Featured Collections
Featured Collections
E.D. Nixon Collection
Collection Size: 24 Boxes Years: 1920-2000
The papers consist of correspondence, minutes, articles, photographs, certificates, video tapes and plaques. These materials document the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and equal rights in Montgomery, Alabama as well as a variety of other civil rights activities within the local black community and proceedings from the conventions of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Over a three decade period Edgar Daniel Nixon (E. D. Nixon) worked through the NAACP as a labor leader and political organizer, all before he bailed Rosa Parks out of jail after she was arrested on 1 December 1955 for refusing to give her seat to a White man. Nixon's work to promote the Montgomery Bus Boycott helped to usher in the modern civil rights movements.
Featured Collections
Montgomery Improvement Association
Collection Size: 37 Boxes Years: 1955-2009
The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) collection consists of twelve cubic feet of data relating to the organization born during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The collection contains only a few items from the boycott era. However, from the second year (1957) of the MIA existence through the 1990s, the records cover the activities of the organization.
The arrest of Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955 for refusing to move to the back of the bus launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott. When African American in Alabama's capital decided, at a mass meeting on the evening of December 5, 1955, to continue the one-day-old boycott of the city's segregated buses, they formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to lead and coordinate the boycott. Martin Luther King, Jr., was elected president. Ralph D. Abernathy was elected vice president and gave the organization its name. Leaders of the black churches and civic organizations in the city made up its thirty-five member executive board.
Featured Collections
Rev. Robert and Jean Graetz Collection
Collection Size: 50 Boxes Years: 1955-2014
Born in West Virginia in 1928, Graetz received his undergraduate degree from Capital University and his theological degree from what is now Trinity Lutheran Seminary, both in Columbus, Ohio. He served as a student pastor at Community Lutheran Church in Los Angeles, California, a largely black congregation. After graduation, he was called to Trinity Lutheran Church in Montgomery, Alabama, an all-black congregation, where he was one of the few white people who worked closely with Mrs. Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was an active participant in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Three bombs were thrown at the Graetz home because of those activities, as well as other attacks.
Featured Collections
Ray Arsenault Freedom Rider Collection
Collection Size: 14 Boxes Years: 1942-2005
Dr. Raymond Otsby Arsenault was born in Hyannis, Massachusetts in 1948. After high school he attended Princeton University graduating in 1969. He received his Master’s and Doctoral Degrees from Brandeis University in 1974 and 1981. He has received accolades for his work. He taught at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University and served as a Fulbright Lecturer at Universite d’Angers in France. He has been Professor of Southern History since 1980 at the University of South Florida. He is best known for his study of the Freedom Riders, discussing their importance in America's history on the Oparah Winfrey Show.
Featured Collections
Rev. Richard Boone Collection
Collection Size: 4 Boxes, 11 Sleeves Years: 1925-2010
By the mid-1960s Boone gravitated toward Reverends Jim Bevel, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As a Field Director for the SCLC, Boone worked to challenge discrimination throughout Alabama. Success around the state prompted the SCLC leadership to assign Reverend Boone to head up campaigns in places like New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. The dedicated minister also worked on housing issues, voting rights and economic development initiatives.
Featured Collections
John Jones Photographic Collection
Collection Size: 15 Boxes Years: 1935-1998
An athlete and graduate of Alabama State College, and then professor of freshman English and education for more than twenty years, Dr. John H. Jones dedicated his life to pushing physical performance and to cultivating the intellectual potential of his students.
Featured Collections
Q.D. Adams Collection
Collection Size: 20 Boxes Years: 1947-1998
An Alabama native, Quinton Douglas Adams was born in 1919 in Gadsden, which is in Etowah County to Dock and Jennie Adams. He was educated in the public schools there. Later he took some correspondence courses in law and business from LaSalle University, Chicago, Illinois.
A businessman and salesman, Quinton D. Adams (a.k.a. Q.D. Adams) owned and operated a dry-cleaning plant, a bail bond company, a realty company, and worked as an automobile salesman. Adams developed the reputation as one of the most effective grassroots political leaders in Alabama. In pursuing justice and equality for African Americans, Q. D. Adams was party to several pivotal suits, including: "Faulkner v. City of Gadsden" in 1962; "Union No. 12-United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum v. National Labor Relations Board", 1966; "Walker v. Republic Steel", 1974; "Catherine Miller v. The Board of Education", 1975; "Essie Ray Johnson v. The City of Gadsden", 1978; "Adams v. the City of Gadsden", 1985.
Featured Collections
John Knight Collection
Collection Size: 11 Boxes Years: 1927-2003
Politician and higher-education administrator, John F. Knight began his political career at Alabama State College in the 1970s as student body president. In 1980 he was elected to the Montgomery County Commission for District Four, serving until 1992; and appointed to the Montgomery Housing Authority Board, serving until 1997. In 1993, he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives for District Seventy-seven, and has served there more than two decades. Knight’s other prominent affiliations include the Montgomery County Democratic Conference (chair), Montgomery County Democratic Executive Committee, Leadership Montgomery, Leadership Alabama, Kershaw YMCA Board of Directors, Cleveland Avenue YMCA, Montgomery Improvement Association, Southern Development Council, and St. John’s AME Church.
Featured Collections
John W. Nixon Collection
Dr. John W. Nixon was born in Homeland, Florida March 2, 1922 and was the son of Willie Nixon, a phosphate mine worker. He attended college prior to entering the Army during World War II. After the war, he completed his education, which included attending Bethune-Cookman College and Fisk University. He received his D.D.S. degree in 1951 from the dental school at Meharry Medical College in Nashville. He was offered a practice in Boston with the opportunity to pursue graduate work at Tufts University. At the same time, Birmingham dentist, Dr. Andrew J. Belcher, offered him a position. During his visit to Birmingham to check on the position, Dr. Belcher passed away and Nixon stayed in Birmingham to help with Dr. Belcher’s patients.
