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Fellowship Commission (Philadelphia, Pa.) Records
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Held at: Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Fellowship Commission is the nation's oldest and largest private metropolitan human rights organization. In 1941 through the joint efforts of the Philadelphia Anti-Defamation League (later the Jewish Community Relations Council), Fellowship House, the Race Relations Department of the Philadelphia Federation of Churches (now the Metropolitan Christian Council), the Friends Committee on the Race Relations (of the Religious Society of Friends), the Fellowship Commission was formed.
The four original constituent agencies were joined by the Philadelphia branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the International Institute (Later renamed the Nationalities Service Center) in 1942, and by the Philadelphia branch of the National Conference of Christian and Jews in 1943. The Council for Job Opportunity (CEJO) became the eighth constituent organization in 1946, followed by American Civil Liberties Union in 1952. Dr. William Henry Walsh, became the Commission's first President and Maury Fagan its first Executive Director.
During the 1940s the agency worked to eliminate questions concerning race and religion from job and school applications, newspaper advertisements that designated racial or religious preferences, and to eliminate real estate advertisements which affirmed restrictive covenants. The organization played a key role in promoting the peaceful acceptance of Black workers into the company union during the Philadelphia Transit Company (now SEPTA) strike of 1944. The agency established the Philadelphia Fellowship Award and the National Fellowship Award in 1945. These awards provide public recognition to individuals and organizations for outstanding contributions on behalf of human rights. It 1947, the agency opened a library and, started publication of its quarterly newsletter, Report to the Community, in October 1948.
Fellowship Commission achievements in the area of legal work included; the passage of an ordinance in 1948 to establish Philadelphia's Fair Employment Practices Commission; the establishment of a state Fair Employment Practices Commission in 1955 which played a key role in the drafting of the Home Rule Charter, the establishment of the Pennsylvania Race Relations Commission (later the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (later the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission); pushing through ordinances outlawing discrimination and segregation in public and private housing; organizing the Citizen's Council on Democratic Rights (later to become the Philadelphia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1952).
In 1944, the Commission launched the Philadelphia childhood project, co-sponsored by the Philadelphia School System, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the National Bureau of Intercultural Education. The results of the study were cited by the United States Supreme Court in its historic Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision of 1954, requiring an end to segregation in public schools. Other attempts by the agency to ensure equal opportunities in education include; the organization of the Citizen's Committee for a Free City College in 1945; the opening of the Community College of Philadelphia in 1965; and helping pass the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Law in 1961.
In later years the organization's efforts to protect the rights and opportunities of individuals included such projects as the drafting and enactment of Pennsylvania's "Compensation for Innocent Victims of Violent Crime Act", lobbying for stricter handgun controls, assisting Southeast Asian refugees groups in forming their own self-help organizations; and developing strategies to help women and children in poverty.
The Fellowship Commission Records contain correspondence, bylaws, administrative records, meetings minutes and agenda, committee records, publications, newsclippings, photographs, and other records by or related to the Commission.
The Fellowship Commission (Philadelphia, Pa.) Records are comprised of three accessions. No inventory is available for Accession 799.
- Series 1: Accessions 473 and 626, 1937-1990
- Suberies 1.1: Administration, 1941-1986
- Suberies 1.2: Committees, 1947-1989
- Suberies 1.3: Committee on Community Tensions, 1946-1985
- Suberies 1.4: Committee on Opportunities for Higher Education, 1947-1980
- Suberies 1.5: Council for Equal Job Opportunity, 1946-1977
- Suberies 1.6: Educational Policy and Planning Committee, 1947-1985
- Suberies 1.7: Programs and Activities of PFC (PORTIONS RESTRICTED), 1943-1989
- Suberies 1.8: Public Relations/Publications, 1946-1988
- Suberies 1.9: Organizations, 1937-1989, undated
- Suberies 1.10: Subjects, 1940-1987, undated
- Suberies 1.11: Newsclippings, 1942-1990, undated
- Series 2: Accession 799, circa 1972-1994
- Series 3: Photographs (PC-44), 1946-1985
Accession 473 was acquired in August 1981 from the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission through Grace Alpern. Accession 626 was deposited by Alice O'Neill from the Fellowship Commission in July 1986. Accession 799 received in January 1995. Photographs in PC-44 originally part of Accession 473.
Finding aid revised according to contemporary archival standards June 2017 by Sarah Lerner, Student Worker, and Katy Rawdon, Coordinator of Technical Services.
Subject
- African Americans-Pennsylvania-Philadelphia
- Civil rights-Pennsylvania-Philadelphia
- Race relations--Pennsylvania-Philadelphia
- Segregation-Pennsylvania-Philadelphia
Place
- Publisher
- Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Machine-readable finding aid created by: Rajkumar Natarajan, Sky Global Services India (P) Ltd.
- Finding Aid Date
- July 2024
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research. Materials in Subseries 1.7, Box 51, Legal Documents and Case Records, are restricted. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.
- Use Restrictions
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The Fellowship Commission (Philadelphia, Pa.) Records are the physical property of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Intellectual property rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. Researchers are responsible for determining the identity of rights holders and obtaining their permission for publication and for other purposes where stated.
Collection Inventory
Materials in Box 51, Legal Documents and Case Records, are restricted. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.
No inventory is available. These materials may or may not be available for research. Interested patrons must contact the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) prior to their visit to see if these materials can be made available.