Scope and arrangement
The Gay Men of African Descent, Inc. records (1986 - 1998) document the development of the largest, black, gay-run, educational, social, and political organization in the United States. Records include board of directors organizing and leadership materials; a fairly comprehensive collection of newsletters which capture the organization's direction and programmatic activities from 1988 - 1999; and information on GMAD's funding sources. Documentation on the organization's earliest years are augmented by transcripts of oral history interviews with both early and active members who share accounts of GMAD's founding and struggle to develop into a full-fledged advocacy organization. There are transcripts for George Bellinger, Jeff Haskins, Kevin McGruder, Philip Reed, Colin Robinson, Kenneth Tolbert, Derwin Keith Vega, and C. Ralph Wilson.
The Gay Men of African Descent, Inc. records are arranged in five series:
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1986 - 1990
This series contains a collection of documents that illustrate the organization's early years primarily as a support group. Materials found here range from minutes of meetings chaired by Charles Angel and Colin Robinson in 1986, to executive committee notes, proposed organizational structure notes, meeting agendas, letters, flyers, and treasurer's reports. Of interest is an article about the dedication of the Charles Angel Room at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center. Another early document is arguably the first flyer produced by the young organization in the fall of 1986. The flyer, "An Appeal to the Black Family and All Segments of the Progressive Community," called for a cross-cultural dialogue between gays and heterosexuals in black communities. Charles R.P. Pouncy, an early member of the organization, donated this folder to the organization in 1990.
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1986 - 1997
This series contains information about the structure and development of the board throughout the years, and provides an overview of the organization. There are six subseries: By-laws and amendments; agenda and meeting materials; elections; committees; Managing/Executive Director Colin Robinson; and early members. The By-laws and Amendments subseries is composed of various versions of GMAD's by-laws, some of which have annotations by Colin Robinson. Also included are notes by Bert Hunter (1989) about the proposed structure and by-laws of the organization, along with a memorandum from the board to the membership concerning a revision of the by-laws.
The Agendas and Meeting Materials subseries consists mainly of agendas and various addendum/attachments from past meetings and memorandum and reports from committees about elections, employment, events, financial information, staff hiring, and membership.
In the subseries Elections, the files contain ballots, candidate information, and membership lists. Minutes from monthly and special board meetings, which relate specifically to elections, are arranged chronologically. This series is restricted because it contains personal information on GMAD's membership.
The Committees subseries contains information about two board-appointed committees: the HIV Program Initiative and Strategic Planning. These files contain agendas, flyers, job announcements, letters, reports, questionnaires, sign-up sheets, and notes related to each committee's objectives.
The Managing/Executive Director Colin Robinson (1994-1995) subseries contains files generated by Colin Robinson, who held both titles at different times. Correspondence, memorandum, board minutes and related notes, vision statements, recommendations to the board, reports, and drafts of employment agreements can be found in these files. Notably there is a letter (August 4, 1995) from Robinson to the board that details his reasons for leaving his position as executive director, and lays out a history of his tenure with the organization as the managing director. Much of the material concerns the role of the board, formalizing the managing director and program assistant's position, information pertaining to a board retreat in 1994 that focused on the strategic plan to strengthen the board and organizational development. The records do not contain discrete bodies of files for most of the past executive directors or managing directors, including founder Charles Angel, Harold Robinson, Elbert Gates, Joe Pressley, Lawrence Abrams, Cary Alan Johnson, Robert Penn, or Kevin McGruder.
In the Early Members subseries, there are files for Colin Robinson and C. Ralph Wilson, both of whom served the organization in various capacities. Robinson, 1989 - 1993, along with Rev. Angel, co-chaired the first meetings of GMAD. This series is essentially a sampling of Robinson's records.
From its inception, Robinson served the organization in various capacities as a board member, "Calendar/Newsletter" editor, managing director, and executive director before resigning in 1995. Arranged chronologically, these files include (often heavily annotated) board agendas and minutes, membership applications, newsletter working materials, program questionnaires, and a copy of the proposal to the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, which funded the AIDSFILMS/GMAD collaborative HIV/AIDS awareness educational video, Party. (For more detailed information about the Party video, see Program series description below). Materials found here include flyers and newsletters from the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center and Gay Men's Health Crisis, another organization for which Robinson volunteered and worked. There are also letters Robinson penned in his capacity as a board member of the New York-based black gay writing collective, Other Countries.
The files for C. Ralph Wilson, 1995 - 1996, a former board member, are comprised of two folders of documents that were kept during his tenure as board secretary. The files include budgets for programs, correspondence, a listing of the board of directors, memoranda, minutes, organizational plans, reports, and notes. Some of the materials have annotations. Also included is a memorandum concerning Colin Robinson's lawsuit against GMAD for back pay in 1996.
Smaller categories in this series include biographies and resumes of former board members, contribution agreements, correspondence, executive committee reports, executive director search information, financial committee reports, lists of board members, memoranda, pledges of confidentiality forms, strategic reports, and other related reports.
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1988 - 2001
This series contains records for GMAD's programmatic activities including annual programs, Friday Night Forums, co-sponsored events, workshops, and miscellaneous programs in which GMAD may have participated. The records here represent a sampling of programs and events held during 1986 - 1998, the totality of which provides valuable insight into the various issues engaging black gay men, including relationships, HIV/AIDS, literature, and the arts. There are four subseries in this series: Newsletters; Committees; Programs; and Oral History Project.
The newsletters subseries provides the most comprehensive and detailed description of GMAD's activities found in the collection. The organization's newsletter (initially titled the Calendar, later renamed Angel Times and GMAD Newsletter, respectively) records the numerous activities and the development of the organization in the 1980s and early 1990s. There are gaps in publication, and it is unclear whether issues were not produced for a particular month or are simply missing. Additionally, there are production files, which include drafts, letters, clippings, calls for submission, memoranda, flyers, and other information for inclusion in the newsletters produced in 1995 and 1996.
The Committees subseries represents a fraction of the various committees that came into being from the time of GMAD's inception. Judging from the scarcity of materials found here, compared with the information in the newsletters about committees that were formed, it is clear that several committees' files are missing. Arranged alphabetically by committee, this subseries contains agendas, flyers, job announcements, letters, reports, questionnaires, sign-up sheets, and notes related to each committee's objectives. Committees represented here include the Action Committee; "Harambee" Committee; Program Advisory Committee; Program Development Committee; Programming and Planning Committee; Steering Committee; and Whole Support Group Committee.
The Programs subseries contains files for a number of events, one-time and ongoing, that GMAD has conducted over the course of its existence. Arranged alphabetically, there is information about GMAD's tenth anniversary, annual fashion show, Friday Night Forums, and Kwanzaa celebrations.
There are folders concerning fund raising events including a benefit for Black Is...Black Ain't, the late Marlon Riggs's last documentary, and the African-American Caribbean MSM Conference, both in 1995. Several files for the "Lifestyles Genesis Learning Series Program," a program that was funded by the Black Leadership Conference on AIDS, and the video, Party, can also be found here.
In 1993, GMAD, in collaboration with AIDSFILMS, produced Party, 1991 - 1995, a professional video for safe sex educators and community organizations to use as a guide in HIV prevention outreach. The files include contracts, correspondence, crew and funding information, mailing lists, production materials, steering committee minutes, submitted scripts, and notes. Considered the first safer sex videotape produced by black gay men for black gay men, Party was written by Washington, DC, playwright Alan Sharpe and directed by Charles Sessoms. The half-hour video was designed to stimulate group discussion and encourage values classification and peer support among black men around a range of HIV and STD risk reduction issues.
The Oral History Project was initiated to coincide with the formal depositing of the organization's archival records at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. It was funded by the Borough of Manhattan President's Office for New York City (fiscal year 2000/2001.) The purpose of the project was to provide insight into GMAD's genesis by interviewing early members of the organization, and persons associated with Charles Angel, in order to augment the history found in the records. The interviews took place in late 2000 and ended in July 2001. This subseries includes transcriptions of the following interviews: George Bellinger, Jr., Kevin Coleman, Bonnie Harrison, Jeff Haskins, Kevin McGruder, Philip Reed, Colin Robinson, Harold Robinson, Kenneth Tolbert, Derwin Keith Vega, and C. Ralph Wilson.
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1988 - 1999
Records in this series consists of two subseries: Subject Files and Miscellaneous Alphabetical Files. Both sets of files were found as units and have been kept as they were organized by GMAD. The Subject Files subseries contains files pertaining to the day-to-day activities of GMAD. Categories within these files include personnel policies and procedures manual drafts, resumes, position announcements, consultant information, memoranda, minutes of staff meetings, and statistical information. The Miscellaneous Alphabetical Files are comprised primarily of flyers, letters, publications, notes, and general information sent to GMAD. Files range in size and depth, and provide a rich context of GMAD's development, as well as its alliances within the black and gay communities. Notable black LGBTQ organizations include ADODI (New York chapter), African Ancestral Lesbian United for Societal Change, Audre Lorde Project, Black Lesbian and Gay Centre Project, Caribbean-Identified Lesbian and Gay Alliance, Jacks of Colour, National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum, National Black Lesbian and Gay Conference and Institute, Other Countries, People of Color in Crisis, and S.H.A.D.E.S., Inc. Publications included are BLK, Black Leather in Color, Buti Voxx, Ebony Connections, JFY Magazine, and Rainbow Connections. The subseries also includes a file of miscellaneous non-GMAD programs.
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1990 - 1998
The bulk of the financial records were not transferred to the Schomburg Center. There are two subseries in this collection, Grants and General. The files found in the grants subseries include those that deal with grant-funded projects related to GMAD's HIV/AIDS prevention outreach efforts. Leading this series are files dealing with GMAD's fiscal outreach to a number of large grant giving organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), New York State Department of Health, and United States Conference of Mayors. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) files focus primarily on GMAD's efforts to secure a grant from that agency's "Cooperative Agreements for Minority and Other Community Based Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Prevention Projects" for two years without success. The files include drafts of the grant proposal, consultant information, correspondence, letters of support, and meeting notes. Colin Robinson, who spearheaded the two grant-making efforts, heavily annotated many of these documents, particularly the grant proposals. The New York State Department of Health files are largely composed of a grant GMAD received in 1994 from the state's AIDS Institute program, "Peer Delivered HIV Outreach and Prevention Programs Targeting Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities." Files for GMAD's Peer Initiative Program consist of budgets, consultant information, correspondence, proposals, reports and surveys, and workplans. The United States Conference of Mayors files relate to a grant GMAD received, "Collaborative HIV Prevention Grants Program", which helped the organization to provide HIV prevention outreach through a number of program initiatives including film screenings, town meetings, and national conferences. Also found in these files are budget summaries, correspondence, contracts, grant proposals, general information, meeting information, newsletters, program overviews, reports, vouchers, and workplans.
The General subseries consists of financial files that were found with the general office files, but were placed here for consistency. There are files for budgets, financial accounts, reports, IRS information, proposals, and payroll information, as well as other miscellaneous files.