Robert S. Rankin papers, 1957-1973 67.6 Linear Feet — 17,000 Items
Collection documents Rankin's work on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, 1960-1973 and consists of agendas and minutes for the monthly meetings of the commission, 1959-1973, and material on special meetings; memoranda, correspondence, statements, and news clippings dealing with the operational aspects of the commission; background studies; transcripts of proceedings; news clippings from fact finding investigations, 1960-1973; statements of commissioners; and transcripts of testimony before congressional committees. The commission's areas of study included education, employment, political participation, housing and urban development, administration of justice, public accommodations, health and welfare, federal programs, minority groups, federal enforcement, and civil liberties and human rights.
An addition (2001-0047) contains 27 loose black-and-white prints and 2 binders containing 89 black-and-white prints, as well as 35 items of correspondence (1963-1977) relating to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Includes group pictures of the commissioners and other political figures (1960-1969) and photographs from the National Conference on Equal Opportunity in Federally Assisted Programs (1965) and an Open Hearing in Jackson, Mississippi (1965). The open hearing includes a list of witnesses. Those represented in the photographs include Burke Marshall, Hubert H. Humphrey, Robert F. Kennedy, Sheriff Jack Purvis, Charles Evers, Aaron Henry, Spottswood Robinson, and Roy Wilkins.