Explore thousands of items including theses, dissertations, faculty scholarship, archival materials, audio, video and more.

As president of Morehouse College for twenty-five years and as president of Atlanta University for five years, Dr. Hope conducted a great volume of correspondence with black leaders and with numerous white philanthropists and supporters of Negro civil rights. As an officer and member of various local, regional, and national church groups, fraternal organizations, civil rights groups, and professional associations, Dr. Hope also engaged in voluminous correspondence with blacks and whites of all walks of life. Mrs. Hope, although most closely associated with Atlanta's Neighborhood Union, was also an officer and member of several charitable, feminist, and civil rights organizations. The Hopes numbered among their personal correspondents almost all of the major black educational, political, and civil rights figures of the first half of this century as well as many prominent white persons. Finding aid only.

The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is a philanthropic organization that provides scholarship funds for black education. This collection includes UNCF organizational records. Finding aid only.

Anna E. Hall was born near Bainbridge, Georgia on March 1st, 1870. She lived a religiously oriented childhood with her mother, a seamstress, and expressed the desire to serve as a missionary while a student at Clark University (now Clark Atlanta University) in Atlanta, Georgia, where she completed the normal course on May 12, 1892. With the generosity of influential people who were made aware of her desire to be a missionary, she was able to enter the New England Deaconess Training School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1899 and graduated May 22, 1901 as the first African American to attend the school. Her missionary work was realized in December of 1906, when she travelled to Monrovia, Liberia to teach the Kroo (Kru) people. Her second year she was asked to go to the southern part of the Republic, Garraway, where she became the successor to the Director of the Julia A. Stewart Memorial Girls Home and School, Garraway Mission.

The catalog for Gammon School of Theology, later named Gammon Theological Seminary (now part of the consortium, The Interdenominational Theological Center) provides information on the degree programs, course offerings, policies, procedures, financial costs, buildings, services, administration staff, Board of Trustees, and faculty. Early years of the catalog also included lists of matriculating students and alumni.

The Maynard Jackson mayoral administrative records are extensive and consist of materials spanning the years 1968 to 1994. Within this digital collection are photographs, general correspondence, Mayoral campaign materials, and printed and published materials and correspondence related to the Atlanta Child Murders. The Atlanta Child Murders subseries in the Maynard Jackson Mayoral Administrative Records chronicles the time period between 1979-1981 when multiple young black children and adults were murdered in the city of Atlanta. The murders garnered national news coverage and caused panic across the country. The records in this digital collection reflect the response to the tragedy that were both created, collected and sent to the Atlanta Mayor's office during Maynard Jackson's second mayoral term.

The Atlanta Urban League (AUL) was established in 1920 as an affiliate of the National Urban League. The AUL served as an organization dedicated to addressing the social and economic concerns of African Americans in the city of Atlanta. The AUL worked to address housing discrimination, inadequate unemployment, improve health services, and promote voting rights. The digitized collection focuses on the leadership of Grace Towns Hamilton, executive director of AUL from 1943-1961. Under her leadership the AUL waged intensive campaigns for advancement of education, health care, housing, and voting rights for African Americans. The AUL worked with the League of Women Voters, the National Council of Women, the Southern Regional Council, and more to promote the enfranchisement of Black women and voter education.

Founded in 1942 by African American businessman John H. Johnson, the Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. published Ebony and Jet magazines, as well as other publications. This collection contains newspapers clippings, press releases, and more used as research for the various publications. The collection includes newspaper clippings on various prominent African American women, such Daisy Bates, Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height, Mary Church Terrell, Sojourner Truth, Diane Nash, Rosa Parks, and Pauli Murray. It also contains newspaper clippings and press releases on various African American organizations, such as the League of Women Voters, the National Council of Negro Women, and the National Women’s Committee for Civil Rights.

The Asa G. Hilliard, III papers span the years between 1933 and 2007. The bulk of the collection dates from 1971 to 2007. The collection includes organizational files from organizations of which Hilliard was a member, subject files on topics of interest, records from his work at both San Francisco State University and Georgia State University, files related to his speaking engagements, photographs and videos, and manuscripts of articles, books, speeches and reports. The collection also contains some materials related to trials in which Hilliard served as an expert witness. Of note are the files related to the Larry P. V. Wilson Riles case from the late 1970s, photographs of the ceremony during which Hilliard became Nana Baffour and the slides from Hilliard's presentation "Free Your Mind! Return to the Source.

This collection consists of records generated by Eliza Paschall and the Atlanta Community Relations Commission (ACRC) during her year as Executive Director of the ACRC. The bulk of the collection is research materials gathered by Paschall and the ACRC to support their work in the community. The files contain reports and statistics that document such things as employment discrimination, police action in the Dixie Hills Riots, and desegregation efforts in the public schools. Of special interest are the studies which survey the conditions of Atlanta's disadvantaged neighborhoods.

This aggregate collection contains documents related enslaved peoples dating from 1830-1865 from the American south including bills of sale, lists of enslaved people from various estates and correspondences between slave owners. Documents from Virginia and Georgia are represented as well as the estates of Richard Bayne, George Zuesenbury and Daniel Payne.

The Audiovisual series consists of video and audio recordings documenting the professional careers of Joseph E. Lowery and Evelyn G. Lowery. Content includes sermons delivered by Joseph E. Lowery during his ministerial career at Central United Methodist Church (1968-1986) and Cascade United Methodist Church (1986-1992). There are many video and audio recordings of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) conventions and other SCLC activities. In her capacity as the founder of the SCLC/Women's Organizational Movement for Equality Now (SCLC/W.O.M.E.N.), Evelyn Lowery hosted annual Civil Rights Heritage Tours, the Drum Major for Justice Awards, and oratorical contests, of which several recordings exist in this series. The series also contains video and audio of events at which Joseph or Evelyn Lowery served as panelists/speakers or at which they were recognized with awards.

Dr. Cleveland L. Dennard was educated at Florida A & M University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he earned an Ed.D. From 1960 to 1965 he was Principal of the Carver Vocational and Adult schools of the Atlanta Public School System. In 1965, Mayor John B. Lindsay appointed Dr. Dennard as Deputy Commissioner for Manpower and Program Management in the New York City Human Resources Administration. During this time Dennard also served on a task force on governmental reorganization. Dr. Dennard left New York to accept an appointment from Lyndon B. Johnson to serve as President of the Washington Technical Institute, in Washington, D.C. In 1977 Dr. Dennard was elected the 8th President of Atlanta University, a position he held until 1984.

At the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library we are always striving to improve our digital collections. We welcome additional information about people, places, or events depicted in any of the works in this collection. To submit information, please contact us at DSD@auctr.edu.

This collection includes items that document various family members and the Zack and Camilla Hubert Foundation.

This collection consists of correspondence and papers of John Brown, an American abolitionist. The collection contains letters from Brown's fellow abolitionist, Franklin Benjamin Sanborn concerning the Free-Soil contest in Kansas, the National Kansas Committee, and various state committees. The letters concern finances and the amassing of arms for Brown's insurgencies on Kansas soil. Two letters concerning Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, from local resident D. E. Henderson, give a detailed account of the foray. A military order, signed by Robert E. Lee, details a guard to escort Brown and his fellow prisoners to the Charleston jail.

Wayman A. Carver (b. 1905 d. 1967), jazz musician and music educator, achieved acclaim for his virtuosity and artistry as a flutist during his tenure from 1934-39 with Chick Webb and his Orchestra. In the series "Giants of Jazz" (International Musician April 1963), Leonard Feather credits Wayman Carver as being internationally recognized as the first and only jazz musician to play the flute during the decade of the 1930s. Wayman Carver, a graduate of the class of 1929, is among the most notable alumni of Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University). Carver was an outstanding student and assisted with instruction and band direction. In 1942, Carver accepted a faculty position in the music department at his alma mater. Carver served on the Clark faculty for twenty-five years and was held in high esteem by his colleagues and students. The Clark College students dedicated the 1952 yearbook to Carver, and the college presented him a trophy and plaque in appreciation of his contributions.

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.

Irvin "Mac" Henry McDuffie and his wife Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hall McDuffie were domestics in their hometown of Atlanta and later in the employ of Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his presidency. Born in Elberton, Georgia, Irvin moved to Atlanta to be a barber and eventually manage the McDuffie-Herndon Barbershop financed by Alonzo Herndon of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. Upon the recommendation of a customer, Roosevelt interviewed McDuffie to be his valet at his retreat at Warm Springs, Georgia. McDuffie continued on with Roosevelt through his governorship in New York and his presidency, until McDuffie suffered a nervous breakdown in 1939. Elizabeth worked for 23 years as a maid with the prominent Atlanta family of Edward H. Inman. In 1933 she moved to Washington, D.C. to join her husband and became a maid in the White House where she remained until Roosevelt's death in 1945.

The Joseph E. Lowery Papers series consists of correspondence, personal papers, and writings of Joseph E. Lowery. Correspondence is comprised of greeting cards, letters, postcards to and from colleagues, friends and associates. Personal papers include awards and honors, appointment books, biographical information about Lowery, material related to his tenure at Cascade United Methodist Church and Central United Methodist Church, invitations, programs and travel files. Writings contain sermons, speeches, statements and other writings by Lowery.

The Printed and Published Material series includes material created by SCLC including SCLC Magazines and SCLC-West Magazines.

The SCLC/Women's Organizational Movement for Equality Now (SCLC/W.O.M.E.N.), Inc. records series includes administrative files and program files. SCLC/W.O.M.E.N., Inc. was established by Evelyn G. Lowery in October 1979 to address various concerns including women's issues, children's needs and enrichment, heritage pride, political awareness, health and welfare, education, economic justice, media, and peace issues. Administrative files document the daily operations of SCLC/W.O.M.E.N. including correspondence, annual reports, budgets and other finance materials, mailing lists, meeting agendas, personnel files, and press releases. Program records contain materials documenting the events, programs and activities held by SCLC/W.O.M.E.N. including the annual Drum Major for Justice Awards Dinner, Drum Major for Justice Golf Classic, Bridging the Gap Mentoring Program, Civil Rights Heritage Tour, Family Life Learning Center, and National AIDS Program.

The Subject and Research Files series includes topical files of interest to the Lowerys not directly aligned with the daily operations of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The files include originals of newspaper clippings and magazine articles; published material (reports, pamphlets and brochures) from a number of organizations; correspondence (usually within folders with other material); fliers, brochures, and other items of interest. The bulk of the series contains files about affirmative action, Africa, AIDS, drugs, economic development, education, environmental racism, gun control, health, housing, justice, labor, politics, religion, sports justice, violence and voting rights.

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.