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The Miriam Decosta-Willis Collection THE MIRIAM DECOSTA-WILLIS COLLECTION Hooks Brothers Photo, 1965 Processed by Robert C. Cruthirds 2011 Memphis and Shelby County Room Memphis Public Library and Information Center 3030 Poplar Avenue Memphis, Tennessee 38111 Table of Contents Biography Images Family Tree Scope and Content of the Collection Finding Aid Abbreviation Key Series I - Family, Genealogy, and Education Box 1: Family and Genealogy Box 2: Education Box 3: Education Series II - Teaching, Academic Affairs, and Correspondence Box 4: Teaching Career Box 5: Academic Correspondence Box 6: Conference Programs and Papers Box 7: General Correspondence and Journals Box 8: Personal and Business Papers Series III - Scholarship Box 9: Afra-Hispanic Writers Box 10: Nancy Morejón Box 11: Black Hispanic Writers Box 12: Spanish and Afro-Hispanic Literature and Pedagogy Box 13: Afro-Hispanic Review Box 14: Black Memphis History Box 15: Notable Black Memphians Box 16: Georgia L. Patton Box 17: Ida B. Wells Box 18: The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells Box 19: Black World Box 20: African American Periodicals Box 21: Correspondence with African American Writers Box 22: Erotique Noire/ Black Erotica Box 23: Erotique Noire/ Black Erotica 2 Series IV - Community Activities Box 24: Memphis Black Writers’ Workshop Box 25: Memphis Black Writers’ Workshop: The Memphis Story . Lest We Forget: 1950-1980 and Homespun Images Box 26: Blackart and Tennessee Humanities Council Box 27: Programs, Tours, Book Reviews Box 28: Civil Rights and Other Activities Series V - Photographs, Tapes, and Oversize Items Box 29: Family Photographs Box 30: Education, Travel, Conferences Box 31: Teaching / Memphis Black Writers’ Workshop Box 32: Black Memphis History and Civil Rights Box 33: VHS and Cassette Tapes, Microfilm, DVDs Box 34: Oversize Items Biography Miriam Dolores DeCosta was born into an African American family of educators on November 1, 1934, in Florence, Alabama. Her mother, Beautine Hubert DeCosta (1913-2008), a graduate of Spelman College, received an MSW degree from Atlanta University, and her father, Frank A. DeCosta (1910-1972), a graduate of Lincoln University, received a masters degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. Miriam and her younger brother, Frank (1935-1999), grew up on college campuses, where they attended public and private laboratory schools in Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. In 1950, Miriam became the first African American student admitted to Westover School, a preparatory school in Middlebury, Connecticut. Two years later, she entered Wellesley College, where she was awarded Freshman Honors, named a Wellesley College Scholar, and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Society. She received an M. A. degree in 1960, and a Ph.D. degree in Romance languages in 1967 from The Johns Hopkins University. After completing her junior year at Wellesley, Miriam married Russell B. Sugarmon, a graduate of Rutgers University and Harvard University Law School, and the couple moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1956, following her graduation. The Sugarmons had four children--Tarik (1956), Elena (1958), Erika (1962), and Monique (1964)--before divorcing in 1967. Three years later, Miriam moved, with the children, to Washington, D. C., where, in 1972, she married Archie W. Willis, Jr., a Memphis attorney, businessman, and former state legislator. She moved back to Memphis in 1976, but returned to Washington a year after her husband's death in 1988. Miriam DeCosta-Willis was a college professor and administrator for more than forty years, beginning in 1957, when she became instructor of French at LeMoyne College. After completing a graduate degree, she taught French and English at Owen Junior College and, in 1966, became the first Black faculty member at Memphis State University, as assistant and, later, associate professor of Spanish. She joined the faculty of Howard University in 1970, and was 3 elected chair of the Department of Romance Languages four years later. For a decade (1979- 89), she served as professor of Romance Languages at LeMoyne-Owen College, where she founded and directed the Du Bois Scholars Program. In 1989, she was appointed Commonwealth Professor of Spanish at George Mason University in Virginia. Two years later, she became a professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of African American Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, from which she retired in 1999. Research in African, Caribbean, African American, Afro-Hispanic, and Latin American literature and culture, as well as Black Memphis history, has informed the teaching and scholarship of Miriam DeCosta-Willis. Since 1967, she has published thirty-six articles and eighteen reviews in scholarly journals, as well as seventeen book chapters, and she has presented seventy papers at conferences, seminars, and symposia. She has also authored, edited or co-edited nine books, including Blacks in Hispanic Literature: A Collection of Critical Essays (1977), Erotique Noire / Black Erotica (1992), The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells (1995), Daughters of the Diaspora: Afra-Hispanic Writers (2003), Notable Black Memphians (2008), and Black Memphis Landmarks (2010). Her scholarship has, on occasion, been funded through grants from the United Negro College Fund, Tennessee Humanities Council, and National Endowment for the Humanities, and her research has taken her to more than fifty countries, including Cuba, Guyana, Haiti, Ghana, Spain, and the Dominican Republic. Over the course of her career, Dr. DeCosta-Willis has received several fellowships and awards, including a Johns Hopkins Fellowship, Wellesley College Fellowship for Graduate Study, Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award at LeMoyne-Owen College, Prominent Black Woman Award at Memphis State University, and Torchbearer of Afro-Hispanic Studies by the College Language Association. She is also listed in the Directory of American Scholars, Who's Who of Women, Leaders of Black America, International Authors and Writers Who's Who, Dictionary of International Biography, and four other national/international directories. Active in professional organizations such as the College Language Association and the Association of Caribbean Studies, she served as associate editor of two journals: SAGE: A Scholarly Journal of Black Women and the Afro-Hispanic Review. An activist throughout her life, she organized a student protest at Wilkinson High School, joined her mother in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and was jailed in Memphis for participating in civil rights demonstrations. Known as "Laurie"--a nickname acquired at Westover--she served as advisor to the Black Students Association, campaigned for Black political candidates, and, as chair of the Memphis NAACP's Education Committee, led a boycott of local public schools in the 1960s, and joined protest marches in Washington in the 1990s. Active in civic and community affairs, DeCosta-Willis, a life member of the NAACP, chaired the Tennessee Humanities Council, and served on the boards of the Federation of State Humanities Councils, Shelby County Historical Commission, and MSU Center for Research on Women. As co-founder and chair of the Memphis Black Writers' Workshop, she organized symposia such as "The Memphis Story . Lest We Forget: 1950-1980," put together a Black History series for WHBQ-TV Channel 13, and co-edited Homespun Images: An Anthology of Black Memphis Writers and Artists. 4 Images DeCosta family in Boston, 1938 5 American Tennis Association national tournament; National Girls’ Runner-up, 1949 Wellesley College Junior Show coordinators; MD, choreographer, 1954 6 Wedding reception of Miriam and Russell Sugarmon, with parents, 1955 DeCosta and Sugarmon families, Baltimore, 1964 7 Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain; Elena, Miriam, Monique, Erika; 1968 Black Monday boycott of public schools; Maxine Smith and Miriam, 1969 8 Miriam and A.W. Willis, Jr. Supreme Mortgage Company, ca. 1980 The Willises in Olympia, Greece, 1985 9 The Memphis Black Writers’ Workshop program featuring Memphis novelist Arthur Flowers, 1986 Du Bois Scholars Program faculty, LeMoyne-Owen College, 1989 10 Family Tree 11 Scope and Content This collection was donated to the Memphis Public Library and Information Center by Miriam DeCosta-Willis. It chronicles a record of her achievements as a student, teacher, scholar, writer, world traveler, and community activist over a span of many decades. Also included is a very rich and detailed personal and family history, documented in letters, photographs, journals, newspaper articles, and genealogical books on the DeCosta and Hubert families. Miriam DeCosta-Willis (MDW) has a longstanding association with Memphis as a professor at LeMoyne, Owen, and LeMoyne-Owen Colleges and at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), and as co-founder of the Memphis Black Writers’ Workshop. She has written many columns and articles for local publications, and has authored or edited several books on Memphis history. The collection is divided into five groups comprising a total of thirty-four boxes and including one oversize box. Series I is composed of Boxes 1 through 3. Box 1 includes family and genealogical documents, such as books on the DeCosta and Hubert families, reunion materials, and articles related to MDW’s parents, Frank Augustus DeCosta and Beautine Hubert DeCosta- Lee. Boxes 2 and 3 contain items pertaining to MDW’s education, including report cards, commencement programs, and yearbooks. Papers from MDW’s academic career
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