African American Collections

MARBL's African American collections focus on five principal areas:

Civil rights and post–civil rights leaders and organizations

Rev. S. B. Wells, SCLC The SCLC archives document aspects of the Civil Rights movement including voter registration workshops, Freedom Summer and the Freedom Schools.

MARBL's civil rights and post–civil rights collections include the papers of:

  • The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a nonsectarian, interfaith, advocacy organization committed to nonviolent action to achieve social, economic, and political justice
  • Vincent Harding, founder of the Institute of the Black World
  • Doris A. Derby, one of the founders of the Free Southern Theater
  • Constance W. Curry, a leader in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee

Black print culture

This area highlights the world of literature created by and for the African American community. MARBL collects books, pamphlets, broadsides, periodicals, sheet music, and print ephemera.

Major collections include

  • The library of Carter G. Woodson, the most important 20th-century creator of black print culture
  • Papers of Kelly Miller, the most prolific African American pamphleteer of the early 20th century
  • Works of the contemporary fine printer, Amos G. Kennedy Jr.
Moving Deep by Stephany The MARBL Portal for African American Pamphlets lists more than 3,500 of these works, identifying African American author, publisher, and/or illustrator.
Catalog for the 'The Mind of Carter G. Woodson' exhibition The annotated and illustrated catalog of the Carter G. Woodson Library is available for purchase from MARBL.

Blacks and the left

Louise Thompson (Patterson) and Langston Hughes Louise Thompson (Patterson) and Langston Hughes en route to the Soviet Union in 1932 to make the film Black and White.

Collections in this area include papers of:

  • Niagara Movement co-founder William H. Scott
  • The Universal Negro Improvement Association
  • Longtime Communist Party members Louise Thompson Patterson and Matt Crawford

African American literature and the arts

Collections in the arts feature the papers of:

  • Poets James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes
  • Writers John Oliver Killens and Alice Walker
  • Musicians William L. Dawson and George Walker
  • Artist/scholar/collectors Camille Billops and James V. Hatch
Artist and Influence This journal publishes only a portion of the 1,200-plus interviews that form the oral history component of the Camille Billops and James V. Hatch archives at Emory.
William Levi Dawson William Levi Dawson: The Collection at Emory University provides online access to manuscripts, photographs, recordings, and conference presentations related to composer, arranger, and music publisher William L. Dawson.

Expatriate literary and cultural figures

The papers of African Americans living abroad include:

  • Night club owner Bricktop
  • Performer, dancer, and silent film star Josephine Baker

The papers of French scholar/collector Michel Fabre document other important expatriates, including Chester Himes and Richard Wright.

Mbala by Rene Maran This magnificent edition of René Maran's Mbala, l'éléphant (Paris, 1943) is illustrated by André Collot and was formerly owned by Michel Fabre.