{"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 (BSCP) 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 (circa 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; sat on the board of directors of the National Committee for Rural Schools (NCRS) beginning 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 (CCED) in 1964, and its demonstration project, Subprofessional and Vocational Educational (SAVE) Program, in 1966; and served as president of the Professional Household Workers Association (PHWA), 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>"}
{"value"=>"<p>The Benjamin F. McLaurin papers date from 1936 to 1989, and contain correspondence, union contracts, meeting minutes, committee reports, and clippings chronicling McLaurin's lifelong involvement in labor, political, and civic activism. The collection is arranged into five series: Unions; Labor Councils and Committees; Civil Rights Movement; Political and Civic Committees; and Personal.</p> <p>The chronological arrangement showcases the evolution of McLaurin's work as past efforts informed new projects, a trajectory which first stemmed from and was continuously influenced by his active engagement with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP). As McLaurin took on civic-oriented work throughout the 1950s, he still relied heavily on the community, knowledge, and ideals he established as a BSCP leader. Correspondence with labor leaders appears throughout the collection.</p> <p>Financial records, organizational documents, and publication materials appear in every series. These materials contain the same general formats and serve the same function relative to the organizations held within each series. Financial Records contain tax preparation documents, auditor reports, annual budgets, quarterly reports, bank statements, and funding sources. Organizational Documents includes files of staff policies, articles of incorporation, letters of authority, project synopses, and personnel organization policies. Publications files frequently hold items such as event flyers, brochures, press releases, and sample letters.</p> <p>The container list utilizes original folder titles and arrangement as much as possible. This has led to a slightly different arrangement from one subseries to the next, and is especially prominent in the various correspondence files. Rae Brandstein was founder and secretary of the National Committee for Rural Schools (NCRS); Elmer Henderson was the Executive Secretary for the National Council for a Permanent Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC); and Marie Duke served as the secretary for the Coordinating Council on Education for the Disadvantaged (CCED). Each wrote a bulk of the outgoing correspondence while they were working with McLaurin in their respective organizations, and each had a unique filing system for organizational materials.</p> <p>The NCRS, FEPC, and CCED materials also account for a bulk of the materials in the collection. While CCED was not a national organization and had a relatively narrower geographic focus on the Bronx, it was McLaurin's passion project which served as the culmination of his combined labor, civic, and political activism.</p> <p>There is also a selection of personal files related to McLaurin's family, travels, and speaking engagements.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Benjamin F. McLaurin papers are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21082#c1722590'>Series I: Unions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1936-1988</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Materials related to McLaurin's labor union work are held in series I. The series is chronologically arranged into two subseries: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), and Professional Household Workers Association (PHWA).</p> <p>The series illustrates McLaurin's evolving responsibilities in the BSCP, from a rank-and-file member to administrative positions, first as Chairman of the Social Committee and later as the Eastern Zone Supervisor. His tenure in union leadership then applied to his active role in the establishment and organization of the PHWA. Dating from 1936 to 1988, the series holds correspondence, grievances, dues, articles of incorporation, meeting minutes, expense reports, informational flyers, wage records, union contracts, and Pullman company porter manuals.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21082#c1722643'>Series II: Labor Councils and Committees</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1945-1981</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series, dated from 1945 to 1981, chronicles McLaurin's tenures on governing boards as the BSCP representative for inter-union initiatives. Series II primarily holds correspondence, annual reports, planning documents related to fundraising events, project proposals, clippings, and financial records. It is arranged into three subseries: National Committee for Rural Schools (NCRS); National Religious and Labor Foundation (NRLF); and Negro-American Labor Council (NALC).</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21082#c1722767'>Series III: Civil Rights Movement</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1940-1985</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series III is dated from 1940 to 1985, and holds materials related to McLaurin's work in the Civil Rights Movement. The series is arranged into three subseries: Marches on Washington; National Council for a Permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC); and Madison Square Garden Civil Rights Rally Committee. McLaurin served as the national secretary for the 1941 March on Washington, and later on the executive board of the National Council for a Permanent FEPC after President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which prohibits racial or ethnic discrimination in the federal defense industry. The series holds correspondence, newsletters, reports, flyers, speeches, clippings, and transcripts of FEPC committee hearings and Senate committee testimony.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21082#c1723000'>Series IV: Political and Civic Committees</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1949-1989</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series IV, dating from 1949 to 1989, showcases McLaurin's political and civic-focused projects that did not originate through his union work, though it continued to influence his civic goals and priorities. This series is arranged into five subseries: Liberal Party; City University of New York Board of Higher Education; Coordinating Council on Education for the Disadvantaged; Mayor's Committee on Exploitation of Workers; and Minor Civic Committees. These materials include correspondence, meeting minutes, committee reports, budget plans, promotional campaign flyers, project proposals, board calendars, bulletins, staff policies, and clippings.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21082#c1723315'>Series V: Personal</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1938-1988</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Dating from 1938 to 1988, this series contains materials related to McLaurin's personal life, which is arranged by topic into Correspondence; Friends and Family; Edward Waters College; Events; and Clippings.</p> <p>Correspondence is dated from 1952 to 1988, and contains social and personal letters unrelated to McLaurin's professional work. The series holds correspondence with his family members, holiday greeting cards, condolences after Margaret McLaurin's death in 1983, letters of recommendations for friends, and correspondence concerning property.</p> <p>Friends and Family files are dated from 1938 to 1986, and hold many items McLaurin kept after his wife, Margaret McLaurin, died in 1983. Materials include her wedding book, clippings she collected, notes about her position at the Victory Day Care Center, and a carefully curated list of correspondents that varied year to year. Also of note is a partially filled baby milestone book for Benjamin, Jr. Recollections, poetry, and other writings done by his friends are present. The personal journals and stories by Rae Brandstein, founder of the National Committee for Rural Schools and entirely unrelated to that work, are also included here.</p> <p>The Edward Waters College files, which date from 1955 to 1980, document McLaurin's active participation in the college's alumni associations and the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. These files include event planning materials, meeting minutes, flyers, and clippings related to the college.</p> <p>Events files, dated from 1947 to 1988, contain conferences proceedings and notes, invitations, speech drafts, and extensive vacation planning documentation. Of particular note among the speaking invitations is one from Morehouse College, where McLaurin's son, Benjamin Jr., attended. Materials related to the organization of a 1975 testimonial luncheon hosted by the Reunion of Old Timers in honor of McLaurin's lifetime community service work, including guest lists, invitations, venue arrangement, and publicity materials, are also held here.</p> <p>McLaurin was a keen follower of the news, and collected clippings relevant to his interests. The clippings are tangentially related to his service commitments. McLaurin kept news clippings about outstanding achievements by Black students, tracked news about voter intimidation in the South in the years directly following <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em>, local strikes and union contracts, and clippings about himself.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}