As you finalize your research paper, please be reminded of the following:
1. All term papers mustconform to the documentation standards set forth by the Modern Language Association (MLA), Turabian, University of Chicago, or the American Psychological Association.
2. The research paper must be typewritten, double-spaced, with margins of 1 inch. The cover page should reflect the title of the paper, your name, the course number, the professor, and the date. All papers must have page numbers.
3. A minimum of ten (7) peer reviewed scholarly journal articles must be employed in the undergraduate paper; a minimum of fifteen (15) must be employed in graduate student papers.
4. All research papers must reflect a systematic investigation and analysis of some aspect of the civil rights movement. The use of headings is required in this research paper. Utilizing the traditional social science format, the paper must address the following: 1) Introduction -this section of the paper should establish the context and parameters for your research and set up you paper; 2) Purpose - clearly state your research question(s) and/or hypothesis or thesis; 3) Significance of the Study - in this section in addition to explaining why it is important to carry out the research, be sure to explain why your topic is important to black politics; 4) Methodology - i.e., What specific steps will you take to carry out or perform the research required to address your research question(s)? 5) Review of Literature - this section of your paper should reflect a systematic discussion of the literature (refereed or peer-reviewed scholarly publications and other materials) related to your topic of investigation. Before proceeding, have in mind a clear purpose/focus for your literature review (also, refer to the handout “How to do a Review of Literature”). 6) Analysis and Discussion - in this section of the paper you need to specify the kind of analysis you will perform and why; this section leads to the discovery of the answer(s) to the research question(s) you raised; 7) Summary and Conclusion; 8) Implications - i.e., What is the meaning or contemporary relevance of the results of your study of the civil rights movement in the assigned state (e.g., for public policy, American society and politics, African American political organization)?
5. Undergraduate student papers must be a minimum of 10-12 pages (not including cover page, bibliography, and notes); graduate student papers must be a minimum of 25 pages.
6. Proof read your paper carefully and correct all typographical, spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. Double-check your work to ensure proper sentence structure and usage. Because we often "get too close to our work to detect errors", you may opt to ask someone who is skilled in the mechanics of writing to review your work prior to submission. Do not use the first person (I) in writing the research paper
8. Term papers will be evaluated along the f ...
Python Notes for mca i year students osmania university.docx
As you finalize your research paper, please be reminded of the fol.docx
1. As you finalize your research paper, please be reminded of the
following:
1. All term papers mustconform to the documentation standards
set forth by the Modern Language Association (MLA),
Turabian, University of Chicago, or the American Psychological
Association.
2. The research paper must be typewritten, double-spaced, with
margins of 1 inch. The cover page should reflect the title of the
paper, your name, the course number, the professor, and the
date. All papers must have page numbers.
3. A minimum of ten (7) peer reviewed scholarly journal
articles must be employed in the undergraduate paper; a
minimum of fifteen (15) must be employed in graduate student
papers.
4. All research papers must reflect a systematic investigation
and analysis of some aspect of the civil rights movement. The
use of headings is required in this research paper. Utilizing the
traditional social science format, the paper must address the
following: 1) Introduction -this section of the paper should
establish the context and parameters for your research and set
up you paper; 2) Purpose - clearly state your research
question(s) and/or hypothesis or thesis; 3) Significance of the
Study - in this section in addition to explaining why it is
important to carry out the research, be sure to explain why your
topic is important to black politics; 4) Methodology - i.e., What
specific steps will you take to carry out or perform the research
required to address your research question(s)? 5) Review of
Literature - this section of your paper should reflect a
systematic discussion of the literature (refereed or peer-
reviewed scholarly publications and other materials) related to
2. your topic of investigation. Before proceeding, have in mind a
clear purpose/focus for your literature review (also, refer to the
handout “How to do a Review of Literature”). 6) Analysis and
Discussion - in this section of the paper you need to specify the
kind of analysis you will perform and why; this section leads to
the discovery of the answer(s) to the research question(s) you
raised; 7) Summary and Conclusion; 8) Implications - i.e., What
is the meaning or contemporary relevance of the results of your
study of the civil rights movement in the assigned state (e.g.,
for public policy, American society and politics, African
American political organization)?
5. Undergraduate student papers must be a minimum of 10-12
pages (not including cover page, bibliography, and notes);
graduate student papers must be a minimum of 25 pages.
6. Proof read your paper carefully and correct all
typographical, spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors.
Double-check your work to ensure proper sentence structure and
usage. Because we often "get too close to our work to detect
errors", you may opt to ask someone who is skilled in the
mechanics of writing to review your work prior to submission.
Do not use the first person (I) in writing the research paper
8. Term papers will be evaluated along the following two
dimensions: (a) content and (b) overall presentation. Content
includes such elements as clarity of research focus, utilization
of the scholarly literature, the presentation of original ideas,
and the formulation of conclusions aimed at addressing the
contemporary politics and problems of the nation’s education
enterprise. Overall presentation takes into account grammar,
punctuation, spelling and adherence to appropriate standard for
documentation.
9. Good luck. Again, if you are having problems it is
imperative that you contact me immediately.
4. Prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the National
Conference of Black Political Scientists, Hampton, Virginia. A
final version of this paper was published in the Journal of Black
Studies, 1998, 28: 650-675.
INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE
Race has long been at the nucleus of politics in the southern
region of the United States (Key, 1949). The outright exclusion
of African Americans 1 from the political mainstream was the
centerpiece of a system of domination designed to protect the
privileges of whites. The modern civil rights movement
emerged vigorously in response to these conditions. The
movement rose from the protest tradition associated with the era
of slavery, the Garvey movement and the March on Washington
Movement which was organized in 1941 (Morris, 1984, p. x).
The confluence of historical experience and extant social
conditions propelled a movement predicated on mass
participation and the politics of confrontation.
This exploratory study examines the process of political change
in the county of Sumter from 1965 to 1985. The Federation of
Southern Cooperatives, established in 1967 as a not-for-profit
cooperative economic development organization, is a central
concern of this research. The thesis advanced in this study is
that the Federation influenced political mobilization in the rural
Alabama black belt county of Sumter. 2 Central questions
include: What were the social dynamics that fueled the
movement for political change in Sumter? How did the
5. Federation influence the resources and financing of the
movement, and consequently, the mobilization process? What
basic strategies and tactics were employed?
Data were derived from a variety of primary and secondary
sources including personal interviews of Federation leaders and
elected officials, documents generated by movement actors,
United States Bureau of the Census reports, and data on black
elected officials compiled by the Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies. The archives of the Federation of Southern
Cooperatives, maintained by the Armistead Research Center at
Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, was also a
valuable source of material.
3
POLITICS IN THE RURAL BLACK BELT SOUTH
Rural black belt communities were affected in a variety of ways
by the civil rights movement. In general, the movement was
focused on developing a more inclusive society. Despite the
centrality of the rural South in the movement’s development the
literature has a decidedly urban bias. Limited research has
investigated the process of African American political
development in the setting of the rural black belt.
Research on political mobilization, organizations, and the
impact of black leadership is the focus of much of the scholarly
literature on the rural black belt. Although there are indications
of change, social scientists have tended to overlook the unique
position of racial minorities in rural areas (Gilbert, 1991, 175-
76; Snipp, 1996, p. 126). V.O. Key ‘s (1949) work has done
much to shape the trajectory of political science research on the
black belt South. He argued that a connection existed between
black population concentration and political repression and that
black belt whites viewed the maintenance of white supremacy as
a basic priority. The aggregrate research performed by Key has
been corroborated by individual level studies (Matthews and
6. Prothro, 1966; Black, 1976; Wright, 1977; Knoke and Kyriazis,
1977; Giles, 1977; and Giles and Evans, 1986).
Boykin (1972) examined the emergence of a black voting
majority in Greene county. He found that participation in
organizations and strength of party identification were
statistically related to African American participation and
concluded that the movement could not have succeeded
“without the tacit support of the church” (p. 270). Similarly,
Button (1989 ) maintained that African American organizations
have been important agents of social change. He observed that
"black groups in a variety of settings have played important
roles in the process of change despite attempts by elites to
block or at least manipulate the activities of these groups" (p.
238).
The redistribution of public resources to achieve social equity is
an important end of the mobilization process. It is assumed by
many voters that the election of black elected officials will
result in greater equity. Based on such reasoning, whites in
predominantly black rural communities have frequently
systematically resisted political change. Consequently, white
backlash has yielded policies antithetical to the interests of
black Americans. For example, a recent study of Texas counties
revealed that whites in counties with higher percentages of
minorities were less likely to endorse the drawing of minority
districts (Longoria, 1996, p. 885). Findings of this nature
suggest that the allocation of public sector benefits is more
difficult to redirect (Bullock, 1975; Walton;, 1972; Jones,
1971).
On the other hand, where black elected officials have won
political office black citizens have benefitted. Hanks (1987)
found that the most salient benefits derived from the political
empowerment of African Americans in three Georgia black belt
counties were in the reallocation of public sector benefits (p.
156). The finding that mobilization is synonymous with
resource acquisition was also uncovered by Morrison (1987)
who examined political mobilization in three Mississippi towns
7. (p. 252). Perry (1972) observed that in Greene county problems
long plaguing the African American community were addressed
by black leadership. Finally, Coombs et al. (1977) concluded
that black leadership elected on the basis of the mobilization of
African Americans in Greene county positively affected the
quality of life of their constituents. The benefits derived from
the election of African Americans to public office justify this
study of the mobilization process in Sumter.
THE INDIGENOUS APPROACH
26
This research employs the indigenous approach to ascertain the
dynamics of political mobilization in Sumter county. The
perspective, formulated on the basis of resource mobilization
(RM) theory 3, seeks to explain the movements of dominated
groups (Morris, 1984). It provides a lense for examining how
African Americans organized and sustained the movement in
Sumter to gain access to the political process. According to
Morris (1984): “The task of the indigenous perspective is to
examine how dominated groups take advantage of and create the
social conditions that allow them to engage in overt power
struggles with dominant groups” (282). The indigenous
approach assumes that political change is the result of the
organized efforts of the dominated supported by an established
base of indigenous resources which includes the institutions,
organizations, leaders, communication networks, and money
(Morris, 1984).
The concept “local movement center” is central to the
indigenous approach. Movement centers are a form of dynamic
social organization “within the community of a subordinate
group, which mobilizes, organizes, and coordinates collective
action aimed at attaining the common ends of the group, devise
necessary tactics and strategies along with training for their
implementation, and engage in actions designed to attain the
goals of the group” (Morris, 1984, p. 40). The concept
8. references the notion that numerous local movements occurred
instead of a singularly unified national civil rights movement.
Local movement centers have been manifested as community
based organizations which developed to directly challange the
status quo. The Montgomery Improvement Association in
Montgomery, Alabama, the Inter Civic Council of Tallahassee,
Florida, and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human
Rights of Birmingham were among the first of the modern Civil
Rights movement centers (Morris, 1984, 40). These
organizations were byproducts of a society which practiced
racial discrimination and the total exclusion of the African
Americans. However, some individuals gained experience in
preexisting organizational structures including citizenship
committees, voters leagues, and action councils. Others built
on organizational experiences gained during the Civil Rights
movement (Campbell and Feagin, 1975; Washington Research
Project, 1972). McAdam’s (1985) concluded that black
churches, colleges, and the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) combined to yield
political mobilization and social change in southern black
communites. Their capacity to sustain protest was due to the
external factor of growing political opportunities and the
internal factor of indigenous organization (p. 2).
DEMOGRAPHIC AND POLITICAL SETTING
Sumter is the western most county in the Black Belt. At its
western border is the state of Mississippi and the Tombigbee
River borders the east. The county lies north of Birmingham
and Tuscaloosa, and Mobile and the Gulf of Mexico are 120
miles to the south. Whites founded the county in 1830 after
land was obtained from the Choctaw Indians in the Treaty of
Dancing Rabbit. Before the Civil War, Sumter slaves annually
picked almost a half million bales of cotton (Vodicka, 1980, p.
19).
Sumter is one of sixteen (16) rural counties in Alabama where
the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1958 and 1968 documented
pervasive discrimination against the region’s three-fifths black
9. population.4 About two-thirds of the land in Sumter consists of
forest or pine plantation and the rest is used for agriculture.
The major cities are Livingston and York, which in 1980
respectively had populations of 3,187 and 3,392 and generated
much of the county’s economic wealth. In contrast to the rural
areas, the cities are complete with paved roads, running water,
street lights and other basic amenities. The rural areas have
largely been unable to share in the county’s economic
development (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1983).
Political change in Sumter was conditioned by a variety of
demographic and political factors including race, population,
education, employment, income and poverty, and political
participation. African Americans have been in majority since
1860, comprising a high of 82.7% of the total population in
1900 and a low of 66% (11,242) in 1970. In 1980 the county’s
population was 16, 908 and blacks represented almost 70%
(11,711) (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1970; 1980).
In 1980 only 20% of Sumter blacks compared to 39% of whites,
had achieved four years of high school. Only 18% of whites
received four or more years of college compared to a mere 5%
for blacks. Whites in 1980, therefore, were about twice as
likely to obtain education through high school and beyond. At
the state level, median school years for African Americans
increased from 4.5 years in 1940 to 9 years in 1980. During the
same period median school years attained by whites increased
from 8.2 to 12.5 years (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1940-80).
The percentage of blacks engaged in farm related occupations
declined precipitously from about 76% in 1940 to 3% in 1980.
The decline may be partially accounted for by the exodus of
blacks from the region in the 1920s and the 1950s. More than
43% of working blacks in 1980 were operators, fabricators and
laborers and only 5% were employed in farming and forestry.
Almost 58% of working whites were managerial/professional
(26.4%) and technical/sales/clerical (31.2%) employees and
African Americans respectively comprised about 12% and 9% of
these occupational categories. Also, blacks and whites
10. respectively represented 22% and 7.6% of the service workers
(U.S. Bureau of Census, 1940-80).
The black belt counties of Alabama have long been among the
poorest counties in the nation. Substantial black middle and
upper classes have not existed in the county. In 1980, 32% of
the black families earned less than $5,000 compared to 6% of
white families. Only 9% of black families reported annual
incomes in excess of $25,000 while 37% of white families
reported incomes in this range. Forty-two percent ( 42%) of
black families and 6% white families were below the poverty
level (U.S. Bureau of Census, 1980).
Despite a numerical majority, African Americans had little
political success until the 1980s. Prior to 1965, the group was
virtually excluded from the political process. The 1965 Voting
Rights Act gave black citizens the right to register and vote for
the first time (U.S. Civil Rights Commission, 1975). The
outright refusal of white registrars to register and permit
African Americans the right to vote necessitated that federal
registrars be dispatched to nine of ten of the black belt counties
in southwest Alabama to register black voter (Barker and Jones,
1994, p. 74).5
Table 1 shows the percentage of registered voters by race in
Sumter county. The Voter Education Project (VEP) reported
that in 1960 registered white voters exceeded the total number
of whites who were of voting age in the county. Registered
black voters in Sumter increased dramatically between 1964 and
1966. The overall slow progression of black voter registration
reflects the determination of whites to maintain power and the
problems of movement organization. Although there was a
substantial increase in African American voter registration in
the county in 1966 (from 26% to 51%), by 1978 it had only
reached 55% of the black voting age population. (See Table 1.)
Table 2 shows that the number of elected African American
representives also increased for the period from 1970 to 1985.
In 1982, blacks were elected to municipal and county level
positions including the offices of mayor, county commissioner,
11. and state representative. Between 1981 and 1985 the number of
black councilpersons climbed from 1 to 11 and African
American representation on the county school board increased
from 1 in 1980 to 5 in 1985. The election of a majority black
county commission in 1983 was an especially important
development. During this period, African Americans also
gained control of the county school board. Before proceeding,
an overview of the emergence of the Federation is in order.
RISE OF THE FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN
COOPERATIVES
The Panola Land Buyers Association (PLBA) predated the
Federation. It was established in in 1966 following the eviction
of Sumter tenant farmers from plantations for registering to vote
and for demanding their share of the federal cotton price
support payment (Vodicka, 1980, p. 21). In 1968, when the
local white power structure sought to block the sale of 1,100
acres of land to the PLBA, the Federation was asked to provide
technical assistance. Acquisition of the land was significant
due to its location on the Tombigbee River which later became
part of the Tenneessee-Tombigbee Waterway, a massive federal
public works project to connect the midwest to the Gulf of
Mexico. The county attempted to block the acquisition of the
property and it refused to provide such basic services as graded
roads and water (Prejean, 1984; U.S. Civil Rights Commission,
1983; Barker and Jones, 1993).
The Federation was incorporated in 1967 by twenty-two (22)
cooperatives and credit unions as a regional service, technical
assistance and advocacy organization. Its mission was to assist
the rural poor by providing education and training, technical
and financial assistance, and promoting the cooperative
production and distribution of agricultural and non-agricultural
products. The articles of incorporation made no explicit
references to the group’s involvement in political activities. In
1968, however, the bylaws were amended to stipulate that, “No
substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall be the
carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence
12. legislation, and the corporation shall not participate in, or
intervene in (including the publishing and distribution of
statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate
for public office (Articles and Bylaws, 1974, p. 6).
The Rural Training and Research Center was the focal point for
community organization. The center provided an alternative to
traditional local institutions. Instructional services and
technical and vocational training were offered to the families of
low income cooperatives encompassing such fields as
agriculture, credit union management, animal husbandry,
housing construction, and energy management. The
Cooperative Education Institute, a major component of the
center, offered regularly scheduled courses in cooperative
principles and philosophy, cooperative organization and
development, cooperative bookkeeping and accounting.
Conferences and workshops were held at the center and the
weekend-long annual meeting became an anticipated family and
community gathering (Federation of Southern Cooperatives,
1980, p. 14).
The Federation launched the Small Farm Energy Conservation
Project in 1977. With grant assistance from the Community
Services Administration, inexpensive techniques that small
farmers could use to save energy and increase their incomes
were developed. After two years, one project resulted in the
installation and financing of forty-two (42) stoves ranging from
$275 to $300. The program also produced an established and
experienced energy and technology staff in Sumter (Holmes, et
al., 1981, 210).
The Federation’s housing program consisted of five
components: (1) new housing packaging and developing; (2)
housing rehabilitation and weatherization; (3) emergency energy
assistance programs; (4) housing counseling; and (5) self-help
housing. Named after local organizer Wendall Paris, the Wendy
Hills subdivision, built by the Panola Land Buying Association-
Housing Development Corporation (PLBA-HDC) has been a
major recipient of Federation support. The Department of
13. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also designated the
organization to provide comprehensive housing counseling
services in Sumter, Marengo, Pickens and Choctaw counties.
The Federation was instrumental in helping to secure federal
funding to develop the Black Belt Community Health Center as
a model for rural health care delivery. Its programs included
the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program which was
established to provide medical services to low income women
and children. The Federation was a key ally when local whites
and the medical society in Sumter attempted to prevent its
further development.
Thus, the Federation offered black citizens in Sumter viable
alternatives to traditional social institutions. Charles O.
Prejean, executive director of the Federation from 1967 to 1981,
observed that blacks were relieved of “almost total dependency
on the white community . . . it [the Federation] freed them up
by giving them another option” (Prejean, May 3, 1984). The
vulnerability of the black community to the local white power
structure was reduced as a result of the education and technical
assistance programs operated by the Federation (Barker and
Jones, 1994, p. 78). The Federation was serving more than
thirty-five member agricultural cooperatives in the southeast
with over 12,000 small farmer and farmworker members by the
early 1980s.
INFLUENCE OF THE FEDERATION ON
MOBILIZATION
According to the theory, indigenous resources are crucial early
in the movement when stability of funding, organization,
communications, and leadership are most needed (Morris, pp.
282-283). The local movement center coordinates collective
action and promotes relationships between and among leaders,
organizations, and the rank-and-file (p. 40). How and to what
extent was the Federation able to operate as a local movement
center? What was its contribution to the Sumter movement?
RISE OF SUMTER’S MOVEMENT CENTER
The Rural Training and Research Center in Epes was the nerve
14. center of the Federation's programmatic and outreach work. It
was the focal point for communication and the dissemination of
the ideas and philosophy of cooperative organization and self-
help development. Organizations such as the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were
present in Sumter by 1967, however, were unable to generate
momentum to sustain a local movement. The situation stands in
contrast to Greene county where the transfer of political power
from whites to African Americans began in 1966 and
culminated in 1972 when it became the only biracial,
completely black-governed political jurisdiction in the nation.5
Thus, movements are developed by activists who can “transform
indigenous resources . . . to develop and sustain social protest”
(Morris, 1984, p. 283).
STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
The constraints which bound the Federation as a social change
agent led to the formation of the Minority People’s Council on
the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (MPC) and the Sumter
County Coalition of Organizations (SCCO). The scope of the
Federation’s work was limited by mission and structure.
Conditions stemming from these arrangements gave rise to the
formation of auxiliary indigenous organizations to assume
leading roles in the political mobilization process.
The relationship between the MPC and the Federation began in
1974 with the group’s founding. The council was established
by Wendall Paris and others formerly associated with the
Federation (Paris, June 14, 1984). Its basic mission was to
monitor black and poor peoples' involvement in all phases of
Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway project and to develop
comprehensive programs to enable poor people to benefit from
the project. The MPC focused on fair employment, economic
development, participation on decision-making boards, land
ownership, public education, housing, and health care. The
organization worked, for example, to secure employment for
15. minorities and for the enforcement of the Tennessee-Tombigbee
Waterway Areawide Affirmative Action Plan. It also educated
the public about the two billion dollar federal public works
project (Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Thirteenth
Annual Report, 1980, p. 34; FSC News, 1984, p. 7).
Individuals came into contact with the Federation were also
responsible for the founding of the Sumter County Coalition of
Organizations (SCCO) in 1977. The coalition was an umbrella
organization for black organizations and churches in the county.
The coalition sought the improvement of the public schools and
the elimination of the economic disparity between the races
(Vodicka, 1980, 21). The group aimed to prevent the
fragmentation of the black electorate and to overcome white
political dominance (Paris, 1984).
The Minority People’s Council and the Sumter County Coalition
of Organizations were spawned by the Federation to provide
additional support to the Sumter movement. These groups
developed innovative strategies and tactics in addition to
pursing matters through the political and judicial processes.
For example, matters of equality and justice could be addressed
by direct involvement in politics. Boycotts, marches, and
demonstrations could also be applied and systematic voter
registration drives and get out the vote campaigns were
conducted by these groups. In preparation for the November,
1983 election a the MPC conducted a concentrated voter
registration drive was conducted in July and August.
Two watershed events combined to create conditions favorable
to African American mobilization in Sumter. The first
development was the 1979 boycott of the Sumter County
Training School and the county-wide school system. The
second event was the arrest and trial of Wendall Paris, a
respected community leader and MPC president. These events
yielded the momentum to sustain the mobilization process
leading to a redistribution of political authority in the county.
Although the Federation was not formally involved with the
boycott, there were some individuals involved who were
16. associated with the group (Prejean, 1984; Paris, 1984; The
Progressive, 1981, p. 8).
Between 1968 and 1970 the Sumter County Public School
system was abandoned by whites. This reaction was stimulated
by the 1963 desegregation case of Lee v. Macon County Board
of Education (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1984, 77).
Despite low white student enrollment, school board positions
and the superintendency were dominated by whites. The
children of the white school board members attended the
county’s segregated private academies which had been
established to resist integration. Robert Upchurch, an attorney
and a twenty-seven year member of the school board, even
assisted with writing the charters for the segregated academies
(Bond, 1981; U.S. Civil Rights Commission, 1983).
Following a decision by the school board in 1978 to appoint
Steve Friday, a white, as principal at Livingston Junior High
School (formally the Sumter County Training School), a
petition with about fifty signatures was presented. Friday's
reputation for getting into physical altercations with black
students and the low representation of black faculty and
administrators at the school were among the issues. The failure
of the board to appropriately respond led the SCCO to a call for
the boycott. Some leaders were the parents of children
attending the school and many had current or former ties to the
Federation (The Progressive, 1981, p. 8). When the school
reopened in January almost no one was in attendance. The
boycott had been 98% effective (Bethell, 1982, p. 14).
The boycott of Livingston Junior High School was followed by
a boycott of the entire county school system. Although the
principal was removed by the board, there were many issues left
unresolved. The success of the Livingston Junior High School
boycott offered encouragement. It was reported: “This
magnetism caught on . . . we came back and called a boycott of
the whole school system” which was reportedly 92% effective
(Bethell, 1982, p. 14). The boycott continued through the end
of the school year culminating with the appointment of the
17. county’s first African American school superintendent.
Paris, who admitted to striking the official after “a serious
provocation”, received widespread support from the black
community. In 1979, he was acquitted (Brown, 1979; Paris
interview). The case stimulated the mobilization process and in
January 1980, Paris and two other African Americans were
elected to the school board.
LEADERSHIP
The leadership cadre has an important influence on a local
movement center. The background characteristics of leaders
can provide important insights into movement dynamics. Who
were the leaders of the Sumter movement and how were these
individuals selected? Investigation of the backgrounds of ten
(10) core leaders revealed that eight (80%) were from states in
the southeastern United States5. These individuals tended to be
long time residents of Sumter and other Alabama communities.
This finding is contrary to charges that the Federation was run
by “outside agitators”.
Federation core leaders reported that previously they were
actively involved in preexisting civil rights organizations.
It has been argued that movement leaders are not necessarily
created by their movement. Rather, these individuals are often
chosen from preexisting groups that have helped to hone their
practical skills (Morris, 1984, 285). Eight of ten (80%)
Federation leaders revealed that they had held membership in
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) and three (30%) reported prior active
participation in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC). Two (20%) leaders reported holding membership in
the Student Nonviolent Coordianting Committee (SNCC), and
still another (10%) indicated that they had held membership in
the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
FINANCIAL RESOURCES AND MEMBERSHIP
When viewed within the context of the dire poverty of the
Alabama Black Belt, the financial resources and mass
membership base brought to the Sumter movement by the
18. Federation are especially significant. Membership grew from
twenty-two (22) individual founding members in 1968 to one
hundred (100) member cooperatives encompassing more than
1,500 families and 30,000 individuals in 14 states in 1970
(Vodicka, 1980). By 1980, 133 low-income, predominantly
black, small business and healthcare cooperatives throughout
the Deep South were represented (Brown, 1979).
Revenue grew significantly in this period. Between 1969 and
1970 revenues more than tripled from $492,000 to $1,490,703
and staff size expanded from 5 to 62 positions. In 1978,
Federation income was $2,399,329 and cumulative income from
extramural sources exceeded $11,000,000 (Federation of
Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, 25th Anniversary
Journal, August, 1992, p. 9). Revenue was principally derived
from federal grant programs and private philanthropic groups.
More than 75% of Federation revenue was generated from
sources that outside of Sumter county. Member cooperatives
and individual members contributed dues based on a sliding
scale. Although outside resources may be helpful in sustaining
movements, they are frequently highly conditional and the
result of pressure from indigenous movements already underway
(Morris, 1984, 283).
The limitations of the Federation’s fiscal base were unveiled at
a crucial juncture in 1979 when the group became the subject of
an intensive federal investigation which was reminiscent of the
1956 attack on the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People6. The action was initiated by white officials in
Sumter, including Livingston Mayor I. Drayton Pruitt, Sr.,
Probate Judge Sam Massengill and Tax Assessor Joe Steagall,
who contacted Congressman Richard Shelby of Alabama to
complain of “government funded activism”, a phrase used to
characterize the alleged involvement of the Federation in
Sumter politics (Vodicka, 1980, p. 19). The “attack”, according
to Federation staff members, was a concerted effort by local,
state and federal officials to discredit the organization and
reduce its effectiveness (Prejean, 1984). FSC program director
19. John Zippert charged that local whites were disturbed by the
effectiveness of the school boycott and decided to use the
organization as a scapegoat (Vodicka, 1980, p. 20).
On December 31, 1979, Federation executive director Charles
Prejean was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Birmingham
to provide all documents relating to federally funded projects,
including the names and addresses of all participants from 1975
through 1979 (The Nation, 1980, p. 537). Ten file boxes of
information, including 40,000 cancelled checks, were handed
over to a Birmingham-based grand jury on February 7, 1980
(Vodicka, 1980). By the investigation’s end, more than 22 file
boxes of financial and programmatic records had been provided
to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Birmingham and
more than 200 people in five states were questioned regarding
the alleged misuse of federal funds.
On May 20, 1981, J.R. Brooks, U. S. Attorney for the Northern
District of Alabama, concluded that the “conduct of the persons
under scrutiny does not warrant prosecution”. The cost of the
investigation to the Federation was in excess of $70,000 (FSC
Monthly Bulletin, 1981, p. 1). The group’s resources were
virtually depleted and philanthropic and government support
declined from $2.5 million to $500,000 annually (Barker and
Jones, 1993, p. 79). The spending reductions of the Reagan
administration further exacerbated matters (Prejean, 1984).
External resources may be either voluntary or involuntary.
Voluntary resources are provided by those who support the
goals of the movement. Involuntary resources are the
consequence of pressure applied by indigenous groups and
reflect the “outcomes of movements rather than assistance to
them” (Morris, 1984, p. 286). An over reliance on external
funding linkages, therefore, may subject an organziation to the
withdrawal of elite support and a disincentive to develop a
strong grass-roots support base. For example, the insurgency
strategy advanced by the SNCC and CORE was severely
incumbered when external group support declined between 1962
and 1965 (McAdam, 1985, p. 210). The Federation’s
20. experience provides further evidence that external resources in
the long run may be damaging to a movement.
ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Morris (1984) maintained that integration among social
organizations in the movement setting enhanced the general
social conditions which promoted political mobilization among
black Americans. During the latter 1970s, the Federation
explored ways to improve coordination among institutions
working to address the needs of the poor in the rural South. In
March, 1978 the Consortium for the Development of the Rural
Southeast, Inc. was formed in cooperation with the Emergency
Land Fund (ELF) and the Southern Cooperative Development
Fund. Its purpose was to provide technical support and training
to farmers and farmworkers in the southeastern United States.
One goal of the consortium was the improvement of self-
employment opportunities. More than $5 million was obtained
in three separate contracts from the Department of Labor to
train Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA)
eligible farmworkers and small farmers by 1981. The
Federation's share was $1.59 million. Three and a half years
after the program’s inception, 553 participants had enrolled in
the Federation's component. Participants came from 22 counties
(including Sumter) and eight cooperatives located in Alabama,
Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, and South Carolina. Overall,
the Consortium served 1,170 persons across six states.
In the 1980s the Federation proposed to form the Southern Rural
Alliance. Motivated some by the devastating impact of the
federal investigation, closer coordination with the Voter
Education Project, Southern Regional Council, and the
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation was the
Federation’s goal (Prejean, 1984). A range of expertise was
possessed by these groups in areas such as voter registration,
political participation, black land loss, economic development,
and civil liberties. However, the plan never reached
implementation and funding was never secured (Federation of
Southern Cooperatives, 25th Anniversary Journal, August,
21. 1992; Southern Rural Alliance: A Plan for Southern
Development, undated, p. 4).
Morris (1984) observed that “movements spread through
sophisticated, formal and informal communications networks”
(p. 277). The experience of Federation and the Sumter
movement bear out this proposition. The participation of
individuals with preexisting organizations was an important
factor to the movement and to the organizational relationships
developed by the Federation. For example, their experience
with the traditional civil rights organizations and the local
cooperative network likely affected movement support as
manifested by the Minority People’s Council and the Sumter
County Coalition of Organizations.
Moreover, the National Committee in Support of Community
Based Organizations, formed in 1980 to help defend the
Federation in the Justice Department’s probe, indicates the high
degree of national and regional integration (Prejean, 1984). The
committee was co-chaired by Leslie Dunbar of the Field
Foundation and Mack H. Jones, chairman of the political
science department at The Atlanta University (Monthly Bulletin,
1981, pp. 2-3). The group received the endorsement of national
luminaries such as Vernon Jordon of the National Urban
League, Carl Holman of the National Urban Coalition, Mayor
Marion Barry of Washington, DC, Georgia State Senator Julian
Bond and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). The
Alabama Support Committee for the Federation was also
convened in March, 1981 by Mayor Richard Arrington of
Birmingham. A statement of support of the Federation was
issued by California congressman Mervyn Dymally in the May
21, 1981 Congressional Record.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
The purpose of this study has been to investigate the nature and
dynamics of African American political mobilization in Sumter
county, Alabama. The theoretical framework employed in this
research was the indigenous perspective. Several key findings
emerged from this work. Application of the model indicates
22. that the Federation of Southern Cooperatives was at the
forefront of the movement in Sumter. Its leadership was well-
integrated, however, its formal bureaucratic structure and
mission limited the direct role of the group. The Minority
People’s Council and the Sumter County Coalition of
Organizations evolved as a central part of the fabric of the
movement. The overwhelming dependence of the Federation,
and indirectly that of the movement, on external revenue
sources was a major point of stress when the movement
confronted with an investigation that threatened to destroy the
organization and the movement.
This research supports the thesis that the Federation of Southern
Cooperatives was a significant agent of political change in
Sumter. Julian Bond has aptly summed up the organization’s
impact: “Their presence and the independence that land
ownership has given much of the local population planted the
seeds of political freedom that many black Alabamians had
never before known” (Bond, 1981). Its experience suggests,
however, that since viability is inextricably linked to resources,
community based organizations should develop a resource base
that is independent of the changing winds of politics. This is
one of the important challenges of African American politics as
empowerment continues to be a predominant focus. Future
research should quantitatively examine the impact of
empowerment in Sumter and elsewhere in the Alabama Black
Belt region on the quality of life of African Americans.
24. - 1967 , press release, May 20, 1986; Alabama Registrar,
“White voter gain outstrips rise in Negro registrations, June 10,
1962; VEP, untitled, undated documents; Alabama Democratic
Conference (ADC), January 24, 1978, statistics cited in
correspondence to Vivian M. Jones, VEP executive director,
from Alvin Holmes, deputy vice chairman, ADC (Black
Political Caucus of Alabama); Data compiled jointly by VEP
and Southern Regional Council, untitled, undated.
TABLE 2
Black Elected Officials in Sumter County by Office Held,
1970-1985
_____________________________________________________
_________________________
Selected Years
26. % Change
Total BEOs Alabama 86 83 149 171 207
238 269 375
_____________________________________________________
________________________
SOURCE: Metropolitan Applied Research Center, et al,
National Roster of Black Elected Officials (Washington, DC:
MARC, February 1970); Joint Center for Political Studies,
National Roster of Black Elected Officials, vols. 2-12
(Washington, DC: JCPS, 1971-1982; Black Elected Officials: A
National Roster, vols. 13-15 (New York: UNIPUB, 1984-85).
NOTES
The author would like to express his gratitude to the Division of
Academic Affairs, Old Dominion University, the College of
Arts and Letters, the Department of Political Science and
Geography, and the Office of Graduate Studies, Research and
Economic Development. This research was supported in part by
a summer faculty grant funded by the Office of the Provost.
Appreciation is extended to Dr. Charles E. Jones who provided
a critique of an earlier draft of this work.
1The terms African American and black are used
27. interchangeably based on context and sound.
2The term black belt, as used in this study, refers to the
following Alabama counties: Autauga, Barbour, Bullock,
Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes,
Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Perry, Sumter, and Wilcox. The
African American population in these counties has ranged from
about 40% to 70% of the total. Black belt has also been used to
reference the rich, alluvial soil that once was critical to the
region’s agrarian-based economy.
3Resource mobilization (RM) became the major paradigm for
studying social movements during the 1970s. According to this
perspective, social movements are an extension of politics by
other means and can be analyzed interms of conflicts of interest
just like other forms of political struggle. Movements are seen
as structured and patterned so they can be analyzed in terms of
organization dynamics just like other forms of institutionalized
action (Oberschall, 1973; McCarthy and Zald, 1973, 1977;
Tilly, 1978). One of the major issues in resource mobilization
theory concerns how much money or resources are generated
from within the aggrieved group and how much from without
(McCarthy and Zald, 1977; Cuzan, 1990). RM employs the
rational actor model which dictates that the relative
cost/benefits of movement participation are weighed by
individuals. A number of benefits are derived from movement
participation. Some of these include solidarity incentives such
as emotional rewards and group reinforcement, material
incentives including cash and goods and services, as well as
purposeful incentives which entail the linking of collective
action to group goals (Ennis and Schreuer, 1987; Gamson, 1975;
McCarthy and Zald, 1977; Oberschall, 1973; Olson, 1965).
Some scholars contend that mobilization theory is inadequate
for studying the emergence and development of the black
movement (Morris, 1984; McAdams, 1985, p.230).
28. 4The sixteen (16) counties which were the focus of hearings
held by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights were Autauga,
Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas, Greene,
Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Perry, Sumter, and
Wilcox. The Commission concluded in both 1958 and 1968
“that blacks suffered from discrimination and segregation in
every facet of life” (U.S. Civil Rights Commission, 1983, iii).
In 1983 the Commission reported that since 1968 there had been
little change in the relative conditions of African Americans and
whites.
5Ten contiguous counties in southwest Alabama comprise the
state’s rural black belt. The include Choctaw, Dallas, Greene,
Hale, Lowndes, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter and Wilcox.
5Federation core leaders are defined as individuals who occupy
full-time staff positions and members of the board of directors.
In 1984 a poll was conducted to ascertain the origin and nature
of FSC core leaders.
6In 1972, Greene county became the only biracial jurisdiction
in the United States to be governed completely by African
Americans (Perry, 1980; Barker and Jones, 1994). Traditional
civil rights organizations were able to effectively situate
themselves at the helm of the Greene county movement to
enhance black political development. The activity in the county
generated considerable national interest. On the other hand, in
Sumter, organizations such as the NAACP and the SCLC were
unable to generate the momentum to sustain the movement
through the mobilization phase. Consequently, it was more than
a decade later when African American were elected to key
positions on the Sumter county commission and the school
board.
7In 1956 official attacks to destroy the NAACP were
29. spearheaded by state governments (Morris, 1984, pp. 32-34). In
the South, the organization was asked by states to make
available its membership list based on charges that the NAACP
was subversive or communistic. The organization refused to
turn over its membership lists reasoning that if the information
was presented members would potentially be exposed to
economic and other forms of reprisal. In the same year,
Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas obtained injunctions preventing
the operation of the NAACP. In Virginia seven laws were
passed to prevent the organization from functioning, and the
Florida legislature alloted $50,000 to investigate the NAACP
for alleged communist activity. A law was also passed in South
Carolina that forbade teachers’ participation in the NAACP.
The coordinated attack of the white power structure resulted in
a decline in membership by 28% from 1955 to 1957. It is
important to note that the repressive action occurred when the
NAACP was postured for growth. Morris (1984) contended that
the NAACPs decline left an organizational and protest vacuum
in southern communities (p. 34).
REFERENCES
Barker, Lucious J. & Mack H. Jones. (1994). African
Americans and the American Political System. Third edition.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Bethell, Thomas N. (1982). Sumter County Blues: The Ordeal
of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. Washington, DC:
National Committee in Support of Community Based
Organizations.
Black, Earl. (1976). Southern Governors and Civil Rights.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bullock, Charles S. III. (1975). The election of blacks in the
South: preconditions and consequences. American Journal of
30. Political Science, 19, 727-739.
Button, James W. (1989). Blacks and Social Change: Impact of
the Civil Rights Movement in Southern Communities.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Clemons, Michael L. (1987). The Impact of the Federation of
Southern Cooperatives on the Process of Political Development
in Sumter County Alabama.. Atlanta: Atlanta University,
doctoral dissertation.
Coombs, David W., M.H. Alsikafi, C. Hobson Bryan, and Irving
L. Webber. (1977). Black political control in Greene county,
Alabama. Rural Sociology, 42, 398-406.
Federation of Southern Cooperatives. (1974). Articles and
Bylaws. Epes, Alabama: The Cooperative Press.
Giles, Micheal W. (1986). Percent black and racial hostility:
an old assumption reexamined. Social Science Quarterly , 58,
412-17.
Giles, Micheal W. & Arthur Evans. (1986). The power
approach to intergroup hostility. Journal of Conflict
Resolution, 30, 469-85.
Hanks, Lawrence J. (1987). The Struggle for Black Political
Empowerment in Three Georgia Counties. Knoxville: The
University of Tennessee Press.
Holden, Matthew. (1973). The Politics of the Black Nations.
New York: Chandler Publishing Company.
Holmes, Robert A., et al. (1981). Transportation and Housing
Energy Policies: The Energy Crisis, Minorities, Low Income
and Elderly Persons in Rural and Urban Perspectives in the
31. Southereastern United States. Project Report Number, OMEI-
80-NP-1-01. Atlanta: Atlanta University.
Jordan, Vernon. (4 November 1980). Feds harassing black co-
op. Rock Hill South Carolina Herald.
Key, Jr. V.O. (1949). Southern Politics in State and Nation.
New York: Vintage Books.
Knoke, David & Natalie Kyriazis (1977). The persistence of the
black-belt vote: A test of Key’s hypothesis. Social Science
Quarterly., 57: 898-906.
Ladd, Jr. Everett C. (1966). Negro Political Leadership in the
South. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Matthews, Donald R. & James Prothro. (1966). Negroes and
the New Southern Politics. New York: Harcourt, Brace and
World.
McAdam, Doug. (1985). Political Process and the
Development of Black Insurgency. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Morris, Aldon. (1984). The Origins of the Civil Rights
Movement. New York: The Free Press.
Morrison, Minion K.C. (1987). Black Political Mobilization:
Leadership, Power and Mass Behavior. Albany: State
University of New York Press.
Perry, Huey L. (1980). The socioeconomic impact of black
political empowerment in a rural southern locality. Rural
Sociology, 45 (2), 207-222.
Southern Rural Alliance. A Plan for Southern Development,
n.p., n.d.
32. Southern voter registration in the ‘60s. VEP NEWS, January-
February 1979, Vol. 4, nos. 1-2, Voter Education Project ,
Atlanta, Georgia.
United States Commission on Civil Rights. (1975). The Voting
Rights Act: Ten Years After. Washington, DC: U.S. Civil
Rights Commission.
United States Commission on Civil Rights. (December 1983).
Fifteen Years Ago . . . Rural Alabama Revisited. Clearinghouse
Publication Number 82. Washington, DC: U. S. Civil Rights
Commission.
Walton, Jr., Hanes. (1994). Black Politics and Black Political
Behavior: A Linkage Analysis. Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers.
Walton, Jr. (1994). The political use of absentee ballots in a
rural black-belt county: Dr. Merolyn Stewart-Gaulden’s election
campaign for Taliaferro county school superintendent. In Hanes
Walton, Jr. (Ed.), Black Politics and Black Political Behavior :
A Linkage Analysis. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Walton, Jr. (1972). Black Politics: A Theoretical and
Structural Analysis. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company.
Wright, Jr., Gerald C. (1977). Contextual models of electoral
behavior: The southern Wallace vote. American Political
Science Review, 71, 497-508.
INTERVIEWS
Black, Lucious, Alabama state representative, District 67, York,
Alabama, 6 August 1984.
33. Hardaway, Jr. Eddie, Sumter county district court judge,
Livingston, Alabama, 6 August 1984.
Paige, Ralph, acting executive director and field director,
Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Atlanta, Georgia, 3 May
1984.
Paris, Wendall, Sumter county board of education, Livingston,
Alabama, 6 August 1984.
Prejean, Charles O., executive director, Federation of Southern
Cooperatives, Atlanta Georgia, 3 March 1984.
Prejean, Charles O., former executive director, Federation of
Southern Cooperatives, Atlanta, Georgia, 3 May 1984.
Threadgill, Obadiah, Sumter county board of commissioners,
Livingston, Alabama, telephone interview, 14 August 1984.
Proposal
Role and Influence of Women in the Movement
I. Introduction and Statement of Purpose
· The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the role and
influence of women in the Movement. The major research
questions that will be discussed is how the movement started
and how it ended and what caused it? This paper will also
address the different obstacles and events that the women had to
face before seeing some results. This paper is significant
because women had to gain and fight for their respect and
rights. If it was not for these women fighting, we will not be
able to do some of the things we are able to do today, such as
voting.
II. Methodology
· In order to carry out this research I will first gather a lot of
34. information. My main source of information will come from
peer review journals or article and the internet. The
information collected will explain the different movements in
details. Then I will group the different facts in their appropriate
category. Once I got all of my information, I will make an
outline, and then complete my paper. I will first discuss the
meaning of the movement, how it started, how long it lasted,
and then the outcome.
III. Literature Review
This research paper will discuss the role and influence of
women in the movement. The movement had several names,
such as the Feminist Movement or Women’s Liberation. The
movement was not focused on just one issue, but many issues.
Issues included women trying to hold equal positions in their
household. The literature used will explain the different issues
and how women acted in order to make things better. One of the
major issues were women were not getting paid equally as men.
“In 1965, the median income of year-round, full-time workers
was: white men, $6,704; nonwhite men, $4,277 white women,
$3,991; nonwhite women, $2,816.” (Freeman, 1968). Women
were getting paid less because men were considerate to be more
in control than women.
As the issue of equality among women and men become
more obvious, women decide to fight through Feminist
Movements in order to get their voices heard and to make a
difference. (Freeman, 1986) The Feminist Movement was like a
boycott that allowed the women to stand up for what they felt
was right. Women knew that if they kept letting things continue
as they were and not say anything, there would be no change
over time.
Voting was another issue faced by women. Women felt that they
had just as much right to vote as the men. The suffrage
movement played a part in making voting rights for women to
happen. Although this movement was giving rights to women, it
was influenced by women, but not made up of all women.
(Freeman, 1995)
35. What is feminism? It is basically women trying to fight for their
rights of equality toward men. We would want to think that a
feminist is only women, but it really isn’t. I can be either man
or women that claims to be part of feminism or writes about it.
(Baumgardner and Richards)
Strengths cited
“In 1965, the median income of year-round, full-time workers
was: white men, $6,704; nonwhite men, $4,277 white women,
$3,991; nonwhite women, $2,816.” (Freeman, 1968)
Outline
I. Introduction
II. What were the women movements
a. Feminist Movement
i. Definition
b. Women’s Liberation
i. Definition
c. Suffrage Movement
i. Definition
III. Cause of Movements
a. Examples
IV. The Influences of Women
a. Explanation
V. Impact that Women Caused
a. Examples
b. Explanation
VI. Conclusion
Bibliography
Baumgardner, Jennifer and Amy Richards. "What Is Feminism?"
Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future (2000).
Freeman, Jo. "FROM SUFFRAGE TO WOMEN'S
LIBERATION: FEMINISM IN TWENTIETH CENTURY
AMERICA ." Mountain View, Calif: Mayfield, 5th edition
36. (1996): 509-528.
—. "SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND THE EQUAL RIGHTS
AMENDMENT." Sociological Forum (1988): 145-152.
—. "The Women's Liberation Front." Moderator (1968).
—. "Waves of Feminism." H-Women (1996).
Jervis, Lisa. "The End of Feminism's Third Wave ." Ms.
Magazine. (2004).