"Hands that pick Cotton" Poster, 1970

The Southern Regional Council (SRC) is a reform-oriented organization whose headquarters are in Atlanta. The SRC is considered the successor organization to the Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC), with which it merged in 1944. During the late 1940s and 1950s the SRC was unique in its focus on interracial cooperation and struggled against massive resistance in the South. The organization continued to promote voter registration, political awareness, and racial equality.

John H. Wheeler became the first black president of the SRC in 1964. Before assuming the role of president, Wheeler held the position of treasurer with the North Carolina Council on Human Relations (NCCHR), the state’s SRC branch from 1955 to 1961. He began his tenure on SRC’s executive committee in 1958 and became executive committee chairman in 1961. This sub-series consists of meeting minutes, correspondence, financial records, and Voter Education Project materials.