Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, State Government Funded Racist Department: February 2010

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Civil Rights Photography Portfolio; Match Names With Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Files

The latest issue of the New Yorker features a portfolio of photographs by the British photographer Platon. The portfolio, accompanied by text written by David Remnick, includes photographs of the Little Rock Nine, members of the Greensboro Four, members of SNCC, and relatives of Medgar Evers.

It pairs these images with historic photographs of iconic civil rights leaders like Ella Baker and Fred Shuttlesworth. In the context of a movement whose success owes a debt to the power of the visual image, it is a remarkable and moving series of photographs.

You will be amazed at how many of these folks have Sovereignty Commission files ... Take a look ... Here are a few links to get started:

Ella Baker

SNCC

SNCC & 1964 Summer

Medgar Evers "Consolidation" File

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down - The most popular videos are here

Fifty years ago, four black university students entered the Woolworths in Greensboro, sat down at the "whites only" lunch counter, and refused to budge. The sit-ins continued for six months

Meanwhile in Mississippi, the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission was collecting news clips of "South Carolina Incidents" and other reports on the status of the civil rights movement in Greensboro and elsewhere ...

"15 Negro Pupils Apply in South Carolina and Elsewhere"

"Protest Treatment of Jackie Robinson"

"Negro March Planned"

"South Carolina Leaders to Support Protests"

"Randolph Is Supporter Of Rights March"

"South Carolina Getting Rights Advisory Group"

"300 March on Airport to Protest S.C. Violence"

"Lunchroom Sit-Ins Spread"

"Tough Attitude Shown Negros"
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These clippings and more were found in the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission digital files in the South Carolina folder.

A separate file for Jackie Robinson also appears in Sovereignty Commission files --

Report of a booklet discovered on "Jackie Robinson Day"

"Jackie Robinson Day Program"

"Investigation on Racial Agitators -- Robinson's name included on p. 5"

Still more to discover...
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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

Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, State Government Funded Racist Department

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Civil Rights Photography Portfolio; Match Names With Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Files

Monday, February 01, 2010

Racial Incidents in South Carolina Drew Attention of Mississippi Sovereignty Commission; Includes Reports on Jackie Robinson