{"value"=>"<p>The bulk of this series relates to the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) sponsored by IFCO in 1969. The files document the ensuing historic confrontation brought about by James Foreman's reading of the Black Manifesto at the conference and the ultimate rejection by white churches and synagogues of this call for reparations. In addition, there are files for two other economic development conferences, both held in 1968, the Southern Economic Development Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana and the Rural Economic Development Conference in Waveland, Mississippi, including copies of papers given at those conferences. Neither conference was sponsored by IFCO.</p> <p>The files for the NBEDC contains information on the steering committee that helped to plan the conference and includes various planning documents. Among the steering committee members were Julian Bond (also a panelist at the conference), Vincent Harding, Robert Browne, John Conyers, Fannie Lou Hamer, and attorney Howard Moore. There are files containing speeches and papers presented at the conference, among them NBEDC's position paper on economic development. There is also a copy of Forman's manifesto, a chronology of the events that occurred before the speech was delivered and the controversy that ensued afterward, as well as extensive files on the responses from several denominations, and articles.</p>"}