You'll be working in pairs today to explore two items from Yale's special collections that are relevant to the topic of this course. The handout provided contains some questions for you and your groupmate to consider as you look at and discuss your group's items. Please take notes on the handout and bring it to your next section meeting, where you will discuss the materials you looked at today.
Item 1: Letter from Frederick Douglass to William L. Thomas. Handwritten, 2 pages. October 11, 1865. Frederick Douglass Correspondence with William L. Thomas (JWJ MSS 186), Folder 1. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Blog post with background information.
Item 2: "What the Black Man Wants: A Speech of Frederick Douglass at the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society at Boston," in Equality of All Men Before the Law, Claimed and Defended. Pamphlet, 43 pages, published in Boston. 1865. American Tracts, 1865-1866, Folder K287. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Item 1: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Sketches of Southern Life, 58 pages, 1888 [originally published in 1872]. Call number JWJ Zan H232 888s. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Item 2: To the colored voters of Davidson County, Tennessee. Pamphlet, 4 pages. October 29, 1894. Ulrich B. Phillips Papers (MS 397), Series IV, Box 9, Folder 137. Manuscripts and Archives.
Item 1: Two reports of the Joint Committee to Secure Equal Justice for Colored Riot Defendants (Chicago, Illinois). Typescript, 2 pages. December 31, 1919. Collection Regarding American Race Riots in 1919 (JWJ MSS 126), Folder 11. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Item 2: Two pamphlets by Marcus Garvey: "Aims and objects of movement for solution of Negro problem ...." Pamphlet, 8 pages, published by the Universal Negro Improvement Association. 1924. Call number JWJ Zan G199 924A. Digitized copy via Hathi Trust. AND "An appeal to the soul of white America ...." Pamphlet, 8 pages, published by the Universal Negro Improvement Association. 1923. Call number JWJ Zan G199 923Ab. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Item 1: Ebony and Topaz: A Collectanea, edited by Charles S. Johnson (New York: Opportunity [National Urban League]), 1927. Call number JWJ Zan J631 +927e. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Including "Introduction" by Charles S. Johnson (unnumbered pages 11-13), "The First One: A Play in One Act" by Zora Neale Hurston (pages 53-57), and illustrations by Aaron Douglas. Digitized copy via Yale Library Digital Collections.
Item 2: Zora Neale Hurston, "The Chick with One Hen," typescript, carbon, corrected, 2 pages. Undated but approximately 1937. Zora Neale Hurston Collection (JWJ MSS 9, Series II), Box 1, Folder 8a [finding aid displays digitized copy]. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Hurston submitted this article to Opportunity, responding to Alain Locke's review of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Opportunity did not publish it, but it was included in the 2022 anthology of Hurston's writings, You Don't Know Us Negroes: And Other Essays.
Item 1: The First Line of Defense: A Summary of 20 Years Civil Rights Struggle for American Negroes. Pamphlet, 8 pages, published by the N.A.A.C.P. Undated but circa 1931. NAACP Publications and Related Ephemera (JWJ Zan N213 +915N), Folder 8. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Item 2: Martin Luther King, Jr., Our Struggle: The Story of Montgomery. Pamphlet, 8 pages, published by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). 1956. Call number JWJ Zan K588 956P. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Item 1: New Haven Chapter, Black Panther Party. People’s News Service. Ministry of Information Bulletin No. 14. April 5, 1970. May Day Rally and Yale Collection (RU 86), Accession 1971-A-004, Box 1, Folder 3. Manuscripts and Archives.
Item 2: “Memorandum for law students on the history and current status of Panther cases as of April 18.” Typescript, 4 pages. April 18, 1970. May Day Rally and Yale Collection (RU 86). Accession 1971-A-004, Box 1, Folder 5. Manuscripts and Archives.
Item 1: Letter from Angela Davis to Ericka Huggins. Typescript, 4 pages. May 2, 1971. Catherine Roraback Collection of Ericka Huggins Papers (JWJ MSS 96), Series I, Box 8, Folder 87. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Digitized copy via Yale Library Digital Collections.
Item 2: Ericka Huggins. “Comrades, Supporters, Friends ….” Handwritten, 4 pages. April 26, 1970, and “You are too young to read but since you are able to listen, I write ….” Handwritten, 7 pages. April 1970. Catherine Roraback Collection of Ericka Huggins Papers (JWJ MSS 96), Series III, Box 8, Folder 125. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Digitized copy via Yale Library Digital Collections.
Item 1: “A Proposal to Provide Staffing and Program Resources for the New Haven NAACP Local Branch Office: The Center for Advocacy, Research and Planning.” Typescript, 16 pages. October 27, 1973. John Arthur Wilkinson Papers Documenting the Center for Advocacy, Research, and Planning (MS 1661, Series I), Box 1, Folder 1.
Item 2: CARP: Center for Advocacy Research and Planning. Brochure, 16 pages, produced by the Greater New Haven Chapter of the NAACP. Undated but approximately 1980. John Arthur Wilkinson Papers Documenting the Center for Advocacy, Research, and Planning (MS 1661, Series I), Box 7, Folder 185. Manuscripts and Archives.