By May, it was clear to America that Governor Fielding Wright was the revolt leader against Truman’s Civil Rights Program. Wright took to the radio airwaves to appeal to the Black citizens of Mississippi.
Wright explained to Black Mississippians what the States’ Rights movement was. He said, “I recognize our negros, as do all good white Mississippians, as a part of our citizenry, and as citizens, we want them to be fully informed of the importance of states’ rights. In talking to many negros in the last few weeks, I am convinced that many of them do not understand what the white people have in mind. I understand that some have been told that we have been organizing against the negro.”
Wright also condemned the proposed Federal anti-lynching bill as “the most dangerous” item in President Truman’s civil rights program.
During that radio broadcast, Wright reminded the Black people of Mississippi about what white people had done for them and how segregation was best for good race relations. “The white people of the South demand segregation, and the negroes desire it,” Wright later told the Jackson Advocate[1].
Governor Wright’s radio address was a prelude to the “States Rights Democratic Convention,” which occurred in Mississippi the following day. Representatives from the states South of the Mason-Dixon met in Jackson, Mississippi, to discuss what they would do if Truman didn’t drop his civil rights program.
Strom Thurmond was the keynote speaker. He spoke about how President Truman had stabbed the South in the back, and the National Democratic Party would lose the solid South unless they deserted the civil rights plank. Thurmond urged each state to warn the national party convention that they weren’t bound to support a nominee[2].
“The South is not in a revolt of the Democratic Party,” Thurmond told the audience, “We are in a revolt of the present leadership of the Democratic Party, which has repudiated the historic principle upon which the party was founded and has flourished. We are sick and tired of the meretricious leadership that now dominates our party. We have stripped decks for action. The fight is on, and we will not lay down our armor until the present leadership of the Democratic Party repudiated, and the South is again recognized as a political entity of these United States.”
He went on, “Since the Civil War, we of the South, and we alone, have cared and provided for the Negroes in our midst. And the progress which has been made by that race is a tribute to the effort of Southerners and Southerners alone. The ‘emancipators’ have done absolutely nothing to make this task easier. All of the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negroes into Southerner’s homes, schools, churches, and places of recreation and amusement[3].”
The Southerners planned a joint action in each state to effect a rewriting of the platform of the Democratic Party to eliminate the civil rights program advocated by President Truman and nominate another candidate for President who would espouse the states’ rights cause. Then, at the National Democratic Convention in July, Dixiecrats resolved that they would be prepared to seek the same goal outside of the convention if they didn’t get what they wanted. Governor Wright described it as a “militant action against the national party.”
During this May convention, the Dixiecrats had not yet named a leader of their movement. However, Governor Ben Laney of Arkansas was someone they each praised and hoped would take the reins[4].
In Congress, the fight over civil rights legislation went on. With the 80th Congress expected to wrap up in mid-June, allies of anti-lynching and FEPC knew they were running out of time. While Republican Senate leaders were pushing to bring civil rights legislation to the floor, Southern Democrats persisted with their threats of a filibuster[5]. When Republican Senator Alexander Wiley from Wisconsin attempted to bring an action to the anti-lynching bill, it failed because of an absence of a quorum[6]. The Southern Democrats didn’t show up.
Then, on May 13, 1948, the Senate sent the anti-lynching bill back to the committee by a vote of 38 to 37[7]. In response, the Speaker of the House, Joe Martin, a Republican from Massachusetts, said the House wouldn’t act on the anti-lynching bill if the Senate did[8]. However, once the Senate version of the anti-lynching bill was back in the Senate Judiciary Committee, it was blocked[9]. And that’s where the bill died in the 80th Congress.
By May 15, the Jackson Advocate, a Mississippi newspaper, predicted a “new mass exodus of Negroes from Mississippi.” Black Mississippians were dissatisfied with Governor Wright’s position on civil rights and began speaking about how they would be better off moving to another state. Wright’s radio address had a substantial effect on the Black communities. The following Sunday, every Black church in Jackson was packed, and nearly every minister took time to comment on Wright’s speech and what it meant to the future of Black citizens of Mississippi[10].
The working class and younger generations with weaker ties to the state would lead Mississippi’s hypothetical exodus. Black people in Mississippi wanted equal protection and equality under the law. The Jackson Advocate quoted an unnamed newspaperman who described the racial climate in Mississippi as the “greatest bitterness ever witnessed since the Civil War Reconstruction[11].”
In Arkansas, Governor Laney gave a speech to the state police force and warned them to be ready for trouble if Truman’s civil rights program went through. Laney told them, “I wish I could paint a bright picture for you, but the picture is dark. There is trouble ahead for you, and you may well prepare for it[12].”
In May 1948, the murders of five Black men were brought to Birmingham, Alabama. Racial tensions in Alabama and all over the South were at an all-time high[13]. May 5 brought the 6-0 decision from the Supreme Court. Racially restrictive covenants were unenforceable[14] in the now-infamous case Shelley v. Kraemer.
On June 4, after police in Detroit murdered 15-year-old Leon Mosley by shooting him in the back, Black residents began planning demonstrations and protests[15]. Black Americans protested segregation, racism, and police brutality all over the country, and on June 2, there was a national march in Washington, DC, over civil rights[16].
In mid-June, robed and hooded Ku Klux Klan members forced an interracial training camp for Girl Scout leaders in Birmingham to close when they visited them and told them they had 24-hours to get out[17]. This incident infuriated the citizens of Alabama, both Black and white. They accused local officials of not doing anything against terrorism and even being a part of it[18]. A group of newspapermen did a study at the time that showed the wave of terror sweeping the South in 1948 was a repercussion of President Truman’s Civil Rights Program[19].
On June 15, Governor Thurmond announced plans for a caucus to fight President Truman. The caucus was planned in Philadelphia for the two days before the National Democratic Convention. In an interview, Thurmond said, “We are against Truman. We feel as if he is not the right man for President. If he is nominated, we don’t think he can be elected. At any rate, we are against him[20].”
[1] Jackson Advocate, “Negro Community Awaits with Varied Predictions and Expectations Governor Wright’s Talk to Negro Citizens of State,” (May 8, 1948)
[2] Associated Press, “Southern Democrats Plan Militant Action at Convention Today,” Evening Star, (May 9, 1948)
[3] Associated Press, “South Was Stabbed in Back, States’ Rights Keynoter Says,” Evening Star, (May 10, 1948)
[4] Associated Press, “Southern Democrats Plan Militant Action at Convention Today,” Evening Star, (May 9, 1948)
[5] Louisiana Press Association, “GOP May Quit Rights Fight,” Toledo Union Journal, (May 7, 1948)
[6] The Detroit Tribune, “Action Delayed on Anti-Lynching Legislation,” (May 8, 1948)
[7] J. A. O’Leary, “New Civil Rights Fight Due in Senate as One Showdown is Adverted,” Evening Star, (May 14, 1948)
[8] The Ohio Daily Express, “House to Act on Lynch Bill,” (May 18, 1948)
[9] The Detroit Tribune, “Anti-Lynch Bill Blocked Until Others Debated,” (May 22, 1948)
[10] Jackson Advocate, “Governor Wright’s Speech and the Mississippi Negro,” (May 15, 1948)
[11] Jackson Advocate, “Predict New Exodus of Miss. Negro,” (May 15, 1948)
[12] The Ohio Daily Express, “Prepare for Trouble, Governor Tells Police,” (May 22, 1948)
[13] The Omaha Guide, (May 29, 1948)
[14] The Detroit Tribune, “Lower Courts Can No Longer Enforce Jim Crow Pact,” (Mat 5, 1948)
[15] The Detroit Triune, “Schemer Praises Leaders Actions in Leo Mosley Shooting, “June 19, 1948)
[16] The Detroit Tribune, “Paul Robeson to Sponsor March on Washington,” (May 22, 1948)
[17] Jackson Advocate, “Klan Terrorizes Girl Scout Camp,” (June 19, 1948)
[18] The Ohio Daily Express, “Citizens in Alabama up in Arms Against Terrorism and Do-Nothing Officials,” (June 22, 1948)
[19] The Ohio Daily Express, “Study Shows Truman Civil Rights Program Launched Wave of Anti-Negro Terror,” (June 30, 1948)
[20] Associated Press, “Thurmond Announce Plans for Caucus to Fight Truman,” Evening Star, (June 15, 1948)