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Appendix A: Study Design and Methodology
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>> 263 Appendix A Study Design and Methodology This book uses a multiple-case study approach to assess youth-based participation in social movements. The research covers three waves of movement activism: the 1930s to 1940s, the 1950s to 1970s, and the 1990s to 2000s. The Free South Africa Movement took place in the 1980s and bridged the second and third waves of youth activism. This book draws extensively from qualitative sources, including rarely used archival data and interviews of eighty-one activists. Location and Status of the Archives and Collection File The archival data were drawn from two repositories. First, I relied on archival data preserved at official libraries and research centers and in oral histories and documentation catalogues. The second repository consists of archival sources that have not been officially catalogued at a research center. I refer to these sources as collection files. They comprise organizational records, memorandums, membership data, emails, newsletters, and internal deliberations of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) and Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC) as well as the juvenile justice reform movement (JJRM). Below is a description of the archival data. American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) Union Summer Program, George Meany Memorial Archives, National Labor College, Silver Spring, MD (accessed in 2011). These files were used for the analysis in chapter 9. I had to receive special permission from the AFL-CIO’s Secretary-Treasurer’s Office to survey the archives because they had not been officially “processed” or catalogued at the time of this study. Black Student Leadership Network/Black Community Crusade for Children Collection (BSLN/BCCC) File. These files detail the activities of the BSLN and BCCC and were analyzed in chapters 5 through 7 (collected from 1999 to 2001). The records were collected during the interview stage with the leaders of these organizations. I also 264 << Appendix A used a snowball method in which organizational records were obtained through recommendations from interviewees. Finally, I was actively involved in the BSLN’s Summer Freedom School program from 1993 to 1996, thus giving me access to a limited amount of records. Civil Rights Documentation Project Vertical File Collection, Moorland-Spingarn Library, Manuscripts Division, Howard University, Washington, D.C. (accessed in 1999– 2000). This collection documents the activities of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Child Development Group of Mississippi and was analyzed in chapter 3. The Ed Strong Papers, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington , D.C. (accessed in 1999–2000). Ed Strong was a prominent youth organizer in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of the founding members of the Southern Negro Youth Congress, and was the first chairperson of the National Negro Congress’s Youth Continuations Committees. The papers assisted with chapter 2’s examination of the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC). The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Southern Negro Youth Congress, #100-HQ-6548 (accessed in 1999). These records document the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s monitoring of the SNYC (see chapter 2). They were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request. Juvenile Justice Reform Movement Collection File (collected from 2004 to 2005). This collection file examines the JJRM’s initiatives and was analyzed in chapter 8. The data were gathered during four visits with JJRM coalitions: Baltimore and Annapolis , Maryland (2004 and 2005), New Orleans, Louisiana (2005), and New York City (2004). The Papers of the National Negro Congress, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (accessed in 1999–2000). These papers were helpful in explaining the origins of the SNYC (see chapter 2), which was birthed from the National Negro Congress’s Youth Council. Ralph J. Bunche Oral History Collection, Civil Rights Documentation Project, MoorlandSpingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, D.C. (accessed in 1999– 2000). This repository documents the activities of young blacks prior to World War II. This was examined in chapter 2. The Records of the National Urban League, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (accessed in 2011). This data source covers the activities of the National Urban League and its allied organizations from the post–World War I period (see chapter 2) to the 1970s. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Papers, Howard University, Washington , D.C. (accessed in 1999–2000). These papers pertain to SNCC’s activities and were examined in chapter 3. ...