The Alabama State Sovereignty Commission was a government agency established in the U.S. state of Alabama to combat

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

, which operated from 1963 to 1973. The agency doubled as an intelligence network, and kept files on civil rights activists.

History

The

Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (also called the Sov-Com) was a state agency in Mississippi from 1956 to 1977 tasked with fighting desegregation and controlling civil rights activism. It was overseen by the Governor of Mississippi. T ...

was founded in 1956, and was the organizational template for the

Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission The Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission was a government agency of the Louisiana state government established to combat desegregation, which operated from June 1960 to 1967 in the capitol city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The group warned of "cre ...

, and the Alabama State Sovereignty Commission. In 1963, the Alabama State Sovereignty Commission was established with a seven member board led by Alabama Governor

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...

and

Bull Connor Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor (July 11, 1897 – March 10, 1973) was an American politician who served as Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, for more than two decades. A member of the Democratic Party, ...

. It was budgeted $50,000 USD and exempted from public records laws. The Alabama Legislative Commission to Preserve the Peace (Commission to Preserve the Peace) was established by the Alabama Legislature the same year. Wallace appointed members J. Kirkman Jackson, James Hardin Faulkner, and Joseph S. Meade, all lawyers from Birmingham; and

Jack Giles Sr. Jack Giles Sr. (November 21, 1915 – July 10, 1982) was a state senator in Alabama. He represented Madison County, Alabama. He was appointed to the Alabama Sovereignty Commission by George Wallace. He lived in Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville ...

, a Huntsville lawyer; state senator Walter Givhan of

Dallas County Dallas County may refer to: Places in the USA: * Dallas County, Alabama, founded in 1818, the first county in the United States by that name * Dallas County, Arkansas * Dallas County, Iowa * Dallas County, Missouri * Dallas County, Texas, the nin ...

, Alabama; and C. Herbert Lancaster of the Alabama Citizens Council movement; as well as St. Clair News-Aegis newspaper publisher Edmund R. Blair. Blair had campaigned for Wallace. The Commission acquired photographs of the Montgomery Rights March held in March 1965. The film production agency,

Keitz & Herndon Keitz and Herndon was an American television production company that made cartoons, advertisements, short educational films, and commercials founded in 1952 in Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. Most notably they created the "Frito Kid" masco ...

(Rod Keitz and Larry Herndon) produced a film about the march for the Commission, titled ''State of Alabama'' (1965). Journalist Bryan Lyman writing in the ''

Montgomery Advertiser The ''Montgomery Advertiser'' is a daily newspaper and news website located in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded in 1829. History The newspaper began publication in 1829 as ''The Planter's Gazette.'' Its first editor was Moseley Baker. It ...

'' in 2019 described the film as "bizarre and offensive mix of conspiracy theories, endless crowd shots and racist caricatures of prominent civil rights leaders, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr." The

Alabama Department of Archives and History The Alabama Department of Archives and History is the official repository of archival records for the U.S. state of Alabama. Under the direction of Thomas M. Owen its founder, the agency received state funding by an act of the Alabama Legislatu ...

holds the film. The 1987 film "Eyes on the Prize" includes an excerpt from the film. The Commission published the ''Sovereignty Commission Bulletin''. The first issue headline read, "Ben Brown is Dead, Is Law Enforcement Also Dead?" (published July 1968), Brown had been an activist. In 1970, the Commission produced an 11 page voting guide. The

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May, 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. The first ...

holds archival materials about the agency.

Filmography

*''State of Alabama'' (1965), a propaganda film created by film production agency

, for the Alabama State Sovereignty Commission on the 1965 civil rights march in Alabama (ASSC project)

References

{{Authority control History of Alabama Defunct organizations based in Alabama History of racism in Alabama African-American history of Alabama White nationalism in the United States 1973 disestablishments in Alabama 1963 establishments in Alabama Government agencies disestablished in 1973 School segregation in the United States Government agencies established in 1963 History of Birmingham, Alabama