Limits to success of the Southern Regional Council
Pauley describes her decision to leave the Georgia Council in the late 1960s. According to Pauley, she left in part because she believed it was time for black leadership to take control of the organization. At the same time, she believed that the Southern Regional Council had failed to adequately address what she saw as key problems, namely poverty and welfare issues. Moreover, Pauley believed that the Southern Regional Council failed to adequately fund local organizations. Her comments are demonstrative of the inner workings of this organization and the limits to its successes in trying to support a regional movement.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Frances Pauley, July 18, 1974. Interview G-0046. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- JACQUELYN HALL:
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Why did you quit?
- FRANCES PAULEY:
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Well, I thought it was time we had black leadership, one. Two, the
Southern Regional Council wasn't helpful.
- JACQUELYN HALL:
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Why weren't they helpful?
- FRANCES PAULEY:
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Well, I don't know. They just never seemd to be sympathetic with many of
the things that we did. We got interested in welfare rights, and we
organized welfare rights groups. A lot of places where you couldn't get
any whites for a council you could get blacks in welfare rights. We had
about forty different groups around the state; some places had councils
and welfare rights groups. I wanted to continue to work in
welfare rights after I left the Council.
- JACQUELYN HALL:
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People on the Georgia Council didn't like your work with welfare
rights?
- FRANCES PAULEY:
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The Councils generally weren't interested in the very poor. The Council
work got harder and harder and harder. We expanded our program until it
was just about killing us, and yet we didn't have enough money to hire
any more people. And Southern Regional Council hindered us in raising
money instead of helping us.
- JACQUELYN HALL:
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How did that happen?
- FRANCES PAULEY:
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Well, they didn't want to take grants and have it go through them to us.
They seemed to be jealous of us getting the money, rather than them, you
know, like they were competitive. I feel like they made a big mistake in
not backing up the local councils. I think the Southern Regional Council
could have been much stronger today and be more effective in the South
if they had helped the local councils.
- JACQUELYN HALL:
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Because they have no local base . . .
- FRANCES PAULEY:
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They don't have, and they should have. And they're not a membership
organization, and they're just a little group of people that's gotten so
ingrown. And it seems to me that if they had encouraged and helped the
local councils instead of trying to kill them off, they would have been
better off. And I'm sure the Council would too.