Materials are arranged in three series: 1. Writings, 2. Organization records, and 3. Newspaper clippings.
The Writings Series consists of Hayden's essays and notes about student activism, democracy, and the civil rights movement.
The Organizational Records Series is composed of materials related to organizations Hayden participated in or associated with in the early 1960s. A good deal of the materials document SNCC's activities in Americus, Georgia.
The Newspaper Clippings Series dates from 1961 to 1963 and covers civil rights demonstrations in the South. Someone, likely Hayden, annotated some of the clippings with timelines and commentary.
Thomas Hayden was an activist and politician from Detroit, Michigan. He was a founding member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and contributed to the organization's famous manifesto, the Port Huron Statement. In 1961, Hayden traveled south with his then-wife, Casey Hayden, to participate in the Freedom Rides in Albany, Georgia. Casey later moved to Atlanta, where she worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Hayden remained in Ann Arbor to serve as the 1962-1963 term president of SDS, but continued to contribute to student civil rights organizing.
(For more information, see the biographical note in the Tom Hayden Papers finding aid.)
