Civil rights battles still being waged here in 1964
Yesterday’s News by Frank Boyett
Sunday, June 8, 2014

Henderson’s racial report card was probably no better than a C-minus in 1964.
Blacks have a long history of second-class citizen-ship, both nationally and locally, but five decades ago the winds of change were blowing briskly Just how far we had to go, though, was markedly shown by a community audit that was published by The Gleaner on June 9, 1964.
In 1961, the local chapter of the NAACP held a sit-in at Ken’s Korner restaurant but made little headway other than to convince Mayor Hecht Lackey to quickly form the Mayor’s Bi-Racial Committee on June 22, 1961. That morphed into the Henderson Human Rights Commission the following year and became an official part of city government in 1963.
The “Community Audit of Human Resources” authored by the Human Rights Commission said,
“Our purpose has been fact-finding, not fault-finding. We hope that you will at least take the time to check our facts.” The sit-in shocked
many people, the audit said. After all, weren’t schools, theaters, parks, the city bus system and the library all integrated?
“Two downtown lunch counters did not discrim-inate, and almost all eating places serve mixed private groups. What was the problem?”
The Human Rights Commission decided a comprehensive survey of the community was needed to precisely define the problem. The audit effort was chaired by the Rev. Thomas Francis, adminis trator of the Green Valley Baptist Association, and many prominent citizens, both black and white, also served.
The results were so-bering. The county was 10 percent black in 1960, although the city was 15 percent: 14,350 whites and 2,542 blacks. The median family income here was $2,290 for blacks and $4,096 for whites.
School integration began locally in 1956 and by 1964 only three schools in Henderson County remained all black. They were the Corydon An-nex, which was part of the county school system, and Douglass High School and Alves Street School, both of which were city schools.
Black teachers, however, had been victims of integration. The city had 91 white teachers and 23 black ones in 1953-54 and a decade later that ratio had changed to 126-18. The county school system’s ratio was 103-8 in 1953-54 and 159-6 a decade later.
Employment locally was a problem for both races, the audit said. “It is common for Negroes to leave the city to find employment. This means that Henderson is losing many of its ablest and most ambitious citizens.”
There were only two black sales people in the city and only one private business had a black supervisor. There were only three black supervisors in city government. There were no black firefighters and only two black police officers, who patrolled the primarily black neighborhoods. and one black policewoman. “There are still businesses which refuse to hire qualified Negroes.” County government also employed
no blacks. Overall, public agencies employed 29 blacks, although the vast majority were unskilled workers. In private industry, 39 firms employed 72 blacks.
As for housing, though deed restrictions were unenforceable; blacks “find it extremely. difficult to purchase housing in many parts of Hen-derson,” the audit said, and “are not accepted as guests in apartment houses or rooming houses on a permanent or semi-per-manent basis.” The Henderson Housing Authority maintained 134 units for whites and 66 for blacks.
Two hotels and two motels did not accept black guests and as a general rule “the majority of the better places of public accommodation remain rigidly segregated.”
Much of the segregation was not officially sanctioned, though. For instance, the city’s parks were open to all. “But when it comes to organized recreational activi-ties, such as Little League ball, within the park system there is segregation,” although there were moves afoot to end separate Little League teams by the close of 1964.
“The pavilion at Atkinson Park for all practical purposes is segregated, though this is not the city policy. The bowling alleys are segregated for all practical purposes.”
The audit ended with a plea for equal treatment of all citizens and used some language that has lately come into vogue.
“Refuse to listen or engage in ‘hate’ talk or jokes
Acquaint yourself and your friends with scientific facts which disprove beyond a doubt the racist nonsense. The success of your community economi-cally, socially, morally and educationally depends on the cooperation and the use of the talents of all its citizens.”

100 YEARS AGO

Henderson County’s first home-grown alfalfa was on sale at the Barnett Feed & Commission Co. Store, The Gleaner announced in its issue of June 7,1914. It had been raised by John Robinson on the J.H. Barret estate and “com-pares favorably with the western hay with the beautiful pea-green color, odor and flavor and is equal in every respect in commercial value. This should be convincing evidence that alfalfa can be grown successfully in Henderson County.”

75 YEARS AGO

Francele Armstrong’s column in the June 11, 1939, issue of The Gleaner relates how a local man went on to become one of television’s pioneers in New York City. Tom Riley had always tinkered with radios as a boy, and even set up a radio station at Barret Manual Training High School in 1926. He got his start as a radio announcer while a student at the University of Kentucky and later moved on to Louisville before landing in New York City with NBC.
So he was in the right place at the right time when NBC began making a move into TV, which made him a producer and director for some of its earliest broadcasts. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Riley of 339 S. Elm St.

25 YEARS AGO

Glenn Karch was an expert on old engines fired by gas, oil or kerosene once manufactured by what is now called Hercules Custom Built Truck Bodies at
800 Bob Posey St., according to The Gleaner of June 10, 1989.
The Haubstadt, Indiana, resident was part of a celebration being held to honor the 75th anniversary of the Hercules engine. He’d gotten into the hobby 15 years earlier when he discovered an old engine that had previously been owned by his parents. The company made engines until the 1930s.