The collection is approximately 2.25 linear feet. The bulk of the collection is photographs, both in albums and loose, totaling more than 400 photos. Some are posed, formal shots and others are informal snapshots or Polaroids taken between the 1920s and the late 1960s. A small number of photos (presumably of the Thomspsons' ancestors) predate the 1920s. The photos mostly depict the home lives and recreation of the Thompsons and friends. Awards recognize the Thompsons' contributions to the NAACP and fundraising efforts. Correspondence and newspaper clippings are limited to one sparse folder apiece, and again mainly concern the activities of the Detroit branch of the NAACP. Also included is the guest book for an "Interracial Fellowship party" hosted by the Thompsons in December of 1950 and a scrapbook documenting their son's military career.
William Arthur Thompson was born in Tennesee in 1882. Educated at Meherry Medical College in Nashville, he became a physician at Parkside Hospital in Detroit and eventually served as the hospital's chief of medical staff. Mamie L. Thompson was born in 1892, also in Tennesee, and attended Walden College in Nashville. The pair married in 1912 and, in 1924, moved to Detroit. There, they became highly influential members of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, then the country's largest NAACP branch. Both Thompsons were active in the branch, with Mrs. Thompson serving on the executive committee for decades and as treasurer for several years. The Thompsons were credited with helping to restore peace to the city following the 1943 race riots, and with helping finance the McGhee vs. Sipes case (one of the two case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948 that led to racially restrictive housing covenants being declared unconstitutional). Along with the rest of the Detroit NAACP, the Thompsons worked to push local businesses to comply with federal law and serve black customers. The Thompsons were honored in 1963 for their lifetime of service to the NAACP.
The Thompsons' son, Arthur L. Thompson, was sworn in as the first black medical officer in the Navy in 1944. The dates of his parents' deaths are unknown.
Sources: https://reuther.wayne.edu/files/UP000157.pdf http://navymedicine.navylive.dodlive.mil/archives/4274
Materials were loosely grouped by material type and photographs were placed in Mylar sleeves. The pages of one photo album, in very poor condition, have been stored in folders when possible. Loose photographs, likely from the same album, have been placed in mylar sleeves.
Trophies were wrapped in tissue and bubblewrap. Photographs are not arranged in any particualr order, with the exception of photo albums.
Processed by Nora Dolliver, 2018.
