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Special Collections and Archives Public Health Subject Guide: African American

African American: Manuscript Collections

LGBTQ Institute's Gregg Daugherty Papers, 1979-1990 (Q162)
In 1978, Gregg Daugherty became the first African American Ad Sales employee for the city's LGBT publications industry (late 1970s through the mid 1980s). He managed advertising and marketing for Cruise, David, and Guide magazines and was a contributing writer of articles. Daugherty was a member of the Hotlanta Softball League (HSL) for 16 years as a player, coach and (two term) league secretary. He was inducted into the HSL Hall of Fame in 2013. While playing on the Armory Angels Softball team, Daugherty and his teammates were approached to create a new version of the camp drag troupe, The Armorettes. The main focus of this troupe was to promote AIDS fundraising. He was a member of the Armorettes for six years. In 1988 Daugherty opened his own business, Performing Arts Media (PAM) a playbill & program publishing company. PAM’s first official publication was The National Black Arts Festival program which he continues to produce. In 1996, PAM produced The Official Cultural Olympiad programs for the 1996 Olympic Games. Daugherty created Atlanta ShowGuide, greater Atlanta’s performing arts magazine, a bimonthly resource guide of the region's performing arts, which is available in print and online.

Mary N. Long Papers, 1957; 1965-2000 (W062)
Primarily correspondence, minutes and agendas, notes and writings, printed material including reports, and artifacts and ephemera make up the papers of Mary N. Long, 1957; 1965-2000. Materials relate to her employment at Grady Memorial Hospital and the Arthritis Foundation; to her service to the Georgia Nurses' Association, Georgia Nurses' Foundation, American Nurses Foundation, and other organizations; and to her work as an activist and community volunteer, including numerous speaking and training engagements as well as committee and board service. Long's political activism, state government service, and activity on behalf of the Georgia Democratic Party are also documented.

AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department, Southern Office Records, 1964-1979 (1983-26)

The records, 1964-1979, of the Southern Office of the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department consist primarily of correspondence and related reports, surveys, statements, and newspaper clippings. Much of the correspondence is between Director E.T. (Al) Kehrer and various AFL-CIO departments, notably his superiors Don Slaiman (1965-1974) and William Pollard (1974-1979). There is also substantial correspondence between Kehrer and the AFL-CIO state and city labor councils in the South; apprenticeship and training programs; a wide range of groups and persons concerned with community action and social reform issues, principally in the field of civil rights; and political figures.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 1644 (Atlanta, Ga.) Records, 1949-2001 (L1986-44)

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees(AFSCME), Local 1644 (Atlanta, Ga.) represents public sector workers in the metropolitan Atlanta area, including hospital, sanitation, and other municipal workers. The records of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 1644 (Atlanta, Ga.), 1949-2001, include correspondence, meeting minutes, membership lists, petitions, constitutions, policy and procedures manuals, grievances, newspaper clippings, flyers, convention materials, photographs, and membership mailings.

The majority of the collection is correspondence dated from the late-1960s through the mid-1990s that concerns people and organizations based in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Correspondents include Fulton and DeKalb government offices that employ the local's workers, AFSCME's national office, allied political organizations (most notably the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists), and civil rights groups. The collection also includes correspondence related Local 1644's role in Atlanta, state, and national politics. Other notable documentation relates to Local 1644's support of the 1968 Sanitation Workers in Memphis, Tennessee (Box 3), and the work of the local chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (Box 22).

Association of Colored Railway Trainmen and Locomotive Firemen Records, 1918-1936 (L1991-06)

The collection consists of records of the ACTA and its predecessors. The collection includes correspondence pertaining to grievance and disciplinary cases between union officers, primarily B.G. McCullough, and various railroad company officials; transcripts of accident investigations; transcripts of proceedings called to hear charges of misconduct brought against a union member; and minutes and summaries of national meetings held in 1934 and 1936 to organize a national union for colored railroad workers

Emory F. Via Papers, 1936-1987 (L1989-34)

Emory Franklin Via (1925-2003), was a labor educator, human rights activist, and labor consultant for the Southern Regional Council. His papers, 1936-1987, include correspondence, surveys and reports, newsclippings, printed materials, and biographical material on Via. The bulk of the correspondence is with groups related to the labor movement, other officers of the Southern Regional Council, and the Koinonia Farm, a cooperative farm in Southern Georgia. The surveys contain information on black membership in Southern labor unions, and while Via conducted surveys in every Southern state, not all surveys are complete. The reports deal with civil rights, the Koinonia Farm, and the Southern Union Staff Training Seminar.

United Auto Workers, Local 882 (Atlanta, Ga.) Records,1940s-1980s (L2005-29)

Chartered in July 1941, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) Local No. 882 is located in Atlanta, Georgia. It represented workers at Ford Motor Company's Atlanta Assembly Plant in Hapeville, Georgia, during its operation (1947-2006). The records include minutes and resolutions, correspondence, financial material, strike material, grievances, arbitration, agreements, and education materials, 1940s-1980s. Topics include the integration of the Hapeville Ford plant and racial discrimination there.

 

African American: Oral Histories in the Gender and Sexuality Collections

Cole, interviewed by Ashley Coleman Taylor, June 6, 2018; June 2?, 2018

Gregg Daugherty, May 1, 2018 (Q101)
In 1978, Gregg Daugherty became the first African American Ad Sales employee for the city's LGBT publications industry (late 1970s through the mid 1980s). He managed advertising and marketing for Cruise, David, and Guide magazines and was a contributing writer of articles. Daugherty was a member of the Hotlanta Softball League (HSL) for 16 years as a player, coach and (two term) league secretary. He was inducted into the HSL Hall of Fame in 2013. While playing on the Armory Angels Softball team, Daugherty and his teammates were approached to create a new version of the camp drag troupe, The Armorettes. The main focus of this troupe was to promote AIDS fundraising. He was a member of the Armorettes for six years. In 1988 Daugherty opened his own business, Performing Arts Media (PAM) a playbill & program publishing company. PAM’s first official publication was The National Black Arts Festival program which he continues to produce. In 1996, PAM produced The Official Cultural Olympiad programs for the 1996 Olympic Games. Daugherty created Atlanta ShowGuide, greater Atlanta’s performing arts magazine, a bimonthly resource guide of the region's performing arts, which is available in print and online.

Gregg Daugherty, May 11, 2018 (Q101)

Gregg Daugherty, June 29, 2018 (Q101)

Gregg Daugherty, July 27, 2018 (Q101)

Miko Evans, interviewed by Ashley Coleman Taylor, December 5, 2017
Miko Evans is the Founder & CEO of the World's First LGBT EXCLUSIVE Talent Agency and Full-Service Production Company (Meak Productions, Inc)

Chanel Haley, interviewed by Ashley Coleman Taylor, November 13, 2017
Chanel Haley is a transgender woman who serves as Georgia Equality’s transgender inclusion organizer.

Pat Hussain, interviewed by Hillery Rink, March 31, 2017
Pat Hussain helped to establish the first GLAAD chapter in Atlanta, and while working for the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, she helped to  organize the first March on Washington. After attending the 1993 Creating Change 1993 conference, which led to the founding of Southerners on New Ground (SONG), she served as its first co-director (with Pam McMichael). Hussain co-founded Olympics Out of Cobb County.

Pat Hussain, interviewed by Ashley Coleman Taylor, August 28, 2017

Tracee McDaniel, interviewed by Ashley Coleman Taylor, December 14, 2017
Author, Tracee McDaniel, is the CEO and Founder of Juxtaposed Center in Atlanta, Georgia. After many years working as an entertainer, McDaniel became involved in LGBTQ activism - particularly focused on trans homelessness. She was invited to serve on Mayor Kasim Reed's Citizen Review Board.

Tonya Poteat, interviewed by Terri Wilder, June 6, 2008
AIDS activist and educator, Tonia Poteat has worked for the Global AIDS Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where she helped to monitor HIV treatment programs in sub-Saharan Africa and to develop guidelines that low income countries could use to initiate and improve their programs.

Rickie Smith, interviewed by Jenna-Ashley M. Lee, March 10, 2017
Rickie Smith is president of In The Life Atlanta.

Charles Stephens, interviewed by Hillery Rink, July 31, 2012
Stephens is the African-American Gay Outreach Coordinator for AID Atlanta. He is committed to art, social justice, and gay men’s health. Charles has recently contributed to the anthology "For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out, and Coming Home" and is co-editing the anthology "Black Gay Genius" about the legacy of Joseph Beam

Charles Stephens, interviewed by Ashley Coleman Taylor, July 10, 2017

Duncan Teague, interviewed by Cal Gough with Randall Cumbaa, November 5 and 7, 2016
Activist, writer and performance artist, Duncan Teague has been actively involved with many organizations, including Second Sunday, the African American Lesbian Gay Alliance (AALGA), AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (ARCA), AID Atlanta, and In the Life Atlanta.

Duncan Teague, interviewed by Ashley Coleman Taylor, July 6, 2017

Craig Washington, interviewed by Ashley Coleman Taylor, May 29, 2019
Craig Washington is a licensed social worker, writer and community organizer with extensive experience in counseling, cultural education, advocacy and HIV/AIDS prevention.

African American: Oral Histories in the Women's Collections

Sandra Barnhill, August 7, 2014 (W071)
Sandra Barnhill earned her BA in political science at Georgia State University (1982), and her J.D. at the University of Texas (1984). From 1983 to 1987, she served as a staff attorney for the Southern Prisoners’ Defense Committee. In this role, she represented indigent prisoners in class action challenges to prison conditions and in post-conviction challenges on capital convictions. During this time, Barnhill became frustrated by the lack of support given to imprisoned mothers and their families. In 1987, she founded Foreverfamily (originally named Aid to Imprisoned Mothers (AIM)), which is a nonprofit  Atlanta-based organization advocating for inmate parents and their children. In 2004, the Ford Foundation  recognized Barnhill for her outstanding leadership efforts.

June Dobbs Butts, January 29, 2016 (W071)
Therapist and family counselor June Dobbs Butts was born on June 11, 1928 in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the youngest daughter of Irene and John Wesley Dobbs, one of Atlanta’s most prominent African American leaders before the Civil Rights Movement. Butts is also the aunt of the late Honorable Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first black mayor. Butts received her B.A. degree in sociology from Spelman College in 1948, setting a national education record – six sisters graduating from the same college. That same summer, Butts worked with her close friend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Then, in the fall of 1948, she entered the Teacher’s College of Columbia University in New York City, where she received her Ed.D. degree in family life education. Butts’ professional career began in 1950 as a professor in the psychology department at Fisk University. She went on to work at Tennessee State University, Howard University College of Medicine and Meharry Medical College, where she was also a researcher. While serving on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood in the 1970s, Butts met famed sex researchers Masters and Johnson, who invited her to join their staff at the Reproductive Biology Research Foundation (later called Masters and Johnson Institute) in St. Louis, Missouri. There, Butts became the first African American to be trained as a sex therapist by Masters and Johnson. She later served as a visiting scientist at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Butts resides in Atlanta. She is the mother of three children (one deceased), and one granddaughter (Biographical note adapted from The History Makers website).

Delores Crockett, November 7, 2007 (W071)
Born in Daytona Beach, FL , Delores Crockett attended Spelman College (BA in Psychology, 1969) and Atlanta University (MA in Guidance and Counseling, 1972). She was project director for the Minority Women’s Employment Program, 1974-1977, employment and community supervisor for Avon Products, Inc. (1977-1979). In 1979, she was named regional director of the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau. Crockett is a Leadership Atlanta alum (1977), and past board member, and she has served on a number of boards and commissions, including the American Red Cross, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Georgia Commission on the Status of Women, and Georgia’s Employment and Training Council. She was also a member of Georgia’s delegation to the 1977 International Women’s Year Conference.

Jean Davis, January 22, 2005 (W008)
Born in the segregated South to politically active parents, Jean Davis became politically aware as a young girl in Newnan, Georgia. Her early aspiration was to work as a missionary in Africa but instead, she attended Morris Brown College and taught public school in Atlanta. As a student at Morris Brown, Davis was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and participated in boycotts of Rich’s Department Store and sit-ins at Woolworth’s. Davis also worked with the A. Philip Randolph Institute as well as the Georgia AFL-CIO and the National AFL-CIO. Through her work with different union organizations and her activism in civil rights, Davis became interested in the Equal Rights Amendment. She felt strongly that the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was necessary in order to bring union women on board with the ERA and also to establish an organization that would place women in leadership positions. In addition to her work with the ERA, Davis worked on a number of campaigns from local school boards to notable politicians and continues the struggle for human rights.

Barbara Gibson, April 14, 2011 (W071)
Barbara Gibson has served as Safehouse Director for the Women's Resource Center to End Domestic Violence since 2007. She has held various positions, including family advocate, since joining the agency in 1989. Barbara holds a B.A. in History and completed her coursework for a M.A. in Women's Studies at Georgia State University.

Mary Long, May 13, and May 20,1999 (W008)
Mary Long was born in Guthrie, Kentucky in 1941. In 1961 she moved to Atlanta to pursue a career in nursing, and in 1963 began working at the emergency room at Grady Memorial Hospital. As a member of the Georgia Nurses' Association in the early 1970s, Long became interested in the activities of the Georgia ERA campaign. She was particularly interested in women's reproductive rights and appeared as one of the plaintiffs in the Georgia abortion case Doe v Bolton. Long participated in a number of women's organizations; she volunteered for the Georgia Nurses' Association, the Equal Rights campaign, as well as the Women's Political Caucus while simultaneously working the night shift at Grady Hospital. Long has many professional achievements: She founded Georgia's first health clinic for the homeless; she served as president of the Georgia Nurses Foundation, president of Friends and Public Health, and as president of the Georgia Nurses Association; she was the first African-American and first nurse to lead the board of the YMCA of Greater Atlanta, as well as the first African-American woman to serve as vice-chair of the Commission on Children and Youth. She also served as chair and as an active member of Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Coalition. Long has been honored numerous times for her unwavering commitment to social causes and is a three-time recipient of the Appreciation for Leadership Skills in Government Affairs Certificate from the Georgia Nurses Association. In 1996, the YMCA of greater Atlanta presented the 13th Anniversary Salute to Women of Achievement to Mary Long.

Eva Parker, April 27, 2000 (W008)
Eva Mae Parker was born in 1919 in Pearson, Georgia. When she was twenty-four years old, Parker moved with her husband to Connecticut where she worked in an airplane factory making nuts and bolts during the Second World War. Beginning in 1972, Parker worked as a sales representative with AAA in Atlanta and as such, was able to travel around the world. Parker became involved in the ERA campaign through workshops at local churches. Prior to her involvement in the Women's Movement, Parker was also active in the Civil Rights Movement, fighting for voters' rights. She became involved with the People of Faith for ERA and later worked as a liaison between the State Department and the United Methodist Women Organization. After the defeat of the ERA, Parker remained interested in women's issues.

Deborah Richardson, May 14, 2008 (W071)
Deborah J. Richardson is the Executive Vice President of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights leading its fundraising and program development. Previously, she was Chief Program Officer at Women’s Funding Network in San Francisco, CEO of The Atlanta Women’s Foundation, Director of Program Development for Fulton County Juvenile Court, founding Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Fund (now Youth Spark) and Managing Director of the National Black Arts Festival. Among Richardson's many awards are: The Community Leadership Award by Spelman College Board of Trustees, The Legacy Award by the Juvenile Justice Fund and The Grassroots Justice Award by the Georgia Justice Project. She also received  the Lives of Commitment Award from Auburn Theological Seminary and The Pathbreaker Award from Shared Hope International. Richardson is a nationally recognized leader on social justice for women and girls and an advocate to end child sex trafficking. She is the co-author of "Ending Sex Trafficking of Children in Atlanta" and a national spokesperson for A Future. Not a Past (now Youth Spark, Inc.), a campaign to stop the sexual trafficking of children.

Deborah Richardson, June 24, 2008 (W071)

African American: Oral Histories in the Georgia Government Documentation Project

The Georgia Government Documentation Project consist of 230 oral history interviews with Georgians of all walks of life on the subject of politics in the State of Georgia. Many of these individuals are African American.

Due to restrictions, some of the interviews are only accessible in the Special Collections and Archives reading room. The majority of these oral histories are available online at GSU's Digital Collections page.

For a full list of the interviews, use the finding aid

Georgia Government Documentation Project Oral Histories Digital Collection

African American: Oral Histories in the Southern Labor Archive

African Americans in Transportation Oral History Project

This small oral history project was conducted by former Southern Labor Archivist Traci Drummond. It includes interviews with African-Americans who have worked in various capacities in the transportation industry, including retired air traffic controllers, a pilot, an Amtrak administrator, and a former staffer of the FAA's Rulemaking department. Some photographs are also included in the collection.

Voices of Labor Oral History Project

Modibo Kadalie oral history interview, 2010-11-12

In this session, Kadalie explains the impact his parents and the community in which he grew up had on him. He summarizes his time at Morehouse College, where his lifelong interest in activism began with his first sit-ins and several conflicts with the Morehouse College administration. He elaborates on his personal philosophies and involvement with various activist groups, including the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, the African Liberation Support Committee, the Sixth Pan-African Congress, the Dessie Woods and Sheryl Todd Defense Committee, the Black Issues Community Forum. He describes his role in organizing against the brutality led by police chief John Inman, organizing the armed self-defense in the Techwood Housing Projects during the Atlanta Child Murders, supporting the strikes of the Atlanta sanitation workers, housing authority workers, and Atlanta Junior College students, organizing an independent union of taxi drivers, organizing a march from Savannah to Reidsville in response to a prison lockdown and against the death penalty, organizing against a racist plan for desegregation by the state board of education, and many other events. He also describes the influences that many individuals, and often their published works or activism, had on him, including C.L.R. James, Charles Simmons, Kimathi Mohammed, Hosea Williams, and many others.

Dorothy Bolder Oral History Interview, 1995-08-31

Bolden discusses her background—childhood in the African American community in Atlanta during the Great Depression, her faith, marriage, and children. She also talks about the effects of World War II on her family—loss of all male relatives. She discusses racial violence during the 1950s and 1960s. Regarding inter-racial episodes Bolden states, “They [whites] did some awful things to you, you know, to make you want to fight them.” An important aspect of Bolden’s life is her involvement in the civil rights movement—Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Ku Klux Klan, and Women’s rights. She also had a leading role in organizing domestic workers c.1968 (Domestic Workers Union) and speaks of the problems with other unions. Finally, Bolden discusses her part in trying to save historic Vine City.

African American: Periodicals

Gender and Sexuality Periodicals

  • Ache: A Free Publication for Black Lesbians (Albany, CA), July 1989
  • Arise: For Diverse People of African Descent January/February-March, November 2002
  • Black / Out: the Magazine of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays (Washington, DC), 1986-1987
  • Black Sheets? (RESTRICTED)
  • Blackheart: A Journal of Writing and Graphics by Black Gay Men (New York), 1984; 1985
  • Black Lines: Expressions from Black Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered Life (Chicago, IL), Mar 1999
  • BLK [LGBTQ Institute donation] (Los Angeles, CA), Feb 1989
  • The Drumbeat: Black Voices on AIDS (Los Angeles, CA), 2003
  • Gay Black Female Magazine (Hollywood, CA), July 1997
  • Kujisource (Los Angeles, CA), 1999-2003
  • Nyansapo: The Magazine of the National Black Justice Coalition (Washington, DC), Winter 2005
  • Pulse: The Heartbeat of Black Gay America Spring 2007
  • Venus: For People of African Descent in the Life (Hastings on Hudson, NY), undated
  • Venus Magazine for Lesbians and Gays of Color (Atlanta, GA), Feb Jun-Aug/Sep 1995; Feb/Mar, May; July, Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov 1996

Women's Printed Collections: Periodicals

  • Africana Women's Studies Newsletter / Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA: Clark Atlanta University, Department of Africana Women's Studies), 1995
  • Africana Womyn's Voices (Atlanta, GA: Graduate Scholars at CAU), 1997
  • The Black Scholar ([Oakland, CA, etc.: Black World Foundation]), 1991-1992
  • Collective Voices (Atlanta, GA: SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective), 2005-2007
  • Common Ground--Different Planes: The Women of Color Partnership Program Newsletter (Washington, DC: The Program), 1988-1991
  • LoveNotes (Atlanta, GA: SisterLove, Inc.), 1995-1996
  • Metropolitan Atlanta Coalition of 100 Black Women: Sisters: Coalition Newsletter (Atlanta, GA: Metropolitan Atlanta Coalition of 100 Black Women), 1991
  • OUTLOUD: Voices of Women of Color (San Francisco, CA: California Women of Color against Domestic Violence), 1986
  • Sisters Coalition Newsletter (Atlanta, GA: Metropolitan Atlanta Coalition of 100 Black Women), 1991
  • Sisters of the Word: [Newsletter] (Atlanta, GA: Spelman College Women's Research and Resource Center), 1994-1995; 1997; 2005
  • Toni Morrison Society Newsletter (Atlanta, GA: The Society), 1994-1995
  • The Womanist: A Newsletter for Afrocentric Researchers (Athens, GA: Womanist), 1994-1995
  • Women of Color in Elective Office Fact Sheet (New Brunswick, NJ: Center for the American Woman and Politics), 1988-1996
  • Women of Color Newsletter (LaCrosse, WI: International Women of Color Womanist/Feminist Association), 1991
  • Women's Research and Resource Center Newsletter (Atlanta, GA: Spelman College, Women's Research and Resource Center), 1982-1983

African American: Pamphlets

Women's Printed Collections: Pamphlets

  • African-American women (Box A-1)
  • National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (Box N-1)

Special Collections and Archives

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