Georgia Council on Human Relations

The Georgia Council on Human Relations (GCHR) was a biracial group working against prejudice and discrimination due to race, religion, ethnicity, and nationality.[1] Non-profit, interracial, and non-denominational, at its peak the GCHR operated in ten chapters across the state,[1] including Albany, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, LaGrange, Macon, and Savannah.[2][3] GCHR was the Southern Regional Council's Georgia affiliate.

The GCHR initially focused on school desegregation. After Brown v. Board of Education required American schools to desegregate, the Council worked to ensure that the decision in Brown was implemented. When the Georgia state legislature threatened to close Georgia's public schools rather than integrate them, the GCHR worked with Help Our Public Education (HOPE) to keep them open.[1][4]

The GCHR worked with groups including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, the American Friends Service Committee, the YMCA, and the YWCA.[1]

With approximately 1,500 members working in law, medicine, religion, and other sectors,[citation needed] the GCHR included social justice notables such as Frances Pauley.[5]

The GCHR ceased to operate in the 1960s.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Nichols, Kimberly E. (2001). "Georgia Council on Human Relations". In Mjagkij, Nina (ed.). Organizing Black America: an encyclopedia of African-American associations. New York: Garland. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-8153-2309-9. Retrieved 2010-10-25.
  2. ^ Manis, Andrew Michael (2004). Macon Black and White: an unutterable separation in the American century. Macon, Georgia, USA: Mercer University Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-86554-958-6.
  3. ^ Manis, Macon Black and White, p. 155.
  4. ^ Patton, Randall L. (2007-10-12). "Southern Regional Council". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  5. ^ Dillard, Lavada. "Berry College and the Council on Human Relations". Freedom On Film: Civil rights in Georgia. Atlanta: University of Georgia. Retrieved 2010-10-25.