Research Catalog

Title

Child Development Group of Mississippi collection, 1960-1972.

Author

Child Development Group of Mississippi.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

2.6 lin. ft. (6.5 boxes)

Summary

Records of the Child Development Group of Mississippi collection consist primarily of lengthy and detailed reports documenting the history and goals of the Head Start program; training manuals; financial proposals; and printed material. Also present are instruction manuals and printed material for the CDGM support group, Friends of Children of Mississippi.

Subjects

• Friends of Children of Mississippi
• Project Head Start (U.S.)
• African Americans > Civil rights > Mississippi
• Delta Ministry of Mississippi
• Head Start Program > Mississippi
• Child Development Group of Mississippi
• African American students > Mississippi
• Segregation in education > Mississippi
• Mississippi > Social conditions
• National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America
• African Americans > Education (Preschool) > Mississippi
• Education, Preschool > United States
• Children > United States
• Children with social disabilities > Education (Preschool) > Mississippi
• African American children > Mississippi
• Segregation in education > United States
• Education, Preschool > Mississippi
• United States > Office of Economic Opportunity

Note

• Hat (Freedom Now! C.O.R.E.) transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division.
• Ten reel to reel tapes; 1 record album "Head Start with the Child Development Group of Mississippi" transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.
• Photographs by Bob Fletcher transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division.

Source (note)

• McLeod, Lois Rogers

Biography (note)

• The Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) was a community action group that developed a Head Start program for low income, primarily Black, preschool children. The CDGM Head Start program evolved from a meeting called by Dr. Tom Levin, a civil rights activist, and five other social scientists and professionals, in New York City on March 11, 1965. Levin was the first director of the CDGM's Head Start program which, in its heyday, operated eighty-seven centers throughout Mississippi with an enrollment of 6,000 children and a staff of 3,000 adults.
• The CDGM received one of the largest grants in the country from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to begin operation. Within months it became the OEO's most controversial Head Start program. It faced opposition from the Klu Klux Klan, the local press, and some members of the Black community. In addition, charges of mismanagement were leveled at the organization. In September, less than six months from the time they were funded, CDGM's funds were withdrawn by the OEO.
• With the aid of a newly formed support group, the Friends of Children of Mississippi (FCM), the CDGM operated without government funding during the winter of 1965-1966. After a congressional investigation and organizational and personnel changes, the OEO provided $5.5 million dollars for a full year's operation in fourteen out of the nineteen counties in the state. In October 1967, the OEO withdrew all funding to Head Start programs in Mississippi counties operating under the mantle of the CDGM.

Processing Action (note)

• Accessioned
• Cataloged

Call Number

Sc MG 265

OCLC

NYPW96-A95

Author

Child Development Group of Mississippi.

Title

Child Development Group of Mississippi collection, 1960-1972.

Biography

The Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) was a community action group that developed a Head Start program for low income, primarily Black, preschool children. The CDGM Head Start program evolved from a meeting called by Dr. Tom Levin, a civil rights activist, and five other social scientists and professionals, in New York City on March 11, 1965. Levin was the first director of the CDGM's Head Start program which, in its heyday, operated eighty-seven centers throughout Mississippi with an enrollment of 6,000 children and a staff of 3,000 adults.

The CDGM received one of the largest grants in the country from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to begin operation. Within months it became the OEO's most controversial Head Start program. It faced opposition from the Klu Klux Klan, the local press, and some members of the Black community. In addition, charges of mismanagement were leveled at the organization. In September, less than six months from the time they were funded, CDGM's funds were withdrawn by the OEO.

With the aid of a newly formed support group, the Friends of Children of Mississippi (FCM), the CDGM operated without government funding during the winter of 1965-1966. After a congressional investigation and organizational and personnel changes, the OEO provided $5.5 million dollars for a full year's operation in fourteen out of the nineteen counties in the state. In October 1967, the OEO withdrew all funding to Head Start programs in Mississippi counties operating under the mantle of the CDGM.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Research Call Number

Sc MG 265