Fighting the War on Poverty in Mississippi
The connection between civil rights activism and the war on poverty has been well established in the historiography. In Mississippi, as across the Deep South – and the nation – federal antipoverty funds provided support and impetus for new forms of black activism after 1965. This paper explores a new dimension to our understanding of this activism and the grassroots implementation of the war on poverty. It explores the fight waged by the segregationist establishment against the war on poverty in Mississippi. Moving beyond the massive resistance campaign waged against the infamous Child Development Group, this paper explores the response of black and white Mississippians to the less high-profile antipoverty programs in the state. Examining the grassroots response to the war on poverty illustrates a complex picture. Biracial cooperation was at times productive, although it was middle-class whites who ultimately shaped the implementation of community action programs rather than the poor themselves. The paper will expose the distinct experiences of antipoverty programs across the state, exposing the nuances in a state too often viewed as a segregationist monolith: from the Klan-dominated southwest of the state to the urban and suburbanising state capitol. At the grassroots, the local and state levels, the segregationist response to the war on poverty forged a new form of resistance. This resistance remained massive, but crucially it drew on the developing conservatism, expressed in an ostensibly color-blind language of rights and individualism.
Dr Emma Folwell
Lecturer in History
Newman University, Birmingham, UK