Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission

The Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission was a government agency of the Louisiana state government established to combat desegregation, which operated from June 1960 to 1967 in the capitol city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The group warned of "creeping federalism", and opposed school racial integration.[1] It allied with the Louisiana Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities,[2] and coordinated with the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission.[3]

History

Following the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States, the court declared school segregation unconstitutional.[4] As a response to Brown v. Board of Education, Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis created this group through the passage of state legislation. The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was founded in 1956, and was the organizational template for the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission, and the Alabama State Sovereignty Commission.[5] A former candidate for governor, Frank Voelker, Jr. had led the Louisiana group in 1962 to 1963.[6][7] Sam B. Short served as the group's executive director.[8]

The pro-segregation propaganda film A Way of Life (1961), was released for the group as part of the Louisiana: A History series, produced by Avalon Daggett.[9] The film showed a peaceful coexistence of black and white people within the state, and features Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis speaking on states' rights.[9]

The group employed investigators and was prosecuted for the use of illegal wiretaps in order to victimize Wade Mackie, of the American Friends Service Committee; Irvin Cheney, the former pastor of the Broadmoor Baptist Church in Baton Rouge; and Marvin Reznikoff the Rabbi of the Liberal Synagogue.[10] Yasuhiro Katagiri wrote in his 2009 book the records for Louisiana's group were "apparently burned" after they ceased operations.[5]

Legacy

In declassified FBI documents (through FOIA) reported in 2016, former state governor John McKeithen, with the help of the organization had privately raised money for Ku Klux Klan leaders within the state.[11][12]

Archival records for the Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission can be found at the Civil Rights Digital Library at the Digital Library of Georgia,[13] the American Archive of Public Broadcasting,[9] and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.[14][8]

Publications
Sample of the comic book, We the People (1961)
Sample of the comic book, We the People (1961)
  • Don't Be Brainwashed: We Don't Have to Integrate Our Schools! (pamphlet). Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission and Louisiana Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities. c. 1960.[15][16]
  • The Unsolid South (pamphlet). Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission.[14]
  • We the People (comic book). Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. 1961.[17]
  • Voting Rights and Obligations; The Louisiana Program. Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. 1962.[18]
  • State Sovereignty; Is It a Thing of the Past?. Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. 1967.[19]

See also

References
  1. "Louisiana Protest Sent 49 Governors". The New York Times. 1960-09-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  2. "Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission". Amistad Research Center, Tulane University.
  3. "Civil Rights Digital Library". crdl.usg.edu.
  4. "Brown v. Board of Education". History.com. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  5. Katagiri, Yasuhiro (September 18, 2009). The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission: Civil Rights and States' Rights. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496801258 – via Google Books.
  6. "Morrison Backed in Louisiana". The New York Times. 1964-01-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  7. "Frank Voelker Sr. Succumbs at 69". Newspapers.com. The Town Talk. July 3, 1963.
  8. "Sovereignty Commission Online, SCR ID # 99-104-0-2-1-1-1". Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
  9. "Louisiana: A History; A Way of Life produced for Louisiana Sovereignty Commission by Avalon Daggett". American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Library of Congress, GBH, Archives.
  10. "Jerry P. Shinley Archive: Origins of Louisiana Un-American Activities Committee (LUAC)". JFK Online. Dave Reitzes. July 16, 1998.
  11. Richoux, Patrick (April 25, 2016). "Records: Former gov. set up payments to the Ku Klu Klan". Newspapers.com. The Daily Review. p. 1, 10. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  12. Richoux, Patrick (April 27, 2016). "FBI: Former Gov. John McKeithen arranged payments to Ku Klux Klan to quell violence in 1960s". The Advocate. Manship School News Service. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  13. "Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission". Civil Rights Digital Library, Digital Library of Georgia.
  14. "Sovereignty Commission Online, SCR ID # 99-104-0-10-1-1-1". Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
  15. "Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission (Louisiana. State Sovereignty Commission)". The Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania.
  16. "Pamphlet, "Don't Be Brainwashed," State Sovereignty Commission". Brown-Tougaloo Project, Brown University Archives. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  17. We the People. Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. 1961 – via Google Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. Voting Rights and Obligations: The Louisiana Program. Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. 1962.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. State Sovereignty: Is it a Thing of the Past?. Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission. 1967.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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