Jefferson County Citizens' Council
Records, 1964-1971
Background:
The
first Citizens' Council was organized in Indianola, Mississippi in 1954. The
movement spread
quickly in the South, and the first Alabama Council was organized later the same
year in Dallas County.
Eventually more than 60 Councils met in Alabama, and a number of Councils were
established in the
Birmingham area including Tarrant, Fairfield, Ensley, West End, Roebuck,
Alabaster, and Homewoood. The
Jefferson County Citizens' Council was in existence as early as 1961.
A middle
class alternative to the Ku Klux Klan, the Council used political and economic
pressure to
oppose racial integration. Citizens' Council membership was open to white men
and women over the age of
18, and the Jefferson County group included female members. A substantial
portion of the Jefferson County
group came from the western areas of Birmingham and the western and northern
areas of Jefferson County,
including Bessemer, Warrior, Trafford, Gardendale, McCalla, and Fultondale.
Sources:
Eskew,
Glenn T. But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the
Civil Rights Struggle. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 1997.
McMillen,
Neil R. The Citizens' Council: Organized Resistance to the Second
Reconstruction, 1954-1964. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.
Scope and Content:
This
small collection contains minutes of meetings, membership lists, a copy of the
guidebook and
style manual The White Book of Citizens' Council Organization, and
miscellaneous other material including
a small amount of correspondence.
The
minutes and correspondence highlight the activities and concerns of the
Citizens' Council, in
particular concerns over the integration of schools. The group's activities
included banquets and other events
featuring guest speakers and campaigns to pressure politicians and business
people to oppose racial
integration. The records also show the decline of the Council movement in the
late 1960s as the Jefferson
County group lost membership and suffered near financial collapse.
Subject Areas:
Citizens'
Councils of America.
Jefferson
County Citizens' Council.
White
supremacy movements -- Alabama.
Size: 359 pages (1/4 linear foot in 1 box)
Source: Patrick Cather
Restrictions: Standard preservation and copyright restrictions.
Access to minutes and membership lists limited to photocopies.
Guide Prepared By: Jim Baggett (October 2001)
|
FILE NUMBER |
|
DESCRIPTION |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.1 |
|
The White Book of Citizens' Council Organization,
1965 (155 pages).
Guide book and style manual describing
procedures for organizing a Citizen's Council, sample
constitution and organization chart, recruitment tools,
sample mailings, and other information. |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.2 |
|
Minutes, Selection Committee, May 24, 1964 (1 page). |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.3 |
|
Minutes, Steering Committee, May 23, 1964 to
December 7, 1964 (44 pages). |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.4 |
|
Minutes, Board of Directors, January 25, 1965 to
December 16, 1965 (21 pages). |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.5 |
|
Minutes, Citizens' Council, November 9, 1967 to
March 12, 1970 (17 pages). |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.6 |
|
Membership List, 1964 (22 pages).
Lists names, addresses, and telephone numbers
of members. |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.7 |
|
Membership List, August 1, 1968 (25 pages).
Computer generated "Monthly Activity Report"
listing member's names and dues paid. |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.8 |
|
Membership List, undated (45 pages).
Handwritten list of names and addresses of
members. |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.9 |
|
Membership Expansion Reports, October 2, 1968 to
December 30, 1968 (12 pages).
Correspondence and reports relating to a
membership drive conducted in cooperation with the
national Citizens' Council organization. Reports list the
names and addresses of new members. |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.10 |
|
Membership of Committees and Officers, undated
(1 page).
Handwritten list of the Council's officers and
members of committees. |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.11 |
|
Correspondence, July 23, 1970 and July 16, 1971 (4
pages).
Two letters dealing with the possible desegregation
of private schools. |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.12 |
|
Financial Reports, July 14, 1964 to October 1968
(8 pages).
Report of a January 1966 audit of the Council's
financial procedures and activities since July 14, 1964
and one brief October 1968 financial disbursement report. |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.13 |
|
Newspaper Clipping, undated (1 page).
Copy of one unidentified and undated newspaper
story entitled "U. S. steel strike could bring Maoist rush
to Birmingham." |
| |
|
|
| 1763.1.14 |
|
Census Abstract, 1970 (3 pages).
Mimeograph copy of a typed abstract from the 1970
census of Alabama. The abstract lists the white and black
population of the state by county and the numbers of white
and black registered voters in select counties. |
|