Archbishop Rummel formally announced the end of segregation in the New Orleans parochial school system on March 27, 1962. The 1962-1963 school year would be the first integrated school year in the history of the Archdiocese.
[4] [8] White segregationists were outraged. Politicians organized “
citizen’s councils”, held public protests, and initiated letter writing campaigns. Parents threatened to transfer their children to public schools or even boycott the entire school year. Rummel issued numerous letters to individual Catholics, pleading for their cooperation and explaining his decision. He even went so far as to threaten opponents of desegregation with
excommunication, a punishment usually reserved for
heretics. The threats were enough to convince most segregationist Catholics into standing down. Nevertheless, some parishioners continued to organize protests.
[14] [4]
On April 16, 1962, the Monday before
Easter, he excommunicated three local Catholics for defying the authority the Church and organizing protests against the Archdiocese.
[15] The first of the three was Judge
Leander Perez, 70, a parish judge from
St. Bernard Parish, who called on Catholics to withhold donations to the Archdiocese and to boycott Sunday church collections. The second was
Jackson G. Ricau, 44, political commentator, segregationist writer, and director of the “Citizens Council of South Louisiana”. The third was
Una Gaillot, 41, mother of two, housewife, and president of “Save Our Nation Inc.”.
[16] [4] The excommunications made national headlines and had the tacit support of
the papacy.
[1]
A few months later, the 1963 school year began on September of 1962. A handful of black students were admitted to previously all-white Catholic schools. Earlier threats of boycotts and mass student transfers to public schools never materialized. No violence took place between whites and the black students. Parents and students grudgingly surrendered to Rummel’s decision, and racial segregation in the Archdiocese quietly faded from memory.
[4]
