Found 182 collections.

The Reveille Club was founded in 1932 by African American war veterans in order to celebrate and recognize each other's accomplishments. The main criteria of membership was friendship. According to the group's certificate of incorporation of 1953, the purposes of the Club were to "bring together persons of good moral character with similar intellectual and social aspirations"; "countenance and promote among its members, from all walks of life, faith in one another...fulfill the desire to meet as a group..."; and "maintain a club house". The directors of the Club in 1953 were Ira L. Aldridge, Chauncey M. Hooper, and Wilmer F. Lucas. An annual gala honored various individuals including Adam Clayton Powell, Joe Lewis, Kenneth Clark, Ralph Bunche, William Hastie, Thurgood Marshall, A. Phillip Randolph, Marion Anderson, Whitney Young, Clifford Alexander Jr., Ralph Ellison, Muriel Petioni, C. Virginia Fields, and many others. This collections consists of administrative and historical material, including a constitution, bylaws, membership handbooks, and historical scrapbook highlighting various members. In addition, there is a large amount of printed matter, mainly magazine articles, various programs, and business directories, which focuses on Black individuals, organizations, and events. less

The Harlem Writers Guild was established in 1950 and is the oldest organization of African-American writers in the United States. Originally founded as the Harlem Writers Club by John Henrik Clarke, Rosa Guy and John Oliver Killens, it was created as a forum for emerging African-American writers in New York City who felt alienated from the white literary mainstream. The Guild helped nurture African-American literary talent since its inception. Prominent members include Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Terry McMillan, and Louise Meriwether. The Harlem Writers Guild Press was established in 2000 as an imprint to publish the literary works of its members. The Harlem Writers Guild Records collection consists of the work of two Guild members, Grace F. Edwards and K.C. Washington. The collection contains nine manuscripts of published books and unpublished material, including three annotated manuscripts, spanning circa 1998 to 2009. Edwards is the author of the popular Mali Anderson Mystery series. The collection contains three annotated manuscripts: A Toast Before Dying (1998), Do or Die (2000), and The Viaduct (2003). It also includes the manuscript for No Time to Die (The Cereal/Serial Killer) (1999). The collection also includes a manuscript of Washington's debut novel Mourning Becomes Her, which was first published by Harlem Writers Guild Press in 2006, as well as two unpublished manuscripts: "Beauty" (2009) and "Mad River" (2000-2005). less

Robert E. Penn, Jr. (1948- ) is an African-American LGBT activist, a writer, and a producer. The Robert E. Penn papers, dating from 1971 to 2003, reflect Penn's work as an activist; his work as Assistant Director of Education, HIV Prevention for the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC); his work as the author of the The Gay Men's Wellness Guide for the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association (NLGHA); his family and personal life; and writings. The collection holds clippings, correspondence, manuscript drafts, notes, posters, printed matter, and audio and visual materials. less

Action for Community Empowerment (ACE) was a grassroots community development non-profit organization based in Central Harlem dedicated to decent housing, safe neighborhoods, and tenant empowerment. The Action for Community Empowerment records, 1987-2006, contain information regarding ACE's efforts to improve housing and organize tenants in Central Harlem from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. less

The Rosa Guy papers contain material related to her personal life, her writing, and her professional career. The personal matter includes correspondence and biographical information. The material in the writing series includes drafts, notes, and proofs, among other documents, for Guy's published and unpublished writing. Professional papers consist of correspondence, grant applications, and materials related to professional organizations. less

Launched around 2014, the Schomburg Center's Hip-Hop Archive Project aimed to engage activists, writers, collectors, and scholars in documenting the early movement from the mid-1970s. Schomburg Center staff Steven Fullwood and Lela Sowell led the effort. It is unclear when the Project ended. This collection consists of primary source resource materials such as oral histories with journalist Harry Allen and the Awesome 2 (Teddy Tedd, and Special K); promotional materials for Echo Park, "Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes and Rage," and "Hip Hop Appreciation Week." There is also information about the Zulu Nation and KRS-One's Temple of Hiphop; a complete run of the International Graffiti Times; the Kid n Play comic series; and various journals, magazines, newspapers, articles, books, theses, and dissertations on hip-hop from various collectors, including James G. Spady and James Top. less

The Gay Men of African Descent, Inc. records (1986 - 1998) document the development of the largest black, gay-run, educational, social and political organization in the United States. Records include board of directors materials, a fairly comprehensive collection of newsletters, and information on GMAD's funding sources. Documentation on the organization's earliest years are augmented by transcripts of oral history interviews with both early and active members. less

Born in Toledo, Ohio, activist, entrepreneur, and writer Kevin McGruder attended Harvard University (BA in Economics) and Columbia University (M.B.A. in Real Estate Finance). In 2007, he began his doctoral studies in History at the Graduate Center of the City University New York. In 1990, McGruder opened Home to Harlem, one of the first souvenir shops in Harlem, and currently co-owns Harlemade, a souvenir shop also located in Harlem. He was a board member of Other Countries, a black gay writers collective, and the executive director of Gay Men of African Descent (1997-2001). McGruder's essay, "Colleagues", appears in Other Countries' second journal, Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS; his essay, "I Hate Basketball", appears in Fighting Words: Personal Essays by Black Gay Men, edited by Charles Michael Smith, and his essay, "To Be Heard in Print: Black Gay Writers in the 1980s", appears in Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora. The collection contains biographical and genealogical information for McGruder and his family; his writings; correspondence, business and financial records, promotional materials, and news clippings for Home to Harlem; minutes from board meetings, strategic plans, journals, membership information, newsletters, flyers, and news clippings related to McGruder's involvement with Other Countries and Gay Men of African Descent. less

A veteran theater artist of the 1960s and 1970s civil rights inspired Black theater movement, Henry Miller has directed a number of plays in the African American drama canon. Between 1962 and 1992, Miller founded three Black theater companies: the Joseph Patterson Players (1962-1965), the Afro-American Repertory Theatre Company (1971-1978) and the James Baldwin Writers' Workshop Theater (1992-2002). The Henry Miller Theater collection chronicles Miller's work in theater, film, and television as an artist and scholar and spans the period 1957-2005. less

Ron Simmons, an early Black LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning) rights activist in the 1970s and 1980s. The Ron Simmons papers contain manuscripts for several of his writings, correspondence, research material, and material related to his professional work. less

Known as the "Mother of Medicine in Harlem", Muriel Petioni was a doctor and community leader. The Muriel Petioni papers reflect primarily on her participation in various organizations including the Gayap Organization; they also include professional correspondence; African diaspora related documents; and Harlem related documents. less

African-American composer, musician, and arranger, Hall Johnson is best known as a choral director and for his arrangements of spirituals. In 1925, Johnson formed the Hall Johnson Negro Choir, which performed spirituals in the traditional style. The Hall Johnson Choir, which he organized in 1928, performed on Broadway in Marc Connolly's play Green Pastures (1930), for which Johnson was music director. Johnson was known for his compositions as well as the articles he authored that discussed the history of spirituals and their performance practice. The Hall Johnson Collection contains a miscellaneous assortment of material including correspondence and news clippings regarding a workshop Johnson held in East St. Louis, Missouri, in 1969; and a letter to Katherine Dunham explaining his need to give more time to the inexperienced chorus. There is a music book with some holographic music; a poem he authored "Changelessness" (1956); and a few notes. This collection also includes biographical notes and personal recollections written in 2001, by Madeline Preston, a friend and member of his choir, along with a letter Johnson wrote to her in 1956. less

The Wallace Bass Boyd collection is comprised of forty-seven journals, biographical accounts and geographical descriptions of Black life in the South, as well as drafts of his writings from 1985-2007. The journals primarily capture Boyd's day-to-day experiences spanning across his undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate years. Four of the forty-seven journals are written to family members and aspiring artists. Notations about art and his artistic practice can also be found throughout the collection. less

Andrew Goodman, along with hundreds of other students, was a volunteer in the Mississippi Summer Project launched in June 1964 to register Black Mississippi residents to vote and to establish Freedom Schools. The Andrew Goodman Memorial collection consists primarily of news clippings and other printed material related to the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner. less

This collection includes Witherspoon's published and unpublished poetry, including his best known works: An American Haiku Novel and On the Stair, both in his signature style of linked-haiku or renga. A travel journal kept in Africa, a critique of the Kenyan educational system, a play about the Black hijacker of a bus, an educational program report, various printed material, notebooks, and miscellaneous correspondence complete the collection. less

Founded in 1984 by Carl MaultsBy, the Rejoicensemble promotes musical performances and compositions by African American and African Diasporic composers and musicians. The Rejoicensemble collection contains programs, brochures, musical scores, and a published book on the basics of learning to play gospel music on piano by Carl MaultsBy. less

New York City's first so-called Slum Clearance Project, headed by urban planner Robert Moses, caused the physical destruction of a once tight-knit African American community that dated back to the early 1900s. The buildings on 98th and 99th in Upper West Side Manhattan, or what is affectionately known today as "The Old Community", were razed from the 1940s to the 1950s as part of this urban renewal program. Although the residents were forced to relocate, the community stayed connected through annual dances (ca. 1950s-1990s) organized by constituents of the West 98th and 99th Streets Association, and then through "The Old Community" annual reunions (1999-) headed by Jim Torain. The Old Community West 98th-99th Streets Reunion collection consists of "The Old Community" reunion programs, 2003-2011; background information on some of the former community members; reports; journal, newspaper, and magazine articles about the history of the West 98th and 99th Streets community, Park West Village (which replaced the buildings on West 98th and 99th Streets), and the urban renewal program and its impact on this neighborhood. Additionally, there are a few Spirit of 179 newsletters, 1952-1953, which were written by the young members of the PS 179 Community Center. They note some of the community events before the relocation took place. less

Successful in animation and film for four decades, Tee Collins was the first creative designer to produce the premiere animated spot for Sesame Street. Known primarily for his creation of "Wanda the Witch" (1969), a character on Sesame Street, Collins also received the Children's ACT award for his invention of the first animated Black princess, "The Songhai Princess." He developed his own studio in New York, working in both national and international television for which he created many award winning animated spots. Collins also taught animation at the University of Central Florida for 11 years. The Tee Collins collection is made up of biographical matter, including a resume, lists of awards and credits, University of Central Florida material and Collins's basketball memorabilia; tribute materials celebrating Collins's 40 years in animation and film, consisting of flyers, brochures, and programs (some photocopies) of events that took place at UCF, the Schomburg Center, and the Harlem Collective; correspondence, including a letter from Joan Ganz Cooney; and articles covering Collins's accomplishments in his career in animation. less

Moorish Science Temple of America, is an U.S. religious movement founded in Newark, N.J., in 1913 by Timothy Drew (1886–1929), known to followers as Noble Drew Ali and also as the Prophet. Drew Ali taught that all Blacks were of Moorish origins but had their Muslim identity taken away from them through slavery and racial segregation. He advocated that they should "return" to the Islam of their Moorish forefathers, redeeming themselves from racial oppression by reclaiming their historical spiritual heritage. He also encouraged use of the term "Moor" rather than "Black" in self-identification. Many of the group's formal practices were derived from Muslim observances. This collection consists of materials collected by Allen Ahmed Bey for his research on the Moorish Science Temple in the United States. Included in the collection are legal briefs on the status of Moorish Nation Nationals (citizens) which contain a public declaration of national constitutional immunity. Also included are a number of documents on the history of the Moorish Nation and instructional manuals (lessons) for members. less

Cecil Anderson, also known as the "Duke of Iron," was an internationally known Calypso performer and composer. A native of Trinidad, Anderson moved with his family to New York in 1923. During his active years (1930s-1960s), he was influential in promoting the spread of this Afro-Caribbean music genre throughout the United States. Among his most popular songs are "Matilda", "Out De Fire", "Last Train to San Fernando", "Ugly Woman", "Big Bamboo", and "Don't Stop the Carnival.". The Cecil "Duke of Iron" Anderson collection contains newspaper clippings, a scrapbook, performance flyers and programs, invoices, booking requests, and copyright certificates. Some materials pertain to his daughter, Velma M. Anderson. less

Chester Higgins (born 1946 in Lexington, Kentucky) has worked as a New York Times staff photographer since 1975 and has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the world. Higgins is the author of several books including Black Women (1970), Drums of Life (1974), Some Time Ago: A Historical Portrait of Black America from 1850 to 1950 (1980), Feeling the Spirit: Searching the World for the People of Africa (1994), Elder Grace: The Nobility of Aging (2000), Ancient Nubia: African Kingdoms on the Nile (2012), and his memoir, Echo of the Spirit (2004). The Chester Higgins artist file consists of an extensive curriculum vitae (2008), postcards of selected photographs, announcements and invitations to his solo exhibitions (1974, 1990-2012), and a press kit for the exhibition "Invoking the Spirit: Worship Traditions in the African World", which was on view at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Also in the file are announcements to his lectures; copies of his weekly column, "Lens", which was published in The New York Times (1992, 2006); reviews of two of his books; a sales blad for Feeling the Spirit; and a calendar and teacher's resource manual for his book Elder Grace. Articles featuring his photographs in The New York Times Magazine" and a variety of other magazines complete the collection (1990-2007). less