{"value"=>"<p>The series documents Gollobin's advocacy work with over twenty international and U. S. based groups committed to defending, financing, and publicizing information on Haitian refugees. The series contains meeting minutes, executive board correspondence, press releases, newsletters, public outreach fliers, petitions, pamphlets on human rights and legislative reports pertinent to Haitian refugees. The bulk of the papers are from the 1970s and 1980s, during Jean-Claude Duvalier's regime that sent thousands of Haitians to other shores seeking asylum from political repression. With his background in amnesty and asylum legal procedure, Gollobin was a priceless resource to small grassroots organizations that worked on behalf of Haitian refugees, such as the Haitian Refugee Center, founded by the late Gerard Jean-Juste in Florida, The power of grassroots organizing is evident in this series. Though many of the organizations are now defunct, the files on organizations such as the Haitian Worker's Union and the Rockland Coalition on Haitian Concerns reveal that many of these groups worked directly out of their homes making fliers for demonstrations or writing up declarations directed towards the U. S. government. Gollobin's extensive leftist and progressive network affiliations provided much needed infrastructure and financial support to many of these small groups. In 1981, to facilitate this work, Haitian community leaders, religious groups, and activists, together with Gollobin founded the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) as an umbrella group to spearhead and more effectively coordinate efforts on behalf of Haitian refugees. A leading advocate for Haitian refugee rights in the U. S. and, for a brief period (early 2000s), in Haiti, NCHR is well represented in the collection.</p> <p>Another organization featured prominently in this series is the Church World Service/National Council of Churches (CWS/NCC). The CWS/NCC is an international organization committed to promoting world peace, creating sustainable grassroots organizations in developing countries, and resettling refugees across the globe. As their legal counsel, Gollobin testified on the behalf of Haitian refugees, prepared legal briefs in response to INS asylum regulations, and cultivated relationships with CSW/NCC administrators to ameliorate conditions for Haitian refugees. Gollobin's work with Sue.</p> <p>Sullivan of the Washington Office of Haitian Refugee Concerns of the National Council of Churches to create the Haitian Refugee Project is also represented in this series. The Rescue Committee for Haitian Refugees was another Gollobin orchestrated union for which there are files. It was a joint operation between the American Committee for Protection of the Foreign Born (ACPFB) and the Haitian Fathers. Despite the fact that the former was founded and run by communists, Gollobin was a master at pulling together coalitions of Haitian activists, liberal church groups and progressive lawyers to prize a measure of justice for Haitian refugees.</p>"}