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"No Place for Me:" Fredi Washington and the Confines of Racial Casting during Hollywood's Golden Era" It was widely accepted that Fredi Washington (1903-1994) in her few starring roles, was an electrifying presence on the screen. Yet her career as an actor was interrupted and sidelined due to narrowly defined racial proscriptions and "types" that excluded the racially ambiguous Washington. In this paper, I will examine the rhetorics of racial casting in 1930s Hollywood, commonly referred to as the "Golden era" as it applied to this promising star. I argue that the very elements that created a "golden" time for the expansion and glorification of its image, made Hollywood a dreadful place for talented but uncompromising black actors like Washington. Included in this discussion is the interplay of her biography and political sensibilities juxtaposed with her film career. The main source for this essay and other in progress work on Washington, is her personal papers and letters in which the full dimension of her frustration, talent, and political sentiments are revealed. The paper concludes with a comparative look at the careers of her black and white contemporaries in order to fully understand the rewards and punishment of Hollywood's codified racial casting during this era. Audrey Thomas McCluskey Indiana University April 17, 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alma Jean Billingslea Spelman College On more than one occasion, Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to the field staff members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) as the "ground crew." He explained that just as an aircraft could not take off and land without the work of mechanics, traffic controllers, runway directors and baggage handlers, people who all remained on the ground, SCLC could not have implemented its programs without the work of the field staff, most of whom had been recruited from movements in Montgomery, Albany, Savannah, Selma, Birmingham, and St. Augustine. Within SCLC the "ground crew" was organized into positions as state field secretaries, project directors, field coordinators, and project workers. Outside of SCLC, in local and national movements, they were simply freedom fighters. This paper examines how a particular conception of freedom functioned to create and unify the "ground crew." In its presentation of the lives and movement histories of selected members of SCLC's field staff, this paper also demonstrates how biography and life stories function as a mirror for history and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will discuss the unique role of biography in our understanding of the Civil Rights Movement and in our redefinition of the notion of landmarks. In particular, the author will look at the pedagogical appproaches of using biography to teach different audiences about the Civil Rights Movement [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This PowerPoint presentation traces the historical role of people of African descent among the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" of United States Native Americans (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole). Thousands of African Americans today descend from people who were once citizens of these nations and who played a sometimes crucial role in their well-being and survival. Blacks experienced every form of affiliation with these nations: many were enslaved by Indians, but some lived in tributary maroon communities, or married into families and clans, or were "incorporated" into them. Some were important comrades in arms in their internal and external wars. However, in recent years many of these descendants of the Freedmen have experienced expulsion of and/or restrictions on their enrollment. The presentation will exhibit representations of and discuss the biography of various key personalities in the history of the Black-Indian relationship among these peoples. It will especially highlight the complex character and extent of contributions of Blacks to the Seminole and Creek nations, including their role in the three Seminole Wars. The presentation gives an historical context for the rise of racism and segregation among these nations and examines recent controversies over the continued enrollment and rights of descendants of the Freedmen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, scholars have turned their attention to researching and writing about Ella Baker's largely behind-the-scenes role in the sixties civil rights movement, and deservedly so. Previously, her story was grossly underrepresented in the voluminous publications, films and oral histories that document that period. Thankfully that has changed. Now there are numerous biographies and even a film about Ella Baker's life. She deserves formal recognition; after all Baker devoted her entire working life to serving the causes of black freedom and civil rights. To be included in the 2009 revised edition of Servants of the People: The 1960s Legacy of African American Leaders (St. Martin's/Palgrave Press), authored by me, this profile explores the Baker civil rights legacy, especially her monumental role in the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It grapples with the following questions: What bred in Ella Baker a gritty, stubborn determination and passionate commitment to be of service to others? How did she nurture and sustain young civil rights activists? What philosophy guided her work with people and organizations? Finally, what was her enduring legacy? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. Shango will present an intellectual and political biography of historian John Henrik Clarke (1915-1998), focusing on his early efforts to study history, his emergence as a self-trained specialist in the fields of African and African American history, and his appointment as Professor of African World History in the Department of Black and Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York City. Clarke's political activities, including his lifelong association with the Organized Left, with the U.S. Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, and the Pan African Movement in the U.S., Caribbean islands, and Africa will also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Segregated Scholars Francille Rusan Wilson explores the lives and work of fifteen black labor historians and social scientists as seen through the prisms of gender, class, and time. This collective biography offers complex and vital portraits of these seminal figures, many of whom knew and worked with each other, following them through their educations, their often groundbreaking work in economic and labor studies, and their invaluable public advocacy. Segregated Scholars makes a crucial and unprecedented contribution to our understanding of the black intellectual heritage, as well as the history of the social sciences, and of many of the practices and policies with which we now live and work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donna Wells' non-linear approach to a cultural biography of Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) introduces new research while weaving unexplored aspects of Douglass' personal life into his well documented public life as a former slave, abolitionist, lecturer and public servant. Using a selection of photographs, memorabilia, and original documents, she will shed light on some of the myths about Douglass and the Douglass family, and will demonstrate how he used images and photography, in addition to his writings, to craft his own identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activist Daisy Lampkin was recognized by Black men and women as a champion for causes of social justice. A historical biography of Daisy Lampkin is long overdue. In the 1930s, Daisy Lampkin was most often noted for her work as the national field secretary of the NAACP, but long before that she had established herself with her membership in other organizations including the National Association of Colored Women. She also worked tirelessly throughout her life with a vast array of clubs and groups including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, the Links, Incorporated and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). During her time she was heralded along with great Black leaders including Mary McLeod Bethune, Nannie Burroughs, and Alice Dunbar-Nelson as a "race woman". Race women were known for their strong influence, their tremendous leadership abilities, and their dedication to their people. Daisy Lampkin embodied these concepts. She was a model for progressive individuals who were concerned with the uplift of Black people. Lampkin was often referred to as "Mrs. NAACP" due to her significant fundraising on behalf of the organization. There is very little published work on the life of this important woman. I utilize both primary and secondary sources to examine the life and legacy of one of the most prominent Black women leaders of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the corpus of W.E.B. DuBois’s writings are primarily sociological, political, and historical in breadth and scope, in form and content, W.E.B. DuBois infused his scholarly works from early on with autobiographical elements, and crafted three autobiographical works between 1918/1919 and 1959. Although Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil, The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from The Last Decade of its First Century, and Dusk of Dawn, traditionally comprise DuBois’s autobiographical triad, it is necessary to include The Souls of Black Folk in this autobiographical body of work in order to map the continuities and shifts in DuBois’ ideological positions over space and time. As significant contributions to black intellectual tradition, the autobiographies–a blend of personal narrative, political ideology, propaganda, literary devices and conventions and socio-historical commentary–are even more interesting because DuBois chose the autobiographical genre to espouse his political misgivings and political outlook about America, Africa and Europe. Why DuBois--the sociologist and historian–chose the autobiographical form as the form best suited to comment, vis-à-vis his personal narrative and personal political positioning, on the collective experience of the ‘darker races’ domestically and abroad, is the subject of this inquiry. Examining the literary conventions used by DuBois–the multiplicity of voices in Darkwater, the literary allusions to myth throughout the body of his work to comment on race based power relationships, the use of the personal narrative form of autobiography as a (dis)guised mouthpiece for the collective political destiny of African-Americans, we will look at how and why W.E.B. DuBois, as so many black intellectuals before and after him, chose to frame their political ideology within a literary framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]