Found 60 collections related to African Americans -- Civil rights

The Ross Thalheimer Papers consist of papers relating to Thalheimer's activities as a civil rights supporter from the 1940's to the 1970's. Files relate primarily to the funding and presentation of the Thalheimer Award to the National Urban League, including the prize winning essays written by students, and for the Thalheimer Awards he funded for the NAACP including information about the recipients and associated programs, 1942-1976. Collection also contains letters from Kenneth B. Clark and Lester B. Granger, typescripts of interviews given by Thalheimer, copies of an advertisement placed in The New York Times in 1964 by the Psychologists' Committee on Interracial Relations concerning violence and race relations, and telegrams to Thalheimer from Martin Luther King, Jr. inviting him to join King on what would become known as the Selma to Montgomery March on March 9 and 21, 1965. There are also an address Thalheimer delivered in 1940 called "The Need for Equal Educational Opportunity in a Democracy;" an article he wrote entitled "What Can the Church Do About Juvenile Delinquency," 1954; biographical information about Thalheimer prepared by his widow; and expressions of sympathy upon his death. less

The McLaurin Family collection comprises a dismantled scrapbook of newspaper clippings on segregation in Oklahoma schools and higher education, the McLaurin (George W.) desegregation case, the drive to end segregation in the educational system throughout the United States, the relationship between U.S. politics and civil rights, Southern reaction to Supreme Court desegregation rulings, and related information, 1948-1973. There are also obituary notices and funeral programs for the McLaurins (1966-1972); personal and career information (e.g., resumes and curriculum vitae) for Dunbar McLaurin; and letters, newspaper, and magazine clippings by and about Dunbar McLaurin. less

Purpose of organization was to recruit health care personnel and supplies for civil rights workers who participated in the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project and for local black residents. Records related to the Committee's activities including administrative and general correspondence, some reports, memoranda, minutes, financial records, membership and fund raising files, committee files, material from chapters, and printed literature. less

Files of John P. Davis, Edward Strong, and Revels Cayton, as well as financial records. Included with the National Negro Congress records are Davis' files from the Negro Industrial League, 1933, of which he had been executive secretary; Davis' files from the Joint Committee on National Recovery, 1933-1935, an ad-hoc lobby to protect black interests in the federal government; and his subject/reference files on different aspects of the "Negro question." Also, records of the Negro Labor Victory Committee, 1942-1945, including files of Charles A. Collins, executive secretary, and M. Moran Weston, field secretary, consisting of correspondence, subject/organization files, and printed matter. less

Business executive, psychologist, educator, writer. Clark was an expert witness regarding the psychological effect of segregation in education for the landmark Brown v. Kansas Board of Education case, 1954. Clark also founded and directed the Metropolitan Applied Research Center, a non-profit research corporation concerned with the problems of American urban society. The collection contains drafts of Roy Wilkins' and Ramsey Clark's book, "Commission of Inquiry into the Black Panthers and the Police. Search and Destroy: a Report, 1973 concerning the police raid of the Black Panther headquarters in Chicago on December 4, 1969, resulting in the deaths of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. The reports of the Grand Jury which conducted the investigation as well as the Commission's findings are included. Also, photocopies of photographs depicting the scene of the raid. Additionally, there are reports from the Metropolitan Applied Research Center, 1967-1975; and minutes of the New York State Urban Develoment Corporation. less

The Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project consists of transcripts of interviews with ten African-American women -- all Abyssinian members -- about their recollections of Abyssinian Baptist Church as well as their Southern roots, their spiritual experiences and their political and Christian education. All of the women interviewed were more than seventy years old, and one was over ninety, at the time the interviews were conducted in 1992. The interviewees are: Helen Brown, Robbie Clarke, Susan Craig, Gwendolyn Jones, Esther McCall, Estelle Noble, Fannie Pennington, Olivia Pearl Stokes, Amy Terry, Grace Jones and Laura B. Thomas. Their remembrances date to the late 1920's, but the primary time period under discussion is from 1940 to1970. Located in Harlem, Abyssinian was the first black Baptist church established in New York State (1808) and the fifth in the United States. The interviewer was Martia G. Goodson, an assistant professor at Baruch College at the time of the project. less

Executive Director of Black and Non-White YMCA Volunteers and Staff, 1969-1981, and Director of the Human Rights Unit of the National YMCA, 1973-1981. Personal office files of Alexander reflecting his leadership role with the National YMCA, including records of the Human Rights Unit consisting of correspondence, 1975-1979; affirmative action reports; speeches and historical profiles of black YMCAs prepared for the 125th anniversary celebration of the YMCA; reports on the efforts made by the YMCA regarding equal employment opportunities; reports dealing with the struggles and continued existence of black YMCAs, and publications. Also, records of the National Conference of Black and Non-White YMCA Volunteers and Staff including minutes of the board of directors, correspondence, conference reports, membership lists, budgets, and publications, 1969-1980. less

Civil rights leader and President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Randolph died in 1979. Speeches, statements, and press releases related to A. Philip Randolph and his work with the labor movement, international and national politics, civil rights, the Brotherhood of Sleeping of Porters, the Fair Employment Practice Committee, and other activities as they relate to African Americans. Randolph's personal financial records are included. less

Peyser was a socio-economic analyst with the office of the Special Counsel of the NAACP and was employed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1946-1953. Papers deal with the NAACP's fight against segregation in housing, includes a letter from Roy Wilkins to President Harry Truman and a letter from Robert Weaver to Thurgood Marshall; speeches by Marshall, Weaver, and Frank Horne; memoranda and research reports from Peyser to Walter White and Marshall; and legal briefs and minutes. less

Transcripts from the Schlesinger Library's oral history project which documented the contributions of black women 70 years or older to American life. Interviews document the lives, professional careers, and voluntary activities of women nationwide and focus on their contributions in a wide variety of fields including medicine, law, business, the arts, social work, education, politics, and civil rights. Interviews include Christia Adair, Frances Albrier, Sadie Alexander, Elizabeth Cardozo Barker, Etta Moten Barnett, May Edward Chinn, Alfreda Duster, Mae Eberhardt, Lena Edwards, Zelma George, Frances Grant, Ardie Halyard, Pleasant Harrison, Dorothy Height, Margaret Cardozo Holmes, Lois Mailou Jones, Virginia Jones, Maida Kemp, Catherine Cardozo Lewis, Audley Moore, Muriel Snowden, Olivia Stokes, Ann Tanneyhill, Constance Thomas, Era Bell Thompson, Charleszett Waddles, Dorothy West and Deborah Wofe. less

Claudia Jones Memorial Collection 1935-1998 (bulk 1955-1964) consists primarily of printed matter apparently owned by Jones. There is a relatively small volume of material relating to Jones' personal and political activities. Bon-voyage postcards, letters and telegrams sent to her on her departure from the United States following deportation are the only documents that deal with her life in the United States. The collection also contains poems Jones wrote while in prison and during her voyage to England. less

Journalist, lecturer. Letters regarding two annual events organized by Allen, the celebration of the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and a pilgrimage t o the New York University Hall of Fame to honor Harriet Beecher Stowe and Booker T. Washington. Also, a statement issued by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey concerning elimination of discrimination in the state. less

Collection of assorted printed material gathered by photographer Robert E. "Bob" Fletcher concerning the civil rights movement between 1962 and 1967. Included is printed material for the March on Washington, 1963; Free Southern Theatre, 1967; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1963-64; Freedom Summer WATS Line Messages, 1964; Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1964; 3 issues of Broadside Topical Song Magazine, 1962, 1964 and other miscellaneous newspaper clippings. less

Writer, New York State senator (1951-1965), former president of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing. Collection comprises research material for Metcalf's two books, BLACK PROFILES (13 biographies of prominent African Americans living and deceased), and UP FROM WITHIN: TODAY'S BLACK LEADERS (a biographical sequence of emerging black personalities and their contributions to the "black revolution" in America). Material consists of clippings, correspondence, typescripts, transcribed interviews, notes and miscellaneous printed material, and one taped interview with Metcalf on a variety of topics including urban rehabilitation. Material in collection is about Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Roy Wilkins, Shirley Chisolm, W.E.B. Du Bois, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers, Jackie Robinson, Eldridge Cleaver, Whitney Young, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Edward Brooke, Julian Bond, James H. Meredith, Andrew Brimmer, and others. less

The Bureau of Social Science Research Files collection are comprised of materials from the two sociological studies for which Albert Gollin was the principal investigator; the March on Washington (l963) and the Poor People's Campaign (l968). In addition to material generated by the BSSR in their study and analysis of these events, the collection contains documents from both the March on Washington and the Poor People's Campaign that Gollin and his team gathered for their studies. less

Joel and Amy Spingarn were philanthropists, humanitarians, and patrons of the arts. Letters from Joel E. Spingarn to Amy Spingarn written during the 1914-1915 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) speaking tour, and some letters, 1930s, concerning Joel's NAACP activities; letters to Amy Spingarn regarding researcher access to the Joel E. Spingarn collections at the Moorland Collection at Howard University and the James Weldon Johnson Collection at Yale University; material regarding the opening of Joel E. Spingarn High School in Washington, D.C.; an 1898 speech; NAACP printed material; letters to W.E.B. Du Bois; articles by and about Arthur Spingarn; typescript by Jacques Roumain on Vodun (voodoo); and printed material. less

Field worker for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi, 1963-1964. Printed matter collected by Greenberg consisting of letters, telegrams, minutes, reports, and memoranda from the 1963 voter registration drive organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi; material related to the Arkansas Project; and printed matter from the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project organized by the Council of Federated Organizations, including some material on the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and Freedom Schools. less

The Harry Haywood Papers, 1948-1981, consists of typescripts of articles, speeches and book manuscripts, correspondence, photocopies of journal articles, and materials relating to the Communist Party USA and several of its offshoots, most frequently concerning their theoretical positions on blacks in the United States. Correspondence in the CPUSA series include a folder of letters to and from Cyril Briggs, founder of the African Blood Brotherhood. The National Question subseries refers to the CPUSA's position on the right of self-determination for African Americans. The dissatisfaction of black and Puerto Rican CPUSA members who hoped to build a new Marxist-oriented party is documented in the Provisional Organizing Committee for a Communist Party (POC) subseries as is Haywood's internal party battles with the general secretary of the POC, Armando Roman. less

Paul Lewinson was a professor of history specializing in African American suffrage and white politics in the South, and also was employed as an archivist. He received his Bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1922 and his Ph.D. from Brookings Graduate School in 1927. He began his career as an instructor of history at Ohio State University (1927-1929) and was assistant professor of history and political science, and a visiting professor at Swarthmore College (1931-1932) and 1937-1938 respectively. From 1933-1935, Lewinson was responsible for the Taft Papers at the Library of Congress, and was appointed Chief of the Labor Department archives in 1938. He died in the late 1980's. The Paul Lewinson Notes for "Race, Class and Party" collection consists primarily of notecards organized by subject and state for Lewinson's book, "Race, Class & Party: A History of Negro Suffrage and White Politics in the South" (1932), published by Oxford University Press. Subjects include the Old South, slavery, suffrage, general politics and race prejudice. In addition, there are a postscript Lewinson wrote in 1964 for a later edition to his book, a letter from his publisher, and two publications: "The Negro in the White Class and Party Struggle" (1928 journal article) and "A Guide to Documents in the National Archives: For Negro Studies" (1947). less

The Arthur Ashe papers document the wide range of Ashe's political, athletic, business, and philanthropic activities. Although they contain some significant material from the 1960s and 1970s, the papers are concentrated more heavily on Ashe's activities following his retirement from competitive tennis in 1980. less

Teacher, labor leader. Richard F. Parrish was one of the founding members of the National Afro-American Labor Council, formerly the Negro American Labor Council. The Richard Parrish Papers (Additions 1) consist primarily of the records of the National Afro-American Labor Council (NALC), of which Parrish served as treasurer (1960-1974) and president until it ceased its operation in 1976 (1974-1976). less

Records of the Negro Labor Committee encompassing historical and activity records, general subject and activity files, records of affiliated unions and locals, and personal files of Frank R. Crosswaith. Historical and activity files include records of predecessor organizations of the Committee, the Trade Union Committee for Organizing Negro Workers, 1925, and the Harlem Labor Committee, 1934, and items summarizing the Committee's general interests and activities from its founding in 1935 to 1969. Records contain general correspondence, minutes, committee reports, financial records, form letters, and related materials. General subject and activity files of the Committee include material on conferences and conventions in which the Committee participated, documents relating to activities and special projects of the Committee such as the Harlem Labor Center, Scholarship Benefit Fund, Negro Labor Committee-U.S.A., anniversary journals, and the proposed March on Washington in 1943. Also, minutes of the Negro Labor Assembly, of which the Committee was an integral part, and press releases of the Negro Labor News Service, 1935-1951. In addition, the collection contains files from the individual unions which were affiliated with the Committee and which joined in many of its projects, programs, and activities. Files present a cross section of the progressive labor movement in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. less

Newspaper clippings and press releases relating to the death of William Horner in Trenton, N.J., and the arrest and trial of six black men charged with the slaying. Includes some material on civil rights. The clippings come from both American and French newspapers, including "The New York Times," the "New York Post," "The Daily Compass," "The Herald-News," "The Trentonian," "The Trenton Times," the "National Guardian," the "Pittsburgh Courier," the "Daily Worker," and "Droit et Liberté." The majority of the clippings, especially those from the "Daily Worker," were biased in favor of the Trenton Six. These articles stressed the themes of racial discrimination, frame-up and denial of civil rights. Some newsclippings are in French. less

The J. Alfred Smith, Sr. Papers primarily document Smith's roles as author, pastor of the Allen Baptist Temple Church (ATBC) and his activities with the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc (PNBC) as well as other church organizations. Over half of the papers document Smith's career during the 1970s and '80s as pastor of ATBC and president of the PNBC. Smith's papers include very little documentation on his career and professional activities during the 1950s and '60s, his vice presidency and presidency of the Progressive State Baptist Convention of California and Nevada headquartered in Los Angeles, or his first and second vice presidencies of the PNBC. less

Correspondence, reports, publications, administrative files, papers of related organizations and subject files documenting activities of the Northern Student Movement, its affiliates, and core members, including Peter Countryman, William Strickland, Samuel Leiken, Charyn Sutton, Sharon Jeffrey and Frank Joyce. The Central Office files provide an overview of the organization as a whole, its leadership structure, its activities and inner working, the thinking of its cadres, and its funding mechanisms. Included are minutes and correspondence of the Board of Advisers and Sponsors, the NSM Congress and the Executive Committee, in addition to conference files, a complete run of the group's magazine, "Freedom North," its internal bulletin, "The Organizer," and compilations of training material for prospective tutors. less

The Blacks in the Railroad Industry Collection is comprised of a variety of materials documenting the struggle of black railroad employees against ouster from the industry by collusive actions of the companies and the unions. While provenance seems to be uncertain, holograph notes on many of the documents appear to have been done by Robert Wood, editor of "The Railroad Workers' Link," a newspaper published by the Railroad Committee of the Communist Party. In addition, the few original items in the collection are addressed specifically to him or to the "Link.". less

High school teacher and civil rights advocate in New York City. Correspondence, political files, and printed material documenting Lane's opposition to racial discrimination and war. Includes letters from World War II soldiers relating to discrimination in the military, and material on the 14th amendment, National Committee on Rural Schools, and the Socialist Party, on whose ticket Lane ran for office. less

The records of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), 1966-1984, document the origin and development of the organization within the context of the social and religious turmoil of the late 1960s, a period which gave rise to Third World theological perspectives, and the radical critique of racism and materialism in American society. IFCO records consist of files for the various programs and projects IFCO developed to assist poor and disadvantaged peoples gain justice, self-determination and economic independence, primarily in the United States, and to a lesser extent, Africa. Included are hundreds of proposals submitted by community, educational, health care and other organizations to IFCO's Grant Making Program, which provide documentation of community empowerment organizations in the United States from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. less

Curtis Powell, African-American scientist and Black Panther Party member, was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1935, and died in Queens, New York in 2002. After serving in the military, he studied Chemistry, first at Seton Hall University, then abroad before receiving his PhD from the University of Stockholm in 1968. Upon his return to New York, Powell joined the Black Panther Party (BPP). A year later, despite limited evidence, Powell and twenty other BPP members (eventually known as the "Panthers 21") were jailed for over two years before being acquitted. Following his release, Powell moved to Africa and developed a vaccine for Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). He returned to the United States in 1994 to try to bring his vaccine into production. The Curtis Powell Papers contain letters, research data, scientific reports (most in several drafts), published articles, presentations, and patent documentation for his vaccine, as well as copies of Black Panther Party documents and publications, including organization and planning documents for the BPP's 25th Anniversary Celebration. less

Personal papers, family and general correspondence, writings, field notes and research materials, working papers, office files and printed matter documenting Ralph Bunche's personal life and professional career, from his enrollment at the University of California to his retirement in 1971. less