Archival Collections

Black Women In Radio (BWIR) is committed to the historical preservation of America's Black female broadcasters and their contributions to Black radio culture and digital media. BWIR conducts ongoing research to capture the perspectives of Black and minority women who might otherwise be excluded or overlooked in historic conversations curated by BWIR Founder, Felesha Love.

Dr. Bernard William Bell is an emeritus research professor at The Pennsylvania State University and an internationally known scholar of American and African American literature, language, and culture. Throughout his forty-year career in academia, Dr. Bell’s contributions to African American scholarship included serving as a co-founder and acting head of one of the nation’s first African American Studies programs, authoring and editing nine books and more than seventy articles and reviews, and teaching and lecturing in eight countries.

The Society for the Study of Black Religion (SSBR) is the oldest scholarly society dedicated to the study and production of knowledge about the broad diaspora of Black religion. The first meeting was in October, 1970, with the society's mission to "engage in research and discussion about the religious experiences of blacks and to promote the teaching of these experiences in colleges and universities." A constitution was adopted that gave purposes for the Society, these are: 1) To engage in scholarly research and discussion about the religious experience of Blacks; 2) To publish reports of its discussions and research; and 3) To encourage the teaching and discussion of the Black religious experience in the curricula of college or university departments of religion and theological seminaries.

The Joseph Echols and Evelyn Gibson Lowery Collection, circa 1900-2019, 1950-2013 (bulk), contains approximately 200 linear feet of personal papers, sermons, speeches, correspondence, SCLC and SCLC/WOMEN records, and hundreds of historical photographs and audiovisual records documenting the Lowery's struggle of justice and equality. The Lowery Trust granted sole ownership of the collection to Morehouse College in March 2021. Shortly thereafter, the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library was formally designated as custodian of the collection with responsibilities for housing and providing access for students, scholars, researchers, and the global community.

The Mary Ann Smith Wilson - Ruby Doris Smith Robinson Collection on Student Activism spans the dates 1948-2008 with the bulk of the material dated 1960-1967. The collection documents both Ruby Doris Smith Robinson's and Mary Ann Smith Wilson's participation in the civil rights movement and the organizations with which they were affiliated. Although the collection documents both sisters' activities, the bulk of the collection reflects Ruby Doris Smith Robinson’s activism activities in the civil rights movement. Also included in the collection are photographs, correspondences, news articles, programs, reports, and flyers.

This collection documents the Atlanta Student Movement during the Civil Rights Era. It highlights student activism in the Atlanta University Consortium (AUC); Clark College, Morris Brown, Morehouse College, Atlanta University, and Spelman College. The collection includes newspaper and journal articles, flyers, reports, photographs, and correspondence by and about students from the AUC schools. Of note are copies of An Appeal for Human Rights written by student leaders, which set forth the student's grievances, rights, and aspirations as well as their dissatisfaction with the status quo conditions of segregation and discrimination and the slow pace at which inherent human and civil rights were being meted out to African Americans. The Appeal was published as a full-page ad in the March 9, 1960 editions of the Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta Journal, and Atlanta Daily World. It was subsequently published in the New York Times, providing national awareness of student activism in the civil rights struggle in Atlanta. The issuance of the Appeal was followed by sit-ins and pickets at specifically targeted businesses, government and transportation facilities in Atlanta and Fulton County, Georgia, and kneel-ins at churches. The participants in the Atlanta student movement organized commemorative reunions, 1990 and 2000 to re-examine the civil rights movement and discuss current efforts and projections for the future. Programs, minutes, correspondence, and news articles from the reunions are included in the collection.

Pauline Alice Young, a distinguished educator, librarian, historian, and civil rights activist, was born in 1900. Her impactful career included teaching, lecturing, and extensive community involvement. Young's lifelong commitment to equality and civil rights advocacy left an indelible mark on Delaware, earning her numerous awards and a place in the Hall of Fame of Delaware Women in 1982.

Maurice Pennington was a photographer and cartoonist for The Atlanta Inquirer during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. A talented multimedia artist, Pennington documented the boycotts, sit-ins, and the arrests of students, commenting critically on the political and social climate in Atlanta through cartoons - skewering local politicians, admonishing Black leaders for their accommodationist views, and reminding his audience of the incompatibility of segregation and democracy.