Wolfgram Subject Guides: African & African American Studies: Web Resources

George Raymond Papers

Explore the history of the Chester Civil Rights Movement and Chester NAACP through scrapbooks and other materials donated by the George Raymond Family. Raymond was the President of the Chester Branch of the NAACP for nearly 25 years, including during the turbulent, and sometimes violent, civil rights protests of the 1960s.

Chester NAACP Scrpbook: 1963-1964 This scrapbook is a part of the George Raymond Papers. It was created by Patricia Taylor for the Chester Branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Its clippings chronicle the Chester Civil Rights movement during the period from 1963 to 1964, while George Raymond was president of the NAACP. During this highly volatile period, Chester, in the midst of a riveting Civil Rights struggle, drew the attention of the entire nation. The many demonstrations for desegregation, particularly school desegregation, began peacefully. Later, however, as city and state police tried to contain the demonstrations, they turned violent. The violence led to new protests against police brutality. In addition to George Raymond, another important Civil Rights leader of this period was Stanley Branche. Branche formed the Chester Committee for Freedom Now, an organization that spearheaded many demonstrations. In the Spring of 1964, national civil rights leaders, including Gloria Richardson, Philip Savage, Malcolm X and Dick Gregory, came to the area in support of the demonstrators. That summer, Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton formed the Greater Chester Movement in an effort to resolve the underlying issues that had led to the protests. This scrapbook thoroughly documents, through a comprehensive collection of clippings from a variety of newspaper sources, this intense period in Chesters history.
George Raymond Clippings: 1940s-1960s This project features a variety of newspaper clippings collected by George Raymond, head of the Chester NAACP for nearly 25 years. A majority of these clippings come from the Chester Times and its successor the Delaware County Daily Times and the rest come from Philadelphia and National Newspapers. For this project, the clippings are organized into several categories based upon topic. The categories include: Recreation, Events in the Black Community, Chester NAACP Branch, Delaware County Schools and Delaware County Housing. The clippings primarily cover the time period from 1940 to 1960. Every effort was made to ascertain the date for each article. Many of the articles in this project are complete. However, George Raymond frequently cut out a small section from a larger article if he did not think the complete article was worth saving. Where possible, we have located the entire article from the Delaware County Daily Times Online Archive and included it in this project to provide the correct context for the small section that George Raymond preserved.
George Raymond Scrapbook: 1940s-1960s George Raymond was the president of the Chester branch of the NAACP (National Association of Colored People) for nearly twenty-five years. This scrapbook, created by Raymond, chronicles the Chester Civil Rights movement during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, through newspaper clippings, announcements, booklets and other materials. John McLarnon describes the impact Raymond had on Chester with these words: Raymond virtually founded the modern civil rights movement in Chester. He worked for more than thirty years to insure that state laws prohibiting racial discrimination were enforced Raymond fought the city administration, the school board, the courts, and one of the most powerful political machines in the history of the state. Largely through his efforts, Chester was transformed from a totally segregated city to a city where blacks could expect fair treatment in employment, housing, and education. Quote from McLarnon, John M. Old Scratchhead Reconsidered: George Raymond and Civil Rights in Chester, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania History, Volume 69, Number 3 (Summer 2002), 297-341.
George Raymond Scrapbook: 1960s-1990s George Raymond was the president of the Chester, Pennsylvania branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) for nearly twenty-five years. This scrapbook, created by Raymond, focuses on the Chester Civil Rights movement in the 1960's through photographs, newspaper clippings and other materials, although it includes materials from other years. John McLarnon describes the impact Raymond had on Chester with these words: Raymond virtually founded the modern civil rights movement in Chester. He worked for more than thirty years to insure that state laws prohibiting racial discrimination were enforced Raymond fought the city administration, the school board, the courts, and one of the most powerful political machines in the history of the state. Largely through his efforts, Chester was transformed from a totally segregated city to a city where blacks could expect fair treatment in employment, housing, and education Quote from McLarnon, John M. Old Scratchhead Reconsidered: George Raymond and Civil Rights in Chester, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania History, Volume 69, Number 3 (Summer 2002), 297-341.
George Raymond Scrapbook: 1940s-1980s George Raymond was the president of the Chester branch of the NAACP (National Association of Colored People) for nearly twenty-five years. This scrapbook, created by Raymond, includes photographs, articles from local and national newspapers, pamphlets and other materials. When possible, the dates of the articles are noted.
Papers- George Raymond - 1940s-1990s George Raymond was the president of the Chester branch of the NAACP (National Association of Colored People) from 1942 - 1965. These papers focus on the major Civil Rights activities that George Raymond was active in during the 1940s through 1960s including, integration of Chester Public Schools, fair housing policies, voter registration, and the integration of the Great Leopard Skating Rink. The papers also include Raymond's correspondence with local and national leaders, showing the lengths that he took to accomplish the goals of the Chester NAACP. Although most of the documents cover the 1940s -1960s, materials about the 1983 March on Washington and Raymond's 1999 obituary are included.

Web Resources on African and African American History

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The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
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Library of Congress: African American Odyssey
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Library of Congress: The African-American Mosaic
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The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute
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New York Public Library Schomburg Digital Resources
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