Carole Ashkinaze papers

Carole Ashkinaze:

A Guide to Her Papers at Georgia State University Library

Georgia State University
Georgia State University
Special Collections and Archives
100 Decatur St., SE
Atlanta, GA 30303-3202
404-413-2880
Fax: 404-413-2881
archives@gsu.edu

2004

Organization of the Papers

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.

Biography of Carole Ashkinaze

Carole Ashkinaze was born in Manhattan, New York, on January 20th 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.

Index Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Georgia State University Library online catalog (GIL). Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Unrestricted access.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

To quote in print, or otherwise reproduce in whole or in part in any publication, including on the Worldwide Web, any material from this collection, the researcher must obtain permission from (1) the owner of the physical property and (2) the holder of the copyright. Persons wishing to quote from this collection should consult the reference archivist to determine copyright holders for information in this collection. Reproduction of any item must contain the complete citation to the original. All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Administrative Information

Citation

[item], [folder title], [series title], Carole Ashkinaze papers, W043, Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University, Atlanta.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Carole Ashkinaze, April, May 2001

Processing Information

Processed by Aubrey Underwood, April 2004.

Related Material

Related materials in this repository: An interview with Carole Ashkinaze, dated April 26 and 27, 2001, in the Georgia Women's Movement Oral History Collection (W008).

Orfield, Gary and Ashkinaze, Carole. Closing Door: Conservative Policy and Black Opportunity, in GSU University Library General Collection.

Kyle, John E. and Ashkinaze, Carole. Your Cities Families: Putting Youth in the Picture, in GSU University Library General Collection.