Found 823 collections.

The Glenn Carrington Papers document the personal life of an African-American homosexual from the 1920's to the 1960's, before the advent of the gay pride movement. Among Carrington's friends and acquaintances were Alain Locke; sociologist Ophelia Settles Egypt, a fellow student at Howard University; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana, grandson of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; and a "surrogate" mother to Carrington, Georgia Douglas Johnson. There is correspondence related to Carrington's position as a parole officer and as a psychological social worker. Many of the young men Carrington counseled remained friends with him throughout his life and frequently corresponded with him. The correspondence between Carrington and the young men is included in the collection. There is also correspondence with Carrington's gay male friends. less

The Margaret Bonds Papers (5.4 lin. ft.), are arranged in three series: PERSONAL PAPERS (.4 lin. ft.), CORRESPONDENCE (.8 lin. ft.), and CREATIVE WORKS (4.4 lin. ft.). Margaret Bonds produced a wide range of works spanning orchestral compositions, theatrical accompaniments and traditional African-American spiritual arrangements throughout her career. She is widely credited with creating new interest in traditional African-American musical forms, history and culture. The papers document her personal life and professional process through correspondence, her work notes, lyrics, scripts and sheet music. less

Eddie Bonnemère was an African American composer, church musician, jazz pianist, and New York City public school teacher. Bonnemère's papers comprise correspondence, music compositions, and promotional materials that detail his musical pursuits and performances, educational achievements, and his thirty-three year tenure as a public school music teacher. less

Joe Nash was a dancer, black dance historian, coordinator of black dance history courses at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater School in New York, and director and founder of the Multiethnic Christian Education Resources Center of the National Council of Churches. The Black dance collection consists of correspondence, contracts, scripts, and descriptions of dances based on African themes. less

The National Research Council Committee on the Status of Black Americans working papers consist of thirty-three essays prepared by prominent scholars in several fields as background for the publication, A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society (National Academy Press, 1989). less

The all-Black 99th Pursuit Squadron was created by the U.S. Army in 1941, with the proviso that the pilots would be strictly segregated. The airfield at Tuskegee, Alabama, was chosen as their training site, thus they became known as the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen Trainees: Freeman Field Mutiny collection consists of documents relating to a case of racial discrimination that resulted in the arrest of over a hundred African American officers and their subsequent exoneration. less

The ancestors of the Polk Family, Jim and Amey, their daughter, Judah, and her husband, Kit, along with their children, upon reaching the age of twenty-one), were emancipated in 1840. This occurred one and one-half years after the death of their master, plantation owner Thomas Smelly, in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The newly-freed Smelly family left Virginia that same year, according to the law prohibiting freed slaves to remain in the state more than one year, and migrated to New Jersey. At some point the family changed their name from Smelly to Smiley. In New Jersey, the Smiley family met another freed family from Maryland, the Polks, and the two families intermarried. By 1993, Amey and Jim Smiley had over one hundred descendants. The Smiley-Polk family documents consist of nine holograph 19th-century documents relating to the emancipation of the ancestors of the Smiley-Polk family of New Jersey, and other items concerning the genealogy of this family. less

Sweet Love, Bitter is an independent movie, written, produced, and directed, in 1967, by Herbert Danska and Lewis Jacobs. The story is based on the novel Night Song, written by John Williams and inspired by the life of jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker. The black and white film starred Dick Gregory as the musician, along with Don Murray, Robert Hooks, and Diana Varsi. This interracial drama dealt with two contemporary American themes, the African American as the creative genius and the African American in American society. In addition, heroin addiction and an interracial love affair were themes addressed in this film. The Sweet Love, Bitter film collection consists of the screenplay entitled Night Song by Herbert Danska and Lewis Jacob (1963); a film proposal by Nat Hentoff, which was distributed to potential investors; Danska's and Jacobs's outline of the movie; and a budget estimate. Additionally, there is an outline of the third and final cut, a location list, five cue cards used by Dick Gregory during filming, and news clippings of advertisements and reviews. Documents relating to the controversy over control and cutting of the film complete this collection. less

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

Geraldine Louise Wilson (1931-1986), was an early childhood specialist, poet, writer and civil rights activist. Wilson would begin her educational career in Philadelphia. She moved to New York City and would eventually become Director of the Regional Training Office for the Head Start Program. She also worked as a consultant. During the 1960s Wilson joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was a co-planner of the Mississippi Institute for Early Childhood Education. The collection, dating from the 1950s to the 1980s, mostly focuses on Wilson's career as an educator, consultant and poet and to a lesser extent the Civil Rights Movement. There are audio and moving image materials that support the collection. less

The Ross Thalheimer papers consist of materials related to Thalheimer's activities as a civil rights supporter from the 1940s to the 1970s. Files relate primarily to the funding and presentation of the Thalheimer Award to the National Urban League, including the prize winning essays written by students, and the Thalheimer Awards he funded for the NAACP, including information about the recipients and associated programs, 1942-1976. The collection also contains letters from Kenneth B. Clark and Lester B. Granger; typescripts of interviews given by Thalheimer; copies of an advertisement placed in The New York Times in 1964 by the Psychologists' Committee on Interracial Relations concerning violence and race relations; and telegrams to Thalheimer from Martin Luther King, Jr., inviting him to join King on what would become known as the Selma to Montgomery March on March 9 and 21, 1965. Also included are an address that Thalheimer delivered in 1940 called "The Need for Equal Educational Opportunity in a Democracy"; an article that he wrote entitled "What Can the Church Do About Juvenile Delinquency", 1954; biographical information about Thalheimer prepared by his widow; and expressions of sympathy upon his death. less

A rare collection of 12 typed letters signed by Steve Biko, written to the Chief Magistrate of King William's Town between May 16, 1973 and July 19, 1977, just weeks before Biko's death in police custody. The collection also includes 9 carbon copy responses/handwritten memos from the magistrate relating to Biko's requests. This collection of letters shows an increasingly exasperated Biko bravely challenging the petty demands of the apartheid regime. less

The collection contains materials used to create the Mary Lou Williams documentary, Music on My Mind, directed by Joanne Burke. Music on My Mind focuses on Williams's enduring contribution to American culture as a jazz pianist, composer, and vocalist. This collection includes a short autobiography (incomplete), transcripts of interviews, information on the financial support of the documentary, film technical edits, reel catalog, and an information kit about the documentary. less

This collection consists of personal and professional papers of Jessica B. Davis; the majority of the collection contains materials related to Davis's role as president of the Westchester Branch of Key Women of America. Most of this material is comprised of correspondence, reports, event programs, brochures, speeches written by Davis, and clippings on the branch and its members. Additionally, there is some material pertaining to Davis's other affiliations, mostly involving her work with A. Philip Randolph. There is a limited amount of personal material, which includes resumes, some correspondence, and papers on her brother and daughter. 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

The Claudia McNeil Scrapbooks, donated by The Actors' Fund of America after McNeil's death, were created by the late performer during the course of her career and consist of twelve volumes spanning the years 1938 to 1981. The contents include newspaper and magazine feature articles, reviews, advertisements, programs, poems, telegrams, letters, photographs, greeting cards, and handwritten notes arranged chronologically by her engagements or performances, with the predominate amount of material documenting her arrival at the pinnacle of her career in A Raisin in the Sun. less

Architect John Louis Wilson, Jr., was one of the designers of the Harlem River Houses in New York City, and he helped found the Council for the Advancement of the Negro in Architecture. This collection includes personal and professional materials, mostly related to his architectural career in New York. less

This collection includes material gathered for an exhibition that would tell the story of the ANT and the achievements of its various performers. This material, sent by various alumni, includes such as updated resumes, programs, photographs, and press clippings. less

The First World Festival of Negro Arts took place April 1-24, 1966, in Dakar, Senegal; it demonstrated the cultural ties between African nations and the rest of the world, and the impact of Black culture upon world culture. The records of the United States Committee for the First World Festival of Negro Arts Press agent's filess consist of administrative materials. less

Catholic interracial center, also known as Friendship House, established in 1938 to assist Harlem residents in need of relocation due to inadequate housing. Information sheets and relocation questionnaires in addition to various federal, state, and city housing reports. less

This collection consists of two minute books documenting the meetings of the Executive Committee of the Montgomery, Alabama Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), from February 22-August 29, 1955, and the Branch membership, January 9-December 12, 1955. Also included are loose sheets of notes taken at meetings but not recorded in the minute books; they include notes of an emergency Executive Committee meeting on December 13, 1955, referring to the Rosa Parks bus segregation incident. One prior bus segregation incident is also noted. Correspondence from the Youth Council of the NAACP, membership lists, and financial reports for the branch during this period are included. These minutes, particularly those of the Executive Committee, present a clear picture of civil rights activities in Montgomery at this time. less

Wesley Williams was New York City's first African American fire fighter and fire official in the New York City Fire Department, and he was a founder of the Vulcan Society. The Wesley Williams papers consist of correspondence, news clippings, material about the Vulcan Society, and information about Williams's father, James H. Williams, Chief of the Red Caps at Grand Central Station, and Robert O. Lowery, first African American fire commissioner in New York City. 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

Mabel Mercer (1900-1984) was a singer, song stylist, and night club entertainer. Born in England in 1900 to a Black musician father, Benjamin Mercer, and a white English vaudevillian mother, Emily Wadham Stonehouse, Mercer started her show business career at the age of fourteen. She joined a song and dance act with her mother and aunt in Europe. Later, in the 1920s, she appeared in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds in London, as part of a vocal trio. Around this time, Mercer started studying singing, with aspirations of becoming a concert singer. In the 1920s and 1930s, she was a successful night club singer in Paris, appearing at Ada "Bricktop" Smith's Bricktop's. She made her first appearance in the U.S. in 1938 and settled here in 1941, after marrying singer Kelsey Pharr, a member of the Delta Rhythm Boys. Mercer became an American citizen in 1952, where she was known as one of the most popular supper club singers for many years. The Mabel Mercer collection consists of articles, correspondence, interviews and profiles, publicity flyers, programs, and a scrapbook. less

Elizabeth Wheeler, a former editor of St. Martin's Press, is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Oregon. She also is the Director of Disability Studies Minor. She teaches and researches in the fields of disability studies, young adult and children's literature, comics studies, post-1945 U.S literature and popular culture, and community-based education. She wrote HandiLand: The Crippest Place on Earth about young people with disabilities. Steven Hager is a journalist and the author of Hip-Hop: The Illustrated History of Rap Music, Break Dancing and Subway Graffiti (1984), the first book documenting hip hop music and culture. He is a former reporter for the New York Daily News and former editor of High Times (1988-2003). This collection provides information on the development of hip hop and the individuals who made its rise possible, as recorded by journalist Steven Hager and collected by Elizabeth Wheeler. Documenting hip hop during the early 1970s to mid-1980s, the collection covers the emergence and recognition of this then-new subculture. Included are an outline, manuscript draft, and photocopies of Hager's published writing, along with notes from the initial meeting with the publisher to discuss the publication of Hager's book, Hip-Hop: The Illustrated History of Rap Music, Break Dancing and Subway Graffiti. Marketing and promotional correspondence for the book, as well as articles and reviews of films and books on hip hop, are in the collection. The process, from the decision to publish Hager's manuscript to the marketing of the book, is highlighted in the correspondence to and from the editor, Elizabeth (Betsy) Wheeler of St. Martin's Press. less

The Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) was a community action group that developed a Head Start program for low income, primarily Black, preschool children. The records of the Child Development Group of Mississippi consist primarily of reports documenting the history and goals of the Head Start program; training manuals; financial proposals; and printed material. less