Biography/History:

The Mississippi Council on Human Relations was initially formed as a civil rights organization in 1955 in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, with the aim of “improving race relations through education and public relations.” Originally named the Mississippi State Council on Human Relations at its conception, it was reorganized in 1962 at Tougaloo College, Madison County, Mississippi, by an interracial committee with the hope of providing all Mississippi citizens with opportunities of advancement through political, economical, or social endeavors.

The Mississippi Council on Human Relations created chapters throughout Mississippi opposing segregationist organizations such as the White Citizens Council and the Ku Klux Klan. The Mississippi Council on Human Relations was not exclusively limited to the affairs of African Americans but was created for all Mississippi citizens. It implemented programs to fight hunger and poverty that crossed color lines. The Mississippi Council on Human Relations was a proponent of the abolition of the death penalty; opposed abortions; and covered stories on natural disasters that ravaged Mississippi communities, such as Hurricane Camille in 1969.

The Mississippi Council on Human Relations was very active in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi; it fought against discrimination, and formed committees to investigate the deaths of African Americans by police officers. It also was involved in the process of the desegregation of the Mississippi school system. Its efforts were overshadowed by those of organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), when members of these organizations poured into the state following the 1961 Freedom Rides and the 1964 Freedom Summer. After the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Mississippi Council on Human Relations remained an active organization seeking fair treatment to all Mississippi citizens. Anti-poverty campaigns, prisoner’s defense funds, voter registration drives, and equal employment opportunities for African Americans were the primary concerns of the organization until it dismantled in 1980.

Scope and Content:

This collection consists of the Mississippi Council on Human Relations files pertaining to the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi dating from 1960 to 1980. Included are administrative records; financial records; public relations and outreach materials; news clippings; publications; and mimeographs/stencils.

The administrative records are composed of minutes of board of trustees and committee meetings; listings of the council’s personnel; records concerning membership dues and recruitment drives; membership applications; business correspondence such as 1970 incoming mail, 1970 outgoing mail, and Southern Regional Council correspondence; and records of fundraising activities. The financial records include forms, receipts, and reports related to annual budgets and expenditures. Many of these files contain bank statements, monthly expense statements such as phone and electricity bills, travel expense vouchers, check stubs, and expense accounts.

The public relations and outreach materials are related to fighting poverty in Mississippi, housing, urban renewal, welfare rights and food stamp programs; youth projects; and prisoner’s defense funds. There are files on local, state, and national politics that includes such topics as the Mississippi elections of 1970; black elected officials, the GOP in Mississippi, the 1970 Democratic Party and the Southern National Party; as well as files on disasters that devastated the state of Mississippi such as Hurricane Camille. The public relations and outreach materials also include copies of brochures and pamphlets pertaining to issues such as desegregating school systems and voter registration drives. Additional materials include publications such as the The Will to Survive by Anthony Dunbar, mimeographs and stencils, and news clippings reflecting the instances during the Civil Rights Movement that included student protests, as well as harassments, brutality, incarceration, arson, bombing, terrorism, and murder inflicted upon citizens seeking equal rights.

Folder List