Committee on Appeal for Human Rights, 1960-1961

This small collection of ephemera provides a glimpse of the involvement in the civil rights movement by students from the Atlanta University Center schools - Atlanta University, Gammon Theological Seminary, and Clark, Morehouse, Morris Brown, and Spelman Colleges. The collection includes newspaper and journal articles, flyers, reports, and correspondence by and about students from the AUC schools and a few items about student activities in other areas in the United States. There are also slides and photographs reproduced from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Of note are copies of An Appeal for Human Rights written by student leaders from the AUC schools who organized themselves as the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights. The Appeal set forth the student's grievances, rights, and aspirations as well as their dissatisfaction with the status quo conditions of segregation and discrimination and the slow pace at which inherent human and civil rights were being meted out to African Americans. The Appeal was published as a full-page ad in the March 9, 1960 editions of Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta Journal, and Atlanta Daily World. It was subsequently published in the New York Times, providing national awareness of student activism in the civil rights struggle in Atlanta. The issuance of the Appeal was followed by sit-ins and pickets at specifically targeted businesses, government and transportation facilities in Atlanta and Fulton County, Georgia and kneel-ins at churches. The Committee on Appeal for Human Rights also brought a civil lawsuit against the city of Atlanta that led to the opening of publicly funded recreational facilities to all citizens of Atlanta. The participants in the Atlanta student movement organized commemorative reunions, 1990 and 2000 to re-examine the civil rights movement and discuss current efforts and projections for the future. On March 31, 2000 veterans of the Atlanta student movement issued a second "Appeal" noting that there is still much work to be done to achieve justice and equality for all Americans. The second "Appeal" was published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta Daily World, Atlanta Voice, and Atlanta Inquirer. Programs, minutes, correspondence, and news articles from the reunions are included in the collection.