Civil Rights

Dates: 1847-1997. Size: 179 linear feet. Accession #2007/06. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Robert S. Abbott founded the Chicago Defender in 1905; his nephew John H. Sengstacke took over the family’s newspapers upon Abbott’s death in 1940. The papers trace the Abbott-Sengstacke family history from the mid-19th century in Georgia through Abbott’s move to Chicago and creation of a journalistic empire, to the death of Sengstacke in 1997. The papers are arranged in three superseries: Robert Abbott, John Sengstacke and Myrtle Sengstacke. Extensive documentation of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Chicago Defender, the Pittsburgh Courier, the Michigan Chronicle, Provident Hospital and the political history of Chicago is included. The papers feature correspondence, manuscripts, organizational and subject research files, biographical materials, programs, clippings and memorabilia. A large collection of photographs is being processed and will be available at a later date. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1981-2005. Size: 33 linear feet. Accession #1983/01. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. This collection predominantly consists of conference papers, articles, speeches and unpublished manuscripts written and collected by Abdul Alkalimat while he was director of African American studies at the University of Illinois-Urbana. Recent additions include a clipping file on Harold Washington, and materials on black studies and the Internet. [Partially processed]

Dates: 1960-1969. Size: 7 linear feet. Accession #1992/03. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. The collection consists of reel-to-reel audiotapes on African American history and literature created by the Archdiocese. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1998-1999. Size: 3 linear feet. Accession #1998/03. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Materials collected at the inaugural conference of the Black Radical Congress, held in Chicago in June 1998 and in the months that followed. Collection consists of publicity, programs, position papers, newsletters, clippings and memorabilia. [Partially processed]

Dates: 1918-2010. Size: 336 linear feet. Accession #2003/08. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Professor emeritus at City Colleges of Chicago, Timuel Black is a prominent historian, author, human rights activist and expert on Chicago’s African American history. During the 1960s, he was president of the Negro American Labor Council, Chicago Chapter  and organizer of Chicago participation in the 1963 March on Washington. Black was active in more than 100 organizations over seven decades. The collection includes extensive organizational files, correspondence, manuscripts, subject files, oral histories, audiovisual materials, photographs and memorabilia. Additional papers relating to the life and work of his children, Timuel Kerrigan Black (1963-1993) and Ermetra Black-Thomas, were accessioned in 2007. Selected items from the collection are available online in the Timuel D. Black Jr. Digital Collection. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1909-2020, undated; bulk dates 2016-2020. Size: 3.5 linear feet in 6 boxes and 1 oversize folder, includes 1301 photographs, 37.9 GB, 22 artifacts. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. This collection includes flyers, newsletters, pamphlets, papers and statements related to social justice movements and actions in Chicago. The digital photographs depict nine protest rallies and marches that took place between 2016 and 2020 including the Women’s March. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1960-2011. Size: 16 linear feet. Accession #2006/02. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. The Chicago SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) History Project was created in 2005 to collect and preserve the experience of SNCC during the civil rights movement in Chicago. The archive includes correspondence, serials, photographs, flyers, clippings, financial records, newsletters, manuscripts, meeting minutes, oral histories and memorabilia. [Finding Aid, opens a new window]

Dates: 1943-2005. Size: 9 linear feet. Accession #2004/04. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Josie Brown Childs, political and civil rights activist, aide to Mayor Harold Washington and cultural events promoter, donated her papers documenting her multifaceted career. The scope of the papers consists of family history in Mississippi, Childs’ early political work, her campaign for an aldermanic seat, her work for Mayor Washington, and her efforts to promote African American cultural and historical awareness. Correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, flyers, programs and memorabilia are included. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1947-1990. Size: 2 linear feet. Accession #2007/02. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. CORE, a national civil rights organization, began in Chicago in 1942, with protests to force desegregation of restaurants and other public accommodations. These archives cover the period of the early and mid-1960s, when Chicago CORE’s membership was at its height. Records include meeting minutes, correspondence, flyers, programs, news clippings and photographs. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1946-2009. Size: 16 linear feet. Accession #2003/09. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Charles Davis was a journalist, a public relations specialist and an entrepreneur. During the 1940s, he served as the leading political reporter for the Chicago Defender. In the 1960s, he was one of the founders of the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations. Davis was director of the National Insurance Association and served on the boards of several important Chicago companies. His papers include correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, programs, clippings and memorabilia. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1953-2015. Size 7.5 linear feet. Accession #2016/03. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Milton Davis co-founded South Shore Bank, later renamed ShoreBank. It was the first bank holding company to combine commercial banking, real estate development, nonprofit loan funds and international advisory services aimed at community development. Davis was also an active Civil Rights activist and served as President of the Congress of Racial Equality, Chicago Chapter. The collection consists of correspondence, event programs, newspaper clippings, photographs, audiovisual materials and memorabilia. Davis' work as a banker, activist and community leader are well documented with manuscript materials. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1965, 1968. Size: 3 linear feet in 4 boxes, including 2 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. The 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago determined that Hubert Humphrey would be the Democratic candidate for president. Throughout the Convention, anti-war protestors demonstrated around Chicago and experienced police violence and arrests. The majority of this collection details the events and messages of the Convention itself through the officially produced material that was distributed to delegates and press. The protests surrounding the convention and the ensuing police crackdown are covered through a series of national alternative newspapers. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1932-2019, bulk dates: 1966-2010. Size: 222 linear feet, includes 6 artifacts, 257 buttons, 737 photographs, 145 digital photographs, 4 16mm films, 41 cassette tapes, 3 DVDs, 6 LPs, 16 reel-to-reel tapes, 3 VHS tapes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. Rev. Martin L. Deppe created and collected the materials in this collection during his time working with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) Operation Breadbasket program, Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC), the Alliance to End Repression (AER) and the United Farm Workers (UFW). The collection is comprised of meeting materials, memos, flyers, photographs, posters, publications, reports, speeches, buttons and artifacts that reflect the activities of Chicago’s Civil Rights, anti-war and social justice movements. Projects and actions include confronting the economic discrimination in Chicago’s African American communities, the nuclear freeze movements, anti-apartheid campaigns and Vietnam War opposition. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1938-2003. Size: 34 linear feet. Accession #2004/05. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Ishmael Flory’s career in civil rights, labor and radical activism began with student protests at Fisk University in the 1930s. Flory served as a leader in the Communist Party’s organization on Chicago’s South Side from the 1940s through the 1980s. He was also co-founder of the African American Heritage Association. A friend to Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes, Flory’s activist career included dozens of protest movements. His papers include correspondence, minutes, organizational records, flyers, position papers, serials, photographs and memorabilia. [Unprocessed]

Dates: 1942-2021, Bulk dates: 1969-1988. Size: 1.25 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. The Ross M. Harano Papers document his leadership and participation with the Chicago Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Alliance to End Repression (AER) on efforts in the 1970s and 1980s to repeal Title II of the Internal Security Act of 1950 and enact redress thought the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. The collection includes committee meeting and planning materials and Congressional hearings and reports. [Finding aid]

Dates: circa 1970s-1990s. Size: 6 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. Social justice advocate, Carol Heise, put her nursing and legal degrees to use with her research and advocacy for human rights. Locally, her work in Edgewater and Evanston helped to establish Illinois standards for nursing homes, group homes and individuals with mental health challenges. Internationally, her Chicago chapter of the Christian Urgent Action Network for Emergency Support (CUANES) created an action network to monitor human rights in the Philippines. [Unprocessed]

Dates: 1929-1976. Size: 3 linear feet. Accession #2009/06. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Theodore Roosevelt Mason (T.R.M.) Howard was a surgeon, civil rights leader and entrepreneur. He came to national prominence in the 1950s, when he was president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, the most important civil rights group in Mississippi then. He also served as president of the National Medical Association. Forced to leave Mississippi, he spent the last 20 years of his life in Chicago and ran for Congress in 1958. Howard’s papers include two scrapbooks he created, correspondence, texts and audiotapes of speeches and articles, clipping files and memorabilia. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1968-1995. Size: 39 linear feet. Accession #2000/05. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Bennett Johnson, a graduate of Roosevelt University with Harold Washington, has been a civil rights and radical activist since the 1940s. He was a leader in the March on Conventions movement, Protest at the Polls and the NAACP. He was one of the early activists in Washington’s successful campaign for mayor of Chicago. Johnson was co-founder of Path Press, a black-owned publishing house. His papers include correspondence, minutes, programs, manuscripts and memorabilia. [Unprocessed]

Dates: circa 1890-1994. Size: 107 linear feet. Accession #1992/09. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Marjorie Stewart Joyner was national supervisor of Madame C.J. Walker Beauty Colleges, chair of Chicago’s Bud Billiken Parade and Chicago Defender Charities, benefactor of Bethune-Cookman College and an activist in the Democratic Party in Chicago. Her papers include correspondence, business records, programs, serials, clipping files, photographs and memorabilia. Organizational materials from the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association, Alpha Chi Pi Omega Sorority and Fraternity, Cosmopolitan Community Church and the Bud Billiken Parade are also included. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1989-2016, bulk dates: 2003-2016. Size: 18 linear feet in 28 boxes, (2 oversize folders, 34 artifacts, 8 VHS recordings, 5 DVDs, 68 physical photographs, 26.1 GB of born digital material including 4795 digital photographs). Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. Mariame Kaba works as a community-based organizer and educator with a focus on violence against women and girls, the prison system and youth leadership development. During her time in the Chicago area, Kaba actively worked with Chicago Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander (CAFMA), Chicago Freedom School (CFS), Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls and Young Women, Girl Talk, Project NIA, Rogers Park Young Women's Action Team (RP YWAT) and We Charge Genocide. Her papers contain documents, photographs and video of programs and initiatives undertaken by these organizations. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1964-1975. Size: 1.5 linear foot. Accession #2000/01. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Ernece Kelly was an activist in the 1960s Chicago civil rights movement and a staffer for the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations. This collection contains political buttons, books and pamphlets. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1963-1971. Size: 2 linear feet in 2 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. The archive of Chicago’s Nicholas Senn High School student Barbara Kuck contains 78 alternative publications from 1968 and 1971, including 22 issues, drafts and notes related to The Paper which she edited and published. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1969-1996; Bulk dates: 1970-1986. Size: 20 linear feet, includes 164 photographs, 43 negatives, 31 slides, 10 artifacts. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Kuumba Theatre Company was founded in 1969 by Chicago dramatist, Val Gray Ward. The collection contains the theater company’s production history files, administrative records, artistic files and affiliations with a range of community and political organizations. The documentation includes the work of local playwrights along with the company’s nationally recognized productions, The Amen Corner, The Little Dreamer and In the House of the Blues. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1946-2007. Size: 2.5 linear feet. Accession #2004/03. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. As a high school student in Jackson, Mississippi, Minor was one of the leaders of a 1949 bus boycott for civil rights. Her papers document the boycott, her career as a nurse at Provident Hospital and her activities in community organizations. They consist of oral history audio recordings, programs, yearbooks, clippings and memorabilia. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1951-1964. Size: 2.75 linear feet. Accession #1997/02. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Civil rights activist, journalist and historian Donald Mosby published The Struggle, a 1960s civil rights newspaper, and did most of the writing on a biography of Ulysses Grant Dailey. Papers include rare newspapers, original manuscripts and speeches, and page proofs. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1966-2016 (bulk dates: 1982-2016). Size: 2 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. Chicago native, Aurie A. Pennick is an African American attorney and philanthropist whose work spans across Chicago’s municipal and nonprofit organizations. Pennick’s papers include her involvement with Mayor Harold Washington’s Office of Women’s Affairs, her decade of executive stewardship at the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities and her ongoing engagement with housing and policing issues in Chicago. The collection contains a variety of articles, newsletters, programs, reports, studies and videos that Pennick authored, consulted in or contributed to in the course of her work from 1982 to 2016. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1821-1993, bulk 1940s-1980s Size: 21 linear feet, 41 boxes, 206 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Neighborhood History Research Collection. Faith Rich (1909-1990) was a white community activist, educator and volunteer with numerous organizations including the Chicago Westside Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Independent Voters of Illinois (IVI), the 15th Place Block Club, the Literacy Council of Chicago and local PTAs. She focused her organizing efforts on issues of civil rights, desegregation of schools and neighborhoods, equality in education, racism and the effect of urban renewal on local communities and especially, her own North Lawndale neighborhood in Chicago. Her collection contains her voluminous correspondence with family, friends and fellow activists along with meeting materials from social justice organizations and a sizable library of publications that document Chicago's urban renewal initiatives from the 1950s-1970s. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1942-2019; bulk dates 1942-1958. Size: 0.25 linear feet in 8 folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. James H. Roche Papers document the Chicagoan’s World War II experience, his work for the U.S. Navy and the subsequent investigation of his national loyalty based on a handful of visits to the Chicago Chapter of the American League of Peace and Democracy between January and May 1939. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1963-2004. Size: 12 linear feet. Accession #2006/03. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Fannie Rushing, a professor at Benedictine University, was an early activist in Chicago Friends of SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee). Her papers document the civil rights movement in Chicago and the South, and her involvement in human rights work internationally. Included are correspondence, clipping files, programs, manuscripts, photographs and memorabilia. [Unprocessed]

Dates: 1963-1980. Size: 5 linear feet in 9 boxes. Accession #1985/01. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. This Chicago-based organization aided the cause of African liberation movements in Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and South Africa. The archive includes programs, flyers and a wide array of serials. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1955-1971. Size: 4 linear feet. Accession #1999/04. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Ann Stull was director of Friendship House in Chicago from 1951 to 1955. Friendship House was a Roman Catholic mission that preached and practiced racial tolerance in the pre-civil rights era. Her collection of rare serials and newspaper clippings documents racism, Catholicism’s involvement in interracial justice, labor relations, housing and educational discrimination on Chicago’s West Side. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1954-2015. Size: 55 linear feet. Accession #2017/01. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Thomas N. Todd was a groundbreaking attorney for civil rights. He served as the president of the Chicago Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1971 and president of Operation PUSH from 1983-1984. Attorney Todd established the nation’s first local U.S. attorney’s civil rights office. He taught law at Northwestern University as the school’s first full-time Black law professor. His papers include correspondence, case files, speeches, newspaper clippings, yearbooks, photographs, audiovisual materials, and memorabilia. [Unprocessed] 

Dates: 1980-1984. Size: .5 linear foot. Accession #1987/03. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Jearl Wood, an autoworker, Vietnam veteran, UAW member and artist, was accused of attempted murder, aggravated battery and armed violence. This collection contains the files of the defense fund for Wood, including correspondence, litigation documents, logbook, leaflets and political buttons. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1947-2005. Size: 220 linear feet. Accession #2007/04 Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. The Rev. Addie Wyatt and her husband, the Rev. Claude Wyatt, were co-pastors at Vernon Park Church of God for more than four decades. Addie Wyatt was a meatpacking worker and union activist in the 1940s. Her determination to fight for social justice led her to union leadership roles, culminating in her election as vice president of the Amalgamated Meatcutters Union (later merged into the United Food and Commercial Workers Union). She was a founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. This collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, programs, proceedings, serials, clipping files, audiovisual materials and photographs from her work in labor, black and women’s organizations. Also included is extensive documentation on the history of Vernon Park Church of God, including sermon texts by Claude Wyatt. [Finding aid]