African American Women's History Resources at Rubenstein Library: Jim Crow

There are labels for skin cream, hair dressing products, scented lotions and oils, talcum and face powder, and after shave. Brand names represented include Lucky Brown, Sweet Georgia Brown, and Madam Jones. The labels featured images of light-skinned men and women with straightened hair, and label text often focused on attracting members of the opposite sex.

Correspondence, writings, printed materials, photographs, legal papers, clippings, and miscellaneous items document Kaine's work chiefly at the Tuskegee Institute but also her service on the board of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls and the State Board of Control and her employment as a public school teacher in Springfield, Ill.

The Behind the Veil Oral History Project was undertaken by Duke University's Lyndhurst Center for Documentary Studies in 1990. It seeks to record and preserve the living memory of African-American life during the age of legal segregation in the American South, from the 1890s to the 1950.

Afro-American family originating from tidewater Virginia. Includes correspondence, financial papers, genealogy, clippings, printed material, and photographs. Topics in the correspondence include: family relations; health; courtship; financial matters; and other domestic issues, particularly the strains of maintaining the family when its members migrated to other parts of the United States. Some letters detail the workings of an Afro-American women's voluntary association, or "friendly society," the House of Ruth Lodge. There are also a few references to school integration. Financial papers include insurance records, credit books, public housing information, and receipts. Collection also includes greeting cards, report cards, and numerous photographs of family members.

The collection includes three publications related to the campaign to free Mrs. Rosa Lee Ingram, an African American sharecropper and widowed mother of twelve in southwest Georgia, along with two of her sons, Wallace and Sammie Lee Ingram, who were serving life sentences for the 1947 death of their white sharecropper neighbor, John Ethron Stratford.

This collection contains 17 items related to advocacy on behalf of Mrs. Recy Taylor's case, primarily press releases from the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor and the Alabama Committee for Equal Justice.

Grandchild of Fabius and Adelle Fullwood, former slaves of Opilaka, Ala.; manager of Scarborough Nursery School, Inc.; and an active participant in civic, religious, social, and community organizations of Durham, N.C.

Born in Augusta, Ga., of parents who had been slaves. Married Jacob Walker Harris, 1883. Mother of nine children. Writer of poetry and plays. The appendix (12 p.) contains earlier and later material, primarily poetry and news stories by Harris. The memoir provides glimpses of her early childhood, of race relations, of Harris' own ambivalence about her place as a black in society, and of the importance of religion and the church in her life.

The collection primarily documents the political career of Waldo C. Falkener, and comprises minutes and reports from Greensboro City Council meetings. There are also materials from his campaigns for office and items that document his successes as a council member. In addition, there are documents relating to other family members, including photographs, news articles, correspondence, and deeds. Later accessions include clippings, correspondence, and other materials documenting the political careers of the Falkeners.

Businesswoman who owned rental property in Durham, N.C., and Lynchburg, Va. Correspondence, legal and financial papers, and photographs document the personal relationships and professional activities of Rosser, a successful single African-American businesswoman.

Collection consists largely of correspondence between Nell Irvin Painter and her parents (1969-2003), documenting various stages of their lives, travels, and Painter's scholarly career.

Author Linda Dahl wrote the first full-length biography of jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and educator Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981), titled Morning Glory: A Biography of Mary Lou Williams (1999). The Linda Dahl Collection on Mary Lou Williams contains materials compiled by Dahl in researching the Williams biography, including newspaper and magazine clippings, correspondence, photographs and transparency strips, concert programs, and a variety of financial and foundation records.

African-American woman who served in the Women's Army Corps in World War II. She was appointed 2nd Lt. in the Medical Corps in 1944. A diary volume filled chiefly with messages of support and congratulations, primarily from friends in the WACs, along with her ID card and one loose message.

Correspondence, recital programs, sheet music, clippings, business cards, notes, music tablets, publicity materials, bills and receipts, pedagogical materials, and other papers related to Hill's career as a coloratura soprano. Some correspondence, programs, clippings, and other materials document Hill's term as secretary of the Philadelphia branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians and her business and musical collaborations with the president, Carl Diton, including their participation in a major African-American music festival in Raleigh, N.C. in 1924. Most of the letters detail Hill's negotiations to arrange performances, primarily in Penn. and the southeastern U.S.