Southern University - New Orleans
Center for African and African-American Studies
Southern University
6400 Press Drive
New Orleans, LA 70126
Telephone number: (504) 284-5550 or (504) 286-5384
Fax: (504) 286-5381
Website: http://www.suno.edu/Library/library.htm
Contact person: Florence Borders
Access privileges: Please call for more information
Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday, 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Repository Information:
The Center for African and African American Studies was founded in 1989 as a Title III component. Its first director was Dr. Paul Biswalo of Kenya, a Fulbright Professor at SUNO. Following his return to Africa, he was succeeded by Dr. Cassandra Murphy who served as interim director until Dr. Charles A. Frye was appointed. After his death the Rev. Dwight Webster was named to the position, and Tommye Myrick continued to serve as Assistant Director of CAAAS with additional duties as Artistic Director of the Multi Purpose Auditorium. Florence Borders has served as archivist since 1989.
Collection development has enabled the Center to amass notable holdings in print and non-print items, including a donation of African textiles from Gail Povey, widow of John Povey whose library was donated to CAAAS. Other outstanding donations in African art have been made by Drs. William and Jane Bertrand, Dr. Pascal and Eleanor Imperato, and Ida Kohlmeyer, among others. The art forms the basis of a teaching collection which is instrumental in the Center's outreach program.
Other activities which promote the aims of the Center are symposia, lecture series, film screenings, publications, Brown Bags, exhibits, dance programs, oral histories, documentaries, and pageants.
COLLECTIONS:
1. Afro-Louisiana Writers
0.4 ft. and oversize box
Collection contains items about various writers with Louisiana ties. Included is a selected bibliography on Louisiana Women Writers (1986), correspondence, articles, clippings, and pamphlets. Writers include Tom Dent, Elaine K. Green, Sybil Kein, akeia anni leia, Pinkie Gordon Lane, Brenda Marie Osbey, Mona Lisa Saloy, Fatima Shaik, Beatrice Perry Stanley, and Margaret Walker. Other names include Tom Bonner of Xavier University, Michael Lomax of Dillard University, and Mary McCoy of Loyola University.
2. Baranco Family
1946-1998
ca. 0.2 ft.
These papers contain information about the maternal family of SUNO's first librarian, Leonard Washington, for whom the library is named. Record types include correspondence, typescripts of graduate work of two of his aunts, photographs, programs, certificates, membership cards, clippings, and obituaries. Included are papers of Estella Turpin, a guidance counselor in the New Orleans Public School System, and Xavier Preparatory School, the doctoral dissertation of Henri Etta Baranco, items pertaining to the activities of educator and Liberian consul Ora Lee Mitchell, and funeral programs of Turpin and a cousin, Anna B. Chavis, a retired teacher in the New Orleans Public School System. Three of the women represented here were sisters of Olivia Baranco Washington, mother of Leonard Washington.
3. Bartley, Melinda
1972-1973
1 item, scrapbook
Scrapbook compiled by Melinda Bartley, then a graduate student at the Baton Rouge campus of Southern University, of news clippings covering the student occupation of the university's administration building, and the resulting deaths of Denver A. Smith of New Roads and Leonard Douglas Brown of Gilbert, both students of SUBR.
4. Behind the Veil Oral History Collection
1994-2000
134 audio cassettes
The `Behind the Veil' project was spearheaded by Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies in order to gather firsthand information about African American Life in the Jim Crow South. CAAAS facilitated the New Orleans segment of the project and assisted the 3 field workers from Duke (Felix Armfield, Kate Ellis, and Michelle Mitchell), in collecting interviews. The Oral History Association awarded its first Distinguished Oral History Project Award to "Behind the Veil" in 1996. Interviews were conducted in 11 southern states at 19 different locales, including New Orleans. Copies are held in the CAAAS archives. Women included in the project were as follows: Dolores Aaron, Philomene Allen, Florence Borders, Louise Bouise, Eula Brown, Mary Butler, Beverly Caitone, Ruth Cappie, Millie Charles, Olivia Cook, Brenda Davillier, Mary Davis, Viola Dunbar, Pearlie Elloie, Louise Franklin, Laura Goods, Veronica Hill, Olga Jackson, Mary Johnson, Augusta Kerry, Veora Lundy, Alma Lyons, Bessie Macdonald, Olga Merrick, Hazel Moore, Jessie Mouton, Maude Oselen, Marjorie Pajeaud, Lillian Perry, Mary Preston, Brenda Quant, Clarita Reed, Audrey Robertson, Dolores Robertson, Evelyn Rousseve, Mildred Rousseve, Germaine Smith, Helen Smith, Emanuella Spencer, Aline St. Julien, and Beatrice Stanley.
5. Center for African and African American Studies
1989 - present
ca. 6 ft.
The Center for African and African American Studies (CAAAS) was founded in 1989 under Title III at SUNO to enrich curricular and non-curricular offerings on African and African American studies. Records include correspondence, reports, photographs, programs, clippings, minutes, and printed items from 1989. Included are papers of Southern University presidents notably Delores Spikes (who was also a SUNO Chancellor), Title III Director Brenda Jackson, interim director of CAAAS Cassandra Murphy, CAAAS assistant director Tommye Myrick, and CAAAS Archivist Florence Borders. Publications of monographs growing out of a lecture series organized during the tenure of Charles A. Frye as CAAAS Director resulted in the inclusion of "Blacks in New Orleans from the Great Depression to the Civil Rights Movement, 1930 to 1960" by Barbara A. Worthy. There is also material on other lecture series presented by the Center, including Women's Scholarship.
6. Hollis, Sara
1978-1992
ca. 1.6 ft.
Hollis has served in several capacities at SUNO, including Fine Arts and Philosophy chair, Lyceum Committee member and chair, and Humanities faculty member. Her papers document activities in these various academic and administrative positions, including her publications and art exhibits. Items include correspondence, clippings, research materials, and SUNO publications. Women included in the collection are her mother Linda Hollis, Irene C. Howard, Sybil H. Morial, Cassandra Murphy, and Sue Smock.
7. Ivey, Lois Francis Johnson
1980-2001
ca. 4 ft.
Ivey was an activist on the local and national scene on behalf of the homeless, the hungry, and the dispossessed. She was a graduate of Howard University in D.C., where she had been a school teacher and worked in government. Her later years were spent in New Orleans, where she had lived as a child. This collection includes correspondence, collected speeches, clippings, reports, invitations, greeting cards, honors and awards, business cards, programs, and photographs. Numerous names of local, state, and national political figures are included in the papers, such as George W. Bush, M.J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., Sidney Barthelemy, and Marc Morial. Women related items include a program of the Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc., which honored Ivey and other women at its 6th annual luncheon in 2000. The program contains photos and brief biographical sketches of honorees and photos of members. Honorees include Senator Diana E. Bajoie, political activist Stephanie R.E. Butler, School Board member Gail Glapion, Humanitarian Florida C. Hargrove, activist for race relations and women Felicia S. Kahn, community activist Lucille S. Simms, a religious Sister Sylvia Thibodeaux, SSF, and business woman Estelle J. Wilson. Posthumous recognition was given to former members Gertrude E. Brown and Victoria B. Norman and to Mother Katherine Drexel, SBS, who was canonized October 1, 2000.