Mary Holmes

Professor Eagles
History 400; Section 1
22 September 2014
Organizing People to Mobilize a Movement: Local People
The Civil Rights Movement began as a chaotic, disorganized movement, lacking a
common direction. Leaders and followers alike struggled when deciding on goals they wanted to
achieve, as well as how best to achieve them. The maturation of the movement brought with it
cohesion, made evident by the early 1960s, when the movement began to see real momentum.
Movement support was slowly nationalizing and advocates from different regions began to come
together to support movements that were not native to themselves. The Mississippi Delta serves
as a great example for a once ambiguous cause slowly finding a common direction and willingly
submitting to their leaderships will.1 Growing support and organization brought the movement a
level of success that had been unprecedented prior to the 1960s, quickly receiving more national
attention from both the media and the federal government. Cooperation from different groups
and fellow advocates proved to be invaluable to the civil rights movement, mobilizing a long
fought fight that had been raging long before the 1960s.
Mississippi, arguably the most troubled state in the union regarding segregation and racial
regression, became a focal point of the 1960s demonstrations. In particular, the Mississippi Delta
served as an area of particular interest. The impoverished lower class suffered immensely from
years of repression2 and negative post-reconstruction and World War One laws. The federal
government tried to relieve the side effects of minority inequalities by bringing aid to the
impoverished local people in the region,3 but it was not enough. The gaping gap that existed
1 Like most civil rights causes, that common ground was founded on voter registration
2 Even though slavery had been abolished nearly a century before the 1960s, the South remained staunch supported
of segregation and white supremacy years after Reconstruction and both World Wars.
3 Most being African American

between the people who qualified for federal aid and those who actually received the aid was
astronomical.4 Such dismal circumstances provided groups like SNCC and the NAACP to offer
real incentives for crucial movement causes, like voter registration.
By making the persuasive argument that The Board of Supervisors could do this to you
because you couldnt vote, (Dittmer, p. 146) the movement quickly became flooded with even
the most illiterate people trying to register to vote. Leaders from SNCC repeatedly stressed to
locals that if you, Register it wont happen again. (Dittmer, p. 146) For the first time, an
organization was able to draw a positive correlation between poverty and lacking resources, with
the right to vote. Uniting much of the African Americans from places like Greenwood,
Mississippi, for the first time.5 This slowly gave voice to an entirely new group of people, in
addition to influence that minority groups previously had been denied.
Success in places like Greenwood, serve as excellent examples of local efforts in the civil
rights movement. Conversely, men like Charles Evers serve as perfect examples of uniting
people on a more national scale. Stop blaming the white man for [their] troubles, said Evers, as
he called upon his Northern audience in Detroit to help make a difference in the Southern states
of America. (Dittmer, p. 178) Demonstrating Evers deep belief that it was necessary to offer
kinship to your racial American brothers, no matter their geographic location within the United
States. Providing readers with an early example of national civil rights movements coming to the
forefront of the equality picture.
This realization began to unite people across the country in a way that it had not been in
years prior to the sixties. Presidents like Kennedy and Johnson began to find themselves acting

4 Much unlike the responsibilities and costs it placed on the local governments shoulders. Though that would be
cited by local White leaders as a reason to stop aid all together.
5 With the exception of the Black middle class, who didnt want to loose the privileges they had over the poorer
peoples qualms

as mediators far more frequently than presidents before them. Placing Kennedy and Johnson in a
position to take a position. Especially President Lyndon Johnson, who felt obligated to bring the
change Kennedys domestic policy had intended to bring, despite being primarily focused with
policies abroad. Times were changing, and so too was the national governments role in the civil
rights movement.
The evolution of the Civil Rights really saw its heyday in the 1960s. Friendships between
national government leaders, like Robert F. Kennedy and movement leaders like Charles Evers,
were forming and going so far as to lean on one another for support and empathy during times of
extreme strife. (Dittmer, p. 236) The cause gained strength and recognition across the nation
gradually, and local regions- particularly the Delta- felt it far more than they had in years past.
With voting rights in the drivers seat, equality and protection under the law were being actively
sought after fervently during the 1960s.