May 2014

Phelps Dunbar Attorney and Partner Kim Boyle was appointed chair of the Amistad Board of Directors at its December 2013 meeting. Boyle is active in local, state, and national bar activities, having previously served as president of the Louisiana State Bar Association and also the New Orleans Bar Association. She has also assumed leadership positions for many community organizations and initiatives throughout New Orleans. She was Chair of the 2013 NCAA Women's Final Four, and currently serves on the Touro Infirmary Board of Trustees and the Tulane University Board of Trustees.

"I am honored to be elected chair of Amistad's Board, and I will immediately work to become extremely familiar with every aspect of this great organization and the challenges it faces," Boyle said.  "Backed by board colleagues and an outstanding professional staff, I look forward to playing a leadership role in Amistad attaining an even greater level of excellence."

Joining Boyle as a new officer is Dr. Janice Sumler-Edmond, who will serve as board secretary. Sumler-Edmond is a professor of United States history, African American history, and constitutional history and law at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. In addition, Dr. Edgar Chase, III and The Honorable Terri Love have been selected new board members. Judge Love sits on the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal and Dr. Chase is a retired educator, lawyer, and CPA who serves on numerous nonprofit boards.

The Amistad Research Center is committed to collecting, preserving, and providing open access to original materials that the racial and ethnic history of the United States, race relations, the Civil Rights Movement, and related topics. Board leadership and support is instrumental in helping the Center fulfill its mission.

Since 2009, the Amistad Research Center has enjoyed a close partnership with the History Department at Xavier University of Louisiana to host and mentor undergraduate students interested in gaining experience in an archival setting. Working closely with internship coordinator Sister Barbara Hughes, Professor of History, Amistad archivists have received exceptional assistance to arrange and preserve a number of collections, including the papers of civil rights activist and minister Homer C. McEwen, the records of the Women's Auxiliary to the National Medical Association, and more recently the records of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of Louisiana. The Masonic records project, started in the fall of 2012 and completed just this month, provided the archivists with many conservation challenges. The assistance of three Xavier interns, Alexis Parker, Joi Martin, and Tiera Harris, helped immensely to get the collection organized and ready for research.

The Xavier interns who have worked at Amistad have been personable, dedicated to their projects, and a delight to interact with. One of the main goals of the mentoring program at Amistad is to encourage African American and minority students to pursue the field of archives and libraries as a profession. Amistad's archival team was pleased to keep in touch with our first Xavier intern, Chianta Dorsey, following graduation. Dorsey decided to seek a Masters in Library and Information Science and a Masters of Art in History at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, following her experience at Amistad. During her studies at Simmons, she has completed archival internships at the University of Massachusetts and the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) at Boston University. "I performed my archives internship at the Amistad Research Center from January through May of 2009," writes Dorsey. "My internship offered me a professional foundation for my graduate education in Archives Management at Simmons College and for my subsequent work in archival institutions. Processing the papers of Homer C. McEwen served as invaluable work experience and introduced me to archival theory. For that, I am forever indebted to Laura Thomson, Lee Hampton, and all of the staff at the Amistad Research Center."

Reflecting on her time at Amistad, former intern Jayla Jones states, "Working at the Amistad Research Center was an amazing and rewarding experience. I was given the opportunity to do research on the Women's Auxiliary to National Medical Association and I learned a great deal about the women of the organization and their commitment to their association. I was very fortunate to be given the chance to intern at Amistad and will always be appreciative to Sister Barbara, Mr. Lee Hampton, and Mr. Christopher Harter."