Summary Information
Congress of Racial Equality. Louisiana, Sixth Congressional District: Records 1963-1965
- Congress of Racial Equality. Louisisana, Sixth Congressional District
Mss 516
0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
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. English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00516 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
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.
Scope and Content Note
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.
Related Material
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).
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Christine B. Wright, Clinton, Louisiana, 1966.
Contents List
Box
1
Folder
1
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National CORE Office - General Mailings, 1964 December-1965 January
|
|
Box
1
Folder
2
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State CORE Office - Field Report, 1965 January
|
|
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New Orleans CORE Research Office
|
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Box
1
Folder
3
|
Kit Material Sent to Residents of East and West Feliciana Parishes, 1965
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|
Box
1
Folder
4
|
Memos and Reports, 1963, 1965
|
|
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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
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Correspondence, 1963-1965
|
|
Box
1
Folder
9
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East Feliciana Chapter - Constitution, Members, Application for Affiliation, circa 1964?
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|
Box
1
Folder
10
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East Feliciana Community Relief Fund, 1964-1965
|
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Box
1
Folder
11
|
Federal Poverty Program, East and West Feliciana Parishes, circa 1965
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|
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Field Reports
|
|
Box
1
Folder
12
|
Miscellaneous Parishes, 1964
|
|
Box
1
Folder
13
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St. Helena Parish, 1963-1964
|
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Box
1
Folder
14
|
Weekly - East Feliciana Parish, 1963-1965
|
|
Box
1
Folder
15
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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
|
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Box
1
Folder
18
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Incidents of Harassment, Arrests, 1963-1964
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Box
1
Folder
19
|
Miscellany
|
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Box
1
Folder
20
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Parish Scouting Reports, Summer Project, 1964, and General Reports
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Box
1
Folder
21
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Segregation and Discrimination, 1963-1965
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Box
1
Folder
22
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Summer Project Staff Orientation Kit, 1965
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|
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Voter Registration
|
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Complaints - East Feliciana Parish, 1964
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Complaints - West Feliciana Parish, 1964
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Box
2
Folder
3
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General Project Records, 1963-1965
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|
Box
2
Folder
4
|
Wats Line Reports, June 28-July 11, 1965
|
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Box
2
Folder
5
|
West Feliciana Chapter - Membership Lists and Records, 1964
|
|
Box
2
Folder
6
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Wright, Christine B. - Notebook, 1964-1965
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|
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