D. EDWARD HUDG1NS
I6O6 Nottingham Road
Greensboro, N. C.
September k, 1956
Personal
Mrs Be Le Smith
Superintendent of Schools
Simpson Street
Greensboro, North Carolina
Dear Ben:
I am writing to express to you my great admiration for
your recent statement regarding the Pearsall Plan. You have
spoken courageously of your confidence in the fundamental
principles of public education and of your unwillingness to
lend your support to any proposal which in your judgment may
tend to undermine the public school system and at the same
time breed disrespect for our system of constitutional government and the rule of law.
If, as now seems likely, the State constitutional amendment which is the foundation stone of the Pearsall Plan is
approved by the voters next Saturday, we shall all, I am sure,
feel that as good citizens we must attempt to live as gracefully as possible under the Plan unless and until it is either
stricken down or modified by court decree or other lawful procedure*
My basic objection, as I am sure is the case with you, to
the Pearsall Plan is not to its avowed purpose of obtaining
time to approach slowly and deliberately the desegregation
process in public education, for I believe both of these worthy
objections would be the natural result of any reasonable and
bona fide effort to comply with the decisions in the Brown case.
I do feel, however, that it would be catastrophic if the Pearsall
Plan proves to be the first step toward the partial or complete
destruction of public education in North Carolina. I fervently
hope that my doubts regarding the course which we.are apparently
taking in North Carolina are not well founded, and I pray that
our citizenship will display real restraint and good common
sense in handling the many serious problems which lie ahead of
us. In one basic respect we are indeed fortunate - that is,
the fact that, regardless of their personal views on the segregation issue and on the soundness of the Brown case decisions, men
COPYRIGHT NOT EVALUATED. The copyright status of this item has not been fully evaluated and may vary for different parts of the item. The user is responsible for determining actual copyright status for any reuse of the material.
D. EDWARD HUDG1NS
I6O6 Nottingham Road
Greensboro, N. C.
September k, 1956
Personal
Mrs Be Le Smith
Superintendent of Schools
Simpson Street
Greensboro, North Carolina
Dear Ben:
I am writing to express to you my great admiration for
your recent statement regarding the Pearsall Plan. You have
spoken courageously of your confidence in the fundamental
principles of public education and of your unwillingness to
lend your support to any proposal which in your judgment may
tend to undermine the public school system and at the same
time breed disrespect for our system of constitutional government and the rule of law.
If, as now seems likely, the State constitutional amendment which is the foundation stone of the Pearsall Plan is
approved by the voters next Saturday, we shall all, I am sure,
feel that as good citizens we must attempt to live as gracefully as possible under the Plan unless and until it is either
stricken down or modified by court decree or other lawful procedure*
My basic objection, as I am sure is the case with you, to
the Pearsall Plan is not to its avowed purpose of obtaining
time to approach slowly and deliberately the desegregation
process in public education, for I believe both of these worthy
objections would be the natural result of any reasonable and
bona fide effort to comply with the decisions in the Brown case.
I do feel, however, that it would be catastrophic if the Pearsall
Plan proves to be the first step toward the partial or complete
destruction of public education in North Carolina. I fervently
hope that my doubts regarding the course which we.are apparently
taking in North Carolina are not well founded, and I pray that
our citizenship will display real restraint and good common
sense in handling the many serious problems which lie ahead of
us. In one basic respect we are indeed fortunate - that is,
the fact that, regardless of their personal views on the segregation issue and on the soundness of the Brown case decisions, men
