LibGuides: History Vault: Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century, Federal Government Records

The Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century, Federal Government Records

The Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century, Federal Government Records (Module 1)

The focus of the Federal Government Records module is on the political side of the freedom movement, the role of civil rights organizations in pushing for civil rights legislation, and the interaction between African Americans and the federal government in the 20th century.

Major collections in this module include the FBI Files on Martin Luther King Jr.; Centers of the Southern Struggle, an exceptional collection of FBI Files covering five of the most pivotal arenas of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s: Montgomery, Albany, St. Augustine, Selma, and Memphis; and records from the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations, detailing the interaction between civil rights leaders and organizations and the highest levels of the federal government.

Use Case: FBI Files Enable Balanced Research on the Black Panther Party
By Joe Street. University of Northumbria

Places

Atlanta, Georgia
Survey of available housing in Atlanta. Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta Real Estate Board, U.S. Housing Corporation, industrial housing surveys, 1918.
Chicago, IL
University of Chicago Law School research unit in discussion with Committee on possible working relationship.
Cincinnati, OH
Final city profile, Cincinnati, Ohio, Kerner Commission files. National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission).
Detroit, MI
Statistical report on Detroit Riot, 1967, July 1967.
East St. Louis, IL
East St. Louis, Illinois, U.S. Housing Corporation, records relating to the need of industrial housing, 1917
Little Rock, AR
Little Rock school desegregation crisis, including deployment of U.S. Army troops to Little Rock , September 24, 1957
St. Louis, MO
St. Louis, Missouri, school busing and integration, statistical data and narrative summary, 1968

Oral Histories

Civil Rights during the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969, Part III: Oral Histories

Thurgood Marshall
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall oral history interview on civil rights during the Johnson administration and his appointment to the Supreme Court.
A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph, president of the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, oral history interview on civil rights during the Johnson administration.
Charles Evers
Fayette, Mississippi Mayor Charles Evers (brother of Medgar Evers) oral history interview on voting rights and race relations during the Johnson administration.

People

A short list of individuals (many, many more are mentioned in the product) to get users started.

William "Count" Basie
Pg 120 has a letter from President Carter congratulating Count Basie on the occasion of his 75th birthday. From the Civil Rights during the Carter Administration, 1977-1981, Part 1: Papers of the Special Assistant for Black Affairs, Section A (Correspondence of Louis E. Martin Jr., including Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, White House briefing on mental health, and meetings between President Carter and Kenneth B. Clark, 1978-1979).
Eldridge Cleaver
From one of the more than 90 files retrieved, FBI Files on Black Extremist Organizations, Part 2: Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panther Party; FBI search for fugitive Eldridge Cleaver, including heavily redacted files with information concerning Cleaver's whereabouts, 1969.
Angela Davis
FBI COINTELPRO surveillance files for January-February 1971, covering Eldridge Cleaver, Young Lords, Black Panther Party, United Front in Cairo, Illinois, Panther 21 (twenty-one members of Black Panther Party indicted in New York on bombing conspiracy charges), and Angela Davis.
Jesse Jackson
Civil Rights during the Carter Administration, 1977-1981, Part 1: Papers of the Special Assistant for Black Affairs, Section A, (Correspondence of Louis E. Martin Jr., including opinions on Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King and Shirley Chisholm, and administration policy on Angola conflict, 1979-1980).
Martin Luther King Jr.
There are more than 400 files listing Martin Luther King. Highligted here are the FBI Files on Black Extremist Organizations, Part 1: COINTELPRO Files on Black Hate Groups and Investigation of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, (FBI COINTELPRO Black Extremists surveillance files for April-July 1968 with documentation on Stokely Carmichael, Martin Luther King Jr., Eldridge Cleaver, Elijah Muhammad, LeRoi Jones, SCLC, and the Nation of Islam).
Rosa Parks
One of approximately ten search results, from the Centers of the Southern Struggle: FBI Files on Montgomery, Albany, St. Augustine, Selma, and Memphis, (Montgomery Bus Boycott, mass arrests of boycott leaders and conviction of Rosa Parks, February 1956-March 1956)
Colin Powell
Page 59-60 of Civil Rights during the Carter Administration, 1977-1981, Part 1: Papers of the Special Assistant for Black Affairs, Section A, (Pesidential appointments by race, 1978-1979).
Jackie Robinson
From the file, President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights (Baseball and racial discrimination). 1947. 2 page file with Washington Post article.
Bobby Seale
One of the more than 30 results, FBI Files on Black Extremist Organizations, Part 2: Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panther Party, (Black Panther Party, including activities and speeches, from the FBI Files on Black Extremist Organizations, 1964-1978)
Malcolm X
From the Martin Luther King Jr. FBI File, Part 1 (Martin Luther King Jr. FBI File, including SCEF, civil rights demonstrations, and Malcolm X, May 1964-June 1964). Starting on about page 250, the memos review Communist Influence in Racial Matters.
Andrew Young
From the file: Civil Rights during the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969, Part III: Oral Histories, (Andrew Young, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, oral history interview on civil rights during the Johnson administration).

Black Workers in the Era of the Great Migration: 1919-1929

Field Agents-Bulletins, U.S. Housing Corporation, reference file, 1918
A series of memos detailing a room registration program for Negroes.
National Interracial Conference, summary of Women's Bureau Data Published on African American Women in Industry, records of Women's Bureau, 1928
Memoes about the Women's Bureau bulletings, the bulk of this file, pages 4-13, has table of number of white and negro women investigated in 9 states, with employment and earnings.

Brown v. Bd of Education, 1954-9

Civil Rights during the Eisenhower Administration, Part 1: White House Central Files, Series A, School Desegregation
Public reaction to Brown v. Board of Education, May 17, 1954-1959

August 1963 March on Washington

Civil Rights during the Kennedy Administration, 1961-1963, Part 1: The White House Central Files and Staff Files and the President's Office Files
Pages 6-8 contain a proposed statement from the Executive Branch; page 10 contains a church newsletter article that was forwarded to the White House prior to the march.
Martin Luther King Jr. FBI File, Part 2: The King-Levison File
FBI surveillance of July 1963 phone calls regarding the upcoming March on Washington. (One call is a conference call with Roy Bennett regarding Levison' role in telephone conference call with Clarence Jones, Wyatt Walker, and Martin Luther King Jr.)

1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike

Centers of the Southern Struggle: FBI Files on Montgomery, Albany, St. Augustine, Selma, and Memphis
Memphis sanitation workers strike newspaper clippings, March 1968-July 1968. More than 150 pages of clippings. Some intersting notes: page 16 has a long article "Day's Log of Police Calls Traces Racial Disturbance Shock Waves;" page 99 has "Looting Cases Go Into Court."

1969-74 University of California

Petitions and correspondence on Vietnam, including controversy over "People's Park" at University of California , Berkeley, December 31, 1970
From Civil Rights during the Nixon Administration, 1969-1974, Part 1: The White House Central Files.
Pg 20-46 contains discussion of the People's Park with the report on p. 25-39.