SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference records [bulk 1968-2003] > Programs Department records > Operation Breadbasket records

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.