Race, Rights and Disaster Relief: Hurricane Camille, Mississippi, and the Transformation of American Disaster Policy

FAIN: FA-252618-17

Andrew James Francis Morris
Trustees of Union College (Schenectady, NY 12308-3256)

A book-length study of the origins of federal disaster relief after Hurricane Camille (1969), culminating in the Federal Disaster Relief Act of 1970.

Race, Rights, and Disaster Relief: Hurricane Camille, Mississippi, and the Transformation of American Disaster Policy argues that Hurricane Camille, which devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the summer of 1969, was a decisive turning point in the history of disaster relief in contemporary America. The sheer scale of destruction and the racial inequities in the subsequent relief programs of the Red Cross and the State of Mississippi, opened a political window for the federalization of disaster relief. Told through archival research and the experiences of survivors, policymakers, civil rights activists and others, and contextualized in the broader history of disaster relief policy, the Nixon Administration, and the Civil Rights Movement, the project offers the first comprehensive history of this watershed period for disaster relief in the modern United States—and offers insights to the dynamics that would play out in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Associated Products

Hurricane Camille and the Diminishment of the American Red Cross in American Disaster Policy (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Hurricane Camille and the Diminishment of the American Red Cross in American Disaster Policy
Author: Andrew Morris
Abstract: The aftermath of Hurricane Camille, which struck Mississippi, Louisiana, and Virginia in 1969, was a key moment in the broadening of federal responsibility for disaster victims, and can be rightly understood as an expansion of the Great Society public social safety net. At the same time, the policy shifts that unfolded after Camille also broadened the range of voluntary disaster relief organizations that would become highly visible components of post-disaster landscapes. Driving both transformations was the increasingly contested role of the American National Red Cross (ANRC), a non-governmental organization to which Congress had delegated disaster relief for individuals in the early 20th century. Following Camille, critiques of racial discrimination by local ANRC units in Mississippi led to calls for national, public provision; while at the same time, critics derided the organization’s bureaucratic and insensitive relationship with disaster victims and obtained official recognition of faith-based groups such as the Salvation Army and Mennonite Disaster Relief.
Date: 05/17/2018
Primary URL: https://jph.asu.edu/2018-program
Primary URL Description: The paper is not available electronically, but can be produced upon request. The conference program is available at the URL above. I will append the paper in the "Supporting Documentation" section of the Final Report.
Conference Name: Policy History Conference (Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ)

How the federal government became responsible for disaster relief (Blog Post)
Title: How the federal government became responsible for disaster relief
Author: Andrew Morris
Abstract: There was no option on the drop-down menu for an op-ed, so I'm submitting it here. This article traced the significance of the Alaska Earthquake of 1964 in paving the way for increased federal participation in disaster relief, a process that Hurricane Camille, the subject of my book, would accelerate in 1969 and 1970.
Date: 12/04/2018
Primary URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/12/04/how-federal-government-became-responsible-disaster-relief/?utm_term=.719b1a6fb2e3
Primary URL Description: Made By History is a Perspectives/Opinion page of the Washington Post.
Blog Title: How the federal government became responsible for disaster relief
Website: The Washington Post: Made By History (Perspective)

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