(CIVIL RIGHTS) Morrison Betrays White Race Mayor of New Orle

Sale 2598 - Lot 198

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(CIVIL RIGHTS.) Morrison Betrays White Race! Mayor of New Orleans Gives Negroes Equal Political and Social Rights. Illustrated broadside, 17 x 11 inches, on newsprint; folds, two 1/4-inch chips. New Orleans, LA: White League of Louisiana, [January 1950]

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deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison (1912-1964) served as a white Democratic mayor of New Orleans from 1946 to 1961. This poster was produced from a segregationist perspective in reaction to his 1950 re-election campaign, warning that he had integrated the city's auditorium and was allowing Black residents to register to vote.

This poster was probably not very effective for white supremacist purposes, as it inevitably circulated in the Black press; the Pittsburgh Courier reproduced it on 28 January 1950. The sub-headlines would have all played well in the Black community: "Mayor of New Orleans Gives Negroes Equal Political and Social Rights"; "Negroes to be Placed on Police Force"; "Auditorium to become Negro Pleasure Set"; "National Negro Paper Hails Morrison." The large reproduction of the state's Reconstruction-era legislature would certainly evoke nostalgia among Black voters as well. Morrison did indeed win re-election, and did indeed integrate the police force that year. This poster might make you think he was a visionary crusader for civil rights, but he later spoke in favor of segregation in 1959. None in OCLC, none traced at auction.