“C” is for Citizens’ Councils

“C” is for Citizens’ Councils. Founded in 1954 in Mississippi, citizens councils quickly spread across the South. The organizations promoted membership as a respectable way for disgruntled segregationists to protest civil rights activism. They publicly renounced violence but encouraged organized economic pressure against African Americans and Whites who were sympathetic to the Black freedom struggle. South Carolina's first citizens councils appeared in Orangeburg County in August 1955. The movement spread rapidly through South Carolina. By 1956 citizens’ councils in South Carolina claimed 40,000 members and 55 councils. In the state they promoted political activism and a protracted campaign of economic intimidation against African American activists. For many civil rights leaders, pressures from citizens’ councils led to the loss of house, home, and occupation. Without steady leadership, membership rapidly declined, and the influence of Citizens’ Councils had diminished greatly by 1958.