Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission

Mississippi Creates State Sovereignty Commission for Civil Rights Surveillance and Segregationist Funding

1956-03-29 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

In March 1956, the Mississippi Legislature creates the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (MSSC), a state agency tasked with fighting integration and controlling civil rights activism. Active from 1956 to 1973 and directed by the governor and other top elected officials, the Commission employs …

Mississippi Legislature Ross Barnett Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission White Citizens' Councils massive-resistance government-surveillance state-sovereignty-commission citizens-councils-funding civil-rights-suppression

White Citizens' Councils Founded With Business Elite Backing to Resist Integration

1954-07-11 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

Two months after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Mississippi Circuit Court Judge Tom P. Brady delivers a strident speech opposing integration that is later expanded into a ninety-page tract titled “Black Monday” and distributed widely as a rallying cry for organized white …

Robert B. Patterson Tom P. Brady White Citizens' Councils Mississippi business class Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission massive-resistance white-citizens-councils segregation-infrastructure business-backing civil-rights-opposition