Melinda Bartley papers

Dr. Melinda Bartley, an educator and administrator, served as Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at Southern University New Orleans from 1991 to 1996. She was vice president of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, president of the New Orleans Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, coordinator of the Adolescent Pregnancy Childwatch Project, vice president of the Dryades YMCA, member of Greater Liberty Baptist Church, and board member of the Morgan City-based Kuji Center. Her papers provide insight into the culture of a major HBCU from the student unrest of the early 1970s through her career as an administrator throughout the 1990s. Further, born fourth youngest of twelve children, Bartley’s career exemplifies the efforts of many African American women of her era to achieve success through educational accomplishment and professional ambition and the social tensions these aspirations often created. The collection includes articles related to her professional and scholarly interests, most notably black studies, teen pregnancy, and African American educational performance. There is also extensive documentation of key episodes at Southern University related to student unrest in 1972, a government mandated order to end segregation in Louisiana higher education institutions in 1994, as well as Bartley’s own progress from undergraduate to top campus administrator. Bartley’s activism is also reflected in her involvement in New Orleans organizations such as the Black Women’s Assembly, Parent Community Alliance, and others.