| Name | Atlanta Committee on Racial Equity |
| Formed | 1925 |
| Legacy | Played a central role in major civil rights struggles in the 1940s and 50s, transformed Atlanta's racial landscape, remained an influential force in the city's racial politics |
| Purpose | Combat racial segregation and discrimination in Atlanta |
| Approach | Mass protests, boycotts, and riots |
| Compared to | More confrontational than the NAACP |
The Atlanta Committee on Racial Equity was a prominent civil rights organization founded in 1925 to combat racial segregation and discrimination in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Emerging during the height of the Jim Crow era, the Committee took a more confrontational and direct action-oriented approach compared to the conservative strategies of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Over the following decades, the Committee was at the center of many of Atlanta's most significant racial justice struggles.
The Atlanta Committee on Racial Equity was established in 1925 by a group of Black community leaders, including John Wesley Dobbs, Ida B. Wells, and Benjamin J. Davis Jr., who were frustrated with the NAACP's incremental approach to desegregation. Inspired by the militant tactics of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the rising tide of the Harlem Renaissance, the Committee sought to more aggressively challenge Atlanta's entrenched system of racial apartheid.
In its early years, the Committee organized mass demonstrations, boycotts, and voter registration drives aimed at dismantling segregation in public accommodations, housing, education, and employment. They also launched investigative exposés of discriminatory policies and engaged in civil disobedience campaigns such as sit-ins at white-only establishments. This confrontational strategy quickly brought the Committee into conflict with the city's white power structure.
The Committee played a central role in the Atlanta Race Riot of 1946, which erupted after the police shooting of a Black WWII veteran. The Committee helped mobilize thousands of African Americans to protest the incident, leading to days of violent clashes with white mobs and police. Though the riot was ultimately suppressed, it marked a major escalation in the city's civil rights struggles and cemented the Committee's reputation as a militant, community-based organization.
In the aftermath, the Committee redoubled its efforts, organizing boycotts, strikes, and voter registration drives to challenge racial discrimination. They also provided legal support and fund-raising for civil rights lawsuits targeting school segregation, housing covenants, and voting restrictions. Despite violent reprisals from white supremacist groups, the Committee's confrontational approach began to yield incremental victories in the late 1940s and 1950s.
As the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum nationally in the 1950s and 1960s, the Atlanta Committee on Racial Equity shifted its focus more towards grassroots community organization and providing services to marginalized Black neighborhoods. It established youth programs, job training initiatives, and cooperative housing projects to directly address economic inequalities.
The Committee also played a key role in mobilizing Atlanta's Black electorate, helping to elect the city's first African American mayor, Maynard Jackson, in 1973. This transition to a more community-based model allowed the organization to remain a potent force in Atlanta's racial politics even as the legal and institutional barriers of Jim Crow were dismantled.
Though less well-known nationally than organizations like the NAACP or Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Atlanta Committee on Racial Equity was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement's victories in the city. Its uncompromising approach and community-rooted activism made it a constant thorn in the side of the white establishment, and its legacy can be seen in the empowerment of Atlanta's Black community.
Today, the Committee continues to operate as a influential civic organization, advocating for racial equity in areas like education, policing, housing, and economic development. Its early history as a militant, community-based force for social change remains an inspiration for contemporary racial justice movements in Atlanta and beyond.
