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The Black Women in the Middle West Project: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, Illinois and Indiana: Historical Essays, Oral Histories, Biographical Profiles and Document Collections
Dublin Core
Title
The Black Women in the Middle West Project: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, Illinois and Indiana: Historical Essays, Oral Histories, Biographical Profiles and Document Collections
Subject
African-American Women, Local History, History Workshops
Description
The goal of the Black Women in the Middle West
Project was to collect and preserve photographs and
other documents that record the historical experiences
and accomplishments of Black women and their organizations
throughout Illinois and Indiana. In the absence
of such a "paper" record, it has been impossible to write
full and adequate histories of Black women or to incorporate
their stories into standard American history textbooks.
Alta Jett, the project's Richmond, Indiana
coordinator, summed up the project's purpose well when
she said: "If you want the history of a white man, you go
to the library. If you want the history of black women,
you go to the attics, the closets, and the basements."
Heeding Jett's advice, this is precisely what the
project attempted to do-to reach into attics, closets, and
basements where the records of Black women's lives have
for too long been hidden. To do this, however, required
cooperation between three groups that have seldom coordinated
their efforts-historians, archivists, and community
people from all walks of life. The Project
Director, Darlene Clark Hine, and the Co-Director for
Administration, Patrick Kay Bidelman, provided overall
guidance for the project working out of the Department
of History at Purdue University. Archivists, acting on
behalf of their respective institutions, served as the project's
instructors and expert advisers. The community
people, mostly but not exclusively Black women, formed
the grassroots base of the collecting organization that
the project put into place.
The Champaign-Urbana workshop/conference was held 19 May 1984. Local women featured in volume include Iva F. Matthews, Sarah A.P. Scott, Odelia Wesley, Carrie Luetta Banks (nee Pope), Luvata Bowles, Erma Bridgewater (nee Scott), Jessie Britt, Mattie Estelle Burch, Evelyn Burnett-Underwood, Larine Cowan, Lucy J. Gray (nee Blake), Ruth Beatrice Woodruff Hines, Doris Keanea Hoskins (nee Baker), Jessie Kent (nee Wilson), Carrie Nelson, Tishan Smith (nee Edwards), Ida Elaine Copeland (nee Johnson), JoAnn Armistead-Hodges and organizations, Anna Tutt Honey's Club, Champaign-Urbana Sororities, Order of Eastern Star.
Project was to collect and preserve photographs and
other documents that record the historical experiences
and accomplishments of Black women and their organizations
throughout Illinois and Indiana. In the absence
of such a "paper" record, it has been impossible to write
full and adequate histories of Black women or to incorporate
their stories into standard American history textbooks.
Alta Jett, the project's Richmond, Indiana
coordinator, summed up the project's purpose well when
she said: "If you want the history of a white man, you go
to the library. If you want the history of black women,
you go to the attics, the closets, and the basements."
Heeding Jett's advice, this is precisely what the
project attempted to do-to reach into attics, closets, and
basements where the records of Black women's lives have
for too long been hidden. To do this, however, required
cooperation between three groups that have seldom coordinated
their efforts-historians, archivists, and community
people from all walks of life. The Project
Director, Darlene Clark Hine, and the Co-Director for
Administration, Patrick Kay Bidelman, provided overall
guidance for the project working out of the Department
of History at Purdue University. Archivists, acting on
behalf of their respective institutions, served as the project's
instructors and expert advisers. The community
people, mostly but not exclusively Black women, formed
the grassroots base of the collecting organization that
the project put into place.
The Champaign-Urbana workshop/conference was held 19 May 1984. Local women featured in volume include Iva F. Matthews, Sarah A.P. Scott, Odelia Wesley, Carrie Luetta Banks (nee Pope), Luvata Bowles, Erma Bridgewater (nee Scott), Jessie Britt, Mattie Estelle Burch, Evelyn Burnett-Underwood, Larine Cowan, Lucy J. Gray (nee Blake), Ruth Beatrice Woodruff Hines, Doris Keanea Hoskins (nee Baker), Jessie Kent (nee Wilson), Carrie Nelson, Tishan Smith (nee Edwards), Ida Elaine Copeland (nee Johnson), JoAnn Armistead-Hodges and organizations, Anna Tutt Honey's Club, Champaign-Urbana Sororities, Order of Eastern Star.
Creator
Darlene Clark Hine, Patrick Kay Bidelman, Shirley M. Herd
Publisher
Indiana Historical Bureau, Purdue Research Foundation
Date
1986
Contribution Form
Online Submission
No
Scripto
Document Item Type Metadata
Collection
Citation
Darlene Clark Hine, Patrick Kay Bidelman, Shirley M. Herd, "The Black Women in the Middle West Project: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, Illinois and Indiana: Historical Essays, Oral Histories, Biographical Profiles and Document Collections," in eBlack Champaign-Urbana, Item #617, https://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/617 (accessed March 10, 2025).
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