Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 3 lin. ft. (1 record carton, 3 archival boxes, 1 flat box)

Summary

1. The Vicki Garvin Papers document aspects of Garvin's work as a trade union organizer, especially among African-Americans in the 1950's, her teaching experience in Shanghai (1964-1970), return trips there in the 1970's, and her support of communism both in the United States and in China. Included are Garvin's personal reminiscences about her activities and individuals with whom she associated.
2. In addition to personal papers and letters Garvin wrote to various activists and personalities, her files include the published proceedings of the 11th Constitutional Convention of the CIO. Garvin's interest and work with the National Negro Labor Council (NNLC) is documented in the proceedings of the founding convention in 1951, news clippings, flyers, and her reminiscences.
3. Many of Garvin's activities teaching in China are reflected in her papers. Also included are her speeches, lessons plans and lectures in which she stated her support for Mao Tse-Tung and compared the liberation struggles of African Americans with those of the Chinese people and the South Vietnamese. In her diaries of the 1970's she summarized her personal experiences teaching in Shanghai and discussed the Gang of Four. The collection contains texts for Garvin's speeches and presentations regarding her personal achievements and background, her ideas for change, and tributes to black leaders. Her writings discuss the history of black workers' struggles in the United States in the 1950's and the Chinese Communist Party in the 1960's, among other topics. Of interest in the series, Organizational and Individual Files are Garvin's speeches and writings about Malcolm X, 1990-1997, her experiences with him as his translator when he visited Ghana in 1964, and her remembrances of the statements he made while in Ghana.

Subject

1. Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.)
2. X, Malcolm, 1925-1965
3. Communism
4. African American political activists
5. China > Social conditions > 1949-1976
6. African American intellectuals
7. African American women
8. African Americans > China
9. African American communists
10. Labor unions
11. African Americans > Civil rights
12. African Americans > Relations with Chinese
13. National Negro Labor Council (U.S.)
14. Communists > China
15. Speeches
16. Political activists
17. Diaries
18. Reminiscences
19. Garvin, Vicki, 1915-2007
20. Zhongguo gong chan dang

Genre/Form

1. Speeches.
2. Diaries.
3. Reminiscences.

Call number

1. Sc MG 647

Note

1. Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.
2. Audiotapes transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Source (note)

1. Vicki Garvin

Biography (note)

1. Victoria (Vicki) Garvin was an African-American trade union and political activist as well as a pan-Africanist and internationalist. From 1946-1950 Garvin served as a research director of the United Office and Professional Workers of America. In 1951 she took part in the formation of the National Negro Labor Council and became a national vice president and executive secretary of the New York City chapter. She taught English in Ghana between 1963-1964, and from 1964-1970 she taught English to advanced Chinese students at the Shanghai Foreign Languages Institute.

Author

1. Garvin, Vicki, 1915-2007.

Title

1. Vicki Garvin papers, 1923-1998 (bulk 1950-1990).

Biography

1. Victoria (Vicki) Garvin was an African-American trade union and political activist as well as a pan-Africanist and internationalist. From 1946-1950 Garvin served as a research director of the United Office and Professional Workers of America. In 1951 she took part in the formation of the National Negro Labor Council and became a national vice president and executive secretary of the New York City chapter. She taught English in Ghana between 1963-1964, and from 1964-1970 she taught English to advanced Chinese students at the Shanghai Foreign Languages Institute.

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Research call number

1. Sc MG 647