Southern Student Organizing Committee
Encyclopedia
The Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) was a student activist group in the southern United States
during the 1960s, which focused on many political and social issues, including African-American civil rights
, opposition to the Vietnam War
, worker's rights, and feminism. It was intended in part to be SDS
for Southerners and SNCC
for white students; at a time when it was dangerous for SDS to attempt to organize in the Deep South, and when SNCC was starting to discuss expelling white volunteers. It was felt that students at the traditionally white and black colleges in the South could be more effectively organized separately than in an integrated student civil rights organization; however this was controversial and initially opposed by advisors like Anne Braden. Sue Thrasher and Archie Allen of the Christian Action Fellowship were among the founders of the group, with the support of Bob Moses
and others. At its inception the group had close ties to controversial Louisville, Kentucky radicals Carl and Anne Braden
and their organization, the Southern Conference Education Fund; but later a deliberate effort was made to put some distance between the SSOC and the Bradens to avoid the appearance that the SSOC was a Communist front.
After its founding SSOC came to be formally tied to the SDS as a fraternal organization with a regional mandate in the South, and joint SDS-SSOC chapters existed at some schools like the University of North Carolina
. A monthly organ, The New South Student, was published on a regular basis. In 1967 SSOC organizers led by Gene Guerrero
and Lynn Wells
worked with TWUA on a unionization drive in North Carolina textile mills, involving more than 300 students in the campaign. In 1968 Gene Guerrero and Howard Romaine were among the SSOC activists involved in founding Atlanta's widely-circulated underground newspaper
, The Great Speckled Bird
.
SSOC considered itself a distinctly Southern organization and sometimes embraced traditional Confederate
symbols and language. In 1968 SSOC staged a series of antiwar protests called "Southern Days of Secession," in which they urged Southerners to "secede" from the Vietnam War
.
Over time radicals in SDS increasingly saw SSOC as too liberal and too timid. SSOC finally dissolved itself in 1969 as the result of an internal struggle with members of Progressive Labor, a Maoist sect, after members of PL had successfully passed a resolution at an SDS convention condemning SSOC's "anachronistic" regionalism and breaking the ties between the organizations.
After the breakup of SSOC two former members, Howard Romaine and Sue Thrasher, were instrumental in forming the Institute for Southern Studies
with Julian Bond
.
Raymond Luc Levasseur
, later the leader of the United Freedom Front
, worked with the SSOC.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the 1960s, which focused on many political and social issues, including African-American civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, opposition to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, worker's rights, and feminism. It was intended in part to be SDS
Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
for Southerners and SNCC
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
for white students; at a time when it was dangerous for SDS to attempt to organize in the Deep South, and when SNCC was starting to discuss expelling white volunteers. It was felt that students at the traditionally white and black colleges in the South could be more effectively organized separately than in an integrated student civil rights organization; however this was controversial and initially opposed by advisors like Anne Braden. Sue Thrasher and Archie Allen of the Christian Action Fellowship were among the founders of the group, with the support of Bob Moses
Robert Parris Moses
Robert Parris Moses is an American, Harvard-trained educator who was a leader in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and later founded the nationwide U.S. Algebra project.-Biography:...
and others. At its inception the group had close ties to controversial Louisville, Kentucky radicals Carl and Anne Braden
Anne Braden
Anne McCarty Braden was an American advocate of racial equality. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, and raised in rigidly segregated Anniston, Alabama, Braden grew up in a white middle-class family that accepted southern racial morals wholeheartedly...
and their organization, the Southern Conference Education Fund; but later a deliberate effort was made to put some distance between the SSOC and the Bradens to avoid the appearance that the SSOC was a Communist front.
After its founding SSOC came to be formally tied to the SDS as a fraternal organization with a regional mandate in the South, and joint SDS-SSOC chapters existed at some schools like the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
. A monthly organ, The New South Student, was published on a regular basis. In 1967 SSOC organizers led by Gene Guerrero
The Great Speckled Bird (newspaper)
The Great Speckled Bird was a counterculture underground newspaper based in Atlanta, Georgia from 1968 to 1976. It was founded by New Left activists from Emory University and members of the Southern Student Organizing Committee, an offshoot of SDS. Founding editors included Tom and Stephanie...
and Lynn Wells
Lynn Wells
Lynn Wells was a civil rights activist in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1960s and was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , the Southern Student Organizing Committee , and then a national leader of Students for a Democratic Society and the Revolutionary Youth Movement in the...
worked with TWUA on a unionization drive in North Carolina textile mills, involving more than 300 students in the campaign. In 1968 Gene Guerrero and Howard Romaine were among the SSOC activists involved in founding Atlanta's widely-circulated underground newspaper
Underground press
The underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
, The Great Speckled Bird
The Great Speckled Bird (newspaper)
The Great Speckled Bird was a counterculture underground newspaper based in Atlanta, Georgia from 1968 to 1976. It was founded by New Left activists from Emory University and members of the Southern Student Organizing Committee, an offshoot of SDS. Founding editors included Tom and Stephanie...
.
SSOC considered itself a distinctly Southern organization and sometimes embraced traditional Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
symbols and language. In 1968 SSOC staged a series of antiwar protests called "Southern Days of Secession," in which they urged Southerners to "secede" from the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Over time radicals in SDS increasingly saw SSOC as too liberal and too timid. SSOC finally dissolved itself in 1969 as the result of an internal struggle with members of Progressive Labor, a Maoist sect, after members of PL had successfully passed a resolution at an SDS convention condemning SSOC's "anachronistic" regionalism and breaking the ties between the organizations.
After the breakup of SSOC two former members, Howard Romaine and Sue Thrasher, were instrumental in forming the Institute for Southern Studies
Institute for Southern Studies
The Institute for Southern Studies is a non-profit media and research center based in Durham, North Carolina that advocates for progressive political and social causes in the Southern United States...
with Julian Bond
Julian Bond
Horace Julian Bond , known as Julian Bond, is an American social activist and leader in the American civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 1960s, he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating...
.
Raymond Luc Levasseur
Raymond Luc Levasseur
Raymond "Ray" Luc Levasseur was a member of the United Freedom Front, a militant Marxist organization that conducted a series of bombings throughout the United States from 1976 to 1984.-Early life:...
, later the leader of the United Freedom Front
United Freedom Front
The United Freedom Front was a small American Marxist organization active in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally called the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit, and its members became known as the Ohio 7 when they were brought to trial...
, worked with the SSOC.