SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference records [bulk 1968-2003]
>
Programs Department records >
Operation Breadbasket records
Southern Christian Leadership Conference records [bulk 1968-2003] > Programs Department records > Operation Breadbasket records
Subseries 10.4
Operation Breadbasket records, 1966-1991
Boxes 576 - 578
Historical Note
In September 1962, Operation Breadbasket was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, with Fred C. Bennette as its chief administrator. The program sought to facilitate the economic growth of African American and poor communities by working to ensure fair hiring practices, promoting black-owned businesses, and forming collaborative relationships with clergymen, labor unions, and business corporations. In 1966, under the leadership of Jesse Jackson, then a student at the Chicago Theological Seminary, Operation Breadbasket expanded to Chicago, Illinois. There, Operation Breadbasket emerged in tandem with SCLC's Chicago Freedom Movement, which signaled a shift in the focus of the civil rights struggle from the South to the issues of poverty, discrimination, and unemployment in the North. The program targeted a number of Chicago-based companies that had a record of discriminatory hiring practices and was able to convince many of these employers to hire African Americans.
By 1967, Jackson was appointed as the national director of Operation Breadbasket, a position he held until 1971. During Jackson's tenure, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for the national expansion of Operation Breadbasket, thus branches of the program were initiated in Charlotte, North Carolina, Houston, Texas and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, among other cities. Despite various leadership changes and internal rifts regarding the direction of Operation Breadbasket, the program continued into the 1970s and 1980s.
Scope and Content Note
The subseries consists of the records of SCLC's Operation Breadbasket program from 1966-1991, including correspondence, records relating to regional offices, reports and other subject files. Significantly, the subseries contains a number of files pertaining to the regional campaigns and boycotts waged by Operation Breadbasket after its heyday. More specifically, the program targeted companies such as Delta Airlines, Frito-Lay, Inc., and Food Giant, Inc., among others. Of particular interest are the speeches and writings authored by Jesse Jackson, Fred C. Bennette, and other Operation Breadbasket leaders. For additional speeches relating to Operation Breadbasket, see Series 11: Martin Luther King Speaks and Series 19: Audiovisual.
Arrangement Note
Arranged in alphabetical order.
Box | Folder | Content |
---|---|---|
576 | 1 | Atlanta University Student Government Association, undated |
576 | 2 | Black Businessmen Task Force, Atlanta, Georgia, 1982 |
576 | 3 | Boycotts, A&P, undated |
576 | 4 | Boycotts, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta, Georgia, 1972 |
576 | 5 | Boycotts, Borden's, undated |
576 | 6 | Boycotts, Delta Airlines, Atlanta, Georgia, circa 1970s |
576 | 7 | Boycotts, Dobbs House, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, undated |
576 | 8 | Boycotts, Food Giant, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, 1980-1981 |
576 | 9 | Boycotts, Food Giant, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, 1982 |
576 | 10 | Boycotts, Food Giant, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, 1983 |
576 | 11 | Boycotts, Frito-Lay, Inc., Chamblee, Georgia, 1971-1972 |
576 | 12 | Boycotts, Georgia Power Company, Atlanta, Georgia, 1973 |
576 | 13 | Boycotts, The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1967-1968 |
576 | 14 | Boycotts, High-Low Foods, Chicago, Illinois, 1966 |
576 | 15 | Boycotts, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO local #613, Atlanta, Georgia, 1972 |
576 | 16 | Boycotts, Jewel Food Stores, Melrose Park, Illinois, circa 1974 |
576 | 17 | Boycotts, Munford Inc., Atlanta, Georgia, 1982 |
576 | 18 | Boycotts, Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., 1982 |
576 | 19 | Breadbasket Commercial Association, Inc., 1970 |
576 | 20 | Budget proposal, May 1972 |
576 | 21 | Chicago Freedom Movement, 1966 |
577 | 1 | Christic Institute-South, 1986-1987 |
577 | 2 | Church's Fried Chicken, Inc., 1984 |
577 | 3 | Concerned Black Clergy of Metro Atlanta, 1986 |
577 | 4 | Correspondence, undated |
577 | 5 | Correspondence, 1966-1975 |
577 | 6 | Correspondence, 1976-1978 |
577 | 7 | Correspondence, 1981-1986 |
577 | 8 | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The Textile Employment Forum, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 12-13, 1967 |
577 | 9 | Ewen, Gordon, "The 'Green Power' of Operation Breadbasket: The Pattern for a Nationwide Black Economic Revolution is Being Set in Chicago," April 1968 |
577 | 10 | "Fact Sheet on Hunger," undated |
577 | 11 | Finance reports, 1970-1971 |
577 | 12 | Georgia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, informal hearing, "Racial and Religious Bigotry and Violence in the Southern Region," Atlanta, Georgia, September 24, 1981 |
577 | 13 | Grady Memorial Hospital, 1983 |
577 | 14 | Interfaith delegation to the Middle East, 1986 |
577 | 15 | International Black Cultural and Business Exposition, 1st, November, 1971 |
577 | 16 | International Black Cultural and Business Exposition, 2nd, November, 1972 |
577 | 17 | Jackson, Jesse, biographical data, undated |
577 | 18 | Jackson, Jesse, "Black Power and White Churches," Spring 1968 |
577 | 19 | List of clergyman phone numbers, undated |
577 | 20 | List of SCLC offices nationwide and Operation Breadbasket offices, undated |
577 | 21 | "A Little Bread in Our Own Basket," state of the program dinner for Operation Breadbasket, 1968 |
577 | 22 | Meeting agendas, 1978-1991 |
577 | 23 | Meeting attendance sheets, 1978-1981 |
577 | 24 | Meeting minutes, 1969-1981 |
577 | 25 | Memoranda, 1967 |
577 | 26 | Memoranda, 1981-1986 |
577 | 27 | National Breadbasket Convention, July 10-12, 1967 |
577 | 28 | Notes, undated |
577 | 29 | Notebooks, Timothy McDonald, undated |
577 | 30 | Operation Breadbasket, membership applications, undated |
578 | 1 | Operation Breadbasket fact sheet, 1971 |
578 | 2 | "Operation Breadbasket Guidelines," undated |
578 | 3 | Operation Breadbasket informationaire, undated |
578 | 4 | "Operation Breadbasket: A Key to the Black Man's Freedom," undated |
578 | 5 | Operation Breadbasket offices, Chicago, Illinois, 1970-1971 |
578 | 6 | Operation Breadbasket offices, Dallas, Texas, 1971-1975 |
578 | 7 | Operation Breadbasket offices, Houston, Texas, 1971-1974 |
578 | 8 | Operation Breadbasket offices, Los Angeles, California, 1969 |
578 | 9 | Operation Breadbasket offices, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1971-1972 |
578 | 10 | Operation Breadbasket offices, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1968 |
578 | 11 | Operation Breadbasket of SCLC's Program Fund, audit report, June 30, 1970 |
578 | 12 | Operation Breadbasket radio programs, 1972-1974 |
578 | 13 | Operation PUSH, Inc., 1978-1980 |
578 | 14 | Petitions, "The Extension of 1965 Voting Rights Act," undated |
578 | 15 | Petitions, Fulton County Elections Board, undated |
578 | 16 | Picket and captains' instruction, undated |
578 | 17 | Political Education Division, Guidelines for Instructors, undated |
578 | 18 | Power of People (POP), Chicago, Illinois, 1972 |
578 | 19 | Press release, draft, undated |
578 | 20 | "Projections for Operation Breadbasket," 1967 |
578 | 21 | "Proposal for Operation Breadbasket," undated |
578 | 22 | Reports, 1966-1967 |
578 | 23 | Reports, 1968-1984 |
578 | 24 | Robinson, Noah R., "The 'New' Operation Breadbasket-Programmatic Thrusts," April 10, 1972 |
578 | 25 | "SCLC's Operation Breadbasket: How to Win Jobs and Influence Businessmen," Jesse Jackson and Fred C. Bennette, October 1969 |
578 | 26 | Speeches and statements by Operation Breadbasket directors, 1966-1969 |
578 | 27 | "Strike outpost," undated |
578 | 28 | Surveys of Chicago communities, undated |
578 | 29 | Telephone log, 1981-1982 |
578 | 30 | U.S. Trademark application for "Operation Breadbasket," 1970-1971 |
578 | 31 | Writings by others, undated |