tion and you cannot prepare any plan unless you know all 
[fob 12] the facts of life, and I could not know the facts 
without locating all the children. It is just basic common 
sense to know all there is about a problem. Race does not 
have anything to do with it, but the school program has 
everything to do with it; your school budget, your facili­
ties and everything concerned. Our school is organized on 
a six-three-three program of education. Six year elemen­
tary, three year junior high, and three year senior high. 
Now, we not only have to know where the children live but 
what grade level they are in so that we could determine the 
teachers needed, the classrooms needed, etc. It is just like 
getting all the facts you need to make a decision. Our 
problem is in creating teachable groups. (135-137)

Q. “ Then, are you saying that it is not harmful—the 
Court said that segregated schools are inherently unequal?

A. “ That’s right.
Q. “ Then, are you saying that continuing segregation 

is not a continuation of inequality?
A. “ I am saying that those children in this particular 

area, with the same program of text books, instructional 
material, superior facilities, equally prepared teachers, are 
not actually harmed in a program of delay that is based on 
a phase program of integration that is developed in the



13

public interest and in the welfare of all children, it does 
not harm them actually.” (138)

Horace Mann School was established as a negro high 
school in 1956 because we feel that it is essential in the 
public interest and the welfare of the whole program to 
begin a phase program of integration in which we have a 
curricular program that is unique for an individual attend­
ance area. The attendance area of Horace Mann is citv- 
wide right now. If we integrate, it would be drawn down 
to a geographic area that would call for a different pro­
gram and cause it to be premature to this plan and the 
welfare of everybody. (139)

Q. “ All right, sir, you said that integrating the public 
schools in the South is one of the most difficult problems 
that education had ever faced!

A. “ That’s right.
Q. “ Do you think that the problem is difficult is one of 

the reasons why you want a little time!
A. “ No, sir, I do not. We have tried to spell it out for 

you. We made the statement very clear that the delay is 
not for delay; the delay is for a good job in the interest of 
all children.
[fob 13] Q. “ When you say “ in the interest of all 
children,” are you thinking of all children, white and 
colored, as a composite!

A. “ Yes.
Q. “ I see. And you say that a delay is to the best in­

terest of the colored children!
A. “ T would say that the delay is to the best interest of 

all children.” (140)
Q. “ At that point we were talking about the economic 

spread in the negro and white groups. Is it your conten­
tion that the economic spread in white and colored groups 
is so vastly different as to handicap you in your program 
of integration?

A. “ In many areas, yes.” (146)

The socio-economic background in any person, whether 
he be colored or white, affects his achievement. It is a 
foregone conclusion that there is a difference in the tw7o 
races. When you have a concentration in either race it



14

affects the program as reflected in the achievement that 
comes in the lives of the youngsters in school, and that in 
itself presents problems for us in planning, in curriculum 
changes, etc. We have the very poor among the whites 
and also among the colored. It is a matter of percentage 
that makes the difference.

We have not solicited the advice of any groups in this 
area. We have had requests from extremists and from 
middle-of-the-roaders. We have told all of them that we 
would like for them to accept their responsibilities as citi­
zens to help on this job and that we would accept the re­
sponsibility which was ours. That has been our policy. 
(146-148)

Q, “ Will one of your tests of success be the community 
acceptance of this program?

A. “ No. No, that is not a part.” (149)