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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.
Portions of this collection have been digitized as part of "Content, Context, and Capacity: A Collaborative Large-Scale Digitization Project on the Long Civil Rights Movement in North Carolina." The project was made possible by funding from the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 61.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 20400 items) |
| Abstract | Guy Benton Johnson was one of the original research assistants at the Institute for Research in Social Science and joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina in 1927, retiring in 1969. In 1923, he married Guion Griffis, also a social science researcher. They had two sons: Guy Benton Jr. (Benny) (b. 1928) and Edward (b. 1933). The collection consists of papers, mostly correspondence and research project files, relating chiefly to Johnson's work at the University of Chicago and at UNC on the Ku Klux Klan; musical abilities of African-Americans and white Americans; African-American folksongs; the John Henry legend; the folklore and language (Gullah) of Saint Helena Island, S.C.; Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, N.C.; and the desegregation of higher education. Many items relate to his and Guion's participation in the Gunnar Myrdal Study of the American Negro, 1939-1940. There are also materials documenting Johnson's work with the Southern Regional Council, of which he was director in 1944-1947; the North Carolina Council on Human Relations; the Phelps-Stokes Fund; and the Howard University Board of Trustees; and his service to professional sociological organizations. Also included are writings by Johnson, pedagogical materials, photographs and other materials relating to his family in North Carolina and Texas and career. Johnson's correspondents included Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, C.C. Spaulding, H.L. Mencken, Carl van Vechten, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marion Wright, and many other intellectuals, scholars, writers, and activists, both black and white. |
| Creator | Johnson, Guy Benton, 1901- |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical
Information
Guy Benton Johnson was one of the original research assistants at the University of North Carolina's Institute for Research in Social Science, and joined the University's faculty in 1927. He became Kenan professor of anthropology and sociology in 1963 and retired six years later.
A native of Caddo Mills, Tex., Johnson earned a bachelor's degree from Baylor University in 1921, a master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1922, and a doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina in 1927.
He began studying African American culture, including folk music and dialect, in the 1920s. During that decade, he focused on Saint Helena Island, S.C., near Beaufort, where he became familiar with the music, folklore, and Gullah language of the inhabitants. His publications included The Negro and His Songs (with Howard Odum, 1925); Negro Workaday Songs (with Odum, 1926), John Henry, A Negro Legend (1929); and The Folk Culture of Saint Helena Island (1930).
During the 1930s and early 1940s Johnson conducted more purely sociological studies of the effects of the Depression on African Americans and the social structure of the Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, N.C. In 1939-1940, he, along with his wife Guion, participated in the well known Myrdal study of African American life, administered by Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish sociologist. Their work for this study included investigations of crime in African American communities, African American churches, and racial ideologies among whites.
From 1944 to 1947, Johnson was executive director of the Southern Regional Council. He later, in the 1950s, directed studies in African-American education for the Fund for the Advancement of Education. He also travelled extensively in Africa in the 1960s and early 1970s and studied race relations on the continent. Johnson was a fellow of the Social Science Research Council, the American Anthropological Association, and the American Sociological Association.
For 37 years, Johnson served as a trustee of Howard University.
Johnson was married to Guion Griffis Johnson, who was also active in social science research. They had two sons: Guy Benton Johnson, Jr., and Edward J. Johnson, psychology professor at the University of North Carolina.
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Scope and Content
The collection consists of papers, mostly correspondence and research project files, relating chiefly to Johnson's work at the University of Chicago and at UNC on the Ku Klux Klan; musical abilities of African-Americans and white Americans; African-American folksongs; the John Henry legend; the folklore and language (Gullah) of Saint Helena Island, S.C.; Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, N.C.; and the desegregation of higher education. Many items relate to his and Guion's participation in the Gunnar Myrdal Study of the American Negro, 1939-1940. There are also materials documenting Johnson's work with the Southern Regional Council, of which he was director in 1944-1947; the North Carolina Council on Human Relations; the Phelps-Stokes Fund; and the Howard University Board of Trustees; and his service to professional sociological organizations. Also included are writings by Johnson, pedagogical materials, photographs and other materials relating to his family in North Carolina and Texas and career. Johnson's correspondents included Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, C.C. Spaulding, H.L. Mencken, Carl van Vechten, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marion Wright, and many other intellectuals, scholars, writers, and activists, both black and white.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. General Correspondence, 1917-1989.
Arrangement: chronological.
Primarily correspondence of Johnson after he retired from the University of North Carolina in 1969, with substantial correspondence while a professor, and scattered letters received as a graduate student. No letters appear for 1920-1921, 1926, 1935 1937, 1939, 1941, 1949, or 1951-1952. Includes mostly letters exchanged with colleagues, students, friends, and family members, discussing the Gullah dialect, race relations, Africa, desegregation in higher education, miscellaneous research projects, North Carolina and Texas politics, World War II soldiers' experiences, and family news. A number of letters provide recollections by Johnson and his colleagues of his career and Johnson's memories of others, including Howard Odum, Gunnar Myrdal, and W. E. B. Du Bois.
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Subseries 1.1.1917-1919, 1922-1925, 1927-1929.
Arrangement: chronological.
Scattered correspondence with Howard Odum, Katharine Jocher, and other colleagues, friends, and publishers pertaining mostly to Johnson's attendance and research at UNC and publication of his master's thesis and a play he had written. Of note are a letter from a graduate student at the University of Kansas, describing his experiences there; two letters dated 1919 from a young French woman expressing gratitude toward American soldiers for their defense of France; and a letter, dated 22 October 1919, informing Johnson that he had been licensed to "preach the Gospel."
| Folder 1 |
1917-1919, 1922-1925, 1927-1929 #03826, Subseries: "1.1.1917-1919, 1922-1925, 1927-1929." Folder 1 |
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Subseries 1.2. 1930-August 1969.
Johnson's correspondence, mostly 1960s, while a professor at the University of North Carolina, including letters exchanged with family members, colleagues, students, and friends. Many of the early letters are from Johnson's father in Abilene and his brother VKC in Caddo Mills, Tex., and discuss Texas politics, the Ku Klux Klan, crops, and family news. Johnson also received a number of letters from his son Benny, a student at University of North Carolina in the late 1940s, discussing campus politics and his studies. Correspondents of note among Johnson's colleagues are Howard Odum, Jessie Daniel Ames, H. L. Mitchell, and Marion Wright, though only scattered letters appear for each. Frequent topics include Johnson's early research projects carried out for the IRSS; segregation and the education of African Americans; the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954; Johnson's trip to Africa in 1959-1960 and exchange programs for African students; and opposition to the death penalty in North Carolina. Several letters from friends and former students give details of their experiences in the United States Army and United States Army Air Corps during World War II.
Two letters of special interest are one from Mack McCormick, dated 14 June 1958, discussing Paul Robeson's performance in the stage role of John Henry, and one from Johnson's daughter-in-law Nancy, dated 1 July 1960, describing the bitterness of the Lake-Sanford political race in North Carolina. Letters illuminating Johnson's personal attitudes appear dated 13 February 1963, when Johnson wrote his high-school teacher explaining his decision to become a Methodist, and 20 March 1969, when he wrote a colleague describing the development of his interest in studying African Americans.
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Subseries 1.3. September 1969-1989.
Johnson's correspondence after his retirement from University of North Carolina in 1969, chiefly letters exchanged with colleagues, including Gordon Blackwell, H. L. Mitchell, John Beecher, Lee Coleman, Arthur Raper, Len Lanham, and others, and with students and family members. Many of the items are letters of congratulations, invitations to speak, requests for recommendations, and similar items. Others discuss politics, the debate over the origins of the Gullah language, tax reform, Johnson's trips to Africa and Methodist missionary work there, Baylor University, the Howard University Board of Trustees, and Johnson's career.
Noteworthy items are an anecdotal letter, 5 October 1978, from Nels Anderson to Johnson and a letter, 19 October 1983, from Anderson to Edgar Thompson giving reminiscences of Johnson at the University of Chicago in 1920-1921, and a 9-p. memoir entitled, "Recalling Past Events with Guy B. Johnson," enclosed in a letter from Arthur Raper dated 10 November 1978. Several letters give Johnson's impressions of others. In 1982 and September 1984 Johnson wrote several letters to David Southern commenting on the relationship between Howard Odum and Gunnar Myrdal, and he enclosed in a letter, 8 December 1975, to William Toll a personal recollection of W. E. B. Du Bois.
Additional items of interest include a sermon by Pauli Murray, entitled "Gifts of the Holy Spirit to Women I Have Known," enclosed in a letter to Johnson dated 18 May 1978, and a letter, dated 12 October 1983, to Johnson discussing the controversy over Langston Hughes' appearance at University of North Carolina in 1931.
Family letters are mostly with Johnson's brothers VKC and Barney in Caddo Mills and his son Edward in Portland, Ore., and discuss family finances and health.
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Subseries 1.4. Undated.
Chiefly holiday cards with scattered letters to Johnson from family members and friends, students, and colleagues. A few letters appear from Johnson's father and his brother VKC and from his son Benny. Of note is a letter signed "Horace" that discusses black power.
| Folder 58-62 |
Undated #03826, Subseries: "1.4. Undated." Folder 58-62Folder 58Folder 59Folder 60Folder 61Folder 62 |
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Series 2. Alumni Office Files, 1924-1960s.
Three sets of files (2 alphabetical and 1 chronological) taken from Johnson's office in Alumni Hall on the University of North Carolina campus in 1970 and 1971. The files pertain to students, colleagues, and others; Johnson's professional, academic, and political activities; and travel. Included is information on civil rights, the Lumbee and Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, African American freedom celebrations, race relations, the U.S.A.-Africa Leader Exchange Program, and fraternities in which Johnson was involved. A number of addresses he gave to academic audiences are enclosed with the correspondence. Correspondents include a large number of political leaders, journalists, and intellectuals, among them Will W. Alexander, Jessie Daniel Ames, Claude Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Sterling Brown, Ralph Bunche, W. E. B. Du Bois, John P. Davis, E. Franklin Frazier, Melville J. Herskovits, Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, Percy Julian, Alain Locke, John Lomax, H. L. Mencken, Howard Odum, Hortense Powdermaker, Arthur Raper, Ira Reid, C. C. Spaulding, and others.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 2.1. Small Alphabetical File, 1924-1952.
Alphabetical correspondence and subject file, mostly 1930s-1950s, maintained by Johnson while a graduate student and professor at University of North Carolina. A number of folders appear on the "Encyclopedia of the Negro" project and on Johnson's students. Correspondence of interest appears with Cleveland Allen, with whom Johnson exchanged frequent letters, 1928-1932, concerning Negro folk songs; Samuel Asbury, with whom he corresponded, 1931-1933, concerning the relationship between white and black spirituals; Langston Hughes, with whom he corresponded, 1931-1932, concerning Hughes' appearance on the University of North Carolina campus in 1931; W. E. B. Du Bois, with whom he wrote, 1936-1939, concerning the "Encyclopedia of the Negro" project, and Horace Cayton, with whom Johnson exchanged letters, June 1936, discussing Johnson's work on the stratification of African-American communities and the death of the Garvey movement. Additional correspondents of note include R. B. Eleazer, Rossa Cooley, Edwin Embree, and Calvin Floyd. Their letters, and those with miscellaneous others, discuss archaeology at University of North Carolina, the Participation of Negroes in Southern Life study (see W. C. Jackson file), the Ku Klux Klan, the Commission on Interracial Cooperation (see L. R. Reynolds file), and work on the "Drums and Shadows" project (see Mary Granger file).
An item of special interest is a memorandum, entitled "Memorandum on My Appearance Before the Trustee Visiting Committee, January 16, 1948," in which Johnson describes his interrogation by the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in relation to his racial views (see Confidential Memorandum file).
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Subseries 2.2. Large Alphabetical File, 1950-1960s.
Use Restriction: Folders 561-569 CLOSED.
Alphabetical subject and correspondence file, 1950-1960s, containing chiefly correspondence with colleagues concerning research projects in which Johnson was engaged and his professional and organizational activities. Topics include school desegregation (see especially folders for the Ashmore Project); civil rights; the Cherokee and Lumbee Indians of North Carolina; the John Henry legend; African Americans in the Depression (see folder for Arthur Raper); and interracial cooperation efforts. The files also document Johnson's participation in the Southern Regional Council and the American Sociological Association. Miscellaneous folders also appear containing materials Johnson collected on subjects of interest to him, including anti-integrationist sentiment, birds, University of North Carolina campus events and concerns, Communism, McCarthyism, and the University Methodist Church.
Besides correspondence, miscellaneous materials such as clippings, political flyers, pamphlets, speeches, and other items appear as enclosures to letters and in various subject folders. Correspondents of note are Jessie Daniel Ames, Carl Van Vechten, H. L. Mencken, Will W. Alexander, Claude Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ralph Bunche, W. E. B. Du Bois, Charles S. Johnson, Arthur Raper, Hortense Powdermaker, and Carter G. Woodson.
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Subseries 2.3. Correspondence Files, 1931-1969.
Miscellaneous correspondence, mostly with colleagues, concerning teaching, the formation of an archaeological society in North Carolina, Robeson County, N.C., the effects of the Depression on African Americans, activities of the North Carolina Division of the Southern Regional Council, desegregation of higher education, and Southern Sociological Society committee business. A few letters also appear from Johnson's family, mostly his son Benny in the 1960's. Correspondence also appears from a number of African students wishing to study in the United States. Correspondents include George Mitchell, C. C. Spaulding, J. Graham Cruikshank, Frederick Patterson, and Edgar Thompson.
Items of note include a letter, dated 7 June 1953, from Leone Matthews, denouncing a speech Johnson had given at Howard University and warning against the dangers he perceived in miscegenation, and a 1967 "Report by the Editors of Social Forces" to the Members of the Southern Sociological Society (folder 670).
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Series 3. Institutional Affiliations and Activities, 1918-1987.
Arrangement: by institution/activity.
Files concerning Johnson's affiliation with and activities on behalf of the Southern Regional Council, the Institute for Research in Social Sciences (IRSS), the North Carolina Council on Human Relations, the Phelps-Stokes Fund, and Howard University. The bulk of the materials pertain to the Southern Regional Council, including the period of Johnson's directorship, 1944-1947. Some materials relate to the North Carolina division of the Southern Regional Council. The remaining files pertain mostly to the IRSS, and include records kept by Katharine Jocher, 1929-1960, on the production and circulation of the IRSS's Journal of Social Forces. Only limited items appear on the IRSS's early history.
Materials include correspondence and memoranda, financial records, clippings, meeting minutes and agendas, work reports, publications, and other administrative files, and drafts of Guy and Guion Griffis Johnson's history of the IRSS. Other files document the history and activities of the NCCHR, and limited materials, mostly reports, meeting materials, and correspondence, give information on Johnson's role as a Trustee of the Phelps-Stokes Fund and Howard University.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 3.1. Institute for Research in Social Sciences, 1922-1982 and undated.
Primarily drafts of the history Guy and Guion Griffis Johnson prepared of the IRSS, and administrative files, correspondence, and financial records pertaining to IRSS research and publishing efforts and to the editing and printing of the Institute's official organ, the Journal of Social Forces. Most items fall within the 1930s-1950s period. Individuals best represented include Howard Odum and Gordon Blackwell.
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Subseries 3.1.1. Miscellaneous IRSS Files, 1922-1957.
Scattered administrative files (mostly 1940s-1950s) kept by Johnson, including correspondence and internal memoranda, reports of work done, research proposals, minutes of staff meetings (incomplete, 1947-1957), lists of IRSS publications and research projects, and a few manuscripts published under the auspices of the IRSS. Correspondence and memoranda, dated 1928-1930 and 1948-1957, is mostly with Gordon Blackwell, director of the IRSS, during the later years. A few items appear for Howard Odum.
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Subseries 3.1.2. Journal of Social Forces, 1929-1977 and undated.
Primarily financial correspondence and records with Baltimore printers Williams & Wilkins Company, 1929 1943, 1949-1950, 1952-1960, maintained by Katharine Jocher, and limited administrative and correspondence files kept by Johnson during his tenure as editor. Johnson's correspondence (mostly 1969) is with authors and peer reviewers about submissions. Miscellaneous items include draft manuscripts submitted and newspaper clippings. Information on circulation statistics can be found in folders labeled "Financial Notes" and "Early History." For additional files on Social Forces, see Subseries 4.1.
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Subseries 3.1.3. IRSS History Manuscript, 1924-1982 and undated.
Mostly bound and loose drafts of the Johnsons' official history of the IRSS, Research in Service to Society, with scattered correspondence, 1976-1980; a typed transcript of an interview with Gordon Blackwell; and miscellaneous research materials pertaining to the book's writing. Correspondence is that of the Johnsons with publishers and reviewers, including Gordon Blackwell and Eugene Odum.
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Subseries 3.2. Southern Regional Council, 1941-1977 and undated.
Mostly administrative files, 1944-1977, of the Southern Regional Council (SRC), with additional scattered publications, a small number of confidential files maintained by Johnson, and files concerning the North Carolina Division of the Southern Regional Council.
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Subseries 3.2.1. Administrative Files, 1944-1977 and undated.
Mostly Johnson's correspondence, internal Southern Regional Council memoranda, and meeting minutes, agendas, and materials prepared for Executive Committee and Board meetings, with a few items discussing the origins of the SRC. Only limited correspondence appears for the period Johnson headed the organization.
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Subseries 3.2.2. Publications, 1941-1975 and undated.
Primarily scattered copies of Southern Regional Council serials and newsletters, with miscellaneous reports and booklets the SRC published, and background research materials for these publications.
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Subseries 3.2.3. Personal Files of Guy Johnson, 1942-1961 and undated.
Confidential correspondence and financial records Johnson maintained separately from the Southern Regional Council's central files. Correspondence, 1944-1947, is primarily with colleagues and other Council officials concerning personnel matters. Letters Johnson exchanged with his children and other family members appear interspersed with this correspondence. Financial records include expense accounts, budgets, salary lists, and financial status reports.
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Subseries 3.2.4. North Carolina Division of SRC, 1950-1957, 1965.
Correspondence, executive committee meeting materials and minutes, and miscellaneous items, including by laws, a list of officers, clippings, and notes on meetings, pertaining to the North Carolina Division of the Southern Regional Council.
| Folder 812-816 |
Correspondence, 1950-1955 #03826, Subseries: "3.2.4. North Carolina Division of SRC, 1950-1957, 1965." Folder 812-816Folder 812Folder 813Folder 814Folder 815Folder 816 |
| Folder 817 |
Executive Committee, 1951, 1954-1957 #03826, Subseries: "3.2.4. North Carolina Division of SRC, 1950-1957, 1965." Folder 817 |
| Folder 818 |
Miscellaneous #03826, Subseries: "3.2.4. North Carolina Division of SRC, 1950-1957, 1965." Folder 818 |
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Subseries 3.3. North Carolina Council on Human Relations, 1918-1965.
Files of the NCCHR and its precursor organization, the North Carolina Commission on Interracial Cooperation (which is probably related to the North Carolina Division of the Southern Regional Council), containing mostly correspondence and Executive Committee materials, with scattered booklets on race relations and conference materials.
Early correspondents are L. R. Reynolds, N. C. Newbold, C. C. Spaulding, Gurney Hood, Howard Odum, Emily Clay, and Edgar Thompson. Letters discuss committee business, finances, and the study on Negro Participation in Southern Life. Later correspondence is mostly with Cyrus Johnson, director of the NCHRR, and Harry S. Jones, its secretary.
Files contain memoranda, meeting minutes and agendas, press releases, reports of committee work, newspaper clippings, and membership lists. Of interest are reports by L. R. Reynolds on his investigation of a lynching in Pender County, N.C., in 1933.
Among the miscellaneous items is an undated petition on education entitled, "A Report to the North Carolina Legislature by a Group of Representative Negro Citizens Drawn from Various Parts of North Carolina."
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Subseries 3.4. Phelps-Stokes Fund Board of Trustees, 1947-1987 and undated.
Principally Board meeting materials, including minutes and agendas, and correspondence (mostly 1950s-1970s), with miscellaneous items pertaining to Board projects, and scattered minutes of Executive Committee meetings. Frequent correspondents are Directors Channing Tobias and Frederick Patterson, Secretary Frederick Rowe, and President Emory Ross. Letters discuss the study of African cultures, Christian missions in Africa, aid to Liberia, and projects on race relations in the United States. Of interest in the files is a plea for funds from a juvenile correctional institute for girls in Kinston, N.C., which includes information on the institute.
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Subseries 3.5. Howard University Board of Trustees, 1937-1975 and undated.
Primarily annual reports and binders prepared for Board meetings and for meetings of its Committee on Instruction and Research, which contain meeting minutes and information on financial and administrative matters transacted during the year. Other items are clippings, correspondence (mostly concerning meeting times and topics), miscellaneous programs for university functions, scattered copies of university publications, and personal notes made by Johnson on Board business. A few letters in 1968-1969, a few items in the miscellaneous materials, and most of the clippings discuss student unrest at Howard. Correspondents include James Cheeck, president, and G. Frederick Stanton, secretary, of Howard.
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Series 4. Professional Organizations and Activities, 1924-1986.
Arrangement: by type.
Files maintained by Johnson (and some by Katharine Jocher) pertaining to Johnson's professional activities. Includes extensive documentation of his participation in the Southern Sociological Society, of which he served as president in 1953-1954, and sketchy documentation of his work in the American Sociological Society, the Southern Anthropological Society, and the North Carolina Sociological Society. Items include chiefly correspondence, meeting and conference materials, and financial records.
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Subseries 4.1. Southern Sociological Society, 1936-1973, 1985-1986.
Files of Johnson and Katharine Jocher concerning the publication of the Journal of Social Forces, the official publication of the Society, and Society meetings and activities.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 4.1.1. Files of Katharine Jocher, 1936-1971.
Files maintained by Jocher, including correspondence concerning subscriptions to and articles published in Social Forces (which became the official organ of the Society in 1936), and membership lists. Much of the correspondence is with The Williams & Wilkins Company, publishers of Social Forces, and with potential and actual authors. Scattered letters also appear pertaining to Society business.
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Subseries 4.1.2. Files of Guy Johnson, 1935-1986.
Files, including mostly correspondence, 1935-1973, and annual meeting materials, of Guy Johnson related to his participation in the Southern Sociological Society. The correspondence discusses meetings and committee business. Meeting materials include agendas, programs, clippings, reports, correspondence, and budgets, and document both the Committee on Research and Nominating Committee. An item of interest is a copy of Johnson's presidential address given at the Society's convention in 1954.
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Subseries 4.2. American Sociological Society, 1924-1980.
Primarily correspondence, 1924-1980, related to annual meetings and special committees, along with annual meeting programs, and administrative and financial files pertaining to the ASA's Council, on which Johnson served between 1952 and 1954. Files contain scattered minutes and financial and work progress reports. Also appearing are vote tally sheets for candidates nominated to serve as officers.
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Subseries 4.3. American Anthropological Association, 1969-1970, 1972.
Scattered copies, 1969-1970, of the Association's newsletter and a notation of Johnson's voting on Resolutions by the Association in 1972.
| Folder 988 |
American Anthropological Association #03826, Subseries: "4.3. American Anthropological Association, 1969-1970, 1972." Folder 988 |
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Subseries 4.4. Southern Anthropological Association, 1967, 1970, 1986.
Drafts of papers and presentations by Johnson before the Southern Anthropological Association, including notes for a 1986 talk in which he reminisced on his early Saint Helena Island research, and papers given by others at Southern Anthropological Association meetings.
| Folder 989 |
Southern Anthropological Association #03826, Subseries: "4.4. Southern Anthropological Association, 1967, 1970, 1986." Folder 989 |
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Subseries 4.5. North Carolina Sociological Association, 1971-1973.
Correspondence concerning meetings and special events sponsored by the Association, a membership list, 1971-1972, and a program for the 1973 annual meeting.
| Folder 990 |
North Carolina Sociological Association #03826, Subseries: "4.5. North Carolina Sociological Association, 1971-1973." Folder 990 |
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Series 5. Research Projects, 1922-1977 and undated.
Files maintained by Johnson on projects he carried out during his years as a graduate student at the University of Chicago and University of North Carolina in the 1920s, and while a professor at University of North Carolina between 1927 and 1969. To the extent possible, Johnson's original folder headings have been retained. A few folders, including those with incorrect or illegible titles, have been assigned titles by the processor. In addition, some folders have been created by the processor from loose materials found in boxes. Research projects covered are Johnson's thesis work on the Ku Klux Klan; his dissertation research on the comparative musical ability of whites and blacks; his early work on African-American folk music, the John Henry legend, and the folklore, music, and language of Saint Helena Island, S.C.; his later sociological work on the effects of the Depression on African Americans and the social structure of the Indians of Robeson County, N.C.; and his work on the Myrdal Study of the American Negro, the Ashmore Project concerning the desegregation of higher education, and the Participation of Negroes in Southern Life Study. Items include correspondence, research and field notes, clippings, research materials such as interviews and surveys, autobiographical materials from study subjects, reports, financial records, draft manuscripts, and miscellaneous items.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 5.1. Ku Klux Klan Study, 1922-1933 and undated.
Primarily clippings, with scattered correspondence and miscellaneous Ku Klux Klan propaganda gathered by Johnson for his master's thesis. A few anti Klan items also appear. The bulk of the clippings appear between 1922 and 1925 and concern Klan activities in Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. (For additional clippings on the Klan in North Carolina, see Subseries 5.6.)
Correspondence consists of an invitation, dated 6 August 1923, to join the Texas Klan; a letter, dated 27 February 1924, from F. S. Roundtree of Corpus Christi, Texas, to Johnson, and Johnson's reply; and an undated note to Johnson from an anonymous writer typed on a Texas Klan memorandum. Attached to Roundtree's letter is an article he authored, entitled "Ku Klux Klan." Johnson's reply to Roundtree, dated 8 March 1924, but never mailed, responds to the article and provides an informative summary of his views on the Klan.
Other items include isolationist circulars dated 1923; a 1933 "Negroes Beware, Do Not Attend Communist Meetings" poster from Birmingham, Alabama; an undated pamphlet by William J. Simmons entitled, "Ku Klux Klan, Yesterday, Today, and Forever"; and an undated invitation to join the North Carolina Klan.
Included in the anti Klan materials are an undated anti lynching brochure published by the New York Commission on Race Relations and an undated report (4 p.) on the North Carolina Klan Revival prepared by the Anti Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
Miscellaneous items include a set of undated, typed notes labelled "On the Address by Doctor Hawkins on the Ku Klux Klan," probably written by Johnson, and an undated notice of the public sale of Klan paraphernalia.
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Subseries 5.2. Negro Folksongs and Folklore, 1922-1928.
Primarily songs, with scattered stories and riddles, collected by Johnson as background for his works coauthored with Howard Odum, including The Negro and His Folk Songs (1924). Also includes clippings, 1925-1926; hymn books, 1922 and undated; and an index card file of songs maintained by Johnson beginning in the early 1920s and later added to in the late 1920s on his visit to Saint Helena's Island.
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Subseries 5.3. Negro Musical Talent Study, 1926-1931.
Drafts and a bound version of Johnson's doctoral dissertation, "A Study of the Musical Talent of the American Negro," submitted to the University of North Carolina Department of Sociology in 1926; drafts of articles by Johnson based on his dissertation research; correspondence, 1926-1930; background information on the Seashore Musical Test; and completed tests, statistical analyses of results, and a test score card. Correspondents of note are Wesley Peacock, President of Peacock Military Academy in San Antonio, Texas; Robert Seashore of Stanford University; and Professor Joseph Peterson of George Peabody College for Teachers. Main topics in the correspondence are the results obtained using the Seashore Test and publication of Johnson's results.
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Subseries 5.4. John Henry Study, 1926-1976.
Mostly correspondence and chapter drafts, with additional clippings, research materials, and versions of the John Henry legend. Correspondence, covering 1926-1930, 1933-1935, 1938, and 1947-1948, is mostly with newspaper editors, professional colleagues, railroad officials, and individuals concerning various forms of the legend, contests Johnson sponsored, the construction of the Big Bend Tunnel, publication of his results, and responses to his book. Many handwritten and typed versions of the legend, both published and unpublished, submitted to Johnson by contestants and others, appear. Of note in the correspondence is a letter to Johnson from W. C. Handy, dated 29 July 1927, with an attached frontispiece for Handy's "The John Henry Blues."
Other items of interest include an undated broadside entitled "John Henry, The Steel Driving Man," by W. T. Blankenship, claimed to be the "oldest known printed form of the ballad of John Henry"; a draft of a play by Johnson entitled "John Henry, A [Musical] Play in Three Scenes"; musical notation for one version of the ballad; and field notes on the Big Bend Tunnel. Additional items are articles by Johnson and others about the John Henry legend, and materials, 1974-1976, on the John Henry Memorial Foundation. Photographs related to the legend appear in Series 12.
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Subseries 5.5. Saint Helena Island Study, 1928-1939 and undated.
Mostly field notes and research materials amassed by Johnson during a stay on Saint Helena Island in 1928, including versions of folk tales, songs, riddles, superstitions, and spirituals written down for Johnson by students at the Rosenwald, Penn, and Mulberry Hill Schools. Also appearing are limited correspondence, 1928-1936, 1939; clippings; draft chapters of Folk Culture on Saint Helena Island; reports and memoranda; and expense accounts, 1928.
The bulk of Johnson's notes are assigned to folders labeled "Field Notes." Others can be found in separate subject files. In his notes, Johnson made observations on the Gullah dialect, school buildings, local folklore, church services, the Woman's Labor Union, and living conditions. His correspondence is mostly with colleagues, record companies, and school and other officials on the Island, and discusses, among other things, the Gullah dialect, the origin of the spirituals (see especially 1930-1931), securing recording devices for field use, and access by other researchers to the Island. Correspondents of note are Rossa B. Cooley, principal of Penn School, George Foster Peabody, and J. Graham Cruikshank. Of interest are letters, 1928, from two women who did domestic work for the Johnsons during their stay on Saint Helena, two letters from Frankie Flood, possibly a student at Penn School, in 1932, and a brochure, attached to a letter dated 10 May 1928, on Sea Grass Co. baskets.
For information on school personnel at Port Royal, S.C., see folder labeled, "Superintendents and Teachers." Photographs of individuals and scenes on Saint Helena Island, 1928, appear in Series 12.
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Subseries 5.6. The Negro and Economic Reconstruction Study, 1932-1936, 1942.
Mostly research and administrative materials, including correspondence, research notes, reports, memoranda, surveys, pamphlets, expense sheets, interviews, and clippings, stemming from Johnson's participation in the Negro and Economic Reconstruction Study, funded in part by the Commission on Interracial Cooperation in the early 1930s. Almost all items pertain to the effect of the Depression on African Americans in North Carolina, especially Greensboro, High Point, and Winston Salem, but a few items discuss conditions outside the state.
Correspondence, most of it filed by subject, is with local, state, and Federal officials, business people, and educators, and concerns relief efforts and economic and social conditions for African Americans in various North Carolina localities and nationally. Of particular note is a series of letters received from the heads of African American colleges and schools discussing local race relations (see "Race Relations" file). Related to these letters is a list of excerpts on student accounts of race relations at Saint Augustine's College in Raleigh (see folder labeled "College Student Opinions [Saint Augustine's]"). Others of note in the correspondence are John Beecher of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and R. B. Eleazer of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. A particularly interesting letter, dated 15 November 1932, from Carolina Times editor L. E. Austin to Johnson, discusses organizational efforts among African Americans in Durham and elsewhere to protest job discrimination (see "Letters [Miscellaneous]").
Interviews include one with F. D. Bluford, president of North Carolina A&T College in Greensboro (see folder labeled "Greensboro"), which discusses the treatment of African Americans by relief agencies in that city. Notes Johnson made on interviews with Lawrence Oxley, Director of Negro Welfare Work in Raleigh, and Durham businessman C. C. Spaulding, also appear.
Among study reports are those submitted to Johnson by Arthur Raper on conditions for African Americans in Georgia (see folder labeled "Federal Emergency Relief Administration") and on the effects of the National Recovery Act on Southern blacks (see folder labeled "National Recovery Act."); those submitted by James T. Taylor on conditions in Greensboro, High Point, and Winston Salem; and Johnson's own "Preliminary Report on the Depression and the Negro in North Carolina."
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Subseries 5.7. Lumbee Indians (Robeson County, N.C.) Study, 1882; 1913-1977.
Principally correspondence, clippings, farm and migration schedules, field and research notes, and census data collected by Johnson, his wife Guion Griffis Johnson, and son Benton on the Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, N.C. Also included are notes on interviews with county residents; reports, articles, and public addresses Guy and Benton Johnson prepared on the Lumbee; and miscellaneous items related to other North Carolina and Southeastern Indians.
Correspondence, 1935-1971 (bulk dates 1943-1971), is primarily with academic colleagues, research assistants, government officials, and Robeson County community and religious leaders and concerns the history and genealogy of the Lumbee, Johnson's plans to live in Pembroke in 1948, the finances of Johnson's 1948-1949 study (funded by the Carnegie Foundation), the struggle of various Indians to gain Federal recognition, and the activities of research assistants. No letters appear for 1944, 1946, 1952-1953, 1955, 1960-1961, 1963-1967. Several letters discuss the Houma Indians of Louisiana. One item of particular interest is a review Johnson wrote for a National Science Foundation research proposal in 1968 (see attachment, letter 2 February 1968), in which he discusses why he chose to stop doing research on the Lumbee people.
Early items are a 3 March 1882 issue of the Cherokee Advocate; a 1913 printed copy of an address delivered before the New York Society of the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America concerning the Lost Colony; and a 1916 reprint of an article by Frank G. Speck, entitled "Remnants of the Machapunga Indians of North Carolina."
Clippings, 1937-1972, cover the Lumbee and other North Carolina Indians, including the Cherokee, Waccamaw, and Haliwa, as well as Indians elsewhere, including the Navajo. A few complete issues of the Pembroke Progress (1948), Red Springs Citizen (1937), and Robesonian (Lumberton, N.C., 1938-1939) appear. Several clippings pertain to Ku Klux Klan activity in Robeson County (see folder 1209).
Detailed census type data can be found in farm family and migration schedules for Robeson County residents. Though not dated, these schedules were probably completed by research assistant Adloph Dial in 1948 or 1949. Farm schedules appear for approximately 340 families, and migration schedules appear for over 100.
Notes on interviews conducted with over 20 Robeson County residents in 1948 1949 give a partial picture of the social customs and political and religious life of the Lumbee. Copious field notes made by Guy and Guion Griffis Johnson on visits to Robeson County in 1938-1939 and 1948-1949 also shed light on the history, church services, language patterns, social behavior, folk medicine, and political status of the Lumbee. They also document race relations.
Miscellaneous items of interest are catalogues for the Cherokee Indian Normal School in Pembroke, N.C., 1935-1936, and the Pembroke State College for Indians, 1941, 1947; an undated, 4 p., mimeographed publication of the Indian Child Welfare Association of Pembroke, entitled "Helping Our Children"; and a playbill for "The Life Story of a People," presented in 1940 at Pembroke State College for Indians.
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Subseries 5.8. Participation of Negroes in Southern Life Study, 1924-1941 and undated.
Administrative, correspondence, and subject files related to Johnson's work on the Participation of Negroes in Southern Life Study.
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Subseries 5.8.1. Administrative Files, 1931-1937.
Files related to the design and administration of the study, including materials on study expenses (e.g., budgets, expense accounts), methods and procedures, and outlines of study plans. Additional materials include mailing lists, bibliographies, and miscellaneous pamphlets, including several on wage agreements for coal miners in Alabama and Tennessee.
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Subseries 5.8.2. Correspondence Files, 1934-1936.
Limited correspondence with fellow researchers, professional colleagues, and study participants concerning the design, administration, funding, and conduct of the study, as well as civil rights, lynching, and employment.
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Subseries 5.8.3. Subject Files, 1924-1941 and undated.
Clippings, correspondence, surveys, research notes, pamphlets and brochures, press releases, articles, and miscellaneous items pertaining to research areas covered in the Study, including primarily agriculture, education, politics, and race relations.
Limited correspondence, filed by subject, is that of District Farm Agent John W. Mitchell with farm demonstration agents in North Carolina and Johnson's correspondence with physicians, school administrators, political activists, and others. Topics of interest include tenant farming in North Carolina and black education in the South, especially West Virginia.
Surveys address discrimination experiences and school bussing. Information appears in the surveys on the educational levels, economic status, and newspaper reading habits of their completers.
Items of special interest include a few brochures and miscellaneous items on the Durham and Detroit Housewives' Leagues, flyers and other materials concerning textile and mining strikes in North Carolina and Kentucky (circa 1929), a 6 page sketch entitled "Life and Personality of an Old Colored Lady, Myma Tuck," by E. D. Hancock, which records an interview with a Chapel Hill woman on her life (see folder "Mental Hygiene"); an account by a white woman, Mattie Moore Melvin, of "A Dinner Taken by a White Family in a Negro Home" (1935, 4 pages) in Eastern, North Carolina; an address, 29 April 1936, by James E. Shepard at the North Carolina Conference on Social Science, entitled "Racial Discriminations" (see "Miscellaneous Correspondence"); and several issues of the Durham, N.C., Carolina Times dated 1936, 1938, 1940, and undated (see Clippings, Miscellaneous).
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Subseries 5.9. Myrdal Study, 1856; 1925-1942 and undated.
Arrangement: by type.
Files related to the administration and planning of Gunnar Myrdal's Study of the American Negro, in which Guy and Guion Griffis Johnson participated between 1938 and 1942, and to the Johnsons' research efforts for the Study. Materials include correspondence, staff memoranda, field reports, manuscripts and drafts, clippings, research notes, interviews, personal narratives, questionnaires and surveys, and miscellaneous research items. Most of the materials pertaining to Guy Johnson's work appear in the Project Files for Personality and Cultural Traits of the Negro, The Negro and Crime, "The Negro Problem," and The Legal Status of the Negro. Most of those related to Guion Griffis Johnson's work appear in the Project Files for "The Negro Problem" and The Church and the Race Problem.
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Subseries 5.9.1. Administrative and Corporate Files, 1938-1943 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Primarily correspondence and staff memoranda, with scattered study outlines, methodological notes, time schedules, and study reports. Correspondence, 1938-1943, is mostly that of Guy Johnson with Gunnar Myrdal and various researchers working on the study, including Arthur Raper, Ruth Landes, and Samuel Stouffer. A few letters of Guion Griffis Johnson also appear. Topics include early study plans and personnel, data gathering, and the production of manuscripts. Staff memoranda give a good overview of the Johnsons' role in developing ideas for the study, and discuss progress in various research areas, including crime, racial ideologies, religion, education, and the black press.
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Subseries 5.9.2. Project Files, 1856; 1925-1942 and undated.
Arrangement: by project.
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Subseries 5.9.2.1. Personality and Cultural Traits of the Negro, 1938-1940 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Mostly manuscripts prepared and research materials gathered for the section of the study related to African American cultural and physical traits. Items include memoranda, limited correspondence of Guy Johnson, scholarly papers on related topics, clippings, research notes, and bibliographies. Among the manuscripts are Johnson's "Memorandum on Personality and Cultural Traits of the Negro" and Ruth Landes' "The Ethos of the Negro in the New World."
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Subseries 5.9.2.2. The Negro and Crime, 1925; 1936-1942 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Draft manuscript and critics' responses, limited correspondence of Guy Johnson, autobiographies of criminals, clippings, background research notes, bibliographies, and miscellaneous research items.
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Subseries 5.9.2.3. The Negro Problem, 1856; 1925-1940 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Files on studies of racial attitudes (Guy) and racial ideologies (Guion) in the United States, including manuscripts and drafts; critics' comments; memoranda; correspondence; questionnaires and surveys; clippings, 1925, 1927-1928, and undated; research notes; and scholarly papers. Correspondence concerning racial attitudes is mostly with Charles S. Johnson. One 1856 item is a 48 p. pamphlet entitled "A Plan of Brotherly Copartnership of the North and South for the Peaceful Extinction of Slavery" by Elihu Burritt (see folder labeled "Racial Ideologies--Miscellaneous Research Materials.")
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Subseries 5.9.2.4. The Church and the Race Problem, 1934-1940 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Manuscript and drafts; critics' responses; clippings; pamphlets on religious denominations; research notes; limited correspondence, 1940, of Guion Griffis Johnson; background papers; and field reports. Of interest is a report describing a service held by the followers of George Hill (Father Divine) in Harlem (see "Churches").
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Subseries 5.9.2.5. Legal Status of the Negro, 1938-1939 and undated.
Draft of Legal Status of the Negro, an outline for the manuscript, and two folders of correspondence with directors of charitable and penal institutions in North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri, West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas.
| Folder 1422 |
Outline, etc. #03826, Subseries: "5.9.2.5. Legal Status of the Negro, 1938-1939 and undated." Folder 1422 |
| Folder 1423-1427 |
Legal Status of the Negro (Draft) #03826, Subseries: "5.9.2.5. Legal Status of the Negro, 1938-1939 and undated." Folder 1423-1427Folder 1423Folder 1424Folder 1425Folder 1426Folder 1427 |
| Folder 1428-1429 |
Segregation in Charitable and Penal Institutions #03826, Subseries: "5.9.2.5. Legal Status of the Negro, 1938-1939 and undated." Folder 1428-1429Folder 1428Folder 1429 |
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Subseries 5.9.2.6. Miscellaneous Projects, 1931-1942 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Mostly research outlines and notes, with scattered correspondence, clippings, questionnaires, and miscellaneous items kept by the Johnsons on Study areas with which they were peripherally involved. Topics best covered are African American artists, the race's legal status, and fraternal lodges. Items of note include biographical sketches of and clippings on the work of William Arthur Cooper, a Charlotte, North Carolina painter, and a 1931 address by Alain Locke on "The Negro in Art." Guy Johnson's correspondence (interfiled by subject), consists of a few letters, dated early 1930s, concerning artists, and copies of memoranda by Gunnar Myrdal.
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Subseries 5.9.3. Miscellaneous Materials, 1939-1940 and undated.
Mostly background research notes compiled by Guion Griffis Johnson, summaries of interviews with black and white community leaders conducted by Guy Johnson and Gunnar Myrdal in several midwestern and northeastern cities in 1939-1940, and personal accounts contributed by research subjects. The latter consist of an autobiographical sketch of a man concerning his experiences passing for white, a West African visitor's observations on African Americans, and comments on the race problem by a Jewish judge in Savannah, Georgia. Several union newsletters from Dayton, Ohio, appear in folder 1 of 2 of the Cleveland and Dayton Interviews. Of interest in the interviews is one with Dr. Lionel A. Francis, President General of the Parent Body of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in New York.
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Subseries 5.10. Ashmore Project (Desegregation of Colleges Study), 1951-1966 and undated.
Correspondence, field notes, interviews, articles, and reports related to Johnson's participation in the 1953 Ashmore Study of the Fund for the Advancement of Education, and surveys, correspondence, clippings, draft chapters, and miscellaneous items pertaining to Johnson's later 1956 study of desegregation, which grew out of his earlier Ashmore research.
Of note in the early materials is a project report for the Ashmore study, several detailed reports on desegregation at individual Southern public and religious schools, and the correspondence of Malcolm Calhoun with Protestant school officials. Of particular interest is a 13 p., undated first hand account, written by Jerome H. Long, of a black student's experiences at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.
Surveys and correspondence in 1956 cover the desegregation status of both black and white Southern schools.
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Series 6. Subject Files, 1922-1981 and undated.
Arrangement: by subject.
Mostly miscellaneous files on various subjects of interest to Johnson, with a significant number of files he maintained on trips he took to Africa between 1959 and 1972. Materials include correspondence, pamphlets and booklets, conference materials, reports, clippings, obituaries and biographical sketches, financial records, and miscellaneous other items. Topics covered include civil rights and desegregation, music, direct-mail advertising, African-American political power, and the careers of Johnson's academic colleagues.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 6.1. Africa, 1949-1972 and undated.
Files Johnson maintained on African visitors to the United States and on trips he took to Rhodesia and several West African nations between 1959 and 1972 and while teaching at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. His trips were financed by the Ford Foundation and the Phelps-Stokes Fund. Materials include correspondence, notes on and reports of his observations, financial records, newsletters from Rhodes University, articles by others on African topics, maps, and miscellaneous other items.
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Subseries 6.2. Miscellaneous Subjects, 1922-1982 and undated.
Miscellaneous materials Johnson collected on various subjects of interest to him, including civil rights, desegregation, education, music, and direct-mail advertising, and numerous obituaries and biographical sketches (some of which he prepared) for his colleagues. Many of the files bear Johnson's original titles. Others were created from loose materials and titled by the processor. A number of files appear on the Delta Upsilon Foundation. Materials include clippings, correspondence, pamphlets and booklets, conference materials, sociological reports, addresses (one by Adlai Stephenson), and other items. Of note are letters to the editor of the Montgomery Advertiser (1942) objecting to the use of racist language in a news story; a folder entitled "Letters, Notes, Showing Negro Attitudes" (Johnson's title), which contains communications from several maids Johnson employed; and several copies of the Daily Huntsville (Ala.) Confederate (July-October 1863) and a copy of the 22 September 1909 Huntsville Weekly Democrat (see folder 1538).
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Series 7. Writings, Addresses, and Personal Notes, 1917-1987 and undated.
Scholarly and personal writings, public addresses, and college class notes of Johnson. The bulk of the material consists of texts and notes Johnson prepared for speeches before scholarly, fraternal, and public audiences and notes Johnson took on courses as a graduate student at the University of Chicago and University of North Carolina Also included are journal articles, book reviews, short stories, and a play. Includes his 1917 valedictory speech and his autobiographical "My Love Affair With Music and Other Personal Recollections."
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 7.1. Fiction and Personal Writings, 1925-1926, 1986 and undated.
A play, 1925; two short stories, including drafts, 1925-1926; and an autobiographical memoir, 1986, prepared by Johnson.
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Subseries 7.2. Articles and Book Reviews, 1928-1958 and undated.
Originals and reprints of newspaper and scholarly journal articles and book reviews written by Johnson.
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Subseries 7.3. Addresses and Interviews, 1917-1987 and undated.
Public and academic addresses made by Johnson, primarily between 1930 and 1987, mostly on desegregation and African-American education. Other topics are the Gullah dialect and African-American political participation. Of note are Johnson's 1917 high school valedictory address and a 1968 interview with him heard on "The Voice of America" radio show.
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Subseries 7.4. College Class Notes and Materials, 1921-1926, 1936-1937.
Class notes and other materials Johnson kept from courses he took as a Master's student at the University of Chicago during 1921-1922 and as a Ph.D. student at University of North Carolina during 1924-1926, as well as scattered notes on seminars he attended at the University of Chicago in 1936-1937 while a research fellow of the Social Sciences Research Institute. Items include grade reports, exam papers, and course readings.
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Series 8. Teaching Materials, 1930-1966.
Arrangement: by course number and name.
Lectures and notes, background materials, examinations and quizzes, student papers, syllabi, bibliographies, class handouts, and clippings related to graduate and undergraduate level sociology and anthropology courses Johnson taught at University of North Carolina from the 1930s through the 1960s. Files also appear on courses Johnson taught as a visiting professor at Louisiana State University, Emory University, the University of Hawaii, and Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Course topics include United States race relations; the economic, social, and religious life of African Americans; the peoples of the African continent; invention and discovery; magic, witchcraft, and superstition; social change; social stratification; and cultural diffusion.
Of particular interest are writings by students on superstitions heard in their childhoods (see Sociology 151--Social Anthropology [Superstitions of Students]); a report by a student who attended an African American church service in Southern Pines, N.C., in 1932; and an account by a student of a female African American house servant's views of African American preachers (see Sociology 125--The Negro [Religion]).
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Series 9. Miscellaneous Pamphlets, Booklets, and Other Printed Materials, 1830-1973 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical by title.
Principally 20th-century pamphlets, booklets, newsletters, and other printed publications, with scattered pamphlets from the antebellum and Reconstruction periods, discussing politics, slavery, religion, and labor. Includes several volumes of poetry.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 9.1. Antebellum, 1830-1860.
Two antislavery tracts, 1854, 1860; an 1850 pamphlet on crime and the London "ragged schools"; and an 1830 treatise on Primitive Methodism.
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Subseries 9.2. Reconstruction, 1868-1869 and undated.
An 1867 report of the American Missionary Association, an 1868 appeal to the Senate for Southern self-government, an 1869 speech on the need for a new monetary system, and an undated pamphlet on the history of slavery in the Methodist church.
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Subseries 9.3. Twentieth Century, 1917-1973.
Political pamphlets, including several of the Communist Party; books of poems; university and employee publications; reports of sociological studies; and other publications, mostly pertaining to race relations and civil rights, labor, and sharecropping. Most of the Communist Party pamphlets are addressed to African Americans.