Title: Peggy Terry Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1937-2004

Creator:

• Terry, Peggy, 1921-2004

Call Number: Mss 1055; PH 6582; Audio 1460A; VHA 898-903

Quantity: 2.5 c.f. (6 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder), 137 photographs (1 archives box), 15 posters (2 oversize folders), 1 tape recording, 1 compact disc, and 6 videorecordings

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:

Papers (bulk 1963-1972) collected by Peggy Terry while working as a civil rights activist and as editor of The Firing Line, a community newspaper published by Jobs or Income Now (JOIN) Community Union in Uptown Chicago. Subjects documented include Terry's participation in sit-ins organized by the Chicago chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), her involvement in planning the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C. in 1968 as a member of the event's steering committee, and her work for JOIN Community Union in assisting poor white southerners who had migrated to Chicago from Appalachia. Also documented is her opposition to the Vietnam War and her Vice Presidential campaign as Eldridge Cleaver's running-mate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket in the 1968 Presidential election.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss01055

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Peggy Terry was born in Haleyville, Oklahoma, on October 28, 1921. She spent her childhood moving back and forth between Oklahoma and Kentucky where her father found work in oil fields and coal mines. In 1936, she married her first husband at age fifteen and moved to the South, where the couple worked in Texas and Alabama as itinerant farmers.

For the next 20 years, Terry struggled through failed marriages and continued to move around the country with her children. In 1956, she left her third husband and moved her children to Chicago and then Michigan to start a new life. She and her fourth husband, Gil Terry, returned to Chicago in the early 1960s during the height of African Americans' struggle for civil rights in the United States. Chicago during this period was racially segregated and like many other cities at this time, African Americans were taking steps to end segregation through protests and sit-ins organized by grassroots organizations. In 1963, in response to this racially charged atmosphere, Terry joined the Chicago chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), an inter-racial organization that worked to end segregation. She became an active member of the group through her participation in boycotts and sit-ins.

In 1963 Terry also participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In the aftermath of this event, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) began Jobs or Income Now (JOIN) Community Union to provide assistance for whites who had migrated from the South and resided in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. In 1964 local Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader Monroe Sharp introduced Terry to JOIN and she became editor of the organization's community newspaper, The Firing Line. JOIN worked to obtain jobs or welfare for residents by protesting at the local welfare office and providing adult educational programs. JOIN also criticized the use of police brutality and opposed Mayor Richard Daley's urban renewal plans that threatened to displace many Uptown residents. It was around this time that Peggy and Gil Terry split up and Peggy and her children moved Uptown. When the SDS withdrew funding from JOIN in 1967, Terry operated the organization out of her home.

While involved with JOIN, Terry also participated in other social action organizations. In her opposition to the Vietnam War, she became both a member of the Chicago Council for Peace and Voters for Peace. She attended Voters for Peace events and assisted peace candidate John J. Walsh during his campaign for alderman in the 40th district. Terry also advocated for the political rights of Appalachian coal miners through her participation in the Appalachian People's Congress. Convened by the Congress of Appalachian Development, the group endeavored to help residents of Appalachia exercise their political rights.

In 1968 Terry sat on the steering committee for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Poor People's Campaign. Headed by Reverend Ralph Abernathy after Martin Luther King's assassination on April 4, the campaign aimed to both expose the conditions that poor Americans of all races lived in and obtain assistance for these people in the form of jobs. On the participants' way to Washington, D.C., Terry spoke before a mass meeting of 3,000 people held at John Welsey AME Church in Columbus, Ohio.

Also in 1968, Terry ran for Vice President on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket with Eldridge Cleaver as the Presidential candidate. As a result of Cleaver's imprisonment, Terry campaigned alone across the country. Her platform included the need for schools to educate children rather than train them for the needs of big business, increasing the taxes on corporations while reducing working people's taxes, and ending the draft and the Vietnam War. Terry never believed they would win, but utilized her campaign to recruit young poor whites' participation in JOIN, which was renamed the National Organizing Committee in 1968.

After the election, Terry returned to Chicago to continue her work as an activist. In the mid 1970s, she appeared on Chicago journalist and broadcaster Studs Terkel's radio show to promote the need to help poor Southern whites both in Uptown and Appalachia. Around this time, the National Organizing Committee was dissolved and Terry began to experience health problems. Despite deteriorating health, she continued her social activism. She wrote to politicians and monitored the work of local organizers. She supported designating January 15th Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in honor of his sacrifice. In the 1980s, she advocated for the end of the nuclear arms race. After years of poor health, Terry died in Chicago in 2004.

The materials in this collection date from about 1937 to 2004 with the bulk of the materials documenting the years 1963 to 1972. The majority of the collection was originally compiled into scrapbooks arranged by subject with news clippings, photographs, writings, pamphlets, and correspondence. The major subjects documented include the civil rights struggle both in Chicago and the nation as a whole, Peggy Terry's work with JOIN Community Union on behalf of poor white southerners who had migrated to Uptown Chicago from Appalachia and Terry's Vice Presidential candidacy. Although the predominant documentation is news clippings and the correspondence is sparse and scattered throughout the various series, Peggy Terry's writings, sound and video recordings reflect the chaos of the 1960s and provide good insight into how Terry’s life experiences led her to take an active role in striving for equality and justice for all Americans regardless of race or economic status. The collection is divided into thirteen series: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, APPALACHIAN SOCIAL ACTION ORGANIZATIONS, CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT EVENTS, CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY BOOKS, CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY, JOIN COMMUNITY UNION, PAMPHLETS AND BROCHURES, PEACE MOVEMENT, POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN, UPTOWN CHICAGO, VIETNAM WAR, YOUNG PATRIOTS ORGANIZATION, AND VISUAL MATERIALS. With the exception of the BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, PAMPHLETS AND BROCHURES and VISUAL MATERIALS series, each series in this collection was originally compiled into a scrapbook according to subject and this original order has been maintained.

The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS series provides the most detailed information regarding Terry's work as an activist. The sound recording of Studs Terkel interviewing Terry about living conditions for poor whites in both Uptown and Appalachia as well as the excerpts from Studs Terkel's books offers insight into the life experiences that shaped Terry's own beliefs as she evolved into a social activist. The speech Terry presented in front of her grandson's American History class in 1998 at Columbia College demonstrates how she viewed her role in the Civil Rights Movement. The Writings and Clippings enhance the knowledge one can gain from the sound recordings and book excerpts. Included among the writings and clippings are Terry's personal writings, correspondence, news clippings and magazine articles about Terry, and an oral history interview. Terry's essays on witnessing the funeral procession of Robert Kennedy while at Resurrection City and her criticism of President Johnson's Vietnam policy and War on Poverty provide insight into Terry's political views and reflect the political and social climate of the 1960s. It appears that some of her essays and notes were background research for articles to be printed in The Firing Line.

The APPALACHIAN SOCIAL ACTION series was originally titled “Down Home,” and includes newsletters from Highlander Folk School and the Southern Conference Education Fund pertaining to the work of these organizations on behalf of poor whites in the South. Also documented are Terry's efforts to help people in Appalachia through participation in planning the Appalachian People's Congress. Convened by the Congress of Appalachian Development, the congress helped people in the region learn about their political rights.

The CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT EVENTS series was originally titled “The Movement, 1964-1966, Selma March 1965, Mississippi Summer, 1966.” In addition to news clippings and other ephemera documenting the Civil Rights Movement, a select number of mailings and letters in the series provides evidence of Terry's work on behalf of the Freedom Drivers. Freedom Drivers transported food and other necessary supplies to civil rights workers in the South. While this series is neither detailed nor expansive, it provides evidence that Terry's activism extended beyond Uptown.

The CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY BOOKS consists of two headings originally titled “African American History Books No. 1 and No. 2.” Volume 1 consists of two folders and contains information on the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a Memorial to Medgar Evers, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as information on the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Volume 2 includes newspaper and magazine articles on the Black Panthers, schedules for Terry’s campaign events and notes from her speeches and campaign platform. Terry ran for Vice President in order to promote the National Organizing Committee among young working class whites and campaigned alone as a result of Eldridge Cleaver’s imprisonment. The second book provides evidence of how Terry ran her Vice Presidential campaign on a small budget. However, it is unclear from the materials in this volume how Terry became associated with the Black Panthers and the Peace and Freedom Party.

The CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY (CORE) series consists of news clippings from local papers that document the Chicago chapter of CORE. Also included are Terry's membership card and bail receipts from when she was arrested while participating in sit-ins with other CORE members. It appears CORE's inter-racial approach to combating inequality influenced Terry's own method of fighting injustice. As an activist working on behalf of poor white Southerners, Terry continually strived to get poor whites to align themselves with African Americans.

The JOIN COMMUNITY UNION series is arranged under four headings that document the organization's work through news clippings, newsletters, correspondence, and ephemera. Community School Adult Educational Materials contains a curriculum compiled by the JOIN educational staff in order to educate Uptown residents so that they would exercise their political rights. The curriculum focused on improving public schools, challenging Mayor Daley's urban renewal plans, and opposition to the Vietnam War. The curriculum includes brochures and essays written by people unaffiliated with JOIN and demonstrates the organization's operation under budget constraints. Correspondence consists of letters to and from Terry pertaining to her work in the Civil Rights Movement and as editor of The Firing Line. This heading includes letters regarding lectures presented by Terry, comments on the content of The Firing Line, and correspondence with other social activists such as Myles Horton and Carl and Anne Braden, whom Terry may have met while attending meetings and workshops at the Highlander Folk School. The third heading, General, provides the most detailed information on JOIN Community Union's advocacy on behalf of poor whites from Appalachia who had migrated to Chicago. The heading documents JOIN Community Union's opposition to urban renewal. JOIN supported efforts to develop a Hank Williams Playground and Village as an alternative to Mayor Daley's urban renewal plans. The proposed plan for the village included low income housing, a cooperative grocery store, hotel and medical clinic. However, the materials in the series are incomplete and fail to provide evidence of whether residents implemented this plan.

The fourth heading, Organizational History and The Firing Line includes a history of JOIN Community Union from its development in 1964 under the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to the organization's separation from the SDS in 1967. Also included are JOIN Community Union newsletters (1965-1966), the predecessor to The Firing Line. The articles in these newsletters were written by students and Uptown residents and reflect the objectives of JOIN Community Union's educational programs and activism.

The PAMPHLETS AND BROCHURES series includes publications from social action organizations and causes with which Terry was affiliated such as JOIN Community Union, the Congress of Racial Equality, and the Black Panthers. Also included is Time of the Phoenix, a four volume work of poetry published by the Young Patriots Organization. The poems, written by Uptown residents, reflect the political climate of Uptown in the 1960s and include residents' feelings toward Mayor Daley's urban renewal plans and police brutality.

The PEACE MOVEMENT series and VIETNAM WAR series should be looked at together because they document parallel topics. The PEACE MOVEMENT series includes news clippings and other ephemera on local Chicago peace organizations including the Chicago Peace Council and Voters for Peace. The Chicago Peace Council tried to stop the Vietnam War through eyewitness reports, an anti-war referendum, and a March and Rally held in 1967. Voters for Peace endorsed candidates that supported ending the war. Terry attended Voters for Peace events and assisted peace candidate John J. Walsh during his campaign for alderman in the 40th district. The VIETNAM WAR series consists of newspaper clippings and magazine articles as well as letters from the Don Weatherall Defense Committee. Weatherall was arrested after refusing to enter the armed forces and Terry helped support his trial.

The POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN series includes news clippings, flyers, event schedules and correspondence pertaining to Terry's role in planning the campaign as part of the event's steering committee. The campaign set up a camp known as Resurrection City near the Capitol to expose politicians to the effects poverty had on American lives. Terry recruited whites from the South to attend the event to build cohesion between the races so that they could fight poverty together.

The UPTOWN CHICAGO series, originally titled “Life in the United States,” complements the materials in the JOIN Community Union series. Included are news clippings that detail the living and working conditions of Uptown residents and the transformation of JOIN Community Union into the National Organizing Committee. The series also includes some campaign ephemera from Terry's unsuccessful run in 1972 for the Lakeview-Uptown Community Council on the Survival ticket. Organized by the Intercommunal Survival Committee, Terry's platform included ending racism and taking control of Uptown from Mayor Daley and the police. According to the Intercommunal Survival Committee, Mayor Daley's urban renewal threatened the homes of Uptown residents.

The YOUNG PATRIOTS ORGANIZATION (YPO) series includes newspaper articles, newsletters and other ephemera pertaining to the organization. The YPO was modeled after the Black Panthers and was comprised of working class youth from Uptown of primarily Appalachian descent. Terry's son, Doug Youngblood, served as the group's minister of education. The YPO considered the poor their allies and the rich their enemies. Programs run by the YPO included a health clinic, a children's breakfast program and food pantry. The series is particularly strong in documenting how the Young Patriots fought Mayor Richard Daley in court to keep their health clinic open.

The VISUAL MATERIALS series is arranged under three headings that complement the BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS and JOIN COMMUNITY UNION series. Photographs includes Peggy Terry's photograph scrapbook as well as loose photographs documenting her work with JOIN Community Union as well as her Vice Presidential campaign. Posters includes posters used to promote the Poor People's Campaign and Terry's Vice Presidential campaign. Videorecordings consists of 6 items. Peggy Terry, America in the 1940s consists of three videorecordings, each approximately sixty minutes in length, of Terry being interviewed for the PBS show The American Experience. These videos provide information regarding how Terry and her first husband lived as migrant workers in the South during the Great Depression. Also documented are Terry's experiences growing up in poverty and the culture of poor white Southerners, especially their music. The documentary, Look Out Haskell, It's for Real, records the making of the film Medium Cool. Directed by Haskell Wexler on location in 1968, Medium Cool provides an account of the political and social climate of Chicago and the living conditions of people in Uptown. Included in this documentary about the film is the scene with Terry speaking to a woman about JOIN Community Union that was cut from the film's final version. The Profile of Studs Terkel and Omnibus: Studs Terkel's Chicago are each approximately forty-five minutes in length and provide information on Terry's friendship with Terkel. The two met on a train in 1963 on their way to Washington, D.C. for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This series helps fill in gaps in the documentation of Terry's personal life.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Margi Devoe, Park Ridge, Illinois, May 2008. Accession Number: M2009-010

Processing Information

Processed by Sara White (Practicum student), May 2009.

Mss 1055	Series: Biographical Material
Box   1 Folder   1	Memorial service for Peggy Terry, 2004
Box   1 Folder   2	Speech presented at Columbia College, 1998
Oversize Folder	Poster from speech signed by attendees, 1998
Box   1 Folder   3	Studs Terkel's writings on Peggy Terry, 1970-2001
1460A/2	Studs Terkel's radio show with Peggy Terry, 1976 Physical Description: Cassette tape
1460A/1	Studs Terkel's remarks for Peggy Terry's Memorial Service, 2004 Physical Description: Compact disc
Mss 1055 Box   1 Folder   4-6	Writings and clippings, 1962-2002
Box   1 Folder   7-9	Series: Appalachian Social Action Organizations, 1963-1997	⇧
Box   1 Folder   10-14	Series: Civil Rights Movement Events, 1963-1966	⇧
	Series: Civil Rights History Books	⇧
Box   2 Folder   1-2	Volume 1, 1963-1972
	Volume 2
Box   2 Folder   3-4	Black Panthers, 1967-1968
Box   2 Folder   5-7	Peace and Freedom Party, 1968
	Black Panthers
Box   2 Folder   8	1969-1972
Box   2 Folder   9-10	1984-2001
Box   2 Folder   11	Civil rights pins, circa 1960s
Box   2 Folder   12-15	Series: Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), 1963-1998	⇧
	Series: Jobs or Income Now (JOIN) Community Union	⇧
Box   3 Folder   1-4	Community school adult educational materials, 1965-1966
Box   3 Folder   5-7	Correspondence, 1963-1997
	General
Box   3 Folder   8	JOIN Community Union, 1966
Box   3 Folder   9	Organizing committee, 1966-1968
Box   3 Folder   10-11	Housing and urban renewal, 1966-1968
Box   3 Folder   12	Hank Williams Playground, undated
Box   3 Folder   13	Hank Williams Village, 1968
Box   3 Folder   14	Model cities, 1965-1972
Box   3 Folder   15	Welfare rights, 1964-1968
Box   3 Folder   16	The Firing Line, 1967
Box   3 Folder   17	Police march on Summerdale station, 1966
Box   3 Folder   18	Urban Progress Center, undated
Box   3 Folder   19-20	Organizational history and The Firing Line, 1966-1968
	Series: Pamphlets and Brochures	⇧
Box   4 Folder   1-5	Appalachian social action, 1937-1972
Box   4 Folder   6	Chicago social action, 1958-1968
Box   4 Folder   7-8	Civil rights movement, 1961-1969
Box   4 Folder   9	Vietnam War, 1960-1971
Box   4 Folder   10	Young Patriots Organization, 1970-1976
Box   5 Folder   1-7	Series: Peace Movement, 1961-1967	⇧
	Series: Poor People's Campaign	⇧
Box   5 Folder   8-9	1968
Box   6 Folder   1-3	, 1968 (continued)
	Series: Uptown Chicago	⇧
Box   6 Folder   4	Living and working conditions, 1963-1968
Box   6 Folder   5	National Community Union/National Organizing Committee, 1967
Box   6 Folder   6	Intercommunal Survival Committee, 1972
Box   6 Folder   7-8	Schools and prisoner correspondence, 1966-1994
Box   6 Folder   9-10	Series: Vietnam War, 1965-1968	⇧
	Series: Young Patriots Organization (YPO)	⇧
Box   6 Folder   11	Objectives, 1970
Box   6 Folder   12	Health Clinic, 1970
Box   6 Folder   13	Breakfast Program and Food Pantry, 1970
Box   6 Folder   14	The People's School, 1970
Box   6 Folder   15	News from Uptown
PH 6582	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
	Photographs
Box   1 Folder   1-5	Peggy Terry scrapbook, circa 1960s
Box   1 Folder   6	Civil rights history books, volume 1
Box   1 Folder   7	Poor People's Campaign, 1968
Box   1 Folder   8	Housing and Urban Renewal, 1966-1968
Box   1 Folder   9	Organizational history and The Firing Line
Box   1 Folder   10	Vietnam War
	Posters
Oversize Folder   1	“Art Auction to Benefit SCEF”
Oversize Folder   1	“Boycott Kraft”
Oversize Folder   1	“Bring Them All Home Now”
Oversize Folder   1	“Chicago Freedom Rally”
Oversize Folder   1	“Demand the Justice Department Act Now!”
Oversize Folder   1	“Eldridge Cleaver for President”
Oversize Folder   1	“End Price Control and There Will Be Plenty of Gas”
Oversize Folder   2	“International Black Panthers Film Festival”
Oversize Folder   2	“My Wish is to Ride the Tempest”
Oversize Folder   2	“Poor People's Campaign, 1968 SCLC”
Oversize Folder   2	“Pray for the Dead, and FIGHT Like Hell for the Living, Mother Jones, 1902”
Oversize Folder   2	“Solidarity Day”
Oversize Folder   2	“Time to Fight”
Oversize Folder   2	“We are angry women”
Oversize Folder   2	“While there is a lower class”
	Videorecordings
VHA 898-900	Peggy Terry, America in the 1940s, 1940-1942, circa 1990s
VHA 901	Look Out Haskell, It's for Real, 2002 Note: DVD user copy available
VHA 902	Profile of Studs Terkel, circa 1990s Note: DVD user copy available
VHA 903	Omnibus: Studs Terkel's Chicago, 1985