Researching Civil Rights History in the 21st Ce

Researching Civil Rights History in the 21st CenturyAuthor(s): Walter B. Hill Jr.Source: The Journal of African American History, Vol. 93, No. 1 (Winter, 2008), pp. 94-99Published by: Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20064260 .Accessed: 06/03/2014 04:43

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SPECIAL REPORT III

RESEARCHING CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY IN THE 21st CENTURY

Walter B. Hill, Jr.*

The National Archives and Records Administration, Federal Records Relating to Civil Rights in the Post-World War II Era: Reference Information Paper 113.

Compiled by Walter B. Hill, Jr., Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2007. Pp. 390. Free to the public.

Over the last three decades, "Civil Rights History" has become a major topic of analysis for American historians. As we move further away from the era of the modern Civil Rights Movement and new generations of scholars appear, it has become not only an important area of research, but also a dominant theme for researchers in the 21st century. On the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the June 2004 issue of the Journal of American History (JAH) included a roundtable discussion by several

prominent scholars on the meaning and significance of the Brown decision. The OAH Magazine of History, January 2005, devoted an entire issue to Martin Luther King, Jr., featuring articles by Clayborne Carson, editor of the King Papers Project at Stanford University, highlighting different aspects of King's life and his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. Between March 2005 and September 2007, the JAH published five essays and scores of book reviews that offered details on various aspects of Civil Rights History. During the same

two-year period, The Journal of African American History published a Special Issue on the Brown decision (Winter-Spring 2005), six other essays, and over two dozen book reviews related to black civil rights. The publications covered a

wide range of topics from the national, regional, state, and local levels, as well as

individuals and organizations engaged in the struggle for social justice. Margo Schlanger, at Washington University Law School in St. Louis, has

added an excellent research tool for Civil Rights History. Along with several

colleagues, she has created the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse Web site at

http://clearinghouse.wustl.edu, based on digitized court records. The site collects, indexes, and makes accessible to the public and researchers an ever-expanding array of civil rights cases, along with the legal settlements and court orders that

* Walter B. Hill, Jr., Ph.D. is Senior Archivist in Afro-American History at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, MD.

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Special Report HI: Researching Civil Rights History in the 21st Century 95

regulated government agencies and influenced private institutions in multiple ways and shaped many people's lives. Current cases include those in the areas of child welfare, election/voting rights, immigration, prison conditions, juvenile institutions, mental health facilities, nursing home conditions, police profiling, public housing, and school desegregation. The clearinghouse will add new cases and categories as it identifies them and collects the pertinent records. The site includes the dockets and related documents of the court cases, and provides background information on each case such as where, when, and what issues were

involved, the outcomes, and the published judicial opinions. The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse Web site should enhance in numerous ways future historical research on civil rights.1

In the March 2005 issue of Journal of American History, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall provides a brilliant overview of the historical literature and a critical assessment of the scholarship on the Civil Rights Movement. In "The Long Civil

Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past," she skillfully categorizes the various themes within Civil Rights History, including the emergence of the civil rights campaigns, the impact of the Cold War, the radicalization of the

movement, and her own personal reflections. Perhaps Hall's most perceptive conclusion was her placement of Civil Rights History within the master narrative of United States history. For Hall, the origins of the struggle for civil rights are to be found in the era of emancipation immediately following the Civil War.2 In my article "A Special Brew: Reassessing Civil Rights History Through the Prism of Federal Records at the National Archives," I agreed with Hall, but suggested that we really need to seek the origins in the Bill of Rights included in the U.S. Constitution in the era of the early republic. This would truly capture the long struggle to attain civil rights by Africans Americans who sought incorporation into the new American democracy. While the abolition of slavery also became a

major social reform movement, free blacks used the courts to fight for their civil

rights throughout the nation. The study of "civil rights litigation" must begin in this post-revolutionary era.3

Opponents of the "Long Movement" paradigm such as Sundiata Keita Cha ju? and Clarence Lang have also argued a convincing case. In their important essay "The 'Long Movement' as Vampire: Temporal and Spatial Fallacies in Recent Black Freedom Studies," Cha-Jua and Lang have added significantly to this discourse and this explains why Civil Rights History has emerged as a major area of historical research in the 21st century. At the same time, I believe that both views can be criticized for including some exaggeration and undefined

concepts in their analysis. The "Long Movement" proponents try to offer a

precise history of civil rights struggles?shaped, defined, and structured by larger forces of social change. Cha-Jua and Lang's "vampire" analogy is provocative and seeks to clarify misconceptions of the proponents of the "Long Movement" thesis who tend to view black resistance and civil rights campaigns as continuous


96 The Journal of African American History

and undying. Ironically, there is a degree of historical truth in both arguments. They both seek answers to important questions: What are the theoretical and

analytical distinctions and differences between Civil Rights History, the Modern Civil Rights Movement, and the Black Liberation Movement? Should the

struggle for social, political, and economic justice for African Americans within American society be characterized as a "Black Liberation Movement?" African American history in the United States includes the expansive efforts by African descended peoples to gain freedom from slavery, to become U.S. citizens, and to obtain the right to vote and other civil rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

However, the concept of "black liberation" seems to apply to colonial situations where colonized people take up arms and actually fight imperialist oppressors. We certainly have examples of radical and militant armed black groups challenging white authorities in the United States, but should the civil rights campaigns be characterized as black liberation struggles, rather than movements for social justice? There is certainly room for a great deal more scholarship in this particular area of African American history.4

For researchers interested in clarifying the distinctions between the struggles for civil rights or black liberation, the National Archives and Records Administration recently released (Winter 2007) the Federal Records Relating to Civil Rights in the Post-World War II Era: Reference Information Paper 113. The guide describes federal records that document the long-term relationship between many government programs and initiatives and the modern Civil Rights Movement between 1945 and 1980. The guide comprises four parts and four

appendixes: "Records of the Executive Branch Agencies"; "Records of the Office of Presidential Libraries"; "Records of the Regional Archives"; Appendix A, "Congressional Index System on Civil Rights"; Appendix B, "Department of Justice Microfilm Collection on Civil Rights"; Appendix C, "Select List of Publications of the U.S. Government," Record Group (RG) 287; and Appendix D, "Electronic Records Relative to Civil Rights." The guide has a name and

subject index to provide easy access to the citations listed among the 126 record series documented.

There are several intriguing record groups that reveal federal civil rights activities. Record Group 51, "Records of the Office of Management and Budget," stands out as an unlikely agency for civil rights programming; however, because of its accounting functions, it included government-wide equal employment opportunity and other civil rights programs. Established by Executive Order 11541 on 1 July 1970, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) assists the

president in preparing the federal budget, in formulating fiscal programs, and in

supervising the administration of the budget. Functions of the OMB include the

drafting of executive orders and presidential proclamations and in developing regulatory policies and programs, and it was these functions that captured civil

rights activities of the federal government.


Special Report III: Researching Civil Rights History in the 21st Century 97

In the "Records of the Housing Division Program, 1969-1976," there are

files that include memoranda, reports, comments, evaluations, recommendations, and correspondence that relate to numerous civil rights issues, programs, conferences, studies, and legislation. Among the records are three files on the

"Advisory Commission on Civil Rights," commonly referred to as the Kerner Commission. This commission, established on 27 July 1967 by an executive

order, was charged with investigating and making recommendations regarding the major civil disorders in U.S. cities between 1964 and 1967, the development of strategies to avert further civil disturbances, and assessing the role of local, state, and federal authorities. Included in these records is the 1978 President's

Reorganization Project that conducted a reorganization study of all federal civil

rights activities. Beginning in 1977, the Carter Administration wanted to make the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) the principal federal

agency in fair employment enforcement. Through an executive order, federal

equal employment opportunity activities were consolidated and the foundation was laid for a coherent federal structure to combat job discrimination in all its forms. The current structure of the EEOC originated from this 1978 plan.5

Record Group 51 and many others described in the guide are unique because

they contain primary sources on Civil Rights History untapped by previous researchers. These sources document both the internal and external dynamics of

governmental initiatives and the responses to the expansion of basic rights for all Americans as the emerging Civil Rights Movement unfolded in the post-World War II era. The sparse utilization of federal records in civil rights scholarship is an irony that deserves attention. While scholarship around Civil Rights History has flourished, the least used primary source appears to be federal records. Past and current scholarship has focused on personalities, organizational and institutional changes, political ideologies, regional histories, and various combinations of these topics. Since Dr. Martin Luther King's death in 1968,

much of the scholarship has defined him as the focal point for the modern Civil

Rights Movement. Some scholarship has shifted away from King-centered histories. For example, a symposium at the University of Mississippi in the fall of 1985 clearly defined the shifting tide of civil rights scholarship. The participants argued that grassroots activism explains the widespread discontent that pushed demands for human and civil rights; and events such as the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision and the murder of 15-year-old Emmitt Till raised hopes for change and fueled the increasingly volatile atmosphere in parts of the South. The Capitol Historical Society in Washington, DC, in 1986

sponsored a symposium on civil rights held at the Russell Senate Office Building in which Robert P. Moses, a former SNCC leader, declared, "It never occurred to

me think of the movement in terms of King. I lived and breathed the movement."6 Scholarship of the time was beginning to shift and many researchers agreed with Moses that Dr. King was significant, but nonetheless


98 The Journal of African American History

represented only one of the forces steering the modern Civil Rights Movement. Since that time, the range, depth, breadth, and quality of civil rights histories has

significantly improved. In the 21st century federal records should become a major resource for civil

rights historical research. The intersection of civil rights activism and national

politics produced historic civil rights legislation that not only changed the nation, but influenced the internal operations of the federal government. The archival team that worked on the new federal guide, led by Lisha Penn and myself, deliberately decided to focus on the post-World War II period because of the increased militancy and activism among African Americans during that time. We took the position that the seeds of the modern Civil Rights Movement were

planted in the decade of the 1940s, particularly during the war years. At the same

time, one could make a plausible argument that many of the liberal ideas associated with the civil rights campaigns were conceived during the New Deal in the 1930s. In my article "Finding a Place for the Negro: Robert C. Weaver and the Groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement," I made the case for both views after an extensive examination of Weaver's career in the federal government from 1933 to 1944.7 Many scholars considered Harry S. Truman the first modern

president to address issues of civil rights and to use federal power to enact

specific programs. Using the Office of the Presidency as the lynchpin for

charting civil rights activities, the National Archives team considered the action of all three branches of the government: executive, legislative, and judicial. These record groups and series documented various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement as well as the internal dynamics of the federal agencies. While the team captured considerable materials related to civil rights, the guide is not

comprehensive and there are still many record series to be released to the National Archives, including some intelligence records. This free guide should be an extremely useful tool for historical research in federal records pertaining to the mid-20th century civil rights initiatives.8

NOTES

'Margo Schlanger and Denise Lieberman, "Using Court Records for Research, Teaching, and Policymaking: The Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse." UMKC Law Review 153 (2006): 7, available at

http://law.wustl.edu/uploadedFiles/Schlanger/Schlanger_Court_Records.pdf. 2Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, "The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Use of the Past," Journal of American History 91 (March 2005): 1233-1263. By far this is the most critical essay I have read on Civil Rights History. 3Walter B. Hill, Jr., "A Special Brew: Reassessing Civil Rights History Through the Prism of Federal Records at the National Archives," Prologue, Quarterly of the National Archives, forthcoming. 4Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua and Clarence Lang, "The 'Long Movement' as Vampire: Temporal and Spatial Fallacies in Recent Black Freedom Studies." The Journal of African American History 92 (Spring 2007): 265 88. 5"Records of the Office of Management and Budget" (RG 51)," "Records of the Transportation, Commerce, and

Housing Division," "Program Records of the Housing Division, 1969-1976."


Special Report HI: Researching Civil Rights History in the 21st Century 99

6Clayborne Carson, "A Personal Journey to Understanding Martin Luther King, Jr." O AH Magazine of History 19 (Winter 2005): 4. 7Walter B. Hill, Jr., "Finding a Place for the Negro: Robert C. Weaver and the Groundwork for the Civil Rights

Movement," Prologue, Quarterly of the National Archives 37 (Spring 2005): 42-51. 8One may write or call the Customer Service Division, National Archives, NWCC1, Room G13, Washington,

DC. Telephone number 1-800-234-8861; Washington, DC metropolitan area 202-357-5400.


Article Contentsp. 94p. 95p. 96p. 97p. 98p. 99

Issue Table of ContentsThe Journal of African American History, Vol. 93, No. 1 (Winter, 2008), pp. 1-148Front Matter"An Equal Chance in the Race for Life": Reverdy C. Ransom, Socialism, and the Social Gospel Movement, 1890-1920 [pp. 1-20]Cole and Johnson's "The Red Moon", 1908-1910: Reimagining African American and Native American Female Education at Hampton Institute [pp. 21-35]Hedda Hopper, Hollywood Gossip, and the Politics of Racial Representation in Film, 1946-1948 [pp. 36-63]Essay ReviewsOn the History of the Jamaican Maroons [pp. 64-69]Ordinary Germans, Slavery, and the U.S. Civil War [pp. 70-79]

Special Reports"Circles of Learning": Exploring the Library of Carter G. Woodson [pp. 80-87]In Vogue: Josephine Baker and Black Culture and Identity in the Jazz Age [pp. 88-93]Researching Civil Rights History in the 21st Century [pp. 94-99]

Book ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 100-102]Review: untitled [pp. 102-103]Review: untitled [pp. 104-105]Review: untitled [pp. 106-108]Review: untitled [pp. 108-110]Review: untitled [pp. 110-112]Review: untitled [pp. 112-114]Review: untitled [pp. 115-116]Review: untitled [pp. 116-119]Review: untitled [pp. 119-121]Review: untitled [pp. 121-122]Review: untitled [pp. 123-125]Review: untitled [pp. 125-127]Review: untitled [pp. 127-129]Review: untitled [pp. 129-131]

Books Received [pp. 132-136]Carter G. Woodson Distinguished Lecturers, 2007-2008 [pp. 137-147]Back Matter

Researching Civil Rights History in the 21st Ce

Documents

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