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Carole Ashkinaze papers

 Collection
Identifier: W043

Scope and Content of the Papers

The Carole Ashkinaze papers are organized into three series consisting of manuscript materials (correspondence), printed materials (her columns, research articles and articles written about Carole Ashkinaze), and finally photographs and artifacts. The majority of the manuscripts and printed materials are related to Ashkinaze's coverage of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Georgia, letters from readers regarding her columns both applauding and denigrating her work, her ideas on race, poverty and politics, and some personal material. Series I is dedicated to correspondence she received while working at Newsday, the Atlanta Journal & Constitution and the Chicago Sun-Times, circa 1974-1992. Series II contains printed materials, the bulk of which are her columns from the AJC and the CST. This series also contains her own research materials, articles that Ashkinaze read about pertinent social issues, and articles that were perhaps used in her 1991 book, The Closing Door: Conservative Policy and Black Opportunity, which she co-authored with Gary Orfield. In this series there are also a number of articles chronicling her professional achievements. Series III contains a small collection of photographs, artifacts and some of the many journalism awards (plaques and framed certificates) she received during her early career, including a replica of the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal, which she shared for investigative reporting at Newsday (presented to her by her employer, who retains the actual gold medal), and a resolution from the Georgia House of Representatives in recognition of her columns on women's issues. Ashkinaze was pleased that her columns and a weekly TV show ("About Women") she hosted on the newspaper's cable channel helped to persuade the legislature to rid the Georgia Code of discriminatory rules and language, and to install a long-overdue women's restroom for female legislators in the Georgia House chamber.

Dates

  • Creation: 1970-1995

Creator

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open for research use.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Georgia State University is the owner of the physical collection and makes reproductions available for research, subject to the copyright law of the United States and item condition. Georgia State University may or may not own the rights to materials in the collection. It is the researcher's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and obtain permission from the copyright holder before publication, reproduction, or display of the materials beyond what is reasonable under copyright law. Researchers may quote selections from the collection under the fair use provision of copyright law.

Biography of Carole Ashkinaze

Carole Ashkinaze was born in Manhattan, New York, on January 20, 1945. Ashkinaze spent her childhood in the suburban town of Malverne, Long Island in Nassau County, approximately twenty miles outside of New York [City]. She attended St. Lawrence University in New York, spending her junior year abroad (at the Sorbonne and the University of Rouen) and graduated with honors from St. Lawrence; then went on to pursue a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1967. After graduating, Ashkinaze went to work for Newsday on Long Island, remaining six and a half years. But it was her role as reporter and then columnist and editorial board member for the Atlanta Journal & Constitution that won her national recognition. Ashkinaze worked for the AJC from 1976 through 1989, eventually moving to the Chicago Sun-Times, working as both a columnist and as a member of the editorial board. In Atlanta, Ashkinaze wrote about a number of controversial issues including the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion, women's rights, feminism, poverty, health-care, politics, education and race. In Chicago, where Ashkinaze was the only pro-choice commentator for any major Chicago news organization, and a member of the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board, her columns won many journalism awards and a large popular following; she was also a popular radio and TV personality, and regular panelist on "The Lassiter Group." Her pro-choice columns in the Sun-Times also made her a target of abortion foes, one of whom sent her several nude pictures of himself, bearing obscene messages. In 1992, following the publication of her 1991 book, The Closing Door: Conservative Policy and Black Opportunity (with Gary Orfield), about race and poverty, Ashkinaze left the Sun-Times and returned to Atlanta to work with former President Jimmy Carter on his first domestic policy initiative, The Atlanta Project (later called The America Project), which was an attempt to alleviate the worst aspects of poverty across an entire community. She contributed her services to that project, working pro bono until the following year, when she was named Media Chief of the United Nations Children's Fund and moved to New York. She later left UNICEF and moved to Washington, D.C. as a freelance journalist, writing for such national publications as Business Week, Horizon, and Moment magazines. After the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, she became a consultant to the American Civil Liberties Union. Reports she wrote and edited for the ACLU included Civil Liberties After 9/11 (2002) and Freedom Under Fire (2003). She also worked with the Communications Consortium Media Center, the Harvard Civil Rights Project, the Fulbright Program and other nonprofits. She died in 2016.

Extent

5.25 Linear Feet (in 10 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract:

In Atlanta, Carole Ashkinaze wrote about a number of controversial issues including the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion, women's rights, feminism, poverty, health-care, politics, education and race. The Carole Ashkinaze papers are organized into three series consisting of manuscript materials (correspondence), printed materials (her columns, research articles and articles written about Carole Ashkinaze), and finally photographs and artifacts.

Arrangement

Organized into 3 series: I. Correspondence, II. Printed material, III. Photographs and artifacts.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Carole Ashkinaze, April-May 2001.

Online Access:

Several items have been digitized and are available online at Georgia State University Library Digital Collections.

Related Archival Materials

Related Materials in This Repository

  1. Carole Ashkinaze oral history interview, April 26-27, 2001. Georgia Women's Movement Oral History Project (W008)

Separated Materials

Separated Material in the University Library General Collection

  1. Orfield, Gary and Ashkinaze, Carole. Closing Door: Conservative Policy and Black Opportunity. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1991.
  2. Kyle, John E. and Ashkinaze, Carole. Your Cities Families: Putting Youth in the Picture. Washington, D.C. : National League of Cities, c1996.

Processing Information

Processed by Aubrey Underwood at the item level, April 2004. All newspaper articles have been photocopied for preservation purposes.

Subject

Title
Carole Ashkinaze:
Subtitle
A Guide to Her Papers at Georgia State University Library
Status
Completed
Author
Georgia State University Library
Date
2004
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
100 Decatur St., S.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
404-413-2880
404-413-2881 (Fax)