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Creator
O'Neal, Frederick, 1905-1992
Call number
Sc MIRS O'Neal 1991-12
Physical description
17 audio_recordings. 2 video_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Frederick O'Neal audio and moving image collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

Actor and director Frederick O'Neal (1905-1992) was best known for co-founding the American Negro Theatre (ANT) with playwright Abram Hill in 1940. O'Neal was also active in the leadership of a number of professional, cultural, and labor organizations. The collection consists of seventeen sound recordings and two video recordings documenting O'Neal's activities in three organizations: the Actors' Equity Association (AEA), the American Federation of Labor-Congress of International Organizations (AFL-CIO), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), from 1962 to 1989.

Biographical/historical information

Actor and director Frederick O'Neal (1905-1992) was best known for co-founding the American Negro Theatre (ANT) with playwright Abram Hill in 1940, located downstairs from the Schomburg collection at the 135th Street Branch library. In 1944, O'Neal made his Broadway debut in the ANT production of Anna Lucasta, before going on to work in theater, motion pictures, radio, and television. O'Neal was also active as a prominent member in dozens of professional, cultural, and labor organizations.

In 1964, O'Neal was elected president of the Actors' Equity Association (AEA), a post he held until 1973. As the first African American president of the AEA, he worked with producers to end discrimination in the casting of its members. From 1965 to 1971 he was active in the NAACP. He was a vice president on the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO from 1969 to 1988. He served on the boards of a number of organizations including the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). From 1970 until his retirement in 1988, he was president of the Associated Actors and Artists of America.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of seventeen sound recordings and two video recordings.

The Frederick O'Neal audio and moving image collection is arranged in two series:

  • SERIES I: ORGANIZATIONS

    Fourteen sound recordings and two video recordings show Frederick O'Neal in leadership roles in three labor and civil rights organizations, dating from 1962 to 1989: the Actors' Equity Association (AEA), the American Federation of Labor-Congress of International Organizations (AFL-CIO), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Organization activities include meetings, award ceremonies and events, and promotional material. Recordings are audio unless otherwise noted. They are arranged in alphabetical order by organization, and then by date.

    Nine recordings of the AEA's Paul Robeson Award ceremonies celebrating impactful artists of literature and the stage, dating from 1978 to 1990. Awardees include Maya Angelou, Vinie Burrows, Jacques d'Amboise, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, John Henry Faulk, Joe Papp, and Pete Seeger. Additionally there are recordings of AEA ceremonies honoring leaders in the arts and civil rights, including civil rights activist Bayard Rustin and actor Ellsworth Wright.

    O'Neal appears in two recordings in his capacity as an Executive Council vice president of the AFL-CIO. One video recording is a compilation of highlights from the 1987 Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon which raised funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The other video recording is entitled Solidarity! Most likely produced for the 1989 AFL-CIO conference, it highlights labor organizing in the US and abroad.

    The collection includes recordings of four meetings of the Mid-Manhattan branch of the NAACP, two of which feature O'Neal as a speaker. These recordings most likely date from the period when O'Neal was active in the Mid-Manhattan branch of the NAACP, from 1965 to 1971. The recordings also prominently feature Herbert Hill, Labor Director of the NAACP from 1951 to 1977. Recorded on reels, each recording also contains two or more parts of a 1957 American Ethical Union (AEU) assembly. O'Neal was not a member of the AEU, nor was he present on the recordings.

  • SERIES II: RECORDINGS COLLECTED BY FREDERICK O'NEAL

    The collection contains three sound recordings that O'Neal collected during his time in labor organizations. He does not appear in them. The recordings are arranged chronologically. These include a recording of a 1962 address by Milton Webster, vice president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Another is a 1987 broadcast of an address given by Ken Blaylock. O'Neal also collected the 1988 record Bayard Rustin sings Spirituals, Work and Freedom Songs.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Frederick and Charlotte O'Neal, 1991-2004.

Revision History

Item scope and content notes and AMI identifiers revised for clarity by Lyric Evans-Hunter. (2024-04-16)

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Nathan Evans. Collection processed and described by Lyric Evans-Hunter, archivist; and Shola Lynch, curator. Finding aid published in 2024.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Frederick O'Neal papers, Sc MG 427.

See the Photographs and Prints Division for the Frederick O'Neal photograph collection, Sc Photo Frederick O'Neal Collection.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.