See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records & Personal Papers, Part 1" for online access.
The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, Inc. (NACWC) is the oldest African American secular organization in existence today. The NACWC series provides researchers access for the first time to the records of this crucial social movement. This collection documents the founding of the organization and the role that it has played in the political, economic, and social development of the modern African American community, as well as its involvement in national and international reform movements.
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records & Personal Papers, Part 2" for online access.
The Arthur W. Mitchell Papers, 1898-1968 comprise a collection of some 73,000 pages within ProQuest History Vault's module Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Part 2. Held by the Chicago History Museum Research Center of the Chicago Historical Society, the correspondence and collected professional papers span a period of 70 years, with particular emphasis on the period 1935-1943 during which Mitchell was the first Black American elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Congress. The collection documents the activities and insights of the Congressman who was a keen chronicler of the changing role of Black Americans in society and on a handful of key civil rights issues, among them: anti-lynching legislation, abolishment of Jim Crow laws that permitted racial segregation in interstate transportation, and increased employment opportunities for Black Americans tied to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and the entry of the U.S. into World War II.
Online guides to the following parts not available at UCF are available at the UPA Microform Collection link below:
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records & Personal Papers, Part 1" for online access.
A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979) was one of the leading black protest leaders of the twentieth century. He was best known as the editor of the Messenger (a radical Socialist journal), as organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and as the leader of the 1941 and 1963 Marches on Washington.
The A. Philip Randolph Collection consists of the following series: Family Papers, 1942- 1963; General Correspondence, 1925-1978; Subject Files, 1909-1978; Speeches and Writings File, 1941-1978; Biographical File, 1945-1979; and Miscellany, 1920-1978.
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Federal Government Records" for online access.
This collection of Department of Justice files on civil rights offers a glimpse into the minds of ordinary men and women, both black and white, in the first half of the twentieth century. Ranging from 1911 until 1943, the documents center broadly on the practice of lynching and specifically upon the thousands of letters written to protest this form of extralegal "punishment." The core of the collection consists of two bundles of letters to the president, covering 1911-1941 and 1921-1940. Interspersed with the letters are clusters of documents on a variety of related topics: race riots, lynching investigations, press reports and meeting records from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), personal letters of complaint and requests for assistance, and newspaper clippings and memorandums concerning antilynching bills.
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Federal Government Records" for online access.
During World War I, approximately one-half million black Americans abandoned their southern homes and streamed into northern industrial centers, as the war economy, combined with the virtual cessation of foreign immigration and the mobilization of the armed forces, created new opportunities for black workers in northern industry. Known as the "Great Migration," this exodus continued during the next decade, with the movement doubling in volume. The urbanization and industrialization of black America continued for another half-century. This collection of documents from federal agencies focuses on the first decade of that long-term transformation of black America.
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records & Personal Papers, Parts 1 and 2" for online access.
Barnett founded and directed the Associated Negro Press.
UCF Library has microfilm for part of Series B (1945-1955) and part of Series C (1956-1964). The full collection is available online, including Series A (1928-1944).
Series 2: Africa and Other Foreign Interests, 1925-1966 -- contains approximately 46,000 pages of material on Africa through the perspective of American editor Claude Barnett, the founder of the Associated Negro Press (ANP). The focus of most of the collection material is on political, social, and economic developments in Africa, with an emphasis on the newly gained independence of countries that were former European colonies.
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records & Personal Papers, Part 1" for online access.
Other online guides to materials can be found at the below link to UPA Microform Collection guides.
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records & Personal Papers, Part 1" for online access.
Series A, Holdings of the Chicago Historical Society
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Federal Government Records" for online access.
Subject files of Judge William Hastie, Civilian Aide to the Secretary of War.
William Henry Hastie, perhaps best known as the first African American federal trial judge, served the government in many capacities throughout his career. From 1940 to 1943, Judge Hastie served as civilian aide to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, specifically tasked to address any issues arising with African Americans in the military.
Subject Files of Judge William Hastie, Civilian Aide to the Secretary of War, chronicles Hastie's duties and daily interactions with African Americans attempting to overcome the systematic discrimination present in the government. The majority of Hastie's files contain personal correspondence from young African American men and their families seeking the opportunity to serve the government and assist the war effort. With the assistance of Truman K. Gibson and James C. Evans, Judge Hastie sought to provide young African American men with equal access to the military. The files show the frustrations associated with continued racial discrimination and segregation in the 1940s but also provide evidence of a growing movement for civil rights.
See the database "Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records & Personal Papers, Part 1" for online access.
As an organizer, strategist, and pioneer in the use of Gandhian tactics, Bayard Rustin (1910-1987) was one of the most influential black protest leaders of the twentieth century. Although he deliberately maintained a low profile throughout his fifty years of social activism, his skill at conceiving and planning protest demonstrations and his perceptive analysis of movement trends earned him the respect of wide sectors of the civil rights (and pacifist) movements. Moreover, his role as a behind-the-scenes adviser to both A. Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King Jr., allowed him to help shape the course of the post-World War II civil rights struggle.
In this arrangement there are four separate series of material: (1) Alphabetical Subject File; (2) Chronological Subject File; (3) Articles, Essays, Symposia Remarks, and Speeches; and (4) General Correspondence File.