The USC Libraries Collections Convergence Initiative (CCI) has awarded Maurice Hudson, president of the California Social Welfare Archives and an affiliate faculty member at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, with its 2024 Floyd Covington fellowship. Through his fellowship, Hudson will partner with his CSWA colleague Bethany Jo Murray on archival research into the historical relationship between law enforcement and social work in the Los Angeles area.
Named for the long-time head of the Los Angeles Urban League, the Floyd Covington fellowship complements the USC Libraries' 2017 acquisition of the civil rights leader’s papers, as well as the libraries' significant and growing collection holdings related to anti-racism, social justice, and allied topics. First awarded in 2021, the fellowship encourages USC faculty to incorporate those collections into their teaching and research projects. Previous fellows include Li-Ping Chen, Natalia Molina, Maddox Pennington, Allissa V. Richardson, and Atia Sattar.
"We're delighted to welcome Maurice as this year's Covington Fellow," said Dean Melissa Just of the USC Libraries. "He and his collaborator Bethany have outlined an impactful area of research that will activate our California Social Welfare Archives and other collections in an especially compelling way. Along with the significant and intriguing projects by our past fellows, Maurice's research shows the promise of the Covington Fellowship for supporting original scholarship with primary sources in our archives at USC."
Over the coming months, Hudson and Murray will mine several archival collections at the USC Libraries for relevant local histories, including the Southern California Regional History collection, the ONE Archives, the Floyd Covington papers, and the California Social Welfare Archives. Their research will shed light on how trends like the rise of community policing changed the relationship between social work and law enforcement from the 1960s to the 1990s—and, they hope, unearth lessons that could improve current social work and law enforcement practices.
“By way of deep research into USC sources on race, policing, and social welfare, this project is both timely and beautifully aligned with the legacy of Floyd Covington and his dedication to civil rights in greater Los Angeles,” said Professor William Deverell, divisional dean for the social sciences at USC Dornsife and director of the libraries’ Collections Convergence Initiative.
Hudson and Murray plan to collaborate with social and behavioral sciences librarian Clarissa Moreno.
“Maurice has been an invaluable contributor to this collection and a dedicated partner to the USC Libraries,” Moreno said. “I am excited to collaborate with him in uncovering local histories, which will pave the way for enhancing the relationship between law enforcement and social work.