Civil Rights in Twilight

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Civil Rights in Twilight: The End of the Civil Rights Movement Era in 1973Author(s): Christopher Paul LehmanSource: Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jan., 2006), pp. 415-428Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40035018 .

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CIVIL RIGHTS IN TWILIGHTThe End of the Civil Rights Movement

Era in 1973

CHRISTOPHER AUL LEHMAN

St. Cloud StateUniversity

Despiteinattention ivento the civil rightsmovement n 1973, it was verymuchalive then.Themajorgroupsof the movement till existed.Inaddition,anticivilrightsgroups undedby MississippiandAlabama axpayers ontin-

ued to spyon movementparticipants.However,both the movementand its

oppositiondid not effectively adjustto federally imposed desegregationunder he CivilRightsActand heVotingRightsAct.Their imultaneous is-

integrationn 1973 effectivelyended the civil rightsmovementera.

Keywords: Alabama;Mississippi;civil disobedience;civil rightsmove-

ment;desegregation

In 1973, severalpeople publicly reflected on the history of theAfrican American civil rightsmovement. Thatyear happenedtomark he 10thanniversary f some of the more memorableeventsof the movement. GovernorWilliam Waller of Mississippi dedi-cated June 12, 1973 as MedgarEversDay in memoryof the civil

rightsleader,slain on thatdate in 1963. In August 1973, author

Alice Walkerwrote anessay for TheNew YorkTimesMagazineonher thoughtsof the 10 years since the March on Washington.In

StayingHomeinMississippi, he recalledher nvolvement nthedemonstration ndnotedprogressmadein Mississippi'sracerela-tions since then(Walker,1973).

Many of these observers referred o the movement as dead in1973. To be sure, he media ost interestn it inthe 1970s.Reportersinsteadcovereddomestic strifeconcerningU.S. militaryparticipa-tionin the Vietnamconflict, andwomenreceived mediaexposure

JOURNALOF BLACKSTUDIES,Vol. 36 No. 3, January2006 415-428

DOI: 10.1177/0021934705280412

© 2006 Sage Publications

415







4 16 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES JANUARY 2006

thathad once belongedto the movementby demonstratingor thecause of equalrightsaccording ogender.Then, n 1973,theWater-

gate scandalandthe Arab-Israeliwar became dominantnews sto-ries. As a result,they pushedAfrican American concerns further

awayfrom the frontpages.Despite the inattention, the civil rights movement was not

dead butrathervery

much alive in 1973. Themajorgroups

of themovement the National Association for the AdvancementofColoredPeople (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality,theSouthernChristianLeadershipConference(SCLC),and the Stu-dentNonviolentCoordinatingCommittee(SNCC) still existed.In addition,organizedresistanceto the movement,especially theFBI andgroupssponsoredby anti-integrationtategovernments,remained n operation.However,boththe movementandits oppo-sitionsuffered romexternaland nternalproblems oryears.Theseissues came to a destructiveand fatal

peakin

1973, effectivelyendingthe civil rightsmovement era.The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (MSSC) a

stateagencycreated n 1956to preservesegregation n the wake ofthe SupremeCourt'srulingof school segregationas unconstitu-tional in Brown v. Board of Education was a shell of itself in

1973. Membersof the governor'sadministration,tatelegislators,and privatecitizens composed MSSC membership. They hired

investigatorso spyon civil rightsactivistsandsupporters f deseg-

regation Katagiri,2001, pp.6, 7).After

Congressended

legal seg-regationwiththe Civil RightsAct andtheVotingRightsAct in the

mid-1960s, the days of the MSSC were numbered.As domestic

oppositionto U.S. combatin Vietnam ncreased,the commission

expandedits surveillance to include militantBlacks and antiwaractivists.However, hesenemeses to thegrouphad little to do withits originalpurposeof protectingthe sovereigntyof the state of

Mississippi(Dittmer,1998, pp. 177, 185).More important, he MSSC no longer had the supportof its

mostpowerful

ex-officio member thegovernor.

In1971,

whenWaller the attorneywho tried for a conviction of Byron de laBeckwith for the murderof Evers ran for governor,one of his

promiseswas to shut down theMSSC. Afterwinningtheelection,







Lehman CIVIL RIGHTSIN TWILIGHT 4 17

he failedin his firstattempt o close it in 1972.Nevertheless,fromhis inauguration nward,the commission was on borrowed ime.He did as little aspossiblefortheagency;forexample,hemade the

obligatory ubernatorialppointmentsoitandretainedheoffice staffbutattendedomeetings.Also,hisappointmentsf AfricanAmericansto government ffices showedhis oppositiono theagency'shistoric

defenseof segregationKatagiri,001,pp.221, 222).Despite the governor'sreluctance,the organizationstill found

plentyof workto do thefollowing year.As theUnited Statesendedits military nvolvement n the Vietnamconflict in early 1973, the

agency kept investigators ocused on suspectedBlack militants.In

March,investigatorMack Mohead acquireddata on the Negroleadership f the town of Clarksdale, ayingthatthe leadersthere

suspendedprotests while waiting for a federal court to decidewhetherto readmitthree suspendedAfrican American students.The commission also

policedthe

pan-African group Republicof New Africa (RNA), which plannedto celebrateMarch 30 and

31, 1973, as SolidarityDay and offered workshops, piritualral-

lies, and other demonstrations or the event. InvestigatorE. C.

Fortenberrywarned he MSSC thatthe RNA plannedto createanew coalition of militants rom the participants MSSC, 1973a,

pp. 1-2).

Throughoutheyear,statepoliticiansdebatedaboutthe useful-

ness of the MSSC. In March, the legislature overwhelmingly

approveda bill to fundthe

agencyfor an additional

year.Morethan

3 times the numberof staterepresentatives oting againstthe bill

supportedt,andthe 3 naysinthestatesenatewere no match orthe48 ayes. However,on April 17,afterthe legislaturehadadjournedfor the year,Wallervetoed the bill. In his veto statement,he saidthat he commissionprovided noreal ndispensable ervices to the

people of this state. He claimed thatthe statehighway patrolor

attorneygeneralcouldperform he laborof the MSSC's investiga-tors( FundsVetoed, 1973,p. 28). Indeed,when theagency agreedto meet afterthe

funding lapsed,the members

requestedthat the

attorneygeneral'soffice coordinate he meeting.Still, theyfumedover notonlytheveto but also Waller's imingof it (Katagiri,2001,

pp. 224-226).







4 18 JOURNALOF BLACKSTUDIES JANUARY 2006

The agency made the most of the possibilitiesof its salvation.With 1 monthremainingbefore the fundingcutoff, the groupmettwice to discuss its optionsfor survival.In the meetingof June7,

Attorney General A. F. Summer noted that the terminationof

appropriationsid not meanthat he commissionnolongerexisted.

Moreover, f the 1974 session of the legislaturewere to overrideWaller's

veto,then

fundingwould resume

(MSSC, 1973b, p. 5).Hanging onto this hope, the commissioners met on June 22 8

days before the office shutdown to take measures to put the

agencyon holdfor 6 monthsuntil thelegislatureconvened nJanu-

ary 1974. The MSSC resolved to place its investigators onloanwith anotherdepartment.The membersplacedtheirrecords with

Mississippi secretaryof state Heber Ladner.They agreedto payrenton the office throughJanuary nd allow otherstateagenciestouse the spaceupon request n the meantime.They also scheduledone final

meetingn

November,although heywould have ost their

money by then(MSSC, 1973c,pp. 2-3).After nearly5 months,the MSSC did not remain unitedin its

fightagainstthe veto. Only five membersattended he meetingofNovember9, 1973:citizen membersDanMartinand H. Ted Lam-

bert, state lawmakersTommy Home and Chester Butler, andMSSC directorWebb Burke.Even the additionof the substitutesfor the lieutenantgovernorandattorneygeneral barelymade halfthemembership.Moreover, he two substitutesabstained rom vot-

ingon the

passedmotionforthe MSSC to ask the state

egislatureo

overrideGovernorWaller'sveto,thusresulting n5 of the 13 mem-bersvotingto save theagency.All agreed,however, hatWallerwasno longer a productivemember.They moved to poll the absentmembers about petitioningthe legislature,but they did not listWalleramongthe absent.Afterall,by issuinghisveto,he hadmadeclear his stance on the commission (Stateof Mississippi OfficialRecords of the AttorneyGeneral, 1973, p. 1).

The Novembermeeting hardlycaused a stir. The commission

usuallyanswered

questionsfrom

reportersafter

meetings.How-

ever,the local newspapersdid not even mentionaNovembermeet-

ing.Tobe sure, heMSSCwasunattractive ewsbythis time. It wasa powerless agency stubbornlyseeking money to do politically








obsoletework,and even themajorityof its membersdemonstratedthat it was not worth saving by their absence from the meeting.Upon conveningin January,he legislatureallowed the MSSC toremaindead, ending with barely a fraction of the fanfareof itscreation.

The AlabamaStateSovereigntyCommission(ALSC),created7

yearsafter heMSSC,sharedMississippi'sdistasteforintegration.StategovernorGeorgeWallace had called for the creation of the

agencyin 1963.At thetime,he faced civilrightsdemonstrationsn

Birminghamand threatsto segregationat the Universityof Ala-bama. State officials fashioned the state's commission after the

MSSC; the ALSC also spied on civil rights workers and other

allegedsubversives.The directorsof bothagenciescontactedeachotherthrough he 1960s. Still, their enthusiasmcould not preventthe ALSC from the effects of federally imposed desegregation

(MSSC, 1964).Despitethe ALSC'smisfortunes,Wallaceremaineda loyal sup-

porterof his creation. n 1971,he proposed he biennialappropria-tionof $65,000 peryearfor thecommission,andthe Alabama eg-islaturepassed t.Integration roughtuponthe stateby federal awsdid not diminishthe importanceof the ALSC to Wallace. When

makinganotherbiennialrequestfor the agency in 1973, he askedfor even morefunds thanbefore.He sought$68,000 for fiscalyear1974 and$72,000 for 1975 (Holmes, 1973).

The other branchesof Alabama'sgovernment,however,

found

no reasonto keep fundingthe sovereigntycommission. In mid-

1973,thelegislatorsvoted to cut off thefunding.Theydid nottrytohold onto it as desperatelyas the Mississippi legislatorsdid the

MSSC.Thenagain,the ALSC hadbecome a legal liability by the

early 1970s. The agency constantly defended itself in court on

chargesof civil rightsviolations. Unfortunately or the commis-

sion, the plaintiffsusuallywon (Holmes, 1974).Wallacedidnotprotest hefundingcutoff.His resolve to let the

ALSC dierepresented

apolitical

shift in hishandling

of racialissues. He thenbeganto reachout to his AfricanAmericanconstit-

uents, realizingthat he would need their votes for reelection in

1974.InNovember1973,he crowned heUniversityof Alabama's







420 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES JANUARY 2006

first AfricanAmerican o win thehomecoming queentitle,and he

spoke to a gatheringof Black politicians, who warmlyreceivedhim.Not only was the stategovernmentwilling to end theoppres-sion of AfricanAmericansat the handsof theALSC,butalsomanyAfricanAmericanswerereadyto movebeyondthe state'ssegrega-tionistpast.

In thisnew racialclimate,

the ALSC harboredno illusionsabouta likelyresurrection ut rather awthefundingcutoff as the end oftheagency.TheALSC,like theMSSC,still existedbylawbutwith-out fundingas of September30. However,the ALSC's prospectsforrestoration f funds were even bleaker hanthoseof the MSSC.Alabama'scommission couldonly have survived f legislatorshadcalled a special session to restorethemoneyto the group a veryfaintprospect,considering hattheyhad eliminated he appropria-tion inthe firstplace.Therefore,with 11days remainingbeforethescheduled removal of

funds,the

agencymet one last time to shut

down. The members resolved to fire their employees instead of

placingthemon loan.Theyvotedto terminate entalpayments oroffice space(ALSC, 1973b,pp.4-5). JackWinfield,executivesec-

retaryof theALSC,agreed oresignandthen contractanemployeeto perform henecessaryclerical work to close thecommission;byDecember 4, the group had paid out all outstandingbills andcanceled its contracts ALSC, 1973a).

ALSC employeeMarthaWittSmith,one of few segregationistwomen

holding significantpolitical powern the 1960sand

1970s,had moredifficultyadjusting o the state's move awayfrom resis-tance to integration.She had served as the commission's votingconsultant for several years, travelingto boards of registrarsallover the state to advise the members on how to registerAfricanAmericansandcollege students o vote. In 1964, the ALSC hiredherto writetheinterpretive ral andwrittenquestions or the state'svoterregistrationest (Thornton,2002, p. 684). Whenthe legisla-turecanceled ALSCfunds,she lobbied thebodyto draftandpassalaw

creatinga

votingconsultant

positionunderthe office of the

governor,and shecampaigned o fill theproposedoffice.However,the bill died in the state house of representativesHolmes, 1973).








With her unemploymentimminent upon the closing of the

ALSC, she made a desperate appeal at the final meeting of the

agency.She askedthe commissionto reimburseher fortheexpenseof herlobbyingfor the bill. Instead, he membersmadeveryclearthatas far as they were concerned,her time and the time of theALSC had passed. Winfield,in particular,did not want to repaySmith. He statedthat Wallace's administration ad

requestedhat

the ALSC not support he bill and had tried to persuadeSmith tocease lobbying. Winfield also had asked Smith to stop, but sherefused.The ALSC membersunanimouslyagreedwith Winfieldandturneddown herrequest ormoney(ALSC, 1973b,p. 6). Afterthecommissionpaidher for the last time on October26, 1973,her

long careerwith the ALSCwas over(ALSC, 1973a).The groupsof the civil rightsmovementrarelyexhibitedunity

butmadefew attempts o do so by 1973.The NAACPused thelegal

systemto

bringabout

changesin race relations.In

contrast,the

SCLC and SNCC advocated civil disobedience, which meant

breakinga law, but on the basis of its innate immorality.These

groups occasionallyworkedtogether; n 1966, the SCLC,SNCC,and theCongressof RacialEqualitymarched hroughMississippito encourageAfricanAmericans o takeadvantageof therecentlypassed VotingRightsAct by registering o vote. However,as the

movementwon victories such as theVotingRightsAct but lost keymembers due to violence, it struggledto make new goals and

programs.The SNCC,the organization hat revitalized he movement viadirect- ctionprotestssuch as sit-insin 1960,lostmembersover the

years,evolvingin ways thatdid notinspire oyalty amongthepar-ticipants.Boycottsin the late 1950swithdrewpeoplefrompartici-patingin the economy,and resistance o the activists was high. In

contrast, he sit-insplacedthe students nthebusinesses andforcedthe owners to confrontopponentsof segregation ace to face. Thenew tacticand ts success atdesegregatingacilitiesinspireda waveof direct-actiondemonstrationsnationwide.SNCC soon formedand immediatelybecame a divided group. Its members eitherfavored it-ins becauseof immediateresults(i.e., thedesegregation







422 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES / JANUARY2006

of a lunchcounter)orvoterregistrationdrives,working oward he

long-term goal of voting rights for African Americans. SNCC

effectively organizedbothtypesof activists.Butin themid-1960s,the groupmadechanges such as the creationof the controversial

slogan Blackpower and the removal of White members.Later,when SNCC disavowednonviolentprotestas a tactic andchangedthe TVn its name from Nonviolent o National n

1969,almost

all of the originalmembershad left. None remained n 1973.

Still, the new membersmanaged o keep SNCCafloat. FrancesBeal led SNCC's most successful factionof the 1970s: the ThirdWorldWomen'sAlliance.Servingas a means to fightnotonlyrac-ism but also sexism, the groupfilled a significantvoid, for bothWhite feminists and the Black civil rightsmovementfrequentlyneglected to discuss the specific concerns of women of color.SNCC also startedsuch businesses as a coffee shop and a book-store. The FBI monitored the

group but,with several SNCC

branches olding through he 1970s, largelyrestricted urveillanceto the nationalofficers in New York(Carson,1981, p. 296).

Throughout1973, SNCC suffered heavy mortal blows. TheThirdWorldWomen'sAlliancesplitfromSNCCinJanuary.Threemonths ater, he nationaloffice in New Yorkclosed.By November,the grouphad stopped publishingits newsletter due to a lack of

writingtalent, according o theFBIreport.On November24, the

organizationheld its nationalconference n Tulsa,Oklahoma,anddecided to

dropthe

acronymSNCC

entirelyand

tentativelyrename tself theRevolutionaryDemocraticParty.By thistime,the

group's strongestchapterwas in SanAntonio, Texas,but its mem-bers didnot even attend he conference.Noting SNCC'sinactivityanddisintegration,he FBIclosed its investigationof thegrouponDecember11 (U.S. FBI, 1973, pp. 6, 8, 21).

The SCLC survived1973but not withoutexperiencing rauma.Afteryearsof setbackswith thegroup nthe aftermath f thekillingof SCLC presidentMartinLutherKing, Jr.,successor Reverend

RalphAbernathy esignedfrom the

presidencyn

July.He returned

the next month afterSCLC officers hadbeggedhim to do so. Still,he had to revamp hegroup n ways thatnotonly reflectedthe lossof Kingand theresignationsof prominentmembersJesse Jackson







Lehman CIVIL RIGHTSIN TWILIGHT 423

andJamesBevel but also drewuponthestrengthsof theremainingmembers.Thatfall, SCLCkept busy by calling for the impeach-mentof PresidentRichardNixon andfor theamnestyof draftdodg-ersof the Vietnamconflict.Still, thegroup ost focus by takingonso manyissues.

Then,theSugarBowl controversy amealong.The Mid-Winter

SportsAssociation (MWSA), which facilitated the New Orleansbowl game,had been anall-Whiteorganization ince its inceptionin 1934. Local African American activists began pressuringthe

groupto desegregate n 1971. Thenon November29, 1973, an adhoc committeeconsistingof local membersof theNAACP,SCLC,andthe A. Philip Randolph nstitutegave a pressconference,call-

ing for disruptive ctions f the MWSA did notbringin African

Americanmembersand hireAfrican Americansfor clerical work

and ticket selling. Committee attorney Al Chambliss warned,

There'savery good possibilitytherewon't be a

SugarBowl, if,in

fact, the variouscommunityorganizationsand thepeople demon-

strate heirconcern Lewis, 1973,p. 6).Inmanyways,the ad hoc committeebehaved ike the civil rights

movementhad in the 1960s. The membersrevealedin the pressconferencethatthey would considerusing the direct action tech-

nique of sit-ins. The tactic had served the movementwell in the

1960s,andby 1973,activistsforothercauses such as oppositionto

U.S. combat n Vietnamor women's liberationhadco-optedthe sit-in.

Also,on the

dayafterChristmas f that

year,thecommitteeheld

a massmeetingon theboycottat St. Raymond'sCatholic Church

hall. Mass meetings in churches had historically served as the

meansfor ministers o rallytheirparishioners nd others o involve

themselvesin civil rightsactivism; n the mid-1950s, participantsin thebusboycottin Montgomery,Alabamaorganizedand devel-

opedstrategies n masseat church RightsGroup, 1973,p.46).However,not all theSugarBowl protestactivitywas traditional.

The ad hoc committeealso demonstratedomechangesin strategysincethe

peak yearsof the movement nthe

early1960s.Forexam-

ple, thegroupmaintainedSCLC'spolicy since 1968of refusingto

promise nonviolence on the part of the demonstrators Peake,1987, p. 245). Also, the members did not have illusions of a







belovedcommunity of Black and White MWSA members;whether he racialgroups avoredone anotherwasirrelevant.Eventhe issue of integrationtself mattered ittle to the committee.Par-

ticipant LarryJones flatly stated that the committee concerneditself with the goal of moremoneyinsteadof integration.Tohim,the issue of all-White MWSA membershipconnected with theabsence of teamsfrom

historicallyBlack

collegesanduniversities

inthe bowl gameviamoney. SugarBowl participantswill receivesomewhere in the neighborhoodof $570,000 apiece, he noted.

Black colleges could use some of that money ( Civil RightsGroup, 1973, p. 4).

The civil rights movementin New Orleans attractednationalattentionbuton a limited scale. For the first time in 20 years,thevictoriousteam of theSugarBowl would become thenationalcol-

lege football teamchampion; he first- and third-ranked eamsthe

Universityof Alabama and Notre

Dame, respectivelywere

scheduled oplay.Sportsreporters ationwide reated heevolutionof the ad hoc committee'scampaign ike a soap opera;they keptreadersn suspenseasto whether heSugarBowl would takeplace.However, hestorydid notdisplaceWatergate ndthe MiddleEaston the frontpages of newspapers. nstead, t remainedconfined tothe sportssections.

Even with supportfrom the national office of the SCLC, the

SugarBowl campaigndid not significantlybenefit. National offi-cers seemedunsureas to the

goalsof thelocalactivists.SCLCvice-

presidentDr. BernardLee vaguelyreassured he crowd at the mass

meetingthat Dr.Abernathyhas assuredme thathe is well ready ocome to New Orleans o do whatever he ad hoc committeedeems

necessaryto get our fair shareof whatever hepie is. He proposedto have nationalofficersconfer with the MWSA andpicketABCfor broadcastingthe Sugar Bowl on television (Murphy,1973,

p. 1).Inaddition, henationalSCLC did not takeanyinitiative,butrather ook its cues from the local leaders.It was a farcryfrom 10

yearsearlier,when Dr.

KingandothernationalSCLC eadersmoved

into Birmingham,Alabama and organizedmasses for a series of

marches; esegregation f thecityresulted,but ocalactivistsbalked

424 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES JANUARY 2006







Lehman CIVILRIGHTSIN TWILIGHT 425

at the aggressiveness of the campaign and the SCLC's use ofminors for demonstrationsThornton,2002, p. 297).

The lack of support rom students showed that the civil rightsmovementhad indeed lost its abilityto mobilize the masses. Pro-fessional adultsran heSugarBowl campaign, husgivingstudentslittlesayin itsoperation.Also, theMWSA didnotappointstudentsto its

membership.Therefore, heydid not stand o

directlybenefit

fromtheboycott.Theplayersof both teamsappearingn thebowl

optednot toparticipatentheprotestactivities.Oneplayer nitiallydeclared, Myfirstobligation s to my team.I believe apersoncantake care of his own problemsfirst,his own individually, hose inhis immediate environmentand then try to take care of those inotherplaces. But he then admitted gnoranceof the detailsof the

boycott ( PlayersShun, 1973, p. 36).Moresignificantwas thevoluntaryabsenceof thehomecoming

queenof the

Universityof Alabama romthe

boycott. TerryPoints,the school's first African Americanqueen, arguablywould nothave attended the school if not for the movement. Ironically,Wallace,who hadtried oprevent ntegration ttheschool 10yearsearlier,crownedPoints.Still,when askedby areporteror the NewOrleansTimes-Picayune bout he achievementsof themovement,she saw them as relative: Of course the race relations have

improved,butthen,we [thestateof Alabama]wereneveras bad as

anyoneelse. Somethingstooklongerto changethanothers. Alsoironic was her

oppositionto the

boycottbecause of

opportunitiesfor the athletesviaschooldesegregation. Theplayershave a futureto look forwardto, and a bowl game is very important o their

careers, hereasoned. Boycotting heSugarBowl would be hurt-

ingthem,andI don't think he Ad Hoc Committeeshouldputthemin thatposition (Davis, 1973, p. 6: 3).

The lack of studentparticipationn the boycott partly symbol-ized a majorshift in studentactivityin 1973. With the end of the

militarydraft nJanuary ndU.S. troops eavingVietnam2 months

later,antiwaractivism

sharplydeclinedon

campusesnationwide.

Reserve OfficerTrainingCorps(ROTC)returned o somecollegesand universities hathad banned hem a few yearsearlier.Students







426 JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES / JANUARY 2006

returned o traditionalactivities such as pledging fraternitiesandsororities.Many reportersnoted the trendof students'prioritiza-tion of academics over activism that fall semester.In October,

newspapercolumnist William Rusher (1973, p. 2: 2) declared,The YouthRevolution s over.

Severalpeoplejoinedthe students nopposingtheboycott.Civil

rightsleadersin New Orleans

publiclycriticized the ad hoc com-

mittee for its stubbornness. Thecommitteehad won its pointbutwhen it got down to thenitty gritty, heydid not exercisethe reasonI would like to see exercised, aid one local activist.In addition,one of the new Black MWSA membersdownplayedthe impor-tance of the continuedcampaign,revealingthat thosejoining the

group merely receive a lifetime rightto buy tickets to the SugarBowl. He sighed, In a way,the whole thingis ridiculous Civil

Rights Group, 1973, p. 4).Even the SCLCandmembersof the ad hoc committee backed

off of the protest at the last minute. On New Year'seve, hoursbefore thegamestarted,Lee announced hatthe MWSA hadwrit-ten a promiseto implementan affirmativeactionprogramgivingtheorganization 0%AfricanAmericanmembershipby 1975. Sat-isfied that the MWSA had acted in good faith, he withdrew theSCLC from the demonstration.Thirtymarchers till picketedtheevent atTulaneStadium farfewerthan heactivistshadexpected.Miffedthatothercommitteememberswereabsent,marcher ohnny

Jackson, Jr.,a Louisiana

representativerom New

Orleans,defi-

antlystated, Ourpurpose s not todisrupt, ust to visuallydisplaythat all is not well. Notre Dame and Alabamaplayedin the SugarBowlthatnightwithoutnterruption Protest oiced, 974,p.7: 1).

Thus, the last nationallypublicizedevent coordinatedby morethanone of the oldguard civil rightsmovementgroupsuncere-

moniouslyconcludedas theyear1974approachedwithin minutes.Thecommissions and the movementfed off each otherto survive.The former ustified their existence by notingthe presenceof thelatter.

Likewise,the movementlived to combat the

segregationistpoliciesthat he commissionsdefended.Both sides lost momentum

throughoutheearly1970s dueto fundingproblemsandthe inabil-







Lehman / CIVIL RIGHTS IN TWILIGHT 427

ity to revamp hemselves n the wake of civil rightsvictories. Theirsimultaneouscollapses in 1973 were no merecoincidences.

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MA: HarvardUniversityPress.

Civilrightsgroupdemandingmoresugar rombowl.(1973, December17). TheNew Orleans

Times-Picayune, . 4: 4.

Davis,J.M. (1973, December31 . Alabamaqueenadvises Blacks to playin sugar.TheNew

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Peake,T.R.(1987). Keeping he dreamalive:AhistoryoftheSouthernChristianLeadershipConferencerom Kingto thenineteen-eighties.New York:PeterLang.

Playersshunboycott request.(1973, December27). TheHartfordCourant,p. 36.







428 JOURNALOF BLACKSTUDIES JANUARY 2006

Protestvoiced despiteBlack leaders'remarks. 1974, January1). TheNew OrleansTimes-

Picayune,p. 7.

Rights groupsthreatenSugarBowl (1973, November30). The New YorkTimes,p. 46.

Rusher,W. (1973, October20). The youth revolution:It neverreally happened.St. Paul

Pioneer-Dispatch,p. 2: 2.

State of Mississippl. MississippiStateSovereigntyCommission(MSSC)(1964, April24).Letter rom Hon. Eli Howell to Hon. Erie Johnston.Jackson,MS: Mississippi Depart-ment of Archives andHistory.

Stateof MississippiOfficialRecordsof theAttorneyGeneral. 1973, November9). Minutes

of the meetingof the MississippiStateSovereigntyCommission.Jackson:Mississippi

Department f Archives andHistory.Thornton, . M. (2002).Dividinglines:Municipalpolitics andthestruggle or civil rights n

Montgomery,Birmingham, nd Selma. Tuscaloosa:Universityof AlabamaPress.

U.S. FederalBureauof Investigation.1973, December11).Reporton the StudentNational

CoordinatingCommittee.Washington,DC: GovernmentPrintingOffice.

Walker,A. (1973, August26). Stayinghome inMississippl.TheNew YorkTimesMagazine,

pp. 9, 58, 60, 62.

ChristopherP. Lehman receivedhis doctoratein Afro-American tudiesfrom theUniversityofMassachusettsatAmherst n 2002. Hepublished TheNew BlackAni-

matedImages of 1946:Black CharactersandSocial Commentaryn AnimatedCar-

toons in the summer2001 issueof the Journal f PopularFilm andTelevision.He is

undercontract with the Universityof MassachusettsPress to completea book on

AfricanAmericanrepresentationn Americananimatedilms. He currentlyworksas

anassistantprofessorof the EthnicStudiesDepartment t SaintCloudState Univer-

sityinSaintCloud,Minnesota.Hegives requentpublic speecheson thesubjectofthe

history of Saint Cloud'sAfricanAmericancommunity.

Civil Rights in Twilight

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