MARBL

by Allison Hughes, Archival Assistant, Voter Education Project Collection, Atlanta University Center

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Wiley Austin Branton was a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Born in December of 1923, the World War II veteran attended Arkansas A.M. & N. College where he earned a degree in Business Administration. After graduating from Arkansas A.M. & N. College, he attended the University Of Arkansas School Of Law where he earned his Juris Doctor.

By Christopher Harter, Director of Library and Reference Services, Amistad Research Center

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Around the same time that the Amistad Research Center was awarded a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in 2008 to assist the Center in identifying and cataloging “hidden” archival collections, the Center was also seeking to increase the use of undergraduate and graduate students in helping to process and preserve its collections. These two initiatives have worked hand in hand to greatly assist the Center in increasing access to its collections and give young scholars experience working in an archival setting.

By Sarah Quigley, Project Archivist, Southern Christian Leadership Conference records, Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, Emory University

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Throughout its 53 year history, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has applied the tactics of nonviolent direct action to draw attention to issues of social and economic justice and affect change.  By conducting sit-ins, protest marches and other acts of civil disobedience, the organization focused public scrutiny on such problems as segregation, voter disenfranchisement and economic inequality. 

By Courtney Chartier, Assistant Head, Archives Research Center, AUC-Woodruff Library.

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

On January 28, 1972, John Lewis, speaking to the conference of the Black Youth Caucus in Birmingham, Alabama, said “We have reached a point in history where Black people now stand up all across the land and no longer ask, but demand their rights as citizens…I believe that, through politics, we can, once again, place the problems of the poor and the problems of minority groups back on the agenda of America…We cannot be free while our white, red, yellow, and brown brothers and sisters are dehumanized and enslaved by poverty.”

By Cheryl Oestreicher, Project Archivist, Jean Childs Young Papers, Auburn Avenue Research Library

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Jean Childs Young devoted much of her professional career to education. With both a bachelor’s and master’s in education, Young taught at Atlanta’s Whiteford and Slaton Elementary Schools in the 1960s. She served as coordinator of elementary and pre-school curriculum for Atlanta Public Schools (APS), in particular the Central City Program started in 1969. Focused on improving standards and staff development for teachers working at inner city schools, the CCP’s objectives included updating curriculum for all subjects, improving reading skills, and emphasizing students' successes not failures.

By Shannon Burrell, Senior Processing Assistant, Amistad Research Center

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Lloyd Davis (1928-2007) was a proponent of equal opportunities, a civil rights activist, and a fair housing advocate. Davis served as the first vice president and chief operating officer of the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, and was a longtime senior adviser for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

By Sarah Quigley, Project Archivist, Southern Christian Leadership Conference records, MARBL

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Many know journalist Stone Phillips from his work on NBC’s “Dateline.”  However, many people don’t know that in the summer of 1977, he worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.  Following his graduation from Yale University, Phillips received a grant from the United Methodist Church to plan and implement a summer reading program for juvenile probationers aged 13-15.  The grant project was sponsored by the SCLC, and inspired by Fulton County Juvenile Court Judge Romae Powell who believed that there was a connection between reading deficiencies and juvenile delinquency.  The goals of the program were “to help each participant improve his or her reading skills, and…to promote self-confidence and positive self-awareness in each individual.”  Phillips and his supervisors believed that improving literacy among these teenagers would increase employment opportunities and foster an “understanding of the rights and obligations of citizenship.”[*]