James McBride Dabbs (1896-1970) was a professor of English at the University of South Carolina and Coker College, Presbyterian churchman, writer, civil rights leader, Penn School Community Services trustee, Southern Regional Council president, and farmer of Mayesville, S.C. He also worked with the South Carolina Council on Human Relations, the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, the Committee of Southern Churchmen, the Council on Church and Society, and the Delta Ministry. The collection consists of correspondence, writings, subject files, administrative records, and other materials that document Dabbs's professional involvements and interests, including his leadership roles in civil rights councils, religious organizations, and other groups. Almost all of the papers date from 1923 to shortly before Dabbs's death in 1970. Topics include observations on social and political issues of the day (especially in the American South), concerns about racial inequalities and segregation, Dabbs's opposition to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and Dabbs's own life and religious beliefs. Most writings are drafts are of books, articles, addresses, short stories, poems, and other writings by Dabbs, and most correspondence is between Dabbs and fellow political and religious group members, publishers, and readers of his articles and books. There is light and scattered correspondence with prominent authors, activists, and historians, including Anne Braden, Sarah Patton Boyle, Hodding Carter, Isabel Fiske Conant, Paul Green, Myles Horton, George Mitchell, Eudora Welty, and C. Vann Woodward, among others; some writings by others; and a few photographs of Dabbs's university and church colleagues.
