Civil Rights Congress facts for kids

The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) was an organization in the United States that worked for civil rights. It was created in 1946 and closed down in 1956. The CRC took over from other groups like the International Labor Defense. Its main goal was to defend people who were treated unfairly by the law.

Starting around 1948, the CRC began helping African Americans who were sentenced to death. They also worked on other important cases. They wanted to show how unfair the justice system was in the United States. For example, they launched a big campaign for Rosa Lee Ingram and her two teenage sons in Georgia. This was their first national campaign for African Americans.

The CRC had chapters all over the country. At its busiest in 1950, it had 60 local groups. These groups worked on problems in their own areas. Most chapters were on the East and West coasts. Only about 10 chapters were in the Southern states.

Fighting for Justice: The CRC's Approach

The Civil Rights Congress had two main ways of fighting for justice. They used legal action and organized public protests. They also shared a lot of information with the public. This helped to highlight unfair treatment in the United States.

A key strategy was to make certain cases well-known. They focused on cases in the South where Black people were sentenced to death. These included Rosa Lee Ingram and her sons in Georgia. Other cases were the Martinsville Seven in Virginia and Willie McGee in Mississippi. In the South at that time, Black people often couldn't vote. This meant that only white people could be on juries. So, Black people were often judged by all-white juries.

The CRC was very good at getting international attention for these cases. People from other countries sometimes protested to the US President and Congress. The CRC also helped people appeal their legal decisions. In the South, getting a life sentence instead of the death penalty was seen as a big win. This was because social pressure often pushed juries to find Black people guilty. The CRC also defended people who were seen as political rebels, including some who were linked to Communism.

The group held big protests in Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations. They brought global attention to racism in the United States. They did this by giving the U.N. a document called "We Charge Genocide". This document listed many unfair acts against African Americans. It even mentioned unlawful killings that were still happening in the 1940s.

The CRC was sometimes seen as a rival to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This was because both groups worked on similar issues. They both helped African Americans with legal problems. The CRC believed it worked on more types of issues. It also felt it included more different groups of people.

In 1950, the NAACP was working on appeals for the Martinsville Seven. These seven men had been quickly found guilty and sentenced to death. But the parents of one man, DeSales Grayson, asked the CRC for help. The NAACP said the groups had different ways of working. The NAACP spent more money on direct legal help. The CRC focused more on public campaigns. This included giving out flyers and putting up ads.

The US government saw the CRC as a problem. This could hurt the appeals in the Martinsville Seven case. So, the CRC stopped directly defending Grayson in July 1950. But the NAACP could not win the appeals either. All seven men were executed in February 1951.

During the time known as the Red Scare, the CRC was seen as a threat. This was because it had ties to the Communist Party. The US Attorney General Thomas Clark and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) called it a "communist front" group. The US government targeted the group. The CRC became weaker in 1951 and finally closed down in 1956.

How the CRC Was Organized

The Civil Rights Congress was formed at a meeting in Detroit. This meeting happened on April 27–28, 1946. At first, the group wanted to get rid of HUAC. They also wanted to protect workers' rights to join unions in the South. In December 1947, the National Negro Congress joined with the CRC. William Patterson was the national leader of the group for its whole existence. Frank Marshall Davis was also on the group's main board.

The group grew to have about 10,000 members at its busiest time. It was stronger in areas like the East and West coasts. It was not as strong in the South. However, it did run several big campaigns to defend the legal rights of Black people in the South. Its biggest chapters in the South were in New Orleans and Miami. Overall, the CRC started over 60 local chapters. These chapters worked to fight against unfair treatment, bad stereotypes, and legal injustice in their communities.

The US Congress and courts made the group weaker with new laws in 1951. In 1956, the members voted to close the organization.

Important Legal Cases

The CRC took on legal cases for people they believed were unfairly accused. Besides working in court, they also tried to raise public awareness. They did this through protests, information campaigns, and big events. As these campaigns became well-known, the CRC received many letters from people in prison asking for legal help.

Fighting Anti-Communism Laws

The CRC was against the 1940 Smith Act and the 1950 McCarran Act. These laws gave the government more power to punish people who spoke out against it. The CRC often helped people targeted by HUAC. This included the "Top Eleven" Communist leaders. They were tried in 1949 under the Smith Act.

The CRC also helped Harry Bridges. He was a union organizer and leader in California. The government had tried for a long time to send him out of the country. Congress passed the Smith Act partly to do this. Bridges became a US citizen in 1945. Then the government accused him of lying. They said he didn't admit to being a Communist when he applied for citizenship. His conviction was later overturned because of a time limit in the law.

Death Penalty Cases in the South

Rosa Lee Ingram's Fight for Freedom

A Mother's Day card sent to President Truman. This was part of the CRC's effort to free Rosa Lee Ingram.

The CRC worked hard for Rosa Lee Ingram and her two teenage sons. They were accused of murder in Georgia and faced the death penalty. This was the first time the CRC campaigned nationally for an appeal for African Americans. The Ingrams were poor farmers. They were accused of killing their white neighbor, John Ethron Stratford, in 1947. This happened after an argument about animals on his land.

They were found guilty in January 1948 after a one-day trial. The evidence was not direct, and there were no eyewitnesses. The jury was made up of twelve white men. The Ingrams did not have lawyers before the trial.

The CRC's Women's Committee for Equal Justice led the campaign for the Ingrams. This committee was led by Mary Church Terrell, a well-known leader. The CRC hoped to use the Ingram case to show the country and the world how unfair things were for Black people in the United States. This was similar to what another group had done with the Scottsboro case.

Because of pressure from the CRC and the NAACP, a new hearing was held in March 1948. The judge did not allow a new trial. But he did change the sentence from death to life in prison.

The NAACP and CRC sometimes disagreed on the case. They had different goals and plans. The Ingrams wanted the NAACP to handle the legal parts. The CRC mostly focused on getting public attention. They raised $45,125 for the Ingram Defense Fund. They also held yearly Mother's Day rallies. On September 21, 1949, Terrell led a group to the United Nations. They demanded that officials address the Ingram case. Not much progress was made in the case. But both the NAACP and the CRC kept supporting Ingram while she was in prison. Ingram and her sons were all released from prison in 1959. They were called "model prisoners."

Martinsville Seven and Willie McGee Cases

Like in the Ingram case, both the NAACP and the CRC helped the Martinsville Seven. These were seven Black men who were all sentenced to death in Virginia in 1949. At that time, only Black men received the death sentence in Virginia. Martin A. Martin, the main lawyer hired by the NAACP, refused to work with the CRC. This was because the government had called the CRC a "subversive" and "Communist front" group.

The CRC was again kept out of the legal process. So, it started a national campaign. This campaign focused on the unfairness in the cases of the Martinsville Seven and Willie McGee in Mississippi. McGee was also sentenced to death. The CRC created national attention. They also organized mailing campaigns to the government in Washington, D.C. But the appeals failed. The US Supreme Court refused to hear the Martinsville Seven case. All the men were executed in February 1951. McGee was executed in May 1951.

During this time, the CRC was also defending Communist officials. These officials were known as the Top Eleven. They were being tried under the Smith Act. This brought attention to the CRC's ties to Communism. People worried that this connection could hurt the appeals for the Martinsville Seven. Because of this, the CRC stopped directly representing one of the Martinsville Seven.

Other Important Issues

The CRC took stands on many issues related to freedom and the rights of African Americans.

• They supported laws against unlawful killings by mobs.
• They spoke out against using the Confederate flag at government and school buildings in the South.
• They were against the US getting involved in the Korean War.
• The CRC opposed the Taft–Hartley Act. They offered help to labor unions like the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the American Federation of Labor.

In Louisiana, a local chapter started a big campaign. They wanted to convict a white police officer who shot Roy Cyril Brooks. The Brooks case led to a larger effort against police violence. It also led to demands to hire more Black police officers in cities like New Orleans.

Key Actions of the CRC

Freedom Crusade

In January 1949, the group held a "Freedom Crusade" in Washington, D.C. This happened just before the second inauguration of President Truman. Before the event, the group had a public disagreement with Congressperson John S. Wood. Wood accused the group of planning "violence and riot" in the capital. The group replied that the unfair system of white supremacy "is constantly the scene of 'violence and riot' against Negro citizens." The Freedom Crusade was a peaceful protest. Several thousand people visited politicians. They demanded action against unlawful killings, freedom for Communist leaders, and the creation of the Fair Employment Practices Commission.

We Charge Genocide Petition

In 1951, the Civil Rights Congress sent a petition to the United Nations. It was called "We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People". This document listed many examples of violence and mistreatment against African Americans. It argued that the United States government was involved in genocide in its own country. After William Patterson presented the document to the United Nations in Paris, the US government took away his passport. Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois were also stopped from traveling. They went to the U.N. offices in New York instead.

Labeled as Communist

Soon after it started, the CRC became a target of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). It was also targeted by the Internal Revenue Service. A 1947 report to HUAC claimed the Communist Party set up the CRC. They said it was to protect its members who broke the law. The group denied these claims. They provided a list of supporters. This list included Representatives Adam C. Powell and Senator Glen H. Taylor. Patterson called the group "non-partisan." He described it as a "Red Cross for defenders of peace, rights, justice and human rights."

The 1950 McCarran Internal Security Act increased government action against the group. Many of its leaders were put in jail. The group's power weakened in 1951. This was when the government stopped it from paying bail for Communist people in trials. During the Second Red Scare, many Americans were careful around the group. This was because of its Communist connections. In 1956, the CRC was officially called a "communist front" by the Subversive Activities Control Board. It closed down the same year.

The CRC was also secretly watched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). FBI agent Matt Cvetic joined the Communist Party. He told HUAC in 1950 that the CRC was controlled by Communists. He also said Patterson was a Communist. He named many politicians, celebrities, and community leaders as Communists. Other agents also testified in anti-Communist trials. Being linked to the Civil Rights Congress was a reason for the FBI to watch Lena Horne and Paul Robeson. One agent later said that if a group had "committee" or "congress" in its name, the FBI thought it might be a threat.

David Brown was a secretary and then leader of the CRC's Los Angeles chapter. He worked as an FBI informant from 1950 to 1954. He disappeared in January 1955 and tried to pretend he was kidnapped. He said his pay from the FBI changed from $25 a week to $250 a month. He also said he often lied to his FBI contacts.

See also

• O. John Rogge