The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Civil rights collection of the Nashville Public Library

Repository: Nashville Public Library. Special Collections Division

Collection Description (Extant): The collection documents Nashville's role in modern movement, including the Nashville student sit-in movement and the students from American Baptist College, Fisk University and Tennessee A & I State University along with other institutions and church affiliations involved in changing the laws and traditions of segregated Nashville. Materials in the collection include published audio and video imprints, ephemera and memorabilia, oral histories, periodicals, photographs, and records and manuscripts. Also included are many hard to find, out-of-print books as well as copies of dissertations related to social movements; over 100 videos for in-house viewing, all related to U.S. civil rights history, and an extensive microfilm collection on African American history. The materials provide information about key events of U.S. history, including Brown v. Board of Education, desegregation, sit-ins and freedom rides, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Highlander Folk School, voting rights, etc. It includes documentary sources about many aspects of Nashville's leadership role and participation, spanning the timeline of the modern civil rights movement and its continued legacy into the 21st century.

Collection URL: http://www.library.nashville.org/civilrights/collection.htm

Digital Status: Partial

Extent: 84 cu. ft.

Finding Aid URL: http://www.library.nashville.org/localhistory/findingaids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_Civil_Rights_Collec.pdf

Language: English

Related Archival Items: See the separate database record on the Civil Rights Oral History Project Collection of the Nashville Public Library.

Interviewees: John Lewis, Julius Scruggs

Rights (Extant): Nashville Public Library retains intellectual property rights to this collection. Some restrictions may apply.

Subjects:

African Americans--Civil rights
Busing for school integration--Tennessee--Nashville
Civil rights movements--Tennessee
Congress of Racial Equality
Freedom Rides, 1961
Highlander Folk School (Monteagle, Tenn.)
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
Lawson, James M., 1928-
School integration--Tennessee--Nashville
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Southern Student Organizing Committee (Nashville, Tenn.)
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
Tennessee--Race relations

Genres:

Manuscripts
Photographs
Sound recordings
Speeches
Transcripts
Videorecordings