Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee records

Collection

Identifier: MS0101

Staff Only

Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee

Mayor's Community Relations Committee

North Carolina Organizations

National Organizations

Scope and Contents

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee records include correspondence, minutes, and clippings of the Mayor's Community Relations Committee and the Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee. Related series document state and national community relations committees, which include the North Carolina Mayor's Cooperating Committee, the North Carolina Good Neighbor Council, the National Citizens Committee for Community Relations, and the United States Conference of Mayors Committee on Community Relations. The collection is organized by committee.

Dates

1960 - 1990
1961 - 1969

Creator

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee (N.C.) (Organization)
Charlotte (N.C.). Mayor's Community Relations Committee. Mayor's Community Relations Committee (Organization)
Charlotte (N.C.). Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee. Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.

Biographical / Historical

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee was first established by Mayor James Saxon Smith as the Mayor's Friendly Relationship Committee in 1960. The committee was formed in response to sit-in demonstrations at lunch counters led by Johnson C. Smith students in uptown Charlotte on February 12, 1960, which were organized to push Charlotte restaurants to desegregate and serve both black and white patrons. Mayor Smith established the committee to facilitate dialog between protestors and restauranteurs, who were able to come to an agreement and integrate many of Charlotte's restaurants in the early 1960s. Mayor Stanford R. Brookshire (1961-1969) broadened the scope of the committee to include issues of housing, education, equal opportunities for work, crime, and the impact of segregation on communities, and changed the name of the committee to the Mayor's Community Relations Committee in 1961.

The committee's name changed again in 1969 to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee to reflect the broader membership through appointments by the chair of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee is composed of 60 members who are appointed for three year terms. The appointments are made by the mayor of Charlotte and the chair of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. The Committee's responsibilities include studying problems in the areas of human and community relations and to make the results available to the public and promoting the quality of opportunity for all citizens.

Extent

1 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Records of a committee established in 1961 by the mayor of Charlotte to help ease racial tensions and to assist in the gradual desegregation of public facilities. Includes correspondence, minutes, and clippings relating to the committee and its predecessor, the Friendly Relations Committee. Also contains material from state and national groups, including the North Carolina Mayor's Cooperating Committee, North Carolina Good Neighbor Council, National Citizens Committee for Community Relations, and the United States Conference of Mayors Committee on Community Relations.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into the following five series:

Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee, 1960-1961; Mayor's Community Relations Committee, 1961-1969; North Carolina Organizations, 1963-1967; National Organizations, 1963-1965 and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee, 1979-1990

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee, 1985.

Available Online

A portion of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee records have been digitized and can be found at: https://goldmine.uncc.edu/index/render/pid/mss:cmcrcr

Related Materials

Fred D. Alexander Papers (Mss 91); John M. Belk Papers (Mss 60); Stanford R. Brookshire Papers (Mss 41); Harry Golden Papers (Mss 20); Kenneth R. Harris Papers (Mss 89).