Velma and J. O. Powell Collection

Collection

Identifier: MC 1367

Staff Only
Not requestable

Scope and Content Note

Papers pertaining to the Little Rock Central High School integration crisis (1957-1959) and the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC). The collection includes an account of the events by J. O. Powell, along with notes and correspondence to a nephew, Tim DeLaney. Also included in the collection are photocopies of several other accounts: an unpublished book, The Embattled Ladies of Little Rock, by Vivion Lenon Brewer, one of the founders of WEC; an oral history interview of Brewer; a diary kept by Adolphine Fletcher Terry, another founder of WEC; an account by Sara Alderman Murphy, later published as Breaking the Silence: Little Rock's Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools, 1958-1963; and other papers.

Dates

ca 1958-1979

Creator

Powell, Velma (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Access Information

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Use Information

Use Restrictions Apply: Many of the items in the collection are photocopies of originals. For these items, the holder of the original should be contacted for copies or permissions.

No Interlibrary Loan.

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Biographical Note

J. O. Powell was vice-principal for boys at Central High during the crisis, and his wife Velma Powell was one of the founders of WEC.

Extent

0.75 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Additional Description

Arrangement of the Papers

The unbound pages were originally mixed and out of order.

Acquisition Information

Papers pertaining to the Little Rock Central High School integration crisis (1957-1959) and the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) were donated to Special Collections by Kathy DeLaney Eccles, June 1997.