Social Justice: African American/Civil Rights
Archives and Special Collections resources focused on African American and Civil Rights Movement history.
- Acker, Daniel Daniel Acker was president of the Buffalo, New York branch of the NAACP from 1972 until his death in 1997. Dan was active in many of the Buffalo organizations that fought for civil rights in the 1960s - the 1990s. He was a co-founder of Housing Opportunities Made Equal (H.O.M.E.) in the 1960s to work for equal access to descent housing for all Americans. He was a major player in the federal lawsuit that led to the Court ordered desegregation of the Buffalo Public Schools. Mr. Acker was also an appointed member of numerous state and local governmental oversight boards.
- Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier Inc. The Afro-American Historical Association was founded in 1974 and is chartered by the New York State Department of Education. The primary mission of the Association is to preserve historical sources that pertain to Afro-Americans in Western New York and to promote research and scholarship that has to do with the life and history of Afro-Americans in New York State.
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- Arthur O. Eve Collection
- B.U.I.L.D. - Papers & Challenge to the License Renewal of WNIA & WSAY [1967-1975] The B.U.I.L.D. files were in file cabinets in three separate offices: (1) The elected President had his office files in his office; (2) The Executive Director (Mr. Gaitor who ran the organization on a day to day basis) had his own set of files in his office; and (3) the Education Affairs Office (Mrs. Miriam Beale was responsible for all education matters) had its own set of files in that office. Please see associated inventory for listing of files included in the collection.
- Bellamy, Herbert | 1490 Enterprises, Inc. Mr. Bellamy received over 150 awards and honors including the first Roberto Clemente Humanitarian Award, Man of the Year, Canisius College President’s Award, the Buffalo Urban League Family Award and an honorary degree from Canisius College. He was the first African American civil service commissioner, first director and vice president the Downtown Nursing Home. He served as Councilman-at-Large for the City of Buffalo for nine years. Mr. Bellamy also served on many boards; Canisius Board of Regents, Western New York Liquor Retailers, Bethel Head Start Program and others. He was a lifetime member of the NAACP. In 1990, Bellamy was appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo as a member of the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. He also served as a Director of Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority in 1994. In 2001, a section of Jefferson Avenue between East Delavan Avenue and East Ferry Street was designated as “Herbert L. Bellamy Way.” Mr. Bellamy died on March 8, 2006.
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- Black Revolutionary Action Movement [1960-1970] The materials in this collection--which center mainly, but not solely, on the political activities and literature of the Revolutionary Action Movement from the early 1960's through the early 1970's--were compiled from the personal archives of Akbar Muhammed Ahmed (Max Stanford), John H. Bracey, Jr., and Ernest Allen, Jr. Founded in 1962, RAM was a "low-profile" organization which sought to transcend what it perceived as the "narrow orientations" of existing Civil Rights organizations (which tended to concentrate on "middle-class" cultural assimilation and patchwork social reform) as well as bourgeois-nationalist organizations (which tended to stress capita] accumulation and withdrawal from mass struggle). In contrast, RAM sought to popularize a program of self-determination for Afro-Americans by means of armed struggle, with the ultimate form of American society conceived in terms of social cooperation rather than capitalist individualism. Included here are internal RAM documents, publicly disseminated RAM literature, as well as media accounts of the organization and its members. An incomplete file of Robert F. Williams' Crusader newsletter, published in exile from Cuba and China, is also Included, as is a full catalog of Soulbook magazine, a west coast-based journal of revolutionary nationalist persuasion.
- Buffalo's Afro-Americans: Photos of Historic Events Photos in the collection include: Colored Musicians Union of Buffalo; Historical Photos; Black & Puerto Rican Caucus (Northern Region) Convention, Syracuse, NY, 1976; B.U.I.L.D. of Buffalo Juneteenth Celebration, 1976; B.U.I.L.D. of Buffalo Convention, 1976.
- Buffalo Affirmative Action Program, Committee Proceedings & Correspondence [1970-1978] Records of the Buffalo Affirmative Action Program Committee include notices, agendas, meeting minutes, reports, draft narratives, letters, memos and budgets between 1970 and 1978 compiled by the committee and microfilmed by the Monroe Fordham Regional History Center.
- Buffalo Branch NAACP The purpose of the Buffalo Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People shall be to improve the political, educational, social and economic status of minority groups; to eliminate racial prejudice; to keep the public aware of the adverse effects of racial discrimination; and to take lawful action to secure its elimination, consistent with the efforts of the national organization and in conformity with the articles of Incorporation of the Association, its Constitution and By-Laws, and as directed by the National Board of Directors.
- Buffalo Quarters Historical Society Papers | Batchelor, Lillion Lillion Batchelor founded Buffalo Quarters Historical Society in 1995. Her purpose was to increase national and international awareness of the significant role Buffalo played in the Underground Railroad movement. The Society presents annual recreations of historical events through drama and music culminating in the Niagara River Crossing into Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. Ms. Batchelor has worked to bring about a sense of hope, pride, and recognition to Western New York by presenting historical truths, honoring unsung heroes, expanding historical research to include the significance of Buffalo in the Underground Railroad. She has brought this about through the sharing of this rich history in drama, music, and literature.
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- Chisholm, Shirley | Black Women in America Lectures given by Shirley Chisholm on the topics of women and slavery, education, the economy, civil rights, race pride, suffrage movement, literature and the fine arts, show business, constitutional principles and government service and politics at Buffalo State College in 1986. Congresswoman Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, as well as the first woman to appear in a United States presidential debate.
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- Collins, David David Collins was elected to the position of Masten District Buffalo Common Council in 1977 and served for 18 years until 1995 when he was replaced by Byron Brown. The papers in this collection were organized and placed in categories and folders by David A. Collins and his staff. They were indexed and prepared for microfilming by Monroe and Freddie Mae. Fordham. The microfilming was done by James Prokos, a student at Buffalo State College. A collection of photo images from David A. Collin’s photo albums were preserved on a CD-R entitled, “Collins, (David A.) Photo Albums”. Both projects were carried out under the supervision of Buffalo State College’s Monroe Fordham Center for Regional History.
- Courier-Express Newspaper Collections [1926-1982] The Courier-Express newspaper was born in 1926, with the merger of the Buffalo Courier and the Buffalo Express to form the Buffalo Courier-Express. William J. Conners, owner of the Buffalo Courier, was the person instrumental in bringing the two papers together. During the 19th century numerous newspapers existed. The Buffalo Courier-Express merger can trace its roots back to 1828. From 1828 to 1926, twelve separate newspapers merged during those years, ending with the formation of the Buffalo Courier-Express; quite a chronology for the history of this newspaper. The Courier and then the Courier-Express took a liberal position on all issues. In the late 1970s, the Courier-Express was sold to Cowles-Media, an out of state publisher. Cowles Media decided to close the paper in 1982. The September 19, 1982 issue was the last one for this very popular Buffalo newspaper. Cowles Media donated the library to the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society and Buffalo State College.
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- Dr. Fraser Drew - Langston Hughes Correspondence [1950-1967] Langston Hughes was born on 1 February 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, and died on 22 May 1967. His maternal grandmother raised him in Lawrence, Kansas. According to Hughes, his grandmother inspired him to write, as she was a natural orator of black traditions. After his grandmother’s death, Hughes returned to his mother in Cleveland, Ohio, until he graduated from high school in 1920. In 1921, Hughes enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University, but left after one year. For a few years, Hughes worked various blue- and white-collar jobs while he spent most of his time writing, as that was his passion. Langston Hughes began to publish numerous poems, and by 1926, he published his first book of poems, The Weary Blues. In 1929, he graduated from Lincoln University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Conscious of the importance of race relations and politics, Hughes published The Way of White Folks in 1934. The spectrum of Hughes’ writing grew as the years went by. He began to write many politically inspired poems, plays (such as Mulatto and Don’t You Want to Be Free?), and autobiographies. Hughes also wrote books that supported his consciousness of race relations like Jim Crow’s Last Stand and Montage of a Dream Deferred. Writing was Hughes’ main contribution to black history, though he also served as a social activist. He traveled the world, expanding his horizons on black issues and became well-known as a radical democrat. Langston Hughes faced many obstacles during the prime years of his publications as his critics viewed him as being too extreme. He was able to hurdle these obstacles as he persevered. Today, Hughes is remembered as an essential figure in black history. He had the ability of writing the relevant problems within that community at a time when the American public consciously ignored such issues. Langston Hughes devoted his time to writing poems, novels, dramas, and numerous articles. Fraser Drew had the opportunity to keep in contact with Hughes during the peak of his career. Dr. Drew was a professor of English at SUNY Buffalo State for decades; he retired in 1983. He received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University at Buffalo in 1952. His interest in African American literature motivated him to follow Langston Hughes’ career closely, and this led him to reach out to Hughes directly. Hughes responded by keeping open communication with Drew for a number of years. The SUNY Buffalo State Archives and Special Collections contains the correspondence between Drew and Hughes.
- Dubard, Raphael This collection contains various papers, correspondence, and other records accumulated by Mr. Raphael Dubard during his many years of involvement with the New York State and Buffalo Branches of the N.A.A.C.P. In 1978, Mr. DuBard turned the papers over to Dr. Monroe Fordham, Buffalo State College, History Department to be microfilmed as part of the Afro-American Historical Association’s microfilmed collection.
- George K. Arthur Political Papers [1961-1910] Buffalo native George K. Arthur has been active on the local political scene for nearly half a century. Notably, he served on the Erie County Board of Supervisors from 1964-1967, as Ellicott District Councilman from 1970-1978, and then as Councilman-at-Large in 1978, eventually serving as Common Council President from 1984 until his retirement in 1996. Along the way, he ran for mayor in 1985 as the unendorsed Democratic candidate, narrowly losing to incumbent Jimmy Griffin. In 2010, he served as Secretary of the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority. –Art Voice 04/22/2010
- Housing Opportunities Made Equal [1963-1995] The organization now known as H.O.M.E. was started by a small group of concerned citizens, both white and black. The first meeting was held in the Council of Churches building located at 1272 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, New York. The first and original name given to the organization was, “Niagara Frontier Council for Freedom of Choice in Housing.” This first meeting of the organization was held in the year 1963. The name of the organization was later changed to H.O.M.E. The need for the organization was very great because on the Niagara Frontier many ethnic groups were involuntarily restricted to certain neighborhoods. Members of these groups, particularly non-whites, found it impossible to move to other areas despite economic qualifications. For example in 1963, out of 177 census tracts in Erie County, 86% of the Black population resided in 11 contiguous tracts in Buffalo.
- Institute for People Enterprises [1978-1983] The Institute for People Enterprises was founded in 1978 by William Gaiter and became a registered non-profit in 1979. William Gaiter served as the president of the institute, as well as being affiliated with the Buffalo Affirmative Action Program (BAAP), organizing and chairing the Western New York Council for African Relations, and the president of B.U.I.L.D. The Institute for People Enterprises helped to connect workers to more than 120 service groups around the country and provided consulting, training, and operations assistance to various community, business, and political groups.
- Nash, Rev. Dr. J. Edward Rev. Nash was involved in the efforts to bring branches of the Urban League and the NAACP to Buffalo. He was a long-time leader and treasurer of the Western New York Baptist Association. For 32 years he was secretary of the Ministers Alliance of Buffalo. That inter-racial body was one of the most influential religious groups in Buffalo.
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- Scott, Madeline O. Madeline Scott is a native of Olean, New York, who moved to Buffalo in 1958. She is the daughter of Mrs. Lois Easley. Mrs. Scott is a graduate of Empire State College and has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Community and Human Services. In 1990, she retired from Roswell Park Cancer Institute after a career that spanned thirty-two years. She has been an active member of the Buffalo Community since her move here over forty years ago. She is a Golden Heritage Member of the NAACP and is active in the Buffalo Chapter as the Secretary and Membership Chair.
