Kennedy, John F.: one year anniversary of his death, correspondence, November 1964 (2024)

The collection consists entirely of subject files from the Atlanta Bureau of Newsweek magazine from 1953-1979. These subject files were created during the process of researching and writing a story. The subject files are comprised of newspaper clippings, collected materials, correspondence, drafts of articles, photographs, and reporters' notes. Originally filed in a single folder, the material inside each subject file has now been separated and arranged by format to facilitate access.

Newspaper clippings were collected by the reporters while researching and writing a story and generally cover the subject represented. Collected material constitutes any items acquired by the reporters in the field while researching a story, such as press releases, brochures, flyers, newsletters, speeches, and meeting agendas and minutes. Correspondence consists mainly of communication between Newsweek's New York office and the Atlanta Bureau concerning story assignments and revisions. The subject files also contain copies and drafts of the articles that the reporters submitted to the main New York office. Few of the drafts of articles found in this collection appeared in their entirety in Newsweek. A limited number of subject files include photographs. Notable photographs documenting the Civil Rights Movement in the South are included in the Birmingham, Alabama, Little Rock, Arkansas, Americus, Georgia, Freedom Rides, and the NAACP subject files. Lastly, the subject files include the reporters' handwritten notes; which were primarily written in the field and often in shorthand and therefore hard to decipher.

Topics featured in the subject files include southern politics, education, business, media, crime, society, athletics, progress, expansion, and civil rights. Southern perspectives on national, political, and social concerns are also featured. The subject files are arranged alphabetically by topic or by the state and city in which events took place. Frequently featured cities include Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and St. Augustine, Florida. Prominent figures featured in stories include Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Lester Maddox, George Wallace, James Meredith, Ty Cobb, and Bobby Jones.

Demonstrations/protests, and other civil rights issues form the bulk of this collection. Of the civil rights centered subject files, school desegregation makes up the largest section. As many of the school desegregation stories were focused a specific county, city, or state, these folders are most often located alphabetically under state name. Some subject files are alphabetized under "school desegregation" generally, followed by more specific topic titles. These files include specific court cases (i.e. Brown vs. Board of Education), busing legislation, federal funding issues, fall "school opening" reports, and regional/national progress reports. Notable are the school desegregation fall reports, which generally contain a state-by-state report of the progress of schools throughout the south at the beginning of each school year. Reports span the years 1955-1970; with 1963-1965 and 1967-1969 missing.

In addition to school desegregation, the collection also contains subject files focused specifically on integration of public places in the South (i.e. churches, hospitals, and interstate buses), and materials concerning important civil rights organizations, such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Also documented are well known sit-ins, demonstrations and other events, such as the Freedom Summer, the Freedom Rides, and race riots in Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama. Subject files featuring white supremacists and other hate groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Citizen's Council are also found within this collection.

From the Collection:

Materials entirely in English.