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Columns::March 11, 2002
Civil rights scholar will deliver annual Holmes-Hunter Lecture
Multicultural studies pioneer will give Tresp Lecture
Annual Nunn Forum focuses on commercialization of the academy
$16,000 in prize money awarded at first marketing research competition
National search gets under way for new grad dean
Veterinary Medicine students take part in Spay Day
Looking for the cheese
‘Taste’ of research whetted library director’s appetite for archival work
Health center earns JCAHO accreditation
Retirees
Newsmakers
Forum essay: To understand us, others must learn English. . .
Tenor of the matter
Campus News
New partnership chronicles ‘unsung foot soldiers’
By Jean Cleveland
jclevela@uga.edu
The Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies and the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies at UGA have forged a partnership to chronicle Georgia’s rich history in the civil rights movement. The new venture, focusing on “unsung foot soldiers,” will establish UGA as one of the premier institutions in the nation for the study of civil rights.
“To document significant, historic events such as these, which have not been previously chronicled, will support civil rights scholarship and contribute to discourses on diversity and equity,” says Sheryl Vogt, head of the Russell Library. “Research materials developed through this project will provide a full spectrum of documentation in the Russell Library on civil rights experiences. This initiative is important. It brings these resources together in one repository and fosters collaboration among scholars, archivists and the community.”
The foundation for the project is the award-winning documentary by social work professor Maurice Daniels, Foot Soldier for Equal Justice: Horace T. Ward and the Desegregation of the University of Georgia. Research for this documentary yielded more than 30 rare interviews with civil rights figures, including Ward and fellow federal judge Constance Baker Motley, attorneys Donald Hollowell and Vernon Jordan, U.S. Sen. Herman Talmadge and former Gov. Ernest Vandiver. The Foot Soldier Project will collect additional archival and documentary materials that can be used by researchers involved in issues dealing with civil rights, social justice and policy reform.
“Despite many significant events in Georgia and many Georgia trailblazers in the civil rights movement, there has been little consistent documentation or chronicling of these participants and events,” Daniels says. “This project’s focus on unsung foot soldiers in the movement for social justice and civil rights also is unique. While there exists a panoply of literature and archival materials on prominent civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, many persons in Georgia who played significant, powerful and historic roles in the movement have been overlooked and are largely unknown. The Russell Library is a quality facility with great resources and these are materials that should and need to be preserved.”
In addition to donating to the library the photos, interview transcripts and other materials gathered in the process of creating the documentary, Daniels and other participants in the project have agreed to partner with Russell Library staff in identifying archival materials, particularly from African Americans.
The Foot Soldier Project is interdisciplinary. Daniels and Derrick Alridge, assistant professor of education, are principal investigators. The initial research team also includes R. Baxter Miller, director of African American Studies and professor of English; Cheryl Dozier, associate professor of social work; and Dwight Brooks, associate professor of journalism. Archivists Jill Severn and Sheryl Vogt of the Russell Library will play an active role in helping the project bring important collections to the university.
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