- unitid
-
{"value"=>"21106", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 497", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b16569868", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"ca. 1959-2014", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1959/2014", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
{"value"=>"1969-2005", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1969/2005"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Jack Hunter O'Dell papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"14 boxes, 1 oversize folder", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"5.84 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Jack Hunter O'Dell was an African American civil rights and political activist; he was known for his work with Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition, where he was the policy adviser to Reverend Jesse Jackson and director of international affairs. The Jack Hunter O'Dell papers consist mostly of professional papers related to his work with Operation PUSH, the National Rainbow Coalition, and various other civil rights organizations."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"O'Dell, Jack (Jack H.)", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1923, Jack Hunter O'Dell attended Xavier University in New Orleans in 1941, where he studied pharmacology. With the outbreak of World War II, he dropped out of college and joined the merchant marines, which introduced him to many leftist ideas, progressive political movements, and the fight against exploitation and racism. In 1946, O'Dell joined other freedom fighters at the Southern Negro Youth Congress summit in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1960, O'Dell became head of fundraising and voter registration in several Southern states for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), where he became associated with Martin Luther King, Jr; however, O'Dell's affiliation with the Communist party forced him to resign from SCLC and sever his relationship to Dr. King. It most likely did not completely end his contact with Dr. King, but forced him to keep his consultations free from public exposure. In 1963, O'Dell became the associate editor of <span class=\"title\">Freedomways</span> magazine, a Black intellectual and arts journal, and around 1970, he joined the faculty of Antioch College's Graduate School of Education in Washington, D.C. He joined People United to Save Humanity (Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH) as a foreign policy adviser in 1976, and later became a consultant on international affairs for Reverend Jackson during his presidential bids in 1984 and 1988. In 1984, he became the director of international affairs at the National Rainbow Coalition, a position he held until the early 2000s. Additionally, O'Dell was a member of the boards of directors of various organizations, including SANE/Freeze Peace Organization, the Pacifica Foundation radio station group (where he served as the chair), and the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, among others. He also served as a consultant for the Southern Organizing Committee for Economic and Social Justice (SOC) and the Institute for Community Leadership. O'Dell died in October 2019.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>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.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Jack Hunter O'Dell papers are arranged in three series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21106#c1651549'>Personal</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1996-2014</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21106#c1651552'>Professional</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca. 1959-2012</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>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 <span class=\"title\">Freedomways</span>. 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, <span class=\"title\">King, a Filmed Record: Montogomery to Memphis</span>. These files mainly consist of correspondence and memos, budget information, and contact lists. The Medgar Evers fund includes correspondence and lists of donations. <span class=\"title\">Freedomways</span> files contain correspondence, drafts, and final publications of O'Dell's articles, such as \"Charleston's Legacy to the Poor People's Campaign\", <span class=\"title\">Freedomways</span>, third quarter, 1969, and \"Over the Rainbow: U.S. Foreign Policy and World Development\", <span class=\"title\">Freedomways</span>, 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 <span class=\"title\">Afro-Americans Stand Up for Middle East Peace</span> (edited by James Zogby and O'Dell, 1980) and \"Race, Class, and Gender in the Struggle for Substantive Democracy\" in <span class=\"title\">Jack O'Dell: The Fierce Urgency of Now</span> (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.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21106#c1651625'>Subject files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1961-2011</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>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.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into three series: I. Personal; II. Professional; and III. Subject files.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Jack O'Dell, 1993-2014.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p> Transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division: programs.</p> <p>Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Accessioned by Andre Elizee, Diana Lachatanere, and Steven Fullwood, 1993-2014. Processed by Lauren Stark, September 2021.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Recommendation letters closed until 50 years after most recent date in each individual file.</p>"}
- bibliography
-
{"id"=>"aspace_b9fc79b578fdd87a7bbb5f5219e6573c", "value"=>"<p>Boyd, Herb. \"Jack O'Dell, an unflinching foe of oppression, dead at 96.\" <span class=\"title\">New York Amsterdam News</span>, November 17, 2019. Accessed September 27, 2021, http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2019/nov/07/jack-odell-unflinching-foe-oppression-dead-96/.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1959
- keydate
-
1959
- date_end
-
2014
- date_inclusive_start
-
1959
- date_inclusive_end
-
2014
- date_bulk_start
-
1969
- date_bulk_end
-
2005
- extent_statement
-
5.84 linear feet (14 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Jack Hunter O'Dell papers, Sc MG 497, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}