
The Papers of Clarence Mitchell Jr., Volume V
The Struggle to Pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act, 1955â1958
- 610 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Papers of Clarence Mitchell Jr., Volume V
The Struggle to Pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act, 1955â1958
About this book
Volume V of The Papers of Clarence Mitchell Jr. records the successful effort to pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act: the first federal civil rights legislation since 1875.
Prior to the US Supreme Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the NAACP had faced an impenetrable wall of opposition from southerners in Congress. Basing their assertions on the court's 1896 "separate but equal" decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, legislators from the South maintained that their Jim Crow system was nondiscriminatory and thus constitutional. In their view, further civil rights laws were unnecessary. In ruling that legally mandated segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, the Brown decision demolished the southerners' argument. Mitchell then launched the decisive stage of the struggle to pass modern civil rights laws.
The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first comprehensive lobbying campaign by an organization dedicated to that purpose since Reconstruction. Coming on the heels of the Brown decision, the 1957 law was a turning point in the struggle to accord Black citizens full equality under the Constitution. The act's passage, however, was nearly derailed in the Senate by southern opposition and Senator Strom Thurmond's record-setting filibuster, which lasted more than twenty-four hours. Congress later weakened several provisions of the act butâcruciallyâit broke a psychological barrier to the legislative enactment of such measures.
The Papers of Clarence Mitchell Jr. is a detailed record of the NAACP leader's success in bringing the legislative branch together with the judicial and executive branches to provide civil rights protections during the twentieth century.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Frontispiece
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Series Page
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword: The NAACPâs Lobbying Role
- Preface: Establishing the Role of Advocacy Groups in the Legislative Struggle
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Establishing Presidential Leadership in the Modern Civil Rights Movement: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman
- Editorial Method and Abbreviations
- Civil Rights Chronology, 1955â60
- Glossary
- In Their Own Words on Civil Rights: Presidents, Congress, and Party Platforms
- Headnotes
- Halftitle Page 1
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, February 8, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, March 8, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, April 6, 1955
- Proposed Amendments to Federal Aid for School Construction, April 14, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, May 2, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, June 6, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, September 8, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, October 6, 1955
- Federal Aid for School Construction Bills, October 20, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, November 9, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, December 7, 1955
- 1955 Annual Report of the NAACP Washington Bureau, December 23, 1955
- Attachment to December 23, 1955, Annual ReportâMississippi and the Pending Civil Rights Bills, November 30, 1955
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, February 9, 1956
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, March 8, 1956
- Monthly Report of the Washington BureauâStatus of Civil Rights Bills, March 20, 1956
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, April 5, 1956
- Pending Civil Rights Legislation, April 18, 1956
- Washington Bureau Monthly Report, May 4, 1956
- Washington Bureau Monthly Report, June 7, 1956
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, September 7, 1956
- Attachment to September 7, 1956, Monthly ReportâNAACP Supplemental Report on Voting Records and Issues, August 31, 1956
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, October 4, 1956
- Special Report: The Eighty-Fourth Congress, October 31, 1956
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, November 7, 1956
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, December 6, 1956
- 1956 Annual Report of the Washington Bureau, December 31, 1956
- Action on Civil Rights, January 29, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, February 8, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, March 7, 1957
- Further Amendments to the Civil Rights Bill, March 22, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, April 4, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, May 9, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, June 7, 1957
- Civil Rights Legislation in the 85th Congress, June 21, 1957
- Resolution: NAACP Annual Convention, June 27, 1957
- Statement on Negro Voting in Macon County, Alabama, July 30, 1957
- Monthly Report: Dates of Important Votes on Civil Rights Bill, August 2, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, September 6, 1957
- Attachment to September 6, 1957, Monthly ReportâAnalysis of H.R. 6127, as Passed by Congress, September 6, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, October 10, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, November 8, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, December 6, 1957
- 1957 Annual Report of the Washington Bureau, December 31, 1957
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, February 5, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, March 6, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, April 11, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, May 9, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, June 5, 1958
- Civil Rights and the Filibuster Rule in the 85th Congress, July 9, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, September 4, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, October 9, 1958
- Attachment III to October 9, 1958, October 8, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, November 6, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, December 4, 1958
- Monthly Report of the Washington Bureau, December 31, 1958