Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, State Government Funded Racist Department: Florence Mars Had Impact in Philadelphia and Around the Country

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Florence Mars Had Impact in Philadelphia and Around the Country

Author Florence Mars,

who died this April in her Philadelphia, Mississippi community, was sometimes the target of the Sovereignty Commission's investigations. Mars was one of few in her community who openly questioned local law enforcement regarding the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner.

--A report dated April 12, 1966 (50 years ago) noting that Mars had traveled to Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, PA to meet with leaders of a Philadelphia to Philadelphia project

--More on the trip to Philadelphia ... "Some people in Philadelphia are quite disturbed over this program."

--The "attack" on TV station WLBT (long list of names and addresses, including Mars).

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Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Links

On Wikipedia: ” The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977. The commission's stated objective was to "[...] protect the sovereignty of the state of Mississippi, and her sister states" from "federal encroachment." Initially, it was formed to coordinate activities to portray the state, and the legal racial segregation enforced by the state, in a more positive light.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_State_Sovereignty_Commission Facts About Mississippi Sovereignty Commission: Some facts about the now-defunct Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, whose files were opened to the public Tuesday. FOUNDED: Created by legislative act in 1956, two years after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education outlawed segregated schools. MISSION: The Legislature created the commission to "protect the sovereignty of the State of Mississippi and her sister states" from federal government interference. In practice, it worked to preserve a segregated society and to oppose school integration. In secret, the commission harassed and spied on activists, branding many of them racial agitators and communist infiltrators. http://www.mdcbowen.org/p2/bh/badco/missSov.htm MDAH Digital Collection: Sovereignty Commission Online http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/ The Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission by Jo Freeman (2001): “On Thursday, August 18, 1966 I entered the Bellflower Church in Grenada, Mississippi, which the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was using as its headquarters for a voter registration project. I had been a fieldworker for SCLC for over a year but in Mississippi only since June.” http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/jofreeman/sixtiesprotest/FSMMiss.htm