Southern Student Organizing Committee

The Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) was a regional student activist organization founded in April 1964 by delegates from campuses across the American South. It emerged during a period when segregation, racial violence, anti-communist politics, and opposition to organized labor made political organizing especially difficult at many Southern colleges. SSOC sought to create a specifically Southern vehicle for student radicalism: it was described in contemporary terms as a Southern counterpart to Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and as an organization that could provide white students with a role alongside the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was increasingly debating the place of white volunteers in its work. The organization was established at a meeting attended by approximately 45 delegates from about 15 campuses. Sue Thrasher and Archie Allen of the Christian Action Fellowship were among its founders, and Bob Moses and other civil-rights activists offered support. At first, SSOC maintained close connections with Carl and Anne Braden and the Southern Conference Education Fund. Because those associations could expose the organization to accusations of being a Communist front, SSOC later made a deliberate effort to establish greater institutional distance from the Bradens while retaining a broad Southern radical orientation. SSOC combined campus organizing, political education, publishing, demonstrations, conferences, and solidarity work. Its agenda included African-American civil rights, antiwar activism, workers' rights, poverty, feminism, and student and university reform. It became formally linked to SDS as a fraternal regional organization, and joint SDS-SSOC chapters operated at some institutions, including the University of North Carolina. The group also developed an extensive literature program, distributing pamphlets and magazines on civil rights, U.S. foreign policy, poverty, and the history of Southern radicalism. Its publications included The New Rebel, later renamed The New South Student, and, during its final year, The Phoenix. One of its best-known pamphlets was Vietnam: The Myth and Reality of American Policy. The committee's organizing reached beyond campuses. In 1967, SSOC organizers Gene Guerrero and Lynn Wells worked with the Textile Workers Union of America on a North Carolina textile-mill unionization campaign involving more than 300 students. Between 1967 and 1969, SSOC also sponsored a traveling teach-in on Vietnam and American foreign policy, helping connect antiwar activity across Southern states. In 1968 it organized the Southern Days of Secession protests, using the language of secession to urge Southerners to reject participation in the Vietnam War. The organization's use of Confederate imagery was intentionally provocative and reflected its attempt to claim Southern identity for an interracial and radical politics; its button depicted a Confederate flag behind a handshake between Black and white hands. SSOC held conferences at Buckeye Cove in Swannanoa, North Carolina, a historic camp leased from the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen. These meetings allowed activists from isolated and conservative campuses to exchange ideas, develop political education, and build regional relationships. The organization also helped create spaces for Southern radical history and culture. In 1968, Gene Guerrero and Howard Romaine were among activists involved in founding Atlanta's underground newspaper The Great Speckled Bird. The group remained relatively small at some campuses and sometimes functioned more as a catalyst for protest than as a mass organization. Its regional identity and moderate New Left orientation increasingly drew criticism from members of SDS and from Progressive Labor, a Maoist tendency within the student movement. After an SDS convention resolution condemned SSOC's regionalism and severed organizational ties, an internal struggle intensified. SSOC dissolved itself in 1969, amid the wider fragmentation and collapse of several early New Left organizations. The organization nearly disappeared from the historical record after former members burned many of its papers to prevent them from reaching the FBI. In the 1990s, researcher Gregg Michel located former activists, conducted interviews, and helped organize a 1994 reunion in Charlottesville, Virginia. Surviving materials were subsequently deposited in an archive at the University of Virginia Library. Michel's historical study, Struggle for a Better South, published in 2004, renewed scholarly attention to SSOC. Former SSOC members Howard Romaine and Sue Thrasher later helped establish the Institute for Southern Studies with Julian Bond.

Founded in April 1964, the Southern Student Organizing Committee was a regional New Left organization formed by students and activists from historically segregated Southern campuses. Its founders included Sue Thrasher and Archie Allen of the Christian Action Fellowship, with support from Bob Moses and other civil-rights organizers. The group was intended to make student organizing possible in a region where SDS faced substantial political danger and where SNCC was reassessing the role of white volunteers. SSOC therefore developed a separate but cooperative organizational identity for Southern students, especially white students seeking involvement in civil-rights and radical politics. SSOC initially maintained close relations with Carl and Anne Braden and the Southern Conference Education Fund, although leaders later sought more distance from the Bradens to avoid the political liability of being portrayed as a Communist front. The organization eventually became a fraternal regional partner of SDS. Joint chapters existed at some campuses, but SSOC retained a strong commitment to Southern identity and history. It operated through campus chapters, literature tables, conferences, demonstrations, and political education. The New Rebel, later renamed The New South Student, served as its regular publication. The group also issued pamphlets on civil rights, the Vietnam War, poverty, and campus reform, including Vietnam: The Myth and Reality of American Policy. During the later 1960s, SSOC expanded its work beyond campus protest. Organizers participated in a North Carolina textile-mill unionization campaign with the Textile Workers Union of America, drawing more than 300 students into labor activism. A traveling teach-in on Vietnam and U.S. foreign policy toured Southern states from 1967 to 1969. SSOC also sponsored conferences at Buckeye Cove in Swannanoa, North Carolina, providing a meeting place for activists who often felt isolated on conservative or segregated campuses. Its historical program, including the series Roots of Southern Radicalism and a conference on radical Southern history, connected contemporary activism with earlier slave revolts, abolitionism, Populism, labor organizing, and institutions such as the Highlander Center and Koinonia Farms. The organization made a distinctive, sometimes controversial, use of Southern symbols. Its button combined a Confederate flag with Black and white hands shaking, presenting regional identity as compatible with interracial cooperation and radical politics. In 1968, SSOC organized Southern Days of Secession, an antiwar action that rhetorically called on the South to secede from the Vietnam War. SSOC organizers also contributed to Atlanta's underground press, including The Great Speckled Bird. Despite its activity, SSOC frequently struggled to build large campus memberships. At some universities it functioned mainly as a small organizing nucleus or a vehicle for theatrical protest. Its regional structure and relatively moderate politics increasingly appeared outdated to more militant factions of SDS. Progressive Labor members helped pass an SDS resolution criticizing SSOC's regionalism and ending the formal relationship between the organizations. The resulting internal conflict led SSOC to dissolve in 1969. Its ending coincided with the collapse or transformation of other early New Left organizations, including SNCC and SDS. The group's documentary legacy was endangered when former members burned organizational papers to keep them from the FBI. Beginning in the 1990s, Gregg Michel interviewed former activists and organized a 1994 reunion in Charlottesville. Surviving publications and personal collections were gathered for an archive at the University of Virginia Library. Michel's book Struggle for a Better South, published in 2004, restored SSOC to the historical record. Former members Howard Romaine and Sue Thrasher later helped establish the Institute for Southern Studies with Julian Bond.

• 2004

  Publication of organizational history

  [1]Southern Student Organizing Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  Gregg Michel's study Struggle for a Better South examined SSOC's history and renewed interest in the group.

• 1994

  Activist reunion and archival recovery

  [1]Southern Student Organizing Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  A reunion of former members helped recover surviving SSOC documents and oral histories.

• 1969

  Dissolution

  [1]Southern Student Organizing Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  SSOC dissolved following internal conflict and the severing of its formal relationship with SDS.

• 1968

  Southern Days of Secession

  [1]Southern Student Organizing Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  The group staged antiwar protests that used the language of Southern secession to oppose the Vietnam War.

• 1967

  Textile labor campaign

  [1]Southern Student Organizing Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  SSOC organizers collaborated with the Textile Workers Union of America on a North Carolina textile-mill organizing drive.

• 1967

  Traveling Vietnam teach-in begins

  [1]Southern Student Organizing Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  SSOC launched a traveling educational program on Vietnam and American foreign policy across Southern states.

• 1964

  Founding of SSOC

  [1]Southern Student Organizing Committeeen.wikipedia.org

  Approximately 45 delegates representing about 15 Southern campuses founded the Southern Student Organizing Committee.

A distinctly Southern New Left organization focused on student-led political education, civil rights, antiwar activism, labor solidarity, feminism, and campus reform.

• Student newspaper and magazine

  The New Rebel / The New South Student

  SSOC's regular publication carried political commentary, organizing news, and historical material for Southern student activists. It was initially titled The New Rebel and was later renamed The New South Student. Its Roots of Southern Radicalism series traced connections between contemporary New Left activism and earlier Southern movements, including abolitionism, Populism, labor campaigns, and civil-rights institutions.

• Political pamphlet

  Vietnam: The Myth and Reality of American Policy

  This SSOC pamphlet explained the organization's opposition to U.S. policy in Vietnam and was reported to be its best-selling publication. It formed part of a broader literature program that distributed political education materials on war, civil rights, poverty, and campus reform through Southern campus literature tables.

• Student newspaper · 1969

  The Phoenix

  The Phoenix was added to SSOC's publications during the organization's final year. It represented the committee's continuing effort to maintain a regional communications network as internal pressures and wider New Left fragmentation intensified.

• 1968Southern Days of Secession

  Southern United States

  SSOC organized a series of antiwar protests that repurposed the language of Southern secession, urging residents to separate themselves politically from the Vietnam War.

  Source
• 1967North Carolina textile-mill unionization campaign

  North Carolina

  SSOC organizers Gene Guerrero and Lynn Wells worked with the Textile Workers Union of America to involve students in an organizing drive among North Carolina textile workers. More than 300 students reportedly participated, linking campus activism to workers' rights and Southern labor politics.

  Source
• 1967Traveling Vietnam teach-in

  Southern United States

  A mobile educational program toured Southern states, addressing Vietnam and U.S. foreign policy and helping local activists develop the regional antiwar movement.

  Source

• 1969

  Dissolution after SDS and Progressive Labor conflictStrategy

  Background

  More militant elements of SDS criticized SSOC as too liberal and objected to its regional structure. Progressive Labor members helped advance a resolution condemning SSOC's regionalism and ending the formal relationship between the two organizations.

  Action taken

  SSOC dissolved itself after the internal struggle and the breakdown of its SDS affiliation.

  Aftermath

  The dissolution ended SSOC as an organization, although former members continued working in Southern studies, journalism, labor, and civil-rights projects.

  • Students for a Democratic Society — An SDS convention adopted a resolution criticizing SSOC's regionalism and severing organizational ties.

  Source

1. 1Southern Student Organizing Committeeen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Struggle for a Better South: The Southern Student Organizing Committee, 1964-1969books.google.com