Found 92 collections related to Black author

The J. Alfred Smith, Sr. Papers primarily document Smith's roles as author, pastor of the Allen Baptist Temple Church (ATBC) and his activities with the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc (PNBC) as well as other church organizations. Over half of the papers document Smith's career during the 1970s and '80s as pastor of ATBC and president of the PNBC. Smith's papers include very little documentation on his career and professional activities during the 1950s and '60s, his vice presidency and presidency of the Progressive State Baptist Convention of California and Nevada headquartered in Los Angeles, or his first and second vice presidencies of the PNBC. less

The Hulan E. Jack Papers document Jack's years in the New York State Assembly via his constituent correspondence, 1941-1947, 1949-1951 and 1953 and his tenure as borough president via correspondence and subject files, 1954-1960. For the most part the correspondence deals with routine matters: requests for employment, invitations to functions, his participation as an honorary member on committees of civic organizations, and requests from meetings with labor and other groups. Subject files include speeches, lists of African Americans in New York City government in the 1950's, information on his re-election campaign, a 1954 trip to Puerto Rico to attend a conference regarding migration of Puerto Ricans to New York, and public relations activities such as requests for donations of money. Other files discuss Jack's membership in the National Democratic Club and as an executive member of the New Deal Democratic Club. There is also a file on a political dispute between Jack and U.S. Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., 1958. less

William Calvin Jackson was a leader of local, civic and religious organizations in Springfield, Massachusetts, active primarily in the African-American community. He was a member of a number of organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Council of Churches of Greater Springfield, where he served as president of the Men's Division. He was also the grand master of the District Grand Lodge of the Grand United Order of the Odd Fellows. Jackson was deacon and chairman of fund raising activities at the Alden Street Baptist Church, and served as treasurer and member of the board of directors of the Douglas Realty Company, a black owned and run agency. He worked for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of Springfield for 43 years, from 1906-1949. The William C. Jackson Papers contain very little personal material, and consists primarily of organizational files including the Past Grand Masters Council of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America. These records contain minutes, correspondence, financial statements, printed manuals, published rules and regulations, rituals, instructions for installation ceremonies, lectures, programs, and songs. Also included are advertisements for dress and regalia. The Alden Street Baptist Church material is represented by correspondence, financial information and programs, 1911-1948. There are also a ledger, financial statements, and correspondence for the Douglas Realty and Loan Company of which Jackson was treasurer. Jackson also served as vice president of the New England Tennis Association; a program from a 1931 tournament forms part of the collection. less

William H. Gray III represented Pennsylvania's 2nd Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1978 until he retired in 1991. He was the first African-American to serve as Majority Whip in the House of Representatives in 1989. The William H. Gray Congressional Records contain office, working and research files used and created by Gray, his office and the committees he served on during his tenure as the Democratic Representative of Pennsylvania. There are files for Gray's work with the Appropriations Budget; Foreign Affairs; and House Budget committees, and his involvement in the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. Gray introduced the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1985 (HR 1460) a bill that prohibited new loans and investments in South Africa, a precursor to the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 (HR 4868). There are also files for the Congressional Black Caucus, 100th, 101st, and 102nd Congresses, in addition to speeches given by Gray, news releases and press clippings which provide an overview of the congressman's legislative activities in Washington, D.C. less

Myran E. Haley (My Haley) is the third wife of the well-known writer Alex Haley. They were married in 1977 although they were legally separated at the time of his death in 1992. Myran Haley claimed she assisted Alex Haley in finishing "Roots," published in 1976. She also stated in court documents that she was a collaborator on at least three of his unpublished works: "Queen," (the story of his Caucasian ancestry), "Madame C. J. Walker," and "Henning," a collection of stories about Haley's boyhood summers at his grandmother's home in western Tennessee. The Myran E. Haley Legal Documents relate to the suit filed by Myran Haley against George Haley (Alex Haley's brother), and the Haley Estate regarding ownership of three literary works Haley was working on at the time of his death: "Merging" aka "Queen," "Madam C. J. Walker," and "Henning." She claimed co-ownership of these works and the right to complete the manuscripts. A compromise judgment was rendered giving her partial (15%) ownership rights. Documents include photocopies of Mryan Haley's complaint, her affidavit, Alex Haley's will, their prenuptial agreement, and the partial compromise judgment. less

Emmett "Babe" Wallace is a singer, composer, actor and writer. He has performed in cabarets, musical revues, films and the theater. As a composer and writer, he has produced a voluminous body of musical compositions, poetry essays and journals. Music, songs, poetry, prose, daybooks, scripts, personal papers, printed material, and other papers, relating to Wallace's career in cabarets, musical revues, films, and theater in the United States, Canada, France, and Israel. Themes in his creative work include personal life, civil rights, religion, and politics. less

Ted Poston was the first full-time African-American reporter for the New York Post, where he worked from 1936 covering many major black-oriented news stories, until his retirement in 1972. The Ted Poston Research Collection consists of biographical information about Poston and a transcript of an interview that Professor Luther P. Jackson did with Ted Poston on "interracial reporting" in October 1968. Most of the collection consists of typescripts of articles and columns written by Poston (1927-1971) collected and prepared by the donor, Kathleen Hauke. less

The Bureau of Social Science Research Files collection are comprised of materials from the two sociological studies for which Albert Gollin was the principal investigator; the March on Washington (l963) and the Poor People's Campaign (l968). In addition to material generated by the BSSR in their study and analysis of these events, the collection contains documents from both the March on Washington and the Poor People's Campaign that Gollin and his team gathered for their studies. less

Ira Gollobin, an immigration rights attorney and author, served as pro bono counselor to refugees from all over the world including Nazi Germany and Duvalierist Haiti. His work with Haitian refugees, the purview of this collection, began in 1974. In this capacity he served as lead counsel on several major cases that were pivotal to the rights of Haitian refugees, the so-called "boat people." Gollobin's critical role as lead counsel was as important as his active role in developing grassroots organizations that made the public aware and active in Haitian refugee legislation issues. Through his affiliation with major organizations such as Church World Service and the communist founded American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, he created channels for Haitian-American led coalitions such as the National Coalition for Haitian Rights and Haitian Refugee Center, two prominent activist organizations, to form and help steer the campaign for the rights of Haitian refugees. He organized a broad-based strategy that combined legal advocacy to secure basic freedoms for Haitians with long-term policy arguments aimed at granting thousands of Haitian immigrants the right to due process in filing asylum claims. The Haitian Refugee Collection, 1972-2004, documents Ira Gollobin's involvement in multiple legal battles related to Haitian political asylum from the 1970s to the early 1990s. The collection highlights much of the legal and organizational features of the plight of Haitian refugees entering the United States in the late twentieth century. It represents one particular U.S. immigration discourse and the different treatment accorded to some refugees. The collection consists largely of drafts and copies of legal documents, meeting summaries, public outreach material that includes petitions, flyers, pamphlets, and other galvanizing materials; administrative papers from his various organizational affiliations; and research material for refugee asylum and cases. It covers the latter part of Gollobin's legal career beginning with his tenure as a legal consultant for the National Council of Churches in 1974, and continuing through his advocacy and consultant work until 2004 on behalf of Haitian organizations. less

The Frederick O'Neal Papers document the theatrical, labor, and civic activities of this actor and labor leader, mostly from the 1940s through the 1990s. The collection consists primarily of personal papers, correspondence, speeches and addresses, writing, and information about the theatrical productions in which he appeared. There are also research materials about the 19th century African-American actor, Ira Aldridge, and files pertaining to the many organizations with which O'Neal was associated. 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

Alphonso H. Johnson, a Harlem resident, was a sleeping car porter with the Pullman Company and a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The Alphonso H. Johnson Papers contain personal letters primarily from female friends who lived in Montreal and along the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., and correspondence relating to his employment with the Pullman Company. There is also some documentation for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. less

The Joseph A. Boromé papers consists of his published and unpublished writings on Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian revolution, the island of Dominica, the English and African-American abolitionists John Candler and Robert Purvis, the Underground Railroad, the First Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia, and the African-American spiritualist lecturer and trance medium Paschal Beverly Randolph. The collection also includes research correspondence, notes, copies of historical documents and scrapbooks. One of the scrapbooks contains news clippings about Boromé's early career as a librarian at Columbia University and as the recipient of two research fellowships (1943-1953), as well as reviews he wrote for library journals. The other scrapbook documents his research trip to Dominica in 1953. Additional material in this collection include lists of Dominican and Barbadian organizations in New York City, his doctoral dissertation The Life and Letters of Justin Winsor, letters written to his mother Edith Boromé from 1947 to 1971, several drawings by Boromé, and family memorabilia including materials pertaining to the Dominica Benevolent Association and to his father Louis J. Boromé (1888-1922). less

Bata Kindai Amgoza Ibn LoBagola, an African American, was born Joseph Howard Lee in 1887 in Baltimore, Maryland. As early as 1907 he was using the name "LoBagola," claiming that he was from the French Sudan, and was on the lecture circuit speaking about African customs and his claims that he was a Black Jew. In 1930 he published, "LoBagola : An African Savage's Own Story," which was translated and sold in a number of European countries, and "The Folk Tales of a Savage." LoBagola died in 1947 while in Attica Prison, having been arrested and imprisoned several times for petty theft and sexual crimes. Correspondence between LoBagola and his agent, James B. Pond, contracts, clippings, advertisements, and a typescript of a lecture entitled "My Religion," about his experience as a Jew. less

African-American arts aficionado Robert LaPrince was known primarily as the founder and president of the National Council for Culture and Art (NCCA), a non-profit, charitable, educational public service and artist support organization. NCCA's two touchstone programs, the Monarch Awards and Opening Night, honored and featured a variety of established upcoming people of color in the performing arts. Prior to founding NCCA, LaPrince obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh (1976) in sociology, and worked for the National Council of Negro Women. As an educator, he worked as an adjunct professor at Hunter College, Medgar Evers College, York College and the University of Pittsburgh in the 1970s and 1980s. LaPrince was also a social worker and teacher for the New York City Board of Education in the 1980s. The Robert LaPrince/National Council on Culture and Art (NCCA) Records are divided into two series, Personal and Professional. The bulk of the collection consists of the records of the NCCA and includes board agendas, minutes, reports and correspondence; planning files for the Monarch Awards and Opening Night programs, correspondence, contracts, financial records, fliers, grant proposals, artist information files, and news clippings. less

Morris Levitt served as a consultant for the Negro History Associates, founded by Middleton "Spike" Harris in 1963, whose purpose was to educate the public and school children about the role of African Americans in American history. Levitt was a co-author with Harris of "The Black Book" (1974), a survey of African-American history from the time of slavery through the 1940s, emphasizing contributions in many fields of endeavor. He also co-authored three articles about historic and sports figures. The Morris Levitt Research Collection consists principally of handwritten notes and photocopies of documents and articles Levitt compiled concerning African-American history, particularly the Revolutionary War period and sports. Nearly all of the notes have no attribution, i.e. no sources are given, and there are frequently no citations for photocopies of news clippings and images, other articles, and pages from books. In addition to the published articles Levitt co-authored, the collection contains typescripts (1970) concerning Fleet Walker (1856-1926), the first black major league baseball player; notes about Weeksville in Brooklyn, New York; and Levitt's research letters and photocopies of the writings of the Pennsylvania poet and painter, Edwin Garnet Riley. less

Born Yves Francois Lubin in Haiti in 1957, Assotto Saint was a New York-based gay activist, poet, and performance artist who edited two anthologies of black gay poets in the early 1990s. He founded a publishing house, Galiens Press, which published his book of poems Stations and the anthologies Here to Dare and The Road Before Us. In addition, Saint also wrote and produced several theater pieces, including Risin' to the Love We Need and New Love Song. Saint was the founder and artistic director of Metamorphosis Theater and the lead singer of the rock band Xotica. He died of HIV-related diseases in 1994. The Assotto Saint papers consist of correspondence and writings by Saint, manuscripts and letters from authors featured in his anthologies as well as other gay writers, printed matter, and some personal papers. less

Rietta Hines Herbert (1940-1969) (also Rietta May Herbert) was an African American social worker in New York City from 1935-1965. She spent most of her career as a social investigator and supervisor of child welfare in the Harlem offices of the Department of Welfare. less

Robert H. Beecher was a Panamanian-born educator who worked as a high school teacher, administrator, and community liason in the Bronx, then as an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Education Foundations at Hunter College. The Robert H. Beecher papers contain personal papers, correspondence, writings and research materials relating to education in the Panama Canal Zone and the education of minorities in the United States. less

The Black Consciousness Movement emerged as a political trend in South Africa in the late 1960s, in the decade after the banning of the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress by the South African regime. The collection documents a primarily youth-based radical critique of the apartheid system, of the ANC's Freedom Charter and its moderate leadership in negotiating a transition to white rule in South Africa. The South Africa Black Consciousness Movement Collection consists primarily of interviews, speeches, organizational materials and printed matter documenting the politics and activities of Black Consciousness organizations in and outside of South Africa from 1983 to 1991. It comprises interviews and speeches by BCM leaders Itumeleng J. Mosala, Ishmael Mkhabela and Lybon Mabasa; interviews with black South African exiles, and anti-apartheid activists within South Africa; leaflets, declarations and factsheets of the Azanian People's Organization and the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania (BCM (A)); miscellaneous files on the New Unity Movement, the Pan Africanist Congress and other non BCM organizations; and subject files on churches, trade-unions, white organizations inside South Africa, and the State of Emergency declared by the South African government in 1985. An organization file for Indaba, a Durban-based experiment in power-sharing, and a collection of essays entitled "War Stories" by an independent American journalist, Michael Slate, are also included. less

Ted Poston was the first full-time African-American journalist for the New York Post. The Ted Poston Scrapbook contains newspaper articles by Poston for four series: "Dixie's Fight for Freedom" (1959) called the Little Scottsboro Case concerning three African-American youth convicted of raping a white woman in Tavares, Florida in 1949, "Nine Kids Who Dared: Human Drama in Little Rock" (1957), "Inside the Policy Racket" focusing on the Harlem numbers racket (1960), and "Prejudice and Progress in New York," n.d., all published by the New York Post. less

Personal and professional papers, writings, office files and printed matter documenting Preston Wilcox's dual career as an educator and community organizer. Included are biographical and autobiographical narratives; some correspondence and organization files; an extensive writings series; proposals, minutes, reports and other documents dating from 1958 to 1965 pertaining to the East Harlem Project, the East Harlem Summer Festival, and the Massive Economic Neighborhood Development (MEND); confidential files from the 1964 Princeton Summer Studies Program, the pilot project for the pre-college Upward Bound program; compilations of material on public schools, decentralization and community control; and Afram's surviving records. Some of the main themes explored in the writings are: decentralization and parental decision-making, community organization and economic development, Black Power versus integration, social policy and white racism, empowering the poor, and black studies and black schools. The Afram files comprise the following subseries: Administrative, Publications, Parent Participation in Follow Through, Malcolm X Lovers Network and Vertical Files. The latter two categories are compilations of articles and other printed matter, with editorial notes by Wilcox, on Malcolm X, and on selected topics and personalities, including education, community control, reparations, Harlem, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr., Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) and Leonard Jeffries. less

Sammy Price was a recording artist, house pianist, recording supervisor, and band leader at Decca Records in New York. Additionally, he was the Executive Director of Neighborhood Board no. 2. The Sammy Price Papers, 1929-1992, consist of materials pertaining to his musical and political career. less

Kenneth Alan (Ka) Morais, African-American photographer and media artist, studied commercial and fine art, photography and film and television in New York and California. Morais' fine art photography includes constructions and photomontages; his documentary work includes images of New York City and abroad. The Ka Morais Papers include family, personal, and professional correspondence. Letters from his brother Michael discuss their collaborations, writing and illustrating poems and other works. Morais' professional papers consist of letters of recommendation, honors and awards, programs and reviews of his exhibits, drawings, and news clippings about him and advertising courses he taught. There are also a few manuscripts by Morais with illustrations (photographs and drawings). Of interest are original and photocopies of letters and postcards written to him by the photographer Ansel Adams, 1975-1981. less

Born in Britain, Allan Morrison was a combat correspondent during World War II. He accompanied the liberation forces into Paris towards the end of the war. On becoming a naturalized United States citizen, in 1946 Morrison officially changed his surname to Allan Malcolm Morrison. In the 1940s, he began a career at Ebony magazine which continued for more than 25 years. On two occasions (1961 and 1965), John H. Johnson wrote letters commending Morrison for his service to the Johnson Publishing Company. Collection consists of several letters and a few miscellaneous items, including Morrison's naturalization certificate (1946). Included are a 1946 "thank you letter" from Walter White, Executive Secretary of the NAACP, making positive comments about the content of an article done by Morrison on the White family; two letters from J.G. Gude, August 18, 1963, one introducing Morrison to Blair Clark, then chief of CBS news operations, the other informing Morrison about the introduction; and two letters from John H. Johnson, 1961 and 1965. There is also a letter from the US Information Agency, 1965 cancelling a contract with Morrison for his failure to produce a manuscript. less

Louis R. Sharp, African-American singer and actor graduated from the University of Kansas, where he sang with the University quartet. Moving to California in 1926, he studied voice with Theodore Ricardo, and settled in Harlem in the 1930s. A tenor, Sharp performed in concerts and recitals, singing in six languages. In 1931 Hall Johnson hired Sharp as a choral member of "The Green Pastures" in which he also played Cain. He had a major role as Toussaint L'Ouverture in the 1938 Federal Theatre Project's production of "Haiti" opposite Canada Lee's Christophe. Sharp was also in the original Broadway cast of such productions as "Conjur Man Dies," "Mamba's Daughters," "Cabin in the Sky," "South Pacific," "St. Louis Woman," "Finian's Rainbow," and "Set My People Free.". The Louis Sharp Scrapbooks are comprised of two volumes, the first, 1926-1946 contains news clippings and programs regarding Sharp's career, initially as a tenor performing in concerts, later as a singer and actor in "Finian's Rainbow" and in Broadway's "St. Louis Woman," and "Haiti," among other productions. There are several congratulatory letters and telegrams, including from Cab Calloway. The second scrapbook 1942-1947 consists of news clippings about African-American sports figures such as boxer Joe Louis and baseball player Jackie Robinson. less

Thomas Sinclair, Jr., was an African-American lawyer, director of the Upper Manhattan Rent Commission, Chairman of the Housing Committee of the Harlem Neighborhoods Association, and a New York City Housing Court judge. The Thomas Sinclair collection consists of biographical data, some letters and speeches, minutes and other documents of Community Boards 10 and 11 regarding urban renewal in Harlem in the 1960s, and some legal files, one of which concerns the proposed installation of Stuart H. Merriam as minister of Harlem's Broadway Presbyterian Church (1961-1962). less

Sandy F. Ray (1898-1979) was a former pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY from 1944 to 1979. Ray served as president of the Empire Missionary Baptist Convention, N.Y.S., Inc., 1954-1979, was the first vice-president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., 1968-1979, and the first elected African-American state legislator of the 95th General Assembly in Franklin County, Ohio (1943-1944). Ray authored the book "Journeying Through a Jungle" (1979), which is a collection of his sermons. The Sandy F. Ray Papers consists of handwritten sermons and messages prepared for the ministers' seminar delivered by Ray at the National Baptist Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Congress in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Miami, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; and San Francisco, California. less

Born in Topeka, Kansas in 1898, Aaron Douglas became the most celebrated artist-illustrator to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance. He attended the University of Nebraska (F.B.A.), Columbia University Teachers College (M.A.) and l'Academie Scandinave in Paris. Douglas' career spanned sixty years of painting, drawing and illustrating. He created numerous murals, usually of allegorical scenes on the historical life or cultural background of African Americans. In 1937 Douglas became a professor of art and chairman of the Art Department at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained until 1966, when he retired as professor emeritus. Fisk University bestowed an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts upon him in 1973. Douglas died in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1979. The Aaron Douglas papers consist of personal correspondence, letters of introduction, invitations, programs, and printed material. Of particular interest are the eighty-three undated letters, which make up the bulk of the collection, that Douglas wrote to his future wife, Alta Sawyer. Most of the letters were written during an approximate two-year period while she was still married to her first husband and before she and Douglas were married in 1926. Douglas wrote Sawyer endearing letters that were also philosophical in tone and discussed his artwork, aspirations, and the social scene in Harlem. Included are two letters to Douglas from writer Arna Bontemps and an open letter from Douglas on the letterhead of the short-lived magazine "Fire!!.". less

The Angela Davis Legal Defense Collection is comprised of legal documents and other materials associated with the legal and political campaign to have Davis acquitted of all charges against her. The bulk consists of documents which reflect the legal actions taken prior to the change of venue from Marin County to San Jose, California. The rest of the collection relates to the activities mounted by various defense committees and other supporters to generate publicity and support for Davis. In addition, there is information on the Soledad Brothers, political prisoners and prisons in the United States. less