White Supremacy Now and Forever Broadside by E.C. Barnard
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Scope and Contents
This broadside contains excerpts from a 1957 speech by E.C. Barnard, a Mobile City Commission candidate and a leader in the local Ku Klux Klan. The document reflects the segregationist rhetoric of the period and serves as a historical artifact of the mid-twentieth-century struggle for civil rights in the American South.
The 1957 local election in Mobile was a pivotal moment, with Joseph Langan, a moderate with progressive views on race, running against Barnard. The election also saw the use of "pink sheets," informational bulletins distributed by the Non-Partisan Voters League, an organization led by Mobile native and prominent African American civil rights leader John LeFlore. LeFlore had revitalized the Mobile chapter of the NAACP in the 1920s, making it one of the most active in the country, and founded the Non-Partisan Voters League to focus on desegregation efforts in Mobile’s schools and government. The League’s endorsements, along with Langan’s broad appeal, particularly among Catholic voters, led to his decisive victory over Barnard.
This broadside provides insight into the segregationist language and ideology of the time, illustrating the resistance to the growing civil rights movement in Alabama. By 1957, significant events such as Claudette Colvin’s and Rosa Parks’ refusals to surrender their bus seats, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the emergence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a civil rights leader were already shaping the national movement. Over the following decade, nonviolent protests, sit-ins, and freedom rides would continue to challenge institutional racism in Alabama and beyond.
As a rare surviving document, this broadside offers valuable historical context on the political and racial tensions of the era.
Dates
- Creation: 1957
Conditions Governing Access
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Biographical / Historical
In the 1957 Mobile, Alabama, municipal election, Joseph Langan, a moderate on racial issues, faced E.C. Barnard, a leader in the local Ku Klux Klan and an outspoken segregationist. This election took place during a critical period in the civil rights movement, as activists in Alabama and across the South were challenging segregation and voter suppression.
Langan had previously served in the Alabama state legislature, where he supported measures that provided limited legal protections for African Americans. His opponent, Barnard, represented the staunchly segregationist faction of Mobile politics, advocating for the preservation of Jim Crow policies. The election was also notable for the involvement of the Non-Partisan Voters League, an organization founded by John LeFlore, a prominent African American civil rights leader in Mobile. LeFlore had transformed the local NAACP chapter into one of the nation’s most active groups and established the Non-Partisan Voters League to advance desegregation efforts and African American political participation. The League’s "pink sheets," informational bulletins endorsing candidates, played a role in mobilizing voters.
The broader historical context of this election included the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which had begun in 1955 after Rosa Parks' arrest, and the rise of Martin Luther King Jr. as a leader of the civil rights movement. Alabama, under figures like Governor George Wallace, became a focal point for both segregationist resistance and civil rights activism. Wallace’s 1963 inaugural address, in which he proclaimed "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," echoed the rhetoric used by figures like Barnard.
Langan’s victory in the 1957 election marked a defeat for overt white supremacist politics in Mobile, though the fight for civil rights in Alabama and beyond would continue for years. The broadside containing Barnard’s speech serves as a historical record of the resistance to integration and the entrenched racial attitudes of the time.
Extent
1.44 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The University of Alabama Libraries acquired the White Supremacy Now and Forever Broadside by E.C. Barnard from William Reese Company in 2025.
Physical Description
Broadside, 17x10.5 inches. Old folds, slight wrinkling, minor surface wear. Very good. Matted.
Processing Information
Processed by Courtney Tutt, March 2025.
Subject
- Ku Klux Klan (1915- ) (Organization)
- Title
- Guide to the White Supremacy Now and Forever Broadside by E.C. Barnard
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid created by Courtney Tutt, March 2025.
- Date
- March 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections Repository