The Atlanta Inquirer

Pressured To Resign, Woman Says

The charges of applying pressure to get a white woman man removed from her job with a joint city-county educational commission were emphatically denied Wednesday by Fulton County School Superintendent Paul D. West.

The woman, Miss Norah McNiven, told the Inquirer that pressure came from the county and she was forced to resign. She said that she had been accused of being an integrationist, and one of the accusers told her that if she had her way "schools all over Georgia would be immediately integrated."

"Mainly, West said, "there was a crossup between her and her supervisor (Dr. John Martin, who has been out of his office all week sick). We were very, very unhappy about the situation because Miss McNiven is a very talented woman of unlimited abilities."

However, Miss McNiven said that West and Martin joined in getting her to resign. At first she said she decided to fight it, but finally gave in for the sake of the program, "and the fact that I've got to find employment somewhere."

She said it all started when she called a meeting to discuss the problems of teaching illiterates to read. At the meeting were three Negroes, including Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.

"It was merely a meeting to get ideas and to bring together interested parties," Miss McNiven, a British subject, said.

But someone (identified by Miss McNiven) went back and told West and Martin that she was "preaching integration."

"I denied the charges," she stated. "They were ridiculous. Of course segregation is against my beliefs, but I had a job to do and was not trying to integrate anything."

She said Martin asked her to resign because she was antagonizing her co-workers, who had strong views and attitudes. Previously, she said, she was barred from moderating integrated discussions, and from going to the Atlanta University campus for meetings.

West said that he had talked to Miss McNiven and she admitted that she was confused "and she became emotional. She said that her work was in conflict with her convictions." He said he did not know why she became "emotional." He also denied that she was pressured because of the meeting.

Miss McNiven said the project was to get volunteer teachers trained to help with problem readers. She said she had talked to Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr., and he seemed very interested and told her to work with Miss Helen Bullard, executive secretary to the mayor. Miss Bullard was one of the persons attending the meeting.

Miss McNiven said that she was not pressured by Atlanta's school board; have no complaint against the city.