Storyline
The Pearsall Plan in Orange County, 1956–1961
The 1956 state amendment that let localities close schools rather than integrate them: the debate in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, Representative Umstead’s support and his proposal for biracial committees, and a county vote that approved the plan while Chapel Hill voted it down.
In briefIn 1956 Chapel Hill's five precincts voted down the Pearsall Plan, apparently the only small community in the state to do so, while Orange County as a whole approved it 3,359 to 1,784. The amendment allowed local votes to close schools and tuition grants for private schools to avoid integration. Former state senator Irving Carlyle attacked it at a University forum, and school board member Clarence D. Jones called the tuition grants unfair, while Representative John W. Umstead backed it, saying it kept the question away from extremists on both sides. In 1961 the Chapel Hill school board recommended a tuition grant for a Carrboro parent's two daughters, which the News called the state's first formal application.
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The full story
The Pearsall Plan amendment allowed local votes to close schools and tuition grants for private schools to avoid integration. At a 'School Crisis' forum at the University in July 1956, former state senator Irving Carlyle attacked its proposals, and that month Superintendent G. Paul Carr endorsed the plan while school board member Clarence D. Jones called the tuition grants unfair. Representative John W. Umstead backed it in the special session and before the Hillsboro Lions Club, saying it kept the question away from extremists on both sides. In the statewide vote on September 8, 1956, Orange County approved the amendment 3,359 to 1,784, while Chapel Hill's five precincts voted it down 1,234 to 936, apparently the only small community in the state to do so. Afterward Umstead proposed a biracial advisory committee for every school unit. In September 1961 the Chapel Hill school board recommended that the state pay a Carrboro parent's two daughters' tuition at a private Durham school, which the News called North Carolina's first formal application under the 1956 tuition-grant provision.
In the chronology
Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 6 dated events in the chronology →
- Irving Carlyle attacks the Pearsall school plan at a Chapel Hill forum Speaking at the university in a 'School Crisis' series sponsored by the YMCA and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Ministerial Association, the former state senator opposed the Pearsall Committee's 'safety valve' proposals to let communities close schools and to spend public money on private schooling. According to reports of the meeting, Orange County's assistant clerk of court, Lucius M. Cheshire, a member of the anti-integration Patriots of North Carolina, taped the talk, applauded loudly and asked whether Carlyle favored intermarriage; Carlyle said no and called the question an effort to confuse the issue.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 5, 1956, p. 1
- Representative John W. Umstead Jr. backs Governor Hodges's school plan As the special session opened, Orange County's veteran legislator said he would support the Pearsall Committee's program of education expense grants and local option to close schools because it took school decisions away from 'extremists on both sides,' though he was not sure it was the answer and opposed dropping compulsory attendance. A week earlier Superintendent G. Paul Carr had endorsed the plan, while school board member Clarence D. Jones called the tuition grants unfair. People: G. Paul Carr, John W. Umstead Jr.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 26, 1956, p. 1
- Rep. John W. Umstead urges the Hillsboro Lions Club to back the Pearsall Plan Representative John W. Umstead told the Hillsboro Lions Club he would vote for the school amendment because it kept the integration question away from "extremists of both sides," and he asked Orange voters to approve it overwhelmingly on September 8. By his estimate at least 70 counties would refuse to pay for mixed schools.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 30, 1956, p. 1
- Orange County voters approve the Pearsall Plan school amendment while Chapel Hill votes it down In the statewide vote on the Pearsall Plan amendment, which allowed local votes to close schools and tuition grants for private schools to avoid integration, Orange County voted 3,359 to 1,784 in favor. Chapel Hill's five precincts rejected it 1,234 to 936, and the News reported that Chapel Hill was apparently the only small community in the state to vote against it.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 13, 1956, p. 1
- Rep. John W. Umstead proposes a biracial advisory committee for every school unit After the Pearsall Plan passed, Representative John W. Umstead said he would introduce a bill requiring a biracial advisory committee in each school administrative unit to advise its school board on any question of integration. He argued that such committees would make it rare for the plan's school-closing provisions to be used.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 20, 1956, p. 4
- Chapel Hill school board recommends a Pearsall Plan tuition grant Finding it neither reasonable nor practical to reassign a Carrboro parent's two daughters to a school attended only by their own race, the board recommended that the state pay their tuition at a private Durham school. The News called it North Carolina's first formal application under the 1956 tuition-grant provision.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 28, 1961, p. 3
Places in this history
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first.
- Chapel Hill and Carrboro city schools Schools and academies · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
Research sources
Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.
Background
- Pearsall PlanNCpedia Concise historical background
- The Deliberate Speed of the Tar Heel State: North Carolina's Efforts to Resist School Desegregation, 1954-1966 (2014)
Records of the time
- Report of the North Carolina Advisory Committee on Education, April 5, 1956Internet Archive The Pearsall Committee's report, which proposed the plan.
Collections and databases
- NC LIVE: prepared search for The Pearsall Plan in Orange County, 1956–1961 Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
Local help
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request formOCPL Local History Liaison Meet with the Local History Liaison at the Main Library, usually Mondays from noon to 3 p.m., or send a question using the online request form
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