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(CIVIL RIGHTS.) SULLIVAN LEON.
“The Sullivan Principles” (supplied
title).
Large collection of printed and manuscript material including letters, printed and
manuscript speeches, sermons, flyers, photographs, correspondence to and from (with
retained copies).
SHOULD BE SEEN
.
Vp, 1970-2000
[4,000/6,000]
A RICH ARCHIVE OF THE PAPERS OF LEON SULLIVAN
,
BUSINESSMAN
,
BAPTIST MINISTER
,
CIVIL
RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND FOUNDER OF THE
“
SULLIVAN PRINCIPLES
.”
Leon Sullivan (1922-
2001), a truly remarkable man, overcame extreme poverty and the paralyzing grip of racial prejudice
to become a member of the board of General Motors, an ordained Baptist minister and powerful
activist for racial equality both here and in South Africa. There, the scourge of institutionalized preju-
dice, known as “Apartheid,” or separateness had kept millions of people in virtual bondage for nearly
a century. “Nowhere else in the world is found such [a] flagrant practice of man’s inhumanity to man.
. . . Ten years ago, I decided with the help of almighty God that I would try to do something about
the problem . . . these efforts became what are now known as the Sullivan Principles. . . “ Sullivan’s
nine-page manuscript speech with edits and corrections lays out his “principals” for South Africa.
Sullivan conceived of a domestic plan for communities here in America called the 10-36 plan, taken
from the parable of the loaves and fishes, and the community-based “Progress Plaza,” plan for a black
owned shopping center. Because of his unique position in the business world, Sullivan was able to
reach out to American business and urge them to withdraw economic support for the South African
regime. Leon Sullivan built what the Philadelphia Enquirer referred to as a business” Empire.” It was
through his holdings and connections that Sullivan was able to exert influence on the larger American
business world, to provide job opportunities here as well. It was Sullivan’s belief that education and
jobs were at the core of lifting up the African-American population as well as the African, and that
this could only be done through building and owning one’s “community.” There is a great deal of
material here relative to Sullivan’s business as well as his work in the African-American community,
with correspondence from an array of people in business, government and the Civil Rights organizations.