March 19, 1960

Dear Ruth First:

It was so nice having your letter. I have the greatest of
admiration for you, your courage, editorial acumen---and
FIGHTING TALK.

Thank you for sending my communication on to Makwane, from
whom I have received permission to use THEY CALL US JIM. And
I also have permission from Mphahlele to use ACCRA CONFERENCE
DIARY. Both of these pies will be credited to FIGHTING
TALK, and you will certainly receive a copy of AN AFRICAN
TREASURY as soon as it appears---probably late June.

I had selected a couple of other things from FIGHTING TALK for inclusion, but unfortunately, since the publishers wish to keep the price of the anthology down to $5.00 (quite reasonable in these days of expensive books) and it therefore had to be limited in number of pages, some of the articles and stories I wanted to use had to be dropped.

We're having exciting times here in the U. S. now, too. I am
just back from Georgia---where the Negro students are wonder-
ful! The "sit-ins" at the lunch counters that refuse to serve
Afro-Americans are beginning to pay off. Some (a few) have
actually dropped the color bar---amazing as it may seem in our
Deep South---which must be like Johannesburg. But what is
happening is that the younger Negroes are NOT afraid at all.
In Atlanta while I was there, 6 white cops with a police dog
came charging into a colored campus lunchroom, ordering everyone
out for "loitering." Not a student moved, just kept on eating,
laughing, playing the juke box. When the cop with the dog went
up to one, the colored fellow said, "Hey, man, I fought in Korea,
dodged bombs---so I'm not afraid of you or your dog, either.
In fact, sic that dog on me and I'll kick him in the teeth!" The
cops left without putting anybody out.

Anyhow, yours for a better world---around the world!

Sincerely,