RWWL Atlanta Community Relations Commission Collection Finding Aid

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Manuscript Archival Collections

Atlanta Community Relations Commission Collection
1960-1968

1 linear feet

The Atlanta Community Relations Commission (ACRC) was a community action group created by the City of Atlanta in November 1966. Consisting of 20 members appointed by the mayor, their mandate was to study and report on race relations, investigate discrimination, and to make recommendations to the mayor, all in order to improve “human relations.” In February 1967, Eliza K. Paschall (b. 1917 d. 1990) resigned as Executive Director of the Council on Human Relations of Greater Atlanta to accept the appointment as Executive Director of the newly formed ACRC. Under her direction, the ACRC organized a series of public meetings in various neighborhoods to discuss housing conditions. The ACRC also served as a liaison between the African American community and the City Administration in investigating discrimination complaints. In January 1968, the ACRC declined to reappoint Paschall as Executive Director and she was effectively dismissed from the ACRC.

This collection consists of the papers generated by Eliza Paschall and the Commission during her year as Executive Director of the ACRC. The bulk of the collection is the research materials gathered by Paschall and the ACRC to support their work in the community. The files contain reports and statistics that document issues such as employment discrimination, police action in the Dixie Hills Riots, and desegregation efforts in the public schools. Of special interest are the studies that survey the conditions of Atlanta’s disadvantaged neighborhoods. The correspondence is to and from some of the leading politicos and civil rights organizations in Atlanta regarding the actions of the ACRC. Also included in this collection are a few earlier records created when Paschall was Executive Director of the Council on Human Relations of Greater Atlanta. These consist mainly of her articles for the Atlanta Inquirer, press releases, and a few letters.