Found 6 collections related to African Americans -- Suffrage

A social, political, and civil rights activist, Ida Guggenheimer was involved in a wide variety of causes and projects during her adult life. She was a member of the American Labor Party, and she was involved in the women's suffrage and trade union movements. She also participated in civil rights activities and lent her support to such causes as the trials of the Scottsboro Boys and Angelo Herndon. Her protege was Ralph Ellison, the author of Invisible Man, which is dedicated to Guggenheimer. The Ida Guggenheimer papers consist of correspondence and printed matter on Richard Wright and E. Franklin Frazier. The material regarding Wright concerns his writings and his withdrawal from the Communist Party of the U.S. Frazier was a prominent educator and sociologist. His correspondence with Guggenheimer relates mainly to an incident reported in the Black Dispatch and The People's Voice alleging that he had violated a labor organized boycott against a restaurant in Harlem that did not employ African Americans (1945). Other material peripherally relates to his career and the fight against racial segregation in Washington, D.C., during World War II. Five articles written by Frazier are included in this collection. Additionally, there is printed matter concerning the Lafargue Clinic, a mental hygiene clinic in Harlem. There is a limited amount of material on Guggenheimer herself, but there are some letters and biographical information. less

Since the early 1960's August Meier has been a major force in the study of African-American history in his examination of late nineteenth and twentieth century America by his application of rigorous social and intellectual analysis. Meier was actively involved in the civil rights movement and studied its origins and development. He taught at three historic black colleges followed by twenty years at Kent State University. As editor of two major series on blacks in America, he influenced scholars and students alike. less

Lee A. Nelson was the president of both The Colored Voters Club and The Colored Democratic League of Somerset County, New Jersey. During the 1930s, Nelson was very active on behalf of the Democratic Party with the hope of being appointed to a position in the Federal Service. He also campaigned on behalf of fellow Democrats including Franklin Roosevelt and John N. Garner. Through the help of people like James A. Farley, Chairman of the Democratic State Committee, Percy H. Stewart, and others in charge of the campaign in Somerset County, New Jersey, Nelson was able to gain Roosevelt and Garner a lot of votes from the African American community. The Lee A. Nelson letters contain 35 letters ranging from 1932-1936, written to Nelson primarily from James A. Farley, John N. Garner, and Percy H. Stewart. The bulk of the letters are acknowledgments and thank you letters for the work Nelson did to ensure that Franklin Roosevelt won the 1933 Presidential election. Of note are the letters discussing the Democratic party gatherings held in 1932. Content includes advice on how to save money and attend events during the Great Depression. Another discusses Nelson's responsibility in filling a quota for a gathering by convincing others to vote for the Democratic Party. There are also invitations to various meetings, such as one that occurred on November 2nd, 1932, at the St. Peter's Hall in Somerville, New Jersey, and one for a mass meeting that occurred on October 26 at the Brook Theater in Bound Brook, New Jersey. less

Born on March 3, 1888, in Cleveland, Ohio, Owen Middleton was an African American furniture draftsman and graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago who worked as a quick sketch artist for the Chicago Tribune. Middleton also worked as a syndicated columnist for several African American newspapers and wrote a weekly newsletter on United Nations issues relating to Blacks. Additionally, he served as a volunteer art teacher at a Congress of Industrial Organizations' Community Center in Brooklyn. Owen Middleton died in 1954. This collection consists of three certificates from the New York City Board of Elections designating Owen Middleton as a Delegate to the 1952 New York State Convention of the American Labor Party, and nine letters of recommendation supporting his application to the title of director of interracial relations at an unnamed institution (1953). Correspondents include: Howard Willard; Arthur Schutzer, New York State Executive Secretary of the American Labor Party; Rev. William Melish, minister of the Church of Holy Trinity in Brooklyn; Marvel Cooke, director of the National Council of the Arts, Sciences and Professions; and others. less

Paul Lewinson was a professor of history specializing in African American suffrage and white politics in the South. This collection consists primarily of notecards organized by subject and state for Lewinson's book, Race, Class and Party: A History of Negro Suffrage and White Politics in the South (1932). less