Atlanta Daily World

Demand Protection From Acts Of Violence Or Intimidation

GEORGETOWN, Del. - (INS)- Parents of 10 Negro children ousted from Milford High School in a segregation dispute filed suit in Chancery Court at Georgetown Saturday demanding restoration of the pupils to classes. Action seeking a preliminary injunction against the Milford School Board was lodged before vice Chancellor William Marvel, who set Oct. 12 for hearing arguments on the petition. The suit was presented by Louis L. Redding, Attorney for parents of the Negro children who were stricken from the rolls of the combined elementary-high-school at Milford on Thursday. Ouster of the Negroes, ordered by a newly-chosen school board, had which led to a boycott of the school temporarily ended racial tension by white pupils. Six other Delaware schools also were hit by absenteeism. In the petition, Redding pointed out that the children of his clients would have to travel to all-Negro schools in Dover, 19 miles from Milford, or Georgetown, 16 miles away. PROTECTION ASKED The action asked that the School Board be prevented from refusing the children admission, and demanded that the pupils be given protection from "any acts of violence, intimidation or coercion." The State Board of Public Instruction met Saturday afternoon and instructed the 10 Negro children to report to the schools in Dover and Georgetown. The Negroes have been without a classroom since the Milford Board's action which was termed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as "a surrender to the illegal actions of a lawless mob." A fight against integration of White and Negro pupils in Milford had been led by an organization called "The National Association for the Advancement of White People." Nightly rallies had been held in Milford and other communities urging parents of white children to keep them out of school. The old school board resigned last week in a dispute with the State Board of Public Instruction over methods of ending segregation.