Few organizations have done more to establish and protect the civil rights of Americans than the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by some Georgia ministers and others. Next week, the SCLC will hold its 66th annual conference here in Atlanta. Salvation South magazine editor Chuck Reece acknowledges the SCLC’s role in Southern history.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference members marching in Atlanta, 1957

Southern Christian Leadership Conference members marching in Atlanta, 1957

TRANSCRIPT:

CHUCK REECE: “Your old man got in a fight in the barbershop today.” 

That’s what my cousin Curtis said to me 25 years ago this summer. I was living in Manhattan then, and my father, back home in Georgia, was 80 years old. 

“He did what?” I said to my cousin. “What did he get in a fight about?”

Curtis said, “I don’t know. But they said he threw somebody up against the wall. I haven’t talked to him. You better call him.”

So I did. Dad answered the phone, and I said, “Curtis told me you got in a fight at the barbershop today. What happened? You don’t get in fights.”

Dad replied, “Some little son of a [SFX: BLEEP!] came in and started talking about how the Holocaust never happened. Made me mad. I grabbed him and I said, ‘By God, it did happen. I was there. I saw it.’”

My father had in fact seen the Holocaust. During World War II, he served in the 6th Armored Infantry, which liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. 

The young man who got in trouble with my pop that day was practicing something known in academic circles as “historical negationism.” That’s what Holocaust denial is. The so-called “Lost Cause” mythologies about the causes of the Civil War are also examples of historical negationism. 

I believe, if we are to negate historical negationism, it is important to remember — and commemorate — real history. It’s important to remember the history of organizations that have done good work in the American South, the region I love and choose to live in.

So I’m taking my time with you today to remember the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. The SCLC advocated and coordinated nonviolent action to fight for equal rights for Black people in the South.

The roots of the SCLC go back to 1955 and an organization called the Montgomery Improvement Association. The MIP coordinated the Montgomery Bus Boycott, inspired by Rosa Parks, who decided in December 1955 she was no longer willing to give up her seat to white folks on the public buses. The boycott lasted 381 days. It ended when the U.S. Supreme Court declared it illegal to require segregated seating on public transit. 

That nonviolent boycott worked so well that a couple of its leaders — including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy — joined up with other Black ministers and civil rights leaders to form the SCLC. The SCLC led countless marches and demonstrations and became instrumental in passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

To be reminded of such history is important, I think. At SalvationSouth.com, we frequently remind you of truths from the history of this region we love.

You can visit us on the web anytime you want.

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece comments on Southern culture and values in a weekly segment that airs Wednesdays during Morning Edition and All Things Considered on GPB Radio. Salvation South Deluxe is a series of longer Salvation South episodes which tell deeper stories of the Southern experience through the unique voices that live it. You can also find them here at GPB.org/Salvation-South and wherever you get your podcasts.