Scope and arrangement
The Jack O'Dell papers mostly consist of professional papers related to his work with Operation PUSH, the National Rainbow Coalition, and various other civil rights organizations. There is a limited amount of personal matter, which mostly includes correspondence, some memorabilia (souvenir programs), and a transcript of an oral history interview done with James Early in 1997. The Professional papers consist of material related to his early career and activism efforts with the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), among others. These files contain correspondence, memos, reports, printed matter, and meeting minutes. The majority of the Professional papers documents O'Dell's role as policy adviser to Reverend Jesse Jackson and director of international affairs for Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition (NRC) in Washington, D.C. during the 1980s-1990s. Included in these files are correspondence (with such correspondents as Jesse Jackson and Manning Marable) and notes; conference packets and other materials related to civil rights; files related to solidarity movements in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America; materials related to O'Dell's role as an adviser to Jesse Jackson during his presidential runs; papers related to various Marches on Washington for different causes; speeches and statements written on behalf of Jackson; and printed matter. Additionally, there are materials related to O'Dell's work with other organizations as a board member and consultatnt; materials related to appearances and engagements outside of his work with PUSH and the NRC (interview requests, conference materials, and printed matter); and writing samples (published and unpublished). Finally, the Subject files contain printed matter (newsletters, reports, speeches, meeting minutes and resolutions, articles, and clippings) on various subjects related to civil rights and international relations.
The Jack Hunter O'Dell papers are arranged in three series:
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1996-2014
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ca. 1959-2012
The Early career and activism efforts subseries contains materials for O'Dell's work with the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King, Jr., SCLC, the Medgar Evers Fund, and Freedomways. The Committee to Defend Martin Luther King, Jr. files consist of financial records (amounts of donations, tickets purchased, and receipts). The SCLC files include O'Dell's roles as the director of voter registration, the organizer of the Martin Luther King, Jr. film project, and director of the New York offices. The director of voter registration file contains a report, flyer, and a photocopied letter from Martin Luther King, Jr., about O'Dell's Communist affiliation, along with additional correspondence. O'Dell was the staff coordinator of a film festival in 70 cities for the showing of the documentary, King, a Filmed Record: Montogomery to Memphis. These files mainly consist of correspondence and memos, budget information, and contact lists. The Medgar Evers fund includes correspondence and lists of donations. Freedomways files contain correspondence, drafts, and final publications of O'Dell's articles, such as "Charleston's Legacy to the Poor People's Campaign", Freedomways, third quarter, 1969, and "Over the Rainbow: U.S. Foreign Policy and World Development", Freedomways, vol. 24, #1, 1984. The PUSH and NRC files are combined since these two non-profit organizations founded by Jesse Jackson were merged into Rainbow/PUSH in 1996. Besides containing files related to O'Dell's roles as the director of chapter expansion and staff development (1973-1976), director of the international affairs department (1976-1974) of PUSH, and director of international affairs for NRC, they also include materials related to O'Dell's role as an adviser to Jackson during his two presidential runs and consultant to Jackson on international affairs. Although some of these materials fall oustide of the PUSH/NRC purview, they are included here because of the immense overlap in dates and overall work with Jackson in these various capacities. The subseries Work with other organizations is comprised of material related to O'Dell's participation as a Board member, advisory member, or consultant with the following civil rights organizations: Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center; Southern Organizing Committee for Economic and Social Justice (SOC); Committee for a National Health Service; American Friends Peace Service Committee (AFSC); World Festival of Youth and Students; Pacifica Foundation; Palestine Human Rights Campaign; SANE/Freeze; Palestine Solidarity Committee; 30th Anniversary of the Mobilization of the March on Washington; W. E. B. Du Bois Foundation; Institute for Community Leadership; Charleston Laureate Lecture Series; and Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). The documents in this subseries include correspondence and memos, reports, printed matter, and handwritten notes. The Appearances and engagements subseries is comprised of interview and appearance requests and printed matter for events in which O'Dell participated. These events and appearances occurred outside of his work with PUSH and NRC. Included are published interviews, event flyers, conference programs, handwritten notes, press releases, and meeting notes. The final subseries, Writing, contains published and unpublished writing by O'Dell, mostly written independently of any association with an organization. Published writing includes Afro-Americans Stand Up for Middle East Peace (edited by James Zogby and O'Dell, 1980) and "Race, Class, and Gender in the Struggle for Substantive Democracy" in Jack O'Dell: The Fierce Urgency of Now (2005; signed by all authors, including O'Dell), among others. Unpublished writing includes early handwritten notes on anti-colonialism and international relations, speech drafts and notes, possible article drafts, and fragments.
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1961-2011
This series, consisting mostly of printed matter on various topics, organizations, and individuals, mainly concerns international affairs. Most likely, many of the documents were collected and used by O'Dell not only in his roles as the director of international affairs for PUSH and NRC, consultant on foreign affairs to Jesse Jackson during his presidential runs, consultant and board member for other organizations, but also as an authority on international civil rights issues. Many of these materials overlap with materials included in the PUSH and NRC files.