The NCC and Racial Justice
By Mary Anderson Cooper
Prepared for the NCC's 2003 General Assembly
Nov. 4-6, Jackson, Miss.

In one of its foundational policy documents, the National Council of Churches USA (NCC) committed itself to "…the task of transcending barriers of race, color, and nationality in our churches and in our communities." * The Council’s involvement in the civil rights movement and civil rights advocacy has been dedicated to achieving that goal ever since.

The Department of Racial and Cultural Relations was part of the Council’s early structure. In the first triennium (1950-53), racial justice work focused on inclusivity in congregations, denominations, and ecumenical organizations. By 1954, Christian education programs were helping communities and congregations work positively toward public school desegregation.

From the beginning, Council efforts were focused on both desegregation and economic equality and opportunity. Program emphasis on voting rights for all citizens developed in the late 1950s. This early work reached its culmination in the 1960s, as the nation faced major racial justice challenges. To this end, in 1963, the Council helped to organize and staff the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and, with national Catholic and Jewish partners, co-sponsored the National Council on Religion and Race in Chicago.

The creation of the NCC’s Commission on Religion and Race in 1963 provided a means to encourage, assist and reinforce the civil rights and racial justice work of the communions and ecumenical organizations. Among its many activities were:

• participation in the March on Washington;
• in-depth training of volunteers to work in Mississippi on voter registration;
• recruitment and training of participants in the Selma March in 1965;
• direct advocacy with Congress and the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations on enactment of civil rights legislation, primarily through the NCC Washington Office; and
• building grassroots support for the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 (equal accommodations) and 1965 (voting rights), as well as federal aid to education and anti-poverty legislation.

Other key activities during the 1960s included:

• formation of the Delta Ministry in Mississippi, in part an outgrowth of the voter registration activities. The Delta Ministry to help impoverished sharecroppers and focused on economic aid, gaining access to government funds, job-creation and self-help programs;
• supporting efforts in 1965 to unseat the Mississippi congressional delegation until there was a full hearing on charges of denial of voting rights to African-American citizens;
• building grassroots support for the Economic Opportunity Act, centerpiece of the War on Poverty;
• advocating for funding of the Child Development Group of Mississippi, the program overseeing the operation of Headstart in the state; and
• coordination of religious community involvement in the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968.

Subsequent the racial justice work of the NCC has focused largely on public policy advocacy efforts to maintain the progress made through enactment of civil rights and anti-poverty legislation in the 1960s. James A. Hamilton, Director of the Washington Office until 1996, and General Secretary (1989-91) of the NCC, helped to found the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and for a decade chaired its Committee on Compliance and Enforcement, monitoring federal enforcement of civil rights laws. The Council played a major role in building grassroots support for reauthorization in 1985 of the Voting Rights Act.

To this day, the Council continues its grassroots and Capitol Hill advocacy on legislation related to economic and racial justice for all people.

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* Policy Statement on "The Churches and Segregation," adopted by the General Board June 11, 1952.