Mickey Leland Center- Archives

Scope

The George Thomas “Mickey" Leland Papers stored at the Jesse H. Jones School of Business. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, tapes/slides and personal items of Mickey’s. Some materials in the collection date from the early 1970’s to the late 1980’s.

The collection is divided into four series: Correspondence, Photographs, Tapes/Slides and Personal. Much of the collection concentrates on Mickey’s congressional days.

The correspondence consists of letters to and from Mickey to various members of Congress, constituents, friends and other elected officials. The photographs consists of a large array of pictures of Mickey with various dignitaries including President Jimmy Carter, Menachem Began, Anwar Sadat, the 14th Dali Lama and Bishop Desmond Tutu. (A very small number of pictures have some water damage). The tapes consist of interviews (video and audio) of Mickey regarding humanitarian trips he took, PSA’s and documentaries, and hunger related issues. The slides contain pictures of Mickey on various humanitarian trips and at various function and events. The personal items consists mainly of items that belonged to Mickey including a ’13 television, photo albums, signature stamps, posters, and items of Mickey’s from the plane wreck that killed him.

The Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger and Peace at Texas Southern University administers the unpublished papers, artifacts, and audio visual materials dealing with the work of the late U.S. Congressman George Thomas "Mickey" Leland lll. Alison (Leland) Brisco, the widow of the late Congressman, donated his congressional papers to Texas Southern University in 1989. The Mickey Leland Archives & Library is a part of the Archives Collection of the 18th Congressional District of Houston, Texas, located at Texas Southern University. His papers document Leland's public service career from 1970 to 1989 and provide a political perspective on the history and culture of Houston, its 88th State District, and the 18th U.S. Congressional District during those years.

The collection features papers and records of local political and civic leaders; labor, professional and ethnic organizations; artists, authors and activist groups. It reveals that Leland successfully represented the interests of Houston's liberals and conservatives, African Americans, Hispanics and whites, rich and poor, in order to become one of the most durable and successful advocates for hunger relief and the interests of the homeless in the history of American politics.

The Leland Papers span turbulent years from Nixon, Vietnam, and Watergate; through Reagan and Reagonomics; to Bush and the Recession. They reveal the evolution of Leland's political philosophy and career, from his youthful black militant protests, when he arrived in Austin as a freshman legislator dressed in an African Dashiki, to his arrival on the Washington scene sporting a Giorgio Armani suit. The collection reveals his uncanny ability to use whatever tools were available to "make a difference" and "get beyond words" to solve the problems of hunger and suffering.

The Leland Papers cover a variety of topics: health care rights for the poor, prison reform, police harassment and brutality, racial discrimination, affirmative action, budget discrimination in higher education, labor legislation, political election organization, infant mortality, minority rights in business, health education, parks and recreation for the indigent, apartheid and racial discrimination issues world wide, third world development, emergency shelters for the homeless, nutrients for the malnourished, and food security for victims of hunger,

For Leland's constituents, the papers document especially well his involvement in issues and projects of particular concern to the people he represented. The diverse conditions existing in the 18th Congressional District required of Leland extraordinary flexibility. He managed issues ranging from mass transportation, urban planning and neighborhood protection to energy legislation and domestic oil production.

The collection verifies Leland's role as a champion of minority issues and a promoter of the economic development of his state. He focused on trade issues for state products with the Pacific Rim countries, and developed special projects such as Houston's Economic Conference.

The Leland Papers are a significant addition to the political papers entrusted to Texas Southern University. Congressional papers at the University also include those of the former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who preceded Mickey Leland in representing the 18th Congressional District in Congress. The Leland Papers expand the University's acquisition, access, and preservation program and constitute a major collection in the Southwest.

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The Leland Center is tax exempt under Sections 501 (c)(3) and 170(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, The Mickey Leland Center is exempt from taxation based on Article 7150, Texas Civil statutes, and Section 11. 11 of the Texas Tax Code.