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

MANHATTANVILLE
STATION

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE, Inc.

FOR EQUAL ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

14 EAST FORTY-EIGHTH STREET, NEW YORK 17, N. Y. - PLAZA 1-0300

THEODORE W. KHEEL
President

LOUIS J. GLICKMAN
Vice-President

LOUIS E. MARTIN
Vice-President

JOSEPH J. MORROW
Senior Vice-President

THOMAS G. YOUNG
Vice-President

MOLLIE MOON
Secretary

LESTER B. GRANGER
Executive Director

BURNS W. ROPER
Treasurer

June 5, 1958

Dear Langston:

I am writing on behalf of the Officers and Board of Trustees, to interest you personally in the National Urban League's new nationwide youth-incentive program - TOMORROW'S SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS - which is now getting under way.

The program seeks to stimulate and motivate Negro youth toward high educational achievement. To attain this end, we propose to expand the guidance and counseling services the League has been carrying on for over a quarter century.

This expansion, if it is to succeed, will require the wide support of hundreds of persons and organizations. We are now recruiting a National Sponsoring Committee of distinguished persons and organizations from many areas.

We invite you to be one of the sponsors and to serve on the committee.

To provide the funds necessary for this program, each organization joining the National Sponsoring Committee is asked to contribute $100 or more, and each individual $25, to the support of the program. Financial help is absolutely necessary to carry on this work in the interest of Negro youth.

We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. The forms to be filled out for membership on the Sponsoring Committee, and a brief description of the program, are enclosed. We plan to make a public announcement of the names of the persons and organizations serving on the sponsoring committee very soon.

Mr. Langston Hughes
20 East 127th Street
New York City

BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Regina M. Andrews - Seymour Berkson - George O. Butler - Lisle C. Carter, Jr. - May E. Chinn - Ray E. Clarke - Robert W. Dowling
Mrs. F. B. Farquharson - Lloyd K. Garrison - Louis J. Glickman - Sylvan Gotshal - Mrs. Walter A. Hirsch - Mrs. Walter Hirshon - Frank S. Horne
Sophia Yarnall - Florence W. Kheel - H. B. Law - Louis E. Martin - Ralph L. Mason - Howard H. McNeill - Loren Miller - Mollie Moon
Joseph J. Morrow - Cecil Newman - William H. Oliver - Ira DeA. Reid - Frederick W. Richmond - Winthrop Rockefeller - Burns W. Roper - Mrs. Samuel I.
Rosenman - Louis Simon - John I. Snyder, Jr. - Asa T. Spaulding - Henry Steeger - Roger L. Stevens - John S. Stillman - J. Waties Waring - Boyd L. Wilson
Benjamin Wood - Richardson Wood - P. Bernard Young, Jr. - Thomas G. Young - Charles S. Zimmerman.

Affiliated with National Social Welfare Assembly, National Conference on Social Welfare.

107

TOMORROW'S
SCIENTISTS &
TECHNICIANS

-A YOUTH INCENTIVES PROGRAM

SPONSORED BY THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE 14 EAST 48TH ST., NEW YORK 17, N. Y.
PLAZA 1-0300

FACT SHEET

- The National Urban League is a voluntary

- interracial service organization designed

- to advance the economic status of the

- Negro population. It promostes equal

- opportunity in employment, housing, edu-

- cation, and health and welfare services.

- It is non-political and non-profit. The

- NUL operates through 63 affiliates in 32

- states, and regional offices in Atlanta

- and Hollywood.

What is Tomorrow's Scientists and Technicians (TST)?

TOMORROW'S SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS is a nationwide youth incentives program to search for and discover capable and talented youth who have high potential ability for careers as professional workers and technicians in scientific fields, and to provide them with adult encouragement, guidance and assistance to help them reach their maximum potential.

TST is a program which makes use of the leadership resources in
local communities across the nation to accomplish its objectives.

A nationwide incentive program to search for, discover, and encourage capable and talented youth interested in careers in scientific and technical fields.

T S T Fact Sheet...2

## What are the Objectives of T S T?

The objectives of TOMORROW'S SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS are:

* to increase the number of young people who are preparing for careers in scientific and technical fields;

* to broaden the vocational horizons of minority group youth and to help these youth achieve a more meaningful and realistic preparation for careers in tomorrow's economy;

* to encourage youth who are interested in fields other than science and technology to prepare for the careers of their choice; and

* to help reduce the appalling waste of the nation's human resources.

## Who Sponsors the Program?

T S T is sponsored by the National Urban League with the backing and support of two national committees: a Technical Advisory Committee of scientists and technicians; and a Sponsoring Committee of individuals and organizations.

### The National Technical Advisory Committee

A National Technical Advisory Committee of scientists and technicians from business and industry, labor, education and government, serve as special consultants to T S T.

### The National Sponsoring Committee

T S T is supported by a National Sponsoring Committee of individuals and organizations. The membership represents varied interests, not necessarily connected with scientific or technical endeavors.

The National Sponsoring Committee gives financial support to TOMORROW'S SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS, and where possible, its members take active part in the program in their own local communities.

T S T Fact Sheet...3

## Need for the Program

National shortages of scientific and technical personnel exist today. Many efforts are being made to find outstanding young people, and encourage them to develop their talents to the fullest. Some are being urged to consider science as a career.

Yet every community overlooks hundreds of gifted and capable young people. School teachers and counselors have too many students assigned to their care to give attention to the personalized needs of children. Boys and girls of superior ability who are not working up to their capacity do not get all of the guidance and motivation they need. There are many counseling activities that can be carried on outside of the classroom by responsible adults in the community. Such activities are needed to provide youth with more guidance, and with motivation and incentives to help them get the most out of school.

## The Urban League's Concern

For over a quarter of a century the Urban League has conducted a program of vocational guidance services to assist youth in choosing and preparing for careers in line with their interests and aptitudes, and to help them plan wisely for jobs that will utilize their maximum skills and abilities. The Urban League's guidance program supplements the counseling services of the public schools.

Although the present occupational position of the Negro in America is better than it has ever been, many gains remain to be made. Negroes are very poorly represented among the nation's scientists and professionals. In 1950 the proportion of Negro men in professional and related occupations was only about one-fourth the proportion among white men. For example,

T S T Fact Sheet...4

28,000 engineers were graduated from the nation's schools last year. Of this number, less than 200 were Negroes. The story is the same for other professional fields.

Thousands of able Negro youth do not get encouragement toward high scholastic goals either at home or in school. With no motivation, and with fear that years devoted to difficult studies would lead only to frustration, these youth lose ambition. Many leave high school before graduation. Others remain to graduate, but find occupations far below their potential. Only 5 percent of all Negro high school graduates enter college as against 25 percent of whites.

Increasing the number of youth who receive college and graduate training therefore, has special meaning for the Urban League, because opening new opportunities for Negro youth is a vital part of the Urban League program.

## Where Will the Boys and Girls Come From? Who Will They Be?

The boys and girls will be regularly enrolled students in grades from the 7th year and beyond. They will participate in TOMORROW'S SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS in their own communities.

All youth, of whatever color or creed, will be eligible to take part in the program. TOMORROW'S SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS is an incentives program designed especially for Negro and other minority youth, because this is the group that has suffered most from the economic and social handicaps and disadvantages that accrue from minority status. In the T S T program careful attention will be given to discovering and identifying talented students from this group.

TST Fact Sheet...5

## How Will Youth Be Selected?

Schools, local Urban Leagues and other agencies, and individuals, will nominate boys and girls to take part in the program.

TST has educational advisors. They determine the criteria for selection. These criteria include:

1) teachers' estimates of the students' ability;

2) the student's potential for advanced studies;

3) grades; and

4) test results.

Students who wish to study for scientific and technical occupations will be eligible. Also those who have not made definite career choices. Youth who want to prepare for careers in non-scientific fields are also included. Every child will be helped to reach his maximum potential, and every child will have the freedom to change his plans and aspirations as he goes along.

The local community determines the number of youth who will participate in the program.

## A Community-Based and a Community-Organized Program

Local Urban Leagues in 63 cities organize and direct TOMORROW'S SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS. In cities where there are no Urban Leagues, the National Office works with responsible groups of citizens.

Local committees will be drawn from community leadership resources. These committees help the League's staff to plan and conduct the program. Social and civic clubs, fraternities and sororities, fraternal organizations, business and trade associations, professional and technical associations, service clubs, church organizations and character-building agencies are represented on the committees.

T S T Fact Sheet...6

Scientists and technicians, teachers and school administrators, social
workers, psychologists, librarians, counselors and other guidance workers,
and men and women in scores of professions and occupations are drawn into
the program to inform, counsel, motivate and inspire the youth, through
direct, personal contact.

T S T Career Clubs

The youth taking part in the program are organized into T S T CAREER
CLUBS. Every Career Club member is given a Career Club membership pin and
card.

Career Club members have opportunity to do interesting things, and to
meet and to know interesting people. Tutors are available. Urban League
staff and committee members will take students on excursions - individually
or in small groups. Visits will be made to college campuses to see what
college life is like and to learn about admission requirements. Trips
will be arranged to science exhibits and fairs, and to laboratories and
research centers. Museums will be visited. The groups will attend plays,
operas, ballet, radio and TV broadcasts, and symphony concerts.

Wholesome friendships will be encouraged and developed between Career
Club members and men and women who have achieved. Some students will be
helped to acquire and develop an interest in learning, perseverance, poise,
self-assurance, and other personal qualities and traits that are necessary
and essential.

Group guidance sessions will be held. Occupations will be discussed,
and visits will be made to offices and industrial plants to provide
first-hand information about the jobs that have been talked about.

T & T Fact Sheet...

Business and industry will be asked to provide part-time and summer
jobs, to make working experience an important part of the Career Club
program.

## Financial Help of Many Kinds

Financial aid will be provided in some instances, to help pay for
incidentals, including books, supplies, materials, and extra-curricular
activities fees.

Scholarship information will be provided. Available scholarships
will be located. Students will be assisted in applying for them. Some
committees will set up scholarship grants.

## Guidance for Parents

Group sessions and individual meetings with parents and other adults
will be arranged. The values of education, interpretation of school
records and tests, and information on new and expanding occupational
opportunities will be explained and discussed with parent groups.

Many children come from homes that do not stimulate educational
ambition. Therefore, some parents will be visited in their homes. Parents
will be informed about their child's school performance. Often parents
do not understand, or have little sympathy for the vocational choices and
aspirations of the children. Bringing about a change in the attitude of
the disinterested and uninformed parent is one of the functions of
parent-guidance activities. Enlisting the support and interest of all
parents is important.

T S T Fact Sheet...8

## Program Materials

The National Urban League supplies literature and promotional materials at little or no cost, to local Urban Leagues and other groups cooperating in conducting the program. These materials include:

* a **PROGRAM KIT** of guidance booklets, information bulletins, bibliographies and booklists

* a **PROGRAM MANUAL** that describes how to organize and conduct a local program, and set up Career Clubs

* a **PRESS PACKET** of promotional materials.

## Guidance Literature

The National Urban League prepares and distributes guidance literature, including occupational information and inspirational booklets. These publications are available to cooperating groups at minimum cost, for free distribution to boys and girls.

## Duration of the Program

Announcement of TOMORROW'S SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS will be made public in the Spring. T S T will be officially launched in the Fall of 1958.

:kok

5/19/58

200

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE, Inc.

14 EAST FORTY-EIGHTH STREET, NEW YORK 17, N. Y. — PLAZA 1-0300

THEODORE W. KHEEL
President

MOLLIE MOON
Secretary

BURNS W. ROPER
Treasurer

October
Twenty-ninth
1959

Dear Mr. Hughes:

Yours is one of the five names Edward Steichen has suggested to serve with him as a member of the Board of Judges for the National Urban League photography search, the name of which is AMERICA'S MANY FACES. On behalf of Mr. Steichen and the National Urban League, I most cordially invite you to serve in this capacity.

Mr. Steichen is heading this nationwide search for photographs that will dramatize the multi-racial character of America. The project is sponsored by the National Urban League, an organization devoted to improving opportunities for Negroes and bettering race relations in America.

The Board of Judges will have the responsibility for making final selections in this search. Preliminary screening will be done by a competent Screening Jury so that the Board of Judges will be asked to provide expert final judgment but will not be required to make a major investment of time. Photographs will be submitted during the period from February 1st to May 31st, 1960. We would expect that preliminary screening would be completed by about mid-June and that it would be possible for the Board of Judges to complete its work before the end of June.

We would expect the Screening Jury to narrow the total entries down to perhaps 1200 or 1500 photographs. The Board of Judges would then have the responsibility of selecting 300 to 500 photographs from the finalists. We hope this can be done in no more than two sessions of the Board of Judges, scheduled at mutually convenient times during the later half of June.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Regina M. Andrews — Seymour Berkson — George O. Butler — Lillie C. Carter, Jr. — Edwin F. Chinlund — Ray E. Clarke — Robert W. Dowling — Mrs. F. B. Farquharson — Lloyd K. Garrison — Louis J. Glickman — Sylvan Gotshal — Mrs. Walter A. Hirsch — Mrs. Walter Hirshon — Frank S. Horne — John H. Johnson — Theodore W. Kheel — Lindsley F. Kimball — H. B. Law — Louis E. Martin — Howard H. McNeill — Loren Miller — Mollie Moon — Joseph J. Morrow — Cecil E. Newman — William H. Oliver — Frederick W. Richmond — Hilyard R. Robinson — Winthrop Rockefeller — Burns W. Roper — Louis Simon — John I. Snyder, Jr. — Asa T. Spaulding — Henry Steeger — Roger L. Stevens — Edward D. Stone — Vernon B. Stouffer — Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. — J. Waties Waring — Boyd L. Wilson — Richardson Wood — Thomas G. Young — Charles S. Zimmerman.

164

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE
14 East 48th Street
New York 17, New York

Guichard Parris - PLaza 1-0302

**NOTE:** Editors will please observe release date. This material, or any part thereof, should **not** be published before January 1, 1960.

Photographs of Edward Steichen and Lester B. Granger are enclosed.

# EDWARD STEICHEN TO HEAD "AMERICA'S MANY FACES' PROJECT
## Urban League Sponsors $20,000 Search for Photographs

Edward Steichen, dean of American photographers, will head a nationwide search for photographs that will dramatize the multi-racial character of America, it was announced today by Theodore W. Kheel, president of the National Urban League, the organization which is sponsoring the search. Using the theme, "AMERICA'S MANY FACES" the search will begin on February 1st and will continue through May 31st, 1960. It is expected that both a photography exhibit and a publication on the same theme will follow the search.

Mr. Steichen is director of photography of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He assembled the renowned photography exhibition, "The Family of Man." The National Urban League is an

............more

22222222 UL photography project

organization devoted to improving opportunities for Negroes
and bettering race relations in America. It has 63 affiliates
in urban centers across the nation.

A special foundation grant has made possible a project budget of
$20,000, the bulk of which will be used for payments to amateur and professional
photographers whose work is selected by the Board of Judges. These photo-
graphers will receive a certificate of recognition signed by Mr. Steichen
plus honoraria of $50 for each individual photograph selected and $250 for
each series of photographs or photographic essay selected.

In describing this project, Lester B. Granger, executive director
of the National Urban League, said, "The photographs we seek will picture
the various aspects of life in multi-racial America."

"Today's America is the outgrowth of a large-scale experiment over a span of years," Mr. Granger continued. "Our people come from every continent of the world and represent every race of mankind. The varying heritages of our people are evident in our appearances and influence our actions. Thus, the face of America can never be that of a single race. America has many faces. And this is what our "AMERICA'S MANY FACES" project will demonstrate.

Mr. Steichen said, "In this search we are looking for photographs
which depict the wide variety of racial, national and cultural origins of
the people of the United States of America. We are interested in portraits,
yes," he said, "but we are more interested in pictures of people in action,
living their lives in America."

"We want pictures showing cooperation and friendship across the lines of race, religion and national origin. We also want pictures showing the difficulties, prejudice and open conflict which sometimes result from differences in background or origin," he declared.

........more

333333333 UL photography project

These pictures may be made in the park, in the university, in an alley, in the kindergarten, in the hospital, at the assembly line, in the union hall, on the street, in the home, in the executive suite, on a football field, or wherever people in the nation can be found. These people can be at work, at play, at worship, and from all walks of life."

Mr. Steichen also stated; "I believe that the consummation of this project will present even greater problems than were encountered in the organization of 'The Family of Man', because the area is restricted to one country's photographers. It represents a stronger challenge to American photography and photographers. Over the years, the chief complaint of photographers has been the fact that they never get a chance to show what they can really do on a worthwhile subject. Here is an opportunity for photographers to demonstrate and prove their point of view, for within the broad boundaries of this theme I recognize the possibility of an uniquely valuable and important demonstration of the medium's peerless potentiality in explaining man to man and giving form to ideas."

"What the finished result will be," Mr. Steichen said, "we cannot tell until the search has ended. Everything will depend upon the quality of judgment exercised by the photographers who take part, the kind of sensitivity and perceptiveness that is displayed in choosing their subjects and the way in which the entire collection of entries combines to tell the story of AMERICA'S MANY FACES."

After the photographs have been selected -- if the jury of selection deems they fulfill the theme "AMERICA'S MANY FACES" -- they will

........more

44444444444 UL photography project

be published and exhibited through the country, and possibly abroad.

The "AMERICA'S MANY FACES" project was planned by a special committee of photography experts and Urban League associates. Burns W. Roper, a partner in Elmo Roper and Associates, is committee chairman. Committee members include: Al Aumuller, New York *World Telegram & Sun*; Jackie Blish, *Modern Photography*; Harold Blumenfeld, UPI Newspictures; Margaret Bourke-White, *Life Magazine*; St. Clair Bourne, New York State Department of Labor; Evelyn Broidy, National Urban League; Robert W. Brown, Eastman-Kodak; Joseph Costa, National Press Photographers; Jacob Deschin, New York *Times*; Ivan Dmitri, photographer; Doris Doland, *Look Magazine*; Bruce Downes, *Popular Photography*; William P. Grayson, Johnson Publications; Ed Hannigan, *U. S. Camera*; Mrs. Walter Hirshon, National Urban League; Dr. Jerome Holland, Delaware State College; Theodore Kell, New York Press Photographers; Michael H. Levy, Standard Security Life Insurance Company; Dr. Margaret Mead, Museum of Natural History; Ralph Miller, New York *World Telegram & Sun*; Mollie Moon, National Urban League; Barbara Morgan, photographer; Gordon Parks, *Life Magazine*; James Pitt, *Time*, Incorporated; Hilyard Robinson, architect; Richard Saunders, photographer; Jack Schackne, International Telephone and Telegraph; and Edward D. Stone, architect.

........ more- Rules for photography project

6666666666 UL photography project

9) Preliminary screening of all entries will be done by a Screening Jury of photography experts. Final selections will be made by the Board of Judges chaired by Edward Steichen, director of the Department of Photography of the Museum of Modern Art. Decisions of both the Screening Jury and the Board of Judges will be final.

10) A payment of $50 will be made to the photographer for each individual photograph accepted. A payment of $250 will be made for each series of photographs or photographic essay accepted. A series of photographs or a photographic essay must consist of five or more photographs. In addition to the cash payment, each photographer whose work is accepted will receive a Certificate of Recognition signed by Edward Steichen and Lester B. Granger, executive director of the National Urban League.

11) Each photographer whose work is selected by the Board of Judges will be notified by mail on or before December 31, 1960. Photographers whose work is selected will be asked to lend original negatives (or transparencies) to the Urban League in order that exhibition prints or prints for book reproduction may be made. Honoraria will be paid by check no later than one month after the selections have been announced.

**********

October 31, 1959

Mr. Burns W. Roper
National Urban League, Inc.
14 East Fourth-Eighth Street
New York 17, New York

Dear Mr. Roper:

I will be very happy to serve as a member
of the Board of Judges for the National Urban
League photography search, AMERICA'S MANY FACES.

181

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

FREDERICK W. RICHMOND

743 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK

June 10, 1961

Dear Mr. Hughes:

Thank you so very much for accepting our
invitation to the Reception in honor of Dr.
Edward S. Lewis, the Executive Director of
the Urban League of Greater New York, on Tuesday,
June 13th at 4 p.m. at the Cosmopolitan Club,
122 East 66th Street.

I look forward to greeting you on Tuesday.

FWR:lt

Sunday Brunch • 1 pm, October 8, 1961 • Hotel Waldorf-Astoria, New York, New York

TRIBUTE TO LESTER GRANGER

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE, INC. • 14 EAST 48TH STREET • NEW YORK 17
PLAZA 1-0300

August 22, 1961

Dear Mr. Hughes:

On October 1, 1961 Lester Granger will retire after 20 years as our executive director. Recently elected president of the International Conference of Social Work, he will now be travelling the world over for the next four years interpreting American life to peoples of the five continents, and their hopes, desires and needs to America.

As part of a Tribute to him (about which you'll hear later) we are preparing a printed brochure highlighting his life and work with the League. It will be distributed at a Brunch in his honor at the Waldorf-Astoria on Sunday, October 8.

We are asking a few of those persons who have been close to Lester Granger and his work to write a suitable paragraph about their feelings for him and his accomplishments. We would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to write a few words and send it to me.

Your early reply would be most helpful.

### Tribute Committee

Theodore W. Kheel, Chairman
Henry Steeger Sr. (Ex Officio)
Mrs. Regina Andrews
Mrs. Walter Hirshon
James Macwithey
Mrs. Mollie Moon

### National Urban League Board of Trustees

Malcolm Andresen
Regina M. Andrews
William H. Baldwin
George O. Butler
N. O. Calloway
Ray E. Clark
Robert W. Dowling
Louis J. Glickman
Sylvan Gotshal
Mrs. Walter Hirshon
Jerome H. Holland
Frank S. Horne
John H. Johnson
R. Frank Jones
Mrs. Charles Keller Jr.
Theodore W. Kheel
Lindsley F. Kimball
Lawrence Lowman
Ivan C. McLeod
Louis E. Martin
Mollie Moon
Cecil E. Newman
William H. Oliver
Hilyard R. Robinson
Winthrop Rockefeller
John A. Roosevelt
Burns W. Roper
Ramon S. Scruggs
Martin E. Segal
Asa T. Spaulding
Edward Stanley
Henry Steeger Sr.
Edward D. Stone
Vernon B. Stouffer
Harry Van Arsdale Jr.
William O. Walker
J. Waties Waring
Boyd L. Wilson
Thomas G. Young
Charles S. Zimmerman

231

TRIBUTE TO LESTER GRANGER

Tribute Committee

August 23, 1961

Dear Mr. Hughes:

On October 1 Lester Granger will retire after 20 years as executive director of the National Urban League. As you know, Mr. Granger has been the spirit and force which most shaped the League as it stands today -- an effective, community organization with a noble record of accomplishment in bettering race relations in education, housing and employment.

During those 20 years, the Urban League movement has grown to an effective nation-wide network of community service agencies in 63 highly industrial areas. A skilled professional staff of 250, backed by more than 6,000 volunteer leaders, provide the service. It is recognized everywhere as the kind of organization which "doesn't do the shouting," but in a calm manner gets things done that benefit people and communities. I would not hesitate to say that Lester Granger is the League, in that he has put his whole self into it and made it the great organization it is today.

How can we possibly do just honor to this great American on his retirement, and as he starts his work as president of the International Conference of Social Work -- world-wide organization for social welfare. Our Board has conceived two ways. On Sunday, October 8, at one o'clock, a Brunch will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria. All of his many friends can gather here to show their gratitude.

Also, we are establishing a special NUL Youth Development Fund in honor of Lester B. Granger. This fund will continue Lester's interest in the development of Negro youth, combatting the causes of delinquency, and in the fulfillment of youth's potentials.

We ask that all who can contribute, to make a special gift towards this Fund beyond their regular League donation. You might call

231

Dear Mr. Kheel:

I wish to be among those on the Roll-Call of Friends paying tribute to Lester B. Granger at the Waldorf-Astoria on October 8th. Here is my check for $__________ to cover the following:

☐ Please reserve for me table(s) * seating 10 @ $60.00 (or ______ covers at $6.00 each). $__________

☐ I send you my contribution to the NUL Youth Development Fund in honor of Lester B. Granger. $__________

*Table orders will have reserved seating. All other seating will be unreserved.

Please include my name on the Roll-Call, as it appears below:

(Please print)

NAME

ADDRESS

STREET

CITY

ZONE

STATE

Please make checks payable to National Urban League, 14 East 48th Street, New York 17, N.Y., and list names of your guests on the reverse side.

PLaza 1-0300

Lester Granger's personality has impressed
itself not only upon Harlem where he lives,
and the City of New York where Harlem is,
but upon the whole nation through his years
of distinguished service to the National
Urban League, related social agencies, his
government, and all the other areas of
American life through which he has moved
so effectively, songenially, and with a
sparkle in his eye.

Sincerely,

Langston Hughes

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

LESTER B. GRANGER

October 24, 1961

Dear Langston:

The other night I could have kicked myself a moment
after you hung up, because I failed to tell you how
much I enjoyed and appreciated your birthday remem-
brance and the fly-leaf inscription therein.

The Best Of Simple is always good enough for me -- or
at least I thought so until I turned to "page 33" and
read "fluently." Then I realized that, fine as Simple's
best is, it's still not quite perfect without his author's
annotation. Gee, pal, t'anks fer the encouragement.
And I thought I was through at sixty-five!

And Lefty asks me to tell you how thoughtful your card
call was. As a matter of fact, the wire came to the
office while I was away, so we did not get word until
the day before you called. It was really a good thing
for Mrs. Ellsworth to go. She had failed so dreadfully
that when I saw her last Spring, it made me feel very
bad. And she was beginning to feel sorry for herself.
Well, she had a good life and saw her children do well,
and that's more than you or I can claim -- now or in the
future?

Well, I could have saved my three typing fingers and
your reading time if I had thought to tell you all this
when you were calling. And the trouble was, when I hung
up I realized that I didn't have your phone number!

Take care of yourself.

The Retired One,

ASTORIA PRESS

324 East 24th Street, New York 10, N. Y. MURRAY HILL 3-8607

490

URBAN

LEAGUE

"FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY"

FOURTEEN EAST FORTY-EIGHTH STREET, NEW YORK 17, N. Y. • Plaza 1-0300

OFFICE OF THE URBAN LEAGUE FUND

January 26, 1962

Dear Mr. Hughes:

Each year around this time, we send you and our other contributors a report of our activities for the year just ended. The 1961 Year-end Report is enclosed. It is a means of letting you know what the Urban League did and how your financial support aided the cause of human dignity and equal opportunity in America.

During recent years, your support for the work of the National Urban League and/or the Urban League of Greater New York was contributed through a joint appeal made by the Urban League Fund. No longer will this joint appeal be made. As of January 1, 1962, the Urban League of Greater New York will make its appeal directly to the public rather than through the Urban League Fund. Officers of both the National Urban League and the Urban League of Greater New York have heartily endorsed this arrangement and feel most strongly that this action is in the best interests of the two agencies and the supporting public.

We are therefore asking you to support either the national program of the National Urban League or the local New York program. We hope you will wish to support both.

Enclosed with the Year-end Report is a contribution form and return envelope for your convenience in sending your contribution to support the work of either or both agencies.

We want you to know how much we have appreciated your past help and hope the enclosed report will encourage and insure your continued support of the Urban League.

Contributions to the Urban League are tax deductible.

The barriers against the full employment of Negroes in accordance
with their capacities constitute an enormous waste of human talent. The
lost in economic productivity springing from this one source runs into
enormous figures. Add to those figures the expense to the community
caused by the by-products of intolerable housing conditions, and lack of
adequate recreational and medical facilities, and you have a toll of
economic waste -- to say nothing of the human suffering accompanying it --
which defies reckoning. Alongside this toll the pitifully small budget of
the Urban League is like a drop, not in a bucket, but in an ocean.

America has a creed of freedom and equality, the noblest ever put
into words, It has made this land of hope for many millions who came to
our shores. Because of this creed of freedom, ours is still a land of hope
even for those other millions around whom we have built walls of caste.
Because of this creed, these walls are slowly crumbling.

Here is the story of Hobson City, Alabama
— a town caught up in poverty — and how
the Urban League is helping the citizens of
that community to lift themselves out of
despair. Hobson City is one of ninety-seven
communities in which the Urban League is
giving professional guidance and direction
in attacking the massive problems of pov-
erty. The National Urban League is grate-
ful to the editors of JET for permission to
reprint this article.

The Urban League's goal is to eliminate racial segregation and discrimination in American life; and to give guidance and help to Negroes and other similarly disadvantaged groups so that they may share equally the responsibilities and rewards of citizenship.

HOW NEGRO TOWN IN ALABAMA FIGHTS POVERTY

LIVING BELOW POVERTY LEVEL:

If federal anti-poverty and allied program funds for re-
claiming communities and individuals are for depressed
areas, without a doubt all-Negro Hobson City, Ala., should
head the list of areas earmarked for such aid.

Born of frustration and bigotry, nurtured in despair,
and denied even the hand of fellowship from its neighbor-
ing cities (or even aid from the state or federal govern-
ments), the 66-year-old community is a city without kith
or kin. It is a city showing the signs of death but with a
hardy crop of pioneer-types determined to beat back that

Starting city tour, Mayor Striplin (2nd l) briefs group includ-
ing (l-r) policeman Willis Ward, VISTA's Dr. Maurice Dawkins
and National Urban Leaguers James Johnson and Heman Sweatt.

Except For Six Churches, There Is No Place To Go

specter—if it can garner the badly needed financial and
professional assistance it needs to do the job.

In the heated battles for civil rights in Selma, Montgomery and in other large Alabama communities, Hobson City, with a population of 1,500 persons in 250 families, has gained few headlines. But they are there. All one needs to do is but glance in that community's direction.

Massive illiteracy, sub-standard housing, and unemployment are problems, and nearly 50 per cent of the families are fatherless. One industry (for making ladies' underwear) exist in the city (only 15 local citizens are employed among the crew of about 50).

The town has two grocery stores, two gas stations, one garage, one washateria with 12 washing machines, one barber shop, one beauty shop, one cafe and six churches.

"If it weren't for the churches," City Clerk Margaret Ball told JET, "we wouldn't have any place in the world to go."

There is no movie house (in neighboring communities,

Main link with outside world is letters from friends, relatives. Town has no local paper and is snubbed by white radio, press.

*Caught up in throes of poverty, small business, Hobson City style, seeks special anti-poverty loan to effect improvements.*

Negroes still must enter through side entrances, cannot use YMCA facilities in Anniston); the town has a swimming pool which “most of the time hasn’t enough water in it for swimming.”

Result: The youths have only one place to recreate themselves—at a local skating rink which is inadequate.

Last year, “at least” 25 young girls gave birth to babies out of wedlock. The annual average is quite similar, a city official told JET. “The youths simply have no place to go and just hang around the streets.”

One dubious distinction which the city has is that the only school in Calhoun County for Negroes is situated there. There are between 900 and 1,000 Negro students overcrowded at Calhoun County Training School. There are 30 teachers. Many of the children are bused and, in the winter, they leave home before day and return home after dark.

The people “do what they can but the battle is hopeless unless wide-scale assistance is forthcoming. For many of the men there is nothing but the idleness of sitting around town and waiting, perhaps for fulfillment of dreams which are surely slipping even farther away.

Some of the men work in foundries in Anniston and

# Median Income Is Nearly $2,000 Below Poverty Level

some work at the military installations at Bynum or at Ft. McClellan. Some women work as domestics in white homes outside the community.

Hobson City Mayor Joseph R. Striplin indicated that he needs help from the anti-poverty program to attack his city's massive problems.

Accompanied by his national and regional aides, Whitney M. Young Jr., executive director of the National Urban League, recently held anti-poverty workshops in the Anniston-Hobson City area and, following the sessions, he declared that if the people of these communities were given the "tools," they could rehabilitate themselves.

Young called on the federal government to establish a special demonstration project out of the poverty conditions existing in Hobson City. Median per family income in the city is $1,128.20 annually. Less than ten per cent of the population have any high school training, and more

Generally featuring wall-to-wall youths, creaky skating rink is lone recreational facility available for town's teens.

Deserted mother of seven children stands barefoot with six of her brood on decayed porch of squalid house that lacks plumbing and electricity.

## City Founded By Negroes 'Not Wanted' In Nearby Town

than 50 per cent are unemployed, according to Frank L. Stanley Jr. of the National Urban League.

The Anniston-Hobson City workshop sessions of the League were attended by 200 persons. It was one of a series which the League has held across the South. More are scheduled. A total of 88 per cent of those attending the Anniston-Hobson City workshop earn less than $3,000 a year, the present poverty-level definition.

Hobson City was founded by several Negroes in 1899 after officials of nearby Oxford reportedly said they did not want "colored people there." The several Negroes obtained a charter, City Clerk Ball explained, and started the city.

The town has some 240 buildings, including housing units and the few small businesses. Three years ago, Clerk Ball asserted, "city officials forced the residents to hook onto the sewage system. About 90 per cent of the homes now have proper sanitation.

Clerk Ball declared that the city gets no financial as-

Urge Special Poverty War For Ignored Alabama City

sistance from Calhoun County or from the federal government but reported that "twice a year, we get a $200 check from the ABC (state liquor authority). And that is about the sum and substance of any aid we get," she ended.

Mayor Striplin gets no invitations to join meetings of the state's mayors, is asked no advice either by neighboring community officials or those at the state or federal levels. The same goes for city councilmen and other town leaders.

Sixty-six years is a long time for any community to survive. But then add the elements of being treated by other officials and areas as non-existent, as Hobson City. In the fact of current living conditions, the solution lies in the programs which have been made possible by the federal anti-poverty program, to rehabilitate the individuals, and such additional programs as the Appalachia program to raise the physical condition of the city.

Otherwise, the hull of Hobson City, and its people, may disintegrate into a memory of another tragedy of segregation.

AMERICAN TEAMWORK WORKS

TWX No. 710-581-2129

National Urban League, Inc.

14 EAST FORTY-EIGHTH STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. 10017 · AREA CODE 212-751-0300

President
LINDSLEY F. KIMBALL

Senior Vice-President
RAMON S. SCRUGGS

Vice-Presidents
JOHN H. JOHNSON
MARTIN E. SEGAL

Secretary
DOROTHY HIRSHON

Treasurer
IVAN C. McLEOD

Executive Director
WHITNEY M. YOUNG, JR.

Honorary Trustees
WILLIAM H. BALDWIN
ROBERT W. DOWLING
LLOYD K. GARRISON
THEODORE W. KHEEL
HENRY STEEGER

Board of Trustees
Morris B. Abram
Mrs. Max Ascoli
Joseph M. Baird
Mrs. Haley Bell
Eugene H. Buder
Walker Cisler
John S. Luyes
Dorothy Hirshon
Jerome H. Histson

Chicago Tribune

THE WORLD'S GREATEST
NEWSPAPER

9, 836, 702 SUN. 1,151,995

MAY 15 1966

MAY 13 1966
May 11, 1966

Miss. Patricia Breckenridge
Director of Public Relations
Follett Publishing Company
432 Park Avenue South
New York, New York, 10016

Dear Miss. Breckenridge:

Thank you for your letter of April 7, and for the galley of Folletts' new book.

"Lions in the Way" embodies significant and moving insights into the attitudes and fears of those young Negroes who carried the historic burden of the physical integration of Southern Schools. When the battle for equal opportunity has been won in America, this book will stand as an outstanding statement of the feelings of the people, on both sides, who fought the war.

We will add it to our list of recommended readings for young people in the National Urban League movement and look forward to its publication.

WNY:B

THE JUNIOR BOOKSHELF

by Polly Goodwin

LIONS IN THE WAY, by
Bella Rodman [Follett
$3.95].

"I thought I heard them say
There were lions in the way
I don't expect to stay

Much longer here...."

Those words from an old
Negro spiritual kept run-

ning thru Robby Jones'
mind during the long week-
end before the Monday
morning when he and seven
other students from the Ne-
gro high school were to
enroll in Jameson's segre-
gated white high school.
Sustained by his friend,
Howie Carter, who had been
in the army and returned
to this southern town with
a new sense of democracy,

and his mother, and his
proud, determined fellow
student, Linda Tilson, Rob-
by met the challenges of
that Monday morning and
the week that followed.

The week was ugly be-
cause a rabble-rouser had
come to town and played on
the fears, uncertainties, prej-
udices, frustrations, and
hates that plagued many
white residents. It was the
White Crusade that created
the "lions in the way," and

they were formidable. Jeer-
ing adults picketed outside
the school. Cunningham, cruel
students waited inside. Be-
fore their mounting fury
some Negro students abdi-
cated. Some of their parents
pleaded for a return to the
"old ways" and peace. But
for Robby, his mother, and
those who overcame all the
hate, there was final victory.

One of those who helped
turn the tide was a white
minister who walked for
brotherhood and discovered
he was in a war.

This is a book of warmth
and courage, which should
help many young people
realize that "lions in the
way" lurk on many streets.

Wilma Dykeman

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