Helen Laville Organized White Women and the Challenge of Racial Integration, 1945-1965 Helen Laville Organized White Women and the Challenge of Racial Integration, 1945-1965 Helen Laville Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester, UK ISBN 978-3-319-49693-1 ISBN 978-3-319-49694-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-49694-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017932446 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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Cover illustration: ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Dirk ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Searching for inspiration for writing the acknowledgments for this book drove me to re-read the acknowledgments of my first book, a section so good that many close friends and family (and possibly fellow historians) concluded I had peaked too soon, and there was little point reading any- thing further. For any author, looking back on previous acknowledge- ments, especially when the gap between books has been lengthier than one would have liked or indeed, promised, is somewhat sobering. The personal lives of scholars find space in acknowledgements, and comparing the tributes in one book to the tributes in a later one reflects the passage of time. Ryan and Lauryn, small distracting children in my first book, are grown-ups, exploring universities of their own, and able to help with the odd bit of editing. They are still distracting, but they have got a lot better at making mummy a nice gin and tonic when the stress of writing gets just too much. I now have a lot more nephews and nieces, a new husband, and some new colleagues and friends. Some absences here make me pause, particularly the absence of my Dad, who is no longer here to read the gratitude I express again for the support, love and good humour of my parents. Constants include my lovely siblings, Steven, Jim, David and Jenny, their equally lovely partners, Lucy, Sam, Penny and Pete, and my aunt Janet. My still best friend Maria Balshaw and her children Jake and Lily, who moved cities to escape me, only to find me following ten years later, have been a constant source of support and fun. We still know how to live. The Archives and Special Collections at Auburn University wins top praise in these acknowledgements, not only for the unexpected excellence vii viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of its collection of papers from Alabama women’s associations, diligently amassed by their formidable former Dean of Women Katherine Cooper Cater, but also for the friendliness and hospitality of their greeting, and their help and interest in my project. I thank Michael Rich and his con- gregation at St Andrew’s Church for their marvellous hospitality dur- ing my research trip to Birmingham, Alabama. I am particularly grateful for the help of the dedicated librarians at the following libraries: Mary McLeod Bethune House, Washington, DC; Sophia Smith Library, Smith College, Massachusetts; Robert Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham Public Library, Birmingham, Alabama; Georgia State Archives Morrow, Georgia; John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts; Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, Boston, Massachusetts; National Archives, Washington, DC; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; University of Missouri Archives, Kansas City, Missouri and the William Pullen Library, Atlanta, Georgia. Previous versions of some of the material in this monograph have appeared in a Women’s History Review article titled, “‘If the Time is not Ripe, Then it is Your Job to Ripen the Time!’ The Transformation of the YWCA in the USA from Segregated Association to Interracial Organization, 1930–1965,” (Women’s History Review, 15:3, 2006, www.tandfonline.com), and in a Journal of American Studies article titled, “‘Women of Conscience’ or ‘Women of Conviction’? The National Women’s Committee on Civil Rights” (Journal of American Studies 43:2, 2009), and that work is reprinted here with permission. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues especially, but in no particular order, Danielle Fuller, Fiona Gilyead, Matthew Hilton, Corey Ross, Deborah Longworth, Danielle Fuller, Jeannette Littlemore, Michael Whitby, Tom Lockwood, James Walters, Hugh Adlington, Valerie Rumbold, Susan Hunston, Nick Merriman, Graeme Murdock, Solange Mouthaan Aengus Ward, Andrew Johnstone, George Lewis, Laura Belmonte and Sharon Montieth. My thanks are also due to Scott and Lesley Lucas, who share the logistical stress and the joy of parenting. My final thanks are due to Daniel Moore, who has read drafts of this book in various forms far too many times, and has only complained a little bit. ABBREVIaTIONS AAUW American Association of University Women AFSC American Friends Service Committee ALP American Labor Party ASWPL Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching CAW Congress of American Women CIC Commission on Interracial Cooperation COFO Council of Federated Organizations CORE Congress of Racial Equality CRC Civil Rights Congress CWC Colored Women’s Committee, Young Women’s Christian Association DAR Daughters of the American Revolution FOC Fellowship of the Concerned GFBPWC General Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs GFWC General Federation of Women’s Clubs HOPE Help Our Public Education HUAC House Committee on Un-American Activities IFUW International Federation of University Women LWS League of Women Shoppers LWV League of Women Voters MPE Mississippians for Public Education NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NACWC National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs ix x ABBREVIATIONS NAWSA National American Woman Suffrage Association NCCW National Council of Church Women NCJW National Council of Jewish Women NCNW National Council of Negro Women NCW National Council of Women NOW National Organization of Women NLC Negro Leadership Conference (Young Women’s Christian Association) NSC National Student Council (Young Women’s Christian Association) NWCCR National Women’s Committee on Civil Rights PAC Public Affairs Committee (PAC) SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference SDS Students for Democratic Society SNCC Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee SRC Southern Regional Council STJ Sojourners for Truth and Justice TWIC Tallahassee Women’s Intergroup Committee UCW United Church Women USIA United States Information Agency WCTU Women’s Christian Temperance Union WEAL Women’s Equality Action League WILPF Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom WIMS Wednesdays in Mississippi WSP Women Strike for Peace YMCA Young Men’s Christian Association YWCA Young Women’s Christian Association CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Women’s Associations in the United States 21 3 The League of Women Voters 65 4 The American Association of University Women 111 5 The National Women’s Committee on Civil Rights 151 6 Wednesdays in Mississippi 187 7 Conclusion 223 Bibliography 229 Index 249 xi CHAPTER 1 Introduction On 9 July 1963, a group of 300 women gathered at the White House in Washington DC at the invitation of President Kennedy. All leaders of women’s organizations, they represented some fifty million American women members of associations as diverse as the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, the National Council of Women, B’nai B’rith, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Council of American Baptist Women, the National Council of Catholic Women, the American Nurses Associations, the National Council of Negro Women, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), the League of Women Voters (LWV), United Church Women, the Women’s Missionary Society, the National Association of Women Deans and Counsellors, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the General Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Nationally these associations constituted a powerful coali- tion, whom the government hoped they could persuade to lend their logistical resources and moral authority to the cause of racial justice at the legislative level. Even more importantly, the White