The Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality and the African American Organizing Tradition in the Era of Black Power

Abstract

At a time when disillusionment with mainstream institutions and a focus on black power appeared dominant in the struggle for racial equality in the United States, the interracial Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality (SEDFRE) carried the ideals of the early civil rights movement into the late 1960s and early 1970s, garnering support from liberal foundations and individual donors for projects that fostered political and economic empowerment among black southerners. This analysis of SEDFRE's work demonstrates the continued role of national organizations and white supporters in the freedom struggle and provides further evidence that there was no clear distinction between the civil rights and black power eras.