“Rituals and Rites," Melanin Conference, 1987

This collection of personal papers provides insight about Lemoine A. DeLeaver Pierce, Professor of Legal Studies and cultural historian. Pierce is a teacher whose commitment to life long learning stems from a continuing need to supplement her formal education, and a long standing family commitment to education. Professor Pierce has taught at: Kennesaw State University, the Keller Graduate School of Management, Morris Brown College, Clark Atlanta University, and the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. The collection is rich in family history and documents Pierce's professional career and multidisciplinary interests in law, world cultures and art history. Additionally, the papers provide insight into Lemoine Pierce as a researcher, critical thinker, and author.

Professor Pierce has expertise in business, constitutional and family law and in ADR/alternative dispute resolution (the out of court settlement of conflicts through negotiation, mediation or arbitration). A pioneer and trainer in the early development of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs at the national and local level in the United States, she is co-author of the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators (published jointly by the American Arbitration Association, American Bar Association, and Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution in 1995). She founded and was director of the School for Dispute Resolution in Atlanta from 1993-1999, is founding director and past president of the Family Mediation Association of Georgia (FMAG), and holds lifetime memberships in leading organizations in the field. Her papers include copies of The Exchange, the newsletter of FMAG which she edited, and writings in leading ADR journals, course syllabi and other documentation of her affiliations and contributions to the field. Included is her research paper "The Significance of Silence in the Resolution of Disputes: Western and Non-Western Cultures," published by the Consortium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Georgia State University College of Law in 1994.

Also of interest are Pierce's cultural history publications, research materials and illustrations. Her biographical essay on Harlem Renaissance artist Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977) was published in 2004 as the cover story of Hampton University Museum of Fine Art's International Review of African American Art. Her monograph George Washington Carver: Scientist, Artist and Musician (published in 2006 by the Balch Library of History and Genealogy in Leesburg, Vir.) is distributed by the National Park Service at its Carver Birthplace Monument and Tuskegee Carver Museum sites. While attending Rutgers University Law School (1976-1980), she did an independent research project on Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. under the supervision of Professor Arthur Kinoy (Professor Kinoy successfully represented Powell before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 when the House of Representatives refused to seat him). This paper and research materials for Assassination of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. are included in Pierce's collection. Her subsequent monograph on the Congressman, A Research Guide to the Life & Legislative Achievements of Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (published in 2004 by the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History) contains a preface written by his son, Adam Clayton Powell, III. Her publication Billy Pierce, Dance Master-Son of Purcellville (also published by the Balch Library of Geneology and History) has been included in the libraries of the Purcellville Public Schools. Billy Pierce (Pierce's father-in-law) was a journalist and Black dance impresario in New York in the 1920's. He reported on the Harlem Renaissance for the Chicago Defender, and owned the world's largest stage dance studio that catered to a Broadway musical comedy celebrity clientele.

Also of note among her papers are art history research files and illustrations compiled from her trips to Egypt and to Spain which resulted in her presentation on "European Worship of Afrikan Madonnas: From Isis to Aunt Jemima" which was presented to community and university audiences through the U.S for several years. The text of the presentation is in the collection as well as slides, posters, photographs and other depictions of images of “Black Madonna” that have been created throughout the world.

There is also extensive material related to Pierce's family and origins. The collection includes Flossie DeLeaver's 1931 Dunbar High School diploma, as well as Pierce's eldest aunt's (Nannie Eldean White) Master's degree from Columbia University, and extensive family correspondence, news articles, certificates, obituaries and photographs from her maternal relatives, as well as extensive genealogical material related to her paternal grandfather, John DeLeaver, Sr.. Also included are photographs of her Uncle and Aunt Claude and Dorothy Gibrilla's diplomatic activities, and personal correspondence from Dorothy Girbrilla.

Other materials reflect Pierce's student and professional life. Several of her graduate art history research papers are included, as well as photographs, news articles and notes from study abroad trips. The papers also contain news articles, correspondence, campus memos, interviews and writings that document the B.O.S.S presence on Columbia University's campus, including information on B.O.S.S. reunions. There is also correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia of Barnard’s Black students, including an autographed copy of Ntozake Shange's first published book of poetry, Phat Mama.

There are also items that document Pierce's work in dispute resolution and as a teacher. There is a copy of the City of Jacksonville Disparity Study that was issued in 1990 for D.J. Miller & Associates. And the papers include student evaluations and letters, as well as syllabi, examinations, and bibliographies from Pierce's courses and guest lectures at multiple Georgia institutions of higher learning.