- unitid
-
{"value"=>"23945", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b22891151", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS DeVeaux 2012-06", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1975-2006", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1975/2006"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Alexis De Veaux audio and moving image collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"20 video_recordings", "unit"=>"video_recordings"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"188 audio_recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Masani Alexis De Veaux (1948- ) is a writer, poet, playwright, and activist. The collection contains 188 audio recordings and twenty moving image recordings dating from 1975 to 2006."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Multiple languages"}
{"value"=>"English, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Spanish."}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"De Veaux, Alexis, 1948-", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Writer, poet, playwright, and activist Masani Alexis De Veaux was born in New York City in 1948. She is the author of two award-winning biographies, <span class=\"title\">Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday</span> (1980), and <span class=\"title\">Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde</span> (2004), as well as works of experimental fiction, poetry, memoir, children's literature, and theater. She has led several writing collectives that supported Black women writers including Flamboyant Ladies Theater Company and Gap Tooth Girlfriends. The primary focus of her creative work is the Black lesbian feminist experience.</p> <p>From 1974 to 2013, De Veaux wrote for <span class=\"title\">Essence</span> magazine. As a contributing editor from 1979 to 1991, she profiled public figures such as Bernice Johnson Reagon, Nina Simone, and Alice Walker. In 1990, De Veaux became the first North American journalist to interview Nelson Mandela for <span class=\"title\">Essence</span>, though the interview is not included in the collection.</p> <p>De Veaux earned a PhD in American studies at State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo in 1992, where she was a professor in American and Women's Studies until her retirement in 2012.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection contains 188 audio recordings and twenty moving image recordings dating from 1975 to 2006. The original format of the audio recordings is cassette, with many items containing two or more parts. Some recordings with multiple parts have been described separately. Recordings are audio unless indicated otherwise. Square brackets indicate partial information or unclear spelling.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Alexis De Veaux audio and moving image collection is arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/23945#c1757681'>SERIES I: WORKS</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series contains thirty-one audio recordings and videos of De Veaux's poetry readings, lectures, and radio interviews that pertain to her creative writing career. The recordings are organized chronologically.</p> <p>Works featured include the biographies <span class=\"title\">Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday</span> (1980), <span class=\"title\">Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde</span> (2004), the poetry collections <span class=\"title\">Blue Heat</span> (1985) and <span class=\"title\">Spirit Talk</span> (1997), the children's book <span class=\"title\">An Enchanted Hair Tale</span> (1987), and the plays <span class=\"title\">Elbow Rooms</span>, <span class=\"title\">A Season to Unravel</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The Tapestry</span>.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/23945#c1757713'>SERIES II: CONFERENCES</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series includes twenty-nine audio recordings from De Veaux's 1985 visit to Cuba as part of a delegation of Black women writers, her attendance at the 1985 NGO Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, and panels at several conferences. The recordings are organized chronologically, except where events were recorded out of sequence on the same cassette.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/23945#c1757743'>SERIES III: AUDRE LORDE RESEARCH</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series contains fifty-eight audio recordings De Veaux collected and interviews she conducted in preparation for writing <span class=\"title\">Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde</span> (2004). The interviews, radio shows, and recordings of events are organized alphabetically by title and interviewee's last name, when known.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/23945#c1757802'>SERIES IV: JOURNALISM</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series primarily contains eighty-four audio recordings of interviews De Veaux conducted in preparation for writing and editing articles for <span class=\"title\">Essence</span> magazine. The recordings are arranged alphabetically by title and interviewee's last name, when known. Many of the interviews are described individually, where possible.</p> <p>De Veaux interviewed notable figures in Black literature, art, and music such as Jayne Cortez, June Jordan, Nina Simone, and Alice Walker, as well as Haitian refugees, civil rights activists, and government officials. There are also recordings of events, performances, and trips. In 1981, De Veaux traveled to Zimbabwe with <span class=\"title\">Essence</span> magazine to report on the country's first year of recognized independence. In 1984, De Veaux traveled to Nicaragua as part of a delegation representing the women's non-profit organization Madre.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/23945#c1757886'>SERIES V: COLLECTED</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series contains seventeen audio recordings on which De Veaux does not appear. They are organized alphabetically by title. The recordings primarily contain popular music collected and curated by De Veaux for events such as a fundraiser for her group Flamboyant Ladies Theater Company.</p> <p>Recordings include a video of a birthday message, audio recordings of speeches by Angela Davis, and a talk delivered by Toni Cade Bambara.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Alexis De Veaux, 2008, 2012, and 2021.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Alexis De Veaux papers, Sc MG 802.</p> <p>See the Photographs and Prints Division for photographs.</p> <p>See the Art and Artifacts Division for art works.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Stacey Doyle Ference</span> and <span class=\"name\">Caroline Zonis</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Lyric Evans-Hunter</span>, archivist; and <span class=\"name\">Shola Lynch</span>, curator. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2024</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>At the time of publishing, the fifty-eight audio recordings in Series III: Audre Lorde Research Materials are not available pending digitization.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference division for published works by Alexis De Veaux.</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project."}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Conditions Governing Access notes added by Lyric Evans-Hunter.", "date"=>"2025-08-07"}
- date_start
-
1975
- keydate
-
1975
- date_end
-
2006
- date_inclusive_start
-
1975
- date_inclusive_end
-
2006
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Alexis De Veaux audio and moving image collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}