Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.
This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO related to youth development and recognizing the historical experiences of African American youth. Please see the resource guide on Education for further resources.
It highlights holdings in the following areas:
● Selected Library Material at AAMLO
● Selected Archival Collections at AAMLO
Other collections may contain relevant materials. Please contact AAMLO (aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org) with any questions or to schedule an appointment to view materials in person.
Selected Library Materials
Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth-century America by Wilma King
Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: African American Children in the Antebellum North by Crystal Lynn Webster
States of Delinquency: Race and Science in the Making of California's Juvenile Justice System by Miroslava Chavez-Garcia
The Young Crusaders: the Untold Story of the Children and Teenagers Who Galvanized the Civil Rights Movement by V.P. Franklin
The Shadows of Youth: the Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation by Andrew B. Lewis
Light in the Darkness African Americans and the YMCA, 1852-1946 by Nina Mjagkij
A Special Place for Special People: the Defremery Story by Dorothy W. Pitts
Runnin' Down Some Lines: the Language and Culture of Black Teenagers by Edith A. Folb
Black Youth Rising: Activism and Radical Healing in Urban America
And Then They Were Gone: Teenagers of Peoples Temple From High School to Jonestown by Judy Bebelaar
The Hip-hop Generation Fights Back: Youth, Activism, and Post-civil Rights Politics by Andreana Clay
After the Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, and the Post-civil Rights Generation by Sekou M. Franklin
Young Adult Fiction by African American Writers, 1968-1993 a Critical and Annotated Guide
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Little Man, Little Man: a Story of Childhood by James Baldwin
Soldier: a Poet's Childhood by June Jordan
I Am the Black Orpheus : the Poetry of Oakland's Youth [California Poets in the Schools]
When Lions Roar and Bobcats Growl: the Poetry of West Oakland's Youth [California Poets in the Schools]
Selected Archival Collections
Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery, Inc. Records. Established in Oakland, California on November 20, 1918 by the Northern Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, the Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery, Inc. was created to “care for homeless, dependent, neglected children from broken homes, and to provide day care for children of working parents.” The home could accommodate up to 20 resident children and 8-15 children for day care services and was operated by a professional staff of over ten employees that included social workers and a volunteer psychiatrist. The Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery, Inc. Records consist of correspondence, reports, meeting and fundraising programs, and newspaper clippings that document the management of the children’s home. [View online]
Young Women's Christian Association Collection. The Young Women's Christian Association Collection consists of correspondence, event invitations and programs, meeting minutes, constitution and by-laws, and publications of the Young Women's Christian Association of Oakland. The collection is organized into two series: YWCA of Oakland and Assorted national YWCA publications. The bulk of the YWCA of Oakland series is administrative records of the Linden St. and Market St. branches of the YWCA of Oakland, the two black branches of the YWCA in Oakland, California. [View online]
Joshua Rose Papers. The Joshua Rose Papers document Rose's life and contributions to the Oakland community as an executive for the Oakland YMCA and as a member of the Oakland Recreation Commission. Rose inaugurated many new programs, including summer day camps which combined the traditional elements of arts and crafts and sports with outdoor excursions and a camping trip to Yosemite. Through the YMCA's programs, Rose worked to provide many Oakland youth with constructive activities and summertime employment. Rose was also the first African American member of the Board of Playground Directors. Later re-named the Oakland Recreation Commission, the board studied the recreation needs of the city and provided recommendations for new developments and improvements to existing facilities. During his tenure as a member between 1947 and 1964, the commission convinced the City of Oakland to establish eight new recreation centers and to improve athletic facilities at ten existing sites. Rose served as chairman of the commission from 1961-62.
Annette Starr Bruce Hudson Papers. Annette Starr Bruce Hudson (1920-2002) taught charm and etiquette classes at DeFremery Recreation Center in West Oakland beginning in 1950. In 1954, she opened a charm and modeling studio, Annette's Studio of Transformation, in Berkeley, California, which trained hundreds of graduates each year in personality development, voice and diction, wardrobe, modeling, makeup, hairstyling, figure control, visual poise, and social grace.
Ruth Beckford Papers. Dancer, teacher, and author Ruth Beckford (1925-2019) directed the first recreational modern dance program in the country teaching dance classes for the Oakland Recreation Department at DeFremery Recreation Center. She would lead the dance program for twenty years while also performing with Anna Halprin and Welland Lathrop dance companies. Beckford toured with her dance company, taught classes at her dance studio, and directed the Oakland Recreation Department’s Modern Dance Program until she retired from performing dance and disbanded her dance company in 1961 and retired from the City of Oakland in 1967.
Oakland Unified School District Newsletter Collection. The Oakland Unified School District Newsletter Collection consists of 19 issues of the New Directions (1966-1969) and Urban Education (1969-1971) newsletters. The newsletters were published by the Oakland Unified School District with federal funds from the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and featured articles and photographs of ESEA programs, school integration and busing, curriculum, scholarships, administrative news, and free lunch, ESL, and head start programs. [View online]
Oakland Economic Development Council Newsletter Collection. The Oakland Economic Development Council was a local agency established in 1965 to implement programs associated with the Office of Economic Opportunity and the ‘War on Poverty’ in Oakland, California. Programs included family planning clinics, preventative health programs, legal aid services, job training, remedial instruction, small business development, dental and eye services, head start and day care, youth employment, and emergency aid and housing for women and children. [View online]
Lillian M. Potts Papers. The Lillian M. Potts papers include correspondence, programs, newspaper clippings, photographs, ephemera, reports, and brochures documenting her involvement in California politics and civic and civil rights organizations. Potts acted as an advisor to the N.A.A.C.P. Berkeley Branch Youth Council for five years during the 1960s. Assorted N.A.A.C.P. Youth Conferences and a meeting of the N.A.A.C.P. Berkeley Youth Council can be found in the Tarea Hall and William Pittman Papers. [Listen online]
Ronald V. Dellums Congressional Papers. Assorted records of the Ronald V. Dellums Congressional Papers include unprocessed files on various youth organizations, youth employment training programs, Youth Power and "at-risk" youth programs, and committee files related to youth suicide prevention legislative bills.
Henry Williams Jr. Film Collection. Includes footage of Oakland High School (OHS) students and the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade of Berkeley protesting the murder of 14-year old Melvin Black in Oakland, California on March 23, 1979 by Oakland Police officers. On March 17, 1979, Melvin Black was shot by two Oakland Police Department officers after they confronted him in front of his apartment while responding to reports of a sniper. Civil rights attorney John L. Burris, appointed by then-mayor Lionel Wilson and the Oakland City Council to lead an independent investigation into Melvin Black's murder, credits the incident with launching his career. Burris' findings in September 1979 concluded the shooting was unjustified, leading to public outcry and the creation of a Citizens’ Police Review Board, one of the first of its kind in the nation, as a consequence of the investigation. [View online]
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Oral History Collection. The African American Museum & Library at Oakland Oral History Collection consists of 79 oral history interviews conducted in 2002-2007. The project included Eternal Voices 2, a program of audio interviews with multigenerational Oakland families, and “Youth Speaks,” a panel discussion with youth from various Oakland high schools including Oakland High School, McClymonds High School, Skyline High School, Fremont High School, Oakland Technical High School, and St. Mary’s College High School. [View online]
Additional Information
Search the library using the catalog.
Consult AAMLO's finding aids in the Online Archive of California.
We are working to create new resource guides. Have an idea for a new guide? Contact us at aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org.
