Scope and arrangement
The collection contains one short 16 mm promotional film entitled Extending the Spirit: Helping Children to Walk Tall (1979) by Jesse N. Alexander.
Loading...
- Creator
- Alexander, Jesse N.
- Call number
- Sc MIRS Alexander 1981-06
- Physical description
- 1 video_recording
- Language
- English
- Preferred Citation
- Jesse N. Alexander 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.
Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) leader Jesse N. Alexander developed and promoted programs to empower Black youth. The collection contains his short film Extending the Spirit: Helping Children to Walk Tall (1979).
Biographical/historical information
Jesse N. Alexander was born in Somerset, Kentucky on August 19, 1928. As a leader at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), he developed and promoted programs to empower Black youth. In 1973, Alexander wrote the short promotional film, Extending the Spirit: Helping Children to Walk Tall, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the founding of the first African American YMCA.
Alexander began working with the YMCA in 1946. He served in various roles before becoming the executive director of Black and Non-White YMCA Volunteers and Staff from 1969 to 1981. Additionally, Alexander directed the Human Rights Unit of the National YMCA from 1973 to 1981. He retired in 1988.
Administrative information
Source of acquisition
Jesse N. Alexander, 1981.
Processing information
Collection inventoried by Stacey Doyle Ference. 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 Jesse N. Alexander papers, Sc MG 68.
See the Photographs and Prints Division for the photographs.
Using the collection
Location
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor