The School Board in Jasper County will not permit them to go to the white school… They cannot and will not attend the Negro schools because they are white… |
This family lives in the Stringer community of Jasper County. A school bus from Stringer white attendance center passes in front of their home and also a school bus from the white attendance center at Soso in Jones County. The School Board in Jasper County will not permit them to go to the white school and the School Board in Jones County will not take them on transfer. They cannot and will not attend the Negro schools because they are white and because this would be violating Mississippi law. They are now eight and nine years old respectively and have never attended school one day.
Erle Johnston, Jr., “Letter to Paul B. Johnson Jr. and Lieutenant Governor Carroll Gartin,” Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, (February 14, 1964, Jackson, Mississippi). Source: University of Southern Mississippi Libraries Special Collections: Exhibits and Events. http://http//www.lib.usm.edu/spcol/exhibitions/item_of_the_month/iotm_march_10/iotm_mar10_letter
Tags: Erle Johnston Jr., Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, University of Southern Mississippi