July 19, 1928

My dear Claude:

I have been trying since you last wrote
me to locate Miss Nancy Markhoff. Finally, through
Max Eastman, I have secured her address. It appears
that she is in Moscow, and the address given to Mr.
Eastmann, through someone on the "Daily Worker", is:

C/O J. Louis Engdahl
Hotel Lux
Moscow, U. S. S. R.

I thought I might just as well send you the address
so that you might write Miss Markhoff personally.

I hope that you are quite well and that the
new book is coming on.

With kindest regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

JWJ/RR

P. S. - I was just ready to mail this yetter when yours
of July 6 came.

Chez Thomas Cook & Son

19 Calle de Fontanella

Barcelona, Spain

August 27, 1928

Dear Johnson

Thank you for sending Nancy Mark-
hoff's address. The fact that she is actually
in Moscow rather nullifies the chance of her
being useful to me at present and so I think
I will not trouble to write, but wait until
she returns.

I have completed the new book, but
I have the job of revision before me. However
I feel a little freer and with all the corres-
pondence under my hand I shall take up the
matter of returning with the consul. If it
proves to be too much work and trouble I shall
ask Bradley to tackle it as he said he would.

With kindest regard and hoping you are
well,

6

Monde de 27

MON

Quelques livres sur la question nègre
aux États-Unis

Cette question des races, si importante aux Etats-Unis, ne cesse d'intéresser les écrivains, les éditeurs et le public américains. Aussi, il n'est quère de jour qui ne voit pas la parution d'un livre touchant de près ou de loin ce vaste problème. La maisor A. A. Knopf, de New-York, par exemple, en a donné ces mois derniers quatre, dont deux sont de la plus haute importance.

D'abord, il y a une nouvelle édition d'un livre paru sans nom d'auteur en 1912. Cet ouvrage, The Autobiography of an Ex Coloured Man, a été écrit par James Weldon Johnson et c'est parce que celui-ci était alors consul général des Etats-Unis au Nicaragua qu'il préféra pour l'anonymat. Mais il n'a pas honte de sa création, reconnue un des meilleurs livres qu'aient produits les Nègres américains. Vie romancée d'une jeune homme de sang mélangé mais qui a l'air absolument blanc, ce livre nous apporte un témoignage touchant et bien écrit. Il nous montre toute l'incertitude de cette âme qui tour à tour veut épouser la cause de sa race oppriée et ensuite veut cacher le fait qu'elle est nègre. Finalement, devant l'obstacle terrible qu'est le préjugé des Américains, le personnage, puisque personne ne sait qu'il est noir, entre dans la vie comme un blanc et attend ce qui arrivera par la suite. Dans un style excellent et écrit par un homme qui toute une vie s'est passionné pour tout ce qui touchait à sa race, musique, littérature et mœurs en général, ceci constitue un vrai document.

Du même genre est L'étude de J. Brooks Atkinson, Henry Thoreau, The Cosmic Yankee. Ni l'auteur ni Thoreau ne sont nègres mais la vie de ce dernier, telle que ce critiqua américain nous la montre, a été profondément impressionnée par l'injustice de la discrimination que l'on faisait autour de

lui entre les gens dont la couleur de peau n'était pas la même. Abolitioniste convaincu, il n'hésita pas à étonner ses proches en prenant la défense de John Brown, l'auteur de l'insurrection noire de Harper's Ferry. Toute sa vie, avec la même conviction, il défendit les opprimés et s'isola de la bourgeoisie qui l'entourait. Un des hommes (avec Whitman, Emerson et Brown) qu'il admira jusqu'à sa mort fut un quide, métis de blanc et d'Indien, qu'il avait connu dans la montagne et qui personnifiait pour lui l'âme populaire. De la sorte, sa vie fut tellement basée sur son désir d'abolir toute cette injustice sur terre que lorsqu'on lui demanda son avis sur l'au-dela, il répondit doucement : « Mon ami, un seul monde à la fois. » Il moutut avant de voir l'émancipation des nègres mais il lui fut ainsi épargné le spectacle d'une abolition qui ne voulait rien dire.

Cet état de choses contemporain, nègres libérés en nom seulement et non point en fait, est décrit dans Fo' Meals a Day, de Hugh Wiley et, dans son livre Manchu Blood, le même auteur nous présente les Chinois de San Francisco. Son style est moins bon que celui de Paul Morand et ses nouvelles moins intéressantes, mais il fait des choses du même genre : le documentaire par l'imaginaire. Quelques-unes de ses réflexions sont subtiles et il fait un résumé de l'Amérique en ces mots : « Les Etats-Unis sont la scène d'une lutte entre les riches et les pauvres et les chiens métis qui se nourrissent des victimes des deux côtés. »

Mais la haine est profonde et elle est aggravée par des erreurs politiques. Aucun écrivain ne nous offre le remède, mais ceux-ci, au moins, nous font d'excellents expositions.

Harold J. SALEMSON.

5

NDE

TRES.

n avec Unamuno

l'utte devient plus âpre à chaque instant
et cherche sa réplique dans le para-
doxe. Pour Unamuno, ce paradoxe est
toujours une vérité indéfinie, infinie ou
mieux encore un témoignage sanglant
de cette même lutte interieure. C'est dans
cette lutte sans trêve, autorésolution de
la fin de toute activité humaine, que se
cache le cri joyeux et impétueux de sa
vision de la vie. Vision polémique, ba-
tailleuse, dynamique ou, pour employer
ses propres paroles : agonique et mys-
tique. Vision qui embrase le sens pu-
rement actif de force et de vie. Mais
d'une vie sans but précis si ce n'est
l'ambition donquichottesque de vivre la
vie pour elle-même et de lutter pour
le plaisir de lutter.

— Car même si je savais — ajoute
Don Miguel, de sa voix chaude et décidée — que tous les combats que j'ai
menés ne verront jamais le jour de
la victoire, je combattrais quand même...
Ils me disent que je serai oublié.
Ce n'est pas l'oubli des vivants que je
redoute, mais celui des morts... Ils me
disent encore que mon combat est stérile. Il est possible que je ne sois jamais
victorieux, mais ce n'est point la victoire que je cherche. Je combats pour
l'Idée qui vit en moi... Du reste il faut
vivre sa vie honnêtement et avec dignité...

— Pourquoi Hamlet, Macbeth, Faust,
Don Quichotte sont-ils parfaitement
réels et vivants, vivants comme le sont
Shakespeare, Gœthe, Cervantès et le
Christ ? Peu importe qu'il y ait eu un
homme appelé Jésus et qui vivait en
Galilée. Je sais qu'il existe un Christ
qui vit dans l'Esprit de Paul et dans
la conscience de notre humanité, à tous
les siècles de notre civilisation et de
notre histoire ; cela me suffit...

L'Orient et l'Occident sont, pour le
moment, les deux pôles ou voudrait
s'appuyer Unamuno. Il a la répugnance
des définitions que l'on a coutume de
faire à ce sujet ; la solide définition que
l'on fait de l'Orient : le chaos, l'indé-
fini et l'infini, le fait rire, de même que
celle de l'Occident dont on dit qu'il
est l'ordre, le défini et le fini.

l'empêche de céder et qui lui donne la
force de résister jusqu'au bout, de
prendre sur lui toutes les responsabi-
lités, de mépriser tout compromis :

— Ils voudraient, les gens d'Espagne,
mettre fin à la comédie qu'ils ont en-
treprise, mais sans bruit. Et ce n'est
pas possible. Non pas pour nous, mais
vis-à-vis de l'histoire. Devant l'histoire,
devant la conscience universelle, cela
n'est pas possible. Il faut que le pro-
cès se fasse. Je ne suis pas leur bour-
reau, mais j'exige le procès !...

Selon Unamuno, la dictature est un
simple jeu de militaires oisifs, de héros
en retraite, de bandoleros prétoriens.
En Espagne, les militaires ont toujours
en une situation importante. Parmi les
trois faits les plus caractéristiques de
l'histoire de l'Espagne : Don Quichotte,
la Société de Jésus et la Découverte de
l'Amérique, les deux premiers ont été
conçus par des militaires blessés qui ne
pouvaient plus faire leur métier.

Il entame ensuite les problèmes uni-
verseis et me parle des efforts absurdes
de la Société des Nations.

— Il y a des nations, dit-il, qui ne peuvent pas se conduire elles-mêmes et qui sont livrées à la merci de quelques aventuriers et de délinquants, conscients des crimes qu'ils commettent. La Société des Nations aurait le devoir d'intervenir, et devrait aider ces peuples à se libérer de leur joug et à conquérir leurs libertés...

Contraire à toute conception nationa-
liste de l'Etat qui tende à sacrifier l'in-
dividu à l'Etat et voudrait lui imposer
l'Etatisme, il poursuit :

— Dans certains pays, les nationalis-
mes détruisent tous sentiments d'hu-
manité et s'opposent à la fraternité com-
mune... De même que, au temps de l'In-
quisition, on brûlait les individus qui
niaient que la substance du corps du
Christ était cachée dans les espèces du
pain et du vin, de même on tue l'homme
s'il nie que la substance de la patrie se
trouve dans la couleur du drapeau de la
patrie... S'ils ont exalté le patriotisme
à la place de Dieu, c'est précisement
faute d'avoir la foi dans l'immortalité
personnelle.

Chez Thomas Cook & fils
2 Place de la Madeleine
Paris, France

Feb, 1, 1929

Dear Johnson

I have cabled you today asking you to represent me at the Harmon Award ceremony. I have just learned of the award through a letter from Mr Haynes that was forwarded by Harper and re-forwarded by Bradley.

I feel very awkward before this grand array of churches printed on the letter-head especially as I am a pagan and I don't think there is anything of Christian morality in my writings. I grew up without Religion, because my eldest brother was a free-thinker and he instructed me. But however awkward I may feel I consider it an honor in the noblest sense of the word that the award should have been won by "Home To Harlem".

The Abbess, Madre Maria, says through Mr Thornton Wilder, "Now learn at last that anywhere you may expect grace" and I might paraphrase a little, "Now learn at last that anywhere you may expect merit to be recognised".

I have written to the Consul at Marseille about my returning to America. I sent him some other important papers that I received recently. I haven't heard from him yet. But I am hoping to make the trip back some time this year.

My warmest regards to you and Mrs. Johnson,

February 13, 1929

My dear Claude:

I received your cablegram and advised Dr. George E. Haynes of its contents, and he was very glad to have me represent you at the presentation of the awards which took place last night.

I think you would have been very much pleased had you been present. There was a large and very fine audience out and the exercises were interesting and impressive.

I received your award, which is a gold medal and a check for four hundred dollars. Let me know at once to what address I should forward this check and also whether you wish the medal sent, and if so, to what address.

Walter has read the galley proof of "Banjo" and he tells me he thinks it will make a good book and go very finely.

I received your card from Morocco. You must be having an absorbingly interesting time.

I will be glad to hear from you promptly in order that I may carry out your wishes regarding the check and the medal.

With kind regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

Mr. Claude McKay
C/O Thomas Cook & Sons
2 Place de la Madeline
Paris
France

February 19, 1929

Mr. Claude McKay
Chez Thomas Cook & fils
2 Place de la Madeline
Paris
France

Dear Claude:

I have just received your letter of the 1st and I see that you are expecting to be back in France within the next few weeks. I am therefore sending to you enclosed your check for Four Hundred Dollars which was given with the award of the gold medal by the Harmon Foundation. I am sending it to the address given at the head of your letter to me.

I will not do anything about the medal until you write me. It might be subject to duty or some such nuisance as that.

I am glad you won the award and I think it was quite a popular award.

I am glad you have written the Consul at
Marseille. I expect to go down to Washington within the
next ten days and I shall go into the State Department
and see if I can do anything in addition toward facilitating
your return to the United States.

With kindest regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

JWJ/RR

HARPER & BROTHERS
PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND LONDON

49 EAST 33rd STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y.

August 2, 1929.

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

Mr. James Weldon Johnson,
69 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N. Y.

Dear Mr. Johnson:

We have encountered a difficulty in connection with the publication of Claude McKay's "Banjo" through the fact that McKay quoted short passages from the words of a song entitled "Shake That Thing" without realizing that the song itself was copyrighted. Apparently Carl Van Vechten got into similar difficulties at the time of the publication of "Nigger Heaven."

The information we have from McKay indicates that there was an earlier song entitled "The Jelly Roll Blues," on which "Shake That Thing" may have possibly been based. In the piece of sheet music we have secured, giving the words and music of "Shake That Thing," "Papa" Charlie Jackson is given as the author. I am writing to you to ask whether through any of your channels of information you can tell us who Charlie Jackson is and whether he can be seen in connection with this affair. The publishers of the music, Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., of Broadway and 47th Street, are asking exorbitant damages and we are anxious to do what we can to save McKay from this rather serious drain on his finances. If we could possibly bring Charlie Jackson and our lawyers together, a conference between them would undoubtedly be of great assistance. I shall be very grateful to you for anything you can do.

I am

Eugene F. Saxton...BS

March 20, 1930

On March 19th Mr. Andrews talked with one of the
young men who came to this office in the interest of
Octavio Gascon. He then telephoned the Immigration
Office and spoke with someone in charge who told him
that Gascon was detained on the ship because he was
only nineteen years old and had not sufficient money.
He stated that the inspector who talked with Gascon
reported that he (Gascon) had only $75 or $80.
Gascon's friend with whom Mr. Andrews talked denied
this statement and said that he was positively sure
that he had more money than reported.

GAT.

Chez Thomas Cook & Son

2 Place de la Madeleine
Paris
France

July 29, 1930

Dear Johnson

May I impose on your generosity in asking you to try
and obtain for me three numbers of the Crisis containing material
which I would like to use as reference among other things for an
article I am doing on Negro Writers and Criticism?

Unfortunately I do not remember the exact months of pub-
lication and you may have to have your secretary do a little research
work. The numbers I want are: 1. The Crisis containing W. S.
Braithwaite's speech on Negro writers, delivered at the N. A. A. C. P
Conference either in 1924 or 1925. 2. That with Dr. Dubois's
criticism of Carl Van Vechten's "Nigger Heaven" which came out
either between October or November of 1926. 3. That with your
own article on Negro writers and Negro criticism which appeared in
the New York Evening Post either before or after its appearance in
the Crisis, I am not sure.

Also, I should like to have a copy of your "American
Negro Poetry" and you might present the bill to Mr. Saxton's of
Harper with my request that he should pay, since that is about the
easiest way for me.

Bradley told me that he saw you in New York,... I fin-
ished my new book in Barcelona and left straight for Berlin to con-
sult a brain specialist about my head which had become so bad with
chronic heaviness and dizziness during the last weeks on the book,
that I had barely enough will to finish. I had two good specialists
and underwent two very painful little operations, the taking of
liquids from my brain and spine to test them. Fortunately the result

of the examination was good. The doctors said there was no sign
of danger. I had been overtreated for my illness when I came out
of Russia and especially that attack of facial paralysis in '24.
And of course I have been drinking too much. That I must now stop
altogether and I was advised also to take a little vacation from
writing. So I am here in little Luxembourg, where it is quiet, for
the summer.

It was after I returned from Berlin that I saw Bradley.
I might have stayed the summer in Germany, but I had to go to Paris
because I wanted to meet Saxton. He is a very nice man and it was
a pleasure to know him.... I thought you would have come to Europe
from Japon with Mrs. Johnson and I was hoping to meet you both again
for dinner or something and a talk. I've always remembered with
pleasure that evening spent at your house with some of the influ-
ential literati before I came away to Europe. If ever you come to
Europe soon, you must be sure to visit Spain. I am sure that both
you and Mrs. Johnson will be charmed by it. It is the only European
country that touches me emotionally,

I hope that you both had a delightful time in Japon. Thanks
for the card and my best regards to you both.

Yours Sincerely

It was very kind of you to send me "Black Manhattan" and the elegant and amusing "St Peter etc." You certainly get a lot of literary work done in spite of your duties. I congratulate you. I cannot go very fast although I work steadily-as much as my health permits. My new book book is finally finished, however, and in the hands of the publishers, and I hope it comes out in the Fall. It will include that critique I wrote to you about as a kind of preface. And now my original contract with Harper's is ended and I am on the point of negotiating another. This time I want to shelve Bradley and that is a delicate task, for he has been trying to sign me up again. He did have a new contract drawn up sometime ago but I evaded signing on some technical point. My feeling is that if I should have an agent again, he should be in New York where he could be actually on the job. "Banjo" will be published in Paris next month.

I have taken a little house, a Dar Hassani, here in Tangier out in a native village about a mile from the town. It is quiet and has a terrace with a small view of the bay. The little town is very worldly and cosmopolitan, but the real native life is far removed from it. The mentality of the natives is medieval and an American needs an historical background to understand and appreciate them. I am trying to pick up a little Arab, but it is difficult absorbed as I am in my writing. However, I am seriously contemplating becoming a Moslem. The social side of the life that is blind to racial and color prejudices appeals to me greatly and as the religion is mostly great poetry, I can conscientiously subscribe to it, as a poet.

For my next book I am going to Jamaica, the West Indies for my material and characters. With my best always as ever

September 30, 1933

My dear Claude:

I have been away for a good part of the summer and this
was the first opportunity I have had to acknowledge and
answer your letter of July 23.

When I was in New York a few weeks ago I met Max Eastman
strolling up Fifth Avenue and we talked about you. We both
agreed that you should, by all means, come to the United
States, if for only a visit. I feel very strongly that you
ought to come and stay. New York is your market and the
United States is your field. Furthermore, we, the Negro
writers, need you here. After I received Man's letter I
wrote him that Walter White could, perhaps, do more at this
time than anyone else to facilitate your entry into the
United States. I have before me a letter from Walter White,
dated August 2, in which he says concerning the interview
he had at the State Department with Assistant Secretary of
State Wilbur J. Carr:

"Mr. Carr stated to me that there is no reason why McKay should have to wait to come in under the English quota as the English quota has not been exhausted for a number of years. All Clause needs to do is to go to the consul at Marseilles, make application, show that he has sufficient funds to meet requirements, and the vice will be given him. Without saying so in so many words, Mr. Carr quite definitely gave me to understand that though McKay will be questioned in routine fashion about his possible connection with the Third Internationale there will be no difficulty on that score."

I hope you will be able to make arrangements and come. I need
not tell you what the financial conditions in the United States
are at the present time, but in spite of that, I believe it
would be possible to arrange some lecture dates for you. Are
you working on anything now? I liked your last novel very much.
I thought the "Strange Burial of Sue" in *Gingertown* one of the
finest short stories I have ever read.

I do not suppose you have forgotten that I still have in my
possession your Harmon Gold Medal. I shall be very happy to
turn it over to you. With kind regards, I am

Mr. Claude McKay
Tanger, Morocco

JWJ:fmm

Mr. Claude McKay
Apartado 27
Correo Español
Tanger, Morocco

January 9, 1934

My dear Claude:

I was in New York during the holidays and went in and had a talk with Mr. Moe regarding you and a Guggenheim scholarship. I talked with Mr. Moe at considerable length and pressed your case as strongly as I could. Mr. Moe seemed to be quite inclined to grant a scholarship to you and he promised me that he would bring your name up before the directors at the next meeting of the Foundation; and so I have some hope for you on this point, but still, as you know, you can never tell.

If this scholarship is awarded to you, it will make the matter of your return to America quite simple, for the rules of the Foundation have been so altered as to allow the recipients to remain in the United States and do their work. The award of the scholarship would not only solve the question of funds, but would also solve the immigration question. I earnestly hope that it will come to pass. I hope, too, that you are quite well and doing some work. I recently published the book *Along This Way - An Autobiography of James Weldon Johnson*. It received an astonishingly good press. In fact, some of the reviews of the book seem to be too good to believe.

If there anything more that I can do to facilitate your getting back to the United States and to help in securing a Guggenheim award for you, you can believe that I shall be glad to do it.

With best wishes, I am

JWJ: fmm

c/o Max Eastman

CROTON - ON - HUDSON
NEW YORK

February 8, 1934

Mr James Weldon Johnson
Fisk University
Nashville

Dear JWJ: Finally I was able to obtain all the papers required and the American consul graciously gave me the visa. I went to Spain and shipped from Cadiz, arriving here on the 2nd.

I must thank you very sincerely for all you did to bring me over again. Maybe it was the best thing that I did settle down for a stay in Tangier, for I might never had had otherwise that police document that was required.

An American woman in Tangier showed me a notice of your just published "Autobiography" of which I wish to congratulate you.

Of my plans I can say nothing yet. I am broke and it was by the kindness of well-wishers only that I was able to come over. As soon as I am rested up and get my bearings (everything is so enormously strange) I shall see what chances there are of getting a little living in some way.

My regards to Mrs Johnson and thanking you again

April 12, 1934

c/o A. A. Schomburg
103 West 135th Street
New York City

Dear JWJ

Thanks for your last letter and the duplicate
of the original, which also reached me here from Mor-
occo.

As you must be aware I am sure, I did not get
the Gug. fellowship after all. Mr Moe commanded me
to visit him and I did. And he was very nice indeed,
talking about Spain and me and my work. And although
he did not say I was actually going to get the award,
his thought led me to think that I would. And so I
was very disappointed about the outcome.

At present I have no definite plans. I owe
Harper's money and cannot get any out of them. Or I
should ask for an advance to do my Morocco novel. I
have a few stories that I am trying to dispose of but
without any success yet. I have been wondering if I
could get anything from the Rosenwald Fund. Do you
know how I could go about that? Maybe you could men-
tion it to Mr Chas. Johnson.

I should be happy to hear from you.

Mr J. W. JOHNSON
Fisk University
Nashville Tenn.

April 16, 1934

My dear Claude:

I was glad to hear from you and I am very sorry
that you did not get the Cuggenheim fellowship.
I myself when I talked to Mr. Moe about you felt
that your chances were extremely good for getting
one of the awards. I have not seen any announcement
of the Cuggenheim awards. Did any colored writer
get one? I wish that I could do something for you
with the Rosenwald Fund, but I am afraid that there
is not a chance there. The Fund itself has been
for a year or more not only not making any disburse-
ments for any undertakings, but has been discontin-
uing some of the allocations that had already been
made. You might be able to do something by making
an application to the Carnegie Cooperation. If you
do, you can, of course, use me as a reference.

By the way, I still have in my possession your Har-
mon gold medal. Do you wish me to send it on to
you?

I send you my best regards and will you give my
greetings to Schomburg.

Mr. Claude McKay
c/o A.A. Schomburg
103 West 135th Street
New York, New York

JWJ:fm

Oct. 6

1934

313 West 137th Street
New York City

Dear JW Johnson

Sometime ago I wrote to you regarding
my Harmon Gold Medal, but very likely you overlooked
my letter. While I was abroad, you asked me many
times if I should like to have it sent to me and I
thought it better not to because I was afraid of it
getting lost. But now that I am back, I should like
to see it and have it in my possession. Won't you
be good enough to send it to me, preferably in care
of Arthur Schomburg, 103 West 135th Street--the Branch
Library?

I read in several places of your appoint-
ment to a Professorship at New York University and
wish to join my little voice of praise to the many
bigger ones that have hailed you.

With my high regards

April 15
1935

214 West 63rd St
New York City

Dear JWJ:

I am very sorry that that letter I sent to the Murray Hill got lost. It was an编辑 title and I had mentioned receiving the medal and my thanks for it. I had it just a couple of days before I went away for about three months to a camp. This is a secret, but things were so bad with me and having no immediate prospects or very close ties, I decided to go to the camp by a roundabout way. The experience was most interesting and gave me an unforgettable close-up of the economic debacle in this country. I wrote you all about it. I was first attached to the little camp newspaper, but I didn't care for that and when there was a vacancy as canteen clerk I asked to be transferred there and that gave me an opportunity of getting in touch with the entire outfit.

Then I learned that there were colored camps and when I returned to New York around New Year's, I thought it would be an excellent thing if I could get an assignment to visit them and do a series of articles. I thought I could do a little reading or lecturing of a sort and get my stuff on the side. But I knew that it would be very difficult for me to get on to it without the right sort of recommendation and so I wrote to you asking if you could do anything about it, if you happened to know the higher-ups to be approached...

I also had something to say about your Autobiography in pointing out to you that HOME TO HARLEM there was nothing to imply that I was contemptuous of a Negro bourgeoisie and its aspirations, that the book was not concerned with that class, it was an episodic

account of a rough-and-ready Jack-of-all-trades, a type that I know and admire and I thought that my hero and heroine were as different from Van Vechten's as a rotten egg was from a fine apple picked up in the grass. Then I went on to say that I did not think we had a Negro bourgeoisie in America but a Negro intelligentsia and that I was entirely in sympathy with its aspirations. I wrote a letter to Robert Minor about that way back in 1924, when he was attacking a hypothetical Negro bourgeoisie, but he never printed my letter. But it is impossible for me to go over all that ground now... I have no quixotic illusions about the Negro group of people. I learned very much abroad, especially in Africa. And I am certain that Negroes will have to realize themselves as an organized group to get anything. Wherever I travelled I observed that the people who were getting anywhere and anything were those who could realize the strength of their cultural group, their political demands were considered and determined by the force of their cultural grouping: it was the same underlying principle in Communist Russia as in Marxist Spain and democratic France and England and in "protected" Africa...

But I should like to talk to you about all this sometime and I do hope that I shall have a chance to see you this year. In my other letter I did ask you also if you were on the inside of any of the various Foundations and could suggest a way of approach for me to get some financial help, if possible, to do my African book. I don't know anything about the personnel of any of them and how I should go about contacting the right parties.

Hoping I'll be able to meet you this Summer and with

my best regards

N.S.

April 20, 1935.

Mr. Claude McKay,
214 West 63rd Street,
New York City.

My dear Claude:

I have your letter of the 15th. I might as well say at the outset that there is hardly any good of talking of the points which you raise through a letter. The only way in which it can be done is to get together and talk the questions out.

I was interested to learn about your CCC experiences. I judge you have gotten some first class material out of them.

As to funds—I am still a member of the Board of Directors of the Garland Fund, and you might make an application to them. I can't hold out much hope because there isn't much money left, and such little as is left will hardly be appropriated for individual purposes. Nevertheless, you can write to the directors in care of Roger Baldwin.

If you propose to do your African book as soon as you can get to it, why not make an application to the Julius Rosenwald Fund? Write to Mr. Edwin R. Embree, President, Julius Rosenwald Fund, 4901 Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois and state fully your plans and just what you propose to do, and ask for a scholarship. You may give me as a reference if you wish to.

I thought surely you were going to get a scholarship from the Guggenheim; I had a talk with Mr. Moe and felt somewhat sanguine about it.

I am here until the first week in June. I shall be at Northwestern University until the last week in June. After that, I shall be in Great Barrington until September. But during the summer I do come down to New York occasionally, and I will perhaps be able to see you.

I thank you for your congratulations on my last book, but I could not decide whether you had yet read it or not from your letter.

JWJ:T

May 7
1935

214 West 63rd Street
New York City

Dear JWJ

Many thanks for your letter of April 20 and your suggestions as to financial possibilities. I have written to Mr Embree and to Roger Baldwin and fervently hope that something may come from writing. I ardently desire to get a chance to do that African book from an American perspective.

What I read was your, "Along This Way", the last book concerning a programme for the Negro, I did not read as I was unable to borrow it from anybody and right now I could not afford it. But I am very much interested in it, because the various reviews I read (when I was in the country) XXXXXXXXXXX were very exciting.

I hope I shall get that chance to meet you during the vacation months.

Thanking you and with my warmest regards

Yours Sincerely,
Stanley M. Kay

May 8

1935

Dear JWJ.

I am enclosing a copy of Mr. Embree's letter, which, as you will see, is not so very favorable, although it does not definitely close the door. I wonder if you would mind writing an urgent word to him about me, as that might help. I so much want to get right down to the writing of that book. There is a false idea current among the left intellectuals, that I went to Russia as a Communist and later went back on my principles. And I'd like to devote a chapter to show that I worked my way across to Europe in 1922 and went to Russia voluntarily, through the help of an English friend who was a go-between and interpreter for the Russian Communists in Berlin. In Russia the American Communists did everything in their power to prevent my making contacts and attending conferences (for I was not a party member) and it was only through Sen Katayama (who knew me on the Liberator) going over their heads to the big shots, that I did get on the inside. The fact is that my color intrigued for me, the colored American delegate was light-skinned and the Moscow propagandists wanted a real Negro type to put over. The people were excited about me in the streets long before the Bolshevist leaders became aware, it was the popular interest that irresistibly pushed me forward. But in the Soviet records I am listed as a non-partisan. I went into Russia as a writer and a free spirit and left the same, because I was always convinced that however far I was advanced in social

in social ideas, if I could do something significantly creative as
a Negro, it would mean more to my group and the world than being
merely a social agitator.

I want to show that my travelling in Europe and thru
Spain and over to Africa were logical steps in my pilgrimage. I am
ready to admit that I had profound experiences in Europe and in
Africa that made me less cocksure about radical theories, espec-
ially as related to propaganda among Negroes, but there is nothing
in that to be ashamed of.

A couple up at Harmon on the Hudson has offered me a
barn and some lumber to fix it up, so I could stay up there for a
few months and write. But I am in such a tight fix, I can't even
take advantage of the offer. And so, anything you can do by way of
exerting your influence to help will be much appreciated. I owe
so much to you considering all you did to bring me back again,
that I do hate the idea of giving you further trouble. But I
know you don't consider it that.

Yours Sincerely
Pandemontay

May 7

My dear Mr McKay:

I have read with much interest your letter of April 30. The question you raise is not an easy one to answer. In general we use our very limited fellowships in order to provide advanced training for persons of unusual promise. It is true that in the past when our resources were larger, we made it possible for a few individuals to prepare and publish special pieces of writing. This, however, is rather outside the regular fellowship procedure and in recent years we have confined our awards to the specific purpose of preparing individuals for their work rather than making possible individual items of work.

Of course I am familiar with your writing and admire it. I think it would be better for us to talk the whole matter over rather than to correspond about it. I am in New York from time to time. Possibly when I am there next we can have some time together. While I do not see any way by which we can help in your project, I should, at least, like to know of it in detail and to see if there is a possibility of support either from us or from some other source.

Very Truly Yours
(Sgd.) Edwin R. Embree

May 31
1935

Dear JWJ

Nearly everybody that I have spoken or written to thinks that you are the *one* man who could do something really effective to help me get the pecuniary assistance necessary to write the book I want to write.

I am enclosing a copy of a letter from the Har-
mon Foundation, in which you are also mentioned. Would you be
kind enough to introduce me to Dr. Keppel and also to Dr Jones,
if you know him. I haven't heard from Mr Embree again and poss-
ibly nothing practical will come from that source.

I have been trying all along to get a job, but without any success. Max Eastman thinks that my prose, from Home To Harlem on put the liberals and radicals against me and that that is why I am finding it so difficult to get any help. But creatively I never felt that I was writing particularly for liberals and radicals, nor Negroes only as such, because I have been always obsessed with the idea of the universality of life under the different patterns and colors and felt it was altogether too grand to be distorted creatively in the interest of any one group. And so I have always striven to obtain a certain objective balance in my creative work.

If I could only find a publisher that would be will-
ing to give me an advance, I wouldn't worry at all about a special
the necessary leisure
fund. And if only I had the necessary leisure to concentrate on five chapters and
complete them, I am sure that I could land a publisher. But that

is the rub from any angle--getting the chance.

I have your letter of the 27th. I agree with you that whatever happens to the United States it is certainly not going Soviet after the Russian plan. In fact I sometimes think that something so big on a social and industrial scale may happen in this country that might bring Russia to school here to copy its methods.

We disagree about Labor, however. I think that so long as the White unions remain selfish and chauvinist, colored workers should organize in separate unions to fight for greater economic advantages, even if they have to pass through the scabbing phase to obtain same. They will surely not win economic justice if they are waiting for white labor to hand it to them as a gift. In the Steel industry Negroes won their unique position by scabbing. I have been hearing some amazing stories of colored workers who were actually in white unions and the means that were used to discriminate against them, even when they were in.

I agree with you too about the impossibility of Negroes by themselves duplicating the social machinery. But I think it requires careful elucidation. We don't want to play the game of those radicals who see black chauvinism in the efforts of Negroes to get the best they can under the existing system. Recently Stolberg had an article in the Nation in which he spoke of the plight of Negroes as artisans and professionals as if he felt it was a pity that we had such Negroes, because they don't hold the places to which their education entitles them! But from what I have been hearing a similar situation exists in the radical groups!

Well, I can't write any more excepting to say that I hope we do get a chance of getting together this summer.

Don't think I shall be able to have that place in the country after

Copy

Harmon Foundation

140 Nassau St.
New York

My dear Mr. McKay:

Miss Brady has handed me your letter of May 7th for
reply.

Since the conclusion of the five years experimental
work in awards for distinguished achievement among Negroes,
the Foundation has confined itself largely to stimulating
work in the field of Fine Art by members of the group.

We have never made outright grants as do a number of
the other Foundations, largely because of our small resources
and also because our Founder felt that greater progress could
be made through recognition of work done.

We know, of course, what fine promise you have of
achievement, and would like to make suggestions to you as to
possible sources of assistance. Have you applied to the
Rosenwald Fund? It is also possible that if you were to take
your matter up with Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones of the Phelps
Stokes Fund, he might have some suggestions to offer you as
to the making of financial plans for your work. The Carnegie
Foundation might also be contacted through Dr. Frederick
Keppel. It might be well, in the case of Dr. Keppel, if you
could find someone who would perform the introduction for
you. Perhaps James Weldon Johnson, in case you know him, as
we are quite sure he would know of your work. Either one of
these two organizations are more accustomed to making grants
of this type than the Harmon Foundation, which, as we men-
tioned, undertakes its work on quite a different basis. In
making such an application we would not want you to use the
Foundation's name as having suggested them, but would be per-
fectly willing to make recommendation of you to them or to
give them information as to the basis of your having received
the Harmon Foundation Award.