BLAKE, J. HERMAN.
J. Herman Blake and Emily L. Moore papers, 1882-2016 [bulk 1966-2016]

Restrictions on Access

Special restrictions apply: Series 1, Per donor request, sound recordings of the Ideological Institute are closed to researchers until 10 years after the death of J. Herman Blake or Emily L. Moore, whichever is later.

Special restrictions apply: Series 2, Per the donor’s request due to his ongoing research of the Sea Islands and intention to publish this research, the J. Herman Blake Daufuskie Island journal is restricted until 2028. The original restriction on this material applied to the portions of the journal written in 1980-1981 and was set to expire in 2023. In 2019, the donor extended the restriction for five years and expanded it to cover all of the journal, including earlier portions written in the 1970s.

Use copies have not been made for audiovisual material in this collection. Researchers must contact MARBL at least two weeks in advance for access to these items. Collection restrictions, copyright limitations, or technical complications may hinder MARBL's ability to provide access to audiovisual material.

Use of the original digital media is restricted.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Special restrictions apply: Printed or manuscript music in this collection that is still under copyright protection and is not in the Public Domain may not be photocopied or photographed. Researchers must provide written authorization from the copyright holder to request copies of these materials.

Related Materials in Other Repositories

Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation collection, Stanford University Libraries

Separated Material

The Rose Library also holds books formerly owned by J. Herman Blake. These materials may be located in Emory University's online catalog by searching for: Blake, J. Herman, former owner.

Related Materials in This Repository

Black Panther Party collection

Source

Black Panther Party materials purchased from J. Herman Blake and Emily L. Moore in 2016. Sea Islands research files purchased from J. Herman Blake and Emily L. Moore in 2018.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], J. Herman Blake and Emily L. Moore papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Appraisal Note

Acquired by Pellom McDaniels, Curator of African American collections, as part of the Rose Library's holdings in African American culture and history. Some family material and documents relating specifically to Dr. Emily Moore's individual scholarship were returned to the donors.

Processing

Arranged and described at the folder level by Sarah Quigley, May 2016.

Born digital materials were processed by Sarah Quigley and Dorothy Waugh in 2017. Born digital materials included one floppy disk containing two Word Perfect files. The two files were extracted from forensic images of the disk and were scanned for viruses using McAfee's anti-virus software. Both files were migrated to PDF to create access copies. Files have been screened for private information. File names have been maintained.

The Sea Islands research files were arranged and described at the file and item levels by Sarah Quigley, May 2018.

This finding aid may include language that is offensive or harmful. Please refer to the Rose Library's harmful language statement for more information about why such language may appear and ongoing efforts to remediate racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic, euphemistic and other oppressive language. If you are concerned about language used in this finding aid, please contact us at rose.library@emory.edu.

Biographical Note

John Herman Blake was born in Mount Vernon, New York, on March 15, 1934, one of seven children raised by single mother Lylace E. Blake. He is married to Dr. Emily Moore. He served in the United States Army during the Korean War, then attended college on the G.I. Bill, studying sociology at New York University. He received his master's degree and Ph.D., both in sociology, from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1966, he began work at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) as Assistant Professor of Sociology; he was the first African American on the university's faculty. He was an expert witness for the defense during Huey P. Newton's 1968 trial for the killing of Oakland, California, police officer John Frey. In 1972, Blake was founding provost of Oakes College, a residential college on the campus of UCSC focusing on diversity and social justice education. From 1984-1987, he was President of Tougaloo College (Tougaloo, Mississippi) and has held teaching and administrative positions at such institutions as Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania), Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), and Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa). In addition to his scholarship on Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party, Blake is an expert on the Gullah culture of South Carolina and Georgia and has served as Scholar in Residence and Director of the Sea Island Institute at the University of South Carolina.

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of the papers of J. Herman Blake and Emily L. Moore from 1882-2016 (bulk 1966-2016) and primarily contains research files relating to Blake's co-authorship of Huey P. Newton's autobiography, Revolutionary Suicide, and research files on the culture of the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina. The Black Panther Party files include interviews, research files, and publication files. Interviews between Newton and Blake in which they discuss Newton's childhood, education, political awakening, personal philosophies and ethos of the Black Panther Party, and his trial for the killing of police officer John Frey. There are also interviews with Newton's family, including his parents Armelia and Walter, his brothers Melvin and Lee Edward, and his sisters Leola and Doris; Black Panthers James Carr, David Hilliard, Bobby Seale (interviewed by Don Freed), and John Seale; reporter Alex Hoffman; and college classmates Tommy and Tamara Reed. Research and other files contain correspondence, printed material about Newton and the Black Panther Party, photographs, materials relating to the lawsuits The People v. Huey P. Newton and J. Herman Blake v. Stronghold Consolidated Productions, writings by Newton and others about the Panthers, and other articles by Blake about Newton and the Black Panthers. Publishing files include correspondence, manuscript drafts, notes and outlines, and other materials relating to publishing Revolutionary Suicide.

The Sea Islands research files document Blake's scholarship on the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Research participant and interview files contain recordings of interviews Blake conducted with residents of Daufuskie Island and some personal documents given to Blake by interviewees. Research files include correspondence, printed material, photographs, writings by Blake and others, field notes by Blake and his research assistants, recordings of events, and records from various Sea Islands organizations, such as the Penn Center on St. Helena Island and a Daufuskie Island chapter of the Knights of Pythias. The series also includes files of the Kinte Library Project, a collaboration between Blake and author Alex Haley to gather and preserve oral histories and archival materials documenting life on the Sea Islands.

Other papers primarily contains writings by Emily L. Moore relating to her work and scholarship on faculty development and diversity and inclusion in higher education. There is also a significant collection of sheet music for minstrel songs with covers depicting stereotypical caricatures of African American men and women.

Arrangement Note

Arranged by record type, then in chronological or alphabetical order.