◆ SpookStack

LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE were segregated, with sections for both races. In Tallahatchie County during the early 1950s, the local black high school played its “big football game of the year” at the white high school because the seating and lighting were better. : 3. Brown v. The Board of Education: On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court, in its decision on Brown v. The Board of Education, decreed schools be desegregated, that “separate but equal” education was unlawful. In Mississippi there was a strong reaction to the ruling, The editor of the Jackson Daily News, Frederick Sullens, wrote: os "Human blood may stain southern soil in many places because of this decision, but the dark red stains of that blood will be on the marble steps of the United States Supreme Court building. White and Negro children in the same schools will lead to miscegenation. It means racial strife of the bitterest sort. Mississippi cannot and will not try to abide by the decision." “4 . Citizens, lawmakers and community leaders also reacted to the ruling. Mississippi Senator James OQ. Eastland, Governor Hugh L. White, judges and many other officials spoke out publiely, voicing their opposition to the Court's ruling. Previously, private organizations had been formed in seventeen Mississippi counties to promote segregation. Following the ruling the movement to organize these groups gained speed. ”° 4. The Citizens’ Councils: On July 11, 1954, the Indianola Citizens’ Council was formed to promote segregation. The Indianola Citizens’ Council's plan for organization served as a model and soon other similar segregationist groups were formed throughout Mississippi. 26 On October 12, 1954, the Association of Citizens’ Councils of Mississippi (ACCM) was formed. ACCM headquarters were initially located in Winona, Mississippi, then in 1955 moved to Greenwood, Mississippi. The ACCM Annual Report: August 1955 states the organization had Ibid , 42 4 Ibid, 64 to 65 ; The Citizens’ Council, Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-64, Neil R. McMillen, 1994, 15 to 1g Ibid, 16 to 20 16 LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency, it and its contents are not to be distributed outside your agency.