Inter-Citizens Committee Records, 1960-1963

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Summary

Creator:
Inter-Citizens Committee, Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.)
Abstract:
The Inter-Citizens Committee of Birmingham, Alabama, was dedicated to promoting "mutual understanding through assimilating, interpreting, and communicating factual material affecting basic American rights in Alabama." It formed in April 1960 at Trinity Baptist Church. The collection consists of typescript documents produced by the ICC during the early 1960s. It includes the constitution and its by-laws; a fundraising circular; a copy of the Birmingham Manifesto, produced by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights; and numbers 1-14, 16, 18-25, and 33-40 of the ICC's Documents on Human Rights in Alabama. The Documents on Human Rights in Alabama are reproduced typescripts, designed to circulate to government and political officials to alert them of human rights abuses, violence, and intimidation, largely committed by white people against African American people in Birmingham.
Extent:
0.1 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English
Collection ID:
RL.11722

Background

Scope and content:

The Inter-Citizens Committee Records is a collection documents produced by the ICC, including the constitution and its by-laws; a fundraising circular; a copy of the Birmingham Manifesto, produced by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, and 33 of the first 40 ICC Documents on Human Rights in Alabama. The Documents are reproduced typescripts, each 1-2 pages, recording, in sworn statements, personal incidents of beatings, arrests and harassment of African American citizens of all ages and professions in and around the city of Birmingham and elsewhere in Alabama in the early 1960s.

Biographical / historical:

The Inter-Citizens Committee of Birmingham, Alabama, was formed in April 1960 at Trinity Baptist Church. Officers were Rev. J. Lowell Ware, pastor and president; Rev. J. C. Wilson, vice president; Rev. C. Herbert Oliver, secretary; Rev. Harold D. Long, assistant secretary; Rev. G. L Terrell, treasurer. The ICC constitution was adopted in 1961, and the Committee incorporated in 1962 as a non-profit. Between 1961 and 1965 the organization engaged in "documenting cases of alleged rights violations, both official and non-official" in Birmingham and its region in Alabama. According to Glenn Eskew's book "But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle," (UNC Press: 1997) Rev. Ware and Rev. C. Herbert Oliver "did valuable work documenting cases of racial brutality in Birmingham for the U.S. Civil Rights Commission."

Acquisition information:
The Inter-Citizens Committee Records were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase in 2019.
Processing information:

Processed by Meghan Lyon, April 2019

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2019-0047

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Duke University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.

Subjects:
Civil rights movements -- Alabama -- History -- 20th century
Civil rights workers -- Alabama
Police brutality -- Alabama
Civil rights demonstrations
Civil rights -- Alabama
Human rights movements -- Alabama
Format:
Newsletters
Names:
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
Ware, J. Lowell, Rev.

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Inter-Citizens Committee Records, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.