The Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL) was probably the leading civil rights organization in Mississippi during the early 1950s. It was founded in 1951 by T. R. M. Howard (Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard), a prominent black surgeon, fraternal organization leader, and entrepreneur in the all-black town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard (b. ... Surgeon may refer to: a practitioner of surgery the moniker of British electronic music producer and DJ, Anthony Child; see Surgeon (musician) This is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... A fraternal organization, sometimes also known as a fraternity, is an organization that represents the relationship between its members as akin to brotherhood. ... An entrepreneur (a loanword from French) is a person who undertakes and operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks. ... Mound Bayou is a city located in Bolivar County, Mississippi. ...

The RCNL promoted a program of civil rights, self-help, and business ownership. It pledged “to guide our people in their civic responsibilities regarding education, registration and voting, law enforcement, tax paying, the preservation of property, the value of saving and in all things which will make us stable, qualified conscientious citizens.” Instead of starting from the “grass roots,” however, the strategy was to “reach the masses through their chosen leaders” by harnessing the talents of blacks with a proven record in business, the professions, education, and the church.

At first the RCNL did not directly challenge "separate but equal" (much like the initial stance of the Montgomery Improvement Association), but zeroed in on the need to guarantee the "equal." It often identified inadequate schools as the primary factor responsible for the Northern black exodus. Instead of demanding immediate integration, however, it called for equal school terms for both races. From the beginning, the RCNL also pledged an "all-out fight for unrestricted voting rights." Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. ... Children at a parade in North College Hill, Ohio Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). ... In United States History, there have been three similar, but somewhat separate, movements for voting rights. ...

16 relatively autonomous committees, each headed by a respected leader in business, education, the church, or the professions, formed the backbone of the RCNL. The committees, in turn, reported to an executive board and board of directors headed by Howard. The RCNL’s constitution stipulated that each town or city with at least one thousand blacks in the Delta was entitled to representation. To build mass support for the work of these committees, the RCNL made sure to hold its business meetings in different locations each year.

The RCNL attracted many individuals of ability and prestige including Aaron Henry, a druggist and NAACP officer from Clarksdale, Mississippi; Amzie Moore, a NAACP activist and gas station owner from Cleveland, Mississippi; President Arenia Mallory of Saints Junior College in Lexington, Mississippi; and President J.H. White of Mississippi Vocational College, now (Mississippi Valley State University), in Itta Bena, Mississippi. For many, it was their first exposure to civil rights and a training ground. In contrast to later groups, such as the Montgomery Improvement Association, most RCNL leaders were businesspeople and professionals. Relatively few were from the clergy. Aaron Henry (1922-1997) was a civil rights leader, politician, and head of the NAACP. He was born in Dublin, Mississippi to Ed and Mattie Henry who were sharecroppers. ... The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is one of the oldest and most influential hate organizations in the United States. ... Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. ... Amzie Moore (September 23, 1911 —- ) was an African American, civil rights leader, and entrepreneur in the Mississippi Delta. ... Cleveland is a city located in Bolivar County, Mississippi. ... Dr. Arenia Mallory was born in Jacksonville, Illinois in 1905. ... Lexington is a city located in Holmes County, Mississippi. ... Mississippi Valley State University is a historically black university located in Itta Bena, Mississippi. ... Itta Bena is a city in Leflore County, Mississippi, United States. ... Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. ...

The RCNL's most famous member was Medgar Evers. Fresh from graduation at Alcorn State University in 1952, he had moved to Mound Bayou to sell insurance for Howard. Evers soon became the RCNL's program director and helped to organize a boycott of service stations that failed to provide restrooms for blacks. As part of this campaign, the RCNL distributed an estimated twenty thousand bumper stickers with the slogan “Don’t Buy Gas Where You Can’t Use the Rest Room." Beginning in 1953, it directly challenged "separate but equal" and demanded integration of schools. Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi. ... Alcorn State University, located in Claiborne County, Mississippi is a public land grant university. ...

The RCNL’s annual meetings in Mound Bayou between 1952 and 1955 attracted crowds of ten thousand or more. They featured speeches by Rep. William Levi Dawson of Chicago, Rep. Charles Diggs of Michigan, Alderman Archibald J. Carey Jr. of Chicago, and NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall. Each of these events, in the words of Myrlie Evers, later Myrlie Evers-Williams, the wife of Medgar, constituted "a huge all-day camp meeting: a combination of pep rally, old-time revival, and Sunday church picnic." The conferences also included panels and workshops on voting rights, business ownership, and other issues. Attendance was a life transforming experience for many younger and future civil black leaders such as Fannie Lou Hamer. William Levi Dawson was the name of the following men: William Levi Dawson (1886 - 1970), a member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, The City of Big Shoulders The 312 Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area... Charles Coles Diggs, Jr. ... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  Ranked 11th  - Total 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 491 miles (790 km)  - % water 41. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, The City of Big Shoulders The 312 Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area... Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Myrlie Evers-Arias (born March 17, 1933, nee Myrlie Beasley in Vicksburg, Mississippi) is an African American activist. ... In United States History, there have been three similar, but somewhat separate, movements for voting rights. ... Fannie Lou Hamer speaks at the 1964 Democratic National Convention Fannie Lou Hamer (born Fannie Lou Townsend on October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting rights activist and civil rights leader. ...

In 1955, RCNL officials, including Howard and Amzie Moore, played key roles in helping to find evidence in the Emmett Till murder case. During the trial, Mamie Till Bradley, who was Emmett's mother, key witnesses, such as Willie Reed, and black reporters stayed in Howard's home in Mound Bayou. Emmett Louis Bobo Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African-American teenager from Chicago, Illinois who was brutally murdered in a region of Mississippi known as the Mississippi Delta in the small town of Money in Leflore County. ... Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley (b. ...

The RCNL went into decline after Howard left the state at the beginning of 1956. Nevertheless, it continued to attract many of the state's prominent civil rights leaders including Amzie Moore and Aaron Henry. The RCNL was still in existence in 1962 but was already being pushed into the shadows by groups such as the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The Council of Federated Organizations, or COFO, was formed in 1962. ... The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC, pronounced snick) was one of the primary institutions of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. ...

References

• David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, T.R.M. Howard: Pragmatism over Strict Integrationist Ideology in the Mississippi Delta, 1942-1954 in Glenn Feldman, ed., Before Brown: Civil Rights and White Backlash in the Modern South (2004 book), 68-95.

• John Dittmer, Local People: the Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (1994 book).

• Charles M. Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle (1995 book).