Found 57 collections related to Authors, Black

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

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 The material in the writing series includes drafts, notes, and proofs, among other documents, for Guy's published and unpublished writing.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

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

Harriet Pickens joined the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in 1944 as a member of the Women's Reserves in the U.S. Naval Reserve. She was one of two African American women to be sworn in as an officer, and she was commissioned as a lieutenant following her training, the first to receive this high rank. The Harriet Pickens papers primarily contain documentation regarding her military service as a lieutenant in the WAVES (1944-1946) and her public service work. 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

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

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

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

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

Joan Ross Sorkin is a playwright, opera librettist, musical theater bookwriter, lyricist, and screenwriter. Sorkin was born in New York City and attended the University of Rochester, as well as the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she studied history and politics. She went on to work as a research analyst in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she gained interest in race relations, a theme which has influenced several of her theatrical works. After earning a law degree and practicing law on Wall Street, Sorkin began writing plays and musical theater including the opera Strange Fruit and the play (mis)UNDERSTANDING MAMMY: The Hattie McDaniel Story. . Her plays, operas, musicals, and cabarets have been presented off-Broadway and at regional theaters, earning her national acclaim. Sorkin is currently a member of The Dramatist Guild, BMI Musical Theater Workshop, and New Vic Collaboratory. The Joan Ross Sorkin collection, 2003-2010, is comprised of materials documenting two of her works, the opera Strange Fruit and the play (mis)UNDERSTANDING MAMMY: The Hattie McDaniel Story, which are based on race relations and events from American history. The collection contains libretti, a piano score, programs, press releases, and reviews pertaining to the two works. less

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor was born in Arima, Trinidad, and migrated to St. Albans Queens at the age of thirteen. Boyce-Taylor attended a Seventh Day Adventist high school in the Bronx, and completed undergraduate studies at City College of New York. Boyce-Taylor later completed an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine, Stonecast. She married Walt Taylor at the age of 19, and gave birth to her son, Malik Isaac, a year later. In the early 1970s, she formed the Boyce-Taylor Theatrical Company and began performing her poetry. She began taking her poetry more seriously after completing a course at Hunter College with Audre Lorde during this same time period. Boyce-Taylor has published several full-length poetry monographs including: As A Woman I Laugh and Cry: Poems, Birthsounds, Rhythms and Other Contractions, Convincing the Body, and Raw Air. Her work has been featured in magazines and journals such as Callaloo, in addition to her notable work with choreographer Ron K. Brown's Evidence Dance Company. The Cheryl Boyce-Taylor papers, 1982-2014, partially document the artistic and personal life of poet, visual and teaching artist, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor. The collection contains biographical material, such as correspondence and interview transcripts; writing material, such as manuscripts, drafts; and printed matter, such as programs, flyers, and clippings. less

Shirly Stark, born in New York City in 1927, was an African American artist, an art professor who specialized in sculpture, and a poet. Stark moved to Detroit, Michigan, with her second husband where she discovered her love of sculpting and began studying art at Wayne State University. Only five years later, Stark left her job at the Internal Revenue Service to study art in Italy. When Stark returned from Europe, she received a grant for a residency at MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire and a work-study grant from the Wurlitzer Foundation in New Mexico to continue her work as an artist. In 1972, Stark's experience with carving basalt helped her become assistant to Dimitri Hadzi, internationally renowned sculptor, while he worked on a project in Eugene, Oregon. Stark was later appointed as the first female Mellon Chair in Sculpture at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1975. She died in Denver, Colorado, in 2006. The Shirley Stark Papers contain very little biographical information and no documentation of her work as an artist. It contains a small amount of letters (1996-2001), poetry (1996-2006), drafts, and a publication. Most of the letters are written by Stark to poet Gale Jackson. The poems include a selection of Stark's completed works and drafts; some were written in Taos, New Mexico during a 1998 Wurlitzer writing fellowship. less

Sonja Dumas is a performer, choreographer, writer, arts consultant, film director, producer, and founder and artistic director of a dance company called Continuum Dance Project. She was born on December 9, 1961 and grew up in the United States, Ethiopia, and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Dumas attended Princeton University and earned her MBA from Columbia University. As a dancer and choreographer, Dumas has toured and performed in the Caribbean and Europe. Dumas has also worked as the curator of several art exhibitions showcasing the works of Caribbean artists, directed and produced several short films and one documentary, and written stories for children and young adults. She also lectures in dance and performance studies at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. Dumas has received several awards and fellowships including the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival Best Local Film award in 2010 for her film Julia and Joyce, a choreography award in 1996, and a Kennedy Center Fellowship for choreography. The collection is comprised of the exhibition catalogues from the art and photography exhibits curated by Sonja Dumas. The exhibits were located at The Gallery at CLICO in Trinidad, Meridian International Center in Washington D.C., and Campbell's of London in the United Kingdom. Among the many Caribbean and Trinidadian artists represented in the exhibition catalogues are Boscoe Holder, Peter Minshall, Jackie Hinkson, and Lisa O' Connor. less

Janet Arneda McDonald was an African American novelist, journalist, and lawyer. The Janet McDonald papers, 1960-2007, document her personal experiences as an African American lesbian throughout her education, legal career, and professional accomplishments as a writer and novelist. less

Since 2003, StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit, has collected and archived more than 50,000 interviews with over 90,000 participants. StoryCorps' mission is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of their lives. The StoryCorps Black LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Archive is a collection of digital interviews compiled by StoryCorps between 2004 and 2013, reflecting a multitude of experiences of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people throughout the African Diaspora. Conversations between partners, siblings, colleagues, friends, and parents and children range over topics such as love, relationships, activism, identity, coming out, achieving self-acceptance, race, politics, family, culture, immigration, and communities of faith. less

This collection mostly contains material related to Raoul Abdul's career as a singer and author. There is a limited amount of personal information, including some clippings from his early life. A large part of the collection consists of concert programs and tour information. Additionally, there is material on lectures and seminars, and reviews and correspondence regarding his writing, including 3000 Years of Black Poetry, The Magic of Black Poetry, and Famous Black Entertainers of Today. less

Gary Batson is a playwright. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Fordham University, and two Masters of Arts degrees from Teachers College of Columbia University in education and communications. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Administration from the University of Maryland. In the 1980s, Batson was a member of the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop and involved with the Negro Ensemble Company. His plays have been produced at a variety of theaters in New York City, Westchester County, and Rockland County; a few were directed by Arnold Beauchamp. In 2008, he co-founded the Mount Vernon Theater Company in New York, now known as Phoenix Arts, for which he is the Executive Producer. Additionally, Batson has published fiction and poetry, and he was a news reporter and editor. He currently teaches writing at Touro College, and he is a public relations consultant with Batson Communications. The Gary Batson collection consists principally of eight playscripts of his produced plays, written between 2004 and 2011. All except "A Fact of Matta" were produced. Announcements and news clippings discuss the plays productions. Also included are "Flawless: A Collection of Love Poems" (2007) and Batson's curriculum vitae. less

Jack Hunter O'Dell was an African American civil rights and political activist; he was known for his work with Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition, where he was the policy adviser to Reverend Jesse Jackson and director of international affairs. The Jack Hunter O'Dell papers consist mostly of professional papers related to his work with Operation PUSH, the National Rainbow Coalition, and various other civil rights organizations. less

Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was a Black Martinican poet, politician, and social critic. As a student at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he was a key figure in the literary and political movement known as Négritude, along with Léopold Sédar Senghor of Senegal and Léon-Gontran Damas of French Guyana. While students, the three men also created the literary review L'Étudiant noir (The Black Student). Returning to Martinique in 1939, Césaire taught at Lycée Schoelcher where he tutored a young Frantz Fanon. Césaire was elected Mayor of Fort-de-France and Deputy to the French National Assembly in 1945; in 1958, he founded the Parti Progressiste Martiniquais (PPM). He continued his literary and critical work, founding the journals Tropiques and Présence Africaine (now a major publishing house). His literary output includes the book-length poem Cahier d'un retour au pays natal; a historical essay on Toussaint Louverture, "Discours sur le colonialisme", which was published in Présence Africaine in 1950; and the plays Une tempête (a response to the racist depictions in Shakespeare's The Tempest) and Une saison au Congo, about the death of Patrice Lumumba. Césaire served as President of the Regional Council of Martinique from 1983 to 1988. He retired from politics in 2001. He died in April 2008, and proclaimed as a national hero in Martinique in 2011. This collection, donated by Martinican social geographer François Rosaz, contains commemorative materials about Aimé Césaire, mostly from 2008-2009. Materials consist of memorial programs and eulogies, including one given by Serge Letchimy, a member of the National Assembly of France; conference and theater programs, including a 2007 conference highlighting Césaire's relationship with the French Communist Party and his break from it in 1956; articles on Césaire (including a copy of a special issue of Small Axe from October 2008, and three commemorative issues of Le Progressiste, the PPM's weekly magazine); four issues of the newspaper France-Antilles from the days immediately following Césaire's death; bibliographies; commemorative postcards and stamps; and posters. less

Akua Weekes is an activist, Black Nationalist, freelance journalist, and writing professor at Touro College. Her activism dates to her undergraduate years at American University in Washington, D. C. Weekes participated in the student take-over of a building at Howard University in 1968; at American University, she organized residents of the Capital View Community, where she lived, to publish The People's Voice, a community newsletter. In 1977, while a graduate student at Howard University, Weekes was recruited by the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (AAPRP), a socialist political party founded in 1972 that strove for Pan-Africanism and the freedom and unification of Africa; according to its brochure, the AAPRP organized students on the campus to "organize the masses of African people scattered all over the world". Weekes became the lead organizer of the press for African Liberation Day, which was organized by the AAPRP. In 1982, she moved to New York City and worked with the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, the Afrikan Nationalist Pioneer Movement, Women for Justice, the Amadou Diallo Coalition, and the Grassroots Leadership Council of the Amadou Diallo Coalition. More recently, she has written for such publications as Emerge Magazine and New York Amsterdam News. Currently, she is a member of the Louis Reyes Rivera Writers Workshop and a writing professor at Touro College. The Akua Weekes collection reflects her involvement with various activist organizations. There is a very small personal file on Weekes; it consists of a few pieces of correspondence, a resume, notes and briefs for a case on which she served as a juror, and some memorabilia. The bulk of the material is concerned with the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (AAPRP). Files for this organization include committee memos and minutes; recruiting files; and program files for workshops and seminars on political education, Pan-Africanism, liberation, the land question, and Democratic capitalism. Additionally, there is a file for the Media Task Force, which Weekes managed. There are also files related to other organizations with which she worked, including The People's Voice, Afrikan Nationalist Federation, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and Basadi Ba Azania, African Women's Alliance, Women for Justice, the Amadou Diallo Coalition, and the Grassroots Leadership Council of the Amadou Diallo Coalition. These files consist of newsletters and other printed matter (clippings and publications), correspondence and memos, flyers, bylaws and mission statements, and press releases. The final part of the collection, Subject files, contains printed matter on various organizations (such as the Empire of Nubia), individuals (such as Al Sharpton), and topics (such as South Africa and apartheid). Additionally, there is a file of event flyers and programs, mostly for plays and other performances in New York City. less

Alan Bell is president of BLK Publishing Company, Inc., founded in 1988 to publish magazines targeted to the Black lesbian and gay community. At present, the firm concentrates on graphic design and custom publishing with a special focus on developing materials for non-profit organizations that target underserved communities. In 1977, he founded Gaysweek, New York City's first mainstream weekly lesbian and gay newspaper and the first owned by an African American. For 11 years, Bell was the film critic at the Los Angeles Sentinel. He has edited three books and appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Among his many honors, he is recipient of a Premier Print Award (known colloquially as a Benny), the most prestigious award in the printing trade. In March 2015, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution commending him for Exceptional Achievement and Dedication. Bell holds BA and MA degrees in sociology, and a BS degree in business. This collection consists of printed matter, such as flyers, press releases, programs, and mailers, some of which are in the form of emails, about international LGBTQ events, organizations, and conferences, all of which was presumably collected by Alan Bell. Organizations include Other Countries and Brother 2 Brother (an annual men's retreat in California), among others. Events include a conference on HIV prevention for Latinos in Philadelphia and Black Gay Cruise (from Los Angeles to Baja, Mexico), also among others. There are also general press releases, such as one about a study on woman to woman sexual violence. less