Willie Rainach and the defense of segregation in Louisiana, 1954-1959
Stowe, William McFerrin
Stowe, William McFerrin
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1989
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Abstract
When the Supreme Court issued its Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, The Louisiana Legislature alone among Southern states was in session. A relatively unknown state senator introduced and won overwhelming passage of joint resolutions opposing the ruling and establishing the Joint Legislative Committee to defend segregation. This action and the massive resistance that followed were initiated and led in Louisiana by that senator, William M. "Willie" Rainach. This study of Rainach's leadership of the segregationist forces in Louisiana explores his motives, strategies and activities in attempting to defeat integration. Based primarily on Rainach's personal papers, this dissertation finds that Rainach recognized that defiance would not stop integration. He therefore instituted a three part strategy to delay integration, organize opposition, and proselytize segregation to white America. Rainach sought to delay implementation of desegregation the rough legislation drafted and sponsored by the Joint Legislative Committee, of which he was chairman. He attempted to organize the segregationists as president of both the Citizens' Councils of America and the Association of Citizens' Councils of Louisiana. The only man to head both the political and private forces defending segregation, he utilized both to proselytize racism and white supremacy to the state and ultimately to the North. He believed that the only way to defeat integration was to convert and organize whites in both the North and South to support for segregation and thereby bring about enough political pressure to change congressional and presidential policies on civil rights. Rainach's fight for segregation included purging black voters, demanding strict conformity to racial separation, advertising the segregationist philosophy and obstructing integration until racists nationwide could be mobilized. By 1959, he concluded that many Southern governors, including Louisiana's, were not sufficiently dedicated to preserving segregation and therefore entered the gubernatorial race. Rainach's defeat in that governor's race essentially removed him from political power and paralleled the splintering of the massive resistance movement in Louisiana.
Contents
Subject
Subject(s)
Rainach, William M.
Citizens' Councils of America
Association of Citizens' Council of Louisiana
Segregation--Louisiana
Louisiana--Race relations
Citizens' Councils of America
Association of Citizens' Council of Louisiana
Segregation--Louisiana
Louisiana--Race relations
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Genre
Dissertation
Description
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ix, 307 leaves, bound
Department
History