Myrtle Gonza Glascoe papers

Collection

Identifier: AMN 1164

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection includes professional materials relating to Dr. Glascoe’s time with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)and various educational resources from 1958 through 1982. These materials include reports, research articles, workbooks, pamphlets, maps, and some notes from Dr. Glascoe herself. During her time in Mississippi, Dr. Glascoe was the director of West Helena’s Freedom School, a summer school dedicated to education about self-discovery and freedom. This collection highlights some of the materials that Dr. Glascoe used while directing the Freedom School to create a process where students, both adults and children, could develop confidence and realize their potential.

More specifically, this collection houses a multitude of reports and research papers relating to the work of SNCC in Mississippi and Arkansas, showing that Dr. Glascoe still kept up with the SNCC after her departure in 1967. These papers include a “Working Bibliography on Mississippi Race Relations” compiled by Jim Loewen, Tougaloo College, 1969; a concept paper by Tom Levin, “A Report on the Child Development Group of Mississippi”; a report by Alvin Poussaint, “The Negro American: His Self-Image and Integration”; and a SNCC Special Report, “The General Condition of the Arkansas Negro.”

This collection also includes some workbooks that Dr. Glascoe might have used during her time at the Freedom School, counting one workbook that her daughter, Mariama Glasco, completed when she was ten years old. These workbooks include “The Tougaloo Book” a coloring book put together by the Child Development Group of Mississippi and Project Head Start with drawings completed by children from the program; a “Political Handbook for Clay County” that outlines how citizens can register to vote; and “Negroes in American History: A Freedom Primer” that Mariama Glascoe seems to have completed when she was in sixth grade.

Dr. Glascoe also kept a few other publications pertaining to the topic of black politics and education in the South. These include an article from “The New Yorker,” August 29, 1964, issue; an issue of the magazine, “The Black Scholar,” Volume 7 Number 2; “Schools in Context: The Mississippi Idea,” a pamphlet by Howard Zinn; and an obituary from the funeral service of Amzie Moore, the man who brought SNCC into Mississippi.

Lastly, the collection also houses some maps of counties in Mississippi and some notes from Dr. Glascoe. The maps are of counties targeted by the SNCC during the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, Phillips County and Monroe County. Dr. Glascoe’s notes are written on the back of a flyer for a pre-election rally from November 6, 1966, in West Helena, Arkansas where rally members discussed the upcoming election of 1966.

Dates

Creation: 1958-1982

Creator

Glascoe, Myrtle Gonza (Person)

Biographical Note

Dr. Myrtle G. Glascoe was a social worker, educator, civil rights activist, and the founding director of Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. She was born in 1936 in Washington, D.C., then received her B.A. from Howard University, her M.A. from University of Pennsylvania, and her Ph.D. from Harvard University.

While working in education, Dr. Glascoe became involved in the Civil Rights Movement and civil rights organizations, such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As a member of the SNCC staff, she worked in West Point, Mississippi, and on the 1965 Arkansas Freedom Summer Project in West Helena, Arkansas where she directed the West Helena Freedom School until 1967. She went on to teach at Tougaloo College and at Gettysburg College before moving to Charleston, SC where she became one of the early voices and pioneers in the Post-Civil Rights Black Museum Movement. She served as the first director of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture of the College of Charleston, then spent a few years as a faculty member at Gettysburg College before retiring back in the Charleston area. Dr. Glascoe passed away on March 4, 2019.

Extent

0.25 linear feet (1 archival box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Dr. Myrtle G. Glascoe was a social worker, educator, civil rights activist, and the founding director of Avery Research Center. She was born in 1936 in Washington, D.C., then received her B.A. from Howard University, her M.A. from University of Pennsylvania, and her PhD from Harvard University.

This collection contains professional materials relating to Dr. Glascoe’s time with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and educational development research from 1958 through 1982. These materials include reports, research articles, workbooks, pamphlets, maps, and some notes from Dr. Glascoe herself. During her time in Mississippi, Dr. Glascoe was the director of West Helena’s Freedom School, a summer school dedicated to education about self-discovery and freedom. This collection highlights some of the materials that Dr. Glascoe used while directing the Freedom School to create a process where students, both adults and children, could develop confidence and realize their potential.

Collection Arrangement

1. Professional, 1958-1982

Related Materials

Myrtle Gonza Glascoe Oral History Interview, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.