UPA
Library Research
American Studies
Civil Rights during the Carter Administration, 1977–1981
Part 1: Papers of the Special Assistant for Black Affairs
Between 1978 and 1981, the Carter administration attempted to
confront issues facing African Americans by bringing on Louis
Martin as the president’s special assistant for black affairs. Martin’s
papers document the major issues he addressed as Carter’s Special
Assistant and also reveal Carter administration policy toward
African Americans. The major programs covered in the collection
relate to employment and minority-owned businesses, housing,
and education.
More than a decade after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employment
discrimination and unemployment remained serious issues for African Americans. The
Carter administration established or expanded a number of programs to provide both
jobs and job training for the unemployed, such as the Summer Youth Employment
Program, a minority students’ research apprenticeship program, and Jobs for Youth. One
document notes that, by May 1980, these programs had created over 2 million new jobs
for African Americans and Latinos. Further, during the Carter years, African Americans
held more senior government jobs and federal judgeships than at any prior time.
Carter’s support for minority-owned businesses is well-documented in the collection.
Early in his term, Jimmy Carter issued a directive to all federal executive departments
and independent agencies requiring them to double the amount of procurement contracts they awarded to minority-owned businesses. In addition, grants were awarded to
minority firms by the Commerce Department’s Office of Minority Business Enterprise
(OMBE), headed by the charismatic Randolph T. Blackwell. One of the success stories chronicled in this collection is the Southwest Alabama Farmers Cooperative
Association’s development of alcohol-based fuels. Other major initiatives included
a program to increase the assets of minority-owned banks, passage of the Minority
Business Development Act of 1980, and efforts to expand minority participation in the
construction industry.
Louis Martin became President
Carter’s special assistant in 1978.
Before taking this post, Martin
had held a variety of important
posts, including editor-in-chief of
the Chicago Defender from 1947
to 1959, deputy chairman of the
Democratic National Committee
from 1961 to 1969, and president
and editorial director of the
Chicago Daily Defender from
1969 to 1978.
The Louis Martin papers at the
Jimmy Carter Library are available
in four installments.
Library Research
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 included a fair housing section, but
in his 1980 state of the union address, Carter noted that discrimination in housing remained a nationwide problem. He called a
proposed amendment to the Fair Housing Act “the most critical piece of legislation before the Congress in years.” The 1980
amendments made it through the House of Representatives but
were defeated by a filibuster in the Senate. Martin’s files cover
the campaign to secure passage of Fair Housing Act amendments
in both 1979 and 1980.
Educational opportunities had long been an important part of
civil rights activism and they continued to be of major concern
to African American leaders in the late 1970s. Along these
lines, Carter promulgated a Black College Initiative to increase
dramatically the involvement of federal agencies with historically black colleges and universities. A large body of material
in the collection documents the close interaction between the
presidents of black colleges, Martin and his aides, and officials in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The
celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Brown v. Board of
Education in 1979 was used as an opportunity for assessing the
long-term impact of the decision and identifying areas where
improvements were still needed. Finally, some documents cover
affirmative action, particularly in regard to the Bakke case in
California.
Other topics covered in the Louis Martin papers include the
1980 election, Andrew Young’s resignation from his post as U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations, reorganization of the federal
civil rights agencies, and a riot in Miami, Florida, in the summer of 1980. The collection also shows how Martin and staff
worked with other officials in the White House, federal agency
officials, and leaders of civil rights organizations. Some of the
organizations represented in the collection include the Congress
of National Black Churches, Joint Center for Political Studies,
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, National Business
League, National Urban League, NAACP, and United Negro
College Fund. Prominent personalities covered in the collection,
in addition to Carter and Martin, include Thurgood Marshall,
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Joseph A. Califano, Stuart Eisenstat,
Patricia R. Harris, Jesse L. Jackson, Clarence Mitchell, and
Muhammad Ali.
Overall, the Louis Martin papers offer researchers an opportunity
to study White House politics and the path of the civil rights
struggle in the late 1970s.
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PIN 101774/102609/102654/102656
The fact sheets in this collection provide succinct summaries
of the major Carter programs for African Americans and other
relevant information.
Civil Rights during the Carter Administration, 1977–1981
Part 1: Papers of the Special Assistant for Black Affairs
Section A: “A” through “Cor” PIN 0000101774 28 reels
Section B: “Cou” through “Mat” PIN 0000102609 21 reels
Section C: “Mc” through “R” PIN 0000102654 19 reels
Section D: “S through Z” PIN 0000102656 15 reels
Source Note: Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Georgia,
Papers of Louis Martin, Special Assistant to the President,
1978–1981. Photographs and document image courtesy of
the Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Georgia, and the National
Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
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