by Jade Flint
The Amistad Research Center (ARC) is proud to announce that the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded ARC a museum grant for African American History and Culture! With this $99,978 award, IMLS will fund the archival processing (arrangement, description, and preservation) of the papers of radio host and human rights activist Joe Madison and civil rights leader and government official Benjamin L. Hooks.
“African Americans’ involvement in radio is under-theorized and lacks sufficient generalizations,” says Black communications scholar Dr. Bala J. Baptiste. Baptiste adds, “scholarship concerning Blacks in broadcasting needs more insight and detail that allows individuals to better explain relevant social behavior.” The project, “Media and Civil Rights: Preserving the Papers of African Americans in Broadcast Media,” seeks to remove any hindrances to researchers’ access and address long-term preservation of archival collections related to two important figures who contributed prominently, and in the case of Joe Madison, still contributing, to the intersecting problems of race and media. By supporting the use of primary source research materials documenting the work of African American participation in broadcasting and mass media, ARC encourages our wide audience of scholars, students, teachers, documentary filmmakers and podcasters, members of the press, and the general public to pursue serious study on the societal, political, and cultural impact of African Americans in broadcast and mass media on the global community.
We are incredibly grateful for the generous support of IMLS through this grant, and the opportunity to give our researchers better access to these incredible collections on African American broadcasting!
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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