{"id":3266,"date":"2022-02-15T20:39:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T20:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jsums.edu\/margaretwalkercenter\/?page_id=3266"},"modified":"2023-04-25T21:33:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T21:33:29","slug":"liberty-house-and-craft-cooperatives","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.jsums.edu\/margaretwalkercenter\/liberty-house-and-craft-cooperatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty House and Craft Cooperatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Liberty House Workers at Woodstock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


\n<\/a>Liberty House and Craft Cooperatives
\nA Virtual Exhibition<\/h1>\n

The Poor Peoples Corporation\/Liberty House were part of the arts and crafts movement. From 1965 to 1974, Liberty House provided training, supplies, and even markets for goods made by African American men and women, many small Mississippi towns. Besides crafts cooperatives across the state, and Jackson as its headquarters, there were Liberty Houses in several major cities across the country. Note: Permission for use of Derby Images will need to be made through her estate.<\/p>\n

Thomas Kersen and Robert Luckett, Jackson State University
\nDoris Derby, Georgia State University<\/p>\n

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\nThis program is financially assisted by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the<\/span>
\nMississippi Humanities Council. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of<\/span>
\nthe Mississippi Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

One Earlier Mississippi Cooperative<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cDelta cooperative farms.\u00a0Hillhouse, Mississippi. Negro\u00a0cabins are on one side,\u00a0white cabins on the other.\u201d<\/span>
\n(1937) by Dorothea Lange.\u00a0Library of Congress, LC-DIG-fsa-8b32083.<\/span><\/h3>\n

In his book, Providence\u00a0<\/em>(2002), Will Campbell wrote\u00a0about his experiences at one\u00a0of these cooperative farms in
\nMississippi.\u00a0Cooperatives, whether they are\u00a0farm, craft, or other, share in the\u00a0desire to empower people.\u00a0However, the focus and approach\u00a0differ by the type of cooperative.<\/p>\n

Cooperative Movement in the South, 1960s-1970s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cooperatives appealed to Jesse Morris and Doris Derby over other forms of intentional community because the main idea behind them was self-help. When Morris planned Liberty House, he wanted people would learn a craft\/trade and earn a living under their own terms. There was also the idea generating wealth and keeping it in the black community. He was a practical man who had little use for ideologues.<\/p>\n

Cooperative Movement has a long history in the United States but the major umbrella cooperative organizations that were active and linked to Liberty House (LH) early on were Berkeley Coops, Consumer Cooperative Society, Palo Alto, CA, Cooperative League of the USA out of Chicago, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives (FSC). Currently, the FSC has offices in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and other places. The FSC training school is in Epes, Alabama. Liberty House had strong links to FSC.<\/p>\n

Forms of Black Empowerment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poor People\u2019s Corporation (PPC) was a precursor to the Poor People\u2019s Campaign and March. Although they worked to the same end\u2014empowering people, the Poor People\u2019s Corporation was focused on cooperatives.\u00a0Jesse Morris, Doris Derby and others believed the best way to help marginalized African Americans, such as those found in the Mississippi Delta was by teaching them crafts and how to operate small businesses.\u00a0PPC was founded a few years before the Black Power movement came into the public focus.<\/p>\n

There were some affiliated organizations that PPC members were a part of prior to Liberty House such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Moreover, several initiatives had already happened in Mississippi that established resources, structures, and links for future endeavors such as Liberty House. The Mississippi Summer Project of 1964 is one example.<\/p>\n

\"Mississippi<\/a>
Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, photograph by T. Kersen, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some Affiliated Civil Rights Organizations<\/strong><\/p>\n

The importance of groups affiliated with Liberty House cannot be overstated. They offered advice and support. In some cases, it is from this organizations that staff had their start in community organization. Some of those organizations are Council on Federal Organizations (COFO),\u00a0Congress on Racial Equality (CORE),\u00a0Freedom Democratic Party (FDP),\u00a0National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and\u00a0Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).<\/p>\n

Other Groups & Organizations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesse Morris had a lot of connections in Mississippi and around the country.\u00a0Some important religious organizations early in the rise of Liberty House were the\u00a0Delta Ministry,\u00a0Episcopalians, Religious Society of Friends, Unitarians. These groups supported and helped distribute PPC brochures in places like Philadelphia and Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. Jesse Morris and Myles Horton, cofounder of Highlander Folk School, knew each other well and worked together on a number of issues.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Liberty House was also part of the counterculture scene in Jackson. The cooperative advertised in Kudzu<\/em>, an underground newspaper based in Jackson not far from Liberty House headquarters. Readers could go to Liberty House to get the latest copies of Kudzu<\/em> too–often a difficult task given the fact that authorities were actively trying to keep the paper out of the hands of young people.<\/div>\n
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Kudzu in Kersen collection.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Liberty House advertisement in Kudzu<\/td>\n

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Dropoff Site & Kudzu Staff<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Poor People\u2019s Corporation (PPC)<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In 1965, the Poor People\u2019s Corporation (PPC)\/Liberty House (LH) opened in Jackson, Mississippi. \u00a0According to a Washington Post<\/em> article by Don Robinson, dated January 16, 1967, PPC \u201c\u2026manifests a trend which has seen the Southern civil rights movement attempt to set up a series of local businesses\u00a0 cooperatives.\u201d Although Mississippi Sovereignty Commission monitored PPC\/LH, it wasn\u2019t considered a threat by Jesse Morris or Doris Derby, even though Morris, after his Liberty House tenure, suspected Mississippi Sovereignty Commission had someone who had infiltrated Liberty House.\u00a0The PPC executive director was Jesse Morris, formerly a leader within the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Doris Derby was also a former SNCC worker, an educator in northern Mississippi for Headstart before coming to PPC. At PPC she wore many hats but was involved with marketing and publicity.\u00a0Other important staff such as Lary Rand, manager, Ian Tomlin, who was the designer and responsible for the catalog.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jesse Morris, standing – Founder, Executive Director, Coordinator of Internal and External Organizational Liaisons and New projects.<\/td>\nDoris Derby – External Development Officer, Director of Public Relations, Marketing and Fund Raising, Coordinator of Craft Cooperative Development Training and international crafts.<\/td>\nDoug Jenkins \u2013 Craft Cooperatives Liaison, Raw Materials and Finished Products Delivery Driver<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ian Tomlin, on right \u2013 Product, and catalog Designer, Sales Promotion Material Developer Here is Tomlin and Coop Members at a Quarterly Business Meeting for Coops.<\/td>\nEula Mae Williams- Liberty House \u2013Jackson, MS, Manager, Retail Store<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

A Partial List of Other Staff From Over the Years<\/p>\n