The Benjamin Hooks Papers Digitization Project:

The Benjamin Lawson Hooks Papers collection is housed in the Preservation & Special Collections Department of the University Libraries, University of Memphis.This digitization project is a cooperative project of the Libraries and the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. The Libraries' responsibility extends to archival processing, preservation, and publication through the University Libraries Digital Commons. Technical guidance and direction are provided by the libraries' staff and faculty while the Institute provides the necessary financial support. This project was made possible by the generous support of DuPont (Wilmington DE), Federal Express, and the Hyde Family Foundation.

The papers of Benjamin Lawson Hooks span close to 400 boxes, containing correspondence, speeches, printed materials, administrative files, photographs, and audio and video recordings that pertain to his life, especially his role as executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1977-1992.

This website is dedicated to the promotion and analysis of the Benjamin Lawson Hooks papers through digitization and historical essays. Our aim is to exhibit to the scholarly community and general public the richness and value of the Hooks papers through digital representations of its material and short essays based primarily on the manuscript collection itself.