ABSTRACT POLITICAL SCIENCE Hill, Rickey B. A., 1975 Fisk University THE CHARACTER OF BLACK POLITICS IN A SMALL SOUTHERN TOWN DOMINATED BY A MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION: BOGALUSA, LOUISIANA 1965 - 1975 Adviser: Alex Willingham Thesis Date: May, 1977 This thesis presents a descriptive and critical analysis of the character of black politics in Bogalusa, Louisiana from 1965 to 1975 with emphasis on the Crown Zellerbach Corporation, which came to control the local paper mill in 1955 and to dominate local politics. During the period of the study we find, (1) the height of the Civil Rights Movement in Bogalusa, (2) black leadership coming forth from the ranks of Crown Zellerbach' labor force to give leadership to the Bogalusa Civic and Voter's League and the Deacons for Defense and Justice, and (3) the specific struggle that occurred inside the Crown Zellerbach Corporation against the segregated line of progression and dual unionism. The concluding discussion consists of an assess¬ ment of development over the ten year period, and observations about the future of black politics in Bogalusa. This study employs three methods to elicit information. The first method is the usual library study. Literature on Southern and black politics, and multina¬ tional corporations is surveyed. The second method are open-ended interviews with key personalities in Bogalusa. And thirdly, the author draws upon his individual assess¬ ment, having observed and participated in some of these developments over the last ten years. THE CHARACTER OF BLACK POLITICS IN A SMALL SOUTHERN TOWN DOMINATED BY A MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION: BOGALUSA, LOUISIANA 1965 - 1975 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS BY RICKEY HILL DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ATLANTA, GEORGIA MAY, 1977 R~ Ltt T ^ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND DEDICATION I am indebted to Professors Alex Willingham and William Boone for their contributions toward the completion of this thesis. This thesis is dedicated to the courageous struggles of black people in Bogalusa to transform the con¬ ditions of their lives, to my mother, Doris and to my grandmother, Virginia, for they have been the strength in my life, and to my daughter, Nzinga Nia Kambon, in hope that she not only become a part of the current to break bourgeois society, but that in her life time she is able to transcend the totality of the reified world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE 9 III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOGALUSA, LOUISIANA IN THE NEW SOUTH AND THE CROWN ZELLERBACH CORPORATION 42 IV. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN BOGALUSA, LOUISIANA: BLACK POLITICS AND THE NEW- NEW SOUTH 62 From Acquiescence to Activism: The Rise of Militant Leadership and Organization 64 "Armed Defense": The Deacons for Defense and Justice 71 The Proving Ground of the South .... 74 The Struggle Against Inferior Education 85 School Desegregation and Student Activism 89 V. THE POLITICS OF PROGRESS OR ACCOMMODATION? 93 In Pursuit of the Electoral Arena ... 93 From the Parish Seat to the State Capital 98 The Big Company and Racism: The Struggle Against the Crown Zellerbach Corporation and Dual Unionism .... 100 Summary 108 VI. CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMARY EVALUATION ... 112 APPENDIX 123 BIBLIOGRAPHY 131 iii. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The study of the character of black politics as a significant phenomenon in the American South must consider political development in the region as a whole. Such a study must also consider the race problem in the American South as fundamental to American and Southern institutions. This consideration remains the key factor, whether one is concerned with black politics throughout the South or a particular geographical region, state or local in the South. The fact also remains that, as the ideologies about Southern development have changed, so have both the views about "what to do with the Negro" and the actual status of the Negro in Southern life. Statement of the Problem The development of the American South can be summed up by at least three features: (1) as the bastion of modern slavery in the United States; (2) by its -1- -2- dependency on the industrial northeast ; and (3) the ascendancy of black political authorities. The American South became distinguished for a form of politics that eliminated blacks from participation in any authoritative decision-making. The Reconstruction period, however, did bring brief political power to the more privileged sector of the black community in the South. It was during this period that black people had achieved emancipation from slavery, O the right to bear arms and the right to vote. As tem¬ porary as it was, from 1865 to 1877, the Reconstruction period, perhaps, was the only period where black people have ever exercized political authority in the United States. With the Reconstruction over and the return of "white supremacy" blacks were relegated to the subservient, menial position that they were held under during slavery. ■*■366 William H. Nichols, "The South As a Developing Area," 26 Journal of Politics, (February 1964): 24. 2 For specific discussion of the impact of Reconstruc¬ tion on black people in the South, at least three historical accounts are useful: James S. Allen, Reconstruction: The Battle for Democracy; 1865-1876, (New York : International Publishers, 1937); William Z. Foster, The Negro People in American History, (New York: International Publishers, 1954), 260-269 ; and W. E. B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in America, (New York: Russell & Russell" 1962). -3- Concretely, this situation was given added impetus by the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguerson^ decision, in which the Supreme Court declared "separate-but-equal" to be consistent with the American constitution. Ideologically, this situation remained a constant well into the twentieth century, and was manifested in all the devices that denied to blacks the ballot; i.e., the white primaries, the poll tax, and the literary test. The 1944 Smith vs. Allwright4 decision represents one salient point at which the position of blacks began to change.^ it was this decision that declared the white primaries unconstitutional. Prior to this decision not only had the race problem not been recognized as a Southern or an American problem, but scholarly research was also limited. Ten years after the Smith decision the Supreme Court went further to make a dent in the "solid South." The 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education^ decision reversed the "separate-but-equal" clause. The Civil Rights Movement of the mid-fifties and the nineteen-sixties was the decisive turn that pointed to ^Plessy vs. Ferguerson, 163 U. S. 537 (1896). 4Smith vs. Allwright, 321 U. S. 649 (1944). ~*See Hugh D. Price, The Negro and Southern Politics, (New York: New York University Press, 1957). g Brown- vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 347 U. S7~4ff3 7T954)'. -4- black political activity as a new feature of Southern politics. The prime aim of the Civil Rights Movement was to break down the segregated system in the South, i.e., to achieve the right to vote and to acquire access to public accommodations.^ Civil Rights activity occurred in many counties and was countered by some of the most bla¬ tant and brutal forms of racial oppression. Events in many of these counties represented salient episodes in the Civil Rights Movements. The success of the Civil Rights movement is often attested by the removal of segregation and the subsequent rise of black authorities. Places such as Lowndes County, Alabama, Madison County, Mississippi; and Tensas Parish, Louisiana stand out. However, on the other side of this development are those counties where there are no black political authorities and no meaningful input into the decision-making of the polity. Bogalusa, Louisiana in Washington Parish is one such situation. This thesis undertakes a study of the character of the politics in this small southeastern Louisiana town - which continued well into the 1970's without black political authorities. ^See Leon Friedman, The Civil Rights Reader; Basic Documents of the Civil Rights Movement, (New York: Walker and Company, 1967); Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1958); and King, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, (New York: Bantam Books, 1968). -5- Bogalusa was developed as a mill town settlement in 1906. It's settlement was characteristic of the New South strategy that began at the turn of the twentieth century. The name, Bogalusa comes from the Choctaw Indian word, "Bogue Lusa," meaning dark or smoky waters; which was characteristic of the creek that ran through the town. The town was incorporated on July 4, 1914. It's entire growth has always been contingent on its industrial development. In 1906, the Great Southern Lumber Company was established as one of the largest lumber operations in the world. It was the Gaylord Container Corporation, however, that took control of Great Southern in 1936 and launched the town as one of the outstanding manufacturing places of pulp, paper, and boxes in the South. The pre¬ sent company, the Crown Zellerbach Corporation, merged with the Gaylord Corporation in November 1955; with the Gaylord Corporation becoming one of the divisions of Crown Zellerbach. The advent of the Crown Zellerbach Corporation brought to Bogalusa the first and only multi¬ national corporation. It is the purpose of this thesis to analyze the character of politics in this town dominated by a multi¬ national corporation. Prior to 1965 black political life was not considered a part of the larger Bogalusa community. -6- For Bogalusa was one of those towns where Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan represented both the law and the order. A rigid segregation system denied blacks par¬ ticipation in the political process, i.e., blacks were still being denied the right to register and vote and access to public acconmodations.