an important founder and some argue the founder, the indispensable man to whom all the others looked up to . . >>

>> we're in chicago and illinois. >> what is special? >> the vivien harsh collection. >> the first african american branch manager in the chicago public library system she is my mentor of the special negro collection we now call the harsh research collection. >> what is the negro collection? >> when it started in the black community in 1932 as the first full-service black library for that community pressure was the first branch manager and had a mission to create a place for people to learn and continue lifelong learning how to read and anything that they needed to know how

to do so to that end she would bring in special book so our people to talk about things that were going on around the city or the country it was just fantastic career and her counterpart were at the library at that point. >> host: where were they physically? >> is started at 48 and michigan did you ever get a chance to look there the building is still there the architecture is fantastic. was very unique at that time because there was room for adults and teenagers and children it was the only black library in the community at that time it was 1932. chicago because of large part was robert abbott who at the time knew that

chicago was a place to come to have freedom of choice and better education to leave the lynch mobs so he worked with the chicago defender that was the newspaper he died 1905 he and the reporters worked he and if he and if you look at the early reports talking about the population that was not a very literate he advertised, they would jump the train they left in the middle of the night it came to chicago. >> host: and vivian harsh collected what? >> black history. she collected black

newspapers anything that would speak to the black experience she is a historian who never wrote her wherever she left a big footprint. in the early papers she was a socialite you would see her at the party's but under the tutelage of others she became a social activist so she started to go to the schomburg center looking at other collections to see what made up a collection and with a foundation grant should make these trips and started to collect the books on black history there were not any at that time but she put them in a bookcase in her office that she called the special negro collection and from what people tell me today, she didn't let anybody go in the room you had to prove you were worthy

and that is the nucleus of our collection. >> how large is the collection today? >> we have over 4,000 pieces of a manuscript collection collection, 3,440,000 books that changes we have one of the largest periodical collections in the united states because he started collecting 1932 so we have every issue of every jet digest. the chicago defender on microfilm we even have some from a magazine collection that didn't last but we still have a few additions. >> host: i know we will look at defender items today is is still published? >> yes it is. it is now weekly it started off as a weekly 1840 it went

daily and then recently how it has gone back weakly but it is still very popular and influential and heavily read in the black community. >> host: who uses of vivian harsh collection or who can't? >> we are open seven days a week but it is wonderful because our constituents are from cradle to grave and i truly mean that. doesn't matter if you are black or white because people from all races and genders come some even come international from france or japan or great britain to use the collection and this case the we're standing in front of the that they use of collection they use the manuscript collection then they write their books i

love this title but he talks about the lives of gospel music in chicago from early church figures and one who is a professor right now northwestern doing a book on the black chicago renaissance that i am happy to say we really have promoted that because everybody has always talked about the harlem renaissance but once that died down the money dried up in so then there really started and it came to chicago to finish the research. >> the chicago renaissance was about 1937 through the early '60s.

>> host: what was it like? >> are we located right now in the african-american neighborhood? >> yes we are. actually remember fdr started the project for the people in these communities to go back to work you had writers and photographers and camera people and musicians to go out into the black community so it would be open to them to get their story. we still do that today african-americans going into the community to find out where did your grandfather come from? i have a firsthand story they met people that were members of the south black community and is still

probably one of the few that is lasting under fdr so chicago has a lot to boast about. >> host: what about the bookselling the race? >> he looks at the economy during that time period what worked and what did did he spend a lot of time explaining the rise of the black press like johnson or chicago defender the courier so he does a lot of say during the black migration period and world war i and world war ii there is some fantastic work one of the books that people really liked is a subject matter that people knew about especially the older people.

of the policy yesterday's lottery policy kings and the numbers. >> exactly that was lottery? >> it was. we legalized it. [laughter] in those days it was the number we'll i remember my anti-said go down the street we say $0.5 on this or on that and somebody else turns the wheel to give the numbers out the later the state decided to legalize and now we have a lottery today. >> people do what they had to do to make it to take care of their children. >> how did you end up here? >> i started at the rehabilitation institutional was working there but i was getting pretty tired 81 dash

retired someone back to college to get my master's of library science. >> host: where's the connection? >> this collection was always in the black community so when it was up 48 and michigan i was there when i moved your i followed it because everything you needed to know you could find in the harsh research collection the most exciting new books that people talk about so they always found me in the assistant curator at the time said wider he become a librarian? he said you were always out here. so believe it or not the next time i came down here he had an application to the college that he made me fill out right then and there and i was accepted and when i graduated he said do calling to interview? he set one up for you he did

i went down and was interviewed and i was higher the next day i started in 86 and have never regretted it since. >> host: you philae when on vacation. [laughter] that was the holiday was very blast. >> i have not been at this site but with chicago public library. >> so what is your role with the vivian harsh collection? >> i am a library and but i am also an archivist by passion and by choice away kerry both roles to o the library and it does reference services but also an archivist who loves being of the people. [laughter] >> host: and somebody said i really interested in

richard wright could you help them? >> definitely. >> host: where are we? >> we are leading into the gallery we tried to do to exhibits per year and since you guys were coming out we decided to put this out for you asking about richard wright, everybody knows richard wright a black man and lived in chicago for a while before he went to new york he spent more time in new york but he had such a huge influence on chicago renaissance through that period some of the material out here on the table here is the picture of vivian harsh and richard wright he has an autographed copy that she said to her in the

library. >> host: was vivian harsh white? >> no. she was very light earlier they were light enough to pass for white. >> that meant they could fit into a society with no animosity of the society that was around them that was mostly white. >> host: this is a first draft? >> this is the first draft of a black boy and. >> typing the editing and even shows where he lived. in indianapolis three of four blocks of a state street. this is fantastic because it

is all about stripping away the innocence because of the black boys in the south somewhere having a time playing running and jumping like teenage boys do then they decide they will go swimming in the swimming hole one says mr. holliday dole like that the other says let's try it. so they took off their clothes and they heard something when they looked up they saw a white lady standing there she had come upon them unexpectedly they immediately felt fear because they knew there were not supposed to do -- be there two of them run away she started screaming they never do say in the book if it was the husband but some guy came along with a shotgun shot two of them

right then and there and they died then he said boy give me that again in what he was fighting for it discharged and killed the white guy he also felt freer and ran home so the story is about how four young men go from the idyllic childhood to an angry young man because now you run for your life and leave your home in your running to the north. >> host: he wrote this book in chicago? >> yes. 1936 as part of a later publication of local tom's children. >> the white man threw him to the ground they ran up

and jumped on to the white man's back black son of a. >> you have to love the language you could see the interior and richard wright even than. is pope to the public because they were feeling that anger and disconnect in america with the land of opportunity. >> host: so is there a black population to buy the book to read the book. >> they didn't publish this in 1936 by remember the hall branch library that meant the public was invited people like richard wright or langston hughes that was their home place in

their meeting place city, and in and listen to people richard wright they could read their works so in that sense, yes the public got a chance. remember we said basically they could not read or write so to be invited to an author's talk reading his own work was fantastic. >> host: 1936 most african-americans here in the area? >> made its labor selling newspaper. >> host: did they fare better than the south? >> in the south it was the extension of the bovine infestation it wasn't a big job to pick the koch and his now they have machines you have jim-crow. lynching.

it is pretty much better to leave and there are no jobs because after world war ii the sheriff would come in that meant i could borrow money to rent your landor former arab and/or the equipment for europe and so by the time the harvest came i had to give you my whole paycheck nothing to show for the whole year. >> host: you mentioned langston hughes. >> before we show you him away to show you two more things. right here i have her collection she was managing editor and introduced ebony to third world countries like africa and was a manager for ebony africa i bring her up because at the same time she was writing richard wright the world

knows richard wright and admires him there the professionals in the field because his anchor was louder than her humor she had the same coming from the south to be discriminated that as a woman she had to find another way so she used humor so as her collection is processing queue will see a lot of books coming out that compares them. she did her autobiography africa the land of my father and gave as the manuscript it was published the same time as richard wright black power was published there both stories of their years in africa. everybody has read this book aerogel thompson it is called africa land of my father's.

>> host: can you buy that today? >> yes. people have not noticed her yet but trust me just like the chicago renaissance you will be hearing about her. are brought this out as you could see how beautiful her paper is from 1963 from the minister we have so much great technology that i could call on one of my colleagues to translate even though i can't read it. >> host: ebony christ jesus. >> i am going to read the first paragraph. >> yes ma'am. >> the subject of the world divides as the subject of race. racism into various degrees is a plague on humanity for thousands of years and i believe that the road continues to be sharply divided by race not united

by the lord jesus. is in that fantastic? early career and it seems this collection is so vibrant and so alive you concede the mixture you can see the connection of her working for johnson and 47 and richard wright coming to tell his story. >> host: who were the johnsons? >> the publisher and founder of "ebony" magazine and jet. >> i believe he started ebony 1945 so he lived in the same time frame right here in chicago and this is something important to remember about chicago humanity offers, they were

all here almost at the same time their lives connected in they believe they were given whatever choices they were given to pull somebody else up so it was all about service to the community which was thin in with the library missions. >> now we have langston hughes started here in chicago because of the french chippy made here he spent a lot of his time here and also wrote the first draft and this is his editing begin in you have the original. >> we do. this is a copy that was in bad shape be directed to preservation so we had a new cover put on so the public can utilize and it is great

because a lot of people like to come and see the edited editions and then compare to the finished product. >> how long did he stay? >> between the two there is about a 20 year span of letters he didn't spend all that time in chicago as you wetback to new york but he kept coming back and forth and back in those-- the pen was a mighty weapon because people had to use the letters to communicate with each other now we have the internet and whatever else and smart phones but because of the letters we got a chance to see their developing friendship is

said ms. thompson thank you for publishing my poem. you can see the friendship growing and i found this in the collection of businesses his autographed copy i put this out here because it was also written by those that were head of the illinois writers' project also within this portrait is an early poll of from gwendolyn brooks as the people like to come in to see the autographed copy researchers like to see their early writings.

>> host: if somebody wanted to cover in and say i saw on booktv the original draft by langston hughes, could they? >> of course, . we have some of the most wonderful resources for the public's to use in the united states is simply means you have to fill out a patron registration form to tell us who you are and what you want to see. man to touch and -- she

walked hand-in-hand in the movement mentor to langston hughes. but vivian harsh was called lt.. you can imagine. i don't need to tell you why. and had the tendency to be standoffish. >> host: where did the money come from? >> so it was the status that you had as opposed to just

having a million dollars. and then with the degree of library science. in left ahead of danger and then started off but her passion and love was children. in she wrote herself. but she also has a passion about what type of book should be in the library. she applied for a grant back in 1939 and 1940.

with those types of materials in this year out of a study where with the chicago public school space little girl said of a bite to learn how to so but i guess they can go the question was why not? that is for the black community. so even then angeles probably just repeating what somebody else said but they started to do studies to look at the books on the shelf so what you see are issues she was fighting against. >> if a dozen present a

positive image whether it is a black or white or asian child. something to look up to to use as tools for what not to purchase she took this not only locally but nationally. >> host: was she a white doctor? why is that dash? >> look at the energy the mouth the color it doesn't present a positive image of what they could expect in life. that is said negative image she wanted off the shelf also little black sambo was almost on all the shells of every library around the country in she said this is very negative we want our

children to believe this is what they should expect to be or how people should see them so the double negative not only on the black kids reading about the white kids reading it because that was the face of the black south and we know that isn't quite true so she did it. >> this is the election season. a lot to show you the other things rehab in our collection a dentist that also had to flee for his life pahang the citizens committee was starting to get very close to the kkk and reacting to people criticizing them so even though his family was from old money as part of the social elite of the south he

also had to leave because he had four or five children but even back then this is from 1950 you had to prove you could answer those questions that they had then someone would give you a document to let them know you paid your dues to register to vote he thought so much of that even though he left he kept these in his papers then his family donated them to us. >> adams county mississippi $2 and his name is filled $2 as a look like much now because it would buy a bottle of pop the back then that would account for

something. >> host: who was just your? >> he worked for the chicago defender for about 40 years we have his collection his original cartoons documents even some of the memorabilia because he loved making trains using his hands he also recognized the public he was speaking to could not read a lot so he really use the idea the pitcher is worth a thousand words to tell a story the exhibit over there but also the supreme court decision brown verses board of education because it speaks to what is happening today this is one

of his collections. >> is this the original? >> no. he drew on everything. >> this is 92 and this weekend in 201651 shootings last weekend. >> kirby and the epicenter right now? >> not the epicenter because when i have noticed lately it is jumping it isn't just in one community now in the past it was the south for the west side by noticing the violence is jumping communities rogers park and uptown so i don't know what the answer is but i do know they need to give these kids something to do other than sitting on the corner remember they say idle hands is the devil's workshop? when we were growing up?

that is so true if you gave them something to do whether work were like the library tries to provide on the table where people can come in to express their wishes with the library should do for their community or read provide food for those who don't have lunches or safe harbor we are providing services for the time they are down here with a finger painting and the storytelling if they are beyond college to write the dissertations or material to do their books or create ted documentarian paper trail we are all things to all people. >> host: the vivien harsh collection we have archivist with us your partner beverly

cook mentioned chester, gore >> she is on display right now as our 111 years of the chicago defender exhibit. he was central to the newspaper nominated for the pulitzer prize twice this is a great image of him but he first joined the paper and became an editorial cartoonist in 1954. this is the very first one that he drew for the defender very famous and important case and was published june 12th 1954 and it designated that civil-rights and social justice issue is what he would bring to the chicago defender they already have an idea it would be a

newspaper to help african-americans and civil-rights and voting the victory abroad victory at home and you see that in his cartoons of the supreme court decision marked the beginning of that. another important cartoon was the shame of mississippi the september 1955 and is a little graphic but he wanted to shock the readers to pay attention you have three men the reverend and and it the three black men murdered in the south through the lynchings the mississippi you can see them hanging from the tree and then coming up behind them the calvary civil rights

activists dr. howard we have his papers here as well he was such a working in the south on and as casey invited journalists to come down about people they should interview and this was published one week before the trial started from the men who killed and at. >> host: this immediately went through my head but the last line it says he was never awarded a pulitzer prize. >> he was nominated twice in the 1870's we actually have both of the proposals he put together for the pulitzer prize but unfortunately and i think unfairly he lost both times but i may be biased. >> what was the defender to

black journalism? >> what is important is it had two printings in national and local. the local you can see on microfilm it was important because what was happening all over the city was something that businesses could go in in and talk about businesses the ladies' clubs put their advertising of their organizations than the national edition that came out once a week and that was smuggled into the south during the civil-rights era by the unofficial contract that the publishers had to sneak them in down south. >> host: did the defender promote new writers?

>> absolutely each of those collections had writers one was called life in the shadows that encourage local authors to contribute so that is where the last the first african-american woman to win the prize. >> you can see here that he was the defender down dash shadow this is a column that anybody could contribute europe people writing's short stories or long stories and it became more like a club than a column in the newspaper to encourage the idea is you really thought it was your local

paper your rating to buy had a national audience he left the chicago defender and went to work at the farmhouse where he started to work when he passed away. >> is that loaded'' located close? >> a little further north and west. >> want to ask about this cover of the defender you have all the copies here on display? >> microfilm or online we do have some hard additions now shocking about the defender early history early publishing that they encourage local the national writers but here's something very recent in terms of historical context president barack obama becoming president in 2008 and as everybody knows he was the

senator first so he actually gave an interview on behalf of the defender and talks about the importance of the defender to the states nationally important work that they did we have that transcript. >> right you have "dreams from my father"? >> people come to an archive they think it is dusty materials these are just a few from the collection but it speaks heavily to the chicago defender but the lifelong work in the community. >> it was a long trip by an originally from minnesota with the second largest city

with historical centers then put a fall in love with south side chicago history? >> one more thing? >>. >> they put together exhibits like the chicago defender. one of my favorite tasks is processing. sometimes they are lovely and organized alphabetically. sometimes it is really members that drop them off.

so this collection was unusual because it is broken into two parts with the manuscript collection which is the speech that she wrote after visiting an okay march to montgomery. and then came back to chicago. >> this part is processed but it is the very large photograph collection about 3,000 photographs in this is just the first. >> and the church on the