NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

FOR SOCIAL SERVICE AMONG NEGROES

1133 BROADWAY

Room 826

NEW YORK CITY

TELEPHONES: CHELSEA 3-1838-39

EUGENE KINCKLE JONES
*General Secretary*

LESTER B. GRANGER
*Executive Secretary*

January 26, 1943

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York City

Dear Langston:

The National Urban League wishes to request your cooperation during our eleventh Vocational Opportunity Campaign. I hope that you will find it possible to render this service: to write something for a radio program we are planning.

As you probably know, each year during the spring we observe Vocational Opportunity Campaign - a week during which we call the attention of the white and Negro public to the opportunities and handicaps which Negroes face in securing training and employment. We use the public platform, the press, the radio, and other media to get our message across. You may recall that in 1941 we had one national radio program of an hour's duration over the CBS network and presented outstanding Negro stars; and several other programs during the week over other stations.

The same plan is being followed this year. Our Campaign will be held from March 14-21. We have one national program planned for Saturday, March 20, and several other shorter programs are being arranged.

Mr. Paul Muni has said that he would like to do a broadcast for us, and if the plan can be completed, we would like to have something written especially for him, to read over one of the NBC stations on a fifteen-minute program.

This is where you can be of service to us. Would you be willing to write a prose-poem of say ten minute's reading time, for Mr. Muni to read on a special broadcast?

I am thinking of something of this sort: American Labor Speaks - the voice of America's children of all races and faiths coming from many lands, who are gathered together under the symbol of the American flag, and speaking across the water to their

OFFICERS

William H. Baldwin
President

Hubert T. Delany
Vice-President

Sadie T. M. Alexander
Secretary

Mrs. Alfred H. Schoellkopf
Treasurer

L. Hollingsworth Wood
Chairman Nat'l. Comm.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

William H. Baldwin
Chairman

Regina M. Andrews

Roger N. Baldwin

M. O. Bousfield

Helen E. Cromer

Mrs. David M. Levy

Myles A. Paige

Mrs. Joseph M. Proskauer

Roger William Riis

Dorothy Straus

W. R. Valentine

L. Hollingsworth Wood

NATIONAL COMMITTEE

Luigi Antonini

W. G. Alexander

Mary McLeod Bethune

Chester B. Bowles

Pearl S. Buck

Matthew W. Bullock

Nannie H. Burroughs

Caroline B. Chapin

John W. Davis

Elizabeth Eastman

L. Hamilton Garner

Lloyd Garrison

Frank P. Graham

John Paul Jones

Milton R. Konvitz

Harold Latham

Abraham Lefkowitz

Eduard C. Lindeman

Fred R. Moore

Mrs. John F. Moors

Godfrey Nurse

Frederick D. Patterson

Elbridge Bancroft Pierce

Charles Poletti

A. Clayton Powell, Sr.

Mrs. Albert S. Reed

E. P. Roberts

Winthrop Rockefeller

William Scarlett

Mrs. George W. Seligman

Mrs. V. G. Simkhovitch

C. C. Spaulding

Graham R. Taylor

Joseph N. Ulman

Elizabeth Walton

Paul R. Williams

P. B. Young

Contributions to the
National Urban League
are deductible for
income tax purposes.

MOBILIZING NEGRO CITIZENS FOR VICTORY AND PEACE

EUGENE KINCKLE JONES
GENERAL SECRETARY

LESTER B. GRANGER
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

ROOM 826

NEW YORK CITY

TELEPHONES: CHELSEA 3-1838-39

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

FRANKLIN O. NICHOLS
FIELD SECRETARY

ANN TANNEYHILL
SECRETARY

BUREAU OF GUIDANCE AND PLACEMENT

February 4, 1943

Dear Mr. Hughes:

I am very pleased to know that you have consented to write something for our radio program for Mr. Paul Muni to read. Mr. Granger has passed this information on to me, because I will be in charge of arrangements for the various programs during Vocational Opportunity Campaign week.

The time has been set for Monday, March 15, from 4:00 to 4:15 PM over WJZ and the Blue Network.

Mr. Dean Dixon has consented to do the background music and to work with the studio on any sound effects you may wish.

Mr. Muni would like to read the material as soon as it is ready. If you will let me know, I shall arrange for you to go over it with him, as I think this will probably be the best thing to do. Mr. Dixon, too, will want to have it as soon as possible so that he may work on his end of the program. I know that creative things cannot be "rushed," yet I think it is necessary for you to have this information.

You will be interested to know that the Columbia Broadcasting

EXECUTIVE BOARD

WILLIAM H. BALDWIN, PRESIDENT
HUBERT T. DELANY, VICE-PRESIDENT
SADIE T. M. ALEXANDER, SECRETARY
MRS. ALFRED H. SCHOELLKOPF, TREASURER

REGINA M. ANDREWS
ROGER N. BALDWIN
HELEN E. CROMER
MRS. DAVID M. LEVY
MYLES A. PAIGE

MRS. JOSEPH M. PROSKAUER
ROGER WILLIAM RIIS
DOROTHY STRAUS
WILLARD S. TOWNSEND
W. R. VALENTINE
L. HOLLINGSWORTH WOOD

NATIONAL COMMITTEE

L. HOLLINGSWORTH WOOD, CHAIR'N
W. G. ALEXANDER
LUIGI ANTONINI
MRS. MARY MCL. BETHUNE
M. O. BOUSFIELD
CHESTER BOWLES
PEARL S. BUCK
MATTHEW W. BULLOCK
MISS NANNIE BURROUGHS
MISS CAROLINE B. CHAPIN
JOHN W. DAVIS
MISS ELIZABETH EASTMAN

L. HAMILTON GARNER
LLOYD GARRISON
FRANK P. GRAHAM
JOHN PAUL JONES
MILTON R. KONVITZ
HAROLD S. LATHAM
ABRAHAM LEFKOWITZ
EDUARD C. LINDEMAN
FRED R. MOORE
MRS. JOHN F. MOORS
GODFREY NURSE
FREDERICK D. PATTERSON
ELBRIDGE BANCROFT PIERCE

CHARLES POLETTI
A. CLAYTON POWELL, SR.
MRS. ALBERT S. REED
E. P. ROBERTS
WINTHROP ROCKEFELLER
WILLIAM SCARLETT
MRS. GEORGE W. SELIGMAN
MRS. V. G. SIMKHOVITCH
C. C. SPAULDING
JOSEPH N. ULMAN
MISS ELIZABETH WALTON
PAUL R. WILLIAMS
P. B. YOUNG

46

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

ROOM 826

NEW YORK CITY

TELEPHONES: CHELSEA 3-1338-39

ANN TANNEYHILL
SECRETARY

March 2, 1943

Dear Langston:

I am enclosing the final revision of the radio script. If there are
any changes they can be made at rehearsal time. I hope it is "OK"
now.

The galley proof for OPPORTUNITY is enclosed. How do you wish it
divided and paged? We are allowing four full pages, beginning on a
left-hand page so that it will have a center spread, and be con-
tinued on the two following pages.

Will you measure it (the page size can be determined by the magazine
enclosed), and mark in red pencil what amount of text the pages
should cover. We are allowing four pages because we do not wish
to jam it into three, and then, too, if you want reprints, they can
more easily be made from a four-page lay-out.

If the foot-note doesn't read as you wish it to, please correct it.
Will you send the proof back to me as soon as you can? Many thanks.

Always sincerely,

Encs.
at:s

EXECUTIVE BOARD

NATIONAL COMMITTEE

46

WIN THE WAR
3¢
UNITED STATES POSTAGE
MADISON SQUARE
STATION 3

Mr. Langston Hughes
Yoddo
Saratoga Springs, New York

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

Room 826

NEW YORK CITY

TELEPHONES: CHELSEA 3-1838-39

EUGENE KINCKLE JONES
General Secretary

LESTER B. GRANGER
Executive Secretary

March 10, 1944

My dear Mr. Hughes:

Throughout its history the National Urban League for Social Service among Negroes has sought to better the conditions under which Negroes live and work, and to improve the relationships between Negro and white Americans. Today, in the midst of a struggle for the democratic way of life, these goals have national and international significance. The present state of racial tensions has caused the League to intensify and extend its efforts in several ways. One of these is the organization of SERVICE COUNCILS OF THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE -- interracial volunteer groups which attempt to carry out as far as is possible without paid staff, an Urban League program. In this way the experience which the League has accumulated in its thirty-three years of service, and the techniques it has developed, are made available for the solution of community problems in cities where there are no Urban Leagues.

This program needs the backing of people like yourself. I am writing to ask if you will be one of the national committee sponsoring this movement of mass participation. Will you take a moment to read the enclosed plan carefully; give me the benefit of your thinking on it; and advise me, at your earliest convenience, that you will serve? We are counting on your cooperation.

OFFICERS

William H. Baldwin
President

EXECUTIVE BOARD

William H. Baldwin
Chairman

Regina M. Andrews

Roger N. Baldwin

Alan L. Dingle

John Paul Jones

Dorothy A. Norman

Mrs. William S. Paley

Mrs. Joseph M. Proskauer

Roger William Riis

Willard S. Townsend

W. R. Valentine

L. Hollingsworth Wood

NATIONAL COMMITTEE

W. G. Alexander

Luigi Antonini

Mary McLeod Bethune

Chester B. Bowles

Pearl S. Buck

Matthew W. Bullock

Caroline B. Chapin

John W. Davis

Elizabeth Eastman

L. Hamilton Garner

Lloyd Garrison

Frank P. Graham

Arthur B. King

Milton R. Konvitz

Mrs. Albert D. Lasker

Harold Latham

Mrs. David M. Levy

Eduard C. Lindeman

Dorothy Maynor

Mrs. John F. Moors

Frederick D. Patterson

Elbridge Bancroft Pierce

Charles Poletti

A. Clayton Powell, Sr.

Mrs. Albert S. Reed

E. P. Roberts

Winthrop Rockefeller

William Scarlett

Mrs. George W. Seligman

Mrs. V. G. Simkhovitch

C. C. Spaulding

Dorothy Straus

Frederick B. Sweet

Joseph N. Ulman

Elizabeth Walton

Paul R. Williams

P. B. Young

WILLIAM H. BALDWIN
PRESIDENT
SADIE T. M. ALEXANDER
SECRETARY

L. HOLLINGSWORTH WOOD
CH'M, NAT'L COMMITTEE
MRS. ALFRED H. SCHOELLKOPF
TREASURER

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY, ROOM 826, NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

TELEPHONES: CHELSEA 3-1838-39

DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIONS

WARREN M. BANNER
DIRECTOR

June 23, 1944

My dear Mr. Hughes:

Enclosed is Newsletter Number 6 of the Service Councils of the National Urban League. Five earlier numbers have gone out to the local councils. The Newsletter is designed primarily to give program suggestions to the councils, and to exchange information on local activities. We believe that you will be interested to know of some of the gains in the program which you are sponsoring.

We should be more than glad to send you any past numbers of the Newsletter, or to place your name on the mailing list to receive future numbers. If we do not hear from you that you wish to receive them, we shall in any event keep you informed of general progress, and on any matter relating to policy.

Your comments and suggestions at any time would be very much appreciated.

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

Room 826

NEW YORK CITY

TELEPHONES: CHELSEA 3-1838-39

OFFICERS

William H. Baldwin
President

Mrs. Alfred H. Schoellkopf
Treasurei

EXECUTIVE BOARD

William H. Baldwin
Chairman

Regina M. Andrews

Earl B. Dickerson

Alan L. Dingle

John Paul Jones

Dorothy A. Norman

Mrs. William S. Paley

Mrs. Joseph M. Proskauer

Roger William Riis

Willard S. Townsend

W. R. Valentine

L. Hollingsworth Wood

NATIONAL COMMITTEE

W. G. Alexander

Roger N. Baldwin

Mary McLeod Bethune

M. O. Bousfield

Chester B. Bowles

Pearl S. Buck

Matthew W. Bullock

Caroline B. Chapin

John W. Davis

Elizabeth Eastman

L. Hamilton Garner

Lloyd Garrison

Frank P. Graham

Charles L. Horn

Arthur B. King

Milton R. Konvitz

R. O'Hara Lanier

Mrs. Albert D. Lasker

Harold Latham

Mrs. David M. Lev

Eduard C. Lindeman

Dorothy Maynor

Mrs. John F. Moors

Frederick D. Patterson

Elbridge Bancroft Pierce

Charles Poletti

A. Clayton Powell, Sr.

Mrs. Albert S. Reed

E. P. Roberts

Winthrop Rockefeller

William Scarlett

Mrs. George W. Seligman

Mrs. V. G. Simkhovitch

C. C. Spaulding

Frederick B. Sweet

Noah Walter

Mrs. Robert L. Vann

Elizabeth Walton

Paul R. Williams

P. B. Young

August 23, 1944

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York, New York

Dear Mr. Hughes:

The National Urban League and the East and West Association are collaborating in bringing together a select number of psychologists and writers for the discussion of a problem which we believe will be of interest to all of us.

Dr. H. A. Overstreet has called to my attention
the fact that it is possible for psychologists
and writers working together to build more
attractive images of Negroes than those currently
found in the books which we read. I have talked
this matter over with Miss Pearl Buck, who immedi-
ately became interested and who intends to share
in the discussions which we are developing.

Please accept this letter as your invitation to
attend the initial meeting of this group. We
shall meet at 8:00 o'clock, Friday evening,
September 15, in the Library of the East and West
Association, Forty East Forty-ninth Street, New
York 17, New York. Please let me know if you will
find it possible to attend.

You will find attached to this letter a more de-
tailed statement of the nature of our conference.

Attachment
AH:nbh

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

Room 826

NEW YORK CITY

TELEPHONES: CHELSEA 3-1838-39

OFFICERS

William H. Baldwin
President

EXECUTIVE BOARD

William H. Baldwin
Chairman

Regina M. Andrews

Earl B. Dickerson

Alan L. Dingle

John Paul Jones

Dorothy A. Norman

Mrs. William S. Paley

Mrs. Joseph M. Proskauer

Roger William Riis

Willard S. Townsend

W. R. Valentine

L. Hollingsworth Wood

NATIONAL COMMITTEE

W. G. Alexander

Roger N. Baldwin

Mary McLeod Bethune

M. O. Bousfield

Chester B. Bowles

Pearl S. Buck

Matthew W. Bullock

Caroline B. Chapin

John W. Davis

Elizabeth Eastman

L. Hamilton Garner

Lloyd Garrison

Frank P. Graham

Charles L. Horn

Arthur B. King

Milton R. Konvitz

R. O'Hara Lanier

Mrs. Albert D. Lasker

Harold Latham

Mrs. David M. Levy

Eduard C. Lindeman

Dorothy Maynor

Mrs. John F. Moors

Frederick D. Patterson

Elbridge Bancroft Pierce

Charles Poletti

A. Clayton Powell, Sr.

Mrs. Albert S. Reed

E. P. Roberts

Winthrop Rockefeller

William Scarlett

Mrs. George W. Seligman

Mrs. V. G. Simkhovitch

C. C. Spaulding

Frederick B. Sweet

Noah Walter

Mrs. Robert L. Vann

Elizabeth Walton

Paul R. Williams

P. B. Young

EUGENE KINCKLE JONES

General Secretary

LESTER B. GRANGER

Executive Secretary

September
Twenty-fifth
1944

Dear Mr. Hughes:

This letter comes as your informal invitation to attend a meeting in which it is felt that you will have great interest. To this meeting we are inviting about thirty persons, all of whom are interested in some phase of writing. The general purpose of our conference is to discuss plans through which psychologists and writers may be mutually helpful.

Perhaps I should point out that approximately a dozen persons had an informal discussion on the evening of September 15, 1944, concerning an approach to stereotypes which have traditionally existed with reference to the Negro in America. In that discussion we reviewed briefly two articles which had been written by Dr. H. A. Overstreet, as well as some of the comments which had been written relative to the Overstreet articles. Our meeting on September 5, was scheduled at that time because the Psychologists Conference had been called for the day following and thus it was possible to take advantage of the presence of a number of psychologists in New York City. At the present time invitations are being sent to all of the persons who attended the September 15th meeting, as well as all others to whom invitations were sent originally but who, for one reason or another, could not attend.

The meeting to which you are now being invited is scheduled to be held Tuesday evening, October 24, at 8:00 o'clock, in the library of the East and West Association, 40 East 49th Street. At that time Dr. Gordon W. Allport will tell us of some of the recent studies which have been conducted in the general field of stereotypes. Mr. Ralph Ellison, young Negro writer, will discuss some of the better known novels written by southerners in which Negroes appear as characters. Following these two presentations, those present will have opportunity for full discussion concerning them. We shall also decide at this meeting on the con-

LESTER B. GRANGER

1133 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

December 28, 1945

Dear Mr. Hughes:

Channing Tobias, Vice-Chairman of the National Citizens
PAC, Henry K. Craft, Executive Director of the Harlem
Branch YMCA, Edward S. Lewis, Executive Director, Urban
League of Greater New York, and a number of other Harlem
leaders have been as deeply concerned as you over the
consistent unfair treatment of Harlem "Crime News" which
has characterized newspaper policies in New York City for
several years.

Excellent projects have been carried on from time to time
to combat these campaigns of misrepresentation. But many
of us feel that something more is needed especially at
this time. We are, therefore, asking a number of influen-
tial residents of Harlem to sit down together with repre-
sentatives of the Citizens PAC in New York to find out how
our Harlem efforts can be broadened through the support
of other interested groups.

Will you join us on Tuesday, January 8th, 1946 at 5:00 PM at the Hotel Theresa, 125th St. and 7th Avenue? Cocktails will be served.

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

CHelsea 3-1838

NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

August
14th
1946

EXECUTIVE BOARD

William H. Baldwin
President

Willard S. Townsend
Vice-President

L. Hollingsworth Wood
Chairman Nat'l Comm.

Charles W. Anderson, Jr.
Regina M. Andrews
Matthew W. Bullock
Benjamin J. Buttenwieser
Earl B. Dickerson
Alan L. Dingle
Sidney Hollander
John Paul Jones
Mrs. William S. Paley
Charles Poletti
Mrs. Joseph M. Proskauer
Roger William Riis
Elmo Roper
W. R. Valentine
Thomas G. Young

Eugene Kinckle Jones
General Secretary

Lester B. Granger
Executive Secretary

SERVICES

Research

Community Planning

Industrial Relations

Education

Official Organ
OPPORTUNITY—Journal
of Negro Life

Thirty-sixth Year
of Service

AFFILIATES IN
54 CITIES IN
27 STATES

Dear Mr. Hughes:

I am writing very formally, as you can see, on very nice stationery and everything. I hope you will be impressed!

First, the National Urban League is holding its 1946 Annual Conference in St. Louis, September 25-29. The theme is "American Teamwork Works," and we hope it will be a highly successful one, coming as it does in the midst of all of the eruptive happenings in racial and social matters in the country. It is quite important for us--and for the rest of the nation--that the Negro-white group being brought together in St. Louis is spotlighted as a necessary, constructive force, and one which we hope will overwhelm the reactionary, un-Americanisms cropping up now. Will you give us a boost in one of your columns, sometime between now and the time of the Conference? If you can we would appreciate it very much.

You will find enclosed some information on it which you may need.

Second, I received from Alfred Knopf--rather from you-- the July Borzoi pamphlet. It is wonderful! I am doing a page on it for Mr. Barnett, which I shall send out tonight. The tribute paid you on the back page should be wonderful publicity for you.

Third, I have a number of your books which I would like to return to you. I was wondering if you could have Nathan pick them up; or how can I send them to you?

How is "Street Scene?" You must be looking forward to the Broadway opening--and hearing your libretto!

With every good wish, I am

ANNUAL CONFERENCE — ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI— September 25-29, 1946
Theme: AMERICAN TEAMWORK WORKS — Attacking Postwar Problems in Race Relations

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

CHelsea 3-1838

NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

William H. Baldwin
President

Charles W. Anderson, Jr.

Regina M. Andrews

Matthew W. Bullock

Benjamin J. Buttenwieser

Earl B. Dickerson

Alan L. Dingle

Sidney Hollander

John Paul Jones

Mrs. William S. Paley

Charles Poletti

Mrs. Joseph M. Proskauer

Roger William Riis

Elmo Roper

W. R. Valentine

Thomas G. Young

SERVICES

Research

Community Planning

Industrial Relations

Education

Thirty-sixth Year
of Service

August 26, 1946

Dear Friend:

I hope that you have marked on your calendar the dates of September 25 - 29 for the Annual Conference of the National Urban League at St. Louis, Missouri. The National Staff is now putting the finishing touches on the program. We are assured of good representation not only from local Urban Leagues, but from government, management and labor, and from agencies especially interested in problems of race relations.

Our conference theme this year is: "AMERICAN TEAMWORK WORKS," and our conference emphasis will be on effective methods of opposing race hate and solving social problems through "American teamwork" in local communities.

This note is to call your attention to the dates of the conference, and to express my personal hope that you will make every possible effort to be present. Those of us who have attended previous conferences will realize, without any emphasis on my part, how important they are to understanding and support of the whole Urban League program.

Additional details regarding the conference may be obtained directly from:

Mr. Guichard Parris, Chairman
Annual Conference Committee
National Urban League
1133 Broadway
New York 10, New York

MADISON SQUARE
STATION

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

CHelsea 3-1838

NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

William H. Baldwin
President

Thirty-sixth Year
of Service

January 23, 1947

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York 30, New York

Re: Brown, Anna Vivian
10213 South Boulevard
Cleveland 8, Ohio

Dear Mr. Hughes:

The individual whose name appears above, has filed a personnel record with the National Urban League, and has indicated a desire to be considered as a candidate for future employment with the National Urban League or one of its affiliated organizations.

We are anxious to complete the personnel record by securing statements from persons who can evaluate the professional training and ability of the applicant.

The applicant has given your name as a reference. From your knowledge of the background, education, and employment experiences of the applicant, and from contacts you have had with him, you are doubtless in a position to give an estimate of his abilities, and to tell us something about his character and personality.

If possible, your statement should give information on personal qualities, work performance, administrative ability and any qualifications and assets for working in the field of race relations.

Your statement will be greatly appreciated, for it will assist us in evaluating the candidate's fitness. A self-addressed, stamped envelope is enclosed for your convenience.

Enc.

AT: jcc Contributions to the National Urban League are deductible for income tax purposes

March 10, 1947

Miss Ann Tanneyhill
National Urban League
1133 Broadway - Room 826
New York 10, New York

Dear Miss Tanneyhill:

Please forgive me for being so long in answering your letter in relation to Anna Vivian Brown, but it has just recently been sent to me here along with a large package of mail from New York. I am here at the University giving a series of seminars in Creative Writing until June.

I have known Miss Brown for quite a long time now, in fact, every since her college days at Oberlon. I do not know anything about her work since I have never had occasion to observe her at any of her various employments, but as a person I have always found her highly intelligent, sincere, and likable with a personality that seems to me to enable her to get along well with people.

Have you seen my show "Street Scene" yet? Even way down here in Atlanta I am beginning to hear some of the songs on the air and some of the records have begun to make their appearances in the shops - various versions of Moon-faced, Starry-eyed by Benny Goodman, Freddy March, and Teddy Wilson.

My new book of poems, *Fields of Wonder*, is being published on March 20, and I have asked them to send "Opportunity" a review copy.

With all my good wishes to you, and I hope I shall see you when I come back to New York this summer.

LH:wmb

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

Chelsea 3-1838

NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

March 14, 1947

Mr. Langston Hughes
Atlanta University
Atlanta, Georgia

Dear Langston:

It was nice to hear from you even though the letter was a semi-business one. Thanks for your evaluation of Anna Vivian Brown.

I haven't seen "Street Scene" yet but I have tickets for the matinee on Saturday, April 5th. Everyone is really "raving" about it and I am looking forward to a very pleasant afternoon.

Dutton Ferguson is back again with OPPORTUNITY Magazine and I am sure that he will be glad to receive a review copy of "Fields of Wonder" and will "let it out" to a good reviewer. Of course, I shall get a copy and will look forward to getting it autographed when I see you on your return to New York.

Under separate cover I am sending you the Vocational Guidance Issue of OPPORTUNITY Magazine. You probably have seen it but I would like you to have this copy. I gathered the material for it and assisted in editing it. The Spring Issue, as you know, is usually the Guidance Issue but this year we feel that we did a particularly good job. What do you think?

I am also sending you a copy of NEGRO HEROES. Knowing the Urban League as you do, you will realize that this is a very major departure from any form of literature that we have ever published before. We are having very interesting comments and it is going over exceptionally well. Being a little fearful, we only issued 175,000 copies for the first issue. Now we wish we had issued 300,000. I think from the way things look now that we will put NEGRO HEROES out quarterly. Reactions are coming in not only from youngsters and teen-agers, but from educators, social workers, parents, etc.

I hope you are enjoying your work at Atlanta University. I know it is a little different from what you are used to. How are you adapting to routine? As you know, Marjorie Greene is now basking in the warmth and sunshine of Arizona. She is working with Mr. Jones on an history of the Urban League movement.

With every kind wish, I am

EXECUTIVE BOARD

William H. Baldwin
President

Charles W. Anderson, Jr.

Regina M. Andrews

Matthew W. Bullock

Benjamin J. Buttenwieser

Earl B. Dickerson

Alan L. Dingle

Sidney Hollander

John Paul Jones

Mrs. William S. Paley

Charles Poletti

Mrs. Joseph M. Proskauer

Roger William Riis

Elmo Roper

W. R. Valentine

Thomas G. Young

Thirty-sixth Year
of Service

AT:jc

MADISON SQUARE
STATION

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

CHelsea 3-1838

NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

January 3, 1948

OPPORTUNITY
Journal of Negro Life
Dutton Ferguson, Editor

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Lloyd K. Garrison
President

Elmo Roper
Vice-President

Benjamin J. Buttenwieser
Treasurer

Regina M. Andrews
William H. Baldwin
Mrs. Bennett Cerf
Gardner Cowles
William H. Dean
Earl B. Dickerson
Alan L. Dingle
Sidney Hollander
John Paul Jones
Irvin C. Mollison
Dorothy Paley
Julian J. Reiss
Roger William Riis
Winthrop Rockefeller
Mrs. Alfred H. Schoellkopf
Edward Stanley
Noah C. A. Walter
L. Hollingsworth Wood
Thomas G. Young

SERVICES

OFFICIAL ORGAN
OPPORTUNITY—Journal
of Negro Life

Thirty-eighth Year
of Service

AFFILIATES IN
56 CITIES IN
29 STATES

SOUTHERN FIELD DIVISION
250 Auburn Avenue, N.E.
Atlanta 3, Georgia

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

Dear Langston:

This is a very belated letter of appreciation for the poems, photographs and other materials on the Poetry League of Jamaica, British West Indies, which you graciously placed in our hands for publication in *OPPORTUNITY*.

All of the numerous, detailed matters in connection with the bowing out of the Magazine - plus the fact that I have had no typist assigned me for over a year - account for this delay.

So, I simply had to take this chance to thank you for having *OPPORTUNITY* in mind at the time you sent us the Poetry League materials. It is most regrettable that the recent action of the Executive Board of the National Urban League shattered our plans to publish the impressive Poetry League feature in the Winter Issue.

The passing of *OPPORTUNITY* after a full generation of publication finds me in one of the most distressing and baffling situations I have ever had to face up to in my lifetime. And that is saying a great deal, as you might have guessed.

On the heels of the official announcement of the Magazine's discontinuance of publication I poured through every issue, year by year, and produced a running summary entitled "Twenty-six Years of *OPPORTUNITY*." I thought I knew the history of the publication, and most of the procession of thinkers, writers, and artists who gave it an eminent position in the world of thought and creative action. I soon came to know my sorry deficiencies. It is regretted that time and circumstance do not allow me to give you even a mere suggestion of the wealth of material I "discovered" during what was an all-too-brief a research. But I will never forget the delight I experienced upon coming upon your first poem "The White Ones," published in the March, 1924, Issue.

The brilliant succession of contributions you made to the pages of *OPPORTUNITY* through the years records the growth of a whole people in their quest for literary recognition. These contributions also record a positive fulfillment of that quest.

It is impossible for me to let this moment pass without letting you know how very grateful we are for the inspiring contributions from

85

Mr. Langston Hughes

- 2 -

your pen which account, in a very large measure, for the position OPPORTUNITY
still enjoys in the field of creative literature.

My heartiest good wishes to you for the New Year, and many years to come, go
with this expression of gratitude for your "having come our way."

P. S. After January 31, 1949, my whereabouts will be in doubt. In any case,
I can be reached at my brother's home; 211 Edgecombe Avenue, Apartment
4-A, New York 30, N. Y. The telephone number is <u>3-5749</u>.

MADISON

ARE

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York
New York

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

1133 BROADWAY

CHelsea 3-1838

NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

PROMOTION AND PUBLICITY
Guichard Parris, Director

## EXECUTIVE BOARD

Lloyd K. Garrison
President

Elmo Roper
Vice-President

## SERVICES

Thirty-eighth Year
of Service

February 2, 1949

## SPECIAL DELIVERY

Dear Langston:

Thanks so much for your note and for the plug. All of us here know that we can always rely on you to help in any way possible to point up the usefulness of the agency and the support that it should get from friends and well-wishers.

I am attaching to this note a "Form of Request", "An American Story", "1948 Annual Report, Department of Promotion and Publicity" and a news release - information for the column that you are doing.

I am glad to hear about the Poet's Festival in honor of your new anthology. I may be able to make it if it can be fitted into my schedule.

Lots of good luck on your trip, and please don't let them "white folks" make you too mad.

GP/smb
Encs. 4

85

59

ARE

Mr. Langston Hughes
20 East 127th Street
New York, N.Y.
Called 3/9/49

Amalgated with
**NATIONAL**
**SOCIAL WELFARE**
**ASSEMBLY**

1910 - NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE - 1950
FOR EQUAL ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

1133 BROADWAY

WAtkins 4-0505

NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

**President**
Lloyd K. Garrison

**Vice-Presidents**
Mrs. Bennett Cerf
John Paul Jones
Irvin C. Mollison

**Secretary**
Thomas G. Young

**Treasurer**
Orin Lehman

Walter H. Aiken
Sadie T. M. Alexander
Regina M. Andrews
William H. Baldwin
George A. Beavers, Jr.
Benjamin J. Buttenwieser
Mrs. Moise S. Cahn
William Collins
Dowdal H. Davis
William H. Dean
Mrs. MacDonald S. Denman
Alan L. Dingle
Sidney Hollander
Mrs. S. Foster Hunt
Raymond E. Jackson
Edgar H. Kilbourne
Dollie Lowther
Alonzo G. Moron
Dorothy Paley
Gifford Phillips
F. Sandy Ray
Hobson R. Reynolds
Roger William Riis
Thomas Robins, Jr.
Winthrop Rockefeller
Oren Root
Elmo Roper
Ferdinand Roussève
Clendenin J. Ryan
William Scarlett
Mrs. Alfred H. Schoellkopf
George W. Snowden
Edward Stanley
Beulah T. Whitby
L. Hollingsworth Wood

Lester B. Granger
Executive Director

R. Maurice Moss
Asso. Executive Director

SOUTHERN FIELD DIVISION
Atlanta, Georgia
Branches in 58 Cities
in 29 states

Contributions are
deductible for income
tax purposes.

September 27, 1950

Dear Langston:

Thanks so much for the press notices on "The Barrier".
You have certainly hit the jack pot again.

I will be in Washington and Baltimore over the weekend, and I will alert the folks there. I will drop Boston a letter so that they too can go all out for it. Please don't hesitate to let me know what we can do to help. While there is no Urban League at the Albamar Plantation!!! there was very intimate interracial cooperation there.

Incidentally, I see that you are to be one of the speakers at the Schomburg celebration at the New York Public Library on Thursday, October 5th. I am sorry that I will not be there since I will be out of town.

I hope that some mention will be made of the part that the Urban League played in getting the Carnegie Corporation to purchase the original Collection. The League also strongly recommended that the Collection be housed in the Harlem area, where it would be of direct benefit to the people of that community and other "Harlems". Many have forgotten that portion of Urban League history.

I want to chat with you one of these days when you are not overburdened with work. How about luncheon at your convenience?

GP:MEF

40th
year
OF SERVICE

EMPLOYMENT BASED ON TRAINING AND MERIT
COMMUNITY PLANNING — INTERRACIAL LEADERSHIP

85

March 20, 1951

Mr. Guichard Parris
National Urban League
1133 Broadway
New York 10, New York

Dear Guichard:

Thank you very much indeed for the very beautiful copy of EQUAL ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY which you were kind enough to send me. I am delighted to add it to my library. I have no doubt that it will prove to be most useful as a reference source in the years to come. Certainly it brings back many pleasant memories of my own relations with the Urban League and many members of its various staffs across the country, and, particularly, of my first literary prize which came from OPPORTUNITY. I am indeed grateful to you for sending me this publication.

As you have probably noticed, I frequently mention the Urban League in my column in THE CHICAGO DEFENDER. Such a mention will again occur in the column which should be published in the issue to be dated, March 31st, called, WHAT CAN AN INDIVIDUAL DO TO MAKE A BETTER AMERICA? One of the things I suggest is to join the Urban League and work actively therein.

All my good wishes to you as ever.

LH/hw

Manhattan Council
For
Social Planning

44 EAST 23RD STREET
NEW YORK 10, NEW YORK
ALGONQUIN 4-5500

October 23, 1951

VINCENT A. G. O'CONNOR
PRESIDENT

MRS. CHARLES S. BRISK
VICE-PRESIDENT

HENRY W. POPE
TREASURER

LODA HOPKINS
SECRETARY

ELECTED DIRECTORS

PETER F. AMAROSO, M.D.

EDWARD M. BERNECKER, M.D.

JOSEPH A. COX

MRS. ALEXANDER DAVIDSON, JR.

MRS. ROBERT E. DRADDY

W. P. ECKES, M.D.

ARTHUR M. LOEB

BERNARD J. MALLEN

AREA COUNCIL CHAIRMEN

HARRIET I. PICKENS

CENTRAL HARLEM COUNCIL FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING

RUTH R. SOWERS

CHELSEA-CLINTON COUNCIL FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING

WILLIAM H. LANE

EAST HARLEM COUNCIL FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING

BERTRAM M. BECK

EAST MIDTOWN COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL WELFARE

HON. SAMUEL C. COLEMAN

PARK WEST NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

DR. WILBUR C. HALLENBECK

RIVERSIDE CIVIC COUNCIL

MRS. CHARLES S. BRISK

YORKVILLE CIVIC COUNCIL

MRS. MILDRED B. FISHER

BETH C. HATCH

FIELD SECRETARIES

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

Dear Mr. Hughes:

We are very happy to know that you have agreed to be the main speaker at the Membership meeting of the Central Harlem Council for Community Planning on Tuesday, October 30th at 3 P.M.

This meeting will be held in the Little Theatre of the Harlem Branch Y.M.C.A., 180 West 135th Street. It will take the form of an orientation of new people and workers in the community and reorientation of persons long familiar with Harlem.

Tea will take place from 3 - 3:30 p.m. so that guests may greet each other and look at your exhibit and material exhibited by the social agencies. Will you please note on the enclosed card how much space you will need and whether you will want wall space or tables.

You may speak as long as you wish. There will be on hand resource people from the various fields to answer specific questions which may arise during the discussion period. These people include -

Mildred Goldsboro, Supervisor of Riverdale Children's Association - Child Welfare.

Councilman Earl Brown - City Government.

Dr. Clare Baldwin, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, - Education.

Mrs. Hilda Fortune, Director of Employment Department of Harlem Branch Y.W.C.A. - Employment.

Cornelius Utz, Assistant District Secretary, Community Service Society - Family Services.

Dr. M. Catherine Magee, Central Harlem District Health Officer - Health.

Madison Jones, Federal Housing Agency - Housing.

The Manhattan Borough Unit of the Welfare Council of New York City

URBAN LEAGUE OF GREATER NEW YORK, Inc.

202-6 WEST 136th STREET

EDWARD S. LEWIS
Executive Director

AUdubon 6-8000-9 • NEW YORK 30, N. Y.

JAMES FELT
President

DR. WILLIAM H. KILPATRICK
Honorary President

MRS. CATHERINE ALEXANDER
Vice-President

WHITMAN KNAPP
Vice-President

MRS. MALCOLM CRUSIUS
Secretary

RICHARD BRENNAN
Treasurer

ROBERT BELL
Assistant Treasurer

BERNARD RESWICK
General Counsel

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mrs. Edith Alexander
Arthur G. Altschul
William H. Baldwin
Samuel J. Battle
Jack Blumstein
Judge Jane M. Bolin
Aaron Bonoff
Irving Brodsky
Dr. Lucien M. Brown
Daniel L. Burrows
Dr. Harry J. Carman
Lloyd E. Dickens
Dr. Dan Dodson
Robert W. Dowling
Walter H. Gladwin
Jack H. Hornsby
J. Raymond Jones
Miss Clara A. Kaiser
Dean Margaret Kiely
John B. King
Dr. John H. Lathrop
Miss Loula D. Lasker
Robert O. Lowery
Urbain C. LeGost
Robert J. Mangum
Newbold Morris
Michael M. Nisselson
Mrs. Paul O'Dwyer
Mrs. Phyllis Oliver
Mrs. Leona G. Russell
William Sachs
Frank Schiffman
David A. Schulte
Wolfgang S. Schwabacher
Rabbi Charles E. Shulman
Charles H. Silver
Louis Simon
Judge Nathan R. Sobel
Hope R. Stevens
Maceo A. Thomas
J. Raymond Walsh

December 5, 1951

Dear Mr. Hughes:

I regret the delay in following through on my
agreement (made the day you were in to see Mr. Lewis)
to send you some materials published by the Urban League
of Greater New York during the past four or five year
period. I am sending you same, under separate cover.

Inasmuch as neither you nor Mr. Lewis gave me
full details as to what use you hoped to make of the
material, I could not be too selective. If these I am
sending you do not suit your purposes, would you contact
me and perhaps I can do a better job!

Will you kindly return them to me?

Thanks.

GAT/ep

Contributions to the League are Income Tax Deductible

420

Copies also sent to Anne Tanneyhill

January 10, 1955

Dear Guichard:

Waring Cuney and I have selected the enclosed
list of poems as possibilities for our proposed
Anthology. Waring tells me that your office will have
them copies for us. I suggest that they be copied
double spaced, one poem per page with the title and
the author's name at the top, and at the bottom, the
date of issue in which the poem appeared.

We should have five copies in all - one on
good paper with four carbons on onion skin. When these
are ready, if you will let Waring or I know, we will
pick them up. Then we can start compiling the Anthology.

Waring has also selected what he considers to
be the best covers and art work from OPPORTUNITY and I
am enclosing a list for you but nothing more need be
done about this at the moment.

Have you made any headway with publisher's con-
tacts?

With all good wishes to you and Anne, I am

Mr. Guichard Parris
National Urban League, Inc.
1133 Broadway
New York 10, N. Y.