Finding Aids about Black History
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Barton House Archaeology and Family History
Milton Barton worked for Jesse Fell (founder and developer of Normal) and reportedly planted many of the trees at ISU. Barton was part ...
Bloomington-Normal Black History Project
In 1970 Marge Smith and others began to organize local African Americans to discuss their history. This group (Margaret Esposito, Joe M...
Booker T. Washington Home
The Booker T. Washington Home was founded in 1918 by Mr. and Mrs. Alex Barker. They housed six children in a small house in the 500 bl...
Duff Family
The collection deals almost exclusively with the family of Peter C. and Fannie Duff (1865-?), who lived at 107 W. Poplar in Normal. Pe...
Kennedy, Merlin
The collection includes the personal papers of Mr. Kennedy, and his wife Beulah (1923-2002). They include documents from his time serv...
Major Collection of Letters from Liberia
The Major Collection of Letters from Liberia consists of twelve letters written by formerly enslaved people living in Liberia to their ...
Martin Luther King Jr Awards Program — Human Relation Commissions
The Martin Luther King Jr Awards program is an annual event sponsored by the Bloomington Human Relations Commission and the Normal Huma...
Pratt, Awadagin
Awadagin Pratt was born in Pittsburgh in 1966. He began studying piano at the age of six. When he was nine, his family moved to Norma...
Suggs, Frank
A professor of music at Illinois State University starting in 1969, Frank Suggs promoted African American music both on campus and in t...
Underground Railroad
In the decades before the Civil War an untold number of fugitive slaves journeyed northward to freedom on the Underground Railroad, mak...
Waddell, Jack
Collection contains newspaper clippings, performance programs, photos, and ephemera tracing Jack Waddell’s operatic career (mostly in G...
Wayman AME Church Archaeology
In the summer of 1992, an archeological excavation was conducted at the Wayman A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church at 806 N. Ce...
Whittaker Family
Reginald Whittaker, born April 23, 1925, lived all his life in Normal. His parents were Walter and Caddie Whittaker. He attended Normal...