[Posted Jan. 30, 2008]

Forman Papers Housed At
Library of Congress

     At a recent ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.,, the papers of civil-rights activist James Forman were given to the Library by Forman’s sons James Jr. and Chaka. Their mother, Constancia Romilly, also attended the event.
    “The James Forman Papers are a valuable addition to the Library’s unrivaled resources for the study of the 20th-century Civil Rights Movement,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. 
      James Forman (1928-2005), executive secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1961 to 1966, was instrumental in organizing many of the major civil rights campaigns of the era, including the 1963 March on Washington. The Forman Papers—comprising approximately 70,000 items—chronicle his life and role in the Civil Rights Movement. The bulk of the collection dates from 1960.
      Included are correspondence, memoranda, diaries, speeches and other writings, notebooks, transcripts of interviews, subject files, scrapbooks, appointment books, photographs, and video and sound recordings. Forman’s activism is well-documented in the collection, particularly his tenure with SNCC and the Unemployment and Poverty Action Committee (UPAC). His involvement in the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Black Panther Party is also covered.
      During the 1990s, he taught at American University, the University of the District of Columbia and Morgan State University in Baltimore. 
      A prolific writer, Forman founded the Black America News Service and published numerous articles and pamphlets, as well as several books.

To read other stories, subscribe to the New Journal and Guide.