Before 1954, Southern liberalism as a whole was essentially moderate in its approach. When the Commission on Interracial Cooperation fought against the lynching of blacks, it did so in the manner least likely to offend conventional white attitudes. Neither the commission nor the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching directly criticized the caste system that underlay the protected murder of blacks by white mobs. Similarly, suffrage reformers expended surprisingly little energy on behalf of black enfranchisement and instead concentrated on poll tax repeal because poll taxes affected many more whites than blacks. The Southern Regional Council, which had been formed at a time when black protest was making segregation a matter of national concern, skirted the issue for as long as it could. Even in the late 1940's, most Southern liberals, whether they believed in segregation or not, agreed that a direct confrontation over the issue would do more harm than good. From George Washington Cable to the embattled members of the Southern Conference Educational Fund, Southern liberals who unequivocally opposed Jim Crow too often found themselves either in exile from their native region or, if they remained in the South, ineffective and ostracized.
- from page 172, In Search of the Silent South