Documenting a Century of Civil Rights Activism. Working with the NAACP Papers in ProQuest History Vault. By Rachel Hally.
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NAACP Papers is one of History Vault’s top collections and it is an outstanding collection for the study of the civil rights movement. In this presentation use cases from universities are presented.
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Documenting a Century of Civil Rights Activism. Working with the NAACP Papers in ProQuest History Vault. By Rachel Hally.
- 2. DOCUMENTING A CENTURY OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISM Working with the NAACP Papers in ProQuest History Vault
- 3. ProQuest History Vault – NAACP Papers
- 4. NAACP Papers: Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff Files
- 5. NAACP Papers: Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff Files
- 6. NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Scottsboro, Anti- Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and ResponsesScottsboro 7/2/2014 6
- 7. 7 NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Scottsboro, Anti- Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses
- 8. 8 NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Scottsboro, Anti- Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses
- 9. 9 NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Scottsboro, Anti- Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses
- 10. 10 NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Legal Department Files
- 11. 11 NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Legal Department Files
- 12. 12 NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Legal Department Files
- 13. 13 NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Legal Department Files
- 14. ProQuest History Vault – NAACP Papers: Special Subjects Use Case #1: Student in Africana Studies Department at Dickinson College writing paper on NAACP’s relationship with Hollywood for “Writing in Africana Studies” class
- 15. ProQuest History Vault – NAACP Papers: Special Subjects Use Case #2: College of Wooster – Independent Study Thesis. Topic: The NAACP’s relationship with Black Nationalism and Black Power
- 16. ProQuest History Vault – NAACP Papers: Special Subjects Use Case #4: University of California – Berkeley, History 124B: U.S. from WWII to the Great Recession. Topic: NAACP and the Nixon Administration
- 17. ProQuest History Vault – NAACP Papers: Branch Department, Branch Files and Youth Department Files Use Case #1: Ph. D. student writing dissertation on NAACP Branch Department leaders
- 18. ProQuest History Vault – NAACP Papers: Branch Department, Branch Files and Youth Department Files Use Case #2: Ohio State University M.A. Student: Seminar in African American History writing paper comparing NAACP branches in Ohio and Mississippi
- 19. QUESTIONS? Thank You! Rachel Hally History Vault Product Manager rachel.hally@proquest.com 7/2/2014 19
Notas del editor
- Two pages from the new collateral piece that covers all 8 NAACP modules Eric Arnesen John Bracey August Meier Trademark collection for UPA
- NAACP Papers is one of History Vault’s most high profile collections and it is an outstanding collection for the study of the civil rights movement. The NAACP is arguably the most important civil rights organization of the 20th century. For students of women’s studies, one important fact about the NAACP is that many of its important leaders, both at the national and local level were women. Here we see a leader of the Chicago NAACP branch, Miss Josephine Fulton, a letter from Ella J. Baker, the director of branches in the 1940s, and longtime and influential NAACP regional director Ruby Hurley.
- This document is from the NAACP 1963 annual convention. It shows the NAACP national officers and field secretaries in 1963, 8 of whom are women. Over the years, the following women held key leadership roles in the NAACP. History Vault includes documents by or about each of them: Mary White Ovington Ruby Hurley Juanita Jackson Mitchell Daisy Lampkin Daisy Bates Ella Baker Rosa Parks Althea Simmons Constance Baker Motley Myrlie Evers Lulu B. White Mildred Bond Bobbie Branche June Shagaloff Gertrude Gorman Tarea Hall Pittman Lucille Black
- Now let’s turn to the content in the 3rd NAACP module – this went live on April 5, 2013. This module is The NAACP’s Major Campaigns—Scottsboro, Anti-Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses – these were the key early campaigns that built the foundation of the NAACP, allowing it to grow into one of the key civil rights organizations. One of the highlights of this module are the documents on the Scottsboro case – one of the most important criminal cases of the 20th century. The Scottsboro case began when nine black teenagers were accused of raping two white women who had hitched a ride on the same freight that the black teenagers were on. 16 days after they were arrested, 8 of the 9 were were sentenced to death in the electric chair. The young men escaped execution when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark decision of Powell v. Alabama that they had been inadequately represented by counsel. They had talked with their lawyers for less than 30 minutes before their trials began. There were several additional cases after Powell v. Alabama, including the landmark case of Norris v. Alabama in 1935, the Supreme Court again made another key ruling – overturning the verdict on the grounds of the complete absence of blacks from the jury lists. Trials continued to be held in Alabama even after the decision in Norris v. Alabma and 5 of the 9 defendants were convicted in 1936 and 1937 despite the fact that one of the victims recanted her testimony. It was not until 1943 that these 5 men were released from prison. The NAACP Papers pertaining to Scottsboro include correspondence among participating attorneys regarding legal strategy, financing the case, and competition between the NAACP and the Communist Party. There are also many prison letters from the Scottsboro defendants and communications with their parents and relatives. There is also a large body of legal documents relating to the five separate series of trials and appeals, including trial transcripts, bills of exception, appellate briefs, and copies of judicial decisions. Here we see an early summary of the case by one of the local attorneys involved in the first set of cases and by the NAACP to the legendary attorney Clarence Darrow asking for his help in the case.
- The second major topic covered in this module , very closely related to the Scottsboro files, is the NAACP’s campaign against lynching. Lynching is defined in this content as a mob of three or more members who acted abitrarily and without legal standing to inflic injury and death upon a victim who may or may not have been guilty of some actual or imagined violation of law or local sensibilities. From 1882 to 1964 there were 4,742 recorded lynchings in the United States, 3,445 of them black men and women. Mississippi had the most lynching with 539 black victims and an additional 42 whites. The annual number of lynchings declined noticeably from the mid-1920s onward, and the NAACP began its campaign for a federal anti-lynching law in 1918. The issue of lynching became a key issue around which the NAACP mobilized the black community and white allies. These included civil libertarians, industrial unionists, ethnic organizations, women’s groups, and other white liberals Here we see a page from an NAACP report on lynching, and a letter from NAACP Secretary Walter White about a luncheon in honor of one the NAACP’s key investigators. White writes about how dangerous this work is and the need to keep the investigator’s name secret. Also notice that the price of the luncheon was 85 cents.
- Here we see 2 more documents from the criminal justice series of records. On the left is a broadside for a meeting held by the Jersey City, New Jersey NAACP branch. During the meeting, Sam Buchanan told the story of his imprisonment in Georgia. And on the right, you see a press release describing the meeting. So these two documents are an example of the variety of document types researchers will find in the NAACP Papers. And on the bottom right is a telegram from Walter White to the Governor of Michigan regarding the possible extradition of Dove Ballard back to Alabama, and he refers to the inflamed tensions in Alabama since the Scottsboro case.
- Beyond the criminal justice records, this third NAACP also includes material on complaints about segregation and exclusion in places of public accommodation and recreation between 1940 and 1955. Complaints involving hotels, clubs, hospitals, restaurants, parks, playgrounds, beaches, common carriers, and transportation depots poured into the NAACP national office from branches and individuals all across the country. In addition, there are a few small files that shed light on the fight against employment discrimination and a small series devoted to segregation in organized sports. Here we see a telegram regarding the desegregation of professional baseball by Jackie Robinson, and a letter regarding the important Supreme Court case Morgan v. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court overturned the Virginia law that required segregation on interstate carriers. The Morgan decision inspired other challenges to discrimination in transportation, and there are related files in other NAACP modules as well as the Black Freedom modules.
- Here is an example from a 100 level class at the University of California-Berkeley, In this class History 124B: U.S. From WWII to the Great Recession, students will write a 10-12 page research paper on a topic of their choice within the scope of this course. The paper’s main argument and analysis must be based in primary-source research rather than in secondary sources, although secondary sources can be used for background information and for mining primary sources. Using the NAACP Special Subjects collection, students could write about the NAACP’s troubled relationship with the Nixon administration. As part of his “southern strategy” to win votes in southern states, Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell of Florida and Clement F. Haynsworth Jr. of South Carolina to the U.S. Supreme Court. The NAACP opposed both nominees because of their poor records on civil rights and civil liberties. This edition of General Office Files contains materials on the NAACP’s successful campaigns to defeat these two nominees. The Carswell files (Reel 5, Frames 0261–0476) include NAACP press releases and correspondence by Roy Wilkins, John A. Morsell, and NAACP Washington Bureau director Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. expressing the reasons for the association’s opposition to Carswell. The NAACP regularly referred to a 1948 speech in which Carswell defended segregation, his participation in privatizing a Florida golf course in order to circumvent a desegregation order, and the fact that several of his decisions in school desegregation cases were reversed by higher courts. The Carswell files also include a press release by Bayard Rustin, executive director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, praising the work of the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the AFL-CIO in defeating Carswell. Files pertaining to Haynsworth’s nomination (Reel 5, Frames 0499–0986) also consist of NAACP press releases and other statements critical of Haynsworth. For example, there is an NAACP pamphlet entitled “Haynsworth is not ‘with it’” that emphasizes that several of his school desegregation decisions were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1971, the NAACP again opposed the Nixon administration when Nixon nominated William Rehnquist for the U.S. Supreme Court. The files concerning Rehnquist’s nomination (Reel 6, Frames 0001–0109) include a report by the legislative representative of Americans for Democratic Action on several statements made by Rehnquist on school desegregation, civil rights legislation, privacy rights, demonstrators, and First Amendment rights. The report also mentions an incident in which Rehnquist allegedly intimidated voters at a polling place in 1964. There is also a memorandum from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and a statement by Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. before the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing Rehnquist’s nomination. Both the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Mitchell cited a Rehnquist statement regarding discrimination in public accommodations and his opposition to school desegregation. Although the NAACP failed to defeat Rehnquist, these files are indicative of their strained relationship with President Nixon. Other materials pertaining to Nixon’s record on civil rights can be found in the “Government, Federal” files, the files of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the correspondence of John A. Morsell (Reel 16, Frame 0403), and the files of Roy Wilkins (Reel 20, Frames 0247–0340 and Reel 22, Frame 0062). Morsell’s files contain several letters from just prior to the 1972 election in which Morsell sharply denounces Nixon’s civil rights record.
- The sixth NAACP module in History Vault’s NAACP Papers collections is the Branch Department, Branch Files, and Youth Department Files. In this use case, a Ph.D. Student is writing a dissertation on the NAACP Branch Department leaders. There are many angles the student could take in this dissertation. First, the branch department files contain significant documentation on Gloster B. Current who was the NAACP director of Branches for a 30 year period from 1946-1976. He oversaw a huge growth in branches and memberships and his overall administration of the branch department are clearly documented in the papers Current established the regional office network, beginning in the late 1940s, in order to provide a full-time professional staff to link the local branches with the NAACP’s national headquarters in New York. Current required his field staff to submit detailed monthly and annual reports summarizing their activities; the status of NAACP initiatives in school desegregation, employment, housing, political action, legal defense, memberships, and fund-raising; and any other major developments in their areas. It is also possible to study the work of the regional staff in detail. Regional staff performed many roles. They provided leadership training and ready access to the NAACP legal staff at a time when the association was expanding its legal operations. Regional officers also worked to increase membership, establish new branches, raise money, and maintain good relationships with the media. In fulfilling these duties, regional officers traveled widely among local black communities, recording a substantial amount about local NAACP leaders and campaigns. Among the regional officers whose activities are well documented in this microfilm edition are Donald Jones, U. Simpson Tate, Noah W. Griffin, Franklin H. Williams, Ruby Hurley, and Tarea Hall Pittman. The careers of Hurley and Pittman are particularly significant because they reveal the important leadership roles played by women in the struggle for civil rights. The Regional Office Files not only reveal the interaction between the local and national levels of the NAACP but also illustrate the extent to which each branch pursued a local agenda. Because of this local variation, the reports of the regional officers each have slightly different emphases. For example, on the West Coast, NAACP leaders showed substantial concern for charges of communist influence within their organization. The NAACP did all it could to distance itself from the Communist Party and other radical left-wing organizations. In the northern and midwestern states, where de facto rather than de jure segregation was generally the rule, the desegregation of housing and recreational facilities emerged as major NAACP campaigns. The Southeast Regional Office was led by Ruby Hurley from its founding in 1951 until her retirement in 1979. The West Coast Regional Office covered the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. It was led during this period by Regional Director Leonard H. Carter and Field Director and Legislative Advocate Virna M. Canson Also possible to study local leaders, many of whom were women: These include Daisy Bates from Arkansas; Vivienne R. Chisholm and June T. Tennille from the District of Columbia; Fannie Fullerwood from Saint Augustine, Florida; Osceola A. Dawson and Helen L. Phelps from Kentucky; Doretha A. Combre from Louisiana; Lillie M. Jackson and Juanita Jackson Mitchell from Baltimore, Maryland; Vera Mae Pigee from Mississippi; Modjeska M. Simkins from South Carolina; and Lulu B. White and Christia V. Adair from Texas. At the regional level, Ruby Hurley was one of the NAACP’s most dynamic leaders
- Ohio State University MA Student in African American History Ohio State has many faculty and courses on the civil rights movement Branch files In a March 3, 1960, telephone conversation with NAACP national branch director Gloster B. Current, Cincinnati branch president William Bowen explained the branch’s decision to picket Cincinnati Woolworth and Kress stores. Bowen said that in part the pickets were initiated to support the sit-in movement in the South, but it was also done because there were no African American employees in thirteen Kress and Woolworth stores in the Cincinnati area. The branch used the momentum from these demonstrations to launch actions against other companies with discriminatory employment practices. In 1961, efforts primarily focused on The Coca-Cola Company. As of May 18, 1961, Coca-Cola employed only two African Americans, both as janitors. The branch demonstrated at Coca-Cola’s factory in Cincinnati and at grocery stores selling Coca-Cola. The slogan for the campaign was “It’s No Joke, We’re Not Buying Coke.” In addition to the campaign against Coca-Cola, the branch also instituted boycotts against the Avondale-Berling Dairies, the Canada Dry Bottling Company, and the McAlpin Company. The Coahoma County, Mississippi, branch is one of the best documented branches in this edition (Reel 10, Frame 0012 through Frame 0296). These files contain regular reports and correspondence about the freedom movement in Coahoma County written by branch leader Aaron Henry. Henry, a Clarksdale businessman and pharmacist, was one of the NAACP’s many courageous and dynamic local leaders. In addition to leading the Coahoma County branch, in 1960, Henry was selected president of the Mississippi State Conference of NAACP branches, and in 1962 he helped to bring the Council of Federated Organizations to Coahoma County. Henry was also a key figure in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a political party originally formed to challenge the segregationist Mississippi delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Topics covered in Henry’s reports and correspondence include an NAACP-led boycott of Clarksdale businesses, civil rights demonstrations, voter registration, and harassment and arrests of Henry and other local activists. Other records in the Coahoma County files include letters to the mayor of Clarksdale listing movement demands, testimony by Henry on conditions in Mississippi before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, a detailed summary of events in Clarksdale entitled “The Clarksdale Story,” and a report on economic conditions in the Yazoo- Mississippi Delta. Additional material on NAACP activity in Coahoma County, particularly the activities of Aaron Henry, can also be found in other parts of UPA’s Papers of the NAACP. These include Supplement to Part 4, Voting Rights General Office Files, 1956–1965; Supplement to Part 16, Board of Directors Files, 1956–1965; Part 20: White Resistance and Reprisals; Part 21: NAACP Relations with the Modern Civil Rights Movement; Part 22: Legal Department Administrative Files, 1956–1965; and Part 23: Legal Department Case Files, 1956–1965, Series A: The South.