The Southern Courier was founded in 1965 by two undergraduate journalists at Harvard College, with the mission to provide objective and detailed coverage of the civil rights movement to readers in the Deep South. At the time, white-owned newspapers in the South “turned their backs on the epochal events unfolding in their own communities.” Based in Montgomery, Alabama, the Southern Courier published its first issue in July 1965 and put out an issue every week for the next three years. “From the start, The Southern Courier recruited and maintained a bi-racial staff committed to reporting and disseminating the news in a professional and objective manner…Reporters and editors were expected to become part of their communities, black and white alike, and not to engage in "drive-by" journalism or attempts at social change.”

The collection contains five issues of the Southern Courier that feature coverage of the Bogalusa civil rights movement, including a profile of Bogalusa Deacons for Defense and Justice President, Charles Sims, and a photo spread of the Bogalusa to Baton Rouge March. A July 1965 article features candid interviews with white “moderates” who admit their fear of Klan retaliation stops them from making any concessions to the civil rights movement. One white business owner states: “We’re losing business here because of the Negro boycott…Some of us are being hit pretty hard. But do you know what would happen if we hired Negroes? They’d blow the hell out of us.” The Foundation is grateful to the Southern Courier Association for allowing us to share these issues in the collection.