National Affairs: Three Virginia Cities

Virginia's hedgerow of statutes against school integration, designed as a model for the South to follow, moved toward the critical test in three cities, all prosperous and relatively moderate on the race issue, all sorely torn between the opposing legal requirements of state and nation. The three:

ARLINGTON (pop. 178,500), a white-collar Washington suburb less than four crow-flight miles from the Supreme Court Building, faced a showdown this week. Orders to accept five Negro pupils in Arlington's schools (total enrollment: some 9,000 students) were handed down last year by U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan. These five, plus some of 25 more recent applicants, hope to get into Arlington's schools, including Washington-Lee High School, scheduled to open this week. If they do, Virginia's white-maned Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. is required by Virginia law (which he ordered framed and passed) to shut down the schools, cut off all state funds.

NORFOLK (pop. 314,600), where Negroes have integrated jobs at the U.S. Navy base, has applications from 151 Negroes for admittance to white schools. After first turning them all down, Norfolk, under direct court order, reluctantly agreed to accept 17 at the opening of classes next week. Again, Almond is required to move—and will cheerfully do so.

CHARLOTTESVILLE (pop. 30,300), home of the partly integrated University of Virginia, fretted about 30 Negro public school applicants until late last week, then decided to let its sister cities make history. The Charlottesville school board postponed the opening of school for two weeks beyond its scheduled date in the hope that the situation will clear by mid-September.