- unitid
-
{"value"=>"186261", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"SCP 186261", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b23105067", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1930s-1983", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1930/1983"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Benjamin F. McLaurin photographs"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"6 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2.79 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Benjamin F. McLaurin (1906-1989) was a Black labor leader and civic worker who held leadership positions within the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) during the 1920s and 1930s. He worked with A. Philip Randolph throughout the Civil Rights Movement, and later advocated for job equality and increased educational opportunities for minority communities while serving on New York City board committees. The collection, dated from the 1930s to 1983, showcases McLaurin's lifelong labor, civic, and political work through prints, slides, and negatives."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"McLaurin, Benjamin F., 1906-1989", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Benjamin F. McLaurin was born in Jacksonville, Florida on May 26, 1906, and graduated from Edward Waters College. He moved to Chicago in 1924, found a job with the Pullman Company as a porter, and joined the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1926. Initially serving as the chairman of the union's social committee, McLaurin was fired around 1930 for his active role in organizational activities. BSCP was founded in 1925, and was chartered into the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in 1935, the first Black-led labor union to do so. The union helped McLaurin attend the labor school at the University of Wisconsin, and later sent him to Brookwood Labor College in Katonah, New York.</p> <p>Asa Philip Randolph, the founder of BSCP, asked McLaurin to remain in New York and begin organizing there; McLaurin remained in New York for the rest of his life. He married Margaret Frye (c. 1910-1983) in August 1938. Their daughter, Dana, was born in 1944 and their son, Benjamin Jr., was born in 1946.</p> <p>McLaurin worked with Randolph in a number of BSCP-related organizations and projects, including the 1941 March on Washington, the National Council for a Permanent Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) from 1944 to 1950, and the Negro-American Labor Council (NALC) in 1960.</p> <p>McLaurin was active in labor and civil rights organizations throughout his life. He was the New York state vice chairman of the Liberal Party and the Liberal Party nominee for City Council from Harlem in 1945; organized the National Committee for Rural Schools in 1949; served as the state treasurer of the New York chapter of the NALC; was appointed to the Board of Higher Education by Mayor Wagner in 1963; founded the Coordinating Council on Education for the Disadvantaged in 1964, and its demonstration project, Subprofessional and Vocational Educational (SAVE) Program, in 1966; and served as president of the Professional Household Workers Association, formed in 1971.</p> <p>McLaurin was also a member of the National Religious and Labor Foundation executive board, and active in the National Trade Union Committee for Racial Justice, the Trade Union Council, Americans for Democratic Action, and the Workers Defense League. He was chairman of Mayor John V. Lindsay's Committee on Exploitation of Workers.</p> <p>Benjamin F. McLaurin died of cancer on March 22, 1989, at North Central Bronx Hospital.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Benjamin F. McLaurin photographs date from the 1930s to 1983, and chronicle McLaurin's lifelong involvement in labor, political, and civic activism through 35mm slides, prints, and negatives. The collection is ordered into the following groupings: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; National Committee for Rural Schools; March on Washington; Civic Committees; and Personal.</p> <p>Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) photographs are arranged by topic and date from 1948 to 1973. The BSCP photographs depict social events, Ladies' Auxiliary locals and committees, and annual union conventions. Group shots of Ladies' Auxiliary locals make up the majority of the images.</p> <p>National Committee for Rural Schools (NCRS) photographs are arranged by subject. Many of the images in this grouping are from 'field trips' taken by Rae Brandstein, the founder of NCRS, to towns and rural homesteads in the Deep South. These images were later used in fundraising campaigns.</p> <p>March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom images are from the trip McLaurin and his wife Margaret took to be a part of the 1963 March. Several of the slides were taken from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with the Washington Monument on the horizon. In addition to views of the crowds, there are also miscellaneous pictures from the trip, including shots of the McLaurin's hotel rooms.</p> <p>Civic Committee photographs, dated from 1960 to 1970, are arranged by topic. Images in this grouping showcase events, meetings, and board staff of the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York and the Coordinating Council on Education for the Disadvantaged.</p> <p>The Personal photographs, dated from the 1930s to 1983, are arranged by topic and contain images of social events, photographs of Margaret McLaurin throughout her life, holidays, and vacations.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Benjamin F. McLaurin in 1973, 1981, and 1988. A final part was donated by Dana McLaurin and Benjamin McLaurin, Jr. in 1990.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Photographs transferred from the Benjamin F. McLaurin papers in Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, Schomburg Center.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Em Longan</span> in <span class=\"date\">2023</span>.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1930
- keydate
-
1930
- date_end
-
1983
- date_inclusive_start
-
1930
- date_inclusive_end
-
1983
- extent_statement
-
2.79 linear feet (6 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Benjamin F. McLaurin photographs, Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library"}