RWWL - Commission on Interracial Cooperation Papers 1919-1944

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Manuscript Archival Collections

Commission on Interracial Cooperation Papers
1919-1944

101 linear feet (55 reels - University Microfilms International)Research use restricted to microfilm only

NOTE: A paper copy of the finding aid, with container list, is available at the Woodruff Library Archives & Special Collections Department for in-house consultation and may be available via Interlibrary Loan.

The Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC) was formed in 1919 in response to increasing racial discrimination in the South. After World War I, race relations between African Americans and whites grew tense as the former social boundaries were upset by the new status of returning black soldiers, resulting in further denial of the basic legal and political rights of African Americans. Six white Southern men met in Atlanta to discuss ways in which the South might try to avoid misunderstanding between the races. From this initial gathering, the CIC eventually included men and women, black and white, from throughout the South, whose early intention was to create state and local committees that would promote interracial cooperation at the local level. In about 1924, when the local committees were organized, the CIC shifted its emphasis to research, publicity, and education on the achievements of blacks and on the need for cooperation between the races.

Programs were established to improve schools, health facilities, and general living conditions for African Americans, to provide legal aid, to eliminate lynching, and to study segregation in the South. The work of the CIC was supplemented by a copious publication program that distributed pamphlets, reports, periodicals, books, and press releases. The Commission kept abreast of developments at the local level through The Southern Frontier, its longest-running regular publication. In 1944, in response to many members wanting a broader scope for the organization, the final meeting of the CIC convened and merged with the newly-formed Southern Regional Council.

The Commission on Interracial Cooperation Papers contain administrative files, correspondence, reports, minutes, financial records, publicity materials and news releases, and materials from the state-level committees. Of interest is the literature the CIC published which includes many of their pamphlets and a nearly complete run of The Southern Frontier.