On April 1, 1966, the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People imposed an economic boycott on most white-owned businesses in Port Gibson and Claiborne County after demands for better treatment of African-American citizens, greater employment opportunities, and full enfranchisement brought little or no substantive change. The boycott won overwhelming support from most of the county's black citizens, who formed a majority of the population but had little economic power and had been denied political power through segregationist laws and practices. Continuing on and off for eleven years, the boycott contributed to the failure or closure of a significant number of businesses while white business and political leaders, working with state and local law enforcement, sought to harass boycott leaders, disrupt the campaign, and preserve the status quo. Through picketing and peaceful marches and demonstrations in the downtown area and beyond, black citizens continued pressing demands for equality and racial justice, with black voter registration becoming a major focus. On October 31, 1969, seventeen boycotted merchants sued the national NAACP, Mississippi Action for Progress, and 146 individuals in Hinds County Chancery Court to recover business losses and stop future boycott activity in Claiborne Hardware et al. vs NAACP et al. In 1976, the Chancery Court ruled that the NAACP, Mississippi Action for Progress, and 128 other defendants were jointly and severally liable for damages to twelve merchants in the amount of $1.25 million plus interest and issued a permanent injunction against certain boycott activities. After the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld that judgment in December 1980, the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which on July 2, 1982, overturned the state rulings and held that the boycott clearly involved constitutionally protected activity through which the NAACP and other defendants sought to bring about political, social and economic change.
