Primary Sources
- Bennett Harvie Branscomb PapersThe Harvie Branscomb Papers include information about his academic career as well as the handling of the 1960's sit-in movements as it affected the university.
- Hugh Davis Graham CollectionThe Hugh Davis Graham is a small collection of two Hollinger boxes (.83 linear feet) the biggest part of which are his published articles. Also in the collection are notes, programs from conferences, newspaper clippings, research, and emails. Most of the content in the Hugh Davis Graham Collection relates to his interests in Civil Rights and Policy History, more specifically the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action.
- Edwin Hamlett PapersThe Edwin Hamlett Papers contain a variety of material pertaining to Ed Hamlett’s life, acquaintances, and materials from the impressive number of organizations in which he participated. The collection spans 39.62 linear feet in total, and covers the years from 1954 to 1988. Most of the material, however, is concentrated between the 1960’s to 1975, and his involvement in civil rights and psychiatric nursing. The papers include correspondence, large numbers of notes, photographs, reports, proposals, and writings by others, as well as numerous collected publications. The majority of the material relates to Ed’s involvement with civil rights organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Students Organizing Committee (SSOC), and his tenure at Vanderbilt in Psychiatric Nursing.
- History of Undergraduate Desegregation at Vanderbilt CollectionThe material in this collection consists of oral history interviews conducted by students in History 295-01, The History of Undergraduate Desegregation at Vanderbilt, taught by Dr. Peter Felten Fall 2004. The collection includes digital audio files of the interviews, interview transcripts, a class syllabus, and annotated bibliographies of select resources assigned to students for research.
Interview questions focused on student experiences and perspectives on desegregation during the mid-1960s. Interview subjects were selected from a wide range of people who were on campus, including both students and administrators. Students used a variety of materials in Special Collections to prepare for the interviews, including the Chancellor’s Papers; files of the Human Relations Council; back issues of The Hustler; yearbooks; manuscript collections, including the Kelly Miller Smith Papers; and other relevant records. - James M. Lawson, Jr PapersThis collection contains the papers of renowned professor, activist, and Civil Rights movement organizer Rev. James Lawson, Jr.
Rev. Lawson's collection includes information on his education and activism, including the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination. The collection is currently being processed and has a partial inventory. Requests to view the collection or acquire assistance should be directed to specialcollections@vanderbilt.edu. - Lawson Case: Foster DocumentChronology of events related to the expulsion of James M. Lawson, Jr., from Vanderbilt University, the resignations of the Divinity School faculty, and the subsequent withdrawal of their resignations. Compiled by Arthur L. Foster, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Counseling.
- Salynn McCollum PapersThe Salynn McCollum Papers consist of 2.085 linear feet of materials. The collection includes correspondence and writings by McCollum, as well as newspaper clippings, journal and magazine articles, and photographs. The majority of the material represents McCollum’s participation with the Civil Rights Movement during the first half of the 1960s. Many items were generated while she was a field secretary for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
The collection is organized into two series: Personal Material, which includes Salynn’s correspondence, poetry, and journal entries; and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Material, which includes many of that organization’s publications, as well as field notes, committee meeting minutes, committee promotional materials, and many newspaper articles involving SNCC activities. - John Robert Nelson PapersThis collection consists of Dean J. Robert Nelson’s materials relating to the events at Vanderbilt University that were known as “the Lawson affair.” In 1960, a graduate student in the Divinity School was dismissed from the University, despite the Dean’s objections, for his participation in local lunch-counter sit-ins. In protest Nelson resigned as Dean of the Divinity School. Most of this collection is comprised of correspondence ranging from before Nelson’s appointment as Dean in 1957 until after his resignation from that position in 1960. Also included are materials relating to Nelson’s publication of “The Lawson-Vanderbilt Affair”, the publicity resulting from Nelson’s resignation, and other publicity about Dean Nelson and his family and Harvie Branscomb, Vanderbilt’s Chancellor during this time. Of particular interest are the voluminous notes and reconstruction of these events written by Dean Nelson.
- Charles E. Roos PapersCharles E. Roos is Professor Emeritus of the Vanderbilt Physics Department. He received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1957 and joined the Vanderbilt faculty as head of the Physics program in 1959.
Roos was one of the faculty members ready to resign over the James Lawson affair at Vanderbilt in 1960. He was active in the negotiations to resolve the situation due to his friendship with Chancellor Branscomb.
This collection contains a single 6 page manuscript titled "Forty-Eight Hours at Vanderbilt" written by Charles Roos in 1985. The essay documents Roos's involvement in the 1960 James Lawson case at Vanderbilt. The '48 hours' document June 7-8, 1960. - Carol Hamilton Scott and James M. Lawson, Jr. CollectionThis .21 linear foot collection contains 30 pieces of correspondence from James M. Lawson, Jr. to Carol Hamilton while he was serving time in prison as a conscientious objector during the Korean War. It also includes two pieces of correspondence from the Department of Justice to Carol Hamilton receiving permission to write James Lawson, three essays, and three postcards.
- Kelly Miller Smith PapersKelly Miller Smith’s leadership in the Nashville sit-in movement gained national prominence through an NBC Special White Paper. Both the white and black communities in Nashville will always be indebted to Smith for his prudential leadership in guiding a racially polarized situation to discern and implement justice. His sermon title on the church bulletin board, “Father, Forgive them….” graphically depicted the mood of the Nashville Movement as hundreds of students marched daily from First Baptist Church to sit at lunch counters as a means of protesting racial segregation in public establishments. Along with numerous relevant materials, this Collection contains several unfinished manuscripts by Smith including one called “The Nashville Story.” It is no overstatement to say that between 1960 and 1983 Smith had a hand in every public protest of racism in the city of Nashville as well as on every public policy concerned with racial justice. Numerous files will be found in this Collection on scores of different local, regional, national and international organizations in which Smith enthusiastically rendered some type of leadership. The collection offers a road-map of Smith's organizational involvements ranging from denominational activity in the American Baptist Convention, the National Progressive Baptist Convention, the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, the National Conference of Black Churchmen, and the National Council of Churches, to service in major civil rights organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Council, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, the Opportunities Industrialization Center, People United to Save Humanity, several anti-apartheid organizations, various black colleges, and numerous civic, educational and social service organizations.
- Voices of VanderbiltThis collection includes oral histories of administrators, faculty, staff and students conducted by graduate students in the History department.
- Bulletin of Vanderbilt University byCall Number: LD5577 .V348General catalog of classes offered by the university. Individual school catalogs are also included.
- Impact Magazine byCall Number: LD5591 .I46Publication Date: 1964-1996Impact is a student sponsored weekend symposium on topics of current significance. Major public leaders are invited to participate in lectures, discussion groups, and dinner meetings. Impact is usually held in the spring of each year, and invitations are extended to the University and Nashville community and to other colleges and universities.
- Impact at Vanderbilt, 1964-1969Impact at Vanderbilt 1964-1969 offers print and video resources documenting the IMPACT Symposium's early years at Vanderbilt. Speakers respresented in this online exhibit include martin Luther King, Jr.; Stokely Carmichael; Bobby Kennedy; and Tran Van Dinh.
- Prometheus byCall Number: LH1.V25 P76Publication Date: 1966-1968Prometheus existed in two separate and somewhat different phases. Volumes I-II were published from the spring of 1966 through the spring of 1967 as an inter-university magazine with contributors from Vanderbilt University, Fisk University, and Peabody College. The magazine was founded independently of university control by the Student Political Education and Action Committee of Vanderbilt University. The editorial purpose of Prometheus was to combat the "Magnolia Curtain," which "seems to keep non-conformists out of positions of academic influence, while simultaneously it prevents word of the interior intellectual vacuum from leaking out to the world at large" (Vol. 1, no. 1, p.7).
Volumes I-II were oriented to a "liberal," or New Left, view of the social and political conditions of the Nashville community and the nation in general. Contents included short stories, non-fiction articles, poetry, art, and satirical cartoons, with much of the subject matter centering upon the war in Vietnam and civil rights. Contributors were principally professors and graduate students from the campuses of Vanderbilt, Fisk, and Peabody. - Rap, from the 11th Floor byCall Number: LH1.V25 R36Publication Date: 1968-1976Rap, "a literary collection of some of the written thoughts of Vanderbilt Black Students," was issued twice yearly from May 1968 to Fall 1976. Rap contains poetry, short stories, photography, and drawings. The first issue, May 1968, was dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. The Volume seven, number one issue contains an interview with Julian Bond at Fisk University. An attempt was made to revive Rap in the winter of 1981, but it was unsuccessful due to financial and political problems.
- The Vanderbilt HustlerThe Vanderbilt Hustler has been actively published since 1888 and includes coverage of university events which may not be included in local newspapers.
- African American Experience This link opens in a new windowArticles, audio clips, images, primary source documents, maps, monographs, and government documents covering all aspects of the African American experience from Greenwood Press, Negro University Press, etc.
- African American Newspapers (Readex) This link opens in a new windowExtensive African American newspaper archives. Includes the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society, Freedom's Journal (NY), The Colored Citizen (OH), Rights of All (NY), Wisconsin Afro-American, New York Age, Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser, Richmond Planet, Cleveland Gazette, The Appeal (MN), etc.
- Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window• "We Were Prepared for the Possibility of Death:" Freedom Riders in the South, 1961
• African America, Communists, and the National Negro Congress, 1933-1947
• Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League
• Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle
• Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)
• Bush Presidency and Development and Debate Over Civil Rights Policy and Legislation
• European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century: French Colonialism in Africa: From Algeria to Madagascar, 1910-1930
• Chinese Maritime Customs Service: The Customs’ Gazette, 1869-1913
• European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century: German Colonies to League of Nations Mandates in Africa 1910-1929
• European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century: Political and Economic Consolidation of Portuguese Colonies in Africa, 1910-1929
• FBI Surveillance of James Forman and SNCC
• Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activitist, Political Activist, and Woman
• Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984
• Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress
• Franklin D. Roosevelt and Race Relations, 1933-1945
• Grassroots Civil Rights & Social Activism: FBI Files on Benjamin J. Davis, Jr
• Greensboro Massacre, 1979: Shootout between the American Nazis and the Communist Workers Party
• Integration of Alabama Schools and the U.S. Military, 1963
• James Meredith, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Integration of the University of Mississippi
• Liberation Movement in Africa and African America
• Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918
• Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1918-1935
• The Minutes of the Shanghai Municipal Council, 1854-1943
• Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement
• Policing the Shanghai International Settlement, 1894-1945
• Quest for Labor Equality in Household Work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979
• Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement
• Rastafari Ephemeral Publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project
• Shanghai Municipal Council: The Municipal Gazette, 1908-1940
• Republic of New Afrika
• SUR, 1931-1992
• Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Communist Party: Papers of James and Esther Cooper Jackson - History Vault This link opens in a new windowDigitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and other primary source materials.
• American Indians and the American West
• American Politics and Society
• Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
• International Relations and Military Conflicts
• Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War
• Women's Studies
• Workers and Labor Unions - New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowFirst-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowHistorical access to the following newspapers: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta Daily World, The Baltimore Afro-American, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Defender, The Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cleveland Call & Post, The Commercial Appeal, Detroit Free Press, The Globe and Mail, Hartford Courant, The Jerusalem Post, The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Exponent, Korea Times, Knoxville News Sentinel, Leftist Newspapers, Los Angeles Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, Louisville Courier Journal, Michigan Chronicle, New York Amsterdam News, The New York Times, New York Tribune, Norfolk Journal & Guide, The Philadelphia Tribune, Pittsburgh Courier, San Francisco Chronicle, South China Morning Post, St. Louis Post Dispatch, The Tennessean, The Times of India, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
Secondary Sources
The Civil Rights Movement by Call Number: E185.61 .K347 1996ISBN: 0789201232Publication Date: 1996-09-01With a striking selection of images and a lively, informative text, Steven Kasher captures the danger, drama, and bravery of the civil rights movement. After an introduction explaining the significance of photography to the movement, the text in this important book proceeds from the Montgomery bus boycott through the students, local, and national movements; the big marches; Freedom summer; Malcolm X; and the death of Martin Luther King. Each chapter begins with a fast-paced narrative of a crucial event in the movement, complemented by a portfolio of the most effective and evocative photographs of the subject. Ranging from the well known to the rare, these images were shot by such photographers as Richard Avedon, Danny Lyon, Charles Moore, Gordon Parks, Dan Weiner, and more than fifty others. Many of the pictures are accompanied by thought-provoking remembrances and analysis by various photographers and participants.- Lay Bare the Heart byCall Number: E185.97 .F37 A35 1985ISBN: 0877956243Publication Date: 1985-02-01In Lay Bare the Heart Farmer tells the story of the heroic civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s. This moving and unsparing personal account captures both the inspiring strengths and human weaknesses of a movement beset by rivalries, conflicts and betrayals. Farmer recalls meetings with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson (for whom he had great respect), and Lyndon Johnson (who, according to Farmer, used Adam Clayton Powell Jr., to thwart a major phase of the movement).
Lost Prophet by Call Number: E185.97 .R93 D46 2003ISBN: 0684827808Publication Date: 2003-08-05Examines the life of Bayard Rustin, the civil rights activist who organized the 1963 March on Washington, detailing his struggles as being openly gay and his campaigns for civil rights.
Nonviolence and Social Movements by Call Number: HM1281 .N646 2016ISBN: 9780983628965Publication Date: 2016-04-29Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. first shook hands with Martin Luther King Jr. on February 6, 1957, at Oberlin College in Ohio. Their conversation compelled Lawson to move to the South to join the emerging struggle for justice and dignity. On the eve of his assassination, King called Lawson "the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world."Lawson's first nonviolent direct action campaign was in Nashville, where he led the series of lunch-counter sit-ins that successfully challenged segregation. The workshops that Lawson held in the philosophy and strategy of nonviolence trained a new generation of activists who subsequently organized path-breaking campaigns throughout the South, including the Freedom Rides. In California, Lawson has worked with hotel workers, janitors, home care workers, and undocumented immigrant youth to embrace nonviolence in historic organizing victories.This is the first book that captures Lawson's teachings. Five powerful case studies explore how individual acts of conscience can lead to collective action and how the practice of nonviolence can build a powerful movement for social change. This publication emerged from a class taught by James Lawson, Kent Wong, Kelly Lytle Hernandez, and Ana Luz González at UCLA, and it was written by students who were inspired by the class.- Purely Academic: An Autobiography byCall Number: LA2317 .B7 A3Publication Date: c1978Harvie Branscomb served as Vanderbilt University's fourth chancellor from 1946 to 1963. Originally written for his family, this autobiography provides a behind the scenes look at his administration.
- Ready from Within byCall Number: E185.615 .C597 1986ISBN: 0931125049Publication Date: 1986-11-01Septima Clark played one of the most essential, but little recognized roles in the Civil Rights Movement. Born in 1898 in Charleston, South Carolina, she was a public school teacher until 1956, when she was dismissed for refusing to disavow her membership in the National Association for the advancement of Colored People. Subsequently, she worked for the Highlander Folk School, helping to set up Citizenship Schools throughout the South where Black adults could learn to read and prepare to vote. During the 1960s she worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was a close associate of Martin Luther King, jr. from 1978 to 1983 she served as the first Black woman on the Charleston School Board. This is a first-person narrative of her life in the context of the Civil Rights Movement. Her story continues a major thread in the tapestry of the movement.
Speak Now Against the Day by Call Number: E185.61 .E28 1994ISBN: 0679408088Publication Date: 1994-10-18Egerton, author of several books on Southern culture and history (Generations), has put together a sprawling history of the South from 1932 to 1954-the Depression to the landmark Brown desegregation decision. His title derives from Faulkner's lament against Southern white intransigence, and his underlying question is: why wasn't change grasped sooner? Egerton answers by probing the writings of infrequently daring intellectuals (Myles Horton and Don West of Tennessee's Highlander Folk School were among the few real radicals) and often-reactionary politicians ("feudal barons" like Virginia Senators Carter Glass and Harry F. Byrd), describing the modernizing impact of radio and roadways, and charting cataclysms like the New Deal and WWII. He captures neat anecdotes: the white director of the University of North Carolina Press, who commissioned the 1943 book What the Negro Wants, was shocked by black demands for equality. Egerton's near-encyclopedic approach, surveying lists of academics, writers, organizations and institutions, makes his book read like a compendium, but given his ambitious topic, he has done yeoman work to recapture an era.- "Walking the Edge": Vanderbilt University and the Sit-In Crisis of 1960 byCall Number: E185.93 .T3 W455 1990Publication Date: 1990
