NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
MOORFIELD STOREY

VICE-PRESIDENTS
ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKE
REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
BISHOP JOHN HURST
ARTHUR B. SPINGARN
OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

(AT FOURTEENTH STREET)

TELEPHONE STUYVESANT 6548

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON,
SECRETARY

WALTER WHITE,
ASSISTANT SECRETARY

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

MARY WHITE OVINGTON
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

J. E. SPINGARN, TREASURER

DR. W. E. B. DUBOIS,
EDITOR OF THE CRISIS

ROBERT W. BAGNALL,
DIRECTOR OF BRANCHES

WILLIAM PICKENS,
FIELD SECRETARY

December 30, 1926

My dear Mr. Spingarn:

I think you remember my poem, "The Creation", the
story of an old-time Negro preacher preaching on the creation
of the world.

I have written six other sermons similar to "The
Creation" and am bringing out a book containing the seven
sermons in verse. I am absolutely at a loss in choosing a
title and I am writing to see if you will not give me the
advantage of your reactions. I am sending enclosed a list of
eight or ten titles. I wish you might mark your first, second
and third choices for me.

Perhaps I ought to say about "Sons of Thunder" that
it was a frequent custom with the old-time colored preacher
to style himself "Son of Thunder."

The title with the word "trombone" in it might puzzle
you a little. I thought the word "Trumpeters" of God good, but
a cliché. Poets have been using it three or four thousand
years. The trombone, as you know, is a very important instru-
ment in the orchestra. It is the only wind instrument with the
complete chromatic scale enharmonically true and so capable of
reproducing all of the modulations of the human voice just as
is the violin. Furthermore, it has its modern Negro connotations
in its connection with the modern jazz band. It is the wind
instrument that is nearest to the Negro's heart and colored
performers have done much to develop its most modern use.

I hesitate about "trombone" titles because it might
offend the religious sense of some people.

The quotation makes "Cloven Tongues" a very apt title,
but perhaps the first reaction is the Satanic connotation with
the word "cloven."

I have until Monday to get a title as the announcement
for the Spring books must go to the publisher on that day. I
will thank you if you will give me your help as indicated above
or if you might suggest a title which might occur to you.

With kind regards, I am

Mr. J. E. Spingarn
9 West 73rd Street

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