The collection documents the march of many Americans from Selma to Montgomery Alabama in 1965 during the Civil Rights March. It focuses mainly on photographs and an original book cover from Stephen Somerstein. There are twelve black and white images, 11" x 14", documenting the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March. Some of the photographs include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Other images include John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, minister and civil rights leader Ralph D. Abernathy, and singer Joan Baez.
This collection is arranged into two folders.
Folder 1: Photographs, 1965
A collection of 12 black and white images showcasing what life was like for the marchers headed to Montgomery to Selma.
Folder 2: Book Cover, 1965
An original book cover which served as the enclosure for the images.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
Stephen Somerstein was born in 1941 in New York City, Somerstein is best known for his photographic work capturing the march from Selma to Montgomery. He began his passion for photography while studying at the City University of New York while pursuing a degree in physics. In college Stephen ultimately became the managing editor for the university newspaper entitled "Main Events". In 1965, with the rise in public consciousness in the importance of the civil rights movement and Dr. King's pursuit of equal opportunity and voting rights, Stephen decided to journey to Alabama to cover the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march for his collegiat newspapper. Stephen was 24 years old when he shot the iconic images of the march on Selma.
It was an historic occasion that greatly tested his ability to shape beautiful and meaningful images, while on a short film quota, with rapidly evolving photo-opportunities. The 1965 Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March (actually three separate marches) was the culmination of a multi-year protest against alleged discriminatory voting registration practices in Dallas County, Alabama. Images in the news media of violence that took place in response to the march shocked Americans and influenced civil rights legislation and enforcement. His body of work spans a continuous thread from the 1960's to the present, covering cultural, social and political subjects.
Provenance:
Stephen Somerstein
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Citation:
Stephen Somerstein Selma to Montgomery March Photographs, 1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Children participate in a dance and dramatic performance at the Ft. Dupont Activity Center in southeast Washington, D.C. They perform to music, narration, and a portion of Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech.
Dance performance. Part of ACM Museum Events, PR, and Ceremonies Recordings. AV000800: #1, no sound, dated 19750215. AV003475: #2, dated 19750215. AV004350: p. 1, undated. AV003189: p. 2, undated. Poor or no sound.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003475
ACMA AV004350
ACMA AV003189
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 77
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
November 1957
Scope and Contents:
No ink on negative. Martin Luther King, Jr. standing in front of a congregation, at Rankin Memorial Hall, Howard University, holding the Bible. Kodak -- Safety Film" edge imprint. No Scurlock number.
General:
Scan much too dark.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African American clergy -- 20th century. Search this
Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 77
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
November 1957
Scope and Contents:
Martin Luther King, Jr. with a group of men in suits. "Kodak -- Safety Film" edge imprint. No Scurlock number.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African American clergy -- 20th century. Search this
African American clergy -- 20th century. Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 77
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
November 1957
Scope and Contents:
[Martin Luther King, Jr. shaking hands with a woman in the Howard University chapel.] No ink on negative. No Scurlock number. "Kodak -- Safety Film" edge imprint.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African American clergy -- 20th century. Search this
Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 77
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
November 1957
Scope and Contents:
No ink on negative. Martin Luther King, Jr., looking out on the congregation from the lectern at the Howard University chapel, from the back. "Kodak--Safety Film" edge imprint. No Scurlock number.
General:
Scan much too dark: to be re-scanned.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African American clergy -- 20th century. Search this
Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 77
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
December 1956
Scope and Contents:
No ink on negative, no Scurlock number. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. standing in the chapel at Howard University. " Kodak -- Safety -- Film" edge imprint.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African American clergy -- 20th century. Search this
Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 77
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
December 1956
Scope and Contents:
No ink on negative, no Scurlock number. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. at the pulpit in the Howard University chapel. [Unrecorded edge imprint.]
Exhibitions Note:
Reproduction print exhibited in "The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise," NMAAHC Gallery, NMAH, January 30 - November 15, 2009; image print reproduced in exhibit's companion book.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African American clergy -- 20th century. Search this
Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (Silver gelatin on cellulose acetate film sheet., 4" x 5".)
Container:
Box 94
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
New coccine (or crocein scarlet) dye
Retouching
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
November 1957
Scope and Contents:
Group of men and women seated at a long dining table laid with crockery and silverware. Martin Luther King Jr. is seated in the middle of the right side of the table. A man in a white jacket, possibly a waiter, stands to the side. No ink on negative, no Scurlock number. "KODAK -- SAFETY -- FILM" edge imprint. Retouched with red coccine.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
African American clergy -- 20th century. Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 1950-1960 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
New Coccine (or Crocein Scarlet) dye
Retouching -- Dye
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
The bulk of this collection contains affidavits and legal papers filed in civil action suits which document acts of violence committed against Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) workers between 1961 and 1964. All activity documented occurred in Mississippi, and much of the violence that occurred was inflicted by police and white civilians. Also contained in this collection are materials relating to COFO, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, comprising a mission statement, and a document sent to the SNCC organization pertaining to voter registration of African-Americans living in Mississippi, all of which reflect the effort of the MFDP to have African-American Congressmen elected in Mississippi.
The last item in the half document box is a pamphlet entitled "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story." Created in cartoon format, it appears to target a younger audience.
The oversize box contains Civil Rights newspapers published in Mississippi. Included are issues of "The Kudzu," the "Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Newsletter," and the AMississippi Free Press."
This primary source material from COFO and MFDP help document the massive, non-violent struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi in the early 1960's. The collection confirms evidence of backlash demonstrated by intolerance and violence that occurred as a result of this struggle.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) arose from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), founded in 1960 to coordinate student sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina and elsewhere. COFO, was organized by Robert Moses in 1961, to secure the release of Freedom Riders in Mississippi. Many COFO workers were originally members of SNCC. COFO's goal was to increase the percentage of registered African-American voters in Mississippi, from the low 7% that existed in 1964.
In the summer of 1964, COFO was a key player in the organization of the Mississippi Summer Project. Prior to the summer, many white and African-American students, primarily from the South and the Northeast, organized to lead demonstrations, and to create political awareness among the large African-American population in Mississippi. During the summer, COFO was successful in setting up "freedom schools" and community centers throughout the state. This encouraged the emergence of young leaders who would teach African-Americans to articulate their needs and discontents within the existing socio-political structure in Mississippi. This activity, however, produced a severe white backlash, and many acts of violence occurred against COFO workers. These actions, many of them police instigated, are documented in this collection through affidavits and other legal documents on civil action.
Another accomplishment of COFO was the establishment of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. The MFDP enrolled the majority of African-Americans who were systematically denied access to the delegate selection process of the regular Mississippi Democratic Party (MDP). The MFDP organized itself along the same lines, contained many of the same rules, and divided into the same Congressional districts as the MDP. MFDP's goal, however, was to contest seats in Congress traditionally held by white Mississippians, in order to create a more equal representation of the state as a whole.
Edwin King was a white Methodist minister originally from Vicksburg, MI. Although raised with a traditional Mississippi upbringing, he had the opportunity, while attending Milsap College, to work with black students from Tougaloo College. This had a profound influence on his life. When he and his wife were graduated from Milsap College in the early '50's, they attended Boston University for graduate studies in seminary and social work, respectively, and decided that they could no longer live in the South. They were conscientious objectors to the racist attitudes of their neighbors and did not want to confront them (the neighbors or the attitudes). However, this was changed by a serendipitous dinner with Reverend Abernathy. Reverend King and several others were having dinner at a black restaurant in Montgomery, Alabama when everyone in the party was arrested. From that time, Reverend King and his wife were deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Ed King on September 17, 1996.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Recorded by Moses Moon (known at the time as Alan Ribback) and assisted by Norris McNamara during 1963 and 1964, the collection includes audio recordings of interviews with civil rights leaders and participants as well as free-style recordings of mass meetings, voter registration events, and other gatherings organized by Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This collection provides a mostly unfiltered documentation of significant moments in the civil rights movement.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of 115 reel to reel audio recordings containing interviews, mass meetings, demonstrations, and conversations concerning the civil rights movement, and in particular the voter registration drives organized by SNCC in Alabama and Mississippi in 1963 and 1964. Mass meetings were recorded in Greenwood, Mississippi; Americus, Georgia; Selma, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Danville, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Indianola, Mississippi. Major demonstrations recorded include the March on Washington in August of 1963, Freedom Day in Selma, Alabama in October of 1963, and Freedom Day in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in January of 1964. Interviews with SNCC workers include Julian Bond, John Lewis, James Forman, Bruce Gordon, Prathia Hall, Ivanhoe Donaldson, Bob Moses, Avery Williams, Willie Peacock, Bruce Boynton and his mother, as well as dozens of others involved in the movement, who are named in the collection inventory. Many of those interviewed were actively involved in strategizing and carrying out SNCC demonstrations and political actions, and many were victims of death threats, beatings, unlawful arrest, police brutality, and torture and abuse in prison. These interviews contain detailed eyewitness accounts and personal testimony regarding these experiences, as well as personal history and thoughts about the movement, the South, and the future.
It is clear from what we know of the dates and locations of these recordings, as well as from documentation of these events in other sources, that many of these recordings are unique documents of important events in American history, which may also contain the commentary of important political and cultural figures who were involved in the movement. For example, an article by Howard Zinn recounts how an unidentified man recorded James Baldwin on October 7, 1963, Freedom Day in Selma, on the steps of the courthouse. Baldwin was furious at the lack of support from nearby federal agents as state troopers advanced on peaceful demonstrators. One of the tapes dated October 7, 1963, originally labeled "courthouse interviews," appears to be this recoding, although Baldwin is not named. The same article (available in The Howard Zinn Reader) recounts the mass meetings which led up to that demonstration, at which actor Dick Gregory gave a rousing sermon as his wife sat in jail for demonstrating in Selma. The Moses Moon Collection may be the only existing audio recording of that sermon as well as many other sermons and speeches.
Moses Moon changed his name after these recordings were made. He is referred to in the finding aid as Alan Ribback because that name is used on the recordings.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in two series.Series 1 is in chronological order to the degree recording dates can be determined, and is based on the locations and dates provided by Moon in his description or gleaned from the recordings themselves and other secondary sources. Series 1 contains 17 groups of recordings.
Moon's original numbers are recorded in the column next to the descriptions. Following the first four Greenwood tapes, which are numbered sequentially, Moon's numbering system took the first two letters of the town in which the recordings were made, a one (1), a decimal, and then a tape number. Numbers preceding the town code refer to the recording day. "N" numbers were later assigned by Moon to the 7" reels only, after the original recordings were made, possibly during editing or when the tapes were made available to the Program in African American Culture.
Series 1, Original Tapes
1. Greenwood, Mississippi; Spring 1963; 4 7" reels
2. Chicago, Illinois; August 9, 12, 1963; 2 5" reels
16. Monroe County, Mississippi; August 1, 1964; 4 5" reels
17. Milton, Mississippi; August 16, 1964; 3 5" reels
Series 2, Preservation Masters consists of data DVDs for a portion of the collection.
Biographical / Historical:
Moses Moon was born Alan Ribback in 1928. During the 1950s until 1962, Ribback was the proprietor of the Gate of Horn, Chicago's premier folk music club, which featured performers including Bob Gibson, Odetta, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Jo Mapes, Peter, Paul and Mary, Lenny Bruce, and Shelley Berman. On December 5, 1962, Lenny Bruce was arrested during a performance at the Gate of Horn along with Ribback, George Carlin, and others. As a result of the arrest and Bruce's subsequent conviction for obscenity, the club was closed by the City of Chicago, and Ribback left Chicago with Norris McNamara, an audio technician, to record folk concerts taking place in the South as part of the growing civil rights movement. From the spring of 1963 until the summer of 1964, Ribback and McNamara recorded demonstrations and mass meetings and interviewed civil rights activists, primarily those involved in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Later, Ribback moved to New York and edited his recordings into an album called Movement Soul. Ribback married Delia Moon in 1971, took her last name and changed his first name to Moses. In 1979, Bernice Reagon Johnson, working with the Program on African American Culture at the Smithsonian, contacted Moon and borrowed the recordings of mass meetings for a 1980 program on the voices of the civil rights movement. In the late 1980s, Moon was stricken with a severe case of Guillain-Barre syndrome, which left him paralyzed. Moon donated the entire collection of original recordings shortly before his death in 1993.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
The papers of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee are held by the King Library and Archives in Atlanta, Georgia; archives@thekingcenter.org.
Provenance:
Donated by Moses and Delia Moon in 1995.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Reference copies must be used. Tapes noted in the container list have digital reference copies in the Smithsonian Institution Digital Asset Management System (DAMS).
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but copyright status unknown. Contact Archives Center staff for additional information. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African American civil rights workers. Search this
Moses Moon Civil Rights Movement Audio Collection, 1963-1964, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Partial funding for preservation and duplication of the original audio tapes provided by a National Museum of American History Collections Committee Jackson Fund Preservation Grant.
Von Mohrenschildt, Dimitri Sergius, 1902-2002 Search this
Extent:
8.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Diaries
Motion pictures (visual works)
Sketches
Sketchbooks
Photographs
Date:
circa 1920s-circa 1973
Summary:
The William Christopher papers measure 8.2 linear feet and date from circa 1920s to circa 1973. Materials include biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, five diaries, subject/project files, printed materials, photographs, numerous sketches and eleven sketchbooks, and five short film reels containing amateur footage of New York City. The subject/project files include correspondence, printed materials, and two additional diaries about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Scope and Contents:
The William Christopher papers measure 8.2 linear feet and date from circa 1920s to circa 1973. Materials include biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, five diaries, subject/project files, printed materials, photographs, numerous sketches and eleven sketchbooks, and five reels of motion picture films, consisting of amateur footage of New York City. The subject/project files include correspondence, printed materials, and two additional diaries about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Biographical materials include address books, annotated memorabilia, awards and certificates, curriculum vitae and resume materials, and identification materials. Correspondence is with friends and fellow artists, including actress Osceola Archer and Henry Crapo, galleries, and others. Writings and notes include eleven notebooks, miscellaneous undated notes and papers, annotated drafts and writings by William Christopher, and writings by others. There are five diaries written by William Christopher from the 1940s to the 1960s.
Subject files document miscellaneous projects in which Christopher was involved and/or interested, and include several about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. containing correspondence, printed material, and two diaries written by Christopher during his attendance of the Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
Scattered personal business papers concern artwork sold and loaned and personal finances. Printed materials include clippings, exhibition catalogs and materials, magazines and programs, and posters. Photographs are of William Christopher, Henry Crapo, Margaret French, Charles Howard, Bernard Perlin, George Tooker, male models and figures, furniture, landscapes, buildings, and artwork.
Christopher's papers include over one hundred sketches and watercolors, eleven sketchbooks, an artwork by Dimitri Von Mohrenshildt, and one sketch by George Tooker. Also found among the papers are five film reels made by Christopher for an unfinished project, containing footage of New York City cityscapes and street scenes.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 10 series:
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1940s-circa 1973 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1947-circa 1973 (1.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-3)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1947-1970 (0.4 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 4: Diaries, circa 1940s-circa 1960s (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 3-4)
Series 5: Subject Files, 1943-1972 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 4, 9)
Series 6: Personal Business Records, circa 1950-circa 1972 (0.3 linear feet; Box 4)
Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1950s-circa 1972 (1.4 linear feet; Boxes 4-5, 9, OV12)
Series 8: Photographs, circa 1920s-circa 1970s (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 6, 8, MGP 4)
Series 9: Artwork and Sketchbooks, circa 1940s-circa 1970s (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 6-8, OV10-11, 13-18)
Series 10: Unidentified Project, Motion Picture Films, 1961 (0.5 linear feet; FC 19-23)
Biographical / Historical:
William Christopher was a painter, art instructor, and Civil Rights activist living and working in New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. He was born in Columbus, Georgia on March 4, 1924, and served in the U. S. Navy from 1941 to 1943.
Aided by grants and scholarships, Christopher studied in France at the Sorbonne, Academie Julian, and the Ecoles d'Art Americaines between 1946-1948. While there, he also studied with Ossip Zadkine. He returned to New York and studied with Amedee Ozenfant and Hans Hofmann between 1948 and 1950.
Christopher's paintings was greatly influenced by his time spent in Paris and New York, and his later involvement with the Civil Rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the march in Selma in 1965. His first U. S. solo exhibition was in 1952 at the Roko Gallery in New York, and he exhibited widely in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. at the Nexus Gallery, the Boston Arts Festival, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Joan Peterson Gallery, Galeria Juana Mordo, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. In 1964, Christopher was invited to present his paintings to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the presentation of Dr. King's papers to Boston University. This is where Christopher met King.
Christopher moved to Hartland, Vermont in 1960, with his partner painter George Tooker. He remained there for the rest of his life. Christopher died in 1973.
Provenance:
William Christopher donated his papers to the Archives of American Art in 1972.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Rights:
The William Christopher papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
159 video recordings (U-matic 3/4" video recordings)
1 video recording (VHS 1/2" video recording)
15 Linear feet (15 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Video recordings
Videocassettes
Place:
United States -- Race relations
United States -- Rural conditions
Date:
1989-1994
Scope and Contents note:
The collection, which dates from 1989 to 1994 and measures 15 linear feet, documents the reminiscences of elderly members of various African-American churches in the Atlanta area, as well as individual church histories, outstanding personalities of the South, religious expression in the South, and styles of singing and worship. The collection is comprised of audiovisual materials.
Biographical/Historical note:
Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters, Inc. is the nation's largest regional interfaith cable network. AIB has been providing faith-based communities and nonprofit service organizations access to a larger audience since 1969. AIB remains a destination for international dignitaries and media representatives due to its unique programming platform, which promotes dialogue between all faiths, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Seen in over 1,000,000 homes across 19 metro area counties, AIB is a self-supporting organization and does not allow the solicitation of funds or attacks on other faiths. Viewers can find Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others presenting their views.
Provenance:
Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters Oral History Collection, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
31 greeting cards, 76 postcards, and other items, such as political literature, a Martin Luther King greeting card, and a high school diploma. All of the material has images or information concerning African Americans. The bulk of the material was produced after 1960, but some events and personalities portrayed date back to the turn of the 20th century.
Biographical / Historical:
Susie Paige, a Philadelphia bookseller, collected these materials over three decades. She sold them to the National Museum of American History in 1985. The collection is notable for the wide range of African American personalities, holidays and events depicted.
The collection includes a single card (circa 1918) and a rhyme book donated by Mr. Russell C. Carey.
Provenance:
This collection was purchased from Susie Paige, of the Corner Store, 1985.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Smithsonian Libraries African Art Index Project DSI Search this
Subject:
King, Martin Luther Jr. 1929-1968 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79084324 http://viaf.org/viaf/100170140/ http://dbpedia.org/resource/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr Search this
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
The collection, which measures 1.18 linear feet and dates from circa 1961-2004, documents the personal life and professional activities of Rev. H. Rhett James. The collection is comprised of awards, photographs, books, newspaper clippings, correspondence, invitations, newsletters, oral histories, resumes, audio- and videocassettes, and ephemera.
Scope and Contents note:
The Reverend H. Rhett James papers, which date from 1961 to 2004, document the personal and professional life of Reverend H. Rhett James. Very notable are the letters and correspondence between Reverend H. Rhett James and the United States of America President, Lyndon B. Johnson, and his cabinet. The papers include an oral history, a C.V., letters and correspondence, awards, black-and-white photographs, books, clippings. color photographs, ephemera, invitations, newsletters, photographic prints, signatures, audio cassettes, and videocassettes.
Arrangement note:
The collection is organized into four series: Series 1, Biographical, Series 2, Correspondence, Series 3, Writings, Series 4, Sound Recordings, and Series 5, Photogrpahs. One box contains Series 1, 2, and 3. Box 2 contains Series 3, and Box 4 contains Series 5.
Series 1, Biographical, 1961-2004, is comprised of a typed oral history interview with Dr. H. Rhett James, on December 21, 2002, for the Dallas Public Library's Oral History Project (Box 1/Folder 1), a typed C.V. (Box 1/Folder 2), and other biographical information in the form of newsletters, booklets, certificates, visitor passes, and card invitations.
Series 2, Correspondence, 1962-1999, is arranged alphabetically by correspondent's last name. It is comprised of typed correspondence and letters on various political and community issues. Members of Lyndon b. Johnson's administration figure prominently in this series. The miscellaneous folders contain reproduced correspondence and letters from the Lyndon B. Johnson museum. A set of original envelopes are at the end of folder 15.
Series 3, Writings, 1972, 1992, 1997, is comprised of two books and a NAACP position paper on Dallas Public Schools by Reverend H. Rhett James. The books are titled, The Audacity to Survive and Stamp your own Passport.
Series 4, Sound Recordings, 1972, 1975, 1981, undated, is comprised of 60 audio cassettes in a box. Three notable cassettes in the box contain Jesse Jackson sermons on Civil Rights, "Silver" Rights, social justice, the black church's role in Black Amerca, and religion's role in America. A majority of the tapes are sermons by H. Rhett James on mind consciousness, spiritual regeneration, empowerment, the Gospel, civil rights, social justice, and ecomonic betterment.
Series 5, Photographs, is comprised of autographed photographs by political personage, family photographs, and other photographs including H. Rhett James with prominent figures, notably one with Martin Luther King Jr. Autographed photographs include Lyndon B Johnson, Benjamin Hoover, ans Hubert Humphrey.
Biographical/Historical note:
Reverend H. Rhett James was an ardent pastor,African-American educator, and community activist, who played a role in Dallas and the larger Texas community during the Civil Rights era.
Reverend H. Rhett James (1928-2004) was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 1, 1928. He received his early education in the public schools of Topeka, Kansas, Nashville, Tennessee and San Antonio, Texas, he enrolled at Virginia Union University, Richomond Virginia. Upon graduation (Bachelor's 1950), he accepted a teaching position in San Antonio, and became the first African American to receive the Masters of Education Degree from Our Lady of the Lake College (1951).
Returning to his Alma Mater, Virginia Union, he taught in the Department of Education and Psychology and received his Masters of Divinty Degree (1958). Moving to Dallas to accept the pastorate of New Hope Baptist church, he enrolled in the Brite College, T.C.U. and became the first African American to receive the Masters of Theology Degree (1961). He rceived his Ph.D. degree in Urban Administration frm the University of Texas at Arlingotn (1981). He served as pastor of New Hope Baptist church until his retirement in 1986.
As a political and community activist, he headed scores of local organizations working for desegregation and human rights causes. He headed the N.A.A.C.P through severe local desegregation and human rights causes; founder and twelve year Board President of the Dallas O.I.C. (Opportunities Industrialization Center); the first black president of the Dallas War on Poverty (DCCAC); founding Board member of the Dallas Urban League and Board and Budget committee member for the Dallas United Way, ACLU, Southern Historical Association, UNCF and YMCA boards.
Rverend H. Rhett James died on March 14, 2004. He left one daughter and three sons.
Rights:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
