American Archive Pilot Project | Collection Catalog | Illinois Public Media
My Experience in the Labor and Radical Struggles of the Thirties, by A.J. Muste, February 9, 1966
Description: On the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, A.J. Muste, a social justice activist, describes the development of labor unions during the Great Depression. Muste became an avowed Marxist-Leninist, and he was instrumental in forming the American Workers Party. However, Muste says he began to question the ability of Marxism in carrying out efforts to help workers. “I was convinced that the concentration on political maneuvering,” he explains. “Would virtually eliminate our effectiveness in the mass struggle taking place in basic industries.”
Subjects: ACLU; American Civil Liberties Union; Communism; Employment; Politics; Amalgamated Textile Workers of America; Labor unions; New Deal; Great Depression; Conference for Progressive Labor Action; CPLA; American Workers Party; Marxism; Workers' Party of the United States; Workers Rights
Rights summary: Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives. Publicly performed under authority of fair use as well as an implied license to broadcast, archive and preserve for public access and use for nonprofit, educational, research, scholarship and personal uses.
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The Supreme Court and Public Education, with James E. Allen, Jr., March 7, 1966
Description: On the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, James E. Allen, Jr., New York State Commissioner of Education, says there has been an uptick in public education cases dealing with civil rights and liberties going to the U.S. Supreme Court. The most difficult problem facing education is the issue of race relations, and he says the ultimate goal for the nation’s schools should be a truly integrated educational system. While past court rulings, like Brown v. Board of Education, have helped states deal with the problems of education, Allen says the court should start focusing its attention on helping communities avoid de facto segregation.
Subjects: African American Civil Rights; Court Rulings; Equal Rights; School Desegregation; Segregation; Plessy v. Ferguson; New York; Public Education; Law; Compensatory Education; Civil Rights Act of 1964; de facto segregation; de jure segregation; Brown v. Board of Education
Rights summary: Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives. Publicly performed under authority of fair use as well as an implied license to broadcast, archive and preserve for public access and use for nonprofit, educational, research, scholarship and personal uses.
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The American Negro: His Self-Image and Integration, by Alvin F. Poussaint, October 7, 1966
Description: Alvin F. Poussaint, a professor of psychiatry at Tufts University, speaks at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign about how racism has damaged African Americans’ self-image. Poussaint argues “the Negro has come to form his self image and self concept on the basis on primarily what white racists have prescribed for him.” He adds that in some cases, black people hate other blacks more than their white oppressors. Black consciousness efforts, like the civil rights movement, appear to raise the self-image of African Americans, but Poussaint argues integration does not offer “the mass of Negros a solution to the problems of negative self concept.”
Subjects: African American Civil Rights; Negro protest movement; White Resistance; Civil Unrest; Equal Rights; Mass Protest; School Desegregation; Black nationalism; Segregation; Black identity; Psychology
Rights summary: Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives. Publicly performed under authority of fair use as well as an implied license to broadcast, archive and preserve for public access and use for nonprofit, educational, research, scholarship and personal uses.
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Power and Self-determination, by Arthur M. Brazier, February 9, 1968
Description: The Rev. Arthur M. Brazier, president of the Woodlawn Organization, delivers a speech at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign about the widening social gap between black and white people. Brazier says citizen participation is essential in any democracy, and he says he would like to see more self-determination among black communities. He says non-violent power organizations must be established to stimulate housing, jobs and education.
Subjects: African American Civil Rights; Economic Justice; Equal Rights; Black nationalism; White Resistance; Student Movement; Civil Unrest; Black identity ; Protest; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ; SNCC
Rights summary: Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives. Publicly performed under authority of fair use as well as an implied license to broadcast, archive and preserve for public access and use for nonprofit, educational, research, scholarship and personal uses.
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The University and the Self-Determination of Afro-Americans, with Donald H. Smith, February 23, 1968
Description: Donald H. Smith, former chairman of Baruch College’s Black and Latino Faculty Association, says there is a widespread crisis in higher education. At a speech on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Smith says most college campuses are not responsive to the needs of black students. As a former student at the U of I, Smith says racism on the campus was “so dehumanizing and so demoralizing, it is a wonder that I even got a bachelors degree.” He applauds black students for starting organization to speak out against racism, but he criticizes black educators who choose not to vocally support these groups. Smith says every institution has a duty to address and fix the urban crisis.
Subjects: African American Civil Rights; Student Movement; Equal Rights; Urban slums; Black nationalism; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; SNCC; Public Education; Demonstrations; Education; Champaign; Urbana; Protest
Rights summary: Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives. Publicly performed under authority of fair use as well as an implied license to broadcast, archive and preserve for public access and use for nonprofit, educational, research, scholarship and personal uses.
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Reading from his work, Langston Hughes, CA. 1956, Part 1 of 4
Description: Langston Hughes talks about his career as a writer on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Hughes was a pivotal literary figure during the Harlem Renaissance. He tells the story of how he became a poet when his eighth grade classmates unanimously voted on him to be the class poet. He then reads two poems that he wrote in high school.
Subjects: Dunbar, Paul Laurence; Art; Education; Hughes, Langston; Poetry; Missouri; Kansas; Music; Harlem Renaissance; African American Civil Rights
Rights summary: Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives. Publicly performed under authority of fair use as well as an implied license to broadcast, archive and preserve for public access and use for nonprofit, educational, research, scholarship and personal uses.
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Reading from his work, Langston Hughes, CA. 1956, Part 3 of 4
Description: Langston Hughes talks about his career as a writer on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He recites a poem called ‘Merry-Go-Round’ that deals with race in a democracy. Hughes then talks about his introduction to jazz music while living in Paris. He goes on to talk about how bebop music influenced his poetry.
Subjects: Jim Crow laws; Hughes, Langston; Equal Rights; Poetry; World War I; Music; Jazz; Paris; Bebop; Harlem; Harlem Renaissance; Racism; African American Civil Rights
Rights summary: Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives. Publicly performed under authority of fair use as well as an implied license to broadcast, archive and preserve for public access and use for nonprofit, educational, research, scholarship and personal uses.
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Reading from his work, Langston Hughes, CA. 1956, Part 2 of 4
Description: Langston Hughes talks about his career as a writer on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He compares Negro folk-songs and the blues, which he says influenced his poetry. Hughes also talks about his rise to fame with his first poetry book, The Weary Blues.
Subjects: Spirituals; Blues; Music; Poetry; Sandburg, Carl; Hughes, Langston; World War II; Negro folk-songs; Slavery; Great Depression; Works Progress Administration; WPA; African American Civil Rights; Workers Rights
Rights summary: Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives. Publicly performed under authority of fair use as well as an implied license to broadcast, archive and preserve for public access and use for nonprofit, educational, research, scholarship and personal uses.
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Illinois Public Media & the American Archive Pilot Project
Presented here is the complete collection of audio and video archives identified, digitized, and cataloged by Illinois Public Media in the American Archive Pilot Project. This collection is a subset of materials contained in the archives of Illinois Public Media and the University Archives of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Read more about the American Archive Pilot Project