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Finding aid for the Citizens' Council Collection

MUM00072

PURL

http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM00072/

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Summary Information

Repository
University of Mississippi Libraries
Creator
University of Mississippi
Title
Citizens' Council Collection
ID
MUM00072
Date [inclusive]
1947-1979
Extent
3.0 boxes 2 boxes (C-9) + 1 oversize box (G-9)
General Physical Description note
3 boxes (2.0 linear feet)
Location:
General Special Collections
Abstract:
The collection contains materials related to the formation and activities of the White Citizens' Councils in Mississippi. This collection includes correspondence, reports,speeches, flyers, article reprints, and other materials documenting the activities of the Citizens' Council from 1954-1979.

Preferred Citation

Citizens' Council Collection, Archives and Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, The University of Mississippi

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Historical Note

The first Citizens' Council (also known as the White Citizens' Council) was formed in Indianola, Mississippi, following the United States Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which struck down segregation in public schools. White businessmen, planters, and professionals organized the group to prevent the court's ruling from taking hold in Mississippi. Thomas Pickens Brady, a circuit court judge and Citizens' Council leader, published a handbook entitled Black Monday outlining the group's goals, including the abolition of public schools, nullification of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and establishment of a separate black state. The publication of this handbook inspired many Mississippians to join the Citizens' Council movement.

Other Citizens' Council chapters were formed around the state, and within three months a statewide body, the Association of Citizens' Councils of Mississippi, began in Winona, Mississippi. By 1956, the group claimed eighty thousand members in Mississippi. It was particularly active in the Delta region and also had a powerful Jackson chapter, led by William J. Simmons. A national group, the Citizens' Council of America, was formed by 1956. Its board of advisors included Senator James O. Eastland and Representative John Bell Williams of Mississippi, Senator J. Strom Thurmond and Representative L. Mendel Rivers of South Carolina, and Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin.

The Citizens' Council received its revenue from membership dues and grants from the publicly-funded Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, an agency that promoted segregation and investigated the activities of civil rights groups. The Citizens' Council officially eschewed violence as a strategy, although many Council members privately condoned the violent tactics used by the Ku Klux Klan. Council members used their connections to influential lawmakers, editors, business people, and state officials to enact pro-segregation legislation, exert economic pressure on those who supported civil rights activities, intimidate African Americans who attempted to register to vote, and create publicity for anti-integration viewpoints. The Council published a national magazine, The Citizen, and produced a weekly telecast, "Forum," on WLBT-TV in Jackson. The Council's work has been credited with significantly reducing the number of Mississippi blacks registered to vote in the 1950s. The Council was active for more than a decade, but began to lose some of its influence by the late 1960s.

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Scope and Content Note

This collection documents Citizens' Council activities from 1954 to 1979. It is housed in three boxes and organized according to format.

Box 1 contains a variety of printed material produced by or relating to the Citizens' Council, including correspondence, reports, speeches, flyers, press releases, newsletters, advertisements, pamphlets, broadsides, article reprints, and ephemera. It includes a copy of Thomas J. Brady's 1954 pamphlet, "A Review of Black Monday," which is credited with inspiring the formation of the Citizens' Council.

Boxes 2 and 3 contain oversize article reprints and loose issues of publications, including The Citizen,  Dixie-American,  Citizens' Council,  The Community Citizen,  Augusta Courier,  Citizens' Informer, and a Citizens' Council section of the Jackson  Clarion-Ledger.

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Arrangement

This collection is arranged by format.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

University of Mississippi Libraries 2 April 2012

Access Restrictions

The Citizens' Council Collection is open for research.

Copyright Restrictions

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Additions

No further additions are expected to this collection.

Acquisition Information

The Citizens' Council Collection was created by compiling printed material from the Knox Collection (79-1) and the Race Relations Collection (76-15), both housed in the Department of Archives and Special Collections at The University of Mississippi.

Processing Information

Collection processed by Archives and Special Collections staff. Finding aid encoded by ByteManagers, 2005. Finding aid revised by Laura Helton, 2006, and Kathryn Michaelis, June 2012.

Alternative Formats

This collection has been digitized and made available online: https://clio.lib.olemiss.edu/archives/citizens.php.

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Related Materials

Resources at the University of Mississippi

This collection has been digitized and made available online: https://clio.lib.olemiss.edu/archives/citizens.php.

More materials related to race relations and integration can be found in the Civil Rights and Race Relations Subject Guide.

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Controlled Access Headings

Format(s)

  • correspondence
  • journals (periodicals)
  • pamphlets

Subject(s)

  • Race relations
  • White Citizens councils -- Mississippi
  • White supremacy movements -- United States

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Collection Inventory

Box 1 

Annual Reports 

4th Annual Report, July 1958 

2nd Annual Report, August 1956 

Miscellaneous 

Citizens' Council Resolution, 16 May 1957 

News flash re: Emmett Till, Sr., circa 1957 

Text of NAACP telegram regarding civil rights activity in Mississippi, 1961 

Letter, W. J. Simmons to Mrs. Clifton H. Morgan, 17 February 1964 

"Civil Rights and the Negro Revolution," a lecture presented by William J. Simmons at the University of Hawaii, 1964 

Flyer for Citizens' Council program, Jackson, 1965 

Jackson Citizens' Council Political Forum press release, 15 May 1967 

The Council Newsletter, February 1971-June 1971 

List of recommended speakers, undated 

Book advertisement: States' Rights vs. the Supreme Court, undated 

Questionnaire for political candidates, undated 

Pamphlets 

Ross Barnett: Strength Through Unity, 1960 

Crime: Don't Let it Happen to You, undated 

Dr. D. M. Nelson: Conflicting Views on Segregation, 1954 

What Every White Parent Should Know, 1956 

Essay Contest for MS High School Students, 1959-1960 

How to Keep Schools Open, undated. 

The Educational Fund of the Citizens' Council, undated 

Propaganda in Our Schools, circa 1956 

Congressional Committee Report on What Happened When Schools Were Integrated in Washington, D. C., circa 1957 

Public Schools Mississippi, 1957. 

James F. Byrnes: The Supreme Court Must Be Curbed, 1956 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

James O. Eastland: We've Reached the Era of Judicial Tyranny, 1955 

Joseph P. Kamp: Trickery, Treachery, Tyranny and Treason in Washington, 1957 

I Am the Bill of Rights, undated 

Scope and Contents note

3 copies

John Bell Williams: Interposition, the Barrier Against Tyranny, 1956 

Judge M. M. McGowan: Interposition or Nullification, undated 

Carleton Putnam: Second Putnam Letter Cuts Roots of Integration Fallacy, 1959 

S. E. Rogers: Christian Love and Segregation, undated 

Stuart O. Landry: Rebuilding the Tower of Babel, 1957 

Rev. G. T. Gillespie: A Christian View on Segregation, 1954 

Scope and Contents note

4 copies

A Jewish View on Segregation, undated 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

The Story of the NAACP, 1947 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

The NAACP Legislative Scoreboard, undated 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

The Ugly Truth About the NAACP, undated 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Carleton Putnam: High Court's 'Arrogance' is Viewed by Northerner, 1958 

Eugene Cook: The Ugly Truth About the NAACP, undated 

Congressional Committee Report on What Happened When Schools Were Integrated in Washington, D. C., 1956 

James O. Eastland: We've Reached the Era of Judicial Tyranny, 1955 

What is the Citizens' Council Doing?, undated 

Essay Contest for Mississippi High School Students, 1961-1962 

Land of One Race, undated 

Louis W. Hollis: Integrity, 1965 

John Bell Williams: Where is the Reign of Terror?, 1956 

Famous Quotations: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Henry W. Grady, James F. Byrnes, Theodore Bilbo 

Robert B. Patterson: The Truth Cries Out, 1966 

Statement by George Wallace, undated 

What is the Citizens' Council Doing informative leaflet, June 1972-February 1978 

Two small pamphlets: What is the Citizens' Council Doing?, undated 

Famous Quotations Cards 

Tocqueville 

George Washington 

Scope and Contents note

3 copies

Thomas Jefferson 

Theodore G. Bilbo 

Scope and Contents note

5 copies

Henry W. Grady 

Scope and Contents note

3 copies

James F. Byrnes 

Scope and Contents note

3 copies

Abraham Lincoln 

Correspondence 

Robert Patterson, Winona, to "The Library" with carbon copy of Bibliography on Race Problem, 9 December 1954 

Ellett Lawrence, Winona, to All District and County Chairmen, and the Executive Comittee, 8 November 1955 

Carbon copy, W. J. Simmons, Jackson, 22 November 1955 

Ellis W. Wright, Jackson, to Members of the 1956-1960 Legislature State of Mississippi, 23 November 1955 

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to "Those Interested in Helping," 26 November 1956 

Scope and Contents note

3 copies. On back: C. E. Powell, Greenwood, to Ellett Lawrence, 14 December 1956

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to Citizens' Council Members and Friends, 11 January 1957 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to Mr. Paul R. Davis, 29 January 1957 

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to All Council Members and Officers, 15 June 1957 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Robert Patterson, Greenwood, to All Officers and Members, 30 December 1957 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to All Council Officers and Members, 24 February 1958 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to Officers and Members, 24 September 1958 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," 27 November 1958 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," 12 March 1959 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to All Citizens' Council Officers, 22 May 1959 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," 20 August 1959 

W. J. Simmons, Jackson, to "Dear Members," 31 August 1959 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," 10 November 1959 

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to "Any and All Good, but slumbering, Citizens, Everywhere," 25 May 1961 

H. C. Lewis, Deerfield, IL, to Association of Citizens' Councils, 16 December 1959 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," 25 July 1961 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "To Whom it May Concern," 17 November 1961 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," 21 June 1962 

Robert B. Patteson, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," 24 October 1962 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to Citizens' Council Officers, Members and Friends, June 1965 

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," February 1967 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "All Citizens' Council Members," May 1967 

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," undated 

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to "Fellow Mississippians," undated 

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," undated 

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood, to "Dear Friend," undated 

Scope and Contents note

Includes contribution form

Ellett Lawrence, Greenwood to "Dear Friend," undated 

Robert Patterson, Greenwood, to "All Citizens' Council Officers, Members and Friends," undated 

Robert B. Patterson, Greenwood, to "To Whom it May Concern," undated 

Notice of Meeting, 19 February [?] 

Broadsides and Broadsheets 

W. J. Simmons, "Organization: The Key to Victory," 1962 

Dollars Make Sense, undated 

It's Your Fight, Too, undated 

Special Bulletin, undated 

Migration, the Only Reasonable Answer, undated 

Meeting, 28 May 1956 

Community Plan to Counteract Negro or White Agitators, undated 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Resolution Adopted by Citizens' Council of Greenwood, Mississippi, February 1965 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Support Your Citizens' Council, undated 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

To the States, undated 

Mississippi Population, 1960 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Aaron Henry of Clarksdale, 1964 

An Ordinance, undated 

Notice! Stop Help Save the Youth of America, undated 

Scope and Contents note

9 copies

Is Segregation Unchristian?, undated 

Scope and Contents note

3 copies

Keep the Dark Tide Moving North, circa 1960 

Negro Senators from Mississippi, undated 

Crime Report Reveals Menace of Integration, undated 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Historical Novelist Tells of Events that Almost Surpass Human Belief, undated 

Prominent Kingstree Negro Makes Frank Statement, 1955 

Jackson V. A. Hospital Integration, 1956 

Vote for the Amendments, 1960 

Population of the United States Based on 1950 Census 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

The Colossal Fraud on the American People, undated 

Integrated Schools Hurting Both White, Colored Pupils, circa 1955 

Cartoon by "White," undated 

Little Brother's New Social Club, undated 

Martin Luther King at Communist Training School, undated 

Throwing Children to Wolves, undated 

To Those Who Stand Against Race Mixing, undated 

Land of One Race, undated 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

Ephemera 

Brotherhood by Bayonet bumper sticker, circa 1962 

Reprints of Articles 

"Change of Mind," from  Sea Coast Echo, 28 July 1960 

"Going to [sic] Far," from The Meridian Star, 10 September 1961 

Hodding Carter, "Citadel of the Citizens' Council," from New York Times Magazine, 12 November 1961 

"Being Married to a Negro Is ...," 18 March 1962 

"Address by William L. Dickinson," Congressional Record, 30 March 1965 

"Prominent Negro Warns of Demonstration Cost," Greenwood Commonwealth, 28 February 1964 

Edward F. Cummerford, "Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs," American Bar Association Journal, February 1964 

"Mississippi Purge of Moderates," New York Times, 3 November 1963 

"Rape Victim's Child Can't Erase Night of Horror," Jackson Daily News, 13 May 1959 

"Montgomery and the World," Wall Street Journal, and "Rebellion Terror Felt by South Angola Whites,"  Memphis Press Scimitar, 24 May 1961 

Hodding Carter, "Citadel of the Citizens' Council," New York Times Magazine, 12 November 1961 

Scope and Contents note

Oversized item

"Pow-Wow on 40th Street," and "Integration Leaders Work Busily to Influence Public Opinion," Richmond News Leader, 27 February 1959 

Periodicals 

Box 2 

The Citizen 

Scope and Contents note

The Citizen was the  "official journal of the Citizens' Councils of America."

October 1961 

May 1973 

November 1961 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

September 1962 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

September 1964 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

July-August 1965 

November 1965 

January 1966 

February 1966 

March 1966 

April 1966 

May 1966 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

June 1966 

April 1967 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

May 1967 

October 1967 

July-August 1968 

January 1969 

February 1969 

June 1969 

February 1970 

March 1970 

Scope and Contents note

3 copies

May 1970 

May 1971 

January 1972 

February 1972 

November 1972 

February 1973 

September 1973 

June 1974 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

July-August 1974 

September 1974 

November 1974 

December 1974 

April 1975 

July-August 1975 

June 1976 

July-August 1976 

September 1976 

January 1977 

March 1977 

June 1977 

July-August 1977 

March 1978 

April 1978 

May 1978 

August 1978 

September 1978 

November 1978 

December 1978 

January 1979 

Box 3 

Dixie-American (Birmingham), 1 March 1956 

The Citizens' Council (Newspaper) 

July 1957 

October 1957 

April 1958 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

May 1958 

Scope and Contents note

2 copies

July 1958 

September 1958 

October 1958 

December 1958 

January 1959 

February 1959 

May 1959 

July 1959 

August 1959 

October 1959 

Jackson, Miss. Clarion Ledger, "Citizens' Council Section," 11 August 1968. 

The Citizens' Informer (Jackson, Miss.), July 1975 

Augusta Courier (Augusta, Ga.) 

18 March 1957 

1 April 1957 

23 June 1958 

17 November 1958 

19 October 1959 

The Community Citizen (New Albany, Miss.), 23 June 1955