NAACP Atlanta Branch records

by Cheryl Oestreicher, Project 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.

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. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Branch fought segregation by filing lawsuits and petitions against golf courses, restaurants, transportation, and other businesses. They were instrumental in the desegregation of Atlanta Public Schools in the early 1960s.

The Branch facilitated initiatives in voter registration, housing and urban development, employment discrimination, education, job placement and training, women and minority employment, police brutality, affirmative action, and legislative monitoring. They helped with lawsuits against the Atlanta and National Post Offices, reapportionment, MARTA, Fort McPherson, and elections. They were instrumental in breaking up the Cox Communication conglomerate that then allowed minorities achieve on-air and high level positions with media outlets.

Above left: Freedom Fund Committee, 1977. Above right: Membership brochure, undated. Click to view full size images.

"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.

Above left:  Map of Atlanta public schools.  Right:  WAOK radio announcement.  Click to view full size images.

August 30 marks 50 years since nine black students transferred to white Atlanta high schools. The NAACP filed its first lawsuit, Calhoun v. Latimer, against the Atlanta public school system in 1958, four years after Brown v. Board of Education. In 1959, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Hooper declared Atlanta’s segregated public schools unconstitutional and ordered the system to file a desegregation plan by December 1959 to be implemented in 1960. If schools did not integrate, they would lose federal funding and be forced to close.

By Cheryl Oestreicher, Project 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.

In 1972, Jondelle Johnson became the Executive Director of the NAACP Atlanta Branch. The organization was at a transitional moment, with the major civil rights actions of the 1960s over but new initiatives not yet defined. Known as “Mrs. NAACP,” her leadership in the 1970s and 1980s helped the Branch continue established committees and initiate new programs.

Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina on March 11, 1924. She graduated Allen University in 1945 with honors, with a major in psychology and a minor in education. She also did some graduate work in elementary education at both Atlanta and Emory Universities. She was married to Winfred Johnson with whom she had four children. She was a member of Wheat Street Baptist Church and later Solid Rock Miracle Temple.

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 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 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