The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Lorenzo Johnston Greene papers

Repository: Library of Congress. Manuscript Division

Collection Description (CRHP): See the Speeches and Writings series for interviews and panel discussions.

Collection Description (Extant): The papers of Lorenzo Johnston Greene (1899-1988), pioneer in African-American historical studies and multiculturalism, editor, and civil rights and social activist, span the years 1680-1988, with the bulk of the material documenting Greene's thirty-nine year career (1933-1972) at Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri, and as a professor emeritus at that historically black institution from his retirement in 1972 to his death in 1988. Before coming to Lincoln University, Greene was a field representative for the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) and a close associate of Carter G. Woodson, the founder of the organization and the "father of Afro-American history." As an educator, Greene was an early advocate of the introduction of multicultural content into grade school and college texts nationwide. He wrote numerous monographs and articles, including The Negro In Colonial New England, 1620-1776, and edited the Midwest Journal, sponsored by Lincoln University. Greene's community service, in which he stressed open housing and school desegregation, included helping to found the Missouri Commission on Human Rights and chairing the human rights committee of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare and the education subcommittee of the Missouri Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. His papers are organized into seven series: Family, Academic, Professional Organizations, Public Interest Organizations, Speeches and Writings, Addition, and Oversize.

Access Copy Note: Restrictions apply governing the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for information concerning these restrictions. In addition, many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.

Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Video and audiotapes have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Lorenzo Johnston Greene Papers.

Date(s): 1680-1988

Digital Status: No

Existing IDs: MSS77480

Extent: 46,200 items ; 106 containers plus 9 oversize ; 42.8 linear feet ; 2 microfilm reels

Finding Aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms001016

Language: English

Interviewees: Lorenzo Johnston Greene

Rights (Extant): The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Lorenzo J. Greene is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C).

Subjects:

African American college teachers
African American historians
Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, inc.
Black studies
Historical museums
Institute to Facilitate Desegregation in the Kansas City, Mo., Public Schools
Lincoln University (Jefferson City, Mo.)
School integration--Missouri
United States Commission on Civil Rights

Genres:

Interviews
Lectures
Manuscripts
Sound recordings
Speeches
Videorecordings