Backlash

The Economic Squeeze

As the Briggs v. Elliott case moved through the court system, families that challenged segregation faced hostility, violence, and other retribution from white officials, business owners, and residents, all attempting to intimidate the families into removing their names from the petition.

Long before the case reached the Supreme Court, many white residents of Clarendon County retaliated against those who signed the bus and equalization petitions. On Christmas Eve in 1949, Harry Briggs was fired from his job as a gas station attendant. His wife, Eliza Briggs, lost her housekeeping job at the Summerton Motel after the owners were warned that they would no longer receive deliveries if they continued employing her. Others suffered economic reprisals in different forms: some had their loans unexpectedly called in, while others were denied service or found themselves unable to buy or sell goods locally. These tactics created intense pressure on families in Summerton and nearby areas, like Manning, Alcolu, Paxville, Turbeville, Davis Station, and Jordan. Reverend E.E. Richburg and Reverend J.W. Seals, both vocal supporters of the petitioners, endured threats and violence for their roles in the movement.

Letter from Rev. De Laine to National NAACP, Support for Families

November 28, 1961

In letters to the NAACP leadership, Rev. Joseph A. De Laine argued that Harry Briggs and others involved in the Briggs v. Elliott case needed support from the organization.

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The De Laine Family

Seen as a leader by many, Rev. J.A. De Laine faced anger and threats of violence on numerous occasions. The school district fired him from his role as principal of Liberty Hill School and white community members planned attacks against him. Eventually, the A.M.E. Church moved him from Clarendon County to Lake City for his safety. After the move, his home in Summerton burned as firefighters watched and refused to put out the flames. In Lake City, people shot at his house from passing cars. When De Laine fired back on October 10, 1955, the sheriff issued a warrant for his arrest. He left for New York and never returned to South Carolina before his death in 1974. It was not until 2000, forty-five years after the incident, that Rev. De Laine received a pardon.

Threats and Violence Against the De Laine Family

The De Laine family faced threats and violence from white community members.

Ophelia De Laine describes what her family experienced due to her father’s involvement in the Briggs case.
Courtesy of Joseph A. De Laine Papers, South Caroliniana Library

This is a copy of a threat that Rev. Joseph A. De Laine received. The “negro postmaster” referenced in the letter was Frazier Baker, an African American man who served as postmaster of Lake City for six months before being killed by a white mob.
Courtesy of Joseph A. De Laine Papers, South Caroliniana Library

Organized Retaliation and Massive Resistance

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, white leaders in South Carolina continued to support segregated schools. Governor James Byrnes called the court’s decision a threat to civilization. Leaders in Clarendon County vowed to resist desegregation. Across the state, school board members, religious leaders, politicians, and many others worked to delay or halt integration.

They were supported by White Citizens’ Councils (WCC). Originally formed in Mississippi following the Brown decision with the strategic guidance and support of white South Carolina journalists, the groups were popular and powerful in South Carolina. Within a year of their creation, 50,000 people across South Carolina belonged to White Citizens’ Councils. S. Emory Rogers, lawyer for Clarendon County, became state secretary of the organization, while superintendent of schools, L.B. McCord, oversaw the local branch. At a state-wide conference in 1956, Governor Byrnes listened from the balcony as Mississippi Senator James O. Eastland, South Carolina Senators Strom Thurmond and Olin Johnston, and speaker of the South Carolina house Solomon Blatt spoke about the importance of maintaining segregation.

The WCC used a variety of tactics to resist integration. After the Brown decision, African Americans in communities across South Carolina signed petitions asking for desegregated schools. The WCC encouraged white business owners to retaliate against signers by firing them, refusing to sell them products, and kicking tenant farmers off land their families had lived on for generations. At rallies across the state, they encouraged white residents to support politicians who wanted to uphold segregation. WCC leaders worked to find ways to stop integration, even threatening to close public schools entirely rather than allow African American and white students to attend classes together.

White Citizens’ Councils

“Rogers says Districts Needed Citizen Councils”

Letter from L.B. McCord to Frances Ready, Maintaining Segregated Schools

Citizens Council Brochure

“SC to Close Its Schools If Right to Operate Denied,” The State

A Shared Struggle

African Americans in South Carolina refused to back down. The NAACP and other organizations raised money to support those who were hurt financially. In towns like Orangeburg, community leaders and students organized boycotts of businesses owned by WCC members. Between 1959 and April 1960, families from Clarendon County again signed a petition seeking desegregation of the local schools, which remained separated by race. Across the state, African Americans continued to use the courts to try to force South Carolina to follow the Supreme Court’s ruling.