Barbara E. Allen Papers
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Barbara E. Allen Papers
- Identifier
- BMRC.HARSH.ALLEN_B
- Dates
- 1915-2005
- Predominant Dates
- 2005
- Language
- Documents in English
- Size
- 9 linear feet
- Repository
-
Chicago Public Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, Woodson Regional library
Chicago Public LibraryCarter G. Woodson Regional LibraryVivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature9525 S. Halsted St., Chicago, IL 60628
Access
No restrictions.
Citations
When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is:
Barbara E. Allen Papers [Box #, Folder #], Chicago Public Library, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature
Note on the Provenance
Collection donated by Barbara E. Allen, 2005.
Biographical Note
Barbara E. Allen directed, produced, edited, and wrote the 2005 Emmy-winning documentary, Paper Trail: 100 Years of the Chicago Defender. The film was hosted by Harry J. Lennix and featured such notables as Earl Calloway, Robert Sengstacke, and then Senator Barack Obama. It celebrates the centennial of the Chicago Defender and skillfully chronicles the pivotal role this groundbreaking newspaper played in African American life not only in Chicago but throughout the United States during the twentieth century. Beginning with the story of Robert Abbott, the Chicago Defender’s founder and editor, Paper Trail examines the paper’s tremendous influence on the Great Migration and the Civil Rights Movement – a period when its readership reached its height, the loss of readers beginning in the 1960s as the Civil Rights Movement grew more militant and the Defender held a conservative position on black politics and issues, and the paper’s present goal of regaining its position as the number one African American newspaper.
A graduate of Columbia College, Allen began her career as a film editor for WNBC-TV in New York. She later moved to NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV in Chicago and then to the Chicago Public Broadcasting Station, WTTW, as engineer/editor/producer. In addition to producing the three-time Emmy Award winning documentary, Paper Trail: 100 Years of the Chicago Defender, Allen has produced the critically acclaimed DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis in 2010, Morning Due in 2007 (a film she not produced but directed; it was screened at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, and won the Jury Prize for Best Film at the 2008 Langston Hughes Festival), and the 2006 Emmy nominated documentary, Standing on Common Ground: My Spring Break in New Orleans with her son Evan Allen Gessesse.
Allen also founded and serves as executive director of Middle Passage Productions, Inc., a non-profit media cooperative that promotes and produces multi-cultural programming. In this role, Allen has produced Urban Suite, a home-decorating for budget conscious city dwellers, and D-Tours, a cultural travel series highlighting the African Diaspora. In addition to these accomplishments, Allen has created and produced the Emmy nominated children’s program, TechKnow Kids, and co-produced and edited the award winning short film, 12 Minutes, and the cable award winning series, Inside Issues.
Sources
- Paper Trail: 100 Years of the Chicago Defender. DVD. Directed by Barbara E. Allen; Chicago, IL: WTTW/Chicago, 2005.
Scope and Content
The Barbara E. Allen Papers document the making of the Emmy-winning documentary, Paper Trail: 100 Years of the Chicago Defender (2005). The collection includes research materials, original uncut video interviews, audio interviews, and interview transcripts (however, in some cases, only portions of the interviews have been transcribed). Interviews were conducted with such notables as Timuel Black, Earl Calloway, Joslyn DiPasalegne, Tom Picou, Robert Sengstacke, Doris Saunders, Nathan McGill, III, and then Senator Barack Obama. The Barbara E. Allen Papers also contains DVD and VHS versions of Paper Trail: 100 Years of the Chicago Defender and other documentaries by Allen including DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis (2010) and Standing on Common Ground: My Spring Break in New Orleans (2006), a film collaboration with her son Evan Allen Gessesse.
Related Papers at the Harsh Collection include the Abbott-Sengstacke Family Papers, the Ben Burns Papers, the Chester Commodore Papers, the Richard Durham Papers, the Majorie Stewart Joyner Papers, and the Doris E. Saunders Papers.
Inventory
- Size
- Audiocassette
- Title
- Interviews with Emil Jones (Side A) and Valerie Jarrett (Side B), undated
- Size
- Audiocassette
- Title
- Interview with Tom Picou (Side A) and Joslyn DiPasalegne (Side B), undated
- Size
- Audiocassette
- Title
- Interview with Joslyn DiPasalegne, Part 4; Dr. Clarence Nixon, Jr., undated
- Size
- Audiocassette
- Title
- Interview with Bobby Sengstacke, Part 3, April 10, 2005; Stephanie Davenport, Part 1, March 24, 2005
- Size
- Audiocassette
- Title
- Interview with Chris Manning, Part 3, March 24, 2005; Myiti Sengstacke, Part 1, March 24, 2005
- Size
- Audiocassette
- Title
- Interview with Myiti Sengstacke, Part 2, March 24, 2005; Timuel Black, Part 1, March 24, 2005
- Size
- Audiocassette
- Title
- Interview with Charles Whitaker, March 24, 2005; Cliff Kelly, Tape 1, undated
- Size
- Videocassette
- Title
- Interview with Michael Flug and Timuel Black, Tape 1, April 15, 2005
- Size
- Videocassette
- Title
- Interview with Michael Flug and Timuel Black, Tape 2, April 15, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Banks, Ernie, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Black, Timuel, March 24, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Brown, Maggie, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Bunch, Lonnie, April 2, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Burroughs, Margaret, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Calloway, Earl, April 10, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Davenport, Stephanie, March 24, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, DiPasalegne, Joslyn, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Durham, Clarice, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Fambro-Hooks, Theresa, April 10, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Flug, Michael and Timuel Black, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Grossman, James, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Hall, Irma P., undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Jarrett, Valerie, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Jones, Emil, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Kelley, Cliff, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Kellum, James, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Manning, Chris, March 24, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Martin, Roland, April 10, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, McGill, Nathan, III, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Muwakkil, Salim, April 3, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Nixon, Clarence, Jr., undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Obama, Barack, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Picou, Tom, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Rogers, Desiree, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Rush, Bobby, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Sammuelson, Tim, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Saunders, Doris, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Scott, Colonel Eugene, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Sengstacke, Bobby, April 10, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Sengstacke, Myiti, March 24, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Stroger, John, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Washington, Laura, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Watkins, James Nugie, undated
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Whitaker, Charles, March 24, 2005
- Title
- Interview Transcript, Williams, Sherry, undated
- Title
- CD Headline: Birth of A Nation Kicked Out of Ohio, October 2, 1915
- Title
- CD Headline: Family Driven From South by Mob, September 4, 1920
- Title
- CD Headline: A Recapitulation of 25 Years Work, May 3, 1930
- Title
- CD Headline: Ike Award Kicks Off Defender Anniversary, May 7, 1955
- Title
- CD Headline: 250,000 View Slain Youth's Body, September 10, 1955
- Title
- CD Headline: Defender Tracks Down Mystery Till 'Witness', October 8, 1955
- Title
- CD Headline: King Murdered!, April 6-12, 1968
- Title
- CD Headline: Nation Mourns Jackie; Funeral Rites Set Friday, October 25, 1972
- Title
- CD Headline: To Our Readers (75th Anniversary Edition), May 3, 1980
- Title
- CD Headline: Religious Council…Plea: Epton! Halt Racist Ads!, April 2, 1983
- Title
- CD Headline: We Are a Family, February 26, 1986
- Title
- CD Headline: City Mourns Death of John H. H. Sengstacke, May 29, 1997
- Title
- 2005-2006 Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards - Outstanding Achievement for Documentary Programs -Documentary of Historic Significance - Paper Trails: 100 Years of the Chicago Defender, Barbara Allen, Producer, WTTW