This section contains a list of MARBL manuscript collections that relate to the Civil Rights Movement, concentrating on the years 1940 to 1970. While there is no satisfactory answer to the question, “When did the civil rights movement begin?” this crucial thirty-year period witnessed an increase in activism during World War II and culminated with the long, hot summer in cities across the nation and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Particular strengths of these collections include activism, journalism, and education. The summaries listed here do not give the full contents of each collection. To learn more about a specific collection and its contents, please search our Finding Aids Database. Please note that not all manuscript collections are housed in MARBL. Some collections are located at an off-site storage facility and must be requested in advance. In addition, some collections have access restrictions. Researchers are encouraged to contact MARBL to insure that materials will be available. We are also happy to pull materials in advance of a research visit. Revised editions of this guide will be forthcoming as new collections are accessioned and as material in existing collections is located and identified.
Abram, Morris B. (MSS 514). Papers, 1954-1986; 96 linear ft. (96 boxes, 3 oversized items).
Abram (1918-2000), a Georgia native, served as an educator, lawyer, statesman, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Offices in Geneva, Switzerland. This collection documents his career, particularly his work on human and civil rights. It includes materials about President Lyndon Baines Johnson's 1966 White House Conference "To Fulfill These Rights," which discussed the way to translate racial equality into economic, housing, and education issues as well as material related to Abram's involvment with the United Nation's Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Restriction: Portions of the collection are restricted and cannot be used without permission of the donor.
African American Miscellany. (MSS 1032). Miscellany, 1848-1980; 4 linear ft. (8 boxes, 4 oversized papers, 9 bound volumes, 12 oversized bound volumes, 2 audio recordings).
African American miscellany is an artificially created collection that contains single, non-printed items related to African American history and culture. The collection includes scrapbooks, minute books, correspondence, photographs, and sound recordings. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Barker, Mary Cornelia. (MSS 528). Papers, 1912-1971; 6.5 linear ft. (13 boxes).
Barker (1879-1963) was a public school teacher, active in labor and inter-racial groups. The collection consists of materials relating to the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, Atlanta Urban League, Commission of Interracial Cooperation, Georgia Committee, Fulton-DeKalb Committee on Interracial Cooperation, Georgia Council on Human Relations, and the Greater Atlanta Council on Human Relations. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Bernd, Aaron. (MSS 1110). Papers, 1919-1937; 2.5 linear ft. (5 boxes, 25 oversized papers, and 2 oversized bound volumes).
Aaron bernd (1894-1937) was a Jewish writer, literary editor, and businessman. The papers consist of correspondence, writings, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, printed material, photographs, legal documents, and financial records. Correspondence primarily documents Bernd's professional activities as a literary editor and writer for The Macon Telegraph as well as his freelance literary endeavors. A large collection of personal letters from scholar and educator John Donald Wade concern faculty tenure negotiations at the University of Georgia in the 1920s. The correspondence also includes letters to and from Walter F. White of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1924-1934 concerning racial prejudice in the South, lynching, and contemporary literature. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Black Panther Party. (MSS 998). Collection, 1965-1976; .5 linear ft. (1 box and 4 oversized papers).
The collection contains printed material produced by and related to the Black Panther Party from 1965-1976. Materials include fliers and handbills announcing Party activities such as rallies, concerts, and protests, press releases, newsletters, and other printed material regarding the political activities of the Party. Many of the fliers contain detailed information about the arrests and trials of Party leaders including Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, and Huey P. Newton. A number of fliers and printed materials also concern the United Front against Fascism campaign. Other materials in the collection include conference packets from the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention and a hand-lettered poster. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Black Print Culture. (MSS 921). Collection, 1854-1997; 5.5 linear ft. (15 boxes, 37 oversized items).
The Black Print Culture collection includes printed matter pertaining to religion and music; items published by the black press; publications relating to fraternities and sororities; to organizations, education, business and professional matters; to arts and entertainment; and, broadsides, posters, and ephemera. The Civil Rights materials in the collection include newsletters, leaflets, and brochures from organizations like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Browning, Joan C. (MSS 821). Papers, 1961-1996; .5 linear ft. (1 box, 1 oversized item).
Joan C. Browning was raised in rural South Georgia. She entered Georgia State College for Women (Milledgeville, Ga.) in 1960 but she was asked to leave the college after worshipping at an African American church. Browning moved to Atlanta in 1961 and became involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She continued to work in human relations and anti-poverty programs throughout the 1960s and helped organize the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. Materials in this collection consist of correspondence, writings, and other materials pertaining mostly to her involvement in the civil rights movement in Georgia. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Bullard, Helen. (MSS 599). Papers, 1920-1979; 12.5 linear ft. (25 boxes, 2 oversized items).
Helen Elizabeth Bullard (1908-1979) was a gifted political advisor and public relations consultant. She directed the political campaigns of Atlanta mayors William B. Hartsfield, Ivan Allen, Jr., and Sam Massell, Congressman Wyche Fowler, and Senator Walter F. George. The papers contain general correspondence, subject files, writings, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, reports, photographs and other items. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Cherry, Jim D. (MSS 655). Papers, 1947-1988; 11 linear ft. (11 boxes, 13 oversized bound volumes).
Jim D. Cherry (1911-1980) was superintendent of the DeKalb County, Georgia, school system for twenty-five years. The school system underwent token integration by the time Cherry retired in 1972. The collection consists of correspondence, speeches, writings, printed material, scrapbooks, photographs, clippings, and memorabilia. They document Jim Cherry's career as superintendent of schools, his civic activities, his broad interest in education, and honors and awards he received. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Restriction: Restrictions on access and reproduction may apply.
Churchwell, Robert. (MSS 826). Papers, 1943-2002; 2.25 linear ft. (5 boxes, 7 oversized items).
Robert Churchwell (1917- ) joined the previously all-white Nashville Banner in 1950. He accepted the job at the Banner because there were no positions available at Nashville's African American newspapers. For the first decade he was at the paper, Churchwell typed his stories at home and dropped them off to his editor each day. He did not have a desk in the newsroom because the Banner was segregated just like the rest of Nashville and the South. Churchwell's pioneering status earned him the nickname, "the Jackie Robinson of Journalism." Although Churchwell covered the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s, his editors rarely printed the stories. Churchwell won awards for his education reporting in the 1970s and ended his career at the Banner as a columnist. The papers include writings by Churchwell including newspaper columns and articles, speeches, and an incomplete copy of his autobiography, What's That Nigger's Name? See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Clayton County, Georgia. Oral History. (MSS 828). Collection, 1989-1998; 1 linear ft. (3 boxes).
This collection consists of eighty-eight audiocassettes of interviews addressing social change in Clayton County since World War II. The interviewees were asked questions about the relationship between the races, memories of the Ku Klux Klan, the changing roles of women, and how personal attitudes have changed since 1945. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Coe, John Moreno. (MSS 628). Case Files, 1919-1973; 113 linear ft. (18 boxes).
John Coe (1896-1974) was a Florida lawyer, who litigated many cases concerning segregation and discrimination. He also served a term as a Florida state senator and chaired the Florida State Progressive Party. The collection contains Progressive Party materials, personal and professional correspondence as well as case files from his law practice. The case files include materials concerning specific cases involving issues about segregation and discrimination. A list of cases is available upon request. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Restriction: Special permission is required for access to some case file materials.
Community Council of Atlanta Area, Inc. (MSS 570). Records, 1960-1974; 28 linear ft. (28 boxes).
The Community Council of the Atlanta Area, Inc. was a social planning agency that provided technical assistance and information to various independent agencies and governmental bodies for the formulation and implementation of services and programs. The collection includes minutes, reports, correspondence, administrative, and subject files. These materials relate to the Council's work on social concerns such as poverty, drug abuse, daycare, recreation, employment, housing, and aging in the Atlanta area. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Craig, Calvin Fred. (MSS 612). Papers, 1957-1975; 3 linear ft. (3 boxes, 1 oversized item).
Calvin F. Craig, a dry cleaner by trade, was named Grand Dragon of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for the state of Georgia in 1960. He resigned his post in 1968 to pursue a career in politics. When his political career failed to take off, Craig returned to the Klan in the 1970s. The collection contains Klan broadsides, brochures, certificates, press releases, membership cards, meeting minutes, and correspondence. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Crawford, Matt N. and Evelyn Graves. (MSS 882). Papers, ca. 1932-1967; 9.75 linear ft. (20 boxes, 8 oversized items).
Matt Nathaniel Crawford (1903-1996) was politically active in California and nationally from the 1930s until his death in 1966. Born in Anniston, AL, he migrated to Oakland with his family in 1911. His wife Evelyn (1889-1972) was born in San Francisco. The couple married in 1929 and lived in Berkeley throughout their married life. The collection includes books, periodicals, pamphlets, broadsides, and programs documenting Matt Crawford's involvement in the CIO Minority Commission; Negro Commission/Communist Party USA; National Negro Congress; Civil Rights Congress, International Labor Defense, National Negro Labor Council, and other political groups. It also contains extensive correspondence with intimate friends Langston Hughes, Louise Thompson Patterson, and William L. Patterson. A list of books originally found in the Crawford family library is available. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Curry, Constance W. (MSS 818). Papers, 1951-1997; 8 linear ft. (14 boxes, 1 oversized item).
Constance W. Curry (1933- ) is an author, attorney, community organizer, and political activist. From 1960-1964 she was Director of the Southern Student Human Relations Project of the National Student Association and became the first white female on the executive committee of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). From 1964-1975, she was Southern Field Representative of the American Friends Service Committee. In 1975, she became Director of the Office of Human Services for the City of Atlanta. Her book, Silver Rights, won the 1996 Lillian Smith Award for non-fiction and recounts the story of one rural Mississippi family's struggle for education and for civil rights during the 1960's. Curry's papers include materials relating to her Civil Rights activities, personal papers, and printed material. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Dana, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (MSS 1033). Collection, 1932-1938; (.25 linear ft.).
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana (1881-1950), grandson of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was a teacher, lecturer, and writer.
The Scottsboro Boys were a group of nine African American men accused of the rape of two white women on the Southern Railroad freight run from Chattanooga to Memphis on March 25, 1931. Their first trial occurred in Scottsboro, Alabama. The collection primarily contains materials collected by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana concerning the rape trials of the Scottsboro Boys from 1932-1940 including correspondence, broadsides, and newspaper clippings. The majority of the collection concerns activites that took place in Boston, Massachussetts. Much of the correspondence consists of mimeographed circular letters concerning the progress of the trial and pleas for financial support from the International Labor Defense National Office, the Boston Scottsboro Defense Committee, the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners, the Neighborhood Scottsboro Defense Club, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Scottsboro-Mooney Defense Conference. A few letters are personally addressed to Dana from David F. Jeffreys, Mary E. Moore, Secretary-Treasurerof the local Neighborhood Scottsboro Defense Club, Edmund J. O'Neal, principal of the Montgomery County Training School, and the International Labor Defense National Office. The remainder of the collection consists of a blank petition to Bibb Graves, governor of Alabama, newspaper clippings concerning the trials, an announcement of a play presented by the John Reed Club directed by Dana, and handbills announcing meetings and speeches in Boston, including an announcement of a meeting at which Dana spoke in 1932 and an appearance of Ruby Bates. Published pamphlets accompanying the collection have been catasloged. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Davis, James C. (MSS 507). Papers, 1919-1966; 221 linear ft. (216 boxes).
James C. Davis (1895-1981), an ardent segregationist, served as a Georgia representative in the U.S. Congress from 1947-1963. His papers contain files on segregation and the materials also detail efforts to maintain segregation in public schools in Georgia. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Derby, Doris Adelaide. (MSS 935). Papers; 26 linear ft. (26 boxes).
This collection consists of the personal papers of Doris Derby, Civil Rights activist, educator, and photographer. Derby worked principally in Mississippi and she was a co-founder of the Free Southern Theater. The collection includes correspondence, printed material, and photographs. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Dunbar, Leslie. (MSS 694). Papers; 14.50 linear ft. (19 boxes).
Leslie Dunbar (1921- ) is a writer, consultant, and educator. He served as a political science professor at Emory University before joining the Southern Regional Council as executive director in 1961. Dunbar published five books on social welfare, minorities, and liberalism. The collection includes professional and personal correspondence, lectures, articles, speeches, book reviews, audio recordings of interviews and speeches, typescripts of books, holographs, as well as thirteen issues of "New South," a Southern Regional Council publication. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Restriction: Access to boxes 4-6 and 16 is restricted.
Egerton, John. (MSS 915). Collection; 1.5 ft. (3 boxes).
The collection contains materials collected by John Egerton relating to John Popham, a journalist with the New York Times and William Gordon, an editor of the Atlanta Daily World. The papers include notes, printed material, and audio and videotapes documenting the Popham Seminars from 1997-2000. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Emerson, William A. (MSS 1094). Papers, 1949-1986; 4 linear ft. (4 boxes, 1 oversized paper).
William A. Emerson, Jr., journalist, editor, and author, was born in 1923 in North Carolina and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. In the early 1950s Emerson wrote for Collier's magazine. From 1953-1961, Emerson was the chief of Newsweek's Atlanta Bureau, and from 1965-1969 he served as the editor of The Saturday Evening Post. Emerson also wrote The Jesus Story, published in 1971. Emerson often wrote under the byline Bill Emerson.
The papers consist of correspondence, writings, newspaper clippings, printed material, and artwork. The correspondence concerns Emerson's work as a journalist for Collier's and Newsweek, in addition to his tenure as editor of The Saturday Evening Post. the collection also includes some of Emerson's personal correspondence, which documents his other activities, including his work with charity and church organizations. Writings include drafts of essays and columns that later appeared in print, in addition to notes for his speeches. The majority of the newspaper clippings are of Bill Emerson's columns and articles. The collection also includes an original watercolor cartoon of William A. Emerson by political cartoonist, Robert Ariail. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Emory University Archives. Desegregation. (Series 99). Collection, 1960-1994; 1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes).
Emory University was officially desegregated in September of 1962 and admitted its first African American undergraduate in the fall of 1963. The collection consists of records documenting the process of desegregation and other events relating to racial issues at Emory. Included are documents summarizing the process of integration; copies of various statements issued by Emory faculty and students; a copy of the Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Injunction to the Superior Court of Dekalb County; accounts of activities surrounding campus racial protests that occurred in 1969 (print and audio); and information concerning more recent events that took place in the 1990s. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Emory University Archives. Student Government Association. (Series 15). Division of Campus Life records, 1946- ; 20.5 linear ft. (41 boxes, 1 oversized paper).
Records of the Student Government Association (Record Group 300; Series 15) include materials related to activities and issues affecting the student body, including subject files relating to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Fund (Box 22, folder 4), and race relations (Box 22, folder 9). See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Emory University Archives. Student and Academic Services. (Series 17). Records, 1966-1980; 15 linear ft. (10 boxes).
Record Group 200, Series 17 contains folders on minority admission requirements (Box 3), Black House (Box 8, folder 29), the Black Student Alliance (Box 6, folder 64 and Box 8, folder 29), racism reports from 1969-1970, and papers on the Martin Luther Kind, Jr. Scholarship Fund (Box 4, folder 5). Box 6 also contains material about racial discrimination submitted by individuals and student organizations in the 1970s. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity. (MSS 723). Records, 1961-1966; .25 linear ft. (1 box).
The Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU), a voluntary society of the then Protestant Episcopal Church, was founded in Atlanta in 1960. The organization worked to establish total participation in the Church by all persons regardless of race, class, or national original. This collection consists of statements of purpose, newsletters, official correspondence, and materials related to the Lovett School segregation controversy. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Frady, Marshall. (MSS 1099). Papers, 1950-2004; 66 linear ft. (123 boxes).
Marshall Frady, Civil Rights reporter, author, and broadcast journalist, was born in Augusta Georgia on January 11, 1940. Frady began his writing career in 1966 as a journalist, working in Atlanta and Los Angeles bureaus of Newsweek. He later wrote for the Saturday Evening Post, Harper's, and Life magazines. In 1969 Frady published Wallace, a biography of the Alabama governor and presidential candidate. In the late 1970s, Frady moved to television journalism, and was chief writer and host of Closeup from 1979-1986. Frady wrote several more biographies, including Billy Graham: A Parable of American Righteousness (1979), Jesse: The Life and Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson (1996), and Martin Luther King, Jr. (2002). He was working on a biography of Fidel Castro when he died on March 9, 2004 in Greenville, South Carolina. The collection consists of the papers of Marshall Frady from 1950-2004, including correspondence, writings, research files, audiovisual materials, and printed material. Writings include notes and drafts of nearly all of his published works, in addition to drafts of several unpublished articles, books, and screenplays. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Good, Paul. (MSS 1025). Papers; .25 linear ft. (1 box).
Paul Joseph Good, Jr. (1929-2005) was a television and print journalist known for his coverage of the civil rights movement. He arrived in Atlanta in 1961 to work there as Southern bureau chief for ABC News. During his time as Southern bureau chief, Good traveled throughout the South covering the civil rights movement. The papers consist of audio recordings. The recordings include speeches; reports from marches, rallies, and clashes over school integration; and interviews of civil rights leaders such as Andrew Young, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis and of Klan Wizard Robert Shelton. The tapes document events in Atlanta, Georgia, Notasulga, Alabama, St. Augustine, Florida, Philadelphia, Mississippi, and Jackson, Mississippi. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Gremley, William H. (MSS 1076). Papers; 1941-1988; 1 linear ft. (1 box and 1 oversized paper).
William H. Gremley (1913-1992) was a Civil Rights activist, sociologist and human relations official. After serving in World War II, Gremley moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1952 after accepting the position of Executive Secretary for the newly established Kansas City Commission on Human Relations. Throughout the 1950s, Gremley also taught sociology classes at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and continued publishing articles on intergroup relations and civil rights. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Kansas City in 1959. Later that year, Gremley resigned from his position in Kansas City to take Executive Director position for the Community Relations Board in Cleveland, Ohio. After two years in Cleveland, Gremley resigned from that position and worked briefly for the Peace Corps administration office in Washington, D. C. The papers include awards, correspondence, photographs, printed materials, speeches, writings, and audiovisual material. Correspondents include the African American writer Richard Wright and his wife Ellen, whom Gremley befriended while working in Paris, France after World War II. The collection also includes correspondence from Gremley to his wife Mary from 1946 to 1966. Writings include drafts of his articles and clipping about Gremley and his work in Chicago, Kansas City, Missouri, and Cleveland, Ohio. A significant portion of the material consists of records collected during Gremley's tenure as the Executive Director of the Kansa City Commission on Human Rights and includes correspondence, commisiion memorandums and reports, and clippings. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Griffin, John A. (MSS 767). Papers, 1964- ; 58 linear ft. (58 boxes).
John A. Griffin was an educator, activist, and labor arbitrator. He was a founding member of the Southern Regional Council. In 1964, Griffin worked as deputy director of the U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Service. As deputy director, he helped mediate conflicts in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Between 1965 and 1978, Griffin served as the director of the Southern Education Foundation, a foundation dedicated to equal educational opportunities for African Americans in the American South. This collection consists of the personal papers of John A. Griffin. It includes correspondence, reports, audiovisual items, and other material documenting Griffin's work with the Southern Regional Council and the Southern Education Foundation as well as his career as an arbitrator. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Harding, Vincent. (MSS 868). Papers, 1961-1974; 29.25 linear ft. (59 boxes, 27 oversized items).
Harding (b. 1931) is a theologian, historian, activist, and one of the founders of the Institute of the Black World. This collection covers the years Harding was with Mennonite House, Spelman College, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Documentation Project, and the Institute of the Black World. The collection includes correspondence and a number of black-published periodicals. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Harleston, Edwin Augustus and Elise F. Harleston. (MSS 1161). Family papers, circa 1900-2002; 9 linear ft. (9 boxes, 2 oversized bound volumes).
Edwin Augustus Harleston (1882-1931), African American artist and activist, was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He married Elise Forrest (1891- ), a photographer, in 1920. Edwin Harleston was active in the Charleston Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), founded in 1917. The collection consists of the family papers of Edwin Augustus and Elise F. Harleston. The papers include correspondence, sketchbooks, diaries, and other material. Also included are the papers of the Harleston's niece, Edwina Harleston Whitlock, who extensively researched her family history. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Hartsfield, William Berry. (MSS 558). Papers, 1892-1980; 22 linear ft. (60 boxes, 12 oversized items).
Hartsfield (1890-1971), the son of a tinsmith, was an attorney, an untiring civic booster, politician, and longtime mayor of Atlanta (1937-1962). The collection contains materials relating to race relations and the early civil rights movement in Atlanta. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Harvey, Thomas W. (Thomas Watson). (MSS 1066). Papers; 7 linear ft. (7 boxes and 1 oversized paper).
Thomas Watson Harvey (1893-1978) was an African American leader in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). He served in the United States Army before becoming involved with the UNIA in 1919. He was associated with Marcus Garvey as a part of the Pan-African movement. Harvey was elected President-General of the UNIA from 1950-1978. He died on June 27, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The collection contains papers of Thomas W. Harvey from circa 1924-1972 related to his involvement with the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The papers include pamphlets and other printed material, correspondence, including 80 letters signed by Marcus Garvey, and reports of the UNIA. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Herbers, John. (MSS 806). Papers, 1950-1996; 7.5 linear ft. (13 boxes, 1 oversized item).
John Herbers (1923-), journalist, began his career on the Greenwood, Mississippi Morning Star where he worked for eighteen months. A short time later, Herbers moved to the Jackson, Mississippi Daily News and then to the United Press International in Mississippi. Herbers joined The New York Times in 1964 and worked there until his retirement in 1987. The collection consists of materials from Herbers' years at The New York Times Washington Bureau. It includes material about the civil rights movement and the Nixon presidency. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Killens, John Oliver. (MSS 957). Papers, 1937-1987; 18 linear ft. (53 boxes).
John Oliver Killens (1916-1987) was an African American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, political activist, and teacher. After years of struggling, Killens saw his first novel, Youngblood, published in 1954 to critical acclaim. In 1964 his World War II novel, And Then We Heard the Thunder, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. After the success of Youngblood, Killens received assignments from Harry Belafonte, the popular singer and actor, to write outlines for screenplays as well as story ideas and screen treatments. Like Belafonte, Killens was active in the Civil Rights movement, serving in various capacities in the New York State NAACP and as Chairman of the NAACP's National Cultural Committee. He also supported the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as well as helping Malcolm X set up the Organization for Afro-American Unity.
The John Oliver Killens papers document Killens' personal, intellectual, professional, and political life. The collection includes correspondence, writings by Killens, writing by others, and printed material. The writings of Killens includes critical writings; forewords and prefaces; essays; speeches; novellas and novels; plays; screenplays; scripts; and story ideas. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Lomax, Almena. (MSS 1091). Papers, circa 1940-2007; 10.25 linear ft. (11 boxes and 1 oversized paper).
Almena Davis Lomax was an African American writer, newspaper publisher, and Civil Rights activist. She served as co-publisher, editor, and writer of the Los Angeles Tribune until it ceased publication in 1960. In the late 1950s Lomax became active in the Civil Rights Movements and travelled to the South as a reporter for the Tribune. Lomas also published articles, short sotires, and novellas in other publications such as The Nation.
The collection consists of the papers of Almena Davis Lomax, including writings, correspondence, printed material, and audiovisual material. Writings include manuscript and typescript drafts of published and unpublished articles, short stories, and novels. One unpublished work, "Of Masters and Sons," is a novelized depiction of the history of the Texas branch of the Lomax family. Other works include The Women of Montgomery, Ten Most Wanted White Men, and a short story entitled "Milledgeville." Printed material includes clippings from the Los Angeles Tribune, in addition to photocopies of articles by Lomax in other publications. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
May, James William. (MSS 667). Papers 1929-1988; 8.50 linear ft. (16 boxes).
May (1912- ) is professor emeritus of theology at Emory University. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was interested in the issue of school desegregation and the church's response to integration. He also helped formulate Emory's position on race relations. The collection includes bound volumes, printed materials, sermons, correspondence, and a manuscript of his book The Glenn Memorial Story (1985). See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
McGill, Ralph. (MSS 252). Papers, 1853-1971; 60.25 linear ft. (118 boxes, 32 oversized papers, 75 bound volumes, 7 reels of microfilm).
McGill (1898-1969) was the editor-in-chief (1941-1960) and publisher (1960-1969) of the Atlanta Constitution. He was a prominent Southern Civil Rights advocate, who was known as the "Conscience of the South." The collection consists of family and general correspondence, committee records and correspondence, writings, financial papers and subject files, photographs, scrapbooks, memorabilia, and audiovisual materials. Letters include correspondence with persons involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Topics covered in the subject files include race relations and integration; local, state and national politics, 1948-1968; education and the public schools in the South and Atlanta; the church and the race issue; the Ku Klux Klan and Columbians in Georgia in the 1930s and early 1940s. The collection also includes information on organizations such as the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, the Southern Regional Council, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and segregationist organizations. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
McMichael, Jack R. (MSS 649). Papers, 1933-1984; 23.50 linear ft. (30 boxes).
Jack R. McMichael (1917-1984) was a Methodist minister, social activist, and educator. The collection includes material related to McMichael's involvement in community organizations and social movements from the 1930s through the 1970s. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Miller, Kelly. (MSS 1050). Papers, 1894-1989; 19.75 linear ft. (40 boxes, 15 bound volumes, and 14 oversized papers).
Kelly Miller (1863-1939), an African American intellectual and professor at Howard Univserity, was a commentator on race in America, and a widely published journalist.
The papers contain correspondence, writings, subject files, printed material, photographs and other papers, and the papers of his wife Annie Mae Miller. The correspondence includes incoming and outgoing letters regarding article submissions and academic appointments. Correspondence from civic groups to which he belonged and personal correspondence from family and acquaintances is also included. The writings by Miller include manuscript and typescript copies of article drafts, outlines, poetry, speeches from 1916-1939. Topics of the writings include constitutional law, analysis of the 14th, 15th, and 18th amendments, prohibition, lynching and mob violence, the New Deal, presidential policy analysis, African-Americans and communism, race relations, the Republican Party, African American colleges and universities, and Howard University. Writings by others consist of articles, speeches, and one radio transcript, which discusses James Bland, an African American musician whom Kelly Miller researched. The subject files consist of records from institutions and associations to which Miller belonged and include reports, reviews, and meeting minutes. The subject files also contain records kept by Miller during his tenure as dean at Howard University, such as meeting minutes and reports from the Board of Trustees, the committee on salaries, the alumni association, among others between 1922 and 1935. The printed material series is divided into printed material about Miller, printedmaterial by Miller, and general printed material which he collected. In addition, a set of scrapbooks contains articles by and about Miller. Photographs and other papers include portraits and candid shots of Miller as well as a photo album of Miller with Howard University alumni and family. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
New South Oral History. (MSS 876). Collection, 2000, 2004; .75 linear ft. (2 boxes).
The collection consists of oral history interviews conducted for an Emory University Special Collections and Archives (now the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library) project in 2000 and 2004 by Emory University students enrolled in Tom Chaffin's New South History class. The interviews are of various individuals discussing their experiences in the South. Topics of discussion include Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, southern music, the civil rights movement, desegregation, and southern politics. For each interview, there is an original audiocassette tape and a use copy and a project file. The project file consists of a typed transcript of the interview, any related correspondence or research material, and in most cases, a resume or similar biogrpahical information. Interviewees include Freddy Cole, Clarence Cooper, Constance Curry, Frank Edwards, Georga Heery, Hyatt Irwin, Windsor Jordan, Franita Ware, and Linda Poynter Williams. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Newsweek, Inc. Atlanta Bureau. (MSS 629). Records, 1954-1979; 19 linear ft. (19 boxes).
The Atlanta bureau of Newsweek was the hub of the weekly magazine's southern network. Reporters from Atlanta fanned out across the region to write stories for Newsweek's editorial office in New York. These stories were then edited, combined, and consolidated by the editors for publication.
The Atlanta bureau files include press clippings, drafts of stories, handwritten notes, press releases, correspondence, and printed materials. Reporters gathered most of these materials while out on assignment. Newsweek correspondents filed stories about the civil rights movement from Albany, Atlanta, Birmingham, Little Rock, McComb, Montgomery, New Orleans, Orangeburg, St. Augustine, and Winston Salem. There are also subject files on organizations such as the NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, and the KKK, as well as files on prominent individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Parsons, Sara Mitchell. (MS 946). Papers, 1933-2002; 1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes and 1 oversized bound volume).
The papers include correspondence, photographs, printed material, a scrapbook, and writings by Parsons. The bulk of the correspondence is from the late 1990sthrough 2002 and relates to her book From Southern Wrongs to Civil Rights and its publication. Notable in the correspondence are letters from the King family, including Martin Luther King, Jr. The printed material, which consists of mostly newspaper clippings, documents education, segregation and the Civil Rights Movement among others. Also in the collection are a small number of photographs, Sara Mitchell Parsons's diaries from 1964 and 1970 and a scrapbook from her 1961 campaign for election to Atlanta Board of Education. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Paschall, Eliza K. (MSS 532). Papers, 1932-1988; 51 linear ft. (76 boxes, 2 oversized items).
Paschall (1917-1990) was an Atlanta civic activist who was involved in a variety of civil rights organizations and women's groups, including the Greater Atlanta Council on Human Relations (GACHR). The collection includes files from Paschall's tenure as executive director of the GACHR (1961-1967), and from the Community Relations Commission (1967-1968). The collection includes correspondence, minutes, inter-office memoranda, reports, press releases, and clippings as well as materials relating to the League of Women Voters, National Organization for Women, and other organizations. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Patterson, Louise Thompson. (MSS 869). Papers, 1909-1996; 17.50 linear ft. (33 boxes, 3 oversized items, 1 bound volume).
Louise Thompson Thurman Patterson (1901-1999) was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance and an active campaigner for Civil Rights, racial and sexual equality, economic justice, and international human rights. The collection includes correspondence concerning the film on the Negro in American life to have been made in the Soviet Union in 1932, and records of the Sojourners for Truth and Justice, a national black women's organization co-founded with Beah Richards. Emory also holds the personal library of Louise Thompson Patterson. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Pauley, Frances Freeborn. (MSS 659). Papers, 1919-1992; 54.25 linear ft. (100 boxes, 11 oversized items, 3 oversized bound volumes).
Pauley (1905-2003) was an activist for civil rights and social causes. She was active in the League of Women Voters, Georgia Council on Human Relations, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Office for Civil Rights, Georgia Poverty Rights Organization, and the Southern Regional Council. The collection includes correspondence, reports, clippings, printed material and collected data which document Pauley's work in the areas of school desegregation, Civil Rights and poverty. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Pendergrast, Nan. (MSS 730). Papers 1935-1993; .5 linear ft. (1 box).
Pendergrast (1920- ) is a native Atlantan who worked as a freelance journalist and civic activist. She's published articles in the Atlanta Constitution, the Atlanta Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, and other publications. In addition to her journalistic endeavors, Pendergrast worked for Planned Parenthood Atlanta, Georgia Council on Human Relations, and Atlantans for Peace. The collection consists of correspondence, mainly with prominent political and media figures, and photocopies of Mrs. Pendergrast's scrapbooks. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Pomerantz, Gary M. (MSS 890).
Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn research files and interviews, 1991-1996; 13 linear ft. (26 boxes)
Gary M. Pomerantz is an award-winning journalist and author. His first book, Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: A Saga of Race and Family (1996), tells the story of race relations in 20th century Atlanta through the history of two families: the Allens and the Dobbs. Both of these families produced future mayors of Atlanta: Ivan Allen, Jr., who was the only southern politician to go to Washington, D.C. to speak in favor of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and Maynard H. Jackson, the first African American mayor of a Southern city. This collection consists of materials relating to Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: A Saga of Race and Family. It includes interviews, interview transcripts, research materials, notebooks and audio materials relating to the history of the Allen and Dobbs families as well as the history of modern Atlanta. Of particular interest are the interviews and interview transcripts, which recount the racial, political, economic and social life of 20th century Atlanta. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Rainey, Glenn W. (Glenn Weddington). (MSS 471). Papers, 1917-1974; 10 linear ft. (20 boxes, 1 oversized item, 9 bound volumes).
Rainey (1907-1989), an alumnus of Emory University, was a professor of English at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta from 1932 until 1974. He was involved in many political, social, civic and professional organizations, including the Georgia Commission on Interracial Cooperation, the Committee for Georgia of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, and the Southern Regional Council. The collection consists mainly of correspondence dealing with Rainey's organizational activities. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Rich, Richard H. (MSS 575). Papers, 1902-1981; 42.50 linear ft. (83 boxes, 7 oversized items, 9 oversized bound volumes).
Rich (1901-1975), an Atlanta business and civic leader, was the grandson of the founder of Rich's Department Store. He started working at Rich's in 1924 and he served as chairman of the Board from 1961 until 1972. His papers include material related to race relations in Atlanta and how the civil rights movement affected polices at Rich's. For example, the company's employee magazines reflect changing societal attitudes about segregation and race relations in the workplace. There are also materials relating to sit-ins and other protests from 1958-1961. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Rothschild, Jacob M. (MSS 637). Papers, 1933-1985; 13.25 linear ft. (27 boxes, 2 bound volumes).
Rothschild (1911-1973) was the rabbi of The Temple, Atlanta's leading Reform Judaism congregation, from 1947 to 1973. During this period, he was active in the civil rights movement and school desegregation. The collection includes correspondence, sermons, writings, clippings, printed and audiovisual materials, and memorabilia as well as some materials relating to the 1958 bombing of The Temple. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Restriction: Reproduction cannot be made of address given at the dinner honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., January 1965 in Box 25, Folder 10.
Rozier, John. (MSS 672). Papers, 1967-1987; 2.50 linear ft. (5 boxes).
John Rozier (1918- ) is journalist, newspaper publisher, and author. He also served as director of Emory University's Office of News and Information for twenty years. The majority of the collection contains research material for Rozier's book, Black Boss: Political Revolution in a Georgia County (1982). The collection consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence, annual reports, biographical files, notecards, and other material about the Georgia Council on Human Relations and Hancock County, Georgia. The collection also includes drafts and edits of individual chapters of Rozier's book. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Restriction: Interview notes for book, Black Boss, are closed.
Scott, William H. (William Henry). (MSS 1082). Family papers, 1878-1918; 5 linear ft. (5 boxes).
William H. Scott (1848-1910), a Baptist minister and political activist, was one of the original members of the Niagara Movement, the predecessor organization to the NAACP. William H. Scott, Jr. (1887-1976) was the son of William H. Scott and Laura Ann Fields Scott. Scott followed his father's interest in politics and was active in the National Equal Rights League. He wrote for radical periodicals, including The Clarion and The New Negro. The collection consists of the papers of the William H. Scott family from 1878-1918 and includes correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, pamphlets, broadsides, sermons, writings, and other collected material of William H. Scott and his son William H. Scott, Jr. The majority of the correspondence concerns the political activities of William H. Scott. Also of interest in the collection are several letters written by William H. Scott, Jr. to his wife while he was serving in the military from 1918-1919. The correspondence details black life in the army during the Jim Crow era. Scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings from African American newspapers concerning politics, African American history, and family history. Sermons and writings are by both William H. Scott and William H. Scott, Jr. Photographs are mostly of family members and many were taken by William H. Scott, Jr. Printed material consists of pamphlets and announcements concerning political and religious activity in the African American community in Massachusetts and Washington, DC, during the early 20th century. The collection also includes a Civil War-era sword. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Sibley, John Adams. (MSS 437). Papers, 1920-1989; 154.25 linear ft. (463 boxes, 2 oversized bound volumes).
Sibley (1888-1986) was a prominent Atlanta lawyer, banker, and civic leader. He was a partner in the Atlanta law firm of King and Spaulding, general counsel to Coca-Cola, president of Trust Company Bank, head of Atlanta's first United Way appeal, and chairman of the General Assembly Commission on Schools, which is known as the "Sibley Commission." The Sibley Commission sought a way to keep Georgia's public schools open after the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision. The collection includes Sibley's personal and professional files, including correspondence, speeches, legal and financial records, photos, and printed items. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Restriction: Access to certain files relating to Coca-Cola and the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Foundation is restricted (series 1: subject files).
Sitton, Claude Fox. (MSS 633). Papers, 1958-1990; 13 linear ft. (14 boxes).
Sitton (1925-) worked as the southern correspondent for The New York Times during the late 1950s and early 1960s. During this time, he was widely considered the "dean" of the "Race Beat," the best reporter on the Southern civil rights assignment. Later, he worked as editor of the Raleigh News and Observer. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his weekly column. After his retirement, Sitton taught at Emory University, his alma mater. The collection contains Sitton's personal and professional papers, including correspondence, printed materials, speeches, and writings. The correspondence, by-lines and columns, and speeches date from the period after Sitton left The New York Times. The scrapbooks, though, contain clippings of his work from the late 1950s and early 1960s. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (MSS 1083). Records, 1864-2007 (bulk, 1968-2003); 491.75 linear ft. (918 boxes, 89 oversized papers, 194 oversized bound volumes).
The collection consists of the records of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) from 1957-2007 (bulk 1968-2003), including records from various offices and departments; files of various programs; financial and legal records; printed material; photographs; audiovisual materials; and artifacts and memorabilia. Material in the collection documents the nonviolent direct action initiatives of the organization, including boycotts, marches, rallies, protests, hearings, and other programs designed to secure and protect civil rights in America. The records reflect not only the day-to-day administration of the organization, but also the planning and management of special programming and events, and the involvement of individual leaders in the wider religious, political, and civil rights communities.
Materials reveal SCLC's major activities from the 1970s through the 2000s, including publishing and public relations; national conventions; interactions with local chapters and membership; engagement of youth in the Civil Rights Movement; various marches and rallies throughout America; and major programs such as the Citizenship Education Program, Poor People's Campaign, Operation Breadbasket, the Ministers Leadership Training Program, the Alabama Tri-County Project, the Crisis in Health Care for Black and Poor Americans hearings, the Wings of Hope Anti-Drug Programs, and the Stop the Killing, End the Violence campaign. The records of the "Martin Luther King Speaks" radio program feature transcripts of speeches and interviews with major figures of the Civil Rights Movement, Women's Movement, Student Movement, and artistic community.
The records of the Southern Christian Leadership Foundation (SCLF), a separate nonprofit organization founded in 1966 to raise money for SCLC, are also included in the collection. In conjunction with the SCLC's own financial records, they reveal much about the organization's fiscal life, including both donations to SCLC and SCLF's own charitable work. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Note: Special restrictions apply; see finding aid.
Southern Regional Council. (MSS 934) "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" program files and sound recordings; 21 linear ft. (21 boxes).
"Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: An Audio History of the Civil Rights Movement in Five Southern Communities and the Music of Those Times" is an award-winning radio documentary. Produced by the Southern Regional Council (SRC), it chronicles the struggle to end segregation in Atlanta, Georgia, Columbia, South Carolina, Jackson, Mississippi, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Montgomery, Alabama. While other civil rights documentaries concentrate on national leaders and national organizations, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" focuses on "the essential local character of the places and people who collectively became the Movement." In order to capture the undocumented side of the movement, the producers conducted over a hundred of original interviews with civil rights activists and combed through archives all across the country for oral histories and other materials. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" aired on Public Radio International (PRI) affiliates across the country in 1997, and it won a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award the same year.
The "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" program files consist of interview transcripts, audiovisual materials, scripts, program research files, and production files. The largest part of the collection is made up of materials related to the interviews, including tapes and transcripts of interviews conducted by the SRC as well as transcripts and tapes from other archival repositories. The program research files consist of inventories of archival collections, correspondence with archival repositories as well as historical materials, including biographical sketches, chronologies, notes, newspaper clippings, articles, excerpts from books, and guides for each city. The production files relate to the production and administration of the documentary. Of particular interest in this series are the comments from listeners about the documentary as well as the station carriage lists, which list the stations that carried "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" in the United States. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Stevens, Richard L. (MSS 520). Collection, 1964-1969; 14 linear ft. (28 boxes).
Activist and educator, Richard Lee Stevens, arrived in Atlanta during the 1960s when he enrolled in the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was active in the peace, civil rights, and student movements in the Gate City and across the South. In 1965 he became director of the Southern Student Human Relations Project, U.S. National Student Association. The collection consists of pamphlets, newspaper clippings, news bulletins, periodicals, and handbills related to the anti-war and civil rights movements as well as the war of poverty. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Sullivan, Patricia. (Interviewer). (MSS 621). Progressive Party oral history interviews, 1975-1982; 2.25 linear ft. (6 boxes).
This collection consists of oral history interviews with participants in the 1948 Progressive Party campaign in the South. Interviewees include John Abt, Randolph Blackwell, William Holmes Borders, James Dombrowski, Viginia Durr, Floyd Hunter, Curtis MacDougall, Claude Pepper, John Popham, Glenn Rainey, Pete Seeger, Studs Terkel, Strom Thurmond, and F. Palmer Weber. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Tilly, Dorothy Rogers. (MSS 539). Papers, 1868-1970; 2 linear ft. (4 boxes, 1 oversized item, 4 bound volumes).
Tilly (1883-1970) spent much of her life fighting for civil rights in Atlanta and the South. She worked as the director of women's work for the Southern Regional Council. She was also active in the Georgia Interracial Committee, Atlanta Urban League, Georgia Conference on Social Work, the Fellowship of the Concerned, and President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, biographical information, copies of records of the Committee on Civil Rights, and a scrapbook and record books for the Women's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Tuttle, Elbert P. (MSS 792). Judicial papers, 1952-1995; 87 linear ft. (92 boxes).
Judge Tuttle (1897-1996) was a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit from 1954-1967. He served as Chief Judge of that court from 1960 until 1967. Until its division in 1981, the "old" 5th Circuit had jurisdiction over the six states in the South. The 5th Circuit served as the federal appellate court one level below the Supreme Court, and it comprised the country's largest and busiest Constitutional court during the Civil Rights Movement. The Tuttle judicial papers include correspondence, docket books, records relating to court administration, case files and opinions, and a small number of personal papers. The majority of the case files begin in 1965-1966. However, there are some case files from earlier civil rights cases such as Meredith v. Fair and Armstrong et al. v. Board of Education of the City of Birmingham. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Universal Negro Improvement Association. (MSS 1066). Records; 11.5 linear ft. (24 boxes and 8 oversized papers).
Thomas Watson Harvy (1893-1978) was an African American leader in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). He served in the United States Army before becoming involved with the UNIA in 1919. He was associated with Marcus Garvey as a part of the Pan-African movement. Harvey was elected President-General of the UNIA from 1950-1978. He died on June 27, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The collection contains papers of Thomas W. Harvey from circa 1924-1972 related to his involvement with the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The papers include pamphlets and other printed material, correspondence, including 80 letters signed by Marcus Garvey, and reports of the UNIA. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Vivan, C.T. and Octavia (MSS 1286). Papers, 1923-2019; 107 linear ft. (108 boxes, 9 oversized papers, 1 oversized papers folder, 2 linear ft. AV material)
Cordy Tindell (C.T.) Vivian was an African-American civil rights activist and minister, born on July 28, 1924, to Robert and Euzetta (Tindell) Vivian in Booneville, Missouri. Vivian was educated in the desegregated public schools of McComb, Illinois, and attended Western Illinois University. Following college, Vivian moved to Peoria, Illinois where he became involved with the nonviolent direct action efforts such as sit-ins, to end de facto segregation of public spaces in the city. In 1955, he attended the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, and became more involved with the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. In the 1960s, Vivian participated in the Freedom Rides and joined the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Vivian is also the founder of the Anti-Klan Network (later known as the Center for Democratic Renewal), Seminary without Walls (a program at Shaw University, and the Black Action Strategies and Information Center. C.T. Vivian died on July 17, 2020.
The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, printed material, audiovisual material, and subject files. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description.
Vodery, Harry A. (MSS 1052). Papers, 1947-1969; .75 linear ft. (2 boxes and 1 oversized paper).
Harry Albert Vodery (1914-1986) was an African American businessman, photographer, and active participant in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He served as the NAACP regional director for New York from 1950-1960; he served as the president of the Albany NAACP Branch in the 1960s and 1970s. Vodery owned the Vodery News Syndicate, which published a number of local newspapers, including Read magazine and the Buffalo Broadcaster.
The papers include correspondence, printed material relating to the NAACP, photographs, and publications collected or printed by Vodery. The majority of the collection concerns Vodery's work with the NAACP and includes correspondence, reports, and speeches by Vodery and others, conference material, and press releases. The remainder of the collection contains material related to his publishing ventures, including final publications, mock-ups, and photographs. The collection also contains publications collected by Vodery related to union labor and civil rights. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Watters, Pat. (MSS 905). Papers, 2 linear ft. (2 boxes).
Walter Patterson Watters (1927-1999) was a journalist at the Atlanta Journal from 1952-1963, director of information at the Southern Regional Council from 1952-1963, and the author of numerous books and articles. The collection consists of personal and professional papers of Pat Watters and includes correspondence, subject files, awards, book reviews, and an unpublished manuscript "Add Obits." See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Wilkins, Josephine Mathewson. (MSS 580). Papers, 1920-1977; 50 linear ft. (66 boxes, 4 oversized items, 3 oversized bound volumes).
Wilkins (1893-1977), an Atlanta civic leader and social reformer, worked with the League of Women Voters, the Georgia Children's Code Commission, (1923-1937), the Citizens' Fact-Finding Movement of Georgia, (1937-1949), and the Southern Regional Council. The collection includes correspondence, minutes, subject files, reports, financial records, press releases, clippings, photographs, and other items documenting Wilkins' roles in various organizations. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
Woodward, Emily Barnelia. (MSS 424). Papers, 1918-1966; 5.75 linear ft. (12 boxes).
Woodward (1885-1970), a journalist, worked as an editor of the Vienna News, contributed to the Atlanta Journal, and directed the Georgia Public Forums. She also participated in other civic, cultural, and women's organizations. The collection includes correspondence, manuscript articles and addresses, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and biographical material. See EmoryFindingAids for a detailed description of the collection.
E-mail: rose.library@emory.edu
Phone: 404-727-6887
Emory University's Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library (Rose Library) holds over 200,000 printed volumes, over 1,200 manuscript collections, photographs, motion picture film, audio recordings, and other visual media. Its renowned collections span more than 800 years of human history—with a special focus on modern literature, African American history, and the history of Georgia and the South. Everyone is welcome to use Rose Library collections: students, scholars, visiting researchers, and the general public.