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Story
March 30, 1961
Arizona Sun
Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona
What is this article about?
NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins warns branches in 45 states of pro-South bias in Civil War Centennial events, urging protests against segregated celebrations like the Fort Sumter commemoration in Charleston, S.C., to highlight the war's fight for equality. (198 characters)
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Full Text
'PRO-SOUTH' PROPAGANDA
SETS BACK GROUP PROGRESS
NEW YORK—The NAACP has warned its units in 45 states that the outpouring of "pro-South" propaganda during Civil War Centennial celebrations now under way could "strike a hard blow at our present day movement toward equality." And, in a special memorandum, it advised counter-measures that should be taken.
Noting that Southern states have already appropriated great sums of money in the hope of "repudiating the great moral issue which lay at the bottom of the Civil War," Roy Wilkins, executive secretary, set forth the following suggestions in the memorandum to NAACP branch presidents and state conferences, March 16:
1. Find out if your state has designated a Civil War Centennial Commission.
2. If it has, find out who are its members, and who is chairman and where he can be reached.
3. Wire the chairman immediately that the NAACP in your state regards the Charleston, S. C. assembly, April 11-12 as a betrayal of everything the Civil War was fought for. Urge them to decline to participate and to work against any federal participation.
4. Draft statements for release to the press, radio and television expressing your resentment at efforts to commemorate the Civil War with meaningless pageants and spectacles which overlook the real meaning of the War. Make it clear that the Civil War was fought to preserve a union "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
The reference to the Charleston, S. C. 'Assembly in April concerned a scheduled celebration by the National Civil War Commission of the firing on Fort Sumter. The Commission was set up by a 1957 act of Congress (Public Law 305); however, many states have set up their own commissions with representatives on the national body.
Secretary Wilkins advised in his message that "Strict segregation will be maintained at Charleston and Negro members of state delegations will not be able to join in with their colleagues. New Jersey has denounced this and refuses to take part. All states should do likewise."
SETS BACK GROUP PROGRESS
NEW YORK—The NAACP has warned its units in 45 states that the outpouring of "pro-South" propaganda during Civil War Centennial celebrations now under way could "strike a hard blow at our present day movement toward equality." And, in a special memorandum, it advised counter-measures that should be taken.
Noting that Southern states have already appropriated great sums of money in the hope of "repudiating the great moral issue which lay at the bottom of the Civil War," Roy Wilkins, executive secretary, set forth the following suggestions in the memorandum to NAACP branch presidents and state conferences, March 16:
1. Find out if your state has designated a Civil War Centennial Commission.
2. If it has, find out who are its members, and who is chairman and where he can be reached.
3. Wire the chairman immediately that the NAACP in your state regards the Charleston, S. C. assembly, April 11-12 as a betrayal of everything the Civil War was fought for. Urge them to decline to participate and to work against any federal participation.
4. Draft statements for release to the press, radio and television expressing your resentment at efforts to commemorate the Civil War with meaningless pageants and spectacles which overlook the real meaning of the War. Make it clear that the Civil War was fought to preserve a union "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
The reference to the Charleston, S. C. 'Assembly in April concerned a scheduled celebration by the National Civil War Commission of the firing on Fort Sumter. The Commission was set up by a 1957 act of Congress (Public Law 305); however, many states have set up their own commissions with representatives on the national body.
Secretary Wilkins advised in his message that "Strict segregation will be maintained at Charleston and Negro members of state delegations will not be able to join in with their colleagues. New Jersey has denounced this and refuses to take part. All states should do likewise."
What sub-type of article is it?
Historical Event
What themes does it cover?
Justice
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Naacp Warning
Civil War Centennial
Pro South Propaganda
Segregation Protest
Equality Movement
What entities or persons were involved?
Roy Wilkins
Naacp
Where did it happen?
New York, Charleston S.C., Southern States
Story Details
Key Persons
Roy Wilkins
Naacp
Location
New York, Charleston S.C., Southern States
Event Date
March 16
Story Details
The NAACP warns branches against pro-South propaganda in Civil War Centennial celebrations, advising countermeasures like protesting segregated events and issuing statements emphasizing the war's moral issue of equality.