OF “OUTSIDE AGITATORS”, “PECULIAR WHITES”, AND “POOR EXCUSES FOR WHITE WOMEN”: THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATIONS OF WHITE SOUTHERN FEMALE CIVIL RIGHTSACTIVISTS IN THE 1960S

Abstract

This paper argues that White female civil rights activists were subjected to character assassination and that these attacks drew much of their effectiveness from mobilizing the gendered and racialized cultural norms that structured sociopolitical life in the Jim Crow South during the 1960s. Focusing on a cohort of White Southern women born in the 1930s and early 1940s, the study analyzes press portrayals in White Southern newspapers. The findings demonstrate that such attacks operated in subtle and indirect ways rather than through overt denunciations. By embedding regional social and cultural codes within seemingly objective reporting, the White Southern press mobilized racialized and gendered tropes that discredited the women while minimizing White Southern participation in the Civil Rights Movement. This strategy allowed the press to undermine the activists’ legitimacy while maintaining the appearance of journalistic neutrality.