Miscellaneous Clippings (Folder)

    16-C C b f Atlanta gnurnal and CQNSTm TION SUNDAY. FEBRUARY 18, 1979.

Atlanta Continued From Page 1-C

The two views, far from conliicting, are com­
plementary, They look at the same coin from 
opposite sides — from that of the old order 
and the advancing guard, from north Atlanta 
and south; from the side that has something to 
lose, and the one that has much to gain.

One of the few points that they concede 
to each other — and even then for different 
reasons — is that there are two Atlantas.

That is not an indictment of Atlanta. It 
Simply means that the place once known as 
“the world’s  next great city” has something in 
common with the rest of urban America.

Yet there is a sense here that Atlanta 
-w asn ’t supposed to be that way — not for 
'blacks or for whites. There is a buoyant, some- 
» times boosterish perception that Atlanta is 
Thniquely equipped with the resources for the 
Jnterracial Good Society.

The shared affection for the city among 
■•people of both races is viewed as the leavening 
'Jthat could eventually pull black and white 
.^ tlantans into a full partnership.
>  But in some cases, it has caused bitter 
^disappointments. Newcomers of both races 
^ h o  have read about the “city too busy to 
^ a t e ” say they are surprised once they get 
‘  here to find city life so segregated. One black 
jTicwcomer sneers about Atlanta’s “alleged
• amage.”

The image grew from the 1950s and 
H;1960s when Atlanta, unlike her southern neigh- 
• ^ r s ,  bad an enlightened white leadership that 
-Impt up communications with the city’s black 
; leaders — mainly the black aristocracy — on 

an array of public concerns.
The large black middle class then and 

;now had the institutional support of Atlanta 
University Center, a five-college educational 
«nd professional resource for Ute black com- 
dnunity unparalleled in other southern cities.

'Then came the election of Mayor May­
nard Jackson in 1973. He was the first black 

•'^elected to the top post in a major southern 
•city and his election enhanced the city’s pro- 

1 gressive image among outsiders. From within 
,”Atlanta's black community, it was viewed as 
the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow —

• the chance for slices of the economic pie.
In the public sector, Jackson h ^  gener- 

’ ated visible black advances. ’Through his joint 
•' venture and affirmative-action programs to 

extend city contracts to black businesses, the 
percentage of city contract funds going to 

.minority-owned firms has risen from 2 percent 
in 1972 to almost 25 percent in 1977.

In City Hall, the managerial positions 
Jicld by blacks rose from 19 percent to 28 pcr- 

' cent in Jackson’s first term, and 45 percent of 
' h is appointments to cabinet-level and bureau
- director’s posts went to minorities.
r “Anybody who says Maynard hasn’t
- helped the black person’s position in Atlanta’s 

economy has been asleep or can’t see,” says
;Cordy, one of a small, but growing group of
• black entrepreneurs who have won city con- 
' tracts since Jackson’s election. “He has defi- 
; nitely made a difference as far as minority

businesses go.”
Yet when the score was called early this 

month in a study of black and white participa-
• tion in the Atlanta economy, the black position 

j;till appeared dismally Weak.
- The report released by Jan Douglass,
; head of Atlanta's Community Relations Com-
Imission surveyed 53 white-owned corporations, 
representative of the city’s power structure, 
and found that blacks held only three of 458

• positions on their governing boards.
Millionaire businessman Jesse Hill, the 

first black president of the Chamber of Com- 
■fnerce, held two of the posts, and Cordy held 

, Jhe other one.
The findings reflect the gap between 

•everage black and white income, which the 
D 970 census reported at |14,150 for whites and 
,'$7,300 for blacks. The 1980 census is expected 
■to show an even wider gap.

The report said the board room study 
"seems like statistics from the 1950s and not 
the progress one would expect from a bustling 
and growing metropolis of the 1980s.”

The finding sent squirms of discomfort 
tlirough the white community, particularly in 

-business sectors. Some said it simply went too 
^ a r , too fast, that blacks were asking for too 
•wnuch, that corporate board rooms are no 
t^lace for social engineering.

There was also a more anguished re­
sponse from the considerable sector of down­
town white business leadership that sees a 
movement, although halting, toward a more 

■equitable sharing of power.
Corporate boards turn over once in a 

generation, while city hails can change every 
four years, they said. “If I were a minority, I’d 
expect more progress on ail fronts,” says the 
•chamber’s Hammal. “But I just don’t think it 
happens that way. It is a more gradual proc- 

:.ess. It is happening and it will come.”
Meanwhile, the report was greeted with 

’little surprise in the black community, where 
.* it was widely cited as proof that “institutional
• racism” still keeps blacks under white thumbs 
' in Atlanta.

"I really don’t think white men plot to
• keep their boards all white,” says Kay 
: McKenzie, a prominent northsider with strong' 
; liberal credentials, whose husband is a Georgia

Power executive. “I know some of them are 
looking now for black members, but in the 
past, they have looked to the people they know 

. through business and social experience. And 
those are white men.”

Even as the debate goes on, there is a 
growing group of Atlantans who do not take 
part in it — the underclass.

They are the poor, huddled into the city’s 
ghettos and its 15,252 public housing units, 

; where the battles against rats, r o a c l^  dis- 
; ease, drugs and death take precedence over 

questions about who owns what in downtown 
' Atlanta.

Almost all of them are black, but they 
make up a separate division within black

• Atlanta, perhaps so separate from the black 
^middle class that they constitute a third 
Atlanta. They are a testimony to the percep­
tion that economic status is becoming at least 

^  much of a divider as race.
While the black middle class with educa­

tional and professional credentials has ad- 
.vanced significantly, many of the poor see few 
changes as a result of a City Hall run by a 
mayor of their race. They have gained little 

'Jpride from the election of a black chamber of 
Tcommerce president.

“What joint venture is all about is a few 
tbiack people who are already businessmen 

while the welfare rolls grow,” says Dr. Charles 
^King, who started Urban Crisis Inc. to study 
.'and treat interracial tensions, “The politicians 

Save to stay in power and so they have to
• compromise, diluting their black intensity. 
This ^ s n ’t explained to the l ^ k  masses.

Staff Photo—Bitty Dowr»
BLACKS AND WHITES WORK TOGETHER ON GEORGU POWER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION 

(L-R) Sam Dumas, Richard Johoson, Jim Davis and Bob Hughes

They heard the promises and they expected to 
be rescued."

The result has been a growing alienation 
of the poor from the more prosperous Atlan­
tans of both races. Ethel Matthews, president 
of the Fulton County welfare rights organiza­
tion and a former domestic, says she distrusts 
both the white and black middle classes.

“Poor blacks are discriminated against 
by whites and blacks,” says the mother of 10 
who arrived here 30 years ago from an Ala­
bama plantation. “Some rich blacks will crush 
you more than some whites. I watch the white 
man and I also watch the black man. Because 
when you are in a certain class, you have to 
watch them.”

She speaks of vast improvements in race 
relations since she arrived, but adds, “even if 
you find some good white folks, it’s difficult to 
trust them b^ause you’re always thinking 
about what your forefathers had to go up 
against.”

Personal relationships are beside the 
point, says the Rev. Hosea Williams, field 
organizer for the late Dr. Martin Luther King 
Jr. during the civil rights movement, and the 
persistent standard bearer of Atlanta’s “have 
nots.”

“Personally, I have the best race rela­
tions of anybody in Atlanta,” says Williams, 
who has led pickets of many downtown busi­
nesses, demanding more jobs and support of 
black institutions.

He speaks of a conspiracy of the white 
power structure and the black middle class 
against the poor, calling Jackson and other 
black leaders who have establishment white 
support “pawns” of the white economic 
powers.

“The whites have now put blacks into the 
position the white oppressors previously held,” 
be says, his raspy voice rising to preacher’s 
heights. “They don’t beat your head anymore, 
but now you’ve got less opportunity to survive 
in the system. If they whup me on my head, it 
puts a knot on my head, but it goes away. If 
they force me to live as a second<lass citizen 
and dehumanize me, it puts a knot on my life.”

“The black middle class!” Williams ex­
claims in exasperatioa “They really don't be­
lieve they’re black. They talk about art rather 
than the rats and roaches in the projects. They 
don’t want to eat at Paschals anymore, they 
go to the Midnight Sun___

“Atlanta always been the home of the 
richest and most powerful Uncle Toms in 
America.” When asked to name them, he re­
fused: “I’ve gotten too Uncle Tom myself to 
call their names.”

Williams is often discounted among both 
blacks and whites as a “rabble roliser,” but in 
the recent indictment of City Councilman Ar­
thur Langford, his cries of racially inspired 
persecution gained currency throughout the 
establishment black community.

“It’s a sign of how insecure the com­
munity is, how tentative the gains feel,” says a 
close Jackson associate. “The slide down is so 
much faster than the climb up.”

The question marks still loom large. As 
an era of shortages advances on the entire na­
tion, will the shrinking pie become the basis of 
racially inspired competition and hostilities in 
Atlanta? Are the historic fears and suspicions 
still alive enough to be fanned?

In short, could Atlanta be rocked with bit­
ter racial violence like older, northern coun­
terparts have experienced in the last decade?

Atlantans of both races say the city’s 
strongest antidote to that sort of polarization 
lies with the white business leadership, which 
holds the purse strings.

Despite regular confrontations and cool­
ings off between City Hall and major 
downtown business leaders, there appears to 
be a growing acceptance of each otter — not 
necessarily as separate forces, but as potential 
partners.

“Atlanta has a unique ingredient,” says 
contractor Tom Cordy, who does not mince 
words in criticizing the drags on minority busi­
ness advancement. “We have a white business 
community that will listen to black business­
men. As long as we have the lines of com­
munication open, we have a chance.”

Time is running out, though,' leaders of 
both races tend to agree. Segregated housing 
patterns, together with white flight, have left 
the city’s public schools with only 10 percent 
white enrollraenL

As they assess the seriousness of the 
city’s racial problems, black and white Atlan­
tans again perceive vastly different trends 
from their separate communities. Their disa­
greement could have grave implications:

“Things are getting better,” says Dan 
Sweat, executive director of the powerful busi­
ness group, Central Atlanta Progress. "They're 
just getting more complicated,”

Morehouse’s Dr. Anna Grant expects, 
however, to see "some real frustration with 
the escalating cost of living and attrition of 
human services. The factories and the jobs are 
out in the suburbs and the hard core poor are 
in the city, without access.

“Once upon a time, poor people were 
very humble. But now they feel they are enti­
tled to some of these services. They're more 
demanding. We could have some serious prob­
lems, any city could.”



A Place to Live or a Place to Exist?

Slje A tla n ta  S o u m a l
THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION

SUNDAY , FEBRUARY 1 8 , 1 9 7 9 Petspcctive SECTION

W hat is it like to live in Atlanta? Is the quality of life 
here better or worse than other cities in the country? Is 
Atlanta really the "world’s next great city" or is it just 
another of America’s troubled urban centers?

A team of Atlanta Journal reporters has taken a 
serious look at the city to try to answer those 
questions. They looked at 10 areas —  race, housing, 
education, crime, health, transportation, environment, 
entertainment, government and economy.

What they found will probably trouble the city’s 
boosters and surprise its detractors. This first 
installment is about race relations.

The series will run each Sunday in the Perspective 
section.

R  o ’ c l o c k  Blacks and whites in Atlanta work together throughout the day, but
^  ^  when S o’clock conies, they go their separate ways. The photos aboveW orld  and below are extreme situations, but they illustrate the point.

POPULATION

By DALE RUSSAKOFF
And JOE GREEN
Jounvif Staff Writers
“I  feel that Atlanta can take real pride in the field o f race relations. ”

— Whitenortbside Atlanta woman-

"There’s  always ‘good race relations’ when whites are in control of. 
blocks **

— The Rev. Hosea Williams

It’s no coincidence that blacks and whites here speak of Atlanta as if they 
live in two different cities.

They do.
Each has its power center downtown — one in Atlanta City Hall and the 

other in the city’s private corporate board rooms. One holds the city’s political 
reins, tee other its purse strings.

Neither can survive without tee other, and during tee day, they mingle 
freely — in offices, over lunch, on tee streets, in task force meetings. One-on- 
one, they are perhaps as comfortable with each other as are blacks and whites 
anywhere in the United States.

But by five o’clock tee separate worlds reassert themselves. Blacks go 
home to Atlanta’s south side, whites to tee north, bote acutely aware of what 
they have — and what they don’t.

The race issue has faded in public intensity, but it continues to fix its 
stam p on every social pattern in Atlanta — housing, schooling, employment, 
social life, politics. It is so historically woven into tee city’s fabric that it is at 
work even when it seems not to be there a t all.

“You have a black community teat controls the political power and a 
white community teat controls tee economic power. And we’ve not agreed yet 
on how we should proceed to share with each other,’’ says Tom Hamall, execu­
tive vice president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Hamall says “yet” often as he dis­
cusses race  relations in the South’s 
premier city. He perceives a  natural 
and steady, if slow, move toward true 
integration — economic and social.

Tom Cordy, a young and accom­
plished black mechanical contractor 
and native Atlantan, speaks with less 
optimism. He says major lending and 
bonding institutions were closed to him 
unUl recently, despite his business’ suc­
cessful track record. _ _

“Nobody is going to give up power 
voluntarily. You either take it or you 
don’t get it,” says Cordy, who sits on 
the board of First Georgia Bank, the 
first black to do so.

In dozens of interviews, black and 
white Atlantans diverged aiong racial 
lines as they discussed perceptions of 
their city. Even the sociologists — who 
study the same statistics and social 
relations — come up with different per­
spectives.

Dr. Anna Grant, chairman of the 
Morehouse sociology department, notes 
the black political gains, but speaks 
more of an Atlanta plagued by “institu­
tional rac ism ” — nearly exclusive 
white dominance of private institutions 
like the banks, tee media and utilities.

Dr. Fred Crawford, working across 
town at Emory University’s Center for 
Research in Social Change, notes the 
historic drags pn black advancement 
but concludes, “I think blacks now have 
so much they ought to count the suc­
cesses — economic opportunity, jobs, 
independence, equality.”

Whites, regardless of their political 
persuasions, speak of how far blacks 
have come; blacks single out the barri­
ers still blocking their paths.

Whites point to a black mayor, 
black top police officials, black school 
board leaders and — until his term 
ended recently — a black Chamber of 
Commerce president. Many of teem say 
blacks have “taken over the city.”

Most blacks interviewed say they 
suspect a white plot to “take tee city 
back” politically. With 40 percent of tee 
population, white Atlantans own more 
than 95 percent of tee city’s wealth, ac­
cording to a recent study.

See ATLANTA Page 16-C

SCHOOLS

TOP-LEVEL  
CITY HALL JOBS

SHARE OF WEALTH



The independent weekly education newspaper published by the National School Public Relations Association

Washington, D.C./January 9, 1978 
Vol. 20, No. 19

etoetjem
Q  Who's getting what 

for how many under 
funding for handicap­
ped (p.l40)

O
monitor

3  Alaska court suit 
to test ambiguities in 
Lau "remedies" (p.l43)

MoAAy thcut too  
many zducatlonat 
A C A eoA cneA A  tiv&. vqa- 
b a tty  btyond thoAJi 
in toZ ltctiiaJi mtan&.^

Ewald B. Nyquist

TRACKING AND NOT MONEY 
BIGGEST FACTOR IN COLLEGE ACCESS

"Pouring substantially more money" into student aid 
for higher education probably won't make much, of a dif­
ference in who gets to college in the long run. What 
could significantly influence college attendance is a 
better understanding of the tracking systems in high 
schools. These are some of the conclusions of a review 
of almost 40 studies on access to college, based on data 
from the National Longitudinal Study (NLS) of the 1972 
high school class. There have been three follow-up sur­
veys of the more than 23,000 graduates selected for the 
sample. The long-term research project is sponsored by 
the National Center for Education Statistics.

Motivation, parental expectations and a student's 
perceptions of the value of a college education are major 
determinants of college enrollment. And money is not as 
important as is generally supposed, according to a recent 
issue of Educational Researcher (Vol. 6, No. 11). "The 
class factor in college access is the end product of a ' 
host of deficits that^ in fact, probably begin to accu­
mulate before a child enters first grade," write research­
ers Samuel Peng, J.P. Bailey Jr. and Bruce Eland.

So far, the NLS shows that the effects of sex and 
race differences in attending college are declining. When 
social class and scholastic aptitude are controlled, 
blacks of both sexes are more likely than whites to attend 
college. Men are still more likely to attend college than 
women, although this is not true for blacks. The pervasive 
factor, the researchers emphasize, is social class, which 
operates independent of other variables. "Even if a stu­
dent from a lower socioeconomic class had good grades and 
high aptitude and was enrolled in an academic curriculum," 
thej say, "his/her chances of going to college were still 
subst^atially less than an upper middle-class student with 
the same credentials."

V.licn compared to previous studies, the NLS indicates 
that the rate of enrollment at (cont. on last page)

f'jjKl 19.'5 -Njfionjl StLooI fufjl 137



EDUCATION U .S .A . The Independent 
Weekly Education Newspaper. Published 
each Monday by the National School Pub­
lic Relations Association, 1801 N. Moore 
St., Arlington, Va. 22209. Second-class 
postage paid at Arlington, Va. Index twice 
yearly. Suliscriplion price $39 a year. 
Address editorial and subscription corre­
spondence to EDUCATION U.S.A. Tcle- 

• phones: Editors: (703) 528-6560. Subscrip­
tion Desk: (703) 528-6771.
Editorial D irecto r: John H . W herry 
Executive Ed ito r: Anne C . Lewis 

’ Associate Ed ito r: David C . Savage 
Sen io r Ed ito r: jenny M cAllister 
Research A ssistant: Janet Eaffy 
Contributing Editors: Robert W . Cole, B. 
Rodney Davis, Peggy Odell Gonder, J. 
W illiam  Jones, George N eill, Shirley Boes 
N eill, Robert Olds, Rose Marie Scott-Blair.

Staff: Editorial Services, Cynthia Menand; 
Business Services, Mildred S. Wainger; 
Production Services, Deborah Lucckese.
Cooperating Organizations. EDUCATION 
U.S.A . is published in cooperation with 
the American Assn, of School Adminis­
trators, American Assn, of School Li­
brarians, Assn, for Supervision and Cur­
riculum Development, Assn, of School 
Business Officials of the United States 
and Canada, Council of Chief Slate School 
Officers, National Assn, of Elementary 
School Principals, National Assn, of Sec­
ondary School Principals, National Assn, 
of Slate Boards of Education and National 
Congress of Parents and Teachers.
Microfilm editions from University Micro­
films, 3(X) N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, Mich. 
48106.

Tracking Biggesl Factor

(cont. from first page) two-year junior and com­
munity colleges almost doubled in a decade. Enrollment 
in four-year colleges declined slightly, and there was 
a marked decline at vocational-technical schools. The 
degree of selectivity at the colleges also makes a dif­
ference. Most of the black students (71%) attending four- 
year colleges enroll at those that do not have strict 
selectivity standards. This complicates the problem of 
equality of educational opportunity, according to the re­
searchers. "If the majority of blacks or other ethnic 
minorities are enrolling in institutions in which the 
prospects for personal advancement or career development 
are substantially lower than average, then focusing only 
on total enrollment rates can be misleading," they say.

The research shows that hiah school tracking is the 
single most powerful predictor of college attendance. It 
is not surprising that students in academic high school 
programs are more likely to attend college, but various 
studies also substantiate that non-academic programs def­
initely have the effect of negative labeling and stigma­
tizing. Students in these tracks have lower class rank, 
math achievement scores and self-concepts and less contact 
with peers who are college-bound. "An adequate understand­
ing of who goes ̂ to college ultimately requires understand­
ing far more than we do at present about the Internal 
structuring of the high school curriculum and what social 
forces guide students into one track or another," the re­
searchers emphasize. And an equally disturbing finding 
in the study is that a larger number of highly able stu­
dents, as determined by the verbal SAT, do not attend 
college, compared to a decade ago. Hopefully, say the 
researchers, further NLS analysis will find out if this 
talent has been lost to society or has found other outlets.

O

o

EDUCATION U.S.A ./January 9,1978

!)N U.S.A.
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Pulilishcd by National School Public Relations Association 
1801 North M oore Slieet 
Arlington, V irg in ia 22209

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20005 O



Library of Congress

In the Shadow of Southern History
By Eli Evans

Some years ago, during my first few  
days in New York, I was driving up 
Third Avenue when a car forced me 
over to  the curb. I prickled with that 
rush of fear o f random violence that 
new  arrivals instinctively fee! in the 
big city. The window rolled down so 
that I could see a  black couple with  
kids piled in the back seat. The man 
hollered in an unmistakable accent, 
“Hey, man, where in North Carolina 
y ’air from?” “Durham,” I answered, 
relieved to know that it w as only my 
license plate that had attracted his 
attention. “We’re from Rocky Mount,” 
he said. “Sure is  good to  see some 
home folks.” We laughed and the kids 
waved goodbye.

I haven’t thought much about that 
incident since then, but it came back 

1 to  me recently during a trip to  Nash- 
Y r tle , where a white bus driver reacted 
\to  the mention of New York City 
w obiefus. “Let ’em squirm,” he said.

they can’t pay their bills, to hell 
w ^  'em. Let ’em just go into bank­
ruptcy like they deserve.” 

w  most Southerners and members 
of Congress too. New York City is a 
seetiging center of ethnic conflicts, 
briinrt^ing with corruption, narcotics, 
garbage and crime.

But to e  folks down home are labor­
ing under a m assive misconception. 
The truth is. New York City and the 
.Smith are linked by history into a 
permanent relationship that adds enor­
mous irony to  the current one-sided 
discussion of urban problems.

A major domestic political issue of 
the Carter Presidency is whether non- 
urban Representatives and Senators 
can be persuaded to  help break the 
downward spiral of the major Ameri­
can cities. Sweeping welfare reform, 
changes in housing policy, and the rest 
o f the urban agenda will always have 
to  struggle to attract Southern and 
Midwestern votes in Congress unless 
funds for cities are coupled with pro­
grams for rural areas.

But urban ills and rural discontent 
are rarely related in Congressional 
debates though migration connects 
them together, as tw o sides o f the 
same problem. Jimmy Carter won the 
Presidency with a unique coalition of 
Southern and Northern voters. They 
might be activated to support a com­

prehensive package of urban and rural 
programs based on a frank discussion  
o f the Southern roots of the urban 
crisis. »

Recently, a  Southern Regional 
Council Task Force on  Southern Rural 
Development (which included then 
Gov. Jimmy Carter and tw o future 
Cabinet officers— Commerce Secretary 
Juanita Kreps and Labor Secretary 
Ray Marshall) urged that the Federal 
Government formulate a national rural 
development policy, consolidate cur­
rent rural programs into a new agency 
or department and support a National 
Rural Development Bank aimed at 
small farmers and businesses in grow­
ing small towns. The report, entitled  
“Increasing the Options,” pointed out 
that 4.5 million blacks live below the 
poverty line in the 'South, more than 
half in nonmetropolitan areas. They 
are being lured to Southern and North­
ern cities, the report said, in a migra­
tion stream that connects rural non­
development to continuing urban 
problems. "To ignore one at the ex ­
pense of the other,” said Vanderbilt 
president Alexander Heard, the task  
force chairman, “is virtually to  guar­
antee that neither will be solved.”

The city cannot escape the shadow  
of Southern history and the statistics 
prove it. Since the Depression, the 
movement of blacks to  the North has 
represented one of the most massive 
movements of populations in American 
history. During the 1940’s, approxi­
mately 1.6 million blacks left the 
South; during the 1950’s, about 1.5 
million and during the 1960’s, about 
1.4 million. Most of the blacks came 
North in a state of despair. Depression 
farm prices plummeted at the same 
time mechanization in the cotton fields 
made black hands superfluous. The 
descendants of the freed slaves found 
them selves trapped in the new 20th- 
century slavery of unwanted labor and 
foreclosures.

They looked North for the same 
reason that European immigrants had 
flocked to New York City through the 
19th century —  blacks saw in its 
bustling streets and economic vitality 
the golden door of hope, the possibility 
of jobs, escape from the chains of 
hunger and poverty. To the ethnic 
immigrants from a generation earlier, 
the needs o f the black newcomers 
struck a deep response. The welfare

add-on of 25 percent that is a  major 
factor depleting the future of New  
York City today came from New  
York’s m ost generous impulses. The 
second generation of the Jewish and 
Catholic immigrants wanted to  insure 
that the new black immigrants would 
not have to  suffer the indignities of 
the world of their fathers.

Farm-to-city migration continues, 
but growing Dixie ghettos are the 
new destination. Even though welfare 
payments in New York City still ex­
ceed those in som e Southern states by 
a four-to-one ratio, 6D percent of all 
rural black migration is now going to  
Southern cities like Atlanta, New  
Orleans and Birmingham. The North­
ern big cities are not alone even if  
New York City’s troubles dominate 
the headlines.

Nor do the statistics always reflect 
realities. For the first time, in the pe­
riod between 1970-1975, for example, 
the Census Bureau reported a sharp 
drop-off in migration trends, with the 
number of blacks leaving the South 
about equal to the numbers returning. 
Experts believe, however, that middie- 
class and skilled blacks are going 
back to jobs in the booming Southern 
and Southwestern cities while the poor 
are still coming North from rural 
areas and small towns.

The migration is  not all black. 
Jimmy Carter remembers a boyhood 
in the struggling South when whites 
as well as blacks tried to eke out a 
living with a  plow and a lot of luck. 
He knows that millions of whites also 
fled to the urban centers from Ap­
palachia and the rural South—^more 
than 3 million since 1940.

The welfare problem, then, is a 
national crisis that deserves a 200-year 
perspective to  understand; it is a living 
descendant from the dark side o f  
America’s past. It is not only New York 
City’s problem nor is migration of the 
poor , just a black phenomenon. (In­
deed, the American urban problems 
created by migration from Puerto Rico 
and Mexico can also be viewed as a 
rural development issue.)

If the only solution to  New York 
City piobiems continues to be program 
cutbacks, rising taxes and fleeing in­
dustries (the Northeast lost 781,000 
manufacturing jobs between 1960- 
1975), the time will come when the

Northern cities will become the mod­
ern version of the rural shanties of 
the Depression-wrecked old South—  
oppressive, cold, uncaring and brutal 
for the millions o f people who have 
flocked here into a jobless chasm al­
m ost as barren o f opportunity as the 
land they left.

A small-town Southerner in the 
White House with political constitu­
encies both in the rural South and the 
big cities can proclaim that urban 
problems are one end of a  pipeline 
linked to rural poverty and cannot be 
solved piecemeal. Combining rural de­
velopment with urban initiatives 
would find a responsive audience 
among Southern Congressmen who are 
growing more sensitive to  the rising 
numbers o f black voters.

An effective rural-urban coalition In 
Congress will influence the decisions 
in millions of families, both for those 
people now in the rural South who 
might migrate to cities North and 
South, and for those in New York 
Detroit, Chicago— black and white—  
who might even choose the option of 
going home if given half a chance.

Eli Evans, author of "The Provincials: 
A Personal History of Jews in the 
South," Will become president of the 
Charles H. Revson Foundation in Oc­
tober.



THE N E W  YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, DECEMBER It, 1977

Fund Backs Controversial Study of ‘Racial Betterment’
By GRACE LICHTENSTEIN

A private trust fund based in New York 
has for more than 20 y e a n  supported 
highly controversial research by a dozen 
scientists who believe that blacks are 
genetically less intelligent than whites.

The Pioneer Fund, a tax-exem pt foun­
dation incorporated in 1937 for the ex­
press purpose of research into “racial 
betterment," was worth more than $2 
million, according to  its 1975 Internal 
Revenue Service return. Yet several offi­
cers of the leading geneticists' profession­
al organization say they never heard of 
it. A month-long study of the Pioneer 
Fund’s activities by The New York Times 
shows it has given at least $179,000 over 
the last 10 years to Dr. William B. Shock- 
ley, a  leading proponent of the theory 
that whites are inherently more intelli­
gent than blacks.

Tt>e money w as paid through Stanford 
University, where Professor Shockley 
was a Noire! Prize-winning professor of 
engineering science, as well as through 
his own personal foundation—a custom­
ary method of foundation disbursement.

Another major beneficiary is  Dr. Arthur 
R. Jensen, an educational p^chologjst 
at -the University o f California, whose 
article iti 1969 (theorizing that intelHgraioe 
was hereditary touched o ff a furor over 
the value o f compensatory education for 
disadvantaged black students.

Some Others Who Got Grants
Dr. Travis Osborn o f the Univeraity 

o f Georgia, Dr. Frank C. J. McGurk and 
Dr. Audrey Shuey are other well-known 
researchers in the sam e area w ho got 
Pioneer grants.

Two researchers known to  le w  special­
ists in the genetics field. Dr. Roger Pear­
son and Dr. Ralph Scott, also »>t sub­
stantial grants, which they decUned to  
discuss. Neither man is a geneticist.

Theories o f racial linfefioriw pursued 
by Pioneer’s staff o f researchers have 
been widely diiscredited in recent years, 
some data d evelop ^  by Cyril Burt, a 
British scdenitist, which had underpinned 
the theory, are now alleged ,by leading 
geneticists to be without scientific value.

In addition, at least one major assooia- 
tion of professional geneticists has pub­
licly decried the -use o f what it regards 
as questionable material on heredity and 
race to  buttress political positions.

However, Burke Judd, former secretary 
of the Genetics Society of America, and 
Hope Punnett, secretary of the American 
Society of Human Genetics, said that in 
principle they were in favor o f any legiti­
mate genetics research, even w hen it en­
compasses what some feel is an extrem e 
point o f view.

“If you really believe in open research 
you’ve got to  let these people do their 
‘research’ and then let the rest Of us 
question It,” said Dr. Punnett. She said 
she did not take either Dr. Jensen or Dr. 
Schockley "too seriously” because she 
did not think they had developed good 
scientific Informatum to  support their 
theories.

Some Are Emtwrratted
Other colleges that have accepted 

Pioneer grants for "eugenics and hered­
ity” research include the University of 
Callfomla at Berkeley, Univeraty of 
Georgfs, University of Southern Missls- 
s l i^ ,  Randolph-Macon College, Montana 
College o f Mineral Snettoe and Technol­
ogy mid the University o f  Northern Ipwa.

High officials of the last tw o schools 
said they new were embarrassed by 
the grants. They a^ced to  remain anohy-' 
moua, on  the ground that criticism h r  
them would auggest interference with 
academic freedom.

It la not known w hathw Pioneer fi­
nanced research in fteldi other than 
heredity and eugenics.

Spokesmen a t  all the sdMOls who

knew about the grants said they did not 
know the Pioneer Fund had been char­
tered for research in “racial betterment.” 
Nor did those scientists whom The Times 
w as able to  reach who would answer 
questions.

A spokesman for the University of 
California at Berkeley said its records 
showed no Pioneer grants to Dr. Jensen, 
although it did accept a Pioneer grant for 
a political science professor. Dr. Jensen 
confirmed that some of his grants came 
through the university.

In each case the university, or another 
foundation, w as named as recipient of 
the grants, although the actual work was 
done by a  specific professor in residence. 
This is common practice in grant-giving 
eveiywhere.

However, in at least one school. North­
ern Iowa, the professor. Dr. Ralph Scott, 
used some of the money not only for re­
search but for anti-busing, anti-school- 
integration seminars in such off-campus 
places at Louisville and Boston, according 
to  the school’s grants administrator.

Quesion of Tax Exemption
“This might put the fund’s tax-exempt 

status in jeopardy,” an Internal Revenue 
spokesman said when asked about gen­
eral rules applying to funds such as Pio­
neer.

Under Federal law, such funds remain 
tax-exem pt as long as "no substantial 
part of the activity” is “carrying on prop­
aganda or otherwise attempting to  influ­
ence legislation.”

"You’re in a very sticky area,” the 
I.R.S. spokesman replied when asked 
about the definition of propoganda. Pio­
neer Fund is currently in a tax-exempt 
category applying to  groups exclusively 
charitable, religious, testing and educa­
tional.

Although it has been a major ‘banker” 
in the financing of research on race and 
genetics. Pioneer’s chief executive will 
not talk to reporters. Nor will some of 
the scientists who take its money ac­
knowledge their connection with Pioneer.

The president of Pioneer Fund is Harry 
F. Weyher, a  lawyer w hose office at 299 
Park Avenue also is the fund’s office. 
Questioned by telephone about Pioneer, 
Mr. Weyher said, “It’s a client.” Then he  
added. “I’m not going to  talk to  you any 
more” and hung up.

Mr. Weyher, several directors and the 
fund’s  founder have had long-standing 
connections with conservative causes or 
political candidates, although no one has 
suggested that the conservatives in ques­
tion shared their interest in eugenics and 
heredity research.

The founder, W ychffe P. Draper, a  1913 
graduate of Harvard who died in 1972, 
was the reclusive heir to a Massachu­
setts textile-machinery fortune, according 
to  published accounts.

Two Committees Supported
In the 1950’s  and 1960’s Mr. Draper 

supported tw o now-defunct committees 
that gave grants for genetics research. 
Mr. Weyher was his lawyer. The commit­
tee members included Representative 
Francis E. Walter, chairman of the House 
Un-American Activities Committee; Henry 
E. Garrett, an educator known for his 
lief in the genetic Inferiority o f blacks, 
and Senator James 0 .  Eastland o f  Mis­
sissippi.

When It wag disclosed in 1980 that 
Richard Arens, staff director for the Un- 
American Activitiet Committee, w as also 
a paid consultant to  the Drap>er-financed 
cmnmittees, Mr. Arjpns w as forced to  
leava his Congressiorisl job.

In 1960 puhUshed r ^ r t s  quoted tom e 
teading American gen k ld sts  m saying 
tiiey had turned down request! from Mr. 
Drapw to  do research into theories at rtr 
clsl Irrferiorlty among blacks.

Mr. Weyher, in a  newspaper Intwview

tlon and another on the Intelllgenoe of 
blacks by Dr. Shuey, a retired professor 
at the time, said Mr. Draper had already 
sponsored a book on restricting immigra- 
at Randolph-Macon. Woman’s College.

Mr. Draper also gave m oney to  right- 
wing political candidates, including the 
late Representative Donald Bruce of Indi­
ana, and the late Representative Walter, 
as well as to consen’ative lobbying or­
ganizations such as the American Coali­
tion o f Patriotic Societies. ,

When Mr. Draper died his estate turned 
over $1.4 million to  the Pioneer Fund. 
Among tw o men listed as directors of Pio­
neer in 1975, the most recent year for 
which Internal Remenue Service records 
are available, is John B. Trevor of New  
York, a founder of the American Coali­
tion of Patriotic Societies, adviser to  Billy 
James Hargis’s Cristian Crusade and au­
thor of an article on South Africa that ap­
peared in The Citizen, publication of the 
White Citizens Councils.

Testifying against more liberal Immi­
gration laws in 1965, Mr. Trevor warned 
against “a conglomeration o f racial and 
ethnic elem ents” that he said led to “a 
serious culture decline.”

The other Pioneer director is Thomas 
F. Ellis of Raleigh, N.C., manager of Jesse 
Helms’s 1972 campaign for Senator and 
an important backer of Ronald Reagan's 
1976 Presidential campaign.

Pioneer-sponsored research in eugenics, 
a movement devoted to  improving the 
human species through control of hered­
itary factors in mating, and dysgenics, 
the study of trends in population leading 
to  the deterioration of hereditary stock, 
is a  subject of much dispute in the genet­
ics field.

sources, the Gfnetics Society o f America, 
a leading professional organization, ta  
July 1976 It published a  statement a! Its 
committee on genetics, race and Intelli­
gence that was endorsed by nearly 1,400 
m em tos.

“In our view s there is no convindng 
evidence as to  whether there is or is not 
an appreciable genetic difference in in­
telligence between races,” it said.

“Wei! designed resear^  . . . may yield 
valid and socially useful results and 
should not be discouraged. W* feel that 
geneticists can and must also speak out 
against the misuse or genetics for po­
litical purposes and the drawing of so­
cial conclusions from inadequate data.” 

Genetics and Busing
When informed about Dr. Scott’s  ao- 

tivities on busing at Northern Iowa, Pro- 
lessor Judd said it sounded contiaiy to  
normal academic practices for an educa­
tional, tax-exempt foundation to  finance 
genetics research linked to  the school­
busing controversy. “But I don’t  have 
enough information,” he added.

According to Northern Iowa officials. 
Dr. Scott is studying “forced busing and 
its rela*jonship to genetic aspects of

Tn till* fifint* S

An Tnesciqtabla Opinion’
Dr. Shockley, co-Inventor of the tran­

sistor, has for years been collecting 
material on eugendos and dysgenics re­
search. He said in a telephone interview  
a few  days ago from his home in Palo 
Alto, Calif., that he had reached “the 
inescapable opinion that a major cause 
of American Negroes’ intellectual and 
social deficits is hereditary and racially 
genetic in origin.”

This, he continued, “is not remediable 
to a major degree by practical improve­
ments in environment,” such as better 
schools, jobs or living conditions.

He said he w as "very grateful” for 
Pioneer's grants. A spoksman for Stan­
ford said that $179,000 over 10 years to  
Dr. Shockley from Pioneer sounded cor­
rect, although the school did not have 
an exact dollar figure.

The view s of Dr. Shockley and Dr. 
Jensen and their supporters, have come 
under attack recently from, among other

educability.” In this context, he sent a 
graduate student to Mississippi and held 
seminars on busing, according to sources 
at the university.

Dr. Scott, a professor of education, 
refused to  comment on his research and 
to say whether its  results had been 
published anywhere. i

Roger Pearson, a B ritlsh-edu^ ted i 
econom ist who has been tha beneficiary 1 
o f tw o Pioneer grants for work whlla he I 
was dean at Montana Tech, also refused 
to talk about his research.

Such nonresponses art unusual In'tha 
field o f academic research openly spon­
sored by tax-exempt foundations. Stan­
ford, for eMunple, has a policy stating 
that “findings and conclusions" of 
research supported by outside grants 
“should be available for scrutiny and 
criticism.”

Dr. Pearson, who served for the 1974- 
75 acadMnic year as dean at Montana 
Tech before leaving by mutual consent 
in a disagreement over educational goals, 
got $60,000 from Pioneer while ho was 
there.

Montana Tech officials said they had 
no idea that he apparently w as the same 
man who some years ago edited Western
Destiny, a journal with many pro-South 
Africa, anti-Communist. and anti-raclai- 
mixing articles and who wrote a n ^ b e r  
of pamplets for flie conservative-onented 
Noontide Press such as “Eugenica and
Race” and “Early Civilizations of the 
Nordic Race."