June 2015

In This Issue

From the Center

Appointment of New Executive Director

GiveNOLA Thank You

Evelyn Cunningham Papers

Center Acquires Wirth and Nugent Collections

Newspaper Collections Cataloged

Ramona Africa Papers

New Book Documents Creoles of Color Families

Requiem: Carmel Carrington Marr

From the Center

This issue of e-Amistad Reports includes news about a wealth of exciting additions to the Amistad Researcher Center. Last month, Dr. Kara Tucina Olidge began as the Center's new Executive Director. Below we report on Dr. Olidge's experience and accomplishments in previous leadership positions, and her vision for the growth of the Center was recently profiled in a feature article in Tulane University's New Wave. We look forward to reporting on that growth in future issues of this newsletter.

Recent additions to the Center's archival, library, and fine arts collections speak to Amistad's ability to attract collections that expand and enrich its holdings. However, acquisitions are only part of the Center's mission. Newly available online finding aids and catalog records reflect the work of staff to provide avenues of access for the materials already housed at Amistad.

While we give thanks to donors, both old and new, who supported the Center during a philanthropy campaign last month, we also mourn the passing of a long-time friend of the Center.

Dr. Kara Tucina Olidge Appointed Executive Director

Dr. Kara Tucina Olidge. Photo by Paul Burch-Celentano. Courtesy of Tulane University.

May was a busy month of transition at the Amistad Research Center as we welcomed Dr. Kara Tucina Olidge as the Center's new Executive Director on May 1st, 2015.

Dr. Olidge is a scholar, arts and educational administrator, and the former Deputy Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a branch of the New York Public Library based in Harlem. Prior to joining the Schomburg in 2012, she served as the Director of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a nonprofit organization serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in Newark, New Jersey. Her scholarly work focuses on the intersection of art, critical cosmopolitanism, and community activism. Dr. Olidge has curated art exhibits for emerging artists of color and given lectures on the intersection of arts and activism and arts-centered literacy.

Born in New Orleans, Dr. Olidge completed her education studies with a regent's diploma from John McDonogh #35 and received the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation I Have a Dream Scholarship. She graduated from Spelman College in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy with a minor in Art History. During her time in Atlanta, she began her educational work as a library principal assistant at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System where she assisted the community in enhancing literacy skills.

Dr. Olidge received a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans in 2000 and received the Marcus B. Christian Graduate Scholarship. Her thesis, "Stella Jones Gallery: Organizational Analysis and Suggested Marketing Plan," analyzed the organizational structure and cultures of Stella Jones Gallery as it related to her internship as Managing Director during which she developed a marketing plan to support, expose, and expand the mission of the organization. During her time in graduate school, she became involved in the arts community in New Orleans, including becoming the Director of Education for the Shakespeare Festival at Tulane University and the Visual Arts Curator at the Amistad Research Center.

In 2000, Dr. Olidge was one of four emerging arts administrators selected for the National Arts Administration Mentorship Program where Edmund Cardoni, Executive Director of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, mentored her. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy at The State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) in 2010, where she was awarded the Mark Diamond Research Grant for her doctoral work. Her dissertation, Critical Cosmopolitanism and the Intellectual Work of Alain Locke, explored how Alain Locke's educational experiences and sexuality influenced his deployment of critical cosmopolitanism in his work as a Black educator and cultural activist.

While working on her Ph.D. at SUNY Buffalo, she served as the Program Director of Community and College Connections at the Educational Opportunity Center, Senior Program Officer of Good Schools for All at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and the Legacy for Tomorrow Program Director at the Arts Council in Buffalo & Erie County.

Olidge worked on the Queer Newark Oral History Project Committee with co-chair Darnell L. Moore. She also served as a member of the Essex County Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Advisory Board, the first county-level board of its kind in New Jersey, and the finance chair of the Newark-Essex Pride Coalition. She was recently appointed a board member of CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies, a nonprofit organization under the City University of New York. She was previously the Board Development Committee Chair and the Planning Committee Co-Chair at the Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center between 2008-2010.

Thank You to GiveNOLA Supporters

The Amistad Research Center extends a special thank you to everyone who donated to the Center during the Greater New Orleans Foundation's GiveNOLA Day philanthropy campaign on May 5th. Thanks to the generous support of 80+ donors, Amistad raised over $5000, which will assist the Center in pursuing its mission to collect, preserve, and provide access to its unique collections. In addition, Amistad will receive a percentage of the special "lagniappe" fund that will be awarded to all GiveNOLA participants. Amistad would also like to thank all of the individuals, businesses, and organizations who contributed to and sponsored GiveNOLA Day.

Papers of Pioneering Journalist and Political Aide Open for Research

The Amistad Research Center is pleased to announce the opening of the papers of editor, journalist, feminist, and community and civil rights activist Evelyn Cunningham. The processing of the Cunningham papers was supported with funds provided by the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation.

Evelyn Cunningham at March on Washington

Evelyn Cunningham (far left) on the telephone in the press tent at the 1963 March on Washington.

A graduate of Long Island University in 1939, Cunningham started her career with the Pittsburgh Courier and within a year covered the burgeoning modern Civil Rights Movement. She reported on the Groveland, Florida, murders, the South Carolina lynching of Isaiah Nixon, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the Autherine Lucy school desegregation case in Birmingham, Alabama. She was the first African American woman to report on Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential campaign and traveled extensively to cover stories dealing with race relations and women's issues. After five years with the Pittsburgh Courier, she attained the position of editor of the New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis editions of the Courier (1945-1950), became a feature writer and columnist (1950-1955), and the city editor for the New York edition (1955-1962). Cunningham's column, "The Woman," chronicled African American social life in Harlem.

After a number of years as a communications consultant, Cunningham entered government service as a special assistant to New York governors Nelson A. Rockefeller and Malcolm Wilson, and served as Director of the Women's Unit, Office of the Governor (1969-1974). In 1975, she moved on to the federal government as a special assistant to President Gerald Ford and was assigned to Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller (1975-1976). Cunningham was a founding member of the Coalition of 100 Black Women and served on a number of civic organizational boards.

The papers of Evelyn Cunningham document her work as a feature writer and columnist for the Pittsburgh Courier (1950-1962); political aide for New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller (1969-1976); and her activism in politics, feminism, and civil rights. A theme running throughout the collection is the role of the African American professional woman in society. Of note are materials regarding the integration of New York City restaurants (circa 1954); Cunningham's notations covering the Alabama bus segregation case Bowder v Gayle (1956); and her work as the Director of the Women's Unit, Office of the Governor (New York) under Rockefeller's administration (1969-1974).

New Acquisitions Reflect History of Collaboration

In the December 2014 edition of e-Amistad Reports, we reported on the passing of long-time friend and collaborator Thomas H. Wirth. Since 2008, Tom gave generously to the Center, both financially and with his time and support. This tradition has continued through the generosity of Tom and his estate through the receipt of a large collection of Tom's photographs documenting African American life, as well as a significant portion of his collection of works of art by Richard Bruce Nugent.

Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, 1960s by Thomas H. Wirth

The Thomas H. Wirth Collection is comprised of photographs, slides, and negatives documenting the Black experience taken by Wirth mostly during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The majority of the photographs were taken during Wirth's tenure as a faculty member at historically black colleges and universities in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi, with some additional photographs taken in Atlanta, Georgia, and Berkeley, California. Individuals and landscapes of West Point, Mississippi; Pointe Coupee Parish in Louisiana; Plaquemine, Louisiana; Orangeburg, South Carolina; and Atlanta, Georgia, are prominent in Wirth's work. Some photographs are labeled "America - It's Faces" and "America - It's Landscapes" indicating that Wirth likely saw these works as part of a larger photographic essay on African American life during the era. Photographs range from 11" x 14" mounted works to finished and test shots of various sizes and contact sheets. In total, the collection numbers approximately 900 images with some duplication present.

Bruce Nugent's drawing of a Harlequin figure.

Tom met, and became the heir of, Harlem Renaissance writer and artist Richard Bruce Nugent. Tom and Nugent collaborated to found the Fire!! Press, which published a reproduction of FIRE!!, a landmark Harlem Renaissance publication to which Nugent contributed, as well as books by African-American writers. Tom edited a book of Nugent's work, Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance (Duke, 2002) and his novel, Gentlemen Jigger (De Capo, 2008). The collection of artwork by Nugent received from the Wirth estate includes examples of his graphic design work for the NAACP and the House of Marr, a printing house owned by his brother-in-law, Warren Marr II, as well as watercolors, pencil and ink sketches, charcoal drawings, and oil paintings. Themes include portraiture, Classical and Biblical scenes, and works of gay eroticism. Of special note to Amistad is a series of drawings of Harlequin figures that appeared on a series of plates designed by Nugent. Three of those plates are also present in Amistad's fine arts collection.

These collections not only greatly expand Amistad's photographic and fine arts holdings, but they represent the continuing collaboration between the Center and Tom Wirth's legacy. The Center is seeking assistance to organize both collections with the goal of exhibiting each in the future.

Newspaper Holdings Reflect Diversity of Center's Collections

An issue of The Other Side from Amistad's Impact LGBTQ Newspaper Collection.

Amistad's Cataloger, Laura Chilton, has recently finished cataloging the Center's newspaper collection. Amistad's periodicals serve as a rich source of history that covers a wide range of minority and marginalized communities across the country. Publications that documented the African American experience in the early 1950s and 1960s include The Houston Informer, The Pittsburgh Courier, Inside New Orleans, and The Southern Patriot. They covered local events and stories largely ignored by mainstream white newspapers, as well as the Civil Rights Movement and other national events. Most importantly, these newspapers provided an opportunity for African American journalists and photographers during an era of segregation.

Newspaper titles at the Center are international in scope with many of them originating from the continent of Africa during the 1960s, and the 1970s. Examples include Burkina Faso's Carrefour Africain and Niger's Le Sahel and Le Temps du Niger, which are all French language periodicals. The headlines depict independence movements across the continent with perspectives on the Black American freedom movement and a representation of Pan Africanist ideologies.

The Center's newspapers extend beyond the experiences of people of African descent. Asian Week, Pacific Citizen, and The Philippine News discuss topics related to the history of the Asian Diaspora in America. The time span for these newspapers ranges from the 1960s to the 2000s. Many of the topics explored include the racism Asian Americans face; their visibility in entertainment, politics, education, and the arts; and the local news of their communities.

Native American-related newspapers include The Indian Trader and Wassaja, dating from the 1970s to the 2000s. Iapi-oaye is another Native American newspaper that was published by the Dakota Mission in South Dakota in the late 19th century. It was printed in the Santee dialect, but the Center also houses the English translation of the paper entitled The Word Carrier. It can serve as an excellent resource for researchers focusing on Native Americans in the Dakotas in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Lastly, our LGBQT papers reference the causes and viewpoints related to lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, queer, and transgender communities in the U.S. The periodicals Impact, The Washington Blade, The Seattle Gay News, and The San Francisco Sentinel are a small selection of titles that originated from our IMPACT collection. They largely reflect the time period of the 1980s to the 2000s and cover in detail the AIDS epidemic; the social, political, and scientific responses to it and the campaigns to educate the LGBQT and larger communities about the disease. Also reflected are issues related to LGBQT people of color, violence and discrimination directed at LGBQT people, gay culture, and the fight for the recognition of LGBQT rights. A list of our LGBQT papers can be found here. All of Amistad's newspaper titles, including those mentioned, can be found in Tulane University's library catalog.

Ramona Africa Papers Document 1985 Bombing

First Day, a newspaper

published by MOVE.

The Center is pleased to announce that the papers of Ramona Africa, activist of the Philadelphia-based liberation group MOVE, have been processed. MOVE was founded in 1972 by the charismatic John Africa and the organization was devoted to fighting against systemic exploitation, police harassment, and animal rights abuses. Ramona was one of two survivors of the 1985 police bombing of the MOVE headquarters by the Philadelphia police. This year marks the 30th year anniversary of the event that captured the nation's attention.

Ramona Africa was born around 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She graduated with a double Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Criminal Justice from Temple University. In 1979, while a senior at Temple University, Africa was arrested during a housing protest at a Philadelphia City Council meeting. It was at this meeting that she met a member of MOVE and began to attend the organization's gatherings. Afterwards, she began going to the other court hearings of MOVE members who were arrested during a 1978 confrontation with the police. It was at one of these hearings that she was arrested for contempt and sentenced to 60 days in jail. During this brief sentence, she spent more time with MOVE women and became a full MOVE member after she was released.

The collection is 3.3 linear feet of correspondence, court transcripts, interview summaries, reports, newspapers, photographs, and ephemera. More than half of the collection is comprised of court transcripts stemming from the 1985 bombing, including the one brought against Africa by the Commonwealth of Philadelphia in 1986 and her civil lawsuit against the city in 1991 for excessive force. The other half includes testimony from city and police officials taken during the state commission hearings formed to investigate the bombing. There are some materials that document MOVE's activities post-1985. The collection also includes a recording of a 1996 commemoration ceremony for the victims of the bombing in Philadelphia, moderated by Africa, and a 1995 radio interview of Africa during her visit to New Orleans. Africa's papers adds to the Center's strengths in documenting national civil rights organizations. The finding aid to the collection is available through Amistad's online finding aid database.

New Book Traces History of Louisiana Creole Families

Haydel and Greenlee's Discovering Our Ancestral Roots.

Belmont Haydel and Gina Greenlee have published Discovering Our Ancestral Roots: Chess� and Honor� Families, a result of the authors' extended research and compilation of a well-known familial network and a microcosm of Louisiana Creoles of Color experience: history, culture, struggles, and success stories throughout the past three centuries. While writing their book, the authors have lived in their ancestors' shadows and felt the thrill of walking beside them. The book is well-researched and provides a genealogical display of substantive ancestral facts. In the words of Louisiana genealogist Winston De Ville, "During most of the twentieth century, Louisiana had few reliable reference books for genealogists and virtually no family histories that were not pompous exaggerations of noble descent. Gradually, the much-needed reference tools were published and consequent genealogies were forthcoming. Now, adding to the genealogical bibliography is Haydel and Greenlee's book, a welcomed and sophisticated source book that is both interesting and easy to read; it is as valuable for historians as genealogists." Those interested in learning more about the book or purchasing copies can contact Belmont Haydel at Belhaydel@aol.com.

Requiem

The Amistad Research Center is saddened to acknowledge the passing of a wonderful friend and supporter of the Center, Ms. Carmel Carrington Marr.

Ms. Marr, whose family is well documented in the collections of the Center, died at the age of 93 from complications of Alzeimer's Disease. Born in Brooklyn, NY, she graduated with honors from Hunter College and Columbia University Law School. In 1953, she was appointed by Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge as adviser on legal affairs to the United States Mission to the United Nations and served until 1967, whereupon she continued her active work at the UN by serving on various committees. Appointed by New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller in 1968, she was one of the first members of the New York State Human Rights Appeal Board (1968-1971). Marr was the first woman and first African American to be appointed as Commissioner for the New York State Public Service Commission (1971-1986). She was a strong community activist and volunteer in her home borough of Brooklyn and later in Rockland County and was active in many political, professional, and women's organizations. Ms. Marr was predeceased by her husband of 62 years, Warren, and is survived by two sons, Charles C. and Warren Q. III, as well as four grandchildren.