Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

History

Major Professor

Cynthia Griggs Fleming

Committee Members

Janis Appier, George White

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the period of civil rights activism in Cairo, Illinois between 1967 and 1971, particularly the interaction between the local African-American organization the United Front and two white activist groups, the White Hats and the United Citizens for Community Action. Cairo is unusual because it is a Northern town that systematically discriminated against African Americans long after many Southern towns abandoned segregation. Because Cairo's white power structure successfully denied black equality into the 1980s, I conclude that civil rights and black power both failed in Cairo. To fully understand the conditions that led to the struggles of this period, analysis of Cairo from its inception in 1816 through World War 11 is necessary, and this background is discussed in chapter two of this thesis. The small town of Cairo is situated at the southernmost tip of Illinois, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Planned by founders as the location of a shipping empire, Cairo experienced economic and cultural tension almost from its inception. The site of heavy Northern fortification during the Civil War, Cairo suffered from racial tension well before the civil rights movement of the twentieth century. The regional prevalence of Confederate sympathy ensured that African-American inhabitants faced resistance and, often, violence. Despite Cairo's natural advantages, officials failed in attracting viable industry to the town, and the resulting unemployment problem survives to the present day. An influx of freed slaves following the Civil War changed Cairo's population from approximately fifty black persons to nearly 40 percent African American, heightening racial tension as new arrivals competed with whites for the few available jobs. A disorganized municipal government and law enforcement system contributed to the problems, and by the end of World War II—which, for most American towns, served to boost the economy—Cairo had begun a decline from which it would arguably never recover. With few jobs left to protect, whites in Cairo strove to protect what was often their only remaining advantage: their presumed racial superiority. On 15 July 1967, a 19-year-old black soldier, Robert L. Hunt Jr., died in a jail cell at the Cairo police station. The belief of local blacks that he had been murdered by police sparked racial disturbances in Cairo that developed into a race war lasting several years. To quell the initial uprisings, local whites formed a civil defense unit called the White Hats. In opposition, African Americans formed the civil rights organization the United Front. The Front implemented a boycott of white-owned establishments that lasted over two years, driving many out of business or into bankruptcy. Racial incidents had occurred in Cairo earlier in the twentieth century, But by the time of Hunt's death, the late-1960s shift in civil rights ideology towards notions of black power had redefined the struggle for equality for African Americans in Cairo and across the country. A chronic lack of communication between whites and blacks, along with the presence of extremists in both camps—but most vocally in the white power structure— turned Cairo into a war zone. The town suffered over 150 nights of disturbances in the years following Hunt's death. White racists insisted that many local African Americans were violent gangsters while refusing to acknowledge the local prevalence of violent white vigilantes. Notions of white privilege remained so entrenched that, even though the boycott crippled the town's economy, some white racists preferred to see their town decimated rather than meet African-American demands of inclusion and equality. The boycott ended not because of black victory, but because few businesses remained to be boycotted. In Cairo, black power succeeded in affecting the local economy, but black power also failed because it destroyed what it aimed to protect. Violence continued after the boycott ended, leading to a United States Civil Rights Commission investigation in 1972. Despite the Commission's work, after years of rioting and vigilante justice, the town itself became a casualty. By the time African Americans gained full political inclusion in 1980, the population had dwindled and most industry had long since moved elsewhere. Little has been written about race relations in Cairo. There is currently no monograph devoted to the topic, aside from a book of photography of Cairo's civil rights movement with accompanying commentary (Ewing and Roddy, 1996; see bibliography). Research for this thesis was conducted primarily through newspaper and periodical articles from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as government reports pertaining to Cairo, most notably a U. S. Commission on Civil Rights report by Good (1973; see bibliography). In my research, I located three journal articles about civil rights activism in Cairo; only Seng (1982; see bibliography) focuses on the period that! emphasize in this thesis. Much more has been written about nineteenth-century Cairo, including numerous journal articles and monographs, although most of these sources do not address African-American struggles. The civil rights movement in Cairo, Illinois is an expansive topic that welcomes more research.

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