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South Carolina Voices of the Civil Rights Movement Conference

 Collection
Identifier: AMN 1196

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The South Carolina Voices of the Civil Rights Movement Conference collection contains audio and video recordings of the 1982 conference and five oral history interviews. The conference hosted South Carolina community organizers and scholars to discuss the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina with sessions on voting and political action, labor, education, the culture of the movement, the Highlander influence, the youth movement, civic and political action, and redress and protest.

The collection is arranged in three series which document the conference activities.

Series I: Conference Audio Recordings, 1982

Series II: Conference Video Recordings, 1982

Series III: Oral History Interviews, 1982, includes oral history interviews with South Carolina civil rights leaders like J. Arthur Brown, John Cole, John H. McCray, B.J. Whipper, Sr., and Delbert Woods.

Dates

  • Creation: 1982

Creator

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research. A cassette player is required to listen to the audiocassette tapes. A cassette player will be made available to researchers in our reading room. The Avery Research Center does not currently have the technology to play the UCA60 videocassettes.

Copyright Notice

The nature of the Avery Research Center's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Avery Research Center claims only physical ownership of most archival materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Historical Note

The South Carolina Voices of the Civil Rights Conference was held November 5-6, 1982 at the Charleston Museum and occurred in tandem with the opening of the exhibit "We'll Never Turn Back." The conference was sponsored by the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture with cooperation from the Charleston Museum and the College of Charleston and was supported, in part, by a grant from the South Carolina Committee for the Humanities and the Voices of the Civil Rights Movement, a joint project of Howard University and the Smithsonian Institution. The conference hosted community organizers and scholars to discuss the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina with sessions on voting and political action, labor, education, the culture of the movement, the Highlander influence, the youth movement, civic and political action, and redress and protest. The conference was an early opportunity for the Avery Institute to demonstrate their vision for the eventual Avery Research Center.

Full Extent

1.42 linear feet (1 Hollinger box, 1 Paige carton, 13 UCA60 videocassettes, and 17 audiocassettes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The South Carolina Voices of the Civil Rights Movement Conference collection documents the 1982 conference held by the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture. The conference hosted community organizers and scholars to discuss the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina with sessions on voting and political action, labor, education, the culture of the movement, the Highlander influence, the youth movement, civic and political action, and redress and protest. Oral histories were also conducted as a part of the conference and participants discuss their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and their thoughts on the conference.

Arrangement

The audio and video recordings of the conference are arranged by tape number in their respective series. The oral histories are arranged alphabetically by last name at the file-level.

  1. Conference Audio Recordings, 1982
  2. Conference Video Recordings, 1982
  3. Oral History Interviews, 1982

Existence and Location of Copies

Photocopies of all the conference session transcripts are part of the Avery Research Center's Ready Reference collection in the reading room.

Related Materials

Administrative documents for the conference can be found in AMN 1104 Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture records.

Some of the oral history participants also have personal or familial collections at the Avery Research Center including:

1. AMN 1074 J. Arthur and MaeDe Brown papers

2. AMN 1147 Benjamin James Whipper, Sr. papers

Processing Information

Funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported the processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid.

The Avery Research Center does not currently have the technology to play the UCA60 videocassettes so their contents could not be verified during processing.

Related Names

Subjects

Record Groups

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Inventory of South Carolina Voices of the Civil Rights Movement Conference collection, 1982 AMN 1196
Author
Nate Hubler
Date
November 2025
Description rules
Dacs
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English
Sponsor
Funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported the processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid.

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture Repository

https://avery.charleston.edu/
Contact:
125 Bull Street
Charleston South Carolina 29424 United States
843-953-7608

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