Week 28 – CIVIL RIGHTS – Brunswick’s “Quiet Conflict” and Its Legacy
John F. White, the president of New York’s National Educational Television network, wrote a promotional piece about his company’s offerings for the 1964-1965 season. For more than ten years, the network had presented educational programs on topics as diverse as politics, science, theater, and music. White was proud to announce that the upcoming season would continue a public affairs program titled “At Issue,” which, as he described it, was “a monthly hour-long look at some significant national controversy.”
The program’s fifty-first episode, “Quiet Conflict,” focused on Brunswick’s move towards desegregation outside of the national spotlight. The special aired in 1965 and suggested the influence of the Albany Movement on Brunswick’s desegregation process—there were relatively few protests and sit-ins, as seen in other cities, and “At Issue” proposed that “open communication” in Brunswick had paved the way for a peaceful change over the preceding two years.
“Quiet Conflict” highlighted the role of Reverend Julius Caesar Hope, a pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church and a leader in the local chapter of the NAACP. In 2013, Anglican minister Robert Wright recalled that he and other local leaders like Reverend Hope, members of a “Biracial Committee,” met frequently and secretly at the time in a bank on St. Simons Island. Wright remembered that the group “would talk about the problems and if anybody knew of any avenue that could possibly help to integrate the next group that we could work with.” Over the years, the group met with business owners and community leaders to help prevent open conflict and slowly integrate Glynn County.
Although the hard work of advancing civil rights in Brunswick took place largely outside of the national spotlight, “Quiet Conflict” brought to light that the accomplishments of local leaders weren’t necessarily unopposed. While the episode showcased civil rights leaders, it also explained that the Glynn County Citizens Council had formed as a “white citizens group” to protest changes and desegregation. Still, the documentary showed individuals that persevered in the face of such opposition. Two such citizens were Dr. and Mrs. James Clinton Wilkes, a couple who lived on Jekyll Island and whose youngest child was the first African American baby born in the “white section” of Brunswick’s hospital.
The legacy of “Quiet Conflict” is still felt today. Most notably, in 2024, the Georgia Historical Society erected a historical marker to the documentary in front of Brunswick’s City Hall. The marker can be seen at 601 Gloucester Street.