The African Americans in the Law Special Collection seeks to document the development and growth of the African American legal community in Maryland from 1877 to date. The Library will accomplish this through the acquisition, cataloging, arrangement and preservation of original manuscripts, both personal and professional, that reflect the unique challenges and exceptional contributions of African American legal practitioners. Organizational records, rare books and secondary sources will also be acquired. Major collections include the Legal Papers of Dallas Nicholas and William Gosnell, The Papers of the NAACP, The Papers of William H. Hastie, the Baltimore Afro American newspaper on microfilm, the papers of Baltimore activist Lena Lee, the personal and professional papers of faculty member Larry Gibson, and The Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Collection.
In addition valuable secondary sources including the Lexis-Nexis Primary Sources in African American History, E-books from Netlibrary on civil rights law and history, documentaries such as Color at the Bar and Eyes on the Prize, specilized bibliographies such as "Years of Violence: Urban Civil Unrest of the 1960s" and numerous books on the African American legal experience are available through the library's online catalog.
The collection consists of photographs, pamphlets, speech transcripts and newspaper clippings by and about Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.
In 2003 the University of Maryland School of Law invited back
all of its African American alumni for a school wide celebration
of their contribution to the Maryland and national legal community.
An online examination of the real events that inspired the John Waters movie and musical.
Information on an archival collection of the business and legal papers of two twentieth century African American attorneys, Dallas Nicholas and William Gosnell. Finding aid is available for onsite use only.
An inventory of microfilm collections of select NAACP papers.
A research guide and biographical synopsis for Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Microfilm edition of the papers of William Hastie, a prominent African American
jurist and statesman. 