"Citizens' Council" (1950s organization)

The Citizens' Council was a white supremacist organization founded in the 1950s in the United States, primarily in the South, to oppose desegregation and protect segregationist policies. Comprising mostly white businessmen and professionals, the Council used economic pressure, intimidation, and propaganda to resist civil rights advances for African Americans. They aimed to maintain racial segregation and white dominance in social, political, and economic life. The group was influential in suppressing civil rights efforts and perpetuated racial inequality through organized, covert, and sometimes violent tactics.