NHPRC grant “Revealing Her Story: Documenting African American Women Intellectuals”
“Revealing Her Story: Documenting African American Women Intellectuals” is a two-year project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to arrange and describe the personal papers of nine African American women writers, artists and musicians. Collections included in the project are the Pearl Cleage papers; additions to the Delilah Jackson papers; the Samella S. Lewis papers; the Almena Lomax papers; the May Miller papers; the Undine Smith Moore papers; the Geneva Southall papers; the Mildred Thompson papers; and the Sarah E. Wright papers. To read the press release announcing the project, click here.
In September 2013, MARBL kicked off a new grant project to arrange and describe the personal papers of nine African American women writers, artists and musicians. “Revealing Her Story: Documenting African American Women Intellectuals” is part of the Documenting Democracy program funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Over the next two years, the correspondence, writings and compositions, photographs, audiovisual and printed material, and other papers chronicling the lives and creative endeavors of African American women intellectuals in the 20th century will be fully organized and made available for scholarly research.
The nine collections included in the project are the Pearl Cleage papers; additions to the Delilah Jackson papers; the Samella Lewis papers; the Almena Lomax papers; the May Miller papers; the Undine Smith Moore papers; the Geneva Southall papers; the Mildred Thompson papers; and the Sarah E. Wright papers.
Numerous connections unite the collections in this project with each other, as well as with other collections in MARBL’s holdings. For example, the Atlanta area novelist Pearl Cleage was married to politician and educator Michael Lomax, whose mother Almena’s papers also comprise part of the grant project. Michael Lomax’s papers are also part of MARBL’s holdings, as are the papers of Owen Dodson and Paul Carter Harrison, legendary playwrights with whom Cleage studied drama at Howard University.
Once fully processed, the papers will reveal much more about the extensive personal relationships and professional networks that influenced and shape the lives and creative processes of each woman. Over the next two years, grant staff will make regular updates about the progress of the project and each collection. Continue to watch this space for more information.