Additions to the “Cleveland L. Sellers, Jr. Papers, 1934-2003″ Collection Now Available on the LCDL!
The Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL) has updated the “Cleveland L. Sellers, Jr. Papers, 1934-2003” collection, predominantly featuring his civil rights and anti-war activities. The digitization of this material was made possible by the generous support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant program, allowing the LCDL to digitize collections from the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture dealing specifically with Civil Rights in the Charleston and Lowcountry region of South Carolina.
Cleveland Sellers, Jr. (born 1944), an African American from Denmark, South Carolina, was a participant and leader of a variety of student, civil rights, leftist, and Pan African movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Sellers alone was indicted and convicted for inciting a riot during the Orangeburg Massacre, in which three students of South Carolina State University died and many others were wounded; Sellers was later pardoned.
The recently digitized portions of this collection include correspondence, photographs, and pamphlets regarding a variety of issues highlighting Sellers’ anti-Vietnam War sentiment, the Orangeburg Massacre, and affiliations including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the All African People’s Revolutionary Party, and the Student Organization for Black Unity. Additionally, the materials that are now available on the LCDL provide an insight into Sellers’ professional development and trajectory in the world of academia.
Highlights from this collection include documentation regarding the formation of the Malcolm X Liberation University, the transcript of the “Appeal from Orangeburg County, The State against Cleveland Luis Sellers, Jr.,” and publications regarding racial injustice, international affairs, and other political issues including the “SHARE” (Black Educators Council for Human Services), “Black News," and the “Ray O. Light” newsletter (Revolutionary Organization of Labor, formerly the Ray O. Light Group).
This collection was digitized and made freely available online through the generous support of the National Historical Publications & Records Commission.
