Doris Y. Wilkinson papers
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Doris Y. Wilkinson papers
- Extent
- 10.54 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Sociology
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged by format into 9 series: Personal; Biographical and Correspondence; Unpublished Writings and Conferences; Exhibits Based in Research Program; Course Notebooks and Research Notes; Courses Taught; University of Kentucky Black Studies Committee/Black Studies/African American Studies and Research Program; Research Subject Files; and Library.
- Preferred Citation
- 2010ua023 : [identification of item], Doris Y. Wilkinson papers, 1961-2011, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Doris Yvonne Wilkinson is a sociologist, a leader in national sociological organizations, and the first full-time female African American faculty member at the University of Kentucky. Her research interests include Critical Race Theory, the sociology of health and illness, class and gender, social change and social movements, and occupations and professions. Wilkinson was born in 1936 in Lexington, Ky. She graduated from Lexington's black high school, Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School, in 1954, where she was valedictorian of her graduating class and homecoming queen. That fall she enrolled at the University of Kentucky (UK) as a member of the first class of African American undergraduate students. She graduated in 1958, the first African American woman to earn an undergraduate degree from UK. Wilkinson earned a master's degree (1960) and a doctorate (1968) in medical sociology from Case Western Reserve University, as well as a master's of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1985. In 1967, she was appointed a professor of sociology at UK, the first full-time female African American faculty member at the university. From 1970-1985, she was on the faculty at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn., and in 1985, returned to UK. She was a visiting Ford Foundation Fellow at Harvard University, 1989-1990, and has also been a visiting professor at the University of Virginia and Smith College. Wilkinson's books as author or editor include Black Male/White Female: Perspectives on Interracial Marriage and Courtship (1975) and The Black Male in America: Perspectives on his Status in Contemporary Society (1977); Alternative Health Maintenance and Healing Systems for Families (19897); and Race, Class, & Gender: Common Bonds, Different Voices (1997). Her work appears in Imagine a World: Pioneering Black Women Sociologists (2009).
- At UK, Wilkinson founded the first social club for Black women, the Forum for Black Faculty, the Carter G. Woodson Lecture Series for untenured faculty, the Black Women's Conference, and was a founder and first director of Black Studies at the university, which she renamed the African American Studies and Research Program. The university has established the Doris Wilkinson Distinguished Professorship in Sociology and the Humanities; the Doris Y. Wilkinson Conference Room in Breckinridge Hall, and the Doris Y. Wilkinson Award for Leadership. She was named to the UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 1989 and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university in 2019.
- In 1988, Wilkinson received a grant from the Kentucky Humanities Council to study and plan a community-wide exhibit on early African American physicians from 1890-1950. The resulting 1988 exhibit was titled Forgotten Pioneers in a Southern Community: Black Physicians in Lexington from 1890 to 1950. In 1989, the exhibit was made into a semi-documentary by Kentucky Education Television and also traveled to local, state, and national libraries and museums. Additionally, this research produced two general education reference resources, the 1998 Directory of African Americans in Lexington, Kentucky, and a Guide to the African American Heritage Trail in Downtown Lexington, Kentucky.
- Wilkinson has been awarded other grants and contracts, including a 1978 grant from the National Institute of Education under the auspices of the American Sociological Association to create a Research Skills Institute for women and minorities. In 1982, she was awarded a contract from the Southern Education Foundation to study Black colleges and universities.
- Wilkinson has served in leadership positions in a variety of organizations. In 1972, she was appointed to the Department of Interior Task Force on the National Parks System. In 1976, she was appointed to a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Program review panel. In the same year, she was appointed chair of a social science panel for the National Science Foundation's Women in Science program. From 1980-1984, she served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute. In 1982, She was elected Vice President of the Eastern Sociological Society and was appointed to the Board of Overseers of Case Western Reserve University. In 1985, she was elected President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. She has also served as President of the Eastern Sociological Society and Vice President of the American Sociological Association.
- Wilkinson has garnered national and local awards, including the American Sociological Association's Dubois-Johnson Frazier Award (1988) for her exemplary contributions to minority research and the field of race relations; the University of Kentucky Great Teacher Award (1992); the Distinguished Professor Award from the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences (1992); the Public Understanding of Sociology Award from the American Sociological Association (2010); and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women Leading Kentucky.
- Resources:
- 2018ua031: Doris Wilkinson, General Reference Faculty/Staff Biographical Files, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- 2010ua009: Wilkinson, Doris, 1989-1996, undated, University of Kentucky Department of Public Relations Records, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Doris Wilkinson. University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences: Sociology. https://soc.as.uky.edu/users/dwilkin
- Doris Wilkinson. University of Kentucky College of Social Work. https://socialwork.uky.edu/people/doris-wilkinson/
- Doris Wilkinson Award Statement. American Sociological Association. https://www.asanet.org/news-and-events/member-awards/public-understanding-sociology-asa-award/doris-wilkinson-award-statement
- Doris Wilkinson Receives Honors. ASA Footnotes, Vol., 36, No. 5 (May-June 2008). https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/footnotes/mayjun08/doris.html
- Doris Y. Wilkinson. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Y._Wilkinson
- Hall of Distinguished Alumni: Doris Wilkinson. University of Kentucky Alumni Association. https://www.ukalumni.net/s/1052/18/interior.aspx?sid=1052&gid=1&pgid=1051
- Wilkinson, Doris Y. Kentucky African American Encyclopedia. https://books.google.com/books?id=-0AoCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA529#v=onepage&q&f=false
- Scope and Content
- The Doris Y. Wilkinson papers (dated 1961-2011; 10.53 cubic feet and 1.12 Megabytes; 9 record storage cartons, 2 document boxes, 2 flat boxes, and 22 electronic documents) primarily comprise correspondence, reports and articles, newspaper clippings, announcements and flyers, research subject files, books, honors and awards, teaching material, and biographical information that document the academic career and professional life of sociologist Doris Y. Wilkinson. Wilkinson's research interests, professional service and contacts, and graduate school preparation are outlined in the research subject files, unpublished writings and conferences, library, exhibits, and course notebooks and research notes series. Many of the monographs in the library series include her notes and underlines or inscriptions from authors to her (in box 14).
- Wilkinson's teaching preparation, content, and approach are documented through the series on courses taught and on the University of Kentucky Black Studies Committee/Black Studies/African American Studies and Research Program. Honors and awards, professional correspondence, clippings and announcements about Wilkinson's scholarly and service activities, and her faculty distribution of effort forms and activity and teaching evaluations are found in the personal and biographical and corresponce series. In particular, there are programs from two Lexington events, A day of reaffirmation, rededication, and reclamation with the community, East Second Street Christian Church, Lexington, Kentucky, March 15, 1998; and YMCA Black Achievers Celebrating 21 Years (1985-2006): Raising the Bar, Achieving Excellence, 21st Annual Black Achievers Banquet, Lexington Center, Lexington, Kentucky, April 15, 2006.
- Research subjects found throughout the collection include Diagnosing the Therapist: Race and Gender in Clinical Decision Making; Forgotten Pioneers Series research and work on early African Americans' presence in physics, medicine, and other specific areas; race and gender consciousness; ethnicity; barbershops; and African American heritage, women and feminization, children and families, businesses, and university faculty.
- The collection is minimally processed into series. Description is at the series level.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Conditions Governing Access Collection is open to researchers by appointment
- Use Restrictions
- Property rights reside with the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.
Contents of the Collection
Personal, 1964-1997
- Box 1
Biographical and Correspondence, 1961-2011
- Box 1
- Box 2
- Box 9, item 2
- Box 10, item 2
- Disk 06
Unpublished Writings and Conferences, 1974-2009
- Box 2
- Disk 02
- Disk 03
- Disk 04
- Disk 05
- Disk 07
Reprints and Copies of Published Writing , 1968 November-2002 June, undated
Exhibits Based in Research Program , 1988 September-2006 March
- Box 3
- Box 11
- Box 10, item 1
Course Notebooks and Research Notes, 1963-1991, undated
- Box 3
Courses Taught, 1978-2003
- Box 4
University of Kentucky Black Studies Committee/Black Studies/African American Studies and Research Program, 1979-2010
- Box 5
- Box 9, item 1
Research Subject Files , 1970-2002
- Box 6
- Box 7
- Box 8
- Box 10, item 3
- Disk 01
Library, 1964-1993
- Box 12
- Box 13
- Box 14
UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Materials must be requested at least 5 days before your appointment.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Table of Contents
- Abstract
- Descriptive Summary
- Collection Overview
- Preferred Citation
- Restrictions on Access and Use
- Contents of the Collection
- Personal, 1964-1997
- Biographical and Correspondence, 1961-2011
- Unpublished Writings and Conferences, 1974-2009
- Reprints and Copies of Published Writing , 1968 November-2002 June, undated
- Exhibits Based in Research Program , 1988 September-2006 March
- Course Notebooks and Research Notes, 1963-1991, undated
- Courses Taught, 1978-2003
- University of Kentucky Black Studies Committee/Black Studies/African American Studies and Research Program, 1979-2010
- Research Subject Files , 1970-2002
- Library, 1964-1993
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Materials must be requested at least 5 days before your appointment.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Requests
No items have been requested.
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.