Amistad Research Center

This Juneteenth, the Amistad Research Center joins Duane Morris LLP for a special webinar — Preserving and Protecting the Truth on Paper — on Friday, June 19, 2–3 p.m. ET. As we celebrate 60 years of safeguarding African American history and culture, our Executive Director Kathe Hambrick and Board President Kim Boyle will reflect on the significance of June 19th and the vital work of keeping truth on the record.

Register in the link below to join the conversation.

https://www.duanemorris.com/events/preserving_protecting_truth_paper_conversation_amistad_research_center_0626.html

We are saddened to announce that our vinyl record listening party planned for tonight will be postponed due to the inclement weather!

A new date is forthcoming, and all previously purchased tickets will be honored. We hope you all will still be able to join this. Stay tuned for more!!

Most people know historical figures like Dr. Martin Luther King and Jackie Robinson, but few know the man and activist who treated them, Dr. Arthur C. Logan.

Dr. Logan was known as the Civil Rights Movement’s “house doctor.” After demonstrations, Dr. Logan frequently treated and looked after the injured. Additionally, he was the primary physician to Duke Ellington, Dr. King, Robinson, and Whitney Young during various points of their lives. His services extended beyond the physical, and he often served as a confidant and advisor in troubled times. He was also known for generously opening up his home to host fundraisers to support the movement.

Arthur Logan was originally from Alabama but moved to New York when he was ten. He became one of the first Black graduates of Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1934 and went receive his surgical training at Harlem Hospital. He never made national news for his work in the Civil Rights Movement, but over the years he was involved in other causes as well, including housing, community health, and neighborhood centers. Dr. Logan served on the board of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., was the chairman of the HARYOU-ACT (Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited and Association Community Teams), and a founding member of the Upper Manhattan Medical Group.

Our processing archivists uncovered this image of Dr. Logan at Jackie Robinson’ house in the Louise Jefferson collection. With support from the Getty Research Institute, this collection is undergoing special review to separating Jefferson’s original artworks from the manuscript files and prioritizing selections of art on paper for conservation treatment while archivists are also to enhance biographical and content descriptions of documents, such as this image of Dr. Logan, and curate an expanded online finding aid for the papers with the Center’s archival collection management system.

Credit:
- Photograph of Dr. Logan at the home of Jackie Robinson, undated, Louise Jefferson papers

The Amistad Research Center continues to bring history to life across New Orleans through two powerful community partnerships. At Xavier Preparatory School, their traveling exhibit The Life of Sybil Morial honors the extraordinary legacy of alumna Sybil Haydel Morial, Class of 1948, tracing her lifelong commitment to leadership, education, and civil rights. That same spirit carried into the summer through Story Keepers, a youth internship where Amistad's mobile exhibition introduced 14 interns and peer mentors to rare archival materials, the center's origins, and the critical importance of preservation during their opening session at the Newcomb Art Museum. Together, these partnerships reflect Amistad's enduring mission — not just to preserve history, but to make it accessible and alive for every generation.

Save history for the next generation by joining this fun poolside experience while dancing with friends and family to the music of The Ojays, Earth Wind & Fire, the Ohio Players, The Commodores, The Chilites, Chocolate Milk, The Meters, Cameo, The Barkays, Donald Byrd and many more.

This Vinyl Listening Party is curated just for you at The Blue Crawfish located at 1620 Dumaine St. New Orleans, LA 70116 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm on Thursday, June 18, 2026.

Tickets are available for $25 at the link below:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/soulful-male-groups-of-the-70s-and-80s-tickets-1989945020123?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

ARC Executive Director Kathe Hambrick and Curator of Moving Images and Recorded Sound Brenda Flora recently visited the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History!

They toured the museum's temporary space and met with founders Hermon Johnson Jr. and Rev. Darryl Johnson, Vanessa Johnson, and the museum's dedicated volunteer staff. ARC will be partnering with the museum on a program next year featuring the Mound Bayou, Mississippi oral histories from the Brad Lichtenstein collection, which is currently being digitized and processed by ARC with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Stay tuned for more!

Join us at the Blue Crawfish Hotel and Bar on Thursday, June 18 to celebrate the soulful sounds of legendary 70s & 80s male groups for a lively time of dancing, music, and nostalgia!

Step back into the golden era of soul music with an unforgettable evening celebrating the smooth harmonies and timeless hits of the legendary male singing groups of the 70s and 80s. Enjoy a night filled with classic love songs, soulful melodies, dancing, and nostalgia — all while supporting a meaningful cause. Join us for an elegant fundraising experience where music, culture, and community come together for a night to remember.

This event will run from 5:30pm-8:30pm, and all proceeds will support the Amistad Research Center's mission. Purchase a ticket today by scanning the QR code or click the link below. See you all there!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/soulful-male-groups-of-the-70s-and-80s-tickets-1989945020123?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

David Henderson, whose poetry gave fierce and lyrical voice to the Black Arts Movement and whose biography of Jimi Hendrix reshaped how the world understood the guitarist's life and legacy, passed awat on May 14 in Lincoln Park, N.J. at 83 years old. The cause was complications of dementia, according to his daughter, Najuma Henderson.

Henderson was born on September 19, 1942, in Harlem, the elder son of Raymond Henderson, a Coast Guard chief petty officer, and Myrtle Henderson, a telephone operator. He would go on to become one of the more restless and original literary minds of his generation, equally at home in the rhythms of jazz and the urgency of protest.

In 1962, Henderson helped found the Society of Umbra, a Black literary collective that gathered in Manhattan's East Village and counted among its members Calvin Hernton, Tom Dent, Lorenzo Thomas, Askia Touré, Steve Cannon, and Ishmael Reed. The group was driven by a shared conviction that Black writers had been systematically locked out of American literary life. "We were shut out of the discourse," Henderson said in a 2009 interview. "That exclusion is what Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, James Baldwin, were fighting." Umbra's journal, launched in 1963, helped lay the groundwork for the broader Black Arts Movement that followed. Materials related to this time in Henderson's life are available in our Tom Dent collection to learn more about his writing and impact.

His poetry drew from Black oral tradition, street vernacular, and the pulse of rock, Motown, and jazz. His debut collection, Felix of the Silent Forest (1967), carried an introduction by Amiri Baraka, who recognized in Henderson something rare — a poet whose work held both neighborhood particularity and cultural sweep. De Mayor of Harlem followed in 1970, and Neo-California in 1998. His Hendrix biography, 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, published in 2009, became a landmark work. He is survived by his daughter, Najuma Henderson.

Credit:
- Photograph of Henderson at Umbra meeting, taken by Alvin Simon [photographer], left to right—David Henderson, Charles Patterson. N.d.[ca. 1963], Tom Dent papers