Doctoral Student Explores Criminal Trials of Black Women During the Civil War
Tamika Richeson, a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Virginia, is researching records in the National Archives detailing 500 arrests of Black women in Washington in the years 1861 and 1862.
New Film Honors the First Black Woman to Earn a Ph.D. at Duke University
In 1967 Ida Stephens Owens received a Ph.D. in physiology from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She went on to conduct important research on drug biotransformation at the National Institutes of Health.
New Photo Archive at Stanford University Documents the Civil Rights Movement
The Bob Fitch Photography Archive, which contains more than 200,000 images, has been donated to the Stanford University Libraries. Fitch worked as a photojournalist for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1960s.
Virginia Commonwealth University Unveils Exhibit of Civil Rights Era Photographs
The effort was launched with the hope that the public would help identify the people in the photographs so as to better understand their participation in the civil rights movement.
The University of Iowa Mounts an Oral History Project Relating to Freedom Summer
The University of Iowa has identified 11 individuals from the university community who were involved in Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964 and there may be more.
The First Black Graduate of the University of Vermont
For many years it was believed that George Washington Henderson in 1877 was the first Black graduate of the University of Vermont. But Andrew Harris earned his degree 39 years earlier.
Indiana University Receives the Archives of the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
The collection contains more than 300 linear feet of documents, audio-visual materials, publications, and memorabilia, including the original grave marker for Oscar Micheaux, who in 1919 was the first African American to produce a full-length motion picture.
Tuskegee Flight Instructor Honored on U.S. Postage Stamp
Charles Alfred Anderson, the chief flight instructor of the aviation school of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama during World War II who died in 1996, has been honored with a U.S. postage stamp bearing his image.
Wellesley College Student Conducts Oral History Project of Black Alumnae From the 1950s
Nora Mishanec, a senior majoring in international affairs at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, has conducted an oral history project relating the stories of Black women at Wellesley in the 1950s.
The Oberlin Conservatory Receives the Personal Archives of Jazz Great Milt Hinton
Hinton, a native of Mississippi, had a jazz career that spanned more than 70 years and his music can be heard on more than 1,000 recordings. In addition to his music, Hinton was an avid photographer.
Oregon State Names Its Newest Dormitory in Honor of Its First Black Male Graduate
William Tebeau enrolled at what was then Oregon State College in 1943. He was not permitted to live on campus. He took a job tending the furnace at a fraternity house in return for a small room in the basement. He earned a degree in chemical engineering in 1948.
University of Tennessee Acquires Rare Phillis Wheatly First Edition
The University of Tennessee Libraries has acquired a first edition of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley. The edition purchased by the university contains an inscription by the author.
UCLA Mural on “The Black Experience” Again Sees the Light of Day
In 1970, seven artists painted a mural on a wall in the Ackerman Union on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. When the building was renovated in 1992, the mural was hidden behind a temporary wall. It has now been restored for public display.
Emory University Acquires the Papers of Poet Nathaniel Mackey
Dr. Mackey is a professor emeritus of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He recently was named the winner of the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. In 2006, he won the National Book Award in the poetry category.
Duke Renames a Dormintory That Honored a Segregation-Era Governor
Aycock Hall was named for Charles Brantley Aycock, who served as governor of North Carolina from 1901 to 1905. While Governor Aycock was a strong advocate for public education, he also was a staunch segregationist and led efforts to disenfranchise Black voters in the state.
Library of Congress Acquires the Vast Archive of The History Makers
The archive includes more than 9,000 hours of video interviews of 2,500 Black Americans. The collection includes 14,000 analog tapes, 3,000 DVDs, 70,000 paper documents, and 30,000 digital images.
University of Georgia Shows the Oldest Known Movie of Blacks Playing Baseball
The 26-second film of African Americans in 1919 at the Pebble Hill Plantation near Thomasville, Georgia, was recently screened at a conference, co-sponsored by the State University of New York College at Oneonta and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
University of Southern Mississippi to Double Its Digital Archive of Civil Rights Era Oral...
The University of Southern Mississippi recently received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize its collection of oral histories and make them available to the public. At the present time, many of the oral histories are on reel-to-reel or cassette tapes.
Washington and Lee University Addresses Its Past Ties to Slavery and the Confederacy
Kenneth P. Ruscio, president of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, has issued a response to student demands that the university take actions to address its past.
Oral History Project on the Civil Rights Movement Housed at George Mason University
The Northern Virginia Civil Rights Archive: Personal Histories of Struggle and Achievement in Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes more than 50 hours of videotape interviews.
Alabama State University to Build National Park Service Center on Campus
Alabama State University in Montgomery has signed an agreement with the National Park Service to develop a new $5 million interpretive center on campus that will be part of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.
Coastal Carolina University Project Focuses on African American Veterans
The project, by Coastal Carolina University's Athenaeum Press, is the culmination of a decade of research collecting oral histories, documents, photographs, and other mementos of African American veterans.
University of Kansas Project Will Examine the Impact of Black Poetry on Social Change
The project, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will fund an institute on the University of Kansas campus next summer entitled "Black Poetry After the Black Arts Movement."
New Audio Recordings of Ralph Ellison in 1953 Found at Harvard University
Earlier this year staffers at the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University found audio tapes from a 1953 conference on the contemporary novel at Harvard Summer School. One of the participants in the conference was author Ralph Ellison.
Clemson University’s Year-Long Examination of Its History on Race
The series, entitled "Race and the University: A Campus Conversation," is designed to create greater awareness of Clemson's history on the issue of race and to foster dialogue on diversity at the university today.
Traveling Exhibit Showcases African American Academic Surgeons
The National Library of Medicine and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture have developed an exhibit on the history of African American surgeons. The exhibit is appearing on campus across the United States and also online.
UCLA Finds a Treasure Trove of African American History
Last fall, a collection of 365 audio tapes were found of speeches given at the University of California, Los Angeles between 1962 and 1973. Among the recording are a large number of speeches given by leaders of the civil rights movement.
Kansas State University Acquires the Collection of Blues Legend Jimmy Rogers
The collection of memorabilia from one of the greats of the Chicago blues scene in the post World War II years includes more than 2,500 items relating to Rogers' career from the period 1960 until his death in 1997.
Free Black Woman’s Civil War Diaries Available Online at Villanova University Website
The first entry of Emilie Davis' diaries, written on January 1, 1863, the day in which Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, read, "To day has bin a memorable day and i thank god i have been sperd to see it."
Longwood University Apologizes for Its Actions During the Civil Rights Era
Longwood University is a four-year, state-operated educational institution. Today, it enrolls about 4,500 undergraduate students and more than 400 graduate students. Blacks make up approximately 8 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Four Universities Selected as Finalists for the Obama Presidential Library
The Barack Obama foundation has narrowed the field of candidates to host the Obama Presidential Library to Columbia University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Hawaii.
Emory University Debuts Archive of 12,000 Photos of African Americans
The Robert Langmuir African American Photograph Collection includes nearly 12,000 photographs depicting African American life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The Discovery of a Lost Landmark of African American History
The Museum of Modern Art in New York City has announced the discovery of 101-year-old film footage that may include the earliest surviving depictions of African Americans actors on screen.
University of Cincinnati Acquires the Collections of Louise Shropshire
Louise Shropshire was the composer of the song "If My Jesus Wills," that was adapted to form the anthem of the civil rights movement "We Shall Overcome." She never received credit for being the author of the famous lyrics until after her death.
Brown University Dedicates Its Slavery Memorial
The memorial includes a 4.5 ton cast-iron sculpture that sits in front of University Hall, Brown's oldest building that was built in part by slave labor. The sculpture depicts a large iron ball and a chain where the third and final link is broken.
Donna Brazile Donates Her Papers to Louisiana State University
Donna Brazile, a key Democratic political strategist, author, and journalist has announced that she has donated her papers to the Special Collections Unit of the Louisiana State University Libraries. Brazile is a 1981 graduate of the university.
