Title: Congress of Racial Equality. Louisiana, Sixth Congressional District: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1963-1965

Creator:

• Congress of Racial Equality. Louisisana, Sixth Congressional District

Call Number: Mss 516

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of a CORE congressional district office, particularly referring to a voter education and registration project that met with only mixed success. Included are fragmentary printed materials from the national and state CORE offices and from the New Orleans research office. District CORE records consist of printed, typed, and handwritten material illustrating the work of volunteers in voter registration efforts, cooperation or rivalry with other organizations, and planning for future activities.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00516

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In April 1962, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched a Voter Education Project (VEP), designed to educate and register many blacks throughout the South during the following two and a half years. As CORE workers moved into the Sixth Congressional District of Louisiana that summer, they encountered massive hostility from local white citizens and from parish registrars, many of whom had either completely excluded blacks from voting since 1900, or purged thousands of black voters from the rolls in 1956-1957. Despite the fact that CORE state headquarters were moved to Plaquemine, and efforts were extended in 1962, only 307 black residents were registered in the 6th District by March 1963. Workers had no success in the rural parishes of East and West Feliciana, where the white minority retained exclusive political control.

The Voter Education Project was CORE's chief project in Louisiana during the summer of 1963, and a task force of forty whites and blacks assembled to work in the parishes of Ascension, East and West Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, and Tangipahoa. Again, they met widespread hostility and intimidation in the rural parishes, while encountering rivalry and opposition from local black organizations in relatively urbanized Tangipahoa Parish. Local chapters were organized in East and West Feliciana, but were never very active. At the end of the summer, local officials in Clinton obtained a court order forbidding further CORE activity in East Feliciana Parish; CORE's program there remained inactive until the injunction was lifted in May 1964. However, a law-suit filed against the West Feliciana registrar and sheriff during the autumn of 1963 produced the first registration of a Negro voter in more than sixty years, and served to awaken local blacks as well as produce new interest in CORE's campaign. Boycotts of retail merchants also helped pressure parish registrars and officials. By the end of the year, the VEP had accomplished the registration of some blacks, but progress was slow; nor did workers succeed in developing the local leadership necessary to carry on programs.

The 1964 CORE summer project in Louisiana again saw modest advances in registration, while encountering the opposition of conservative black leaders, and hostility of whites. CORE's program of testing places of public accommodation also had mixed results. The decline of the program after 1965 was partially related to the waning influence of CORE on the national level, and the rise of Black Power. Decreased membership and activity, increased criticism of CORE leadership, and the erosion of the commitment to non-violence, all hampered CORE programs in the South.

The records in this collection present a fragmented, incomplete picture of CORE activities in Louisiana's 6th Congressional District. A few scattered general mailings from the national and state offices are included, as well as printed memos and reports, and informational items sent as a kit to East and West Feliciana residents by the New Orleans Research Office. District CORE records consist of printed, typed, and handwritten material, illustrating the work of CORE volunteers, and the organization's cooperation with other groups. Among these were the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, Capitol Voters League, Inc., East Feliciana Community Relief Fund, and federal poverty programs. Fragmentary records of the East and West Feliciana CORE chapters are also present, while other activities in the Sixth District are illustrated in the field reports of volunteers; parish scouting reports, made in preparation for the summer 1964 project; records of voter registration efforts; and Wats line reports, which cover only the state of Louisiana. Christine B. Wright, donor of the collection, also recorded CORE plans and preparations in her notebook. White opposition to CORE efforts is clearly shown in the files on the Citizens' Council of East Feliciana (a white segregationist group), incidents of harassment and arrests, and voter registration complaints.

For additional information on the history of CORE, see the records of the CORE Southern Regional Office, 1954-1966, which include material on Louisiana and the Voter Education Project (Mss 85).

Acquisition Information

Presented by Christine B. Wright, Clinton, Louisiana, 1966.

Box   1 Folder   1	National CORE Office - General Mailings, 1964 December-1965 January
Box   1 Folder   2	State CORE Office - Field Report, 1965 January
	New Orleans CORE Research Office
Box   1 Folder   3	Kit Material Sent to Residents of East and West Feliciana Parishes, 1965
Box   1 Folder   4	Memos and Reports, 1963, 1965
	District CORE Records
Box   1 Folder   5	ASCS Records, 1965
Box   1 Folder   6	Capitol Voters League, Inc., 1965
Box   1 Folder   7	Citizens' Council of East Feliciana, 1965
Box   1 Folder   8	Correspondence, 1963-1965
Box   1 Folder   9	East Feliciana Chapter - Constitution, Members, Application for Affiliation, circa 1964?
Box   1 Folder   10	East Feliciana Community Relief Fund, 1964-1965
Box   1 Folder   11	Federal Poverty Program, East and West Feliciana Parishes, circa 1965
	Field Reports
Box   1 Folder   12	Miscellaneous Parishes, 1964
Box   1 Folder   13	St. Helena Parish, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   14	Weekly - East Feliciana Parish, 1963-1965
Box   1 Folder   15	Weekly - West Feliciana Parish, 1964-1965
Box   1 Folder   16	Financial Records, 1965
Box   1 Folder   17	Flowers, Ida Mae - Case with Welfare Department, 1965
Box   1 Folder   18	Incidents of Harassment, Arrests, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   19	Miscellany
Box   1 Folder   20	Parish Scouting Reports, Summer Project, 1964, and General Reports
Box   1 Folder   21	Segregation and Discrimination, 1963-1965
Box   1 Folder   22	Summer Project Staff Orientation Kit, 1965
	Voter Registration
Box   2 Folder   1	Complaints - East Feliciana Parish, 1964
Box   2 Folder   2	Complaints - West Feliciana Parish, 1964
Box   2 Folder   3	General Project Records, 1963-1965
Box   2 Folder   4	Wats Line Reports, June 28-July 11, 1965
Box   2 Folder   5	West Feliciana Chapter - Membership Lists and Records, 1964
Box   2 Folder   6	Wright, Christine B. - Notebook, 1964-1965