Scope and arrangement
The Lawrence D. Reddick papers (1864-1997) reflect Reddick's activities as a historian, professor, and advocate for the study of Black history, as well as his involvement in the civil rights movement as both participant and documentarian. The bulk of the papers date from the 1930s through Reddick's death in 1995.
The papers do not cover Reddick's tenure as curator of the Schomburg collection or his research project on Black World War II soldiers; see Related Materials for these. The papers also do not include the slave narratives Reddick collected during the 1930s.
The Lawrence D. Reddick papers are arranged in six series:
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1924-1981
The personal files, a small portion of the collection, include biographical sketches of Reddick and press releases announcing his activities; journals written during Reddick's years in Atlanta and Alabama during the 1940s and 1950s; a file of material relating to Reddick's wife Ella Ruth; and various diplomas, address books, and a passport.
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1932-1995
The correspondence files include both personal and professional, incoming and outgoing letters. Personal correspondents include Reddick's wife Ella Ruth Reddick, sister Fan Diaz, brother Harold Reddick, and his longtime friend St. Clair Drake. Much of the correspondence is with academic acquaintances: former students, teachers, and colleagues, often regarding conferences, articles, and other projects. There is also correspondence with many civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, Ralph and Juanita Abernathy, A. Philip Randolph, and Bayard Rustin, many of whom are also represented in various professional files. Correspondence with publishers such as Doubleday and Harper and Brothers are also present, as well as various letters to the editor Reddick wrote to newspapers including The New York Times and The Times-Picayune.
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1932-1989
These files document Reddick's academic career as a history professor from the 1940s onward; his position as director of the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) Institute, the adult education and job training program started by Leon Sullivan; and his time as research director of the Kinte Library Project, a study of African American genealogy led by Alex Haley. There are also files on professional and academic organizations Reddick was involved in, such as the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, as well as various workshops and conferences he attended.
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1936-1986
This series documents Reddick's political activities, most notably his involvement with the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. There is significant material from the Montgomery Improvement Association and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which Reddick served as the historian and held positions on the board and various committees. There are also files documenting Reddick's relationship with Martin Luther King outside of these organizations, including copies of King's speeches collected by Reddick, as well as Reddick's documents and notes from traveling with King to India in 1959 (as well as a much smaller amount from his travel to Oslo when King was awarded the Nobel Prize). Outside of these years, there is also material on Reddick's work with the NAACP, beginning in the 1930s with a survey he conducted of American history textbooks, as well as his activities in the 1970s and 1980s with groups such as Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH and the National Black Political Convention.
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1864-1997
The writings include manuscript and typescript drafts of articles, speeches, and books by Reddick, including incomplete drafts of Reddick's biography of Martin Luther King, Crusader Without Violence. There are also notes and drafts from significant unpublished writing projects in varying states of completion, including an account of King's travel to India, biographies of Ralph Abernathy and Leon Sullivan, as well as a proposed history of Black students at Harvard and a survey of historically Black colleges and universities, among other topics. Note that works by Reddick written as part of specific projects or organizations are found with the files for that organization; e.g., for The Essence of OIC, see the Opportunities Industrialization Center in the Professional series. Note also that some of Reddick's writings on the Black experience of the US military, including an unpublished book "Brotherhood Under Fire," are in the Reddick World War II project collection.
The Writings by Others primarily consist of essays and academic papers collected by Reddick, often written by friends and associates.
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1901-1995
Printed Matter includes offprints of journal articles by Reddick and others, clipping files, television show transcripts, and ephemera. The clipping files predominantly consist of press clippings on the assassination of Martin Luther King, which Reddick, through the OIC, employed a clipping service to compile from newspapers around the world.