Summary Information
Lucile Montgomery Papers 1963-1967
Micro 44; SC 662; Audio 425A
0.1 c.f. (1 folder), 3 reels of microfilm (35 mm), and 8 tape recordings
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers, mainly 1964 and 1965, of Lucile Montgomery, a patron of the civil rights movement. Included are correspondence, notes, circulars, press releases, project plans, and reports relating to the Highlander Research and Education Center, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and various Mississippi civil rights groups and activities. On tape are several Freedom School workshops and a Chicago meeting addressed by James Bevel and Martin Luther King Jr. English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0044 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Lucille (Lucy) Montgomery, one of the most active northern white women committed to the Civil Rights movement, is a southerner by birth. Born in North Carolina and graduated from Salem College for Girls, she was a case worker and county welfare administrator in her home state before going to Washington, D.C. in the early years of the Depression. There she joined the League of Women Shoppers in New Deal days, and had her first experiences with picketing.
After her second marriage, she moved to Winnetka, Illinois, with her husband, Kenneth L. Montgomery, a corporation lawyer. Her four children are now grown, and she lives in the suburban community of Northbrook, near Winnetka, where in the past few years she has given benefits to aid various projects in which she believes. Her financial resources are reported to come in part from the Post cereal fortune.
In the Chicago area, Lucy Montgomery has worked with the League of Women Voters, has been on the board of SANE, helped to establish the Henry Horner nursery school in Chicago, was one of the founders of Women for Peace, and joined the Winnetka Associates of the Women's Board of the Chicago Art Institute. She is greatly interested in African art and culture, and she and her husband have sponsored several African students in America. In 1963, Mrs. Montgomery made eight trips to the Dominican Republic to work among the poor, trying to develop a government-sponsored crafts project, a plan that failed with the overthrow of Juan Bosch.
It was the need for involvement, and her interest in the problems of literacy and poverty, that led her into the Civil Rights movement, to which she has given generously of her time, energies, and money. She began her association with SNCC in 1964, after attending a conference in Atlanta. In cooperation with SNCC she has directed or participated in Freedom Workshops and Citizenship Workshops in the South, including direction of a Freedom School Workshop at Highlander Education and Research Center, Knoxville, Tenn. She serves on the board at Highlander also. In 1964, she helped train college volunteers for the Mississippi Summer Project, took part in “Wednesdays in Mississippi,” and attended the Hampton (Va.) Institute on problems of the South. She has consistently tried to help the poor of the South develop their building trades training program.
Scope and Content Note
The bulk of this collection are microfilmed files but also present is one folder of paper documents and eight tape recordings. The microfilmed files consist of correspondence, Mrs. Montgomery's notes, circulars, news releases, project plans, and reports that she has accumulated during the past three years of activity in the Civil Rights movement. Although the inclusive dates are from 1963 to 1966, by far the largest number of items date from 1964 and 1965.
The following list of microfilmed files represents folder titles used by Mrs. Montgomery or her secretary. The filmed material is in this order. Mrs. Montgomery's general correspondence (#30 on the list) has been organized chronologically. The materials relating to Highlander Center (#7 and 8) and to SNCC (#44-54) are arranged by months. Because all other folders each contain such a small amount, sometimes not dated, no attempt has been made to organize their contents. Some correspondence may be found in folders that are not necessarily marked “correspondence.”
Related Material
The Wisconsin Historical Society has one of the richest collections of Civil Rights movement records in the nation, which includes more than 100 manuscript collections documenting the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964. More than 25,000 pages from the Freedom Summer manuscripts are available online as the Freedom Summer Digital Collection.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Original papers and tape recordings loaned for copying by Lucy Montgomery, 1967. Folder presented, 1966. Accession Number: M66-450, M67-103
Processed by Margaret Hafstad, June 1967.
Contents List
Micro 44
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Series: Microfilmed Files
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Reel
1
Segment
1
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Arkansas - Freedom Centers
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Reel
1
Segment
2
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Reel
1
Segment
3
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Reel
1
Segment
4
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Reel
1
Segment
5
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Reel
1
Segment
6
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Hampton Institute College, Hampton, Virginia -- Southern College State Conferences
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Highlander Education and Research Center
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Reel
1
Segment
7
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Reel
1
Segment
7
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Reel
1
Segment
7
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Reel
1
Segment
7
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Freedom School Workshop
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Reel
1
Segment
8
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Reel
1
Segment
8
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Reel
1
Segment
8
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Reel
1
Segment
9
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King, Martin Luther, 1966
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Reel
1
Segment
10
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McLucas, Leroy, 1966
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Reel
1
Segment
11
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McNamara, Robert, 1965
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Reel
1
Segment
12
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Meredith Rally, Chicago, 1966 July 4
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Reel
1
Segment
13
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Reel
1
Segment
14
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Reel
1
Segment
15
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Reel
1
Segment
16
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Reel
1
Segment
17
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Reel
1
Segment
18
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Reel
1
Segment
19
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Reel
1
Segment
20
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Reel
1
Segment
21
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Reel
1
Segment
22
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Mississippi Summer Project
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Reel
2
Segment
23
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Reel
2
Segment
24
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Student Council to Implement Learning (SCIL)
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Reel
2
Segment
25
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Reel
2
Segment
26
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Reel
2
Segment
27
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Reel
2
Segment
28
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Reel
2
Segment
29
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Reel
2
Segment
30
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Mississippi Workshops--Miscellaneous
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Montgomery, Lucy
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Reel
2
Segment
31
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Reel
2
Segment
31
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General Correspondence, 1964-1966
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Reel
2
Segment
31
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Reel
2
Segment
31
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Reel
2
Segment
32
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Muste, A. J.
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Reel
2
Segment
33
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NAACP Legal Defense Aid and Educational Fund Inc.
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Reel
2
Segment
34
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Non-violent workshops: A.F.S.C. Palatine, 1964 November 13-15
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Reel
2
Segment
35
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Oakland Committee, Frank Ditto
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Reel
2
Segment
36
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Political
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Reel
2
Segment
37
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Reel
3
Segment
38
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Reports and releases-- Miscellaneous
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Reel
3
Segment
39
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Rockford Festival
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Reel
3
Segment
40
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Smokey Mountain Economic Education Project
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Reel
3
Segment
41
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Reel
3
Segment
42
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Reel
3
Segment
43
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Southern Students Organizing Committee
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Reel
3
Segment
44
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Students for Democratic Society (SDS and JOIN)
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SNCC
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Reel
3
Segment
45
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Atlanta, 1966 September
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Reel
3
Segment
46
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Benefits
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Reel
3
Segment
47
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Reel
3
Segment
48
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Reel
3
Segment
49
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College organization--Virginia--Statewide
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Reel
3
Segment
50
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Correspondence, 1964-1966
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Reel
3
Segment
51
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African American history
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Reel
3
Segment
52
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Notes by Lucy Montgomery
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Reel
3
Segment
53
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Poor People's Land Corporation
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Reel
3
Segment
54
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Student Voice-newsletter
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Reel
3
Segment
55
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Waveland
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Audio 425A
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Series: Tape Recordings
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425A/1-4
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Freedom School Workshop, Selma report: Nighttime, Parts I - IV, John Callaway, 1965 March 21 (10-12 p.m.)
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Chicago, 1966 - Freedom movement
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425A/5
Side 1
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Greatermont Hope Baptist Church, 1966 September 15 : First, Rev. James Bevel; Second, Dr. Martin Luther King.
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425A/5
Side 2
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Provident Baptist church, 1966 September 22 : First, Rev. James Jackson; Second, Rev. James Bevel on African American removal--Englewood District; Third, Dr. Martin Luther King on Grenada, Mississippi, compared with Chicago treatment of African American children.
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425A/6
Side 1-2
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Provident Baptist Church, 1966 September 29 and October 6 : First, Rev. James Bevel; Second, Dr. Martin Luther King on conditions that cause slums; public accomodations; housing.
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Freedom School Workshop, Knoxville, 1964
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425A/7
Side 1-2
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[Lucy Montgomery]: All or part has been digitized and is available online: Track 1 and Track 2.
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425A/8
Side 1
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Testimonials by Freedom School workers from Mississippi : Beaula Ayers - Holly Springs; Bob Pams - Birmingham; Christine Walker - Rosedale; Joe Harris - Lexington
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SC 662
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Series: Paper Documents
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