Alfred Newell Johnson recordings of Stokely Carmichael speeches, 1966-1967
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Summary
- Creator:
- Johnson, Alfred Newell, 1915-1989
- Abstract:
- Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998), an advocate of Black Power and Pan Africanism, was a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panthers. With a background in radio/audio and electrical engineering, Alfred Newell Johnson (1915-1989) had an active career in public relations and grassroots activism. The collection contains four quarter-inch open-reel audio tapes collected (and possibly recorded) by Johnson. They include Carmichael's speeches at the Central Congregation Church in Detroit on September 27, 1966; the University of California, Berkeley, on October 29, 1966; and Whitewater State University (now University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) on February 6, 1967. The speeches, made during his tenure as chairman of SNCC, express Carmichael's views on Black Power. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.
- Extent:
- .5 Linear Feet (1 hollinger documents box)
4 audiovisual items (quarter-inch open-reel audio tapes) - Language:
- Materials in English.
- Collection ID:
- RL.12063
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Four quarter-inch open-reel audio tapes of Stokely Carmichael speeches, collected (and possibly recorded) by Alfred Newell Johnson. They include Carmichael's speeches at the Central Congregation Church in Detroit on September 27, 1966; the University of California, Berkeley, on October 29, 1966; and Whitewater State University (now University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) on February 6, 1967. The speeches, made during his tenure as chairman of SNCC, express Carmichael's views on Black Power.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998) was a Black civil rights leader who succeeded John Lewis as chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1966 and articulated the principles of Black Power. Carmichael's work with SNCC and the Black Panthers was considered controversial. He increasingly argued that the goal of Black integration into American society was insufficient, as America, based on the violence and economic inequality of white supremacy, was fundamentally corrupt and immoral. Targeted for investigation by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, in 1969 Carmichael moved to Guinea with his wife, singer Miriam Makeba, where he renamed himself Kwame Ture and campaigned for the rest of his life for pan-Africanism.
Excerpted from the Biographical/Historical note for the A. Newell Johnson papers at the New York Public Library:
Alfred Newell Johnson (1915-1989) grew up in Oakland, California, served in the United States Navy, and attended the U.S. Navy Radio Material School. In the 1930s, Johnson ran Johnson Electronic Engineering Laboratories, and studied electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley (1946-1949). Johnson and his wife had four children, before divorcing in 1950. From 1954 to 1959, Johnson edited the weekly entertainment page for the Sun Reporter, based in San Francisco, California, and was a staff engineer at KQED-TV. In 1954, he founded Newell Johnson and Associates, a public relations and publicity firm that handled events for the National Baptist Convention, the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, B.B. King, Paul Robeson, and Mahalia Jackson, Josephine Baker, and others. In 1959, Johnson moved to the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, where he worked as assistant director of public information at HARYOU-ACT (Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited merged with Associated Community Teams). In the 1980s, he was a campaign manager for the Mississippi politician Addie Green. Additionally, Johnson was active in the Harlem community through the Abyssinian Baptist Church, the New York branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored, and the Negro American Labor Union. https://archives.nypl.org/scm/21056#bioghist - accessed 2023/01/25
- Acquisition information:
- The Alfred Newell Johnson recordings of Stokely Carmichael speeches were received in 2019 by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift of Leah Wise, daughter of Alfred Newell Johnson.
- Processing information:
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Processed by Craig Breaden, January 2023
Accessions described in this collection guide: 2019-0022
- Arrangement:
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Arranged chronologically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Subjects
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- Restrictions:
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Collection is open for research.
Original audio tapes are restricted. Digital files are available.
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- Preferred citation:
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[Identification of item], Alfred Newell Johnson recordings of Stokely Carmichael speeches, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
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- https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1hb24