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Akerman family papers

Akerman family papers

Descriptive Summary

Title: Akerman family papers
Creator: Akerman, Emory S.
Inclusive Dates: 1940-1989
Language(s): English
Extent: 0.25 Linear Feet
Collection Number: ms4064
Repository: Hargrett Library

Collection Description

Historical Note

The Akerman family has a long political history in the south. Amos T. Akerman was a Georgia lawyer named U.S. attorney general by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870. As attorney general, Akerman prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan and worked to protect the rights granted to black citizens by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. He died in Cartersville, Georgia in 1880.

Amos Akerman's son, Alexander Akerman, Sr., grew up in Cartersville, Georgia and married Minnie Clarke Edwards Akerman. Together, they had six children, including Emory and Alexander Akerman, Jr. born in Elberton, Georgia. Both Emory and Alexander Akerman, Jr. practiced law in Florida. Emory Akerman worked closely with the NAACP, representing black citizens who were illegally denied the write to vote in Florida elections.

Scope and Content

Consists of materials documenting the Akerman family members' extensive legal careers, especially Emory Akerman's work on voting rights for black citizens in Florida and his relationship with the NAACP in the 1940s. Includes Emory's correspondence with members of the NAACP, a complaint filed against the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, which led to black citizens voting for the first time in the city's white primary, and materials documenting his bid for Congress, which he ultimately lost to Joseph Hendricks.


Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Akerman family papers, ms4064, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.


Related Materials and Subjects

Subject Terms

Akerman, Alexander, Jr., 1910-1998
Akerman, Alexander, Sr., 1869-1948
Akerman, Amos Tappan, 1821-1880
Akerman, Minnie Clarke Edwards, 1872-1955

Series Descriptions and Folder Listing

 

Correspondence

boxfolder
11Alexander Akerman, Sr., 1940
11Alexander Akerman, Jr., 1940
11Emory S. Akerman, 1940, 1948-1950
11Larry J. Durrence - correspondence and research on the Florida Council of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, 1973, 1988-1989
11Minnie (Mrs. Alexander) Akerman, 1940
11Robert Akerman, 1966-1969
 

Legal documents

boxfolder
12Affidavits signed by black citizens who were prevented from registering to vote in the Orlando white primary (city election), 1949
12Complaint filed by black citizens who were prevented from registering to vote in the St. Petersburg, Florida white primary - represented by Emory Akerman, 1947
 

Newspaper clippings

boxfolder
12Clippings, 1940-1947
 

Political

boxfolder
12"Can the Leopard Change his Spot?" - article on Democrats and Republicans by C.T. Williams, Undated
12Emory Akerman speech, circa 1940
12Endorsement for Minnie Akerman for Republican State Executive Committeewoman, 1940 May 2
12Transcript of the State Executive Committee of Florida meeting - Emory Akerman present, Undated
12Letter from T.H. Procter endorsing Wendell Willkie for president, 1940 October 28
 

Printed Materials

boxfolder
12Eatonite Magazine - vol. III, no. II, 1942 February-April
12Emory Akerman for Congress brochure (2), 1940
12"Message to the Republican and Democratic Parties from the Negroes of America", 1944 June 17
12NAACP brochure, circa 1944
12Program for a Dymanic America: A Statement of Republic Principles - Report of Republican Program Committee submitted to Repubican National Committee, 1940 February 16
12Program for the wartime conference called by the NAACP, Chicago, Illinois, 1944 July 12-16
12Results of the state of Florida general election, 1940