FARFIELD FOUNDATION

145 EAST 52ND STREET
NEW YORK 22, N. Y.
---
PLAZA 3-4916

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DONALD S. STRALEM
PRESIDENT
WHITELAW REID
SECRETARY
WILLIAM A. M. BURDEN
CASS CANFIELD
CHARLES FLEISCHMANN
RALPH P. HANES
GODFREY S. ROCKEFELLER
MILTON C. ROSE
JOHN THOMPSON
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

28 March 1963

Mr. Langston Hughes
20 East 127th Street
New York 35, New York

Dear Mr. Hughes:

Mr. Dennis Duerden of the Transcription Center in London has written to the Foundation asking that we arrange for the recording of your part of a script. WBAI has said that they will be happy to have you see their studio, that afternoons or evenings are fine and that the studio need be reserved only a day or two in advance. Mrs. Eleanor Bruce, with whom I spoke, suggested that you make your arrangements with them directly. The telephone number is OXford 7-2288.

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call.

FARFIELD FOUNDATION

PLAZA 3-4916

WHITELAW REID
SECRETARY

May 4, 1964

Dear Mr. Hughes:

(1) Pierre Emmanuel and Nicolas Nabokov were de-lighted to hear that you will be able to attend the Berlin Festwochen Poets and Writers Conference, September 13 - October 4. Mr. Emmanuel would like very much to have a confirmation from you.

Mr. Nabokov, whose address is Koenigsallee 69, Berlin, Germany, was interested to hear that "Jerico-Jim Crow" will be in Europe and would like to know the schedule of its tour.

Mr. Langston Hughes
20 East 127 Street
New York 35, New York

JT:shd

REASON CHECKED
Unclaimed
Unknown
For better address
Moved, Left no address
To each office to state

Mr. Willie S. Farmer

Omega Psi Phi Beta Sigma House

Jackson College

Jackson, Mississippi

Please Forward.

On A Christmas Night

In Bethlehem on a Christmas night
Around the Child shone a holy light,
Around His head was a halo bright
On a Christmas night.

"We have no room," the innkeeper called.
So the Glory fell where the cattle were stalled.
But among the guests were Three Kings who called
On a Christmas night.

How can it be? Such light shines here
In this humble stable once cold and drear!
It's the child who's come to bring good cheer
On a Christmas night.

Oh, what is the name of the Little One?
His name is Jesus: He's God's own Son.
Be happy, be happy, everyone,
On a Christmas night!

Langston Hughes

Farmers' Educational and Co-Operative
Union of America

OFFICERS

CHARLES J. GILLE,
PRESIDENT
BOOTHVILLE, LOUISIANA

JOHN B. RICHARD,
VICE-PRESIDENT
WASHINGTON, LOUISIANA

GORDON MCINTIRE
SECRETARY-TREASURER
BOX 859, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PERCY BURAS
F. M. LUSSAN
H. C. FISHER
SAM HART
HERBERT RICHARD

LOUISIANA DIVISION

BOX 859, NEW ORLEANS, LA.

414 Godohaux Building
New Orleans, Louisiana
September 17, 1939

Mr. Langston Hughes
c/o Knopf Publishers
510 Madison Avenue
New York, N.Y.

Dear Mr. Hughes:

I am sure that you know the New Orleans members of the Southern Negro Youth Council put on a truly splendid performance of your play, "Don't You Want to be Free?" Presented in the open air, out at the Dillard University grounds, and with a particularly good actor for the central figure, it was really moving and impressive.

We are trying to make arrangements to have some of the players give some of the scenes at various Union meetings over the state, within the next few weeks. The lack of electrical equipment in most of the schools and churches will be a drawback, but we intend to work it out somehow.

Do you have a copy of the play, and copies of any of your other works, for our Southern Rural Library? We would very much appreciate it if you would send these to us.

With best wishes for your continued success, I am

FARMERS EDUCATIONAL AND COOPERATIVE UNION
OF AMERICA

3501 EAST 46TH AVENUE
DENVER 16, COLO.

AIR MAIL

AIR MAIL

GRAND CENTRAL
STATION

Mr. Langston Hughes

Allied Knaps & Company
501 Madison Avenue
New York, New York

Broadstreet's

EXECUTIVE OFFICES:
525 MADISON AVENUE
NEW YORK 22, N. Y.
PLAZA 5-7800

FIFTH AVENUE AT 47TH ST.
FIFTH AVENUE AT 33RD ST.
50 EAST 42ND ST.
61 CHAMBERS ST.
BROADWAY AT LIBERTY ST.
525 MADISON AVENUE
268 FULTON AVENUE
HEMPSTEAD, L. I.
BERGEN MALL
PARAMUS, N. J.

Dear Mr. Hughes,

I think you'll be glad to know that I have made a
new and fortunate connection. I am now in the
Broadstreet's store at Fifth Avenue and 47th Street,
actually just across the street from where I worked
before.

I don't have to tell you how much I've enjoyed
taking care of your furnishings and sportswear
needs in the past. If I can have the same privi-
lege in the future, I will appreciate it no end.
Here at Broadstreet's, we carry such famous brands
of suits as Kuppenheimer and Gort McLeod; we have
a very fine fitting service; our furnishings and
sportswear, including famous Hathaway Shirts, are
at least equal to anything you'll find in town.
We also have a wide variety of charge accounts
including our new six month plan to suit your
personal needs.

It'll be a very real pleasure to have our relation-
ship continue. I hope it will.

Toujours à votre service,

"The Frenchman"

Albert Farou

AF:sw

R. Farrell
1010 W. 21st St.
Los Angeles 90007

Mr. Langston Hughes
c/o Johnson Publishing Co.
Rockefeller Center
1270 Avenue of Americas
New York City 10020

1010 West 21st Street
Los Angeles 90007

6 March 1965

Mr. Hughes;

I had the pleasure of meeting you and listening to you recite several of your poems when you spoke at the University of California, Los Angeles a few years ago. I remember how your modulated tones created a brief image of a brother's or a sister's life in Harlem. It was one of the bright spots in my undergraduate days in Westwood. I heard the poet recite his own works, with the passion, sorrow, joy that came from the creator.

I heard that same emotion Friday night when Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr. presented a concert, narration and song, at the Second Baptist Church, Dr. Thomas Kilgore, pastor. You could have been reciting "A Mother to her Son," talking about life not being a crystal stair. But you were not. It was Mrs. King.

She would have done your heart proud. Simple might have said that Mrs. King sure knew what she was talking about. Of course, Mrs. King has never been through that tenement hang-up in fact, but in sharing the burden of her famous husband, she's been through some just as hairy.

Mrs. King recited that poem like she was talking to her own children. In a way, perhaps, she was. Perhaps she was speaking for all the mothers whose sons are challenging life -- through the means of the freedom movement, in schools, everywhere. For those few moments, she was universal, through the words that you put together.

Be sure to see her show if she comes out New York way.

p.s. I sent this to JET because they know where everyone is. If these newsfolk can't get to you, you can't be gotten.

September 21, 1957

Dear Mr. Fasanella:

I am just back from California to find your note and pictures awaiting me at the theatre. The pictures look fascinating indeed, and if I can possibly come down to the Village to see some of your work, I shall do so. I have not been that far downtown for months, and I have been thrown so far back on my other literary work by the immense amount of time taken up by SIMPLY HEAVENLY - rehearsal, auditions, interviews, etc. - that just now I cannot commit myself to any engagements other than those involving the promotion of my new book, SIMPLE STAKES A CLAIM, and the play. But certainly it would be a pleasure to meet you sometime. Perhaps you, Bunny Ricker and I could get together for a drink and remembrances of Spain.

Since one of the pictures is marked "please return", I am sending the reproductions back in the hope that I may get to see the originals some day.

Meanwhile, I send you all my good wishes.

Fathers of St. Edmund

OBLATES OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS AND OF THE
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY.
MOTHER MISSION HOUSE

Selma, Alabama

September 23, 1954

Mr. Langston Hughes
20 East 127th St.,
New York N Y

Dear Mr. Hughes:

Please read this frank letter of a young priest with a
tremendous worry.

First, I am responsible for the mainenance and expansion
of 11 missions in Alabama and North Carolina (mission headquarters here
in Selma), an 85 bed general hospital as well as a home for the aged
Negroes, and the support of 17 priests and 20 Sisters. If I could but
talk to you personally and tell you all about the fruitful work of these
missions....

One of these missions for the Colored people is located in
Gadsden, Alabama. It consists of one school building. Two classrooms are
being used for school purposes, a third classroom serves as living quarter
for the priest in charge, and the fourth classroom is a public chapel.

This situation has existed for three years. Now, however,
another classroom must be utilized for school purposes. This means that
Father was advised to rent a room for himself nearby. The solution, of
course, is the construction of a church with attached living quarters for
the priest. In 1955 Sisters are coming to take charge of the school. A
convent has to be built for them.

Approximately fifty thousand dollars will be needed to erect
these buildings by September of 1955. There is barely sufficient time to
send many, many letters to friends asking for their help. May I count on
your kindness?

Whatever you can sacrifice for the Blessed Martin de Porres
Mission in Gadsden will be most welcome. Every quarter, every half-dollar
will help. Really. If you have been blessed with more, then in thanksgiv-
ing you may want to send a substantial gift. If you cannot possibly help
financially, please keep me and the missions in your prayers.

My prayers and those of my fellow workers are all that I can
give in return. May God bless you.

Most gratefully in the Sacred Hearts,

Fathers of St. Edmund

By: Norman E. Lambert, S.S.E.

P.S. Yes, my Bishop has given me permission to plead for your help.

COUNCIL ON INTERRACIAL BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

9 East 40th Street
New York, N. Y. 10016

February 1965

Dear

Millions of American children see very few children's books, and the ones they do encounter usually appear to be written for someone else. Negro children almost never have a chance to read books in which there are words and pictures about Negroes. Most books that come to the attention of Puerto Rican or other underprivileged city children are likely to be about middle-class boys and girls who lead very different kinds of lives. The same is true of southwestern youngsters of Spanish, Mexican and Indian backgrounds.

Non-white and urban-poor children too often have reason to feel that books are not for them. And feeling this, they are effectively cut off from much that could enrich their lives and aid them in participating fully in American society. At the same time, white children from more favored backgrounds also suffer from this social imbalance in children's literature. They lack the help of books in reaching out to an important part of the world of childhood that they do not know at first hand.

We believe the time has come when this situation can change-- when intelligent efforts can place useful books in the hands of a great many of America's overlooked children. Accordingly, we call your attention to the COUNCIL ON INTERRACIAL BOOKS FOR CHILDREN which has the following aims:

Believing that books can do much to create the will and enlarge the capacity to achieve an integrated society, the Council will encourage the writing, production and effective distribution of books specially created to fill the needs of non-white and urban-poor children;

Through such books, give all American children fuller awareness and deeper understanding of one another.

To accomplish these aims, the Council will: (1) offer prizes for manuscripts; (2) help in arranging for their publication; and (3) give assistance in developing new channels of distribution that will get these published books to all children.

The Council plans to seek from established foundations the funds required to carry out these activities.

The manuscripts submitted in competition for the prizes will be judged by a panel of (1) experts familiar with the needs of the

-2-

February 1965

children for whom these books are intended and (2) experts in
the field of children's literature, not connected with any
publishing house.

The Council plans to incorporate as a non-profit organization,
with the following Board: Elinor Sinnette (District Librarian,
New York City Board of Education); Stanley Feulkner (attorney);
Lillian Moore (writer of children's books and editor for
Scholastic Book Services); Franklin Folsom (children's book
writer); and Frances Keene (editor in chief, children's books,
the MacMillan Co.).

Will you join us whose names appear below in sponsoring this
COUNCIL ON INTERRACIAL BOOKS FOR CHILDREN?

A form is enclosed for your convenience.

Sincerely yours,

Initiating Sponsors

OSSIE DAVIS
ALVAREZ DEL VAYO
SHIRLEY GRAHAM DuBOIS
STANLEY FAULKNER
FREDA KIRCHWEY
PROF. STAUGHTON LYND
REV. JOHN A. MACKAY
DR. BENJAMIN SPOCK

Dinner in tribute to
Dr. Edward K. Barsky
on the Thirtieth Anniversary
of the War in Spain

January 5, 1967.

Mr. Langston Hughes
20 East 127th Street
New York, N.Y. 10035

Dear Mr. Hughes:

Thank you for agreeing to sponsor the dinner in tribute
to Dr. Barsky.

What we hope to accomplish at this dinner is to draw
the historic parallels between the struggle in Spain
thirty years ago and the struggle today around the
crucial issues of peace and civil rights.

We are asking Floyd McKissick to make this analysis
in terms of the civil rights area and I. F. Stone to
speak to a similar pattern in regard to the question
of peace. We are also asking David Livingston to dis-
cuss the role of organized labor and John Abt to dis-
cuss the efforts for independent political action over
this period.

We feel that it would be most uniquely fitting, for
this salute to a great humanitarian, if you would find
it possible to prepare and read a poem suited to the
occasion. I know that you are a very busy man, but I
hope you will find it possible to take the time to
participate in the evening's festivities in this way.

I will be in touch with you in a few days, and I hope
that we can count on you to join with us.

sf/ff

133 West 72nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10023 Endicott 2-5727

293

January 6th 1966

Mr. Stanley Faulkner
Barsky Dinner Tribute
133 West 72 Street
New York, N. Y. 10023

Dear Mr. Faulkner,

Thank you for your letter of January 5th
in which you outline the kind of program
you are planning for the Dinner Tribute
to Dr. Edward K. Barsky, and ask me to
write a poem for the occasion.

Because I have returned only recently
from an extended stay in Africa and
Europe, I am faced with a staggering
amount of writing on projects which
are long overdue. Therefore, I cannot
write the special poem at this time.

It is kind of you to think of me, please
accept my very best wishes for a fine
Dinner Tribute.

Initiating Sponsors

February 8, 1967.

Dear Mr. Hughes:

I am sure you will be happy to learn that
the dinner in tribute to Dr. Barsky, which
is scheduled for February 24th at the
Americana Hotel, has met with a most en-
thusiastic response and we look forward to
a capacity audience in the Imperial Ball-
room that night.

We are sure that you will want to join in
this historic evening, and we are there-
fore writing to invite you to be our honored
guest and to join us on the dais. I will
call you in a few days to find out if this
is agreeable.

I look forward to greeting you personally
at the Americana on February 24th.

sf/ff

Ans. by phone

133 West 72nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10033 Endicott 2-5727

293

November 23, 1962

Miss Marjorie A. Satinsky
Pembroke College
Providence 6, Rhode Island

Dear Miss Satinsky:

Mr. Langston Hughes is in California and will not be returning until early December, and then to conferences, auditions and other activities related to the Theatre Guild production of his play, TAMBOURINES TO GLORY, which is scheduled for Broadway this season. In addition to play activity, Mr. Hughes has several books to complete which have been postponed for some time. He is not accepting any invitations for public appearances during the 1962-63 season so that he might complete his work. And then, he hopes to take a long and very much needed vacation.

It is most kind of you to invite Mr. Hughes to participate in your literary lecture series, but he does not wish to engage himself for any activity that will prevent his going abroad and staying indefinitely now that it seems almost possible to do so.