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Route 1 Box 70
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
September 2, 1959

Mr. Aubrey K. Lucas
Director of Admissions
Mississippi Southern College
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Dear sir:

Inclosed [sic] you will find my application to enroll at Mississippi Southern College, a medical examination report, and five recommendations of my moral character.

Your records will show that the people who have made these recommendations are not graduates of Mississippi Southern College, as your present regulations require; however, they are all professional people who live in my community, and have at least the equivalent of a degree from Mississippi Southern College. Moreover, as a Negro, I feel that these people would be in a much better position to attest to my moral character than graduates of Mississippi Southern College. Further, I do not know five graduates of Mississippi Southern College who are in a position to make the necessary recommendations. Therefore, for the reasons which I have given, I sincerely request that these recommendations be accepted in place of the recommendations from Mississippi Southern College graduates, as is done in applications involving students who do not live in Mississippi.

(obtained from Dr. McCain)

1-27-27

[stamp of STATE SOVEREIGNTY COMMISSION with date of SEP 8 1959 with lines for INDEXED, SERIALIZED, and FILED, initialed by [?]]

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This particular request and the unusual nature of this application make necessary, I think, a more general statement of my position on the subject of my enrollment at Mississippi Southern College.

Mississippi Southern College is the only State supported four year college in this area, and my situation at home makes it very difficult for me to leave home to continue my education. On this account I have been unable to attend school for nearly five years. By attending Mississippi Southern College the problem which confronts me would be mostly solved, as I could live at home and attend school at the same time.

Now, you must know that I am keenly aware of the race problem here entailed, as nothing has so constantly occupied my thoughts during the past three years as this one. I know that there are those among us who feel that both races would be best benefited by a policy of private and public separation of the races, and that this segregation should be maintained no matter what the cost to ourselves and to future generations. Unfortunately, perhaps, I have not as yet been able to convince myself, nor has anyone else been able to convince me that this is relly [sic] the wisest course for Mississippi to continue to follow at this critical junction in our state's history.

Those who openly advocate or quietly support the separation of the races theory generally include in their reasoning one or more of the following five points: (1) To teach Negro and White students in the same schools would mean, in part, mixing of White and Negro blood, to the extent of destroying both races, (2) Negroes, as a result of their economic and social history, have developed such low moral habits, until it would be tragically degrading to White youngsters for them to associate with Negro youngsters, (3) Since White students are so much

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more advanced, scholastically, than Negro students that it would be a grave injustice to Negro students to have them compete in the same class room; for since Negroes are so inferior in development to White students that for them to study in the same atmosphere would put an end to even the little development which they are capable of making when left to themselves, (4) If schools are racially integrated, Negro people who are now in the teaching profession would have to turn to some other income source here in Mississippi or leave the State completely for employment, and (5) If schools maintained for Negro people are equal in facilities and teachers to those maintained for White people then the schools are equal in total essence.

Although I have tried never to underestimate the importance that many people attach to just being of a certain racial group, still I have not been able to discern a noticable [sic] difference, other than color, between a good White man and a good Black or Yellow man. Yet, since this Pseudo Problem seems so urgent at this time, I would be in favor of helping to support a commission of eminent social scientists who would make a careful study of colleges and universities which have practiced total integration over a long period of time to determine whether or not the purity of any of the races involved has been greatly diluted, and if so, to what extent this dilution has actually impaired the effective^ness^ of the people involved.

The study of such a commission would show, I believe, that the percentage of interracial courtships which lead to anything as serious as marriage or reproduction would be so small as to be completely negligible in total effect. Should such a commission report a contrary result, however, then I would be among the first to about-face and join actively the segregationist among us.

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The second major objection which segregationists advance against racial integration is the question of morality. No thinking person would pass lightly over this problem; for it is no secret that the percentage of Negroes who are accused of crime is often higher than their White counter-part. I admit that we have had and still have, to a large extent, lower economic and moral standards than many of our White neighbors. However, we must realize that this condition is not the cause but the effect of segregation and discrimination. The more segregation and discrimination we have in our community the more we shall have ignorance and immorality. Teach men to do a job and then give them the job to do, and high morality will follow as the day follows the night.

To those who think that it would be an injustice to Negroes to have them compete with White students, the answer is found in the fact that our plan is to establish a policy or system of education and not just a temporary scheme to releave [sic] ourselves of a problem which we are not willing to face. Certainly there will be instances in the first phase of the integration program where Negro students are behind White students in development; though not because of any natural inferiority, but because the society in which we live has systematically failed, for so long, to abide by its on [sic] contract to provide equal educational facilities for all of its children. Thus, for a few years there will be scattered instances where Negroes might fall behind White students, but in a very short period of time this problem or inconvenience would be, for the most part, eliminated.

There is another group of segregationist who maintain that integration is all right, but it would put an end to the employment of Negro teachers. Those who feel this way seem not to correctly appraise the transition in which we find ourselves. In the first place,

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it will take many years to drastically change the present patterns of our communities; for years to come we shall continue to have communities predominantly White, and communities primarily Negro.

The law will not have to require this arrangement; the pride which people have in their homes, churches, and schools will motivate this stability. Therefore, with a very few exceptions most institutions which are now all White or all Negro will remain mostly so for a good long while. What seems to be the second major defect in their argument is the idea that the same prejudices which are leveled against Negroes before integration will remain after integration. This will not be the case. We are entering a period in which merit must rule the selection of teachers. There was a time when a person could get through college by hook or by crook, and if he found that he could do nothing else, then he would teach. This practice is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and in tomorrow's world it will be unheard of. Thus, if a teacher has mastered his profession, and has made the proper adjustments, and is willing to dedicate himself to man's highest calling, though he is yellow, black, or white there will be a place for him.

Finally, let me mention the argument for separate but equal facilities in public education, as being superior to a non-restricted system. This argument may seem more plausible if getting an education was an end in itself, and not a means to an end. The end product of an education is a greater and more useful participation in the art of living in a civilized society. If an education does not help make out of people more useful citizens to themselves and their general community, then it has failed. Conversely, if the general community fails to provide those whom it educated an opportunity to serve it to the fullest extent, then the community is guilty

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of self impoverishment or even self destruction.

This is the precise sense in which I have not been quite able to understand what possible good a vast equalization program could serve, if no sincere plans are being made to equalize employment opportunities. If there are to be no jobs in government, science or industry, in vain is time and money spent in educating the child. The big question seems, then, to be, what part will the educated Negro play in our society in future years? If we plan to continue our policy of employing all White on our hospital staff, all White in government service, all White on engineering staff, all White in any thing [sic] which requires the least amount of brain, what will the thousands of Negroes do who will be graduating each year? On the other hand if we decide to be realistic and fair about the whole thing and decide to employ people according to merit, would it not be much more sensable [sic] and certainly more economical to permit the lawyers, doctors and engineers, who are to be working on the same staffs just after graduation, to go to the same school where they could learn to respect and appreciate each other?

Questions of this kind have led me to request of you that you permit me to enroll at Mississippi Southern College without a court order to do so. I am a solid believer in the ability of the states to control their own affairs. I believe if the state should lead out with only the smallest amount of integration it would never have to worry about Federal intervention. As you know, I have done all that is within my power to follow a reasonable course in this matter. I have wanted the state to see that our position had at least some validity. I have tried to make you see that my love for the state of Mississippi and my hope for its peaceful prosperity is equal to any man alive.

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The very thought of presenting this request before a Federal Court for consideration, with all the publicity and misrepresentation which that would entail, makes my heart heavy. Yet, what other course can I take?

Thank you for what ever [sic] consideration you might give this matter.

I am
Respectfully yours,
Clyde Kennard