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WHITE CITIZENS COUNCIL. Millicent McAlpin April 30, 2013 College English. WHO WERE THEY?. American white supremacist organization formed on July 11, 1954 . Formed after the Brown vs. Board of Education case, many white people came together as a whole group and talked about their views
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WHITE CITIZENS COUNCIL Millicent McAlpin April 30, 2013 College English
WHO WERE THEY? • American white supremacist organization formed on July 11, 1954. Formed after the Brown vs. Board of Education case, many white people came together as a whole group and talked about their views - After 1956, it was known as the White Citizens' Councils of America. -about 60,000 members, mostly from and in the South -well known for being against the racial integration during the 1950s and 1960s • Made up of more higher and middle class citizens, than the Ku Klux Klan (Wikipedia). • ”They sought to economically and socially oppress blacks” ( “White”).
WHAT THEY DID? • Used violence and intimidation to stop, or damage goals of civil rights movements. • The Citizens' Councils used economic tactics against African Americans: -taking away voting rights -denying loans and business credit -and boycotting black-owned businesses -They punished people who supported integration by firing workers, and denying mortgages and loans to farmers and activists (“Wikipedia”). • the last half of the 1950s the White Citizens' Councils produced children's books which taught that Heaven itself would be segregated (“White”).
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. VS. WCC • King encountered WCC groups all over the South, from Selma, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi, where Medgar Evers the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chairman, was killed by a WCC member. • “King described the WCC as a modern Ku Klux Klan, targeting black and white people supportive of civil rights”(“White”). • King appealed to President Dwight D. Eisenhower to investigate violence perpetrated by WCC members after Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) members’ homes were bombed, and an effigy of a black man and a white man ‘‘who ‘talked integration’’’ were hung in downtown Montgomery. • Attorney general responded to King’s appeal, writing that ‘‘the activities of the White Citizens Council … [do] not appear to indicate violations of federal criminal statutes’’ (“White”). • After around 1966 the organization started to fade out after trying to accuse Martin Luther King Jr. of being involved with communists, Today the organization is still alive and going, and are now called The Council of Conservative Citizens.
REFELCTION • The most interesting piece of information I found was when MLK appealed for help after peoples homes were bombed and people were hanged, but was told the acts of WCC weren’t seen as criminal. • My research helped me understand that the Jim Crow Laws against those of color were unfair, and let people get away with murder against any colored person. • I decided to organize my researchbydescribing who the WCC was and then what they did to accomplish their goals as an organization. For the last info slide I used one of their famous methods against MLK to show how dangerous they were to society.
WORKS CITED • Wikipedia contributors. "White Citizens' Council." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. • "White Citizens’ Councils (WCC)." MLK . N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://mlk- kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia /enc_white_citizens_councils_wcc/>.