Queens College, City University of New York
Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library
Special Collections
Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Papers
1961-2000
The collection was processed by Special Collections Fellows Dana DaschGoldberg & Rose Yndigoyen during the fall 2010 semester. Finding Aid approved
by Civil Rights Archive Project Manager Annie Tummino, summer of 2011.
Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Collection
Table of Contents
Summary………………………………………………………………………Page 3
Biographical & Historical Note……………………………..………………..Page 4
Scope & Content Note………………………………………………………..Page 5
Arrangement note……………………………………………………………..Page 5
Series Description & Container List…………………………………………Page 6-9
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Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Collection
Summary
Main Entry:
Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum
Title:
Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Papers
Dates:
1961-2000
Size:
1.5 linear feet
Source:
Donated by Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum to the Queens College Civil
Rights Archive on March 9th, 2010.
Abstract:
Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum graduated from Queens College in 1965
with honors in sociology. While at Queens College she worked with
the Student Help Project to provide free tutoring services to underserved schoolchildren in South Jamaica, Queens and Prince
Edward County, Virginia. During the summer of 1963 PadowSederbaum was one of sixteen Queens College students who lived
with black families in Farmville, Virginia and tutored throughout
Prince Edward County. Collection materials include manuscripts,
printed materials and photographs, and feature personal accounts
of Padow-Sederbaum's activities as a tutor, civil rights activist, and
student. The collection documents the Student Help Project in
Prince Edward County, Virginia, and to a lesser extent in Jamaica,
Queens.
Access:
Collection is open for research. Staff may restrict access at its
discretion on the basis of physical condition. Researchers may not
cite or use correspondence or photographs without written
permission from Phyllis-Padow Sederbaum.
Preferred Citation: item, date (if known), box, folder, Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum
Papers, Department of Special Collections and Archives, Queens
College, City University of New York
Citation Example: General Procedures for Picnic, 1963, Box 1, Folder 20, Phyllis
Padow-Sederbaum Papers, Department of Special Collections and
Archives, Queens College, City University of New York
Copyright: The Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Papers are physically owned by the
Queens College Libraries. Literary rights, including copyright, belong
to the authors or their legal heirs and assignees. The collection is
subject to all copyright laws. Queens College assumes no
responsibility for the infringement of copyrights held by the original
authors, creators, or producers of materials.
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Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Collection
Biographical Note
Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum (then Phyllis Padow) grew up in Merrick, Long Island
and attended Queens College, graduating in 1965 with honors in sociology.
While at Queens College she worked with the Student Help Project to provide
free tutoring services to under-served schoolchildren in South Jamaica, Queens
and Prince Edward County, Virginia. The Student Help Project was first
organized by a small group of Queens College students who worked in close
collaboration with education professors Dr. Rachel Weddington and Dr. Sidney
Simon. During the summer of 1963 Padow-Sederbaum was one of sixteen
Queens College students who lived with black families in Farmville, Virginia and
tutored throughout Prince Edward County.
Later, Padow-Sederbaum went on to earn a Masters in Sociology from the
University of Pennsylvania and worked for many years as a researcher. For the
past twenty-five years Padow-Sederbaum has been a community volunteer.
Along with other Student Help Project alumni, she recently became a supporter
of the Robert Russa Moton Museum. The museum is dedicated to the study of
civil rights in education, with a specific focus on the role played by the citizens of
Prince Edward County in the struggle for integrated schools.
Historical Note
In 1951 Barbara Johns, a black high school student in Prince Edward County,
Virginia, led her classmates in a strike for a better school. With the help of the
NAACP, Johns and her classmates then filed a desegregation lawsuit that
became one of four cases that made up the historic Supreme Court decision
Brown v. Board of Education. Although Brown v. Board declared racially
segregated public schools unconstitutional in 1954, many schools failed to
integrate. Harry F. Byrd, U.S. Senator of Virginia, called for a strategy of
“Massive Resistance” and in 1958 the Virginia General Assembly passed a
series of laws to help facilitate this goal. In 1959 when Prince Edward County
was ordered by a judge to desegregate, the white citizens of the county
responded by closing their entire public school system. A private school was
opened for white students only. Religious and community institutions, relatives,
and nearby counties provided some educational opportunities for black children,
but the public schools did not open again until 1965.
In the wake of the school closing, the NAACP organized youth to protest not only
the school lock-out, but also segregated movie theaters, stores and churches.
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) sent field organizers
to the county to conduct trainings in direct action. It is within this context that the
Queens College students arrived in the summer of 1963 to teach and live with
black families for six weeks. At the request of community leaders, the Queens
College volunteers focused on teaching and did not directly participate in
demonstrations.
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Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Collection
Scope & Content Note
The Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Papers feature personal accounts of PadowSederbaum's role as a tutor, activist and student. Types of material include
administrative materials, correspondence, news clippings, photographs, and
publications. The bulk of the materials concern Ms. Padow-Sederbaum's work
with the Student Help Project in Prince Edward County, Virginia, in the summer
of 1963. To a lesser extent the collection documents Student Help Project
activities in Jamaica, Queens, and campus activism around speaker and
publication policies. Post-1965 materials document reunions with fellow civil
rights activists. Overall, the collection provides evidence of the active
participation of Queens College students in the civil rights and student’s rights
movement of the 1960s, and highlights the fight for public school integration in
Virginia.
Arrangement Note
Series I: Student Help Project
a. Jamaica (Queens, New York)
b. Virginia (Prince Edward County)
c. Curriculum Development
d. Correspondence
Series II: Photographs
Series III: Queens College
a. Speaker and Publication Policies
b. Student Publications
Series IV: Additional Publications
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Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Collection
Series Description & Container List
Series I: Student Help Project, 1962-1978 (bulk 1963-1964), is divided into
four subseries: Jamaica (Queens, New York), Virginia (Prince Edward County),
Curriculum Development, and Correspondence. Together, these materials
document the administration of the Student Help Project’s tutoring initiatives in
Jamaica and Virginia, and also relate to Padow-Sederbaum’s personal
experiences and observations.
Jamaica documents the Student Help Project in Jamaica, Queens,
including meeting minutes, reports, memorandums and mailing lists.
Virginia documents the Student Help Project in Prince Edward County,
Virginia, including newspaper coverage, minutes, procedures and guidelines.
Unique materials include an early draft of an article written by Padow-Sederbaum
for the student newspaper, The Phoenix; a Farmville brochure heavily annotated
with Padow-Sederbaum’s observations; and hand written notes from the final
meeting of the summer, in which the Queens College volunteers evaluated their
experiences.
Curriculum consists of reading lists, reports, and other materials used to
develop tutoring curricula.
Correspondence consists largely of letters written by Padow-Sederbaum
to friends and colleagues while she was in Virginia in July and August of 1963.
She intended the letters to serve as her diary and specifically asked the
recipients to return them at the end of the summer. Topics include what it was
like to live with her host family, challenges teaching the children, local political
protests against segregation, and the relationship of the Student Help Project to
a group of New York City teachers also working in the community that summer.
Padow-Sederbaum also provided typed transcripts of the letters that include
notes in brackets for clarity and/or to offer current thoughts on the subject matter.
A. Jamaica, 1963-1964
Box
1
1
1
1
1
1
Folder
1
2
3
4
5
6
Title
Correspondence
Evaluation Forms
Memorandums
Minutes
Personnel and Mailing Lists
Reports
Dates
1964
circa 1963
circa 1963-1964
1963-1964
circa 1963
1963
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Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Collection
B. Virginia, 1963-1978 [bulk 1963-1964]
Box
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Folder
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Title
Attendance Sheets
Carnegie Hall Benefit Notes
Farmville Brochure (with Marginalia)
Grievances and Discipline
Group Good and Welfare
Manuscript: Article for The Phoenix
Minutes
N.A.A.C.P. Materials
Newspaper Coverage
Notes from Final Meeting
Personnel and Mailing Lists
Preparatory Work Conference Materials
Prince Edward Free Schools Materials
Procedures for Picnic
Reports
Visitations by Queens College Students
Dates
1963
June, 1963
1963
1963
1963
circa 1963
May, 1963
1963
1963-1964
1963
1963-1978
June, 1963
1963-1964
1963
June, 1963
January, 1964
C. Curriculum Development, 1962-1964
Box
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Folder
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Title
Books About the Negro
Building Values into the Usual Arithmetic
Education Division Library Materials
Educational Report
Elementary Reading Seminar
New York Public Library Materials
Peace Crane Pins
Dates
circa 1963
circa 1963
circa 1963
1962
1964
1962 and no date
circa 1963
D. Correspondence, 1963
Box
1
1
1
1
1
Folder
Title
30
Letters from Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum
(Originals)
31
Letters from Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum
(Typed Transcriptions with Annotations)
32
Letter to Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum
33
Letters to Other Project Members
34
Letter to Parents of Volunteers
Dates
July-August, 1963
July-August, 1963
July 1963
April-July, 1963
1963
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Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Collection
Series III: Photographs, 1963-2000, are arranged chronologically. The majority
of the photos were taken by Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum. The earliest
photographs, in black and white, depict Padow-Sederbaum’s experiences living
with a black family in Farmville, Virginia and tutoring throughout Prince Edward
County during the summer of 1963. They include students, teachers and
community leaders engaging in classroom, recreational, and political activities.
Many are taken at what was then known as Prince Edward State Park for
Negroes, which was established as a "separate but equal" facility in 1950. There
are also several photographs of the Junior NAACP protesting segregated
facilities. At the request of local civil rights leaders, Queens College students
observed but did not participate in the demonstrations. Padow-Sederbaum can’t
recall if the sit-in photographs were taken on the same day or on multiple days.
Black and white photographs also document Padow-Sederbaum’s work with the
Jamaica Student Help Project in Queens. There are photographs of a facultystudent football game fundraiser in September 1963 and of Padow-Sederbaum’s
students at Springfield Gardens Methodist Church in May 1964.
During intercession in January 1964, Padow-Sederbaum made a return trip to
Farmville with fellow volunteers Mike Wenger and Stan Shaw; she took pictures
of Shaw and Wenger in Washington D.C. while travelling.
Later documentation includes color photographs taken in 1978 and 2000 at
reunions of Student Help Project members. Both reunions were held at the
residence of Rachel Weddington, the African-American education professor who
served as a mentor to the students. These reunions are a testament to the tight
bonds created among the students and faculty that travelled to Virginia together
in 1963.
Box
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Folder
Title
35
Prince Edward County, VA
36
Prince Edward (VA) State Park for
Negroes
1
Junior NAACP Sit-Ins, Farmville, VA
2
Party at Stan Shaw’s House
3
Fundraiser for Jamaica Student Help
Project
4
Stan Shaw and Mike Wenger in
Washington D.C., Trip to VA
5
Tutoring at Springfield Gardens
Methodist Church, Queens
6
Student Help Project Reunion
7
Student Help Project Reunion
Dates
July-August 1963
July-August 1963
July-August 1963
September 1963
Circa September 1963
January 1964
May, 1964
1978
2000
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Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum Collection
Series IV: Queens College, 1953-1965, is divided into two subseries: Speaker
and Publication Policies and Student Publications. Together, these materials
provide a larger context for campus life and issues during the early to mid-1960s.
Speaker and Publication Policies documents student activism for free speech
and academic freedom. Student Publications consists of intellectual and artistic
journals published by Queens College students (arranged alphabetically by title).
A. Speaker and Publication Policies, 1953-1963
Box
2
2
2
Folder
Title
8
Newspaper Clippings
9
Speaker Policy Proposals
10
Statements on Academic Freedom
Dates
1963
Circa 1963
1953-1963
B. Student Publications, 1961-1965
Box
2
2
Folder
11
12
Title
Man and Power
Spectrum
Dates
1965
1961-1962
Series V: Additional Publications, 1961-1971, consists of journals, pamphlets
and newsletters collected by Phyllis Padow-Sederbaum. The materials provide
additional context for the social and political debates Padow-Sederbaum and her
contemporaries were engaged in as activists. Publications are arranged
alphabetically by title.
Box
2
2
2
Folder
13
14
15
2
2
3
3
3
3
16
17
1
2
3
4
Title
Catalyst
Catalyst
CORE-Lator (Congress of Racial
Equality Newsletter)
New Left Review
New University Thought
New University Thought
New University Thought
New University Thought
Revolution in Mississippi (SDS Report)
Dates
1966-1967
1969
July 1963
1971
1961
1962
1963-1964
1965
Circa 1961
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