Letter from H.W. Sewing for Daisy Bates Trust Fund
date: label: Date
content: Feb 16, 1960
name: label: Created by
content: Henry Warren Sewing, American, 1891 - 1980
label: Subject of
content: Douglass State Bank, American, 1947 - 1983
label: Subject of
content: Rev. Volley V. K. Stokes, American, ca. 1889 - 1961
label: Subject of
content: Trinity Baptist Church, American, founded 1888
label: Subject of
content: Daisy Bates, American, 1914 - 1999
label: Subject of
content: Rev. I. H. Henderson Sr., American, died 1985
label: Signed by
content: Henry Warren Sewing, American, 1891 - 1980
label: Subject of
content: Arkansas State Press, American, 1941 - 1959; 1984 - 1997
notes: label: Caption
content: Daisy Bates led the NAACP branch in Arkansas and was in charge of the Little Rock school integration. Bates worked to organize a safe integration process and mentored the first students, known as the Little Rock Nine. Due to intense protests, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the Arkansas National Guard to ensure that the school integration could proceed. Protestors and advertisers boycotted the Arkansas State Press, an activist newspaper owned by Daisy and her husband Lucius Christopher Bates. The Bates suffered financial difficulties due to their outspoken integration efforts. The “Dollars for Daisy Bates Trust Fund” was set up to provide much needed funds to the Bates.
label: Caption
content: Trigg Mary K. and Alison R. Bernstein, eds. Junctures in Women’s Leadership: Social Movements. New Brunswick: Rutgers, 2016.
label: Description
content: Letter from the Dollars for Daisy Bates Trust Fund. The letter is printed in black ink on Douglass State Bank letterhead. It is addressed to Rev. V. K. stokes and begins [Dear Brother Pastor: / Doubtless, you have already read some of the many news releases concerning the nation-wide effort to give assistance to Daisy Bates and her husband to liquidate heavy indebtedness, due to the forced closing down of their newspaper business]. The letter requests contributions before the end of the fundraising campaign for the Daisy Bates Trust Fund. H.W. Sewing, Treasurer of the Fund and President of the Douglass State Bank, signed the letter. There is a postscript at the bottom of the page which begins [P.S.- Rev. Stokes: Will you stress the courage of Mrs. Bates and ask your members if we as Negroes should let these freedom fighters lose all they have fighting in Little Rock for first class citizenship for the Negro?...]. The paper has a Douglass State Bank watermark. The reverse is blank.
place: label: Place made
content: Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas, United States, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: Baltimore, Maryland, United States, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: Baptist
label: Topic
content: Black Press
label: Topic
content: Business
label: Topic
content: Civil Rights
label: Topic
content: Correspondence
label: Topic
content: Journalism
label: Topic
content: Religion
label: Topic
content: Resistance
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 1953-1961
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Documents and Manuscripts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Stokes/Washington Family
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2017.14.5a
objectType: label: Type
content: letters (correspondence)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Public domain
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 10 7/8 × 8 1/2 in. (27.6 × 21.6 cm)