James Baldwin event, 1963 May 6

This collection contains materials gathered by CORE member Jean “Maid” Adams. The bulk of the materials relate to CORE activities and fall into two categories: materials dating from the 1960s focusing on CORE campaigns and civil rights activism and more recent materials relating to the publication and promotion of the book Seattle in Black and White: The Congress of Racial Equality and the Fight for Equal Opportunity which was published in 2011. The book was coauthored by Adams and fellow CORE members Joan Singler, Bettylou Valentine and Jean C. Durning.

The historic CORE materials include documents and ephemera related to the Equal Employment Campaign, Crosstown Bus Campaign, issues of the newsletter the Corelator and several protest signs and posters used by the group. One item of particular note is a signed copy of James Baldwin’s A Fire Next Time, inscribed to Adams and her husband. (Baldwin visited Seattle in 1963 for a CORE event at the Moore Theatre. A program and ticket for this event are also included in the collection.) In addition to the CORE materials, there are also items from other local groups such as the Central Area Motivation Project (CAMP) and national groups such as The Black Panthers well as collections of clippings and periodicals focusing on civil rights issues.

Other items in the collection speak to Adams’ life outside of CORE with materials about her Seattle neighborhood, Madrona; items from her activism with the United Farm Workers Grape Boycott and Election Protection Coalition in 2004; as well as a multi-ethnic education kit created in the 1970s to encourage diversity in educational materials for children.