Title: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Vine City Project (Atlanta, Ga.): Records
Inclusive Dates: 1960-1971 (bulk 1965-1971)

Creator:

• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.). Vine City Project (Atlanta, Ga.)

Call Number: Mss 347; PH 4475

Quantity: 0.4 cubic feet (1 archives box) and 0.1 cubic feet (1 oversize folder) of posters

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records, mainly 1965-1971, of a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) experiment in local political organizing among Blacks in Atlanta, Georgia. Organizational records include correspondence, a notebook kept by project head William Ware, position papers, miscellaneous financial records, and publications. Subject files relate to social, economic, and political activities of the project and variously contain petitions, reports, press releases, clippings, and leaflets.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00347

The Vine City Project, also known as the Atlanta Project, was conceived early in 1966, when the Georgia legislature refused to seat Julian Bond because of his support for SNCC's anti-war statement on Vietnam. Bond's legislative district included Vine City. The project, initiated by SNCC within Atlanta's black community, was an experiment in political organization which was intended to bring together residents of the community to discuss basic problems, and to enable them to gain a significant measure of control over the public decisions which affected their lives.

The Vine City Project coalesced around several issues, beginning with Bond's second campaign for office. The Project challenged local slumlords, unfair employers, and police brutality, and also became involved with anti-draft activities and issues relating to the Federal government's new “War on Poverty” program. During the later years of SNCC, the call for “Black Power” arose; this developing theme is evidenced in several Vine City Project activities, such as Freedom Schools, black history, and black cultural events.

By 1967 the Vine City Project staff, headed by William Ware, was on the verge of demanding complete autonomy. A serious rift developed between Ware and the SNCC Central Committee; the crisis ended with the firing of Ware. Because SNCC was not in a position to restaff the Project, it was suspended.

The records of the Vine City Project consist of photocopied and mimeographed copies of correspondence, reports, leaflets, clippings, organizational data, and publications, primarily from 1966 and early 1967. All original items were photocopied and returned to the donor.

The organizational records of the Vine City Project (1965-1967) contain a wide variety of materials. Among these are early project position papers, a notebook probably kept by William Ware, correspondence arranged chronologically, and miscellaneous financial papers such as cancelled checks, receipts, etc. Address files contain information on SNCC staff plus a Mississippi mailing list. The publications file contains a copy of Atlanta's Black Paper.

A subject file (1966-1967), arranged alphabetically, contains information on the activities and issues related to the Vine City Project. The contents of each subject file are arranged chronologically. The types of records contained are quite varied and include petitions, press releases, mimeographed notices and reports, leaflets, and brochures.

Posters and visual materials (circa 1964-1971) contains posters and other materials, primarily from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's Atlanta, Georgia, office, many with photographs by Danny Lyon; other materials include a hand-made poster from the Arkansas office, campaign posters for Julian Bond, a broadside, 1971, for the Oppressed People 2nd Anniversary Unity Celebration at St. Columba's Church in Cairo, Illinois, sponsored by the Cairo United Front; a broadside for a rally and march in support of the Chicago Eight, undated, sponsored by SMC, Black Council, MAPAC, YAWF (Youth Against War and Fascism), and SDS (Students for a Democratic Society); and a poster for the Simuel Brent Schultz Jr. Defense Committee.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Atlanta, Georgia Chapter, 1967. Accession Number: M67-457

Processing Information

Processed by Menzi Behrnd Klodt, August 1979.

Mss 347	Organizational Records
Box   1 Folder   1-2	Address files and mailing list
Box   1 Folder   3	Correspondence, 1966 April-1967 January
Box   1 Folder   4	Financial papers, 1966
Box   1 Folder   5	Notebook of events, 1965 July-1966 April
Box   1 Folder   6	Project position papers, circa 1966
Box   1 Folder   7	Publications and near-print materials, 1966-1967
Box   1 Folder   8	SNCC Central Committee records, 1960, 1965-1966
	Subject File
Box   1 Folder   9	Anti-draft and anti-war campaigns, 1966-1967
Box   1 Folder   10	Anti-poverty programs and Economic Opportunity Atlanta, Inc. (EOA), 1966 March-November
Box   1 Folder   11	Black Power and SNCC, 1966
Box   1 Folder   12	Freedom schools, 1966
Box   1 Folder   13	Housing and tenants rights, 1966
Box   1 Folder   14	Negro history and African culture campaign, 1966
Box   1 Folder   15	News clippings and miscellaneous, 1966
Box   1 Folder   16	Politics and political campaigns, 1966-1967
Box   1 Folder   17	Protest against police brutality, 1966
Box   1 Folder   18	Working conditions, 1966
PH 4475	Posters and visual materials, circa 1964-1971