Library Blog

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.

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, the Census and National Archives announced it will hold a hearing on the issue of public access to federally funded research on Thursday, July 29.

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.

In July, the Emory University Libraries will be introducing software enhancements to Reserves Direct. These enhancements will better enable Emory's Faculty and Staff to comply with fair use and U.S. Copyright Law.

What’s New:

For Faculty who upload their own materials:

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.”