CLIR Hidden Collections Grant Project

By Amber L. Moore, Project Archivist, 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.

Rev. James Hargett was ordained to ministry of the Congregational Church in 1955, and served as an associate minister of the predominately Japanese American Church of the Crossroads United Church of Christ (UCC) in Honolulu from 1955 to 1958.  He was the first African American minister called to serve a Protestant-established church in Hawaii.

The Honolulu (Hawaii) files consist of Hargett's personal minister's record book (1955-1957) which includes information about marriages he performed, as well as sermons he preached while in Hawaii.   

BY: Michael Kaiser, Graduate Student Processing Assistant, 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.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is best known for using the courts to overturn Jim Crow statutes.  However, the organization pursued a wide-range of goals reflected in the NAACP Atlanta Branch Records.  Of its many standing committees, Political Action constitutes one of its most interesting.  The goals of the Political Action Committee focused on voter registration, the enactment and repeal of pertinent legislation, and other major political issues affecting African Americans in Atlanta and across the world.

By Amber L. Moore, Project Archivist, 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.

Reverend Dr. James Hester Hargett, community advocate and civil rights activist, spent over forty years as a United Church of Christ pastor in churches located in the states of California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. His ministry focused on the recruitment of African Americans in Christian service and activities in the areas of community advocacy, education, human relations, mental health, and social justice.

By Brenda Tindal, Robert W. Woodruff Library Graduate Fellow, 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.

"Its been a long, long time coming/but I know change gonna come/oh yes it will." These words sung by the late R&B crooner, Sam Cooke could very well be the soundtrack to the SCLC's organizational records, in general, but especially as it relates to the Programs Series. Here, researchers, students, and scholars alike, will have the unique opportunity to engage SCLC's arduous pursuit of the democratic ideals of justice and equality through their spectrum of community and church-based programs.

Above:  Anonymous man and woman, circa 1960s.

By Cheryl Oestreicher, Projet Archivist, Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History

"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.

The NAACP Atlanta Branch relied on members and their contributions to sustain their organization and programs. Strong membership shows support as well as need for the organization.

There are two main types of membership: adult and youth. Both of those could be with or without a subscription to The Crisis. Throughout its history, the organization experimented with various other types of memberships, including Lifetime, Thousandaire Club, student, and others. The  organization also targeted certain groups, such as students, ministers, and beauticians to increase their membership.

By Laura Thomson, Director of Processing, 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.

Carmel Carrington Marr, former legal advisor to the United States Mission to the United Nations (UN), attorney, community activist, and energy consultant. Marr worked extensively in public service through her membership on many boards and committees including the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Billie Holiday Theatre for the Performing Arts, New York State School for Girls at Hudson, New York, and various boards and committees related to energy, as well as political, professional, and women’s organizations.

By Cheryl Oestreicher, Project Archivist, NAACP Atlanta Brach records, 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.

Chartered in 1917, the NAACP Atlanta Branch started under the leadership of James Weldon Johnson, Harry Pace, Dr. Charles Johnson, Dr. Louis Wright, and Walter White. The collection spans the 1950s through the 1990s, with the bulk of it from when Jondelle Johnson was Executive Director in the 1970s and 1980s. Presidents represented in the collection include Samuel W. Williams, C. Miles Smith, Lonnie King, and Julian Bond.

Above:  Voting brochure, 1974	Above:  Fair Share Agreement with Georgia Power, 1984