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John Mitchell Brooks
NAACP Files Collection
(n.d., 1957-1978)

M 296





SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES DEPARTMENT
JAMES BRANCH CABELL LIBRARY
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY



Compiled by

B. Pittman

August 1997




INTRODUCTION

Title: John Mitchell Brooks NAACP Files Collection (n.d., 1957-1978)
Accession Number: 92-Jul-19
Size: 1.5 linear feet
Location: Special Collections and Archives
Restrictions: None
Literary and Property Rights: Virginia Commonwealth University has a signed Deed of Gift transferring the property rights.



BIOGRAPHY:

John Mitchell Brooks, born in 1917 in Bradock, Pennsylvannia, moved in 1931 to Richmond, Virginia with his six brothers and sisters to live with his grandparents. He became one of the first black Eagle Scouts in the state and eventually attended Virginia Union University and West Virginia State College. Mr. Brooks spent three years in the Army as a lieutenant and was awarded the Bronze Medal for his combat medical work in World War II. After the war, he became a partner in Millies Grill and then worked as a manager in Troy's Department Store. His political activity began in 1957 when he was hired as an assistant to the Executive Secretary of the NAACP, Mr. W. Lester Banks. Mr. Brooks became the Director of the NAACP national voter registration and education program in 1958 and continued at this post until 1975. He also worked as political action director for the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP and formed the Crusade for Voters in Richmond, Virginia with Drs. William S. Thornton and William Ferguson Reid. After leaving the NAACP, he remained active in state and local politics as a Lobbyist while running Helen's Place with his wife. He was a life-time member of the NAACP and was honored for his work by many local organizations including the AFRO, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Astoria Beneficial Club and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Mr. Brooks died in 1980.

SCOPE AND CONTENT:

The collection consists of miscellaneous office files pertaining to the activities of the director of voter registration for the southern region. Files contain information on activities in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland and Washington, D.C. There are small file containing information from Ohio, Oklahoma, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. There is a small quantity of correspondence between Mr. Brooks and other NAACP officials such as Roy Wilkins, W.C. Patton, Gloucester Current, Henry Lee Moon and Ruth Hurley. A select number of publications, clippings, and photographs relating to the regional activities are also in the collection. The bulk of the collection falls between 1958 and 1959.


ARRANGEMENT:

The collection is arranged in its original order with one exception. All the files were arranged alphabetically for each year. Because of the small size of the collection multiple files were combined and miscellaneous materials labelled. Newspaper clippings have been duplicated with the exception of large or multiple articles appearing in the same paper which is currently held by the library on microfilm. Citations to those articles are listed under the entry for Newspaper Clippings.


Box 1
1.1 Branch Correspondence n.d., 1958-1960
1.2 Hurley, Ruby 1958
1.3 Moon, Henry Lee 1958-1959
1.4 National Correspondence 1958-1959
1.5 News Releases n.d., 1959
1.6 Newspaper Clippings 1959, 1978:
Richmond Afro-American 1/2-7/78 pp. 5-8
Richmond Times-Dispatch 4/11/78 section B
Washington Post 5/20/78 pp. A3-A4
Richmond News Leader 2/17/78 pp. 13-26
Washington Post 1/8/78 pp. D1-D8
Washington Post 1/15/78 pp. B7-B8
Richmond Afro-American 3/25/78 entire
Richmond Afro-American 4/22/78 pp. 15-28
1.7 Patton, W.C. n.d., 1958-1961
1.8 Publications 1957
Regional Correspondence:
1.9 Arkansas n.d.
1.10 Florida n.d., 1958-1960
1.11 Georgia n.d., 1958-1959
Box 2
2.1 Louisiana n.d., 1958-1959
2.2 Maryland 1958-1960
2.3 Midwest (Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Michigan) n.d., 1958-1960
2.4 Mississippi n.d., 1958-1959
2.5 North Carolina n.d., 1958-1959
2.6 New Jersey 1960
2.7 Pennsylvania 1959
2.8 South Carolina 1958
2.9 Tennessee n.d., 1958
2.10 Texas 1958
2.11 Virginia n.d., 1957-1960
2.12 Virginia--Richmond n.d., 1975

Box 3
3.1 Washington, D.C. 1958-1959
3.2 West Virginia 1958
3.3 Reports Regional 1958-1959
3.4 Wilkins, Roy n.d., 1958


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