Illinois Writers Project: "Negro in Illinois" Digital Collection

About

The Illinois Writers Project: ”Negro in Illinois” Papers contain research notes, transcripts, oral histories and original manuscripts intended to present a history of African Americans in Illinois from roughly the late 18th century to the early 20th century.

As part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Illinois Writers Project, within the Works Progress Administration, created a special division with over a hundred researchers tasked with documenting the African American experience in Illinois from 1779 to 1942. Poet Arna Bontemps and writer Jack Conroy supervised the study. Among the notables who participated were Richard Wright, Fenton Johnson, Kitty Chapelle and Robert Lucas.

Topics included enslavement of African Americans, abolition, religion, politics, sports, social life, music, theater and art.

Destined to be published in book form with the title “The Negro in Illinois,” the research ended when the government canceled the project in 1942. Chicago Public Library’s first African American branch head, Vivian G. Harsh, agreed to house a large portion of the research in her “Special Negro Collection” at CPL’s George Cleveland Hall Branch.

The Illinois Writers Project collection is housed in the Vivian G. Harsh Collection of Afro-American History and Literature at Woodson Regional Library.

Questions or concerns about rights and access to this digital collection? See our Copyright and Takedown Policy.

This digital collection is made possible by a generous Illinois History-Digital Imaging Grant (awarded in 2018) from the Illinois State Library, Office of the Illinois Secretary of State.

Acknowledgment of Harmful Materials

Chicago Public Library collects images, documents and other archival materials from different communities and time periods to preserve and make available the cultural and historical record. As historical objects, some of these materials contain harmful or disturbing content. CPL presents these artifacts as an unfiltered social record and does not endorse the views expressed therein.

Related CPL Collections

• George Cleveland Hall Branch Archives
• Illinois Writers Project: ”Negro in Ilinois” Papers

Related External Resources

• Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, U.S. Works Progress Administration Federal Writer’s Project contains documents from the wider Illinois Writers Project study.
• Newberry Library, Jack Conroy Papers contain the novelist and editor’s writings, correspondence and papers.
• Syracruse University Library, Arna Bontemps Papers contain writings, compositions and a manuscript of his Negro in Illinois work
• The Negro in Illinois: The WPA Papers: C-Span discussion by Brian Dolinar about his edited book version of The Negro in Illinois.