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Creator
Powell, Curtis, 1935-2002
Call number
Sc MG 877
Physical description
.8 linear feet (2 boxes)
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation
Curtis Powell papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Location
Sc MG 877
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Curtis Powell, African-American scientist and Black Panther Party member, was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1935, and died in Queens, New York in 2002. After serving in the military, he studied Chemistry, first at Seton Hall University, then abroad before receiving his PhD from the University of Stockholm in 1968. Upon his return to New York, Powell joined the Black Panther Party (BPP). A year later, despite limited evidence, Powell and twenty other BPP members (eventually known as the "Panthers 21") were jailed for over two years before being acquitted. Following his release, Powell moved to Africa and developed a vaccine for Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). He returned to the United States in 1994 to try to bring his vaccine into production. The Curtis Powell Papers contain letters, research data, scientific reports (most in several drafts), published articles, presentations, and patent documentation for his vaccine, as well as copies of Black Panther Party documents and publications, including organization and planning documents for the BPP's 25th Anniversary Celebration.

Biographical/historical information

Curtis Nelson Powell was born on October 25, 1935 in Orange, New Jersey. When he was 18 years old, he joined the Marine Corps and served in Korea. During his military tenure, Powell read a chemistry book that piqued his interest in science, and following his honorable discharge in 1955, he enrolled in Seton Hall University. He graduated in 1959 with a degree in Chemistry and worked in research laboratories at San Francisco State College, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the University of Paris, studying brain enzymes and carcinogenesis, finally receiving his PhD from the University of Stockholm (Sweden) in 1968.

While conducting research in Paris, Powell spoke of meeting Malcolm X, whom he said "turned me around" ("This is Dr. Curtis Powell..." Box 1 Folder 2). After receiving his PhD, he returned to New York to take a post-doctoral position at the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons' Institute of Cancer Research, and joined the New York branch of the Black Panther Party. On April 2, 1969, despite limited evidence, Powell, along with 20 other Party members, were arrested and charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and arson. Held under a prohibitive bail of $50,000, Powell remained in jail until May 1971 when he and the other Panthers were acquitted of all charges.

Following his release, Powell spent ten months working on viral oncology for the Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York before moving to Lusaka, Zambia to take a position as a lecturer at the University of Zambia. During his six years at the University of Zambia, he began his research on trypanosomiasis - a viral infection transmitted by mosquito bites that can cause Chagas disease or sleeping sickness - that would define the rest of his professional career. In 1979, supported in part by a grant from the World Health Organization, Powell relocated to Kenya to dedicate himself to independent research on immunoprotective solutions for trypanosomiasis and developing a potential vaccine. By 1982, he had been appointed Director of the Experimental Immunity Project on Trypanosome Research, an organization created by the non-profit Sclavo Vaccine Association. While in Africa, Powell made regular trips back to the United States and abroad to present his research, giving seminars at Yale, Harvard, and Columbia Universities among others. Powell's work would lead to the discovery of a subcellular immunological property capable of providing a resistance to trypanosomiasis, a major breakthrough for combating a virus previously treated by aggressively limiting native mosquito populations rather than treating the disease itself. His work eventually led to the successful development of the "Powell Vaccine", which he patented in 1991.

By 1994, Powell had returned to New York City. Initially, he occupied a research position at New York University's Skirball Institute; however, the school's request for Powell's patent rights led him to vacate his position and seek external funding and the construction of his own, independent facility. Powell's return to New York roughly coincided with the 20th Anniversary of the 21 Black Panthers' release, and led to a reinvigoration of his involvement in the community, culminating with a public 25th Anniversary celebration at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and an appearance on the NBC program "Positively Black".

Powell's life was dominated by two great passions - civil rights and scientific research; yet these seemingly separate interests were rarely far apart. His decision to move to Africa and join the University of Zambia was at least in part motivated by a belief that, in his words, "the black man will never be totally respected until Africa is respected" (from "A Brief Biography of Dr. Curtis Powell" by Dr. Kwando Kinshasa, Box 1 Folder 1). Likewise, his academic credentials and institutional affiliations were valuable assets in securing the credibility of the incarcerated 21 Black Panthers and helping to engender public sympathy.

Powell died on June 7, 2002 and is buried in Calverton National Cemetery (NY).

Scope and arrangement

The Curtis Powell Papers document Powell's career as a scientific researcher and as an activist for black life and culture. The Papers reveal the emergence of a unique social consciousness as well as decades of work towards a significant immunological problem - the incidence of sleeping sickness in livestock - taking Powell from New Jersey and New York City to Kenya and Zambia, and then back to the United States. The Papers are divided into three series: PERSONAL, BLACK PANTHERS and PROFESSIONAL PAPERS.

The slight PERSONAL PAPERS series (1 folder) includes the few documents from Powell's early life, including a copy of his birth certificate, his military discharge, his PhD diploma and a letter written to his mother from Sweden. Later documents include several iterations of his curriculum vitae, as well as an introductory "biography", written by John Jay College (City University of New York) African American Studies professor Dr. Kwando Kinshasa, that contextualizes Powell's scientific pursuits alongside his awakening social consciousness. Powell's personal correspondence contains a few letters from African acquaintances seeking assistance to continue their own higher education and several emails from molecular biologist Harvey Bialy, received in the months before Powell's death.

The BLACK PANTHERS PAPERS series (2 folders) contains primarily printed materials, from both Powell's arrest and incarceration or from the 1990s. Included are photocopies of: photographs taken by Roz Payne at the time of Powell's arrest; copies of "Panther 21 Trial News", "On The Ideology of the Black Panther Party", "Panther 21 - Strangers to Justice"; an article Powell wrote for "The Black Panther"; a petition for release submitted by the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center community; and an internal report, prepared by the Black Panther Party, on the arrest of the New York 21. This series also contains documentation from the later 20th and 25th anniversary reunion efforts of the Panthers, including some correspondence from Black Panther Party members, including letters from Mutulu Shakur and Mark Cook, as well as letters regarding the organization of the 25th Anniversary celebration. Powell saved programs and handbills from the event, as well as copies of the letters negotiating his appearance on "Positively Black", which taped shortly before the anniversary celebration.

The bulk of the collection is contained within the PROFESSIONAL PAPERS series (. 6 lin. ft.), which is divided into subseries corresponding with major activities within Powell's professional life. The first, Research and Reports, contains all of the formal reports Powell wrote to formalize his findings, as well as the correspondence necessary for the collection and interpretation of his research information. As most of the reports within this subseries are undated, and exist in several overlapping iterations, the reports themselves have been organized alphabetically. Likewise, some drafts of these reports contain a title page declaring them to be an "appendix", because they were taken from the appendices of Powell's 1983 curriculum vitae. The smaller Publications and Presentations subseries consists of copies of the published versions of reports he had written, and papers related to presentations he gave. The next subseries, Patents, contains Powell's correspondence with his attorneys at Sprung, Horn, Kramer & Woods and the formal documentation they sent to him. Included in the Funding subseries are applications and inquiries created by Powell and his associates to secure funding for his research and the eventual manufacture of the "Powell Vaccine", as well as his correspondence with New York University detailing their disagreement on Powell's patent rights and his eventual loss of funding from the school. Finally, the Kakmasia subseries contains documents relating to a Kenyan Health Outreach organization with which Powell was involved during his time in Africa.

The Curtis Powell papers are arranged in three series:

Administrative information

Custodial history

Possessor: David B. Hobbs

Source of acquisition

Gift of Susan Powell, 2013

Processing information

Completed April 11, 2013

This finding aid was prepared as part of an archival processing project arranged through support of New York University's Department of English, in collaboration with the Schomburg Center.

Processed by David B. Hobbs 2013

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor