The McNeil Archives

Team members: Gail Wilson Awan, Lizzie Bebber, Julie Branham, Ray Lambert, Steve Layton, Angélica Lozano-Alonso, Clarence Sevillian, Paul Sinanian

Magnifying 50 years of history: The McNeil Archives.

The mission of the Urban League of the Upstate is to advance equity by empowering the Black community and underserved individuals throughout the region. As the leading champion of empowerment for the Black community, the Urban League of the Upstate envisions a region where all people:

• Are valued members of the community
• Can adequately support themselves and their families
• Can live in neighborhoods that are vibrant and thriving

The Urban League of the Upstate works to advance equity by empowering the Black community and underserved individuals. Their mission is focused on economic empowerment, educational opportunities, and the guarantee of civil rights for the underserved in America. Founded in Greenville, SC in 1973, 2022 marks its fiftieth year.

Knowing that the history of such an organization and its work in our community is important to our past, present, and future, our DLI team selected images and stories from the Urban League’s local archive to document highlights of the past fifty years and to celebrate the organization’s achievements. Specifically, we created posters marking that history to be used throughout the new office space, produced a video to capture highlights from the last 50 years, and identified further educational opportunities for engagement. Additionally, the historical collection was recently named The McNeil Archives, in honor or long time ULU staff member, Diane McNeil.

Project mission

• To preserve and chronicle key events from the Urban League of the Upstate’s past fifty years in order to educate and inspire the next generation.

Project objectives

• Celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the organization.
• Leverage the ribbon cutting event within the new office and the visit of Marc Morial, the organization’s national president.
• Sort, categorize, and capture key milestones over the last fifty years of the organization by decade and tell a story.
• Capture images and produce a physical and video product to display to celebrate the history.
• Reengage the community, government leaders and the organization in their collective work together.

Potential Next Steps

• Create a scavenger hunt for children to engage with the material.
• Display video and posters at community events.
• Use the McNeil archives for academic and university student research.
• Explore other avenues to showcase the work with community and corporate engagement partners.

Additional Benefits

• The project builds awareness about the work of the Urban League of the Upstate.
• Reengages businesses that have been involved in the past.
• Recognizes the important work done by the organization in the past.
• Medical building that served the Black community was donated to the organization as a result of video project.
• Motivates and inspires the next generation.