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Z 2323.000 S
NORMAN (CORA) CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION PAPERS

1976-1991

Biography/History:

Cora Ellen Garner Norman was born on November 7, 1926, the only child of Robert E. Garner, an oil field worker, and Jewell Beasley Garner. She was raised in southwestern Arkansas and received an associate's degree from Magnolia Agricultural & Mechanical College (now Southern Arkansas University) in Magnolia, Arkansas. There she met William H. "Bill" Norman, whom she married in 1946; the couple had two children. A few years after her marriage, Cora Norman received a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso).

The Normans moved to Mississippi in 1961 when Bill Norman accepted an appointment as a professor in the biology department of the University of Mississippi at Oxford, Lafayette County. Cora Norman subsequently received a master of arts degree in chemistry and physics there, followed by a doctorate in higher education administration in 1975.

Cora Norman became the executive director of the Mississippi Committee for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, shortly after its formation in 1972. The Committee changed its name to the Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC) in 1987. Norman would remain director until her retirement in 1996.

Norman was appointed to the Mississippi State Advisory Committee (SAC) of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) in 1976. She was continually reappointed and remained a member of the committee until 1991. The USCCR was formed following the Civil Rights Act of 1957 to serve as an official national source for information relating to civil rights. Advisory committees were formed in every state to aid the USCCR in fulfilling this mission by providing data and advice from the state level. The Mississippi SAC was the second-to-last in the nation to be formed, in December 1959, in the face of considerable opposition from Mississippi state government. During Norman's tenure on the Mississippi SAC, the composition and purpose of SACs nationwide were topics of frequent discussion and controversy within the USCCR and the executive branch as a whole. This led to the Mississippi SAC being rechartered in both 1979 and 1982.

In addition to her work on the Mississippi SAC, Norman was active in many civic and political organizations throughout her career, most notably the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters. In 1991, Norman, a Democrat, ran for Mississippi state auditor, coming in last in a four-candidate primary won by Steve Patterson. Since her retirement from MHC, Norman has remained active in volunteer work. In 2007, the Normans moved to Crossville, Tennessee, to be near their daughter; Bill Norman died in 2012.

Scope and Content:

This collection consists of materials related to Cora Norman's service on the Mississippi State Advisory Committee of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. The entire collection, which consists of one box of nine folders, is arranged chronologically. The materials include correspondence and memorandums; reports and charts; meeting agendas, minutes, and notes; lists of members and meeting participants; public statements and news releases; newspaper and magazine articles; guideline and policy documents; and other materials.

The correspondence and memorandums include items both sent and received by Norman. Among the writers and recipients are other SAC members; USCCR commissioners and staff; event speakers; elected officials; and members of the public. There are reports on topics such as desegregation in the Greenville Municipal Separate School District in Greenville, Washington County, Mississippi (1976); police and community relations in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi (1977); and civil rights developments in Mississippi (1977). Numerous reports and charts document employment of women and minorities in Mississippi state government and higher education. The meeting agendas, minutes, notes, and lists come from meetings of the Mississippi SAC as well as regional and national USCCR conferences Norman attended.

The planning, implementation, and outcomes of three Mississippi SAC projects conducted during Norman's tenure are documented throughout the collection. The first of these is Laurel and Laurel: A City Divided, a 1980 video documentary documenting race relations in Laurel, Jones County, Mississippi. Of particular interest is public reaction to the documentary and the resulting media coverage. The other two projects are community forums held to discuss civil rights issues, one in Tunica, Tunica County, Mississippi, in 1985, and one in Jackson in 1987. Other topics covered extensively in the collection include the relationship between SACs and the USCCR as a whole; the composition and duties of the Mississippi SAC; and the conflict between Republican president Ronald Reagan and Democrats in Congress that led to considerable controversy over the USCCR and its work in 1980s.