Shirley Kennedy papers, 1970-2003

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Summary

Creators:
Kennedy, Shirley
Abstract:
Papers of Shirley Kennedy, former University of California, Santa Barbara Black Studies adjunct professor. The papers include correspondence, photos, notes, and other documents relating to Kennedy's life's projects, which largely centered around Black studies and activism in Santa Barbara, as well as her research on the Chinese jazz scene.
Extent:
33.84 Linear Feet; (25 cartons, and 1 flat box)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Shirley Kennedy papers, UArch FacP 67. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains materials related to the career of professor and activist Dr. Shirley Kennedy and is primarily comprised of teaching materials, personal and professional correspondence, and work for various political and social activist groups. Also included are files related to Kennedy's other professional interests, Chinese jazz and work with the Tuskegee Airmen Inc., as well as notes and work from her own academic career.

Materials include notes, reference materials, clippings, meeting minutes, correspondence, photographs, promotional materials, and office files related to Kennedy's many projects, which largely centered around Black studies and activism in the Santa Barbara area.

Of note, the collection includes planning and promotional materials from several local Santa Barbara community activist organizations, such as the Building Bridges Community Coalition and the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Biographical / historical:

Shirley Graves Kennedy grew up in Chicago, IL and spent most of her early twenties traveling while her husband was in the Air Force. In the early 1970s their family settled in Goleta, CA where Kennedy earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Political Science at UC Santa Barbara. Subsequently, in 1986 she also completed a Doctorate in Political Science in Government at Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University).

After Claremont, she became a faculty member in the UCSB Department of Black Studies, teaching Political Science, Black Studies and Constitutional Law, as well as serving for over ten years as the Center for Black Studies Community Affairs coordinator. Throughout those years, she strove to connect the university with the greater community and build bridges between "town and gown," as she called it. She believed that scholarship and research must ultimately lead to societal transformation and worked relentlessly to transform the Santa Barbara community with her commitment to social justice, activism, and democracy.

Her efforts in Santa Barbara County included the widespread recognition of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, founding the Santa Barbara Building Bridges Coalition, planning an exhibition of the Henrietta Marie slave ship at the Karpeles Manuscript Library in downtown Santa Barbara, and lobbying for the incorporation of the city of Goleta.

Her work has been recognized with awards and honors from peers and students on campus, and the wider Santa Barbara community - such as The Santa Barbara Independent's Local Hero Award, the Santa Barbara News-Press' Lifetime Achievement Award, and recognition from the County of Santa Barbara, the State of California and the Santa Barbara branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Sources: UCSB Center for Black Studies Research website; LA Times online archives; UCSB's The Current online. Accessed August 2023.

Acquisition information:
Donation from Shirley Kennedy's family in May 2018 and September 2019.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into three series - Series 1: UCSB materials; Series 2: Local and national organization materials; Series 3: Personal materials.

A/V materials have been pulled and housed separately from manuscript materials.

Physical location:
Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Shirley Kennedy papers, UArch FacP 67. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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