Profile in black and white

by Howard H. Quint

You have said, Governor, that the recommendation [to the General Assembly of South Carolina] to abolish the [state’s] Compulsory Attendance Law “has not weakened ourselves in this respect.” Apparently, Governor, it is the firm belief of most educators and leaders in state and national government that compulsory school attendance at public or private schools has been the backbone of our democracy.

You have attacked, Governor, the integrationist and have said that he is “seeking to abolish parental rights in education....” It is without evidence to say that those who in 1955, for moral, civic, and legal reasons believed that segregation is outmoded and should therefore be abolished are men of “little character” attempting, as you say, “to lynch the character of a fourth of our nation.” It is my opinion, Governor, that many men of great stature are sincerely convinced that the Supreme Court’s ruling was both timely and sound....

You have said: “No precedent, no parallel, can be found for compulsory integration. It is new. It is novel. It is contrary to the divine order of things. Only an evil mind can conceive it. Only a foolish mind can accept it.”

It seems to me that there are many parallels and precedents....

... Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia do have school systems in which the races are integrated. The other 17 states, now practicing segregation of the races in their schools, still practice compulsory integration within each race by requiring that boys and girls of widely different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds go to the same schools in spite of these differences.

It is my opinion, therefore, that the phrases, “evil mind” and “foolish mind,” quoted above, have been ill used and are without foundation.

On May 31 President Russell, while not advising Travelstead to desist from writing such letters, cautioned him that “such controversial matters make politicians mad.” Despite the argumentative letter to the Governor, Travelstead was notified on July 28 of his reappointment as education dean for the 1955-56 school year with a substantial salary increase.

On August 2 Travelstead again attacked segregation. In a speech before the student body of the summer school, he declared:

As I study the Judaic-Christian concept prevalent in Western Civilization; as I examine the bases of our own government—the Bill of Rights and all other pronouncements of our forefathers—I find nothing which requires, justifies, or even allows a notion of second class citizenship for any group. I find no conclusive evidence that one group of men is foreordained to be superior or inferior to other groups of men. I find that this notion of race and national superiority came to ruinous end in Nazi Germany. For races or nations of men to think and act upon the assumption that all other groups are inferior is to invite disaster and downfall.... The fact that we have practiced segregation on the assumption that it was right and just, does not make it right and just.

Three days later President Russell told Travelstead that he had received complaints concerning the speech. (It is generally presumed that these came from the Governor’s office). Two weeks later, August 19, Travelstead received notification of his dismissal as Dean. “The executive committee of the board of trustees,” it said, “is of the opinion that it is not in the best interest of the university to renew your appointment as Dean of the School of Education.” At a hearing before the executive committee which Travelstead requested, the committee allegedly told him that persons employed by the university should not engage in discussion of controversial issues. In response to Travelstead’s request that the committee issue a statement with respect to its policy concerning academic freedom and free discussion by university employes, the committee refused. According to Travelstead, the committee replied that “a person should have enough common sense to know what he should and should not discuss—without any clear-cut policy about such matters.” Following his dismissal as Dean, Travelstead received an appointment as Education Dean at the University of New Mexico.