Freedomways Vol. 12 No. 4

About the Project

In its inaugural issue Freedomways magazine stated that its purpose was to explore “the new forms of economic, political and social systems now existing or emerging in the world” from the viewpoint of African Americans. From 1961 to 1985, the magazine did just that. Founded by Esther Jackson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Shirley Graham Du Bois, Edward Strong, and Louis Burnham, the magazine engaged editors, educators, poets, writers, activists, and artists to critique and report on not just the Civil Rights and other progressive movements in America, but to also cast an eye towards international and Pan-African movements across the globe. Articles also explored art, literature, and education. Individuals like Esther Cooper Jackson, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Nikki Giovanni, Lorraine Hansberry, Elizabeth Catlett, John Henrik Clarke, Kwame Nkrumah, and Harry Belafonte contributed to the magazine’s success. Under Jackson’s direction, Freedomways became the leading radical Black left publication of its time. Help us transcribe Freedomways to engage with intellectual, political and cultural thoughts from a defining era in history.

This collection of Freedomways was donated to the National Museum of African American History and Culture by Dr. Maurice Jackson. Dr. Jackson is a professor in the History, African American Studies, and Music departments at Georgetown University, where he earned both his MA and PhD. Before going into academia, Dr. Jackson was a community organizer and union leader.

Show pages needing (scroll down to load more): Transcription | All

Completed!

Project Progress (details)

100 pages completed

Difficulty

2 out of 5

(details)

About Project Difficulty

Level 1 - BEGINNER

Content: all typed
Language: English
Format: letters, diaries, flyers, pamphlets, and one-page documents
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: none required

Level 2

Content: mostly typed, handwritten in print, or otherwise very clearly written/readable
Language: English
Format: memorabilia, advertisements, image captions, telegrams, diaries, letters, notes
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: none required

Level 3 - INTERMEDIATE

Content: typed and handwritten materials in cursive or print
Language: English
Format: newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, letters/diaries/notes that may include annotations or margin notes
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: experience reading cursive writing may be useful

Level 4

Content: handwritten materials, primarily in cursive or somewhat difficult to read (predominantly from the 19th and 20th centuries) , audio recordings that are relatively easy to hear/decipher, and scientific materials
Language: English and/or other languages that use Roman script but may require the use of diacritics (French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc.)
Format: audio recordings, letters, diaries, notes and other written materials, projects with templated fields and special instructions
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: some knowledge of non-English Roman-character/script languages and diacritics may be useful, as well as experience reading cursive handwriting. A general knowledge or familiarity with scientific terminology.

Level 5 - ADVANCED

Content: handwritten materials in cursive (from the 19th century or earlier) or in a non-Roman script language, audio recordings that are difficult to hear or are not in English, specialty materials/projects such as numismatics projects and the Project Phaedra notebooks
Language: foreign languages that use non-Roman characters (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Greek/Cyrillic, Native American and Indigenous languages, etc.) and English
Format: audio recordings, columned data/tables, manuscripts, letters, diaries, notes, currency sheets, coins
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: knowledge of a specific language and access to a keyboard with the characters in that language may be required for certain projects. Experience reading cursive handwriting and familiarity with 19th century (or prior) handwriting and conventions/abbreviations may be useful, as well as knowledge of scientific terminology, astrophysics data, or linguistics.

Contributing
members

100

Total
pages

Complete