Honorable R. Eugene and Alzata C. Pincham Collection, 1851-2010

numerical by year

The collection consists of well organized and mounted scrapbooks that includes personal materials such as photographs, newsclippings, and memorabilia like post cards, flyers and posters; administrative papers, and correspondence which include correspondence between R. Eugene Pincham and Reverend Jeremiah Wright, former Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ between 1995 and 2002; Pincham and Margaret Taylor Burroughs, educator and artist; family genealogy like “The Pincham’s Family Tree;” expressions of condolences; the commemoration of the Pincham’s twenty-fifth and thirtieth anniversaries; love letters; and documents relating to international, national and local events.

Materials about Alzata Cudalia Pincham work with Trinity United Church of Christ with cancer patients called “Cancer Vive Ministry.”

Aside from personal papers, the Pincham Collection has a series that focuses on his career in law. Documents include court cases that he argued as a lawyer from 1953 thru 2003, which include Cook County Circuit to United States Supreme; part one and two on opinions from cases he adjudicated over as a Judge in the Justice in the Appellate Court of Illinois; a computer print-out on citations from various court cases. In addition, the collection has several scrapbooks with photos and newsclippings that focus on his career and political interests.

The collection also includes artifacts. This series is separated into three categories: plaques and awards, and artwork. Plaques and awards are accolades given to R. Eugene Pincham for his contributions to the field of law as a judge and lawyer; his involvement in the community; and organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and the Cook County Bar Association; personal accomplishments in education such his undergraduate degree from Tennessee State University and Judicial Degree from Northwestern Law School. The African Artwork is leased to Chicago State University Archives and Special Collections from the Kwame Nkrumah Academy until 2016. The collection illustrates the diversity of African artwork from different nations, such as Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. The artwork consist of paintings describing the African Antiquity civilization of Ancient Egypt; masks from Western Africa that were designed for royalty and religious ceremonies; and sculptures created from wooden and marble that embodied African civilization and culture.

The last series in Pincham’s collection is media. This series has almost a hundred of DVDs and CDs which focus Pincham’s activism in the community, politics, and court cases; his lectures and mock trials at various law schools. In addition, there are several DVDs contributed to CSU Archives and Special Collections by Chicago based oral history organization, HistoryMakers; and Chicago State University’s media recording of the Judge R. Eugene Pincham reception commemorating the R. Eugene Pincham Collection and his legacy. This event was held at Chicago State University’s Library on June 23, 2011.

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Copyright of these records are held by Chicago State University. Please contact us if you would like to use this information.

The collection was donated to the CSU Archives and Special Collections in 2010.

The collection was acquired by CSU Archives and Special Collections as a donation from the Pincham's Estate.

No accurals are expected.

Location: Bin #'s ML020450721, ML020450821, ML020451121-ML020451521, ML020451921-ML020452121

Created by Dian Hoover, Library Specialist 2014

• Subject
  • African American lawyers--Illinois--Chicago
  • African Americans--Illinois--Chicago
  • Illinois Appellate Court (1st District)
  • United States. Supreme Court--History--20th century
  • ( African American lawyers--Illinois--Chicago)
  • African American politics--20th century (1)
  • (African Americans--Illinois--Chicago)
  • (Illinois Appellate Court (1st District))
  • (African American art--20th century.)
  • (United States. Supreme Court--History--20th century)
• Names
  • Pincham, Eugene R. 1925 - 2008
  • Pincham, Cudalia, Alzata 1925 - 2005
  • Wright, Jeremiah A., Jr. 1941 -
  • Washington, Harold, 1922-1987
  • Lincoln, C. Eric (Charles Eric), 1924 - 2000
• Geographic Coverage
  • South Chicago (Chicago, IL)--History
  • (South Chicago (Chicago, IL) -- History.)