BLACK AMERICANS, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND THE ROOSEVELTS, 1932-1962

A Special Exhibition at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

June 3, 2023—March 2, 2025

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum presents a new special exhibition on Black Americans, civil rights, and the Roosevelts. Developed in collaboration with a distinguished committee of scholars, the exhibit explores how Black community leaders, wartime service members, and ordinary citizens engaged the Roosevelt administration directly and pushed for progress.

From the Great Depression and New Deal, through World War II and the postwar Civil Rights movement, BLACK AMERICANS, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND THE ROOSEVELTS offers critical perspectives on, and candid assessments of, the administration’s policies and practices, and of the Roosevelts themselves.

The exhibit features documents and artifacts – many on display for the first time – from the Roosevelt Library’s rich holdings and from private collections nationwide. Showcasing materials from its vast archives of personal letters, political pamphlets, petitions, artworks, photographs, and sound recordings, the Roosevelt Library hopes to inspire further research into key aspects of this history.

Exhibit Advisory Committee

This exhibition was created by staff at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in close collaboration with a distinguished committee of historical advisers.

David Levering Lewis, New York University (Chair)
Patricia Bell-Scott, University of Georgia
Kevin M. Burke, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research
Blanche Wiesen Cook, Graduate Center, City University of New York
Paula J. Giddings, Smith College
Ira I. Katznelson, Columbia University
Lionel Kimble, Jr., Chicago State University
Patricia A. Sullivan, University of South Carolina
Joe William Trotter, Jr., Carnegie-Mellon University
Geoffrey C. Ward, Historian-Writer
Jill Watts, California State University- San Marcos

Additional Input and Assistance:

Anita V. Sonawane, FDR Library Trustee
Freddimir Garcia, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Hudson Gateway Assoc. of Realtors
Paul M. Sparrow, Former Director, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

Exhibition-related Images