David Dawley papers

The papers of David Dawley consist of biographical information, academic records, resumes, correspondence, personal and professional writings, reports, meeting minutes, a journal, research notes, speeches, articles, pamphlets, publications, memos, program proposals, photographs, news clippings, selective service objector form, audio and video files and materials related to the creation and publication of his book, "A Nation of Lords, the autobiography of the Vice Lords". The material documents his life and career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, his involvement as a civil rights activist and lobbyist for the Michigan Social Work Council, and his work on federal funding projects such as the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. In addition the material documents his community organizing efforts in Chicago as a member of the Conservative Vice Lords, a street gang from the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago’s West Side and his involvement with initiatives focusing on youth and gang prevention programing and consulting. Of note are Dawley’s written reflections and audio recordings of the MLK assassination riots in Chicago, correspondence with Bobby Gore on his incarceration and impending trial, a report on the Chicago Police Department, Dawley’s Congressional testimony to the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Human Services, an interview with Buckminster Fuller and a day-by-day journal documenting Dawley’s Peace Corps experience in El Triunfo, a rural town in southern Honduras and Tela on the northern coast. Other contributors to the collection include: Alfonso Alford and Bobby Gore lead members of the Vice Lords. Correspondents include: Edward M. Kennedy, Daniel Walker, Adlai Stevenson III, Adele Smith Simmons, Sargent Shriver and Dartmouth classmates, Kevin Lowther, David Butler and Bill King. The archive also holds a collection of digital files from Mr. Dawley which address the same subject areas as the physical collection.