Timuel Black papers

Descriptive Summary

Repository: Chicago History Museum

Research Center

1601 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614-6038
Creator: Timuel Black
Bib number: 00067132
Title: Timuel Black papers
Dates: 1956-1973
Predominant Dates: 1964-1972
Quantity: 3.5 linear feet (8 boxes)
Size: 1 oversize folder
Call number: MSS Lot B
Call number: MSS Oversize B
Language: English

Restriction(s)

Folder 2 of box 4 is closed until 2039 and is in restricted storage.

Terms governing use

Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Provenance statement

Gift of Timuel D. Black, Jr. (accession #: M1975.0004).

Please cite this collection as

Timuel Black papers (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

Collection Summary

Reports, brochures, convention packets, newspaper clippings, correspondence, minutes, newsletters, pamphlets, publications, course materials, and other papers of Timuel D. Black, Jr., a Chicago educator, civil rights and labor rights activist, and oral historian. Materials largely pertain to the civil rights movement in education. Also present are materials by or about the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Negro American Labor Council, the National Association of Afro-American Educators, and the riots after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in April 1968.

Biographical/historical note

Timuel D. Black was a high school teacher in Chicago's public schools, a civil rights and labor rights activist, an oral historian, and a professor and administrator at the City Colleges of Chicago. Black was born in Birmingham (Ala.) and came to Chicago in 1919 at eight months of age. He attended Roosevelt University and the University of Chicago.

Related material

A large collection of Mr. Black's papers is at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library of the Chicago Public Library system. A file of CORE material relating to Richard Haley's service in Haywood and Fayette counties, Tennessee, between January and April 1961, is in the Maurice McCrakin papers at the Cincinnati Historical Society Library (MS 917, box 22, fd 36).

Other Finding Aids

Finding aid also submitted to Explore Chicago Collections portal.

Indexed Terms

Organization and Arrangement of Collection

The collection is arranged three series.

Series 1. Civil rights materials and organizations, 1956-1973 (box 1-2)

Series 1 consists of conference and convention packets, lists of program participants, newspaper clippings, and other papers pertaining to civil rights movements and organizations in which Black served as either a participant or an attendee. Present are materials from the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights (1964) in which Black participated as a rally marshal. Also present are materials related to the Chicago Urban League, the Congress of Racial Equality, Operation PUSH, and the riots after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in April 1968; government publications; and conference materials concerning workers, desegregation, education, poverty, and consumerism.

Series 2. Teaching and educational materials, ca. 1950s-1960s (box 3-7)

RESTRICTION: Box 4, folder 2 CLOSED until 2039. Series 2 consists of correspondence, publications, course materials, student assignments, newspaper clippings, and other teaching and educational materials related to a number of organizations, including the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the National Association of Afro-American Educators, the Negro American Labor Council, the Hyde Park Parent Teacher Association, and the Independent Voters of Illinois. Also present are papers from Black's former students and mental health reports related to the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago.

Series 3. General material, 1963-1973 (box 7-8 & oversize folder)

Series 3 consists of meeting minutes, newsletters, reports, programming materials, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, a meeting calendar, and a membership directory. Materials relate to organizations of which Black was a member or in which he had interest, including the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations.

Detailed list of contents of the collection

Series 1. Civil rights materials and organizations

1956-1973

Box 1-2

Title: Conference and convention packets, newspaper clippings and materials pertaining to civil rights events and organizations in which Black participated

Series 2. Teaching and educational material

ca. 1950s-1960s

Box 3-7

Title: Correspondence, course materials, assignments, publications, and other teaching and educational materials reatled to organizations with which Black was involved

Conditions for Access

RESTRICTION: Box 4, folder 2 CLOSED until 2039

Series 3. General materials

1963-1973

Box 7-8

Title: Meeting minutes, newsletters, reports, and other materials related to which organizations in which Black held membership or interest

Contents

Collection Access