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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 8.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 5000 items) |
| Abstract | John B. Turner was an African American professor and dean at Case Western Reserve University School of Applied Social Sciences and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. He also served as the first Black commissioner for East Cleveland, Ohio. The collection contains essays, articles, conference papers, and speeches; printed materials, including newspaper clippings, programs, newsletters, and books; and photographs. Collection materials principally document Turner's professional interests in community leadership, development, and organizing; public housing issues; teen pregnancy; race relations; social work in community mental health programs; social work education; Black student leadership development; ethnic and cultural diversity in organizations; and quality of life for African American children. Some materials are related to professional conferences for social workers and social work educators, the Children's Defense Fund and other organizations engaged in social welfare issues, and fundraising for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Social Work. Also included are audio and video recordings of events, television programs and appearances, educational programs, and interviews, many of which pertain to white broadcast journalist Charles Kuralt, John B. Turner, and the School of Social Work. |
| Creator | Turner, John B. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
This summary description was created in October 2017 to provide information about unprocessed materials in Wilson Special Collections Library.
Encoded by: Laura Smith
Updated by: Meaghan Alston, Patrick Cullom, Nancy Kaiser, and Anne Wells, June 2021
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Related Collections
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Biographical Information
Dr. John Brister Turner (1922-2009) was born 28 February 28 1922 to Virginia Brown Turner, an English and art school teacher, and Brister William Turner, a professor of English, on the campus of Fort Valley State College in Fort Valley, Georgia. At an early age his parents moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to A&M College in Normal, Alabama. At the age of nine, Turner's father died of injuries he incurred in World War I. The family, which by then included his sister, Peggye, returned to Atlanta where his mother, her sister and their mother reared the children.
Turner attended Atlanta University's Laboratory High School where he was elected into the National Honor Society. He later received his college degree from Morehouse College, from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. While at Morehouse, Turner majored in mathematics, sang in the Morehouse Glee Club and was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. He played guard on the football team and was named to the All Southern Football Team. His college education, however, was interrupted in his last year by World War II. During the last semester of his senior year, he enlisted and was accepted into the Army Air Corps for pilot training. While waiting to be called for duty, he was drafted into the Army. An Army officer encouraged him to apply for training in the Tuskegee Airmen program. Turner was one of only twenty-five men in his class of seventy-five to graduate from the program. He was trained to be a B-25 pilot, but his squadron was short of men. Victims of racism during this the period, Turner and his comrades were forced to wait a full year for the squadron to be completed with enough African American men before they were permitted to fly overseas. By that time the war had ended.
As a result of his experience while in the Air Corps, Turner returned to Morehouse a changed man. Before the war, he had planned for a career in engineering. During the war, his observation of the social problems which plagued African American communities caused him to want to do something to help change these conditions. He was advised to enter the field of social work. His educational direction moved from a focus on things, to a focus on helping people, particularly African American people, solve the problems of health, jobs, housing and education. Dr. Turner went on to receive both masters and doctorate degrees from the School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Turner's memorable experiences as a young professional included working with boys at the YMCA in Atlanta and as a community social worker in Cleveland. He held many professional positions in his career, which seem a long way from his boyhood when he worked in a grocery store delivering groceries, cutting lawns in the neighborhood, scrubbing walls and floors, refinishing furniture and singing in night clubs. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Dr. Turner served on the faculties of Atlanta University, the University of Georgia in Athens, and at Case Western Reserve University where he also served as dean. In 1965, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to Egypt, which led to many years of working in Egypt with the establishment of social programs throughout the country. In 1974, he was awarded a Kenan Professorship at the University of North Carolina School of Social Work. He was appointed Dean of the School of Social Work in 1982, a position he held until 1992. Turner also served the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare as Director of the Egyptian Social Welfare Manpower Training Project in Cairo, Egypt from 1979 to 1981, and also as visiting professor and consultant at the University of Minya in Minya, Egypt. He served as a visiting professor and consultant at many other institutions in the United States and abroad. Among many organizational duties, Dr. Turner was President of the National Conference on Social Welfare, 1977-1979, and chair of the Nominating Committee of the National Association of Deans and Directors of the Schools of Social Work, and Special Consultant for the Urban League. As an internationally recognized social worker, he established the doctoral program at the UNC School of Social Work.
Dr. Turner also created the first development office at the UNC School of Social Work, which attracted unprecedented resources and moved the School forward to its highest ranking of 12th among 120 U.S. graduate social work programs. He received awards for excellence in social work education from the National Association of Social Workers and the Council on Social Work Education. He was also editor-in-chief of the 17th edition of the Encyclopedia of Social Work, one of the field's most prestigious publications. Dr. Turner was recognized as a brilliant community service worker throughout his life. He had a special talent to negotiate programs to benefit and improve the university community as well as the civic community beyond. Richard Edwards, a former Dean of the School of Social Work, wrote, "His wisdom, leadership and tireless work ethic in innumerable roles across the UNC campus won him wide admiration and respect as one of the University's great leaders and visionaries." Dr. Turner realized the great need for the School of Social Work to have its own building and worked for over a decade towards that endeavor, which culminated in the 1995 dedication of the Tate Turner Kuralt building on the UNC campus, sharing this accomplishment with the eminent late Jack Tate and Charles Kuralt. The building also houses the Jordan Institute of Families, which Dr. Turner established with a donation from former UNC basketball player Michael Jordan and family. The research, training and technical assistance arm of the School, the Jordan Institute develops and tests policies and practices that strengthen families and engage communities. In 2007, the School of Social Work honored Turner with the establishment of the Sandra Reeves Spears and John B. Turner Distinguished Professorship for a leading scholar in the field who will "teach methods of working with families, engagement with community agencies, and promote the best practice models."
John B. Turner died in 2011.
Biographical note compiled from obituary published by the The News and Observer (accessed 17 July 2021) and an entry in the Pioneers Biography Index of the National Association of Social Workers (accessed 17 July 2021).
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Scope and Content
The John B. Turner Papers consist of essays, articles, conference papers, and speeches; printed materials, including newspaper clippings, programs, newsletters, and books; and photographs of Turner, an African American professor and dean at Case Western Reserve University School of Applied Social Sciences and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. Collection materials principally document Turner's professional interests in community leadership, development, and organizing; public housing issues; teen pregnancy; race relations; social work in community mental health programs; social work education; Black student leadership development; ethnic and cultural diversity in organizations; and quality of life for African American children. Some materials are related to Turner's service as the first Black commissioner in the City of East Cleveland,, Ohio; professional conferences for social workers and social work educators; the Children's Defense Fund and other organizations engaged in social welfare issues; and fundraising for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Social Work. Also included are audio and video recordings of events, television programs and appearances, educational programs, and interviews, many of which pertain to white broadcast journalist Charles Kuralt, John B. Turner, and the School of Social Work.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Papers 1947-2000s.
| Box 1 |
Curriculum Vitae |
John B. Turner, materials aboutIncludes career celebration material, 1983 homecoming roast by the National Association of Black Social Workers (program and photographs), interview in Daily Tar Heel interview on discrimination in Air Force during World War II. |
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Charles Kuralt letter |
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"Guidelines to a Search for a Theory of Priority Determination" |
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"Articles and Papers by John B. Turner" |
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"Community Council: Test Tube for Democracy. A Case STudy of the Glenville Area Community Council from Septbember 1 1946 through January 31, 1948" |
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Glenville community study materials (see also 1960s-1970s files) |
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Other writings by John B. TurnerArticles, speeches, presentations, and notes including "Is there a future for Black Children?"; "Ethnic and Cultural Diversity: Social Group Work and the First Decade of the 21st Century." |
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| Box 2 |
Other writings by John B. TurnerArticles, speeches, presentations, and notes including "Is there a future for Black Children?"; "Ethnic and Cultural Diversity: Social Group Work and the First Decade of the 21st Century." |
Publications about Black Americans by UNC faculty |
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Tuskegee Airman Oral History Project Transcript |
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Teen Pregnancy, Chapel Hill public Housing, Institute for the Black Family |
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Community organization notes |
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Introduction to Community Organization workbook |
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Chapel Hill/Carrboro Public Housing |
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| Box 3 |
Welfare Reform |
Village Companies Board of Directors |
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Uplift Inc. |
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Human Capital Initiative meeting, 1995 |
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Black Family Empowerment Convention |
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Michael Jordan and Jordan Institute |
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UNC School of Social Work |
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"Strong Families: A Program of Parent Education," Carolina Children's Initiative, Jordan Institute for Families, School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000 |
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"Making Choices: Social Problem-Solving Skills for Children," School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000 |
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Institute for African American Research |
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Egypt |
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Abundant Life Seeds of Sheba Cultural Art Center |
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Interfaith Council |
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"Developing Social Policy in Conditions of Dynamic Change" by Alfred Kadushin, Children's Defense Fund, Black Community Crusade for Children |
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Children's Defense Fund: Black Student Leadership Development |
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Case Western Reserve |
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Clark Atlanta Board of Visitors |
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Morehouse College |
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| Box 4 |
"Condition of Black Children" conference(?) notebooks |
"Articles, Papers on Blacks" |
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Printed materialTopics include families and children, poverty, middle class, cultural life, community, childhood risks of Black Americans. |
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Social CompetenceArticles. |
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Course planning, 1963, 1977, 1986 |
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March on Washington, Evening Star, 28 August 1963 |
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Civil Rights Movement, 1964-1968 |
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Egypt, 1965Egyptian Mail, The Egyptian Gazette, "Basic Facts on the U.A.R." |
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Cairo Today |
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The Acquisition of Syntax by Middle-Class and Culturally Different Black Children in Grades One, Two, Three, Five, Six, and Eight , Nancy Gilmore Williams, University of Alabama, 1972 |
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The Survey and Survey graphic, 1947-1948 |
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| Box 5 |
1960s-1980sNewspaper clippings; programs, newsletters, and other printed material from School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, the University of North Carolina School of Social Work and other social research-related organizations; scattered writings; and research materials. Topics include social conditions and activism in Cleveland during the 1960s; the Black Power movement in Cleveland; the Glenville Area Community Council; City of East Cleveland handbook; Turner as the first Black Commissioner in City of East Cleveland; Morehouse College; Turner as dean at Case Western; Turner's early years at University of North Carolina; the 1967 riot in Detroit. |
| Box 6 |
BooksA New American Blues: A Journey Through Poverty to Democracy, Earl Shorris, W.W. Norton and Company New York, 1997. First Edition, English. Social Policy for Children and Families: A Risk and Resilience Perspective, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California, Jeffrey M. Jenson Mark W. Fraser eds., 2006. First Edition, English. The Cheapest Nights: Short Stories, Yusuf Idris, Heinemann, London, 1978. First Edition, English, translated from Arabic by Wadida Wassef. Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power, Kenneth B. Clark, Harper Torchbooks, New York, 1965. First Edition, English. The Middleeast and the West, Bernard Lewis, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1964. First Edition, Engish. The Egyptian Peasant, Henry Habib Ayrout, Beacon Press, Boston, 1963. Second Edition, translated to English from French by John Alden Williams. Shahhat: An Egyptian, Richard Critchfield, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 1978. First Edition, Second Paperback Printing. The Political Economy of the Black Ghetto, William K. Tabb, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, 1970. First Edition, English. The Compassionate Conservative, Joseph J. Jacobs, Huntington House Publishers, Lafayette, Louisiana, 1996. First Edition, English. Signed. Egyptian Short Stories, Heinemann, London, Denys Johnson-Davies ed., 1978. First Edition, English, translated from Arabic by Denys Johnson-Davies. Archaic Egypt, W.B. Emery, Pelican, Baltimore, 1961. First Edition, English. Egyptology and the Social Sciences, American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, Kent Weeks ed., 1979 First Edition, English. Egyptian OneAct Plays, American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, David Woodman ed., 1974. First edition, English. Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington, Airmont Books, New York, 1967. Egyptian Earth, A.R. Sharkawi, Heinemann, London, 1962. First Edition (English), translated to English from Arabic by Desmond Stewart. The Wedding of Zein, Tayeb Salih, Heinemann, London, 1978. Fourth Edition, English from Arabic. The Survey Vol. LXXXIV No. 5, May 1948. Translated by Denys Johnson-Davies. Tanmiat El-Mogtama Community Development, Vol. III, No. 1, 1979. There is a River, Vincent Harding, Vintage Books, New York, 1981. First Edition, English. Coming Through the Fire, C. Eric Lincoln, Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, 1996. First Edition, English. Signed. Egypt: Burdens of the Past, Options for the Future, John Waterburt, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1978. First Edition, English. Challenge, Vol. 3, No. 1. Whites Only, Robert Seymour, Judson Press, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1991. First Edition, English. Signed. White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-Racism Training, Judy H. Katz, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma. Fourth Printing. Families of the Mentally Ill, Guilford, New York, Agnes B. Hatfield and Harriet P. Lefley eds., 1987. First Edition, English. Afro-American History, Merril, Columbus Ohio, Charles W. Simmons and Harry W. Morris eds., 1972. First Edition, English. |
| Box 7 |
Books and journalsThe Journal of Black Sacred Music, John Michael Spencer, Volume 1 Number 2 Fall 1987. From Rage to Hope: Strategies for Reclaiming Black and Hispanic Students, Crystal Kuykendall, National Educational Service, Bloomington, 1991. The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves, Benjamin Drew, Prospero, Toronto, 2020. From 1856 original by Prospero. Daedalus, American Academy of Arts and Science, Richmond, Stephen R. Graubard ed., Fall 1965. Race Rules, Michael Eric Dyson, Vintage Books, New York, 1997. First Edition. Race Matters, Cornel West, Beacon Press, Boston, 2001. The Middle East: An Anthropological Perspective, John Gulick, Goodyear Publishing Company, Pacific Palisades, 1976 An Atlas of Middle Eastern Affairs, Robert C. Kingsbury and Norman J.G. Pounds, Praeger, New York 1964. Fourth edition. Prejudice and Discrimination: Can We Eliminate Them? Fred R. Holmes, Prentice-Hall, Englewood CLiffs, Jack R. Fraenkel ed., 1970. Classic Essays on the Culture of Cities, Prentice-Hall, Englewood CLiffs, Richard Sennett,ed., 1969. |
Placard commemorating the siging of the Education Bill, 11 April 1965 (H.R. 2362) |
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| Image Folder PF-5524/1 |
John B. Turner photographsNational Conference on Social Work" "Phildelphia Forum," 1979 (black-and-white) and "UNC School of Social Work fundraiser in Charlotte" circa 1990s (color) |
| Image Folder PF-5524/2 |
Group portraits, 1960s-1970sIncludes National Council of Social Workers. |
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Series 2. Audiovisual Materials, 1985-2005.
Arrangement: Alphabetical by title or subject.
Processing information: Titles and description for audiovisual materials compiled from original containers.
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Items Separated