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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.
Size | 58 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1500 items) |
Abstract | Papers, audio recordings, and photographs documenting the social justice activities of Durham, N.C., African American activist Leah Wise, including her work with global social justice organizations and in community action groups. There is particular focus on African and African American issues, workers' rights, anti-racism and anti-Ku Klux Klan groups, women's rights, and agricultural and agriculture workers' issues. Materials include publications, conference materials, internal documents, and special reports from social justice organizations; materials relating to fundraising for and administration and leadership of community action groups; meeting minutes and relating to various committees and projects; and Wise's notes and papers from college courses. The collection also contains audio recordings compiled by Leah Wise, including interviews with African American leaders and Southern Tenant Farmers Union members, as well as photographs documenting the activities of the Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network. |
Creator | Wise, Leah. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
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.
Leah Wise is the former director of Southerners for Economic Justice, a grassroots community action group focused on social and economic justice in the southeast.
Back to TopPapers, audio recordings, and photographs documenting Leah Wise's social justice activities including her work with global social justice organizations and in community action groups. There is particular focus on African and African American issues, workers' rights, anti-racism and anti-Ku Klux Klan groups, women's rights, and agricultural and agriculture workers' issues.
Paper materials include publications, conference materials, internal documents, and special reports from social justice organizations; materials relating to fundraising for and aministration and leadership of community action groups; meeting minutes and relating to various committees and projects; and Wise's notes and papers from college courses.
Audio recordings compiled by Leah Wise include Southern Tenant Farmers Union oral histories sponsored by the Institute of Southern Studies, interviews regarding white supremacist movements that relate to Alston-Bannerman sabbatical research for the Center for Democratic Renewal, civil rights songs by Mike Freemark and Tom Chordas, and an unidentified microcassette recording that possibly features Leah Wise speaking about activism in public schools. Audio recordings are on 1/4" open reel audio, audiocassette, and microcassette.
Photographic prints and negatives found in the collection depict the activities and gatherings of the Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network 1990-2006. Leah Wise has been involved with the group since it was founded in 1989, including serving as the organization's executive director.
Back to TopFor the most part, Leah Wise's original box titles have been retained. Box descriptions reflect an initial and cursory survey of the contents of the boxes.
Box 1 |
S.G.J. North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence ArtsArticles, clippings, newsletters, program reviews, and correspondence sent to Wise at the Southerners for Economic Justice Network in the 1980s-1990s from or about: Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) Teach-Ins and Teach-Outs; Bhopal Action Resource Center; Durham Morning Herald; Interracial Books for Children; North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence (NCARRV); A Tour of Workplaces in Durham; Poverty and Race Research Action Council (PRRAC); NCARRV special reports on a 1979-1983 Klan resurgence in the state, as well as a 1985, 1988, and 1989 list of hate group active in the state; 1980s-1990s playbills, advertisements, and personal correspondence related to people of color in the arts and dance, particularly performances by the Evidence troupe and performances at the American Dance Festival. |
Box 2 |
African American Dance Ensemble, 1982-1991Programs, playbills, publicity, schedules, and broader educational materials related to Wise's involvement in the African American Dance Ensemble (AADE), 1982-1991. |
Box 3 |
Center for Democratic RenewalBoard of Directors' meeting notes and memos of the Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR), 1989-2005. |
Box 4 |
Leah Wise's Student WorkWise's circa 1963-1975 research, notes, and papers related to high school and university courses in American History, Modern China, Sociology, Women's History, Labor History, and Latin American slavery. From Berkeley High School and Duke University. |
Box 5 |
Black Issues/Life MovementsDraft reports and photocopied articles circa 1975-1976 on women in the workforce, multinational corporations, maquiladoras, and Latin-US labor relations. Communication with the American Friends Service Committee. Reports of the Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC) from 1976. Communication, memos, and articles related to African human rights and social justice issues circa 1980-2002. Materials related to the National Rainbow Coalition Conference circa 1990. |
Box 6 |
NGO Women's Forums, Open Society Institute, Family Service Centre, National Network of Grant Makers, and Microfund for WomenNGO Women's forum meeting materials, 1985 and 1995. The Open Society Institute's (OSI) Southern Initiative materials from 1990s. National Network of Grant Makers' (NNG) memos from 1992. |
Box 7 |
National Anti-Klan Network, 1979-1982Notes, publications, curricula, and internal documents of the National Anti-Klan Network (NAKN) from 1979-1982. Notes, press coverage, correspondence, and group publications related to the November 3, 1979 clash between the Ku Klux Klan and the Communist Workers Party in Greensboro, N.C. |
Box 8 |
Center for Democratic RenewalPrograms, 25th anniversary materials, Hate Crimes Summits, annual reports, publications on hate crimes and hate groups in the South including 'The Monitor' and 'The Activist', and statistics on black church burnings in the south, from roughly 1989-2003, from the Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR). Also includes publications and news clippings from the Canadian Center on Racism and Prejudice, The Klanwatch Project, and the white supremacy movement in Europe. |
Box 9 |
Leah Wise's Student WorkNotes, drafts, and research related to Wise's MA coursework at Duke University, circa 1975-1980. |
Box 10 |
MLK Library Development Project, 1968-1970Memos, correspondence, and internal documents related to developing the archival collections of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center Library, circa 1968-1972. Includes donor lists, form letters, manuals for archival collecting, and field reports, primarily organized by geographical location and/or individual source of leads. This project/library is also intermittently referred to as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library Development Project and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center Library. |
Box 11 |
Black LeadershipInterviews regarding white supremacist movement: Alston-Bannerman sabbatical research for Center for Democratic Renewal (tapes, notes, interview transcripts). Drafts and research materials for reports on racism and economics. Planning materials, transcripts, and field notes related to interviews with African American leaders, divided up by geographical sections. Accompanying materials related to Ron Wilkins and Los Angeles hate crime reports circa 1986-1990. Materials correspond to audiocassettes C-05645/1-44 found in series 2. |
Floppy Disc FLD-5645/1-7
FLD-5645/1FLD-5645/2FLD-5645/3FLD-5645/4FLD-5645/5FLD-5645/6FLD-5645/7 |
"Black Leadership Project Transcripts"Processing Information: Floppy discs are under curatorial review. |
Box 12 |
Institute of Southern Studies #2Documents related to Leah Wise's time working with the Institute for Southern Studies (1970s), primarily consisting of written submissions, drafts, and research materials for articles in Southern Exposure. Topics include Sino-American relations, women in Appalachia, and criminal justice and prison reform. Includes original poems of Robert Clay. Reports and internal documents of the Southern Education Fund (SEF) circa 1973-1974. These include descriptions of projects analyzing the WPA Slave Narratives and other oral histories of African Americans in the South. |
Box 13 |
Sister Fund and Southern Tenant Farmers Union (Institute of Southern Studies oral history)Series of handmade reference cards related to interviews conducted with the Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) for the Institute for Southern Studies (ISS). Copies of "Sister Says," a newspaper published by Sister Fund Publications, circa 2000s. Records of The Sister Fund, including board members, memos, and materials from conferences attended on behalf of The Sister Fund. Materials correspond to audiotapes T-05645/1-4 found in series 2. |
Box 14 |
Black Liberation Movements, 1970sNewspaper clippings, publications, newsletters, and handwritten notes circa 1965-1983. Subjects include black power, the Black Panthers, Black Workers Congress, American liberalism, black studies, black liberation movements, African politics (Angola, Mozambique), the February First Movement (FFM), American labor movements, the Revolutionary Workers League (RWL), American and global Communism/Marxism/Leninism, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, the Weather Underground, the Nation of Islam, and American prison reform. |
Box 15 |
People's Movements, InternationalArticles, publications, and notes regarding peoples' rights issues globally, roughly broken up into issues in India, Africa, Europe, Latin America, Asia, "Miscellaneous," Cuba, Britain, and Belize. |
Box 16 |
Martin Luther King, Jr., Library Development Project Files, 1968-1970Includes many mass-printed form letters, questionnaires, and information sheets, as well as individual folders for field contacts and potential donors. Internship applications through the Southern Education Fund. |
Box 17 |
Center for Democratic RenewalMaterials from the Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR), circa 1986-1998, including the by-laws, mission, governance structure, strategic goals, development, needs assessments, committees, fundraising, and budget reports. |
Box 18 |
Interreligious Foundation for Community OrganizationPublications, newsletters, memos, and other materials related to work with the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), the United Methodist Church Voluntary Service (UMVS), and the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church Fundraising materials related to grants applied for by and/or given to: Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA); Campaign for Human Development (CHD); National Council of the Churches of Christ; The Institute on Religion and Democracy; Presbyterian Church of the United States (PCUS); American Indian Environmental Council; Coalition for Economic Survival; Farm Labor Research Project; Grassroots Women's Project. Publications on army desertion in South Africa circa 1981.Correspondence with the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, about reports of racialized violence circa 1981. Fundraising training publications from The Grantship Center, circa 1982. Information about different potential funding source organizations. |
Box 19 |
Institute for Southern Studies #1Materials related to projects undertaken by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) circa 1973-19744, particularly relating to women, sexism, worker's rights, and worker health and education. Includes interview notes from oral histories of citizens of Bolivar, Tenn., as well as materials (including interview transcripts, proposals, memos, and fundraising) related to an oral history project with the Institute for Southern Studies (ISS). |
Box 20 |
Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, 1980-1982Publications, newsletters, memos, conference planning, workshops, projects, annual reports, and similar materials related to work with the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), 1978-1982. |
Box 21 |
Leah Wise's Student WorkAcademic Coursework: University of Wisconsin, Occidental College-Senior Honors Thesis 1963-1967; Jan Vansina: African History, William Appelman Williams: American Foreign Policy, Harvey Goldberg: European Social History, Hanson: Russian History, William Taylor: American Intellectual History. Course materials and papers from classes Leah Wise took at the University of Wisconsin and Occidental College, circa 1963-1970. Subjects covered include teach-ins, American foreign relations policy, African history, American slavery, Russian history, history of film, history of dance and performing arts, and Anthropology. |
Box 22 |
Anti-Klan OrganizingFebruary 2nd Mobilization (1979-1980); National Anti-Klan Network, Triangle Vigil Committe, Center for Democratic Renewal: Black Leadership Project (1990) and Program and Publications (1986-2005); Mac Charles Jones: Gang Summit, Burnt Churches. Internal documents, correspondence, outreach, memos, and related materials, circa 1979-1980, from: Triangle Vigil Committee (TVC); February Second Mobilization Committee; National Anti-Klan Network (NAKN); The Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR); Black Leadership Project; Newspaper clippings relevant to the February Second Mobilization Committee; Published materials, educational hand-outs, and program materials from the CDR, circa 1980-2000; Scant materials on the National Council of the Churches of Christ (NCCC) Burnt Churches Project. |
Box 23 |
Black Student Movement, SNCC, CBS/CBP, African Liberation, and Black Draft ResistanceMaterials, primarily published materials and copies of documents, related to black student movements, African liberation movements, and anti-war movements, circa 1965-1987. Includes materials on or from: Racism in the Selective Service and United States draft; Stereotypes of African American women; Coal in South Africa; The African Liberation Support Commission (ALSC); The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA); Anti-Apartheid; Namibian independence; South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO); Paul Robeson; Zimbabwe. Internal documents, including training documents, from the following organizations concerned with African Americans and the US draft: National Black Draft Counselors (NBDC); The Atlanta Black Draft Advisors (ABDA); Third World Peace Education Project; and Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO). |
Box 24 |
New York City Public Schools, African American Education, Peden Steel Company of Raleigh, N.C., and First Calvary Ministries of the Westend Community, IncorporatedMaterials related to Leah Wise's time working with the New York City public school system to facilitate programs that assisted educators in working with minority and underprivileged children, circa 1968, SUNY Urban Teacher Education Center 1968, and Education Equity 1968-1985. Reports and published clippings about black liberation schools, African American educators, and other issues related to African American access to education, circa 1970-1985. Newsletters, memos, and internal documents related to Wise's time working with Peden Steel Company of Raleigh, N.C. Includes notes about employment discrimination, worker's compensation, and an employee's profit sharing and trust handbook, circa 1965-1968. Bible study notes, board meeting notes, correspondence, and other internal documents of the First Calvary Ministries of the Westend Community, Incorporated, circa 1994. |
Box 25 |
WVSP-FM-Land Research, Foundation Boards, and Miscellaneous, 1980sScripts, research, correspondence, fundraising, and related materials for WVSP 90.9 FM radio station, based out of Warrenton, N.C., circa 1978-1982. Circa 1980-1990 miscellaneous materials on: Durham-Chapel Hill Roundtable of Blacks and Jews; Association for Women in Development; War Resister's League of the Southeast; Jesse Jackson's 1988 Presidential campaign; The Funding Exchange; and The Muskiwinni Foundation. |
Box 26 |
African American Dance Ensemble, 1982-1991Internal documents of the African American Dance Ensemble (AADE), circa 1982-1993, including board meeting notes, account audits, fundraising information, and personnel policies. |
Box 27 |
Movement Organizations and Southerners for Economic JusticePublications and clippings, circa 1967-2002, primarily related to: teaching black history; women's rights; affirmative action; agricultural workers' rights/children in agriculture; and African Americans in the archives. Issues of "Fair Measure" newsletter, internal planning documents, board notes, financial and fundraising documents, and other related internal documents of the Southerners for Economic Justice (SEJ), circa 1960-1982. |
Box 28 |
Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)Reference files for the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO). Contains over fifty separate folders, each holding informational materials for a different organization of interest to IFCO including frican Friends Service Committee: Center for Democratic Renewal 1970s: Third World Coalition Employment Project; Black arts movement; Liberation movement clippings; and United Construction Workers Association. Common subjects include agriculture, African American rights, workers' rights, women's rights, education, and other social justice issues. |
Box 29 |
Center for Democratic Renewal programSpecial projects, forums, and campaigns of the Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR). Topics include the Black Leadership Project, the Congressional Black Caucus, Apartheid, black church bombings, anti-homophobia, anti-fascism, anti-semitism, David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, and Tom Turnipseed. Miscellaneous internal documents of the CDR and the North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence (NCARRV). |
Box 30 |
Interreligious Foundation for Community OrganizationClippings; Women's movement; Great Speckled Bird; Duke Chronicle--black students' protest; clippings; clippings: Asia and Middle East; clippings: economy; The Guardian, 1975-1976: liberation struggles; Tom Hayden--occupation of Newark; miscellaneous movement documents; C. Fowler: Black Arts bibliography; "Gladys": Charlie Russell's play; Roots Magazine: poems; Black Arts on Houston, 77021; Atlanta Anti-Repression Coalition; Charles Hobson; "Don't Bother Me--I Can't Cope"; Butch Wright, "Regionalism in the South"; American Friends' Service Committee: Community Relations Division, 1974-1977; American Friends' Service Committee, Economic Justice Task Force, 1977; American Friends' Service Committee, Employment Project; United Construction Workers' Association; Southwest Workers' Federation; Tyree Scott; United Construction Workers' Association; 30-W Coalition; the Bufalo [sic] Soldiers; Mike Simmons; Community Relations Division, national meetings, 1978; American Friends' Service Committee, Third-World Coalition; Minimum Competency Programs Manual; American Friends' Service Committee, Immigration. |
Box 31-32
Box 31Box 32 |
Box numbers not used. |
Box 33 |
US Urban Rural Mission, 1987-1999Urban Rural Mission, United States: Brochure; New Beginnings 1989-1990; Minutes and Reports: USURM Contact Group 1987-1992; Minutes 1993-1994; Minutes 1995-1998; USURM Contact Group Meeting Notes; Reports 1995-1996; Reports 1997-1998; USURM Religious Partnership Advisors. |
Box 34 |
Alston-Bannerman, 2003-2009Alston Bannerman Applications 2003-2006; A-B Finalist Interviews 2003-2007; A-B Board 2003-09; A-B Fellows; A-B Fellows Orientation. |
Box 35 |
US-Urban Rural Mission, 1991-1998USURM Participants; Staff; Correspondence; Staff Reports; Fundraising; USURM Proposal; USURM Leadership; Sterringn Committee 1995; USURM Board of Directors. |
Box 36 |
Artists and Arts Organizations, Correspondence, and Regional Economic Justice Network Administration, circa 1980sArtists and Arts Organization Performers; Leah Wise Correspondence; Regional Economic Justice Network Administration; Regional Economic Justice Network. |
Box 37 |
Urban Rural Mission and United States Gender/Sexuality Project 2000Urban Rural Mission, United States: "Journey towards Wholeness"; Gender-Sexuality Project; Gender-Sexuality reports; Gender-Sexuality Project: Ford Foundation grant proposal; evaluations; Gender-Sexuality Project planning meeting, June 1996; surveys; invitation responses; participants; DC Gender-Sexuality Task Force II; Task Force meetings, 1997; evaluations, Florida meeting, I; Portland Task Force III, July-August 1998; Hawaii, 1999; Albany, November 1998; Penn Center Task Force, May 2000; Steering Committee, 1997; Steering Committee, 1998; training, participants; [High-Dollar] Inquiries; executive, 1999; resources; "What's Sex Got to Do with It, Yall?"; white paper; Gender work. |
Box 38 |
Urban Rural Mission, United States Projects 1989-9580 Exposure Visits; US/URM Projects; Cuba Initiative 1992; Pacific Ecumenical Forum; 1992 Ecumencial Mission Consultation (Seattle); Worker Leadership National Meetings; Worker Center Project; US/URM Leadership 93-94 Project; Worker Leadership Minutes; URM Worker Leadership Steering Committee; 94 WLP Study Retreat Reports; Jessica McClintock Campaign; Worker Leadership; B. Prear; WLP Members Info; Women of Color Applicants; NY - Women of Color 7/95; Women of Color SC, 5/95; Women of Color 11/94; Women of Color Notes; Women of Color Steering Committee; Women of Color URM 9/93; Women of Color URM Leadership 93-94; Women of Color Concept Documents; Women of Color Mailing; Women of Color Organization Info; Centro Obrero's Organizing Principles; 99-00 URM Women of Color; Transcirpts: African American Women Interviews by Carol Zippert, US/URM Women of Color Project; Outlines and Drafts; Mab's Draft; Drafts - We are the ones we are waiting for; Drafts Women of Color; Women of Color Beijin; 1990 URM/Regional Networks Proposal/Focal Areas; URM Western Region; US/URM Mid-West Regional Network; US/URm Southeast Region Activities; US/URM Partners; Gang Summit 1993. |
Box 39 |
Financial and personnel informationClosed pending further curatorial review. |
Box 40-41
Box 40Box 41 |
Leah Wise's Student Work and Printed Items, circa 1964-2007Acquistions Information: Accession 102545 (Addition of April 2016). Contains Leah Wise's master's thesis notes and college papers. Also includes programs, publications, pamphlets, and newsletters. |
Audio recordings compiled by Leah Wise that include Southern Tenant Farmers Union oral histories sponsored by the Institute of Southern Studies (T-05645/1-4), interviews regarding white supremacist movements that relate to Alston-Bannerman sabbatical research for the Center for Democratic Renewal (C-05645/1-44), civil rights songs by Mike Freemark and Tom Chordas (C-05645/45), and an unidentified microcassette recording (C-05645/46) that possibly features Leah Wise speaking about activism in public schools. Audio recordings are on 1/4" open reel audio, audiocassette, and microcassette.
Processing information: Titles compiled from original containers. Corresponding paper materials reside in Box 11 ("Black Leadership") and Box 13 ("Sister Fund and Southern Tenant Farmers Union (Institute of Southern Studies oral history)").
Arrangement: Chronological.
Photographic prints and negatives depicting the activities and gatherings of the Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network 1990-2006. Leah Wise has been involved with the group since it was founded in 1989 including serving as the organization's executive director.
Titles in quotation marks are original and were found on verso of images. Images were grouped together during processing based on notes on enclosures or subjects depicted in materials.