ACLU of Georgia: Freedom of Speech and Expression

This is the second in a series of posts about the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia Records, which were processed in 2015 and are now open for research. These records document the ACLU of Georgia's litigation, lobbying, and public education efforts to protect civil liberties for all Georgians. Their work, which began in 1963, involves issues such as freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, due process of law, and opposing discrimination against many groups. This series of posts was written by Shaniqua Singleton, a student at the UGA School of Law, who was instrumental in processing these papers.

Sticker from the ACLU's "Keep America Safe and Free"
campaign to defend individual freedom in the wake of
September 11 and arguments related to national
security, 2002. Source: Series I, Box 8, Folder 48.

In an election year it is not uncommon to hear candidates discuss issues like gun control, foreign policy, and taxation. However, this election year has had a distinct flavor about it: increasingly, the conversation has focused not on social and fiscal policy, but rather on the free speech rights of candidates and the individuals who attend their events. For several years, the ACLU of Georgia has worked to shape case law and legislation that aims to protect the First Amendment rights of all segments of our population, even when that speech is unpopular or inflammatory.

For example, the ACLU of Georgia’s records contain a number of issue files and legislative efforts to protect free speech rights. The ACLU was heavily involved in a legislative campaign and case (Maher v. Avondale Estates) challenging a DeKalb County ban on political signs in residential areas. Researchers will find legal documents highlighting the ACLU’s constitutional challenge to this ordinance, as well as newspaper articles covering the litigation and legislative efforts to combat laws of this nature. Similarly, the ACLU has been involved in efforts to protect whistleblowers from SLAPP lawsuits (Atlanta Humane Society v. Harkins), the free speech rights of the KKK, free speech rights at university's (Schmitt v. Fort Valley State - 2002-2006), and defending the rights of students to wear confederate flags (Schingler v. Seminole County School District).

Flyer for a training program for demonstrators,
undated. Source: Series I, Box 8, Folder 50.

Each of these cases reflects the ACLU’s position that freedom of speech should be protected at all costs, lest unpopular speech and artistic or personal expression be at risk of suppression. Researchers interested in learning more about the ACLU’s position in both of these matters will find many articles and court documents regarding legal and legislative challenges to attempts to curtail free speech.

ACLU of Georgia: LGBT Rights

This is the first in a series of posts about the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia Records, which were processed in 2015 and are now open for research. These records document the ACLU of Georgia's litigation, lobbying, and public education efforts to protect civil liberties for all Georgians. Their work, which began in 1963, involves issues such as freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, due process of law, and opposing discrimination against many groups. This series of posts was written by Shaniqua Singleton, a student at the University of Georgia's School of Law, who was instrumental in processing these papers.

Map of ACLU cases concerned with LGBT rights, 2002.
Source: Series I, Box 9, Folder 8

Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, decided Obergefell v. Hodges and recognized a constitutional right for individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender to marry. As many cities ready for their annual Pride celebration and individuals across the country reflect on the impact of Obergefell, researchers may want to review the ACLU of Georgia’s records on the history of LGBT rights litigation and legislation.

The ACLU’s records feature one of the seminal cases in LGBT rights litigation, a case that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court and into the annals of constitutional law casebooks. That case is Bowers v. Hardwick (1982-1986). The plaintiff was arrested for violating a Georgia law that criminalized sodomy. The act in question took place in the privacy of the plaintiff’s home with a consenting male adult. After several years' worth of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court sided against the plaintiff and ACLU and held that Georgia’s sodomy statute did not violate the fundamental rights of LGBT individuals. The decision was later overturned in Lawrence v. Texas.

ACLU staff and supporters at a demonstration for the founding
of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, holding a sign protesting
the Bowers v. Hardwick decision, 1987.
Source: Series 1, Box 9, Folder 9.

Researchers interested in gathering information on LGBT rights will have access to legal documents filed by the ACLU and opposing counsel in state and federal courts and a copy of the parties’ arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court. Researchers will also find several news articles, press releases, and internal ACLU memoranda covering the development of this case. Additionally, researchers will find numerous other cases in the records related to child custody, same sex marriage, free speech rights in the case Gay Guardian Newspaper v. Ohoopee Regional Library System, and many other areas of LGBT rights.

The ACLU has also been involved in advocacy for LGBT rights outside of the courtroom. For example, the records contain materials for their "Sticks and Stones" educational program to equip schools to address harassment of LGBT students and pamphlets discussing political and social developments in LGBT rights and support for organizations like the Atlanta Gay Center. Researchers interested in understanding issues of concern to the LGBT community and comparing the development of LGBT rights to more modern movements will find value in conducting research in these records.

Publication of the Atlanta Gay Center, 1988.
Source: Series I, Box 6, Folder 11.

Flyer for the "Making Schools Safe"workshop, part of the Sticks & Stones project, ca. 1999-2002. Source: Series I, Box 8, Folder 47.

Spotlight: Athens Oral History Project

This post was written by Alexander M. Stephens, a graduate student in UGA's Department of History and Russell Library Oral History Interviewer. He spotlights the Athens Oral History Project -- a new initiative of the Russell Library's Oral History and Media Unit led by Callie Holmes and Christian Lopez. This article also appears in the latest edition of Beyond the Pages, the newsletter of the UGA Libraries.  

About 500 yards from the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries, there is a place in downtown Athens that is unknown to the vast majority of UGA students and alumni. Its history is one of struggle and triumph, ingenuity and community, each renewed on a daily basis. This is Hot Corner, and for most people in Athens, it hides in plain sight.

For the better part of the twentieth century, Hot Corner was the center of commerce and culture for black communities in the Athens area. The Morton Theatre, which opened in 1910, was the crowning achievement of local entrepreneur Monroe Bowers “Pink” Morton. It became the creative center of the Hot Corner district and, thanks to Athenians who forged a partnership between the Morton Theatre Corporation and Athens-Clarke County, it remains vital to Athens civic life. But there always was, and still is, much more to Hot Corner than the Morton Theatre. As Homer Wilson puts it, there is a unique spirit that courses through this section of downtown. For him, the owner of Wilson’s Styling Shop on Hull Street, this spirit has never faded. The commitments of the Wilson family, the Browns, the Wades, and countless others have embedded this area deep within the beating heart of Athens history. For this reason, Hot Corner is one of the community spaces at the center of the Athens Oral History Project, an initiative of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies designed to ensure that the history of our town reflects the people who call it home.

Christian Lopez, oral history archivist, gets the studio set
up for interviewee Rev. Archibald Killian, July 2014.

Wilson first began working as a barber in his father’s shop in the early 1960s. Wilson’s Styling Shop and neighboring Brown’s Barber Shop have kept local residents looking their best for fifty years. But more than that, these establishments are centers of social and political life. As Wilson told us in our first interview for the Athens Oral History Project, these barber shops have always been forums for community debates and regular stops for local politicians looking to hear people’s thoughts and make things happen. Whether Athenians go to Hot Corner to talk politics at Wilson’s, have a drink at Manhattan Cafe, or compete in world-class checkers matches at Brown’s, the intersection of Hull Street and Washington Street remains vital to the overall composition of our town. Some of the families with roots at Hot Corner joined together in 2000 to form the Hot Corner Association, an organization dedicated to honoring the district’s history and promoting minority entrepreneurship. The Russell Library’s goal is to support efforts like these by documenting the history of important community members and spaces—the ways things have changed and the ways they have remained the same.

But preservation is not our only goal. The Athens Oral History Project is also about learning to see what we normally don’t, the blocks that we may walk by every day without thinking about the people who live and work there. It’s these places, the ones perhaps least likely to end up in a brochure, that are most important to Lemuel LaRoche. Known around town as “Life,” LaRoche has been working in Athens communities for 15 years. As an undergraduate and later a master’s student in the UGA School of Social Work, LaRoche began looking for ways to bridge the gaps that he observed between local black communities and the university. He helped form the Dreaded Mindz Collective, a group of artists and activists who used spoken word poetry and hip hop to forge a closer bond between UGA and the town. LaRoche still uses poetry and music as a way to reach people in performances throughout the Southeast, but for a number of years his main method for connecting people around town has been the game of chess. LaRoche founded the Chess and Community Conference in 2012 to bring together youth from all over the Athens area. Chanting the mantra, “Think before you move,” he carries chess sets wherever he goes, inciting spontaneous play and honest conversations among people who otherwise might have never met. He has an uncanny ability to provoke introspection in both kids and adults while sitting at the chess board. And people are starting to notice. LaRoche received the 2015 President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award presented by UGA for his efforts to “build bridges of unity and understanding” in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

AOHP Interviewer Alexander Stephens talking with
Bennie McKinley, July 2014.

This building process, though exciting and often joyful, is also marked by pain. In our recent interview, LaRoche demonstrated that oral history is not only about recalling the past. This research method causes time to twist. In the act of remembering, past and present and future meld into fears and hopes and visions. This became clear when LaRoche spoke about his aspirations for Athens, the place where he and his wife will raise their son, now just 15 months old. Evoking the concerns that scholar W.E.B.

Du Bois expressed for his son in Atlanta in 1903 and echoing lessons that Homer Wilson’s father taught him in the 1950s, Laroche spoke of wanting to live in a community—and in a world—where his son can grow into a man and not have to fear for his life because of the color of his skin. After a year marked by the violent deaths of young black men around the country, our interview with LaRoche reminds us of the stakes history holds for the present.

Oral history has the potential to amplify voices that have been muted in the historical record. In some cases, interviewees offer new takes on familiar events, as Rev. Archibald Killian did when he spoke of hosting Hamilton Holmes in his house during Holmes’s years at UGA. In other instances, interviewees shed light on aspects of our past that might otherwise be forgotten, as Bennie McKinley demonstrated when she talked about the support that Hot Corner businesses offered her and other high school students who led local civil rights actions in the 1960s. The Russell Library’s Athens Oral History Project is about bringing together these voices—from political leaders like Gwen O’Looney, to business owners like Homer Wilson, to educators like Anne Brightwell—so that history will reflect not just the people who have made headlines, but the people who have made history happen every day.

Making the Case (Available): Preparing ACLU Case Files for Research

ACLU of Georgia logo, 2005/2006
annual report (ACLU of Georgia
Records, Series I., Box 8, Folder 40)

This semester I have the great fortune of reviewing a collection donated to the Russell Library by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of Georgia. The ACLU seeks to defend the principles and freedoms granted to individuals in the Bill of Rights. To do this, the ACLU of Georgia (along with 52 other ACLU affiliates) advocates for civil liberties by working toward changes in case law and legislation. As a second-year law student at the University of Georgia School of Law, I have been asked to review the ACLU’s records for a variety of legal restrictions - including attorney-client communications, attorney work-product, and confidential materials. It can be difficult for a layperson to know the differences between these restrictions and determine when they apply, so having the documents reviewed by someone with legal knowledge is important. I can scan documents for restrictions more quickly, and, when there is a question about whether a restriction should apply, I know what kind of legal sources (ex. law journals, the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, and the Official Code of Georgia) I should consult for an answer. Working on the ACLU of Georgia’s records has been useful for me as well. I enjoy learning more about the lives and work of people who live in Georgia and I get to review the files of some pretty interesting cases.

As many of the researchers who visit the Russell Library know, wading through documents that are sometimes more than ten years old can be tedious. However, the rewards from working on this collection far outweigh any challenges that this research can bring. What rewards could one possibly get from searching through these records? Well, to begin, the ACLU of Georgia’s records offer unique insight into the legal issues that Georgians faced over the past forty years -- issues that, in many ways, continue to exist. Challenges to unlawful searches and arrests, abuses of prisoners’ rights, abrogation of free speech, including free speech of children while at school, and the commingling of church and state can all be found in these records. The ACLU records offer so much more than what you can read about these issues in a ten-page court opinion! These records contain a unique perspective into the kinds of legal arguments parties filed with the court and the debate surrounding these issues. That kind of lawyerly jostling for a favorable opinion cannot always be captured in the final opinion issued by the court. For that reason alone, the ACLU of Georgia records will be worth a visit.

"Know Your Rights" brochure
(ACLU of Georgia Records, Series I., Box 8, Folder 48) 

Additionally, the records provide an interesting look at the kinds of pleadings, memoranda, and other legal filings that are part and parcel to a case. As a law student, it has been interesting to come across types of pleadings that I have never heard of before. I enjoy having the opportunity to read through those pleadings and get a sense of how lawyers practice on a daily basis. But even individuals without a legal education can find interest in the form arguments take when they are presented to a court and the procedure for doing so.




Overall working on the ACLU of Georgia records has been immensely rewarding, and I look forward to learning more about the kinds of legal issues that affect Georgians and the ways the ACLU has sought to address those issues.

For researchers interested in accessing these records, the case files will be available for research following the completion of the review, expected in early 2016.  Other portions of the records, including administrative, issue, and legislative files, will be opened this.

Post by Shaniqua Singleton, Russell Library student assistant

Wasps as a Force for Good: Combating Agroterrorism

During Max Cleland’s time as U.S. Senator (1997-2003), the country tackled the ongoing problem of preventing terrorist attacks. But while airport security cracked down nationwide post 9/11, the University of Georgia’s Department of Entomology was hard at work developing alternative means to prepare for potential terroristic threats.

Though not at the forefront of media coverage, the possibility of an attack on America’s food supply was also of national concern. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution article found in Cleland’s papers details that such an attack could be especially harmful to Georgia where agriculture is the largest industry. Of the $5.7 billion per year that agriculture was bringing into Georgia’s economy as of 2001, it was projected that a single cow infected with foot-and-mouth disease could cost $3 billion. With the effects of that kind of isolated incident in mind, a targeted attack on poultry, local crops, or imported grains coming into the Port of Savannah would be unbelievably devastating. If that doesn’t sound bad enough, then there’s the added problem of recognizing infected crops that could be laced with hard-to-detect chemicals. The modern technology to monitor the food supply was not only impractical, but also expensive and often inaccurate.

UGA’s solution: trained wasps.

Photograph of wasp trained to exhibit a head sticking response
(source: Cleland Papers, Series V., Box 29, Folder 25)

Apparently, using wasps to monitor the food supply had first been considered in the 1970’s when UGA scientists began utilizing a particular species’ incredible sense of smell. In nature, these parasitic wasps (Microplitis croceipes, if you speak Latin) use chemical cues to find food and to track the host caterpillars in which they lay their eggs. When scientists at UGA experimented with manipulating this ability so that the wasps would associate food with other smells, they found that, like Pavlov’s dog, the hungry wasps began to exhibit certain behavior when chemicals were introduced, even when food was nowhere to be found. As agroterrorism became a growing threat, it seemed only natural to use these wasps’ powers for good.

Cartoon of wasp detecting hazardous chemical
(source: Cleland Papers, Series V., Box 29, Folder 25)

As potential supporter for anti-terrorism insect funding, Senator Cleland received a bundle of information about the program’s development in 2002. Complete with diagrams and even a cartoon of a sentient wasp looking for clues to track down the bad guys, a report titled “Use of Insects and other Organisms as Chemical Biosensors” details exactly how these unlikely heroes could be conditioned and then put to work fighting terrorism.

The portable system involves wasps in PVC pipes that can be attached to an air chamber containing testing samples. [picture 3] It is also surprisingly easy to train the wasps; they can be conditioned in under an hour and can recognize the presence and intensity of explosives, illegal drugs, and naturally occurring threats to agriculture. (At the time that the wasps were brought to Senator Cleland’s attention, some wasps had already been trained to detect a mold harmful to Georgia’s peanut crops). The species is no bigger than flying ants, and they only use their stingers on caterpillars, posing no danger to allergic humans. So while not as intimidating as German shepherds, wasps have abilities to rival drug dogs. And, keeping it local, they’re native to Georgia, too.

Diagram of detection device employing wasps
(source: Cleland Papers, Series V., Box 29, Folder 25)

In 2005, this research led to the development of the “Wasp Hound.”

For further information on agroterrorism and other issues affecting Georgia and the nation, please consult the Max Cleland Papers, which are now available for research.

Post by Rachael Zipperer, Russell Library student assistant

Moore Papers and More: Reflections on an Internship

My ten-week internship this past summer in the Arrangement and Description unit of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies has been an incredible experience. I graduated in December 2013 from the University of Maryland at College Park with a Master of Library Science (MLS) with a specialization in archives and, prior to my arrival at the Russell in May, I had completed a number of internships in the archives field. My experience here, however, has been unmatched in many ways. It has been amazing to see the inner workings of this university special collections department. Although the staff is not large in number, it more than makes up for it in the effort, dedication, hard work, and enthusiasm that they bring to the workplace on a daily basis.

My primary task for the internship was to process the papers of Powell A. Moore, a native Georgian with a lengthy career in legislative affairs, public policy and international relations. While staff described it as “not a particularly large collection,” it was nearly fifty linear feet of material, much larger than anything else I had processed thus far in my career.

Early on in my internship, I came to appreciate new ways of doing things when organizing and describing collections. Most of the other places where I interned did not adhere strictly to the “More Product, Less Process” approach, which stresses organizing and describing collections quickly and efficiently to make more collections available faster. The goal at those other places was to capture as much information as possible and provide extremely detailed descriptions for every item. Of course, every repository is different in terms of its resources, mission and users. The Russell Library would not be able to open as many collections in a timely manner if it provided item-level detail for all its collections. Most of its researchers do not require that time-consuming description. The Special Collections Libraries at UGA are also blessed with a climate-controlled high-density storage vault where conditions are kept at an ideal 50 degrees F and 30% humidity year-round.

The Powell A. Moore Papers were the right type of challenge at this stage of my career. I had to balance my desire to put every item in the collection “in its place” with the goal of creating an organizational scheme for the papers that could be generally described to the researcher in a finding aid or guide to the collection. It wasn’t easy!  Occasionally spending extra time processing parts of the collection paid off in terms of discovering content, but it did not always reveal as much about the collection’s structure and organization as I would have liked. I learned to gauge the amount of research value that was added from the time I spent on different parts of the collection and adjusted my efforts accordingly.

The average person who knows anything about archives work often draws the conclusion that the work is a solitary task. I got a taste for the importance of donor relations while working on the Moore Papers when it came time to make decisions about what items should or should not be retained for the collection, what archivists call appraisal. Through emails and phone calls, I had the opportunity to communicate with Mr. Moore about items from his papers that I determined did not have significant research value. It was an invaluable experience to be able to educate the donor on the theory and practice behind these decisions and to make arrangements for these materials to be handled according to his wishes.

Another huge takeaway was the use of electronic tools and technology when processing archival collections. My use of Archivists’ Toolkit made it possible to create the EAD-compliant finding aid for the Moore papers. I was able to accession an addition to the Eleanor Smith Papers and begin to create a process plans for the papers of Georgia State Senator Eric Johnson. I also was involved with processing the electronic records of the Georgia Project, Inc. and accessioning the electronic records of both Moore and Johnson. I expect to see a lot of exciting things occur with electronic records in archives in the near future.

In conclusion, I want to thank the staff at the Russell Library for giving me a top notch experience that I will not forget. Their blend of friendliness, humor, and professionalism that I found there is not something easily duplicated. I feel privileged to have learned so much about the archival profession from such a wonderful and talented group of people.

Post by Mark Walters, Political Papers Processing Intern, Russell Library

The Story of School Lunch: Competitive Foods in the Cafeteria

Over the past two summers Russell Library interns Ashton Ellett and Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch” opening September 26th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit examines the complicated past of the National School Lunch Program, from feeding malnourished children and putting excess commodities to good use, to the more recent debates over childhood obesity and nutrition in America. This post is one in a series where Ashton and Kaylynn provide a preview of key documents featured in the exhibition.   

Changes during the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a greatly expanded, more expensive school lunch program. School districts had to manage providing meals to more children, purchasing increasingly expensive food, hiring additional food service personnel, and expanding cafeteria facilities. As schools looked for ways to fund their growing programs in a deflated economy they turned increasingly to private partners.

During the Nixon administration, the passage of HR 14896 extended the provision for free breakfast and summer food programs. Another provision, however, that allowed for the “sale of competitive foods” in schools caused great controversy. While the sale of these fatty and high-sugar items would surely increase revenue, many citizens feared these items could negate the program’s original purpose—to provide American school children with access to a nutritious meal. According to Dr. John Perryman, executive director of the American School Food Service Association in Washington, D.C.:

Letter from Dr. John Perryman to Congressman
John W. Davis (Ga.) September 15, 1972.
John W. Davis Papers, Russell Library.

"We have now opened the door to the sale of ANY food item to ANY child of ANY age in ANY school location at ANY time. We have further made the proceeds available to virtually ANY group, thereby assuring that never ending pressures will be brought upon school authorities to permit constant revenue-producing promotions. By the few words of Section 7 we have translated in a tragic number of instances, school food service from a child nutrition program into a money making gimmick."

Ultimately, the provision passed and competitive foods were allowed in the  nation’s schools. Debates over the lingering effects would continue for the next two decades as awareness of childhood obesity increased.

Want to find out more about School Lunch? Visit Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. from September 26, 2014 through May 15, 2015. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788

The Story of School Lunch: Increased Participation in the 1950s

Over the past two summers Russell Library interns Ashton Ellett and Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch” opening September 26th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit examines the complicated past of the National School Lunch Program, from feeding malnourished children and putting excess commodities to good use, to the more recent debates over childhood obesity and nutrition in America. This post is one in a series where Ashton and Kaylynn provide a preview of key documents featured in the exhibition.   

Chart showing participation of Georgia schools in
NSLP from 1943-1960. Richard B. Russell Collection, Russell Library.

With participation in the school lunch program growing during the 1950s, local administrators felt constant financial pressure. During the 1943-1944 school year just over 1,000 Georgia schools took part; by 1960, this number of participating schools had increased to nearly 1,800. These Georgia schools served an average of 500,000 meals per day -- 9 million meals per month. Despite this growth, the funding for the program was based on the decade old data.

On December 28, 1960 Claude Purcell, state superintendent of schools, wrote to Senator Russell about proposed amendment HR 12896.  Given the National School Lunch Program’s success in Georgia, Purcell was especially concerned with the government’s reimbursement rate for school lunches. He hoped to see the reimbursement rate increase from 3.6 cents to 5 cents per meal, so that the price of the meal for paying students would not have to be raised, fearing any increase would force more students into the free or reduced lunch. As Senator Russell noted in his response, Congress did not pass the amendment. (See letter exchange below).

Several amendments to the National School Lunch Act (NSLA) in 1962 sought to improve the under representation of low-income participants in the program. However, Congress did not appropriate additional funding to make these reforms a reality until the passage of the Childhood Nutrition Act (CNA) in 1966, which expanded institutional eligibility and enacted a pilot breakfast program. The consequences of making good on the mandate would steer the program into uncharted territory in the following decades as school lunch transformed from a farm subsidy into an antipoverty program.

Want to find out more about School Lunch? Visit Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 26, 2014 through May 15, 2015. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788.

Homer Wilson on Changes/Constants on Hot Corner

This post was written by Russell Library summer intern Alexander Stephens, an M.A. student in UGA's Department of History. Alex spent time indexing oral histories using software developed by the University of Kentucky's Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. With the help of their Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS), audiovisual content can be indexed with headings and tags. By labeling content with related tags and breaking full interviews into smaller sections, OHMS allows researchers to discover specific stories within larger themes.

In addition to his other work for the Library's Oral History and Media Unit, Alex served as an interviewer for the Athens Oral History Project. Here, he reflects on his conversation with Homer Wilson for AOHP. To hear the full interview, use the links below to visit the OHMS site or Russell Library SoundCloud page. 

Athenians like to talk about our town being “different” from the rest of the state. A lot of us speak reverently about the unique character of this place. It’s not just different from the rest of Georgia--“it’s just different.”

But when I moved home to Athens after seven years away, I saw what looked to be a familiar pattern. For over half a century, the intersection of Hull Street and Washington Street was a thriving business, arts, and entertainment district owned, operated, and populated by black entrepreneurs and patrons. The area became known as Hot Corner. The Corner still attracts a bustling crowd on weekend nights, but now the scene is dominated by a mostly young and predominantly white crowd. I am generalizing, of course, about a pocket of downtown frequented by people representing a range of identities and communities. My description is probably consistent, however, with what passersby often see. After several years working with a North Carolina community facing rapid gentrification, I assumed I was witnessing the symptoms of a similar trend. I wanted to talk with someone who had seen Hot Corner change over time, and when I had the opportunity to conduct oral history interviews with the Richard B. Russell Library, I knew exactly where I wanted to start.

Walking into Wilson’s Styling Shop feels like walking into a family living room. Whether in for a haircut or not, people come together here to share information and renew friendships. According to Homer Wilson, who succeeded his father as the shop’s owner, it’s always been this way. There are decades-old relationships rooted here. This extraordinary continuity was my first clue to check the assumptions I made about what is happening on Hot Corner. It is true that the area has changed. Brown’s Barber Shop, two doors over from Wilson’s, is the only other business still operated by the same family who ran it when Wilson’s father began running his shop over fifty years ago. Surrounding these historic businesses are bars and restaurants that cater to people representative of the vanguard of gentrification in many urban settings around the country: a relatively young, relatively white crowd of artists, students, and service industry folks. While I fall firmly within no fewer than four of these categories, I saw these changes as net losses. I saw them as indications of displacement, evidence of the erasure of a history. In his gentle and good-natured way, Homer Wilson let me know that I was wrong.

Hear for yourself, by listening to the interview from Clip from 49:30-52:15 on our SoundCloud page (below) or by clicking HERE to visit OHMS. 



While the makeup of today’s Hot Corner strays from tradition, the spirit here--and the history undergirding it--is far from gone. It was easy for me to look at Hot Corner from the outside and lament a perceived loss. When I talked with Wilson, however, the picture became vastly more complex. To suggest that the significance of Hot Corner could simply be erased is to underestimate the power imbued in its people and its businesses and its barstools. It probably doesn't hurt that the Wilsons maintain ownership of the space they lease to The World Famous or that the Wade family still owns the Manhattan Cafe building. Across the street, the Morton Theater testifies to the vision, business acumen, and artistic clout of black Athenians from the early 20th century to the present. But equally important, as Wilson puts it, there is an enduring “vibe” on Hot Corner. The buzz of clippers from the Corner barber shops has left permanent aural imprints on the brick walls. The footsteps of the teenagers who led the local civil rights movement in the 1960s have etched courage into the pavement. Now, as Wilson sees it, “the spirit” has found its way into neighbors such as Joey Tatum, who has run the Manhattan Cafe for twenty years and Little Kings Shuffle Club for ten. Newcomers have made their own contributions. DJ Mahogany, for example, has spent the past decade at Little Kings supplementing the bass line beneath Hot Corner’s history.

None of this is to suggest that all change is welcome. There are people in Athens, and undoubtedly on Hot Corner, who would be justified in feeling that new trends and new arrivals are encroaching on the communities they have created in the face of discrimination and hardship. It’s important to be aware of the backstory beneath our feet in order to honor the aspirations of the people who laid the foundations on which we stand. It is for this reason that the Wilsons, the Browns, and others with historical ties to the business district founded the Hot Corner Association in 2000. Their aim is to ensure that people learn the history of this place. The Association also works to encourage minority entrepreneurship in downtown Athens, because the descendents of the people who turned Hot Corner into a regional center for black culture and commerce know the value of working for themselves and serving their community.

As painful as it can be, change is in the nature of cities. Wilson understands this fickleness. He watched as other shops moved to bigger spaces on major thoroughfares, creeping outward to malls and planned shopping centers. Heeding his father’s advice to stay downtown, he is now watching business owners eagerly seek out more central locations. Wilson seems unphased by these shifts. Perhaps this is because he knows that on Hot Corner, the spirit is strong enough to shape whatever form change takes.

The Power of Voice: Dean Rusk on the Atomic Bomb

In the spring of 2014, Russell Library student assistant Chelsea Harvey began indexing oral histories using software developed by the University of Kentucky's Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. With the help of their Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS), Chelsea began listening to the personal tapes of former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and organizing audiovisual content by indexing headings and tags. By labeling content with related tags and breaking full interviews into smaller sections, OHMS allows researchers to discover specific stories within larger themes.

In the fall of 1984, former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk sat down with his son Richard and began recording the stories that had shaped his life and his political career. For the next five years, both father and son would together record over 170 tapes of interviews.

In these tapes, Rusk recalls growing up on a farm in Cherokee County, serving as part of the India Burma China Theater in World War I, and making some of the decisions as Secretary of State that would ultimately guide America into the era of the Vietnam War.

In an interview recorded some time in 1985, Rusk discusses the history of the Rockefeller Foundation, an organization for which he served as president from 1952 to 1960. Rusk explains that during the 1930s, the Foundation funded a number of private research projects concerning nuclear physics and other sciences, including a "cyclotron" at the University of Berkeley that would later be used to create the world's first atomic bomb.

Click HERE to listen to Clip 1: [Rusk A, 47:59 clip: "Role in funding of private projects"]

DEAN RUSK: "… among other things we had put some money into the cyclotron at Berkeley. Then along about 1941, the Foundation was called by the director of the laboratory at Berkeley and told that they needed something like a quarter of a million dollars urgently and that they could not tell us why. And the then-trustees of the Foundation decided to go ahead and give them that money. They were somewhat abashed a little bit later, after the war, to discover that what they had done had been an integral part of launching the Manhattan Project."

Rusk goes on to say that many of the projects funded by the Rockefeller Foundation during that time concerned research the American government did not have the budget to fund, creating a tension between the needs of government and those of bureaucracies like the Foundation.

Listening to the tape, it becomes difficult to focus on this clip; Rusk slows his speech, often taking pause before stringing together sentences. While the content is both interesting and relevant, its potency is lost in its clumsy delivery.

Compare this with a story told earlier on a tape in January of 1984, remembering the "flash" of news that the atomic bomb deploying in Hiroshima:

Click HERE to listen to Clip 2: [Rusk J, 43:05 clip: "Remembering the atomic bomb"]

DEAN RUSK:  "I was at my desk in the Operations Division of the General Staff and the flash from Hiroshima was the first I heard about it. I remember, when that flash came in an Air Force Colonel sitting at the next desk exclaimed, 'This means that war has turned upon itself and is devouring its own tail. From this time forward it will make no sense for governments to try to settle their disputes by war.' Well, we haven't fully brought that instinctive insight of his into reality but I have always remembered his remark."

The content itself is nothing new: a powerful, white American male reflects on the emotional impact of the first atomic bomb's physical destruction. But something in Rusk's voice, in his reflection, captivates. There is a quality to the audio content that extends beyond that of the transcript; his stoicism is haunting.

In the case of oral history, audio-visual content captures something missing from the same words transcribed on a page.

The Story of School Lunch: Congressional Food Fight

Over the past two summers Russell Library interns Ashton Ellett and Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch” opening September 26th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit examines the complicated past of the National School Lunch Program, from feeding malnourished children and putting excess commodities to good use, to the more recent debates over childhood obesity and nutrition in America. This post is one in a series where Ashton and Kaylynn provide a preview of key documents featured in the exhibition.  
At the end of World War II, proponents of ongoing school lunch programs worried that the federal government’s ad hoc, hand-to-mouth funding scheme discouraged local school districts from participating. Many districts were reluctant to invest scarce funds into capital intensive projects like cafeteria construction and kitchen equipment purchases without guaranteed federal funding.

Letter from M.D. Collins to Richard B. Russell
January 17, 1946. Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection,
Russell Library. 

Despite a fierce legislative battle over the responsibilities of parents and the role of schools, President Truman signed the National School Lunch Act on June 4, 1946. The passage of the bill was due in large part to the lobbying of a select group of politicians—including Georgia Senator Richard B. Russell. A letter from Dr. Mauney Douglas Collins, State Superintendent of Schools, dated January 17, 1946, to Senator Russell demonstrates the widespread appreciation among education officials in Georgia for his support of the legislation.

A letter from Bob Shields (pages 1-3 below), administrator of the USDA’s Production and Marketing Administration, to Russell in June 1946 stresses the historical importance of the newly passed national school lunch program, which he saw as both a challenge and an opportunity. In his speech before Product and Marketing Administrators, Shields indicated the legislation marked “a new era in farmer-consumer relationship” and reaffirmed the program as “a measure of national security.” During World War II, Major General Lewis B. Hershey, director of the Selective Service System, testified before the House Committee on Agriculture that many young men were rejected for military service because of nutritional deficiencies. With the nation at war and the memory of farmers suffering during the Great Depression at the forefront of many minds, how could the nation’s nutrition and farm problems be solved? The original legislation intended to serve as both a childhood nutrition and surplus commodity program. Since 1946, the U.S. government has been involved in both the “production and marketing” of food because of, according to Shields, the “humanitarian vision and constructive statesmanship.”

    

In spite of lofty goals, the original National School Lunch Act lacked the legislative provisions and enforcement abilities to serve America’s neediest children. Reform and expansion of the program would come later from another war – one inspired by grassroots activism and social movements of the 1960s.  

Want to find out more about School Lunch? Visit Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery of the Special Collections Building from September 26, 2014 through May 15, 2015. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788.

The Story of School Lunch: FDR and Surplus Commodities

Over the past two summers Russell Library interns Ashton Ellett and Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch” opening September 26th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit examines the complicated past of the National School Lunch Program, from feeding malnourished children and putting excess commodities to good use, to the more recent debates over childhood obesity and nutrition in America. This post is one in a series where Ashton and Kaylynn provide a preview of key documents featured in the exhibition.   

Amidst the Great Depression, the Roosevelt administration began disbursing donations of surplus commodities through several New Deal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the Federal Surplus Commodity Corporation (FSCC), and the Surplus Marketing Administration (SMA). But the onset of World War II in 1941 reshaped federal support for lunch programs. Although Congress began rationing supplies and diverting labor to support the war effort, federal grants offered subsidies to school lunch programs for the purchase of food and milk.

Miscellaneous Publication 467,
produced by the USDA, October 1941.

The USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 467 demonstrates the effect of war on the program. The lunch program peaked during the 1941-1942 school year with nearly 6 million children served annually.

By March of 1941, most states in the economically depressed South and West had enrolled and worked with the Surplus Marketing Administration to receive foodstuffs. Georgia had the highest average for school enrollment in the nation at 61.7 percent. Ultimately, rising food and labor costs forced cuts in lunch service during the war years, which saw numbers dwindle.

At the close of World War II, school lunch proponents found a new advocate in Georgia Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. With his leadership, the still piece-meal initiative would navigate both houses of Congress and become a mandate of federal law. In 1946, Congress passed the National School Lunch Act establishing a nationwide program.

Want to find out more about School Lunch? Visit Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery inside the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 26, 2014 through May 15, 2015. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788.