James Forman Library Collection

James Forman Library Collection

James Forman (1928-2005) was a civil rights leader, writer, and academic known for his work with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panthers, and the Unemployment and Poverty Action Committee (UPAC). His Black Manifesto of 1969 is regarded as an important watershed in the movement for slavery reparations. He graduated with a B.A. from Roosevelt University, an M.A. from Cornell University in 1980, and Ph.D. from Union of Experimental Colleges in 1982. His library was donated to Queens College in 2010 and consists of over 1,700 books, 2,000 pamphlets and academic journals, as well as taped oral histories and copies of the documentaries Forman produced. Additionally, the collection includes 10.5 linear feet of FBI files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The eclectic collection, which often contains evidence of Forman's reading, covers a variety of topics in including history, poetry, government reports, biographies, political works, and mathematical and science books. The pamphlet collection contains many ephemeral publications from leftist political organizations, some of which are rare. The Library complements the collection of Forman's personal papers at the Library of Congress.

Most of the items in this collection have not been digitized. Click here to view the finding aid of this collection.