Organizations, 1935-1979
Series I: Personal Papers, 1910-1970 - Series I is comprised of the personal papers, both collected and created, of eleven people active in the Civil Rights Movement.
Subseries A: Arthur Calhoun Papers, 1910-1966 - Calhoun collected items concerning education, medical care, housing, Operation Freedom, and the Presbyterian Church. Two of his clippings are about white people being persecuted for acts of racial justice.
Subseries B: Charles A. Haynie Papers, 1961-1965 - Haynie was instrumental in voter registration efforts in Fayette County, Tennessee. His papers include several of his notebooks with plans and results regarding these efforts as well as handwritten and form-letter affidavits by citizens denied voting rights.
Subseries C: Jane E. Hodes Papers, 1963-1966 - Hodes' papers include letters from her son while he volunteered in the South, organization letters for parents of these volunteers, and many brochures and letters from a variety of civil rights organizations.
Subseries D: Edwin M. Hoffman Papers, 1952-1966 - Hoffman's papers include information from the YMCA at Berea College; letters from political figures about migrant workers, unfair trials, and the United Nations; and a copy of Southern Reposure, a newspaper parody from 1956.
Subseries E: Buford W. Posey Papers, 1948-1967 - This subseries includes correspondence about and with Avon Rollins; business papers such as minutes and budgets for SCEF; a photograph of Bruce Moore, whose daughter integrated a black school; a great deal of information about Knoxville, Tennessee and Danville, Kentucky; mimeographed booklets to help local groups pursue civil rights activities; and several issues of the Mississippi Free Press.
Subseries F: Sidney R. Redmond Papers, 1949-1959 - This subseries primarily consists of legal documents for the desegregation cases Redmond prosecuted in Missouri. It also includes many issues of the Petal Paper from Petal, Mississippi.
Subseries G: Walter and Elizabeth Rogers Papers, 1965-1970 - Many of the publications in this subseries were written by the Rogerses and sent out as a newsletter for their New Orleans neighborhood's flood relief efforts.
Subseries H: Roy L. Self Papers, 1958-1966 - This subseries includes an annual record of Self's activities as a member of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, attendee materials from SCLC's 10th Annual Convention, and various booklets and brochures about civil rights organizations and efforts.
Subseries I: Dorothy Swisshelm Papers, 1954-1966 - This subseries begins with the manuscript and supporting documents for Swisshelm's book entitled Six Year Behind the Magnolia Curtain, an account of her experiences in Americus, Georgia, and Biloxi, Mississippi, working with a variety of civil rights groups. It also contains papers regarding her work as a professional social worker, the content of a talk presented by James W. Silver about his book, and a variety of documents about civil rights particularly in Georgia, Mississippi, and Nebraska where she lived and worked. Swisshelm also provided many issues of the Voice of Americus, the Southern Patriot, and the Omaha Star.
Subseries J: Claude Williams Papers, 1918-1966 - In addition to documents and photographs from the People's Institute for Applied Religion, this subseries contains photographs from Commonwealth College and The Arkansas Training School for Boys at Pine Bluff, three volumes from Williams' trial for heresy, and many publications from SCLC and other civil rights organizations.
Subseries K: Hosea L. Williams Papers, 1962-1965 - This subseries consists of publications from the Office of Economic Opportunity and other organizations.
Series II: Organizations, 1935-1979 - Series II is comprised of documents from more than ten civil rights organizations. Papers from the Southern Conference Educational Fund include a pamphlet entitled "The Case Against Carl and Ann Braden" and business records such as board minutes, budgets, and correspondence. There are eight folders containing Southern Regional Council Special Reports on topics such as school desegregation, urban issues in Southern cities, the justice system, and farmers.
In addition to those large collections, there are a variety of records from the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Congress of Racial Equality, Fayett-Haywood Workcamps, the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation, the National Urban League, the Southern Student Organizing Committee, and the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Marketing materials for these organizations consist of mass mailings with information and financial appeals. Many organizations have pertinent newspaper clippings as well as their own news releases. Throughout the collection are occasional photographs, in addition to the folders specifically dedicated to them.
Series III: Publications, 1932-1977 - Series III is comprised of publications such as books, pamphlets, legal documents, journals, newsletters, and a newspaper documenting the Civil Rights Movement.
Series A: Books, 1951-1968 - The eleven volumes in this subseries include topics such as school desegregation, voting rights, and other civil rights issues. Mississippi: the Closed Society is the book that James Silver spoke about in Dorothy Swisshelm's Papers.
Subseries B: Pamphlets, circa 1950-1970 - These mostly undated pamphlets have been sorted into nine specific topics as well as civil rights in general. Pamphlets that are primarily about specific subjects (such as economics and employment, education, government and law, riots/demonstrations/violence, and voting) have been organized alphabetically by title. Pamphlets that contain several topics, including those mentioned above, have been organized together, also alphabetically by title. Brief titles of every pamphlet are listed below in notes for each folder.
Subseries C: Legal Documents, 1932-1961 - This subseries consists of legal briefs and procedural papers for civil rights cases, including the one against Carl and Ann Braden, three about desegregation in Missouri, and several held in Alabama.
Subseries D: Journals, 1955-1973 - This subseries consists of a complete run of New South from September 1955 to Fall 1973.
Subseries E: Newsletters, 1945-1984 - Many of the newsletters in this subseries have complete or near complete runs (dates have been indicated as much as possible). Large collections consist of the Black Panther, South Today, The Southern Courier, and The Southern Patriot/Struggle. Smaller collections include Ammunition, Did you Know?, Fayette-Haywood Newsletter, Fellowship, Highlander Reports, The Phoenix, SCLC Newsletter, SDS New Left Notes, The Student Voice, Urban League Newsletter, V.E.P. News, and others.
Subseries F: Newspapers, 1966 - This subseries is for a single issue of the Columbus News from April 16, 1966.
Series IV: Audiovisual Material, 1955-1966 - This series is comprised primarily of 7-inch reel-to-reel tapes containing interviews with a variety of people and speeches from civil rights gatherings. Many tapes were made of Bruce Maxwell, Don Grubbs, Clifford Dun, Hazel Gregory, and Claude Williams. Gatherings include a Freedom Revival, a reunion at Highlander Center, the Washington Conference on Voting Restrictions, a Southern Christian Leadership Convention, and a meeting of the Students for a Democratic Society. There are many other people and topics represented as well, and other formats include smaller reel-to-reel tapes and an LP record.
Series V: Oversize Materials, 1938-1966 - This series includes a variety of documents from the Claude Williams Papers, eight posters by Billy Morrow Jackson, and the very brittle original newspapers that have been digitized onto CDs in the papers of Buford Posey, Sidney R. Redmond, Walter and Elizabeth Rogers, and Dorothy Swisshelm.
Dates
- 1935-1979
Conditions Governing Access
Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Extent
From the Collection: 14 Linear Feet
Biographical/Historical Note
The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights was founded on June 5, 1965 by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and several others because the NAACP wasn’t allowed to operate in Alabama. They met every Monday night to instruct and inspire middle and lower class citizens about agitating for their civil rights. They were more confrontational than some civil rights groups, but were very clear about not being a communist organization. In addition to trying to integrate the police department, buses, parks, and schools, the members hosted students who came south to participate in the Freedom Rides. In the spring of 1963, Reverend Shuttlesworth persuaded Martin Luther King, Jr. and the SCLC to join them in Birmingham to integrate the department stores. Their efforts were influential in the eventual passage of the US Civil Rights Bill. In 1969, Reverend Shuttlesworth stepped down from leading the organization, and in 1970 the SCLC opened a branch in Birmingham, so the ACMHR faded from the scene.
The American Civil Liberties Union was formed in 1920, in response to unlawful deportations in the wake of the Russian communist revolution. They were originally called the Civil Liberties Bureau, but changed their name when they changed tactics from litigation to action and education. They participated in the 1925 Scopes Trial and the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education trial, and were strong supporters of civil rights efforts through the 1960s. During the 1960s the Atlanta office of the ACLU was led by Charles Morgan, Jr. and was successful in many desegregation cases. The group continues to work to protect the civil rights of many groups today.
The Congress of Racial Equality was founded in 1942 at the University of Chicago by a group of students who were inspired by the non-violent tactics of Mahatma Gandhi. They were the first civil rights group to use sit-ins, jail-ins, and freedom rides to draw attention to their cause, and were the primary organizers of the 1961 Freedom Rides. Although originating in the North, the group shifted their attention to the South when the civil rights movement began in the 1960s. In addition, their membership evolved from white college students to black lower class workers, and their stance became more militant. In 1966, James Farmer turned the leadership over to Floyd McKissick, who passed it to Roy Innis in 1968. In addition to the Freedom Rides, CORE was active in the Voter Education Project and the Mississippi Freedom Summer. They were the first civil rights organization to be an NGO representative at the United Nations, and the first black organization to send a bill to congress.
The Fayette-Haywood Workcamps were organized by Virgil B. Hortenstine, a Quaker and peace activist from Cincinnati, to support sharecroppers who had been evicted for trying to vote. The farmers had set up tent cities themselves and the workcamps were predominantly led by locals, but most of the support came from around the nation. The camps were designed to allow college students to come for short periods in order to provide education and support for voter registration.
The National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (NCARL) evolved from the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee, which had been formed in 1960 in California. They added a southern regional office to the six previous branches in 1970, with Mike Honey as the director in Memphis, Tennessee and Carol Thomas as field representative in Louisville, Kentucky. This organization published reports of the activities in congress and urged its members to influence their congressmen to oppose legislative activities that curtailed civil rights.
The National Urban League was founded in 1910 by Ruth S. Baldwin and Dr. George E. Haynes as the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. It was designed to assist blacks who moved from the rural South to the urban North to overcome the discrimination they found in their new locations. They changed their name to the National Urban League in 1920, and they were led by Whitney Young through the 1960s and by Vernon Jordan through the 1970s. They operated in many cities and assisted with voting, education, employment, health, neighborhood renewal and many other issues. Today, their mission is to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights.
The Southern Conference Educational Fund was founded in 1946 by the Southern Conference for Human Welfare for tax-exemption purposes. It was initially led by James Dombrowski and Aubrey Williams, with an integrated membership of highly educated and powerful social leaders. By 1948, they had narrowed their focus to ending segregation through lawsuits, conferences, publicity, political advocacy, and voter registration. Carl and Anne Braden were hired as executive directors in the 1960s, when the group had become more radical.
The Southern Regional Conference was founded in 1919 as the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. At a conference of southern liberals in 1943, Howard W. Odum inspired the group to organize against legal segregation in addition to continuing their work for economic improvement throughout the South. This led them to change their name in 1944 to the Southern Regional Conference. Their efforts included publishing the New South journal, organizing youth workshops and leadership training seminars, providing research results to assist with public policy decisions, and cooperating with other civil rights groups on events such as the Voter Education Project.
The Southern Student Organizing Committee was organized in 1964 by young white activists, since the SDS wasn’t allowed to operate in the South. Early leaders included Bob Zellner, Sam Shirah, Ed Hamlett, Howard Romaine, and Sue Thrasher. To support their goals of ending segregation, racism, and poverty they published the New South Student journal and the Great Speckled Bird newspaper. In addition to efforts in civil rights, the group protested against the Vietnam War and worked for workers’ and women’s rights. They dissolved the committee in 1969.
The U.S. Commission on Human rights was created in 1957 as part of the Civil Rights Act, and has been renewed as needed ever since. It is an independent, bipartisan, fact-finding federal agency
with a mission to inform the development of national civil rights policy and enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository