Citizens' Councils
Citizens' Councils, also known as White Citizens' Councils, were organizations formed by white southerners in reaction to the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared school segregation unconstitutional. The first council was established in Indianola, Mississippi, in July 1954, and similar groups quickly sprang up across the southern United States, particularly from Virginia to Texas. These councils, which reached a membership of around 250,000, primarily drew their support from the middle and upper classes and aimed to uphold white supremacy through economic intimidation and political opposition to integration efforts.
During their peak in the 1950s and early 1960s, Citizens' Councils played a significant role in resisting the burgeoning Civil Rights movement, often controlling political agendas and influencing local governance in states like Mississippi. Although their prominence diminished by the late 1960s, the legacy of the Councils contributed to enduring racial tensions and bigotry in the region. They served as a platform for expressing dissatisfaction among many white citizens regarding the desegregation of schools and the broader civil rights advancements sought by African Americans.
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Citizens' Councils
Citizens’ Councils or White Citizens' Councils, prosegregation organizations of white southerners that flourished in the 1950s and 1960s, began with a single council in Indianola, Mississippi, in July, 1954. The council was created in reaction to the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in May, 1954, which found school segregation unconstitutional. During the next two years, as anger with the Court’s decision mounted, Citizens’ Councils appeared across the South from Virginia to Texas. The greatest concentrations of support appeared in the lower South. Membership, drawn primarily from the middle and upper classes of the region, reached 250,000 during the heyday of the Councils. The Councils’ goal was to maintain white dominance through economic coercion and intimidation of blacks and political opposition to integration. The Councils were in the forefront of the growing resistance to the Civil Rights movement. In states such as Mississippi, they controlled the political agenda and sometimes even the machinery of government itself. The influence of the organization waned in the 1960s, but the Councils’ legacy of bigotry and dislike for African American aspirations for justice remained strong. The Citizens’ Councils represented the vehicle that many whites used to express southern unhappiness with the end of segregation.
Bibliography
Atkins, Stephen E. Encyclopedia of Right-Wing Extremism in Modern American History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Print.
Crosby, Emilye. Civil Rights History from the Ground Up: Local Struggles, a National Movement. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2011. Print.
Dittmer, John. "Mississippi Citizens Councils: What Were They?" Interview by Michael Martin. NPR. NPR, 27 Dec. 2010. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
Ward, Jason Morgan. Defending White Democracy: The Making of a Segregationist Movement and the Remaking of Racial Politics, 1936–1965. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2011. Print.