Southern Regional Council
Encyclopedia
The Southern Regional Council (SRC) is a reform-oriented organization created to avoid racial violence and promote racial equality in the Southern United States
. Voter registration and political-awareness campaigns are used toward this end. The SRC evolved from the Commission on Interracial Cooperation
in 1944. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia
.
soldier
s returning home from fighting in Europe after World War I
. The unequal treatment, and an expectation that the black soldiers would return to their "proper place" as second class citizens, lead to violent race riots in several cities.
During World War II
, members of the CIC realized that the same problem could recur. In 1943, a series of conferences were held in Durham, North Carolina
; Richmond, Virginia
, and Atlanta, Georgia by leaders from the CIC, including sociologist Howard W. Odum
. As a result of these conferences, the Southern Regional Council was formed, with Odum as its leader. The CIC was disbanded, essentially being merged with the new SRC. The SRC was formed "to attain through research and action the ideals and practices of equal opportunity for all peoples of the region."
The SRC urged white people
, particularly those with more liberal
political leanings, to help black people
obtain equal rights
. Like the CIC before it, the SRC was a coalition of lawyer
s, ministers, and newspaper editors from thirteen southern states. Although the group included men, women, blacks, and whites, the majority of its members were white.
Initially, Odum sought to bring about racial equality in the Southern US by relieving the underlying economic, social, and political stresses. The SRC avoided taking a public stand against segregation, on the belief that it would hinder progress toward its economic-planning goals. Critics of this approach, such as activist author Lillian Smith
, felt that the SRC should condemn segregation. The SRC adopted this approach in 1949, declaring in a resolution that segregation "in and of itself constitutes discrimination and inequality of treatment." As a result, many whites left the SRC, leading its membership to decline by almost half by 1954.
. It published literature related to racial justice, released studies on race relations, and acted as a think tank
for issues concerning the movement.
The SRC journal Southern Changes was published between 1978 and 2003. Emory University
, in partnership with the Library of Congress
, has digitally preserved the journal, described as "an alternative and groundbreaking news outlet for stories on social justice in the South."
The Council publishes various issues briefs, position papers, and legislative reviews, including the annuals Southern States Legislative Review and State of the South Report.
, building on an idea from U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
during the Kennedy administration
; the project was run by the SRC from its inception on April 1, 1962 until it was made an independent organization on June 1, 1971. The Voter Education Project did not actually register voters; instead, it acted as a conduit between philanthropic
grants and civil rights organizations conducting voter registration
drives or voting-related research. For example, the Project funded voter-registration work by the National Urban League
; in October 1962, the Jefferson County (Alabama) Voters Campaign received assistance with a registration effort from the League.
was established by the SRC in 1968, shortly after writer Lillian Smith
died, to "recognize authors whose writing extends the legacy of this outspoken writer, educator and social critic who challenged her fellow Southerners and all Americans on issues of social and racial justice."
affiliate, the Georgia Council on Human Relations (GCHR), was a biracial group working against prejudice and discrimination due to race, religion, ethnicity, and nationality. Non-profit
, interracial, and non-denominational, at its peak the GCHR operated in ten chapters across the state, including Albany
, Atlanta, Augusta
, Columbus
, LaGrange
, Macon
, and Savannah
.
The GCHR initially focused on school desegregation. After Brown v. Board of Education
required American schools to desegregate, the Council worked to ensure that the decision in Brown was implemented. When the Georgia state legislature threatened to close Georgia's public schools rather than integrate them, the GCHR worked with Help Our Public Education (HOPE) to keep them open.
The GCHR worked with groups including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
, the Congress of Racial Equality
, the American Friends Service Committee
, the YMCA
, and the YWCA.
With approximately 1,500 members working in law
, medicine
, religion
, and other sectors, the GCHR included social justice
notables such as Frances Pauley.
The GCHR ceased to operate in the 1960s.
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. Voter registration and political-awareness campaigns are used toward this end. The SRC evolved from the Commission on Interracial Cooperation
Commission on Interracial Cooperation
The Commission on Interracial Cooperation was formed in the U.S. South in 1919 in the aftermath of violent race riots that occurred the previous year in several southern cities. The organization worked to oppose lynching, mob violence, and peonage and to educate white southerners concerning the...
in 1944. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
.
History
The Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC) was formed in 1919. The CIC formed in response to the increased tensions between white Americans and blackBlack people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s returning home from fighting in Europe after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The unequal treatment, and an expectation that the black soldiers would return to their "proper place" as second class citizens, lead to violent race riots in several cities.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, members of the CIC realized that the same problem could recur. In 1943, a series of conferences were held in Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
; Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, and Atlanta, Georgia by leaders from the CIC, including sociologist Howard W. Odum
Howard W. Odum
Howard Washington Odum was an American sociologist.-Biography:...
. As a result of these conferences, the Southern Regional Council was formed, with Odum as its leader. The CIC was disbanded, essentially being merged with the new SRC. The SRC was formed "to attain through research and action the ideals and practices of equal opportunity for all peoples of the region."
The SRC urged white people
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
, particularly those with more liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
political leanings, to help black people
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
obtain equal rights
Racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
. Like the CIC before it, the SRC was a coalition of lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
s, ministers, and newspaper editors from thirteen southern states. Although the group included men, women, blacks, and whites, the majority of its members were white.
Initially, Odum sought to bring about racial equality in the Southern US by relieving the underlying economic, social, and political stresses. The SRC avoided taking a public stand against segregation, on the belief that it would hinder progress toward its economic-planning goals. Critics of this approach, such as activist author Lillian Smith
Lillian Smith (author)
Lillian Eugenia Smith was a writer and social critic of the Southern United States, known best for her best-selling novel Strange Fruit...
, felt that the SRC should condemn segregation. The SRC adopted this approach in 1949, declaring in a resolution that segregation "in and of itself constitutes discrimination and inequality of treatment." As a result, many whites left the SRC, leading its membership to decline by almost half by 1954.
Activities
Often partners with other Civil Rights Movement groups, along with openly disapproving of segregated facilities, the SRC’s hallmark was its use of communications and analysisAnalysis
Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle , though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development.The word is...
. It published literature related to racial justice, released studies on race relations, and acted as a think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
for issues concerning the movement.
Publications
Since 1944, the SRC has published some form of journal. The Council's first publication, Southern Frontier, was published for two years before being reformatted and renamed New South. In 1974, New South and a companion tabloid South Today were merged into a color glossy magazine, Southern Voices, which lasted ten months before ceasing publication due to financial issues.The SRC journal Southern Changes was published between 1978 and 2003. Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, in partnership with the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, has digitally preserved the journal, described as "an alternative and groundbreaking news outlet for stories on social justice in the South."
The Council publishes various issues briefs, position papers, and legislative reviews, including the annuals Southern States Legislative Review and State of the South Report.
Voter Education Project
The SRC served as a liaison between a number of southern organizations and northern foundations, providing resources and opportunities for mutual understanding. The organization created the Voter Education ProjectVoter Education Project
From 1962 to 1968, the Voter Education Project raised and distributed foundation funds to civil rights organizations for voter education and registration work in the American South...
, building on an idea from U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
during the Kennedy administration
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
; the project was run by the SRC from its inception on April 1, 1962 until it was made an independent organization on June 1, 1971. The Voter Education Project did not actually register voters; instead, it acted as a conduit between philanthropic
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
grants and civil rights organizations conducting voter registration
Voter registration
Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens and residents to check in with some central registry specifically for the purpose of being allowed to vote in elections. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive.-Centralized/compulsory vs...
drives or voting-related research. For example, the Project funded voter-registration work by the National Urban League
National Urban League
The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...
; in October 1962, the Jefferson County (Alabama) Voters Campaign received assistance with a registration effort from the League.
Lillian Smith Book Award
The Lillian Smith Book AwardLillian Smith Book Award
Jointly presented by the Southern Regional Council and the University of Georgia Libraries, the Lillian Smith Book Awards honor those authors who, through their outstanding writing about the American South, carry on Smith's legacy of elucidating the condition of racial and social inequity and...
was established by the SRC in 1968, shortly after writer Lillian Smith
Lillian Smith
Lillian Smith may refer to:*Lillian Smith *Lillian Smith...
died, to "recognize authors whose writing extends the legacy of this outspoken writer, educator and social critic who challenged her fellow Southerners and all Americans on issues of social and racial justice."
Georgia Council on Human Relations
The SRC's GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
affiliate, the Georgia Council on Human Relations (GCHR), was a biracial group working against prejudice and discrimination due to race, religion, ethnicity, and nationality. Non-profit
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, interracial, and non-denominational, at its peak the GCHR operated in ten chapters across the state, including Albany
Albany, Georgia
Albany is a city in and the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. It is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area and the southwest part of the state. The population was 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the...
, Atlanta, Augusta
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
, Columbus
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
, LaGrange
LaGrange, Georgia
LaGrange is a city in Troup County, Georgia, United States. It is named after the country estate near Paris of the Marquis de La Fayette, who visited the area in 1825. The population was 24,998 at the 2000 census...
, Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, and Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
.
The GCHR initially focused on school desegregation. After Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
required American schools to desegregate, the Council worked to ensure that the decision in Brown was implemented. When the Georgia state legislature threatened to close Georgia's public schools rather than integrate them, the GCHR worked with Help Our Public Education (HOPE) to keep them open.
The GCHR worked with groups including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
, the Congress of Racial Equality
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...
, the American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
, the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
, and the YWCA.
With approximately 1,500 members working in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, and other sectors, the GCHR included social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
notables such as Frances Pauley.
The GCHR ceased to operate in the 1960s.
External links
- www.southerncouncil.org — The SRC's website
- southernchanges.blogspot.com — southernchanges, the SRC's blog
- Southern Changes — Emory University's digital archive of the SRC's flagship journal