Defense Fund Wins Victory for Crawfordville Negroes 2

Press Release
October 16, 1965

Defense Fund Wins Victory for Crawfordville Negroes 2 preview

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  • Press Releases, Volume 3. Defense Fund Wins Victory for Crawfordville Negroes 2, 1965. ece50d5f-b692-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/9cf59da2-5551-4fd3-8837-993a63077f02/defense-fund-wins-victory-for-crawfordville-negroes-2. Accessed April 06, 2025.

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    10 Columbus Circle 
New York, N.Y. 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 

President 
Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

ae cae October 16, 1965 

DEFENSE FUND WINS VICTORY 
FOR CRAWFORDVILLE NEGROES 

Court Orders State to Resolve School Desegregation Issue 

AUGUSTA, GA.--A three-judge federal court here this week ordered 

the State Board of Education to resolve the school desegregation 

issue that has resulted in days of demonstrations in Crawfordville, 

Ga. 

The Tal ferro County School system, brovght before the court 

by the ~~ Defense and Educational Fund, was placed in 

receivership, and the State Board of Education named receiver. 

The receivership or bankruptcy action, an oddity in cases of 

this type, places responsibility for directing the school system 

in the hands of the state board under the court's supervision. 

In New York, Jack Greenberg, Legal Defense Fund director- 

counsel, said the court's action "should be a signal to the 

country." 

"Tokenism and evasion in school desegregation are top items 

on the agenda of the Negro community," he said. 

"If school boards and the Department of Health, Education 

and Welfare, which must approve their plans, acquiesce in paper 

compliance, the Negro man in the street is going to protest 

loudly and vigorously and the courts are going to protect him and 

back him up in that protest." 

"The only way to conclude the school desegregation problem 

is to conclude it swiftly and conclude it right," Mr. Greenberg 

added. 

Stephens Institute, the county's only white school, was 

closed prior to the school year rather than desegregate. White 

pupils had been bussed to schools in two adjoining counties. 

more 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 Seo 



DEFENSE FUND WINS VICTORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
FOR CRAWFORDVILLE NEGROES Teo October 16, 1965 

The ‘court! s puling affects 87 Negro children who applied 

for transfer to Stephens before they learned of its closing. 

Atty. Howard Moore, Jr. of Atlanta, one of the Legal Defense 

Fund lawyers who took the case before the tribunal, said the - 

state board's alternatives will be to allow the Negro children 

to be bussed to other counties as are the whites, or to reopen 

Stephens Institute. 

The court gave the state board until Oct. 25 to report what 

course it will take. 

The court also granted a Legal Defense Fund motion to enjoin 

prosecution of several Negro and white civil rights activists 

who were arrested during recent protest demonstrations in 

Crawfordville. 

$ 
Legal Defense Fund lawyers contend that the arrests were od 

designed as harassment for civil rights activities. Bi 
Oy ae 

Crawfordville Negroes agreed to suspend demonstrations until 

the issue of desegregated education for Negro children is resolved. 

sy 

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