- Creator
- Child Development Group of Mississippi
- Call number
- Sc MG 265
- Physical description
- 2.6 linear feet (6.5 boxes)
- Preferred Citation
- [Item], Child Development Group of Mississippi collection, Sc MG 265, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
- Access to materials
- Some collections held by the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. To request access to materials in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, please visit: http://archives.nypl.org/divisions/scm/request_access Request access to this collection.
Records of the Child Development Group of Mississippi collection consists primarily of lengthy and detailed reports documenting the history and goals of the Head Start program; training manuals; financial proposals; and printed material. Also present are instruction manuals and printed material for the CDGM support group, Friends of Children of Mississippi.
Biographical/historical information
The Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) was a community action group that developed a Head Start program for low income, primarily black, pre-school children. The CDGM Head Start program evolved from a meeting called by Dr. Tom Levin, a civil rights activist, with five other social scientists and professionals, which was held in New York City on March 11, 1965. Levin was the first director of the CDGM's Head Start program which, in its heyday, operated eighty-seven centers throughout Mississippi with an enrollment of 6,000 children and a staff of 3,000 adults.
The CDGM received one of the largest grants in the country from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to begin operation. Within months it became the OEO's most controversial Head Start program. It faced opposition from the Klu Klux Klan, the local press and some members of the black community. In addition, charges of mismanagement were leveled at the organization. In September, less than six months from the time they were funded, CDGM's funds were withdrawn by the OEO.
With the aid of a newly formed support group, the Friends of Children of Mississippi (FCM), the CDGM operated without government funding during the winter of 1965-1966. After a congressional investigation, organizational and personnel changes, the OEO provided $5.5 million dollars for a full year's operation in fourteen out of the nineteen countries in the state. In October 1967 the OEO withdrew all funding to Head Start programs in Mississippi counties operating under the mantle of the CDGM.
Administrative information
Source of acquisition
donation, McLeod, Lois Rogers, 07/--/1990Key terms
Names
- Child Development Group of Mississippi
- Delta Ministry of Mississippi
- Friend of Children of Mississippi
- National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America
- Project Head Start (U.S.)
- United States. Office of Economic Opportunity
Subjects
- African American children -- Mississippi
- African American students -- Mississippi
- African Americans -- Civil rights -- Mississippi
- African Americans -- Education (Preschool) -- Mississippi
- Children -- United States
- Children with social disabilities -- Education (Preschool) -- Mississippi
- Education, Preschool -- Mississippi
- Education, Preschool -- United States
- Head Start Program -- Mississippi
- Segregation in education -- Mississippi
- Segregation in education -- United States
Places
Using the collection
Location
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor