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

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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.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

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

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Related Materials and Subjects

Subject Terms

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Series Descriptions and Folder Listing

 

Correspondence
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1	1	Alexander Akerman, Sr., 1940
1	1	Alexander Akerman, Jr., 1940
1	1	Emory S. Akerman, 1940, 1948-1950
1	1	Larry J. Durrence - correspondence and research on the Florida Council of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, 1973, 1988-1989
1	1	Minnie (Mrs. Alexander) Akerman, 1940
1	1	Robert Akerman, 1966-1969

 

Legal documents
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1	2	Affidavits signed by black citizens who were prevented from registering to vote in the Orlando white primary (city election), 1949
1	2	Complaint 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

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folder

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1

2

Clippings, 1940-1947

 

Political
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1	2	"Can the Leopard Change his Spot?" - article on Democrats and Republicans by C.T. Williams, Undated
1	2	Emory Akerman speech, circa 1940
1	2	Endorsement for Minnie Akerman for Republican State Executive Committeewoman, 1940 May 2
1	2	Transcript of the State Executive Committee of Florida meeting - Emory Akerman present, Undated
1	2	Letter from T.H. Procter endorsing Wendell Willkie for president, 1940 October 28

 

Printed Materials
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1	2	Eatonite Magazine - vol. III, no. II, 1942 February-April
1	2	Emory Akerman for Congress brochure (2), 1940
1	2	"Message to the Republican and Democratic Parties from the Negroes of America", 1944 June 17
1	2	NAACP brochure, circa 1944
1	2	Program for a Dymanic America: A Statement of Republic Principles - Report of Republican Program Committee submitted to Repubican National Committee, 1940 February 16
1	2	Program for the wartime conference called by the NAACP, Chicago, Illinois, 1944 July 12-16
1	2	Results of the state of Florida general election, 1940