| Dates: | 1966-2000, undated |
| Size: | 1.5 linear feet |
| Repository: | Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, 9525 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois 60628 |
|
Collection Number: |
2000/01 |
| Provenance: | Donated by Dr. Ernece Kelly, February and April 2000 |
| Access: | No restrictions |
| Citation: |
When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: Ernece Kelly Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature |
| Processed by: | Elizabeth Loch, July 2020 |
Biographical Note
Dr. Ernece B. Kelly was an activist in the 1960s Chicago civil rights movement, an educator, and scholar. She was a Chicago native. Her father, William Kelly, was employed by the Chicago Post Office for over forty years.
Kelly worked as a staffer for the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCC) in the 1960s. She famously called on CCCC to recognize its pervasive racism in her 1968 response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, “Murder of the American Dream.” The essay was published by the National Council of Teachers of English in the May 1968 edition of College Composition and Communication.
Dr. Kelly was also a professor of English and Literature. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Chicago, then received her Ph.D. in Education from Northwestern University in 1972. Dr. Kelly taught at Chicago City College’s Loop Campus (Associate Professor), Northwestern University (Associate Professor of English), University of Maryland, and Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York.
Dr. Kelly worked to create alternative conference spaces for African American educators. She directed the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Task Force on Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English, which authored the 1970 NCTE policy statement, “Criteria for Teaching Materials in Reading and Literature,” and she led the Textbook Review Committee, which produced Searching for America, a 1972 landmark collection of essays by scholars of color that challenged white supremacy in widely-used college textbooks on American literature.
Sources:
- Evans, Charles, "Richard Wright's Depiction of the Black Experience: A Study in Stereotypes" (1981). Dissertations. 2043.
- Kelly, Ernece B., “Murder of the American Dream,” College Composition and Communication. Volume 19, No. 2, May 1968, pages 106-108.
- Toth, Christie, “Getting Thorny: Elisabeth McPherson and the Activist Tradition of Two-Year College English,” Basic Writing e-Journal. Issue #16.1, 2020, pages 7-8.
Scope and Content
This collection is sorted into two series.
Series 1: Print Materials consists of materials related to Al Raby (co-chair of the Chicago Freedom Movement in the 1960s), a 1966 speech titled “The Negro Family,” a pamphlet by the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, and a movie review written by Dr. Kelly. This series is organized chronologically, then alphabetically.
Series 2: Memorabilia consists of 35 political and social movement buttons. This series is organized alphabetically by button title.
Related Materials
Related materials at the Chicago Public Library include:
- Charles J. Evans Papers
- Chicago SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) History Project Archives
Related materials at other institutions include:
Container List
Series 1: Print Materials, 1966, 1985, 1988, 1989, 2000, undated
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | “The Negro Family” by Daniel P. Moynihan. An address sponsored by The Center for Urban Studies and delivered on The University of Chicago Campus, 1966 March 11 |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | Remarks of Albert A. Raby at the Clarence Darrow Awards Dinner in the Midland Hotel, 1985 April 25 |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | Program for Al Raby’s memorial service at Rockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago, 1988 November 29 |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | “Rites Held in Chicago for Albert Raby, 55, Civil Rights Leader” article, circa 1988 |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | Charles Wolff’s memorandum on the memorial service for Al Raby, 1989 February 24 |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | “What’s Cooking?” movie review by Ernece B. Kelly in The New York Beacon, 2000 November [photocopy] |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | Holiday card featuring a photo of Al, Pat, and Alison Raby, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | I Know You Are My Brother pamphlet by the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, undated |
Series 2: Memorabilia, 1968, 1983-1992, undated
| Box 2 | Button 1 | Carol Moseley Braun, Democrat U.S. Senate, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 2 | Clevelanders for a Free South Africa, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 3 | Connecticut Committee To Elect Jesse Jackson, President ’84, 1984 |
| Box 2 | Button 4 | Dinkins, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 5 | Elect Johnson and Humphrey, Vote Democratic, circa 1968 |
| Box 2 | Button 6 | Free Geronimo, Political Prisoner U.S.A., undated |
| Box 2 | Button 7 | Free The N.Y. Eight, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 8 | Harold Washington For Chicago, circa 1983 |
| Box 2 | Button 9 | June 19 Solidarity Day, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 10 | Justice For Ernie Lacy, Stop Police Brutality!, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 11 | Keep The Pressure On Apartheid, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 12 | Labor For Jackson ’88, 1988 |
| Box 2 | Button 13 | Metcalfe, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 14 | Mikva, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 15 | National March, Housing Now!, U.S. Capitol, 1989 October 7 |
| Box 2 | Button 16 | New Yorkers for Jesse Jackson ’88, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 17 | Pride Equals Power, Gay & Lesbian Pride Chicago ’92, 1992 |
| Box 2 | Button 18 | Punch 8 For Mayor Harold Washington, Democrats Unite, circa 1983 [photo in black and white] |
| Box 2 | Button 19 | Punch 8 For Mayor Harold Washington, Democrats Unite, circa 1983 [photo in color] |
| Box 2 | Button 20 | Raby, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 21 | Stevenson, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 22 | Stonewall 20, A Generation of Pride, New York City Lesbian & Gay Pride Weekend, 1989 June 24 |
| Box 2 | Button 23 | The Continental Walk, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 24 | Unbossed, Unbought, Unslapped!, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 25 | Unemployed, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 26 | Unite Against Racism, Support Jesse Jackson, All-Peoples Congress, People’s Anti-War Mobilization, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 27 | Untitled [equal sign], undated |
| Box 2 | Button 28 | Untitled [two hands and a dove], undated |
| Box 2 | Button 29 | U.S. Hands Off Cuba, People’s Anti-War Mobilization, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 30 | U.S. Out of Middle East, Bring the Troops Home, undated |
| Box 2 | Buttons 31 a and b | Vote Raby Baby, undated [two identical buttons] |
| Box 2 | Button 32 | Vote SLP, Socialist Labor Party, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 33 | Voting, The New Black Power, undated |
| Box 2 | Button 34 | We Won!, undated |
