Post About “Resolution in Support of Freedom Riders”
This text is part of a collection of student work from the Fall 2017 class HIST 294-04/AMST 294-01, Public History: African American Life — Past, Present and Future. Students selected, described, and analyzed items from the Macalester Archives pertaining to Black history. The entire class collection can be found here.
The initial document we analyzed was a resolution passed by the Macalester College Community Council regarding the treatment of the Freedom Riders. The Freedom Riders were a multiracial group of predominantly college-aged individuals who traveled by bus throughout the South in 1961 in an attempt to raise awareness of the unconstitutional segregation of buses. The 8 ½” by 11” typewriter paper is certainly aging, but is otherwise is relatively thick and intact. The back however is covered in dried glue, suggesting at one point the paper was hung up. The resolution was sent to a number of high ranking officials in Alabama, and emphasized the student government’s support of the actions of the riders. The document is dated June 1, 1961 and was sent by Rollin Crawford, the student body president of the Community Council. The letter was widely distributed, and was not only sent to the governor of Alabama, but also a variety of newspapers – including the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, St.Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press, and the city newspaper of Montgomery – and the Freedom Riders themselves.
The resolution is the first document filed in the folder “Racial Rights,” within the Multicultural Affairs Collection. The rest of the folder includes letters from stakeholders in Alabama back to Macalester College in response to the resolution. Three letters in particular stood out. The first being from J. B. Atkinson, a county judge from Clanton, Alabama. The letter is dated June 8th, 1961, and is typed on official judicial letterhead. The second, from Sydney Johnson, of Auburn, Alabama, is dated June 7th, 1961. The last is an anonymous letter, which proposed its own resolutions in response. The letter is undated, with a few handwritten annotations. All three letters are typed, and 8 ½” by 11″ in size, with glue stains on the back. The three letters question the authority of Macalester College to pen such a statement, as well as openly disagree with the sentiment of the college.
The responses to the Macalester Community Council’s resolution each approach the statement slightly differently, reflecting a range of common southern attitudes. The response from J.B. Atkinson is diplomatic and makes no accusation or judgment, but simply asks for clarification on the racial makeup of Macalester in order to formulate a response. We do not know precisely what Atkinson was planning on saying once he learned more about the school, but his methods of asking for more information differ from the other letters which respond to the the statement directly with harsh attacks. The response from an unknown sender, entitled “RESOLUTIONS,” puts forth nine of its own resolutions in response to the Macalester Community Council. These statements are filled with overt white supremacist rhetoric, proclaiming the victimization of the white race and the threat of “racial mixing.” This document reflects a legacy of white southern racism based on fears that had been prevalent since reconstruction. Sydney Johnson expressed outrage that northern college students had the nerve to get involved in politics that in his view, they knew nothing about and should not concern them. While he clearly did not support the Freedom Riders and probably held similar views to the author of “RESOLUTIONS,” to him, the most offensive part of the Community Council’s resolution was that it epitomized northern elitist condescension.
While the resolution and the letters provide us with important information about the opinions of Macalester students and the response from white southerners, we are left with some questions about intent. While we have a good sense of how white people in Alabama responded, we do not know whether the council received any feedback on the local level. There was no indication within the folder as to if the resolution was distributed on Macalester’s campus amongst the student body; and if so how they responded. Similarly, while the article was sent to the local newspapers in St. Paul and Minneapolis, the folder did not include any letters from people in those communities. We do not know how the student government decided to create the resolution or whether they expected these responses or whether they responded to any of these letters.
When contextualized within the early 1960s more broadly, the documents take on additional significance. Through analyzing these documents we can better understand how northern colleges and universities engaged with the political atmosphere of the time. While the documents do not provide very much concrete information about the Freedom Riders themselves, their value lies is highlighting the ways in which individuals, from a variety of regions, were interacting with the concept of Civil Rights, and with each other.
–EJ Coolidge and Sarah Kolenbrander
CITATION:
Anonymous to Rollin Crawford, R E S O L U T I O N, undated, Multicultural Affairs Racial Rights, Macalester College Archives.
J. B. Atkinson to Rollin Crawford, June 8, 1961, Multicultural Affairs Racial Rights, Macalester College Archives.
Macalester College Community Council, Resolution, June 1, 1961, Multicultural Affairs Racial Rights, Macalester College Archives.
Sydney Johnson to Rollin Crawford, June 8, 1961, Multicultural Affairs Racial Rights, Macalester College Archives.
MetadataTitle: Post About 'Resolution in Support of Freedom Riders'
Creator: Coolidge, EJ, and Sarah Kolenbrander
Description: This text is part of a collection of student work from the Fall 2017 class HIST 294-04/AMST 294-01, Public History: African American Life — Past, Present and Future. Students selected, described, and analyzed items from the Macalester Archives pertaining to Black history. The entire class collection can be found in the Fall 2017 Public History Class tag.
Date Created:
Dates of Content: June, 1961
Type of Content: Text
Source: Macalester College Community Council, Resolution, June 1, 1961, Multicultural Affairs Racial Rights, Macalester College Archives.
URL: https://dwlibrary.macalester.edu/counterbalance/activism/resolution-in-support-of-freedom-riders/
Suggested Citation: Coolidge, EJ, and Sarah Kolenbrander. "Post About 'Resolution in Support of Freedom Riders'." Counterbalance, Macalester College Archives. . Text. https://dwlibrary.macalester.edu/counterbalance/activism/resolution-in-support-of-freedom-riders/.