Women’s Committee of the Georgia Commission on Interracial Co-operation (CIC)
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Page one of a report written by the African American members of the Women’s Committee in the Commission on Interracial Co-operation (CIC) describing their collaboration with white committee members in projects to improve race relations and address issues relevant to Black southerners, circa 1920.
Courtesy of Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library, Neighborhood Union Collection.
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Page two of a report written by the African American members of the Women’s Committee in the Commission on Interracial Co-operation (CIC) describing their collaboration with white committee members in projects to improve race relations and address issues relevant to Black southerners, circa 1920.
Courtesy of Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library, Neighborhood Union Collection.
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The Athenaeum describes the work undertaken by the Commission on Interracial Co-operation (CIC) throughout the South, giving the organization’s anti-lynching campaign credit for the sharp reduction in lynching cases within the past two years. December 1, 1924.
Courtesy of Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
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A pamphlet prepared by the 1920 Memphis Women’s Inter-Racial Conference outlining objectives for civic female reformers that would improve conditions for Black southerners in their respective states. Sponsored by the Commission on Interracial Co-operation (CIC), the Memphis Women’s Inter-Racial Conference brought together Black and white southern women to promote better understanding between the races and to collaborate in shared campaigns that focused on the livelihood of Black southerners.
Courtesy of Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library, Neighborhood Union Collection.
The Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC) was founded in 1919 in Atlanta, Georgia and operated as a regional organization intended to promote racial harmony and prevent race-based civil unrest throughout the South. While women were initially not allowed to participate in the CIC, director Will Alexander consented to women’s committees after receiving considerable pressure from civic female leaders in Atlanta. In 1921 the Georgia CIC formed the Women’s Committee, composed of Black and white women active in church, education, and social welfare work. Despite hostility toward interracial cooperation in Georgia, the CIC encouraged its Black and white members to work together. While the meetings of the Women’s Committee were racially segregated, Black and white members met jointly to discuss organizational plans and collaborate on community projects. Women of the CIC sought to improve conditions in Black homes and schools throughout Atlanta and conducted extensive surveys that later informed the group’s legislative and fundraising initiatives. In addition to civic improvement projects, women of the CIC sought to improve the attitudes of white Georgians and organized a variety of community programs intended to educate white audiences on Black achievements and publicize racial issues. While the women of the CIC failed to alter systems that maintained Black disenfranchisement, they helped build a foundation for later changes in Atlanta’s racial attitudes and contributed to the city’s eventual acceptance of civil rights.