Cator Sparks (pronouns: he/him), white board president of LGBTQ youth organization We Are Family, discusses his life as a gay man and his volunteer and professional work. He describes growing up in a liberal family in Atlanta, Georgia, and his difficulties and successes in high school. Sparks attended the College of Charleston in the early 1990s and speaks of coming out in Charleston into an exciting and accepting environment, then detailing his experiences in the rave scene. Along with rave venues, he describes gay bars including Treehouse, A.C.'s, and The Arcade. He discusses his volunteer work with neighborhood associations in the Cannonborough-Elliotborough neighborhood in Charleston and Harlem in New York City. Sparks performed in drag in Atlanta as Spectra Gramm, one of his performances during the Olympics being televised in France, where he soon went to study abroad. Back in Atlanta, he enrolled in American College, finishing his degree in fashion marketing in London. It was there he discovered dandyism, and he speaks of his conversion to it from rave fashion, defining what dandyism means to him, the effect it had on his life, and how it can educate others. He emphasizes how he values working with LGBTQ youth and his experiences volunteering with the Harvey Milk High School in New York City and with We Are Family in Charleston. Sparks describes the impact the 2016 Presidential election had on him, prompting his social action and recaps his professional life, including a description of working in Jeffrey, a high-end New York shoe store started by Jeffrey Kalinksy of Charleston, his freelance writing and his future plans of becoming a life coach. Photograph credited to Carolina Knopf.
Ron Plunkett discusses his experience as an Irish-American in the South. His Irish family background is largely derived from County Meath, County Louth, and County Dublin, and the first ancestor of his to come to the States was Captain Peter Plunkett, who arrived in Virginia around 1690. Ron was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. His background is Welsh, German, and French Huguenot, as well as Irish. Ron was raised in the Episcopal Church. Of anti-Irish or anti-Catholic sentiment, he states that he feels such discrimination or prejudice wasn’t a part of his experience in Atlanta, and that religious or ethnic background didn’t seem to be as big of a deal as it might have been in other places. He also discusses his time in the service during the Korean War. He first visited Ireland in the seventies on business and returned several times through his job with Sealand/Maersk Line, speaking of his experience as a visitor in the best of terms. He is a member of the Hibernian Society of Charleston and the St. David’s Society, a Welsh organization. To him, being of Irish descent in America is about celebrating one’s heritage and knowing one’s history, to share pride in the contributions of one’s ancestors.
Taylor DeBartola tells the story of his upbringing in Peachtree City, Georgia, a town he describes as “very conservative.” He discusses the competitive relationship he had with his younger brother who is close in age, as well as the role that religion played in their early life. DeBartola reflects on the way that he revealed his sexuality to his family, and the period of time where things between them were rocky, discussing the ways in which he had to be patient and allow his parents to “take their time” to accept him. Taylor then talks about his “chosen family,” and the way they all met at Dudley’s, a popular gay bar in downtown Charleston. He details the ways he sees gatherings with gay men changing in recent years, moving from public spaces to more private locations such as personal residences. Taylor also discusses gay married life in the South, later noting that he and his now-husband were “engaged when it was not going to be legal,” and stressing that young people should educate themselves on gay history, especially the HIV/AIDS crisis, which he stresses is far from over. He also talks about the ways that particular books shaped him and his desire to learn more about gay history, mentioning Harlan Greene’s Why We Never Danced the Charleston. DeBartola then describes the impact that artist and activist David Wojnarowicz has had on his life, and the ways that he has tried to trace Wojnarowicz’s and his partner’s time spent on a trip to Charleston. Finally, Taylor talks about his experiences being an openly gay College of Charleston student.
Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) membership form and questionnaire alongside a cover letter written by Rosetta E. Ross, ABWH Treasurer, to ABWH members.
Ceremony Program for the Fifth Annual Induction Ceremony of the Georgia Women of Achievement in Atlanta, Georgia. Year 1996. Organization recognizing Ellen Craft as a Georgian Woman of Achievement
Job posting for the Education and Counseling Director for NAACP Community Development Resource Centers in Texas (Austin), Virginia (Richmond), Georgia (Atlanta), North Carolina (Charlotte), and South Carolina (Columbia).
Job posting for the Business Development Director for NAACP Community Development Resource Centers in Texas (Austin), Virginia (Richmond), Georgia (Atlanta), North Carolina (Charlotte), and South Carolina (Columbia).
Correspondence from Brian Dinsmoor, Vice President of Amoco, to Dwight James, President of the Charleston Branch of the NAACP, regarding minority business.
(Side 1) Original graphite sketching on drafting paper of column placement as it relates to house and driveway, (8 1/2 x 11). (Side 2) Graphite sketching of proposed entrance gate (120" x. 42").
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Application Bulletin providing information on applications subject to newspaper notice only, both newspaper and federal register notice, federal register notice only, federal register notice or newspaper notice, and recently approved applications.
Correspondence from Dwight C. James, 1st Vice President of the Charleston Branch of the NAACP, to Audrey C. Fisher-Brown, Education Specialist of the Southeast Region of the NAACP, regarding educational issues in the Lowcountry.
Photocopy of correspondence from Gwendolyn Williams, wife of Curtis Hayes Williams, to Andrew Young, Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, regarding Curtis Hayes Williams' detention in Liberia.
"A Political Research Associates Topical Report" entitled, "Clouds Blur the Rainbow: The Other Side of the New Alliance Party," written by Chip Berlet regarding the New Alliance Party, "a black-led, women-led, multi-racial, pro-gay independent political organization."
Correspondence from William Saunders, Executive Director for COBRA, to Charles F. McMillan, Atlanta Regional Director for the Minority Business Development Agency, regarding COBRA matters.
Correspondence from Mark J. Corey, Certified Public Accountant, to Allan Weimer, Grants Management Officer for the Office of Fiscal Operations Department of Health and Human Services, regarding the status of an "investigation of unemployment taxes charged to the Headstart program in program."
Correspondence from Mark J. Corey to Alan P. Weiner, Grants Management Officer for the Office of Fiscal Operations for the Department of Health and Human Services regarding financial matters.
Correspondence from Dolores S. Greene, Project Director for the Petersfield Human Services Corporation, to Blanchard Malan, U.S. Department of Commerce, regarding budgetary information with enclosed budget.
Health Planning/Development Center, Inc. memorandum from Ray Levine, Program Chairman, to "Volunteers" for Small Group Staffing regarding contributions and the success of the 1980 program.
Correspondence from William Saunders, Executive Director for COBRA, to the United States Department of Agriculture regarding the COBRA applicant certificate of incorporation.
Correspondence from Fred W. Harris, Jr. and Paul T. Collier, the Regional Attorney and Acting Regional Attorney for the United States Department of Agriculture, to Paul R. Kugler, Assistant Administrator for the United States Department of Agriculture regarding COBRA Farmers Home Administration Applicant Organizational Documents.
Correspondence from the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, inviting recipients to register for the "National Conference on New Strategies to Counter the Ku Klux Klan," including a preliminary program and registration form.
Correspondence from Charles C. Kirby, Director of the Child Nutrition Programs of the United States Department of Agriculture, to sponsors regarding Nonfood Assistance. Enclosed factsheet on the Nonfood Assistance Program.
Memorandum regarding APRI financial crisis from an Ad Hoc Committee meeting on December 18, 1976 of APRI members from Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina.
Correspondence from Oleta Garrett Fitzgerald, Southern Regional Coordinator for the Children's Foundation, regarding the first South Carolina Annual Consumer Conference.
The Institute of the Black World newsletter entitled, "Monthly Report" from May 1974, discussing a variety of issues including the Pan-African Congress and Pan-Africanism.
Correspondence from Robert L. Williamson, Executive Director for the South Carolina Commission for Farm Workers, to Nell Hampton of ACTION, Region IV, regarding VISTA contracts.
