Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, Civ. A. No. 604-E.

• Decision Date: 22 August 1963
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 604-E.
• Citation: 221 F. Supp. 297
• Parties: Anthony T. LEE and Henry A. Lee, by Detroit Lee and Hattie M. Lee, their parents and next friends, et al., Plaintiffs, United States of America, Plaintiff and Amicus Curiae, v. MACON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION (Harry D. Raymon, Chairman, Madison Davis, John M. Davis, B. O. Dukes and F. E. Guthrie) and C. A. Pruitt, Superintendent of Schools of Macon County, Alabama, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

221 F. Supp. 297

Anthony T. LEE and Henry A. Lee, by Detroit Lee and Hattie M. Lee, their parents and next friends, et al., Plaintiffs, United States of America, Plaintiff and Amicus Curiae, v. MACON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION (Harry D. Raymon, Chairman, Madison Davis, John M. Davis, B. O. Dukes and F. E. Guthrie) and C. A. Pruitt, Superintendent of Schools of Macon County, Alabama, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 604-E.

United States District Court M. D. Alabama, E. D.

August 22, 1963.

Fred D. Gray, Montgomery, Ala., Constance Baker Motley, Norman Amaker, and Jack Greenberg, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Ben Hardeman, U. S. Atty., Montgomery, Ala., David L. Norman, Arvid A. Sather, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for United States, plaintiff and amicus curiae.

Richmond M. Flowers, Atty. Gen., Gordon Madison, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Alabama, Montgomery, Ala., for defendants.

JOHNSON, District Judge.

This cause is now submitted upon the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. Upon consideration of the evidence, consisting of requests for admissions and responses thereto, the deposition of the Macon County, Alabama, school superintendent and the exhibits thereto, and the oral testimony of the various witnesses, together with the several exhibits to that testimony, this Court now makes the appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law, embodying the same in this memorandum opinion.¹

This is a proceeding authorized by 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343 and 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983, brought by the several plaintiffs, who are Negro children suing through their parents as next friends, against the Board of Education of Macon County, Alabama, its individual members, agents, representatives, employees and successors in office, and against the superintendent of schools of Macon County, Alabama. Plaintiffs ask this Court to enjoin the defendants and each of them from continuing their policy, practice, custom and usage of maintaining and operating a compulsory biracial school system in Macon County, Alabama, and from the assignment of students, teachers and other school personnel on the basis of race. This case is a typical class action, seeking the desegregation of the public school system maintained and operated by these defendants in Macon County, Alabama.

This Court finds that these plaintiffs are Negro children, living and residing in various areas of Macon County, Alabama, that said plaintiffs are authorized by law to bring and maintain this action, and that the plaintiffs represent a class and are authorized to sue in behalf of other members of their class, since there are common questions of fact and law arising out of circumstances that are common to these plaintiffs and other members of their class. Potts v. Flax, 313 F.2d 284 (5th Cir., 1963).

This Court further finds that these plaintiffs and other members of their class who are similarly situated have been and are currently attending the public schools in Macon County, Alabama, or expect to commence the attendance in said public school system during the 1963-64 school year; that the defendants Harry D. Raymon as Chairman, Madison Davis, John M. Davis, F. E. Guthrie and B. O. Dukes are the members composing the Macon County Board of Education, and C. A. Pruitt is the Superintendent of Schools for the Macon County school system; these individuals actively manage, control and operate the public school system throughout Macon County, Alabama. In this school system there are no attendance areas; there are no city school districts, and there is no city Board of Education. There is only one school district, with the county Board of Education and the superintendent of schools, who is appointed by said Board, exercising complete control thereof. In this school system for the school year 1962-63, there were in attendance 970 white students and 5,317 Negro students. There were 17 schools for Negroes and 3 schools for whites. There were 178 Negro teachers and 43 white teachers. There were 17 buses for white students and 44 buses for Negro students.

From the evidence in this case, this Court finds that through policy, custom, practice and usage, the Macon County Board of Education, functioning at the present time through the named defendants, operates a dual school system based upon race and color; that is to say, through policy, practice, custom and usage, these officials operate one set of schools to be attended exclusively by Negro students and one set of schools to be attended exclusively by white students. The evidence further reflects that the teachers are assigned according to race. For example, the minutes of the school Board for the August 30, 1962 meeting reflect the assignment of teachers to schools strictly according to the race of the students and teachers; in other words, Negro teachers are assigned only to schools attended by Negro students and white teachers are assigned only to schools attended by white students. This Court further finds that the students using the transportation facilities, that is, the school buses, are segregated according to race. Transportation is furnished by the defendants for Negroes only to schools attended solely by Negro students, and for white students only to schools for whites. For the school year 1962-63, the average daily number of white pupils transported by buses in the Macon County school system was 522; the average daily number of Negro pupils transported by school buses was 3,797. In many instances, so that Negro students could be deposited at schools designated solely for their race, they were transported for some distance from near schools that were and are designated for and used solely by white students. Thus, there are overlappings in the geographical areas involved where there are schools for white students in closer proximity to the homes of Negro students than are the schools for the Negro students. The reverse is true with reference to white students.

This Court now specifically finds that because of the designation of certain schools to be used solely by Negro students and the designation of other schools to be used solely by white students, that because of the assignment of teachers and the manner in which the teachers are assigned, and that because of the transportation facilities that are made available to the students and the manner in which said facilities are made available, the operation of the Macon County school system by these defendants is on a compulsory biracial basis. The operation of this school system on a compulsory biracial basis by these defendants is in their official capacity; thus such an operation is action under color of the laws of the State of Alabama. The operation of the Macon County school system in such a manner is, under the law, discriminatory as to these plaintiffs and other members of their race and class who are similarly situated. This Court specifically finds that the operation of the Macon County school system by and through these defendants, and the manner in which it has been and is being operated, is in violation of the law of the United States. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1954); Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L.Ed....