WALTER F. WHITE
SIXTY-NINE FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY

June 2, 1925.

Dear Langston Hughes:

Your note of May 22nd is a beautiful one. I
am just as happy as you are, both that you have a first
book of poems coming out and because Knopf is bringing
it out.

I was sorry I missed you when you came a few
weeks ago. Mrs. White and I had made all plans for at-
tending the Opportunity dinner when an engagement I had
made some weeks before and forgot, to speak in Trenton
that same night, prevented my attending the dinner.

I don't know of any suggestion right now which
I could make you and I am always reluctant to offer advice.
I can much better offer to do certain things when the book
is ready to be published which you can accept or reject as
you see fit. I know a considerable number of critics --
men like John Farrar, Mencken, Carl Van Doren, Stuart Sher-
man and Irita Van Doren of The Herald-Tribune "Books", and
others of this type. I will be very glad to call atten-
tion to it from time to time through our press service.

If any opportunities come to you to speak or
read your poems before women's clubs and other meetings,
don't miss them if they are worth while for personal con-
tact is one of the best means of getting people interested
to the point of buying a writer's books and, it is sad
that we have to be so materially minded but when we live
in a material world, we must give some thought to sales.
Other suggestions may occur to me later and I shall send
them along to you. In the meantime, don't fail to let
me see you when next you are in this part of the country.

Sincerely yours,

Langston Hughes, Esq.,
1749 S Street, N.W.,
Washington, D. C.

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 18, 1925.

Dear Langston:

It was certainly pleasant to get your note this morning. When you come up again, let me know in advance and I will put aside everything so as to spend some time with you. There are lots of things I want to talk over with you, especially in regard to your forthcoming volume of verse and your prose volume. Don't worry about a title for the latter. I am not saying that "Scarlet Flowers" is not a good one -- it just doesn't strike me smack between the eyes. If you like it, disregard utterly any opinion that I or any other person may have. I know the difficulties you are undergoing in writing it.

I have got five short stories fully outlined and my third novel pretty much in mind. But between my lengthy sojourns in Detroit and the work which piles up here while I am away, I seem to find little time or energy for the jobs. Perhaps some day I will have a windfall so I can steal off for a few months and catch up.

I am awfully glad you like the title "Flight". Arthur Spingarn said to me the other day that it was so good a title he wonders why somebody hasn't used it before. It seems to meet with rather genial approval and it fits the story I have done perfectly.

You know I will be delighted to do a review of "The Weary Blues". And I won't be hard even if I could find any reason for serious criticism. I hope it is going to have a big circulation. Anything I can do to help, you know I will be glad to do it.

And what you say about Claude McKay is true. Claude has sent me a number of poems and one short story and, I don't like to say it, but they are almost uniformly third rate. The story is too long to go into here but I will tell you all about him when I see you.

ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU, 1 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

MOORFIELD STOREY

VICE-PRESIDENTS

ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKÈ

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

BISHOP JOHN HURST

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TELEPHONE STUYVESANT 6548

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

J. E. SPINGARN, TREASURER

WILLIAM PICKENS,
FIELD SECRETARY

March 10, 1926.

Dear Langston:

My very best thanks for the list. And I am
sorry that I missed you when you were in New York. I
contracted a cold in Chicago which turned into la grippe
but I was too busy to stop to be sick. If you come to
New York again around Easter, be sure and give me at
least a telephone call.

I am delighted to know you like it at Lincoln.
It is a lovely country and a few weeks from now when
spring comes, I know you will love it. My first glimpse
of that country was in late April and I shall always re-
member the drive through that region.

With kindest regards,

Sincerely yours,

Langston Hughes, Esq.,
Lincoln University, Pa.

Cuba

We are now in receipt of advice from Mr. Dooley
Thomas to the effect that "American citizens and
tourists of any nationality are admissible, with the
exception of Chinese, Negroes and Russians; etc.....
(what follows concerning laborers, etc.)

A phrase from the inter-office correspondence of the Ward Line
Steamship Company concerning the admittance of tourists to
Havana, and said to be an order from the Cuban immigration de-
partment. As shown to Langston Hughes when the Ward Line Co.
told him they would not wish to sell him passage to Havana for
that reason. The clerk said that the order was a recent one.

February 16, 1930.

Cuba

We are now in receipt of advice from Mr. Thomas to the effect that "American citizens and tourists of any nationality are admissible, with the exception of Chinese, Negroes, and Russians; etc....(what follows concerning laborers, etc.)

A phrase from the inter-office correspondence of the Ward Line Steamship Company concerning the admittance of tourists to Havana, and said to be an order from the Cuban immigration department. As shown to Langston Hughes when the Ward Line Co. told him they would not wish to sell him passage to Havana for that reason. The clerk said that the order was a recent one.

February 18, 1930.

Bay Letter

Telegram

February 20, 1930

13

The Hon. Joseph E. Cotton
Acting Secretary of State
Washington, D. C.

YESTERDAY WE WIRED DEPARTMENT OF STATE REGARDING CASE OF LANGSTON HUGHES WHO HAS BEEN REFUSED PERMISSION TO PURCHASE PASSAGE TO CUBA BY WARD STEAMSHIP LINE HERE ON BASIS OF RULING MADE BY CUBAN IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES ACCORDING TO STATEMENT OF WARD LINE EMPLOYEES TO THE EFFECT THAT QUOTE AMERICAN CITIZENS AND TOURISTS OF ANY NATIONALITY ARE ADMISSABLE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CHINESE NEGROES AND RUSSIANS UNQUOTE NO REPLY HAS BEEN RECEIVED MR HUGHES WISHES TO SAIL SATURDAY FOR THREE WEEKS REST DELAY SERIOUSLY INTERFERES WITH MR HUGHES PLANS MAY WE RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THAT DEPARTMENT OF STATE TAKE SUCH STEPS AS ARE POSSIBLE TO CORRECT THIS DISCRIMINATORY RULING IF IT EXISTS WHICH MILITATES AGAINST AMERICAN CITIZENS BECAUSE OF RACE WE WILL APPRECIATE REPLY BY WIRE FROM YOU

Walter White, Acting Secretary
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
69 Fifth Avenue

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

MOORFIELD STOREY

VICE-PRESIDENTS

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

BISHOP JOHN HURST

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TREASURER

J. E. SPINGARN

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chairman

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

New York

Baltimore

Bishop John Hurst

Boston

Joseph Prince Loud

Charleston, W. Va.

T. G. Nutter

Chicago

Jane Addams

Clarence Darrow

Cleveland

Hon. Harry E. Davis

Detroit

Hon. Ira W. Jayne

Indianapolis

F. B. Ransom

Los Angeles

Dr. J. A. Somerville

Memphis

R. R. Church

New Haven

George W. Crawford

New Orleans

Dr. George W. Lucas

New York

Lillian A. Alexander

Rev. Hutehens C. Bishop

Dr. W. E. B. DuBois

Rev. John Haynes Holmes

Florence Kelley

Hon. Herbert H. Lehman

Ella Rush Murray

John E. Nail

Arthur B. Spingarn

J. E. Spingarn

Charles H. Studin

William English Walling

Dr. Louis T. Wright

Philadelphia

Isadore Martin

Richmond

Maggie L. Walker

Springfield

Rev. G. R. Waller

Topeka

Hon. Arthur Capper

Washington

Nannie H. Burroughs

Hon. James A. Cobb

Prof. George William Cook

Charles Edward Russell

Neval H. Thomas

NATIONAL LEGAL

COMMITTEE

Chairman

Arthur B. Spingarn

Chicago

Clarence Darrow

Cambridge, Mass.

Felix Frankfurter

Charleston, W. Va.

T. G. Nutter

New York

James Marshall

Herbert K. Stockton

Charles H. Studin

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

(AT FOURTEENTH STREET)

TELEPHONE ALGONQUIN 6548

March
15th
1930

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON,

SECRETARY [on leave]

WALTER WHITE,

ACTING SECRETARY

DR. W. E. B. DU BOIS,

EDITOR OF THE CRISIS

ROBERT W. BAGNALL,

DIRECTOR OF BRANCHES

WILLIAM PICKENS,

FIELD SECRETARY

DAISY E. LAMPKIN,

REGIONAL FIELD SECRETARY

HERBERT J. SELIGMANN

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY

Dear Langston:

I enclose copy of letter which has just come from Mr. Campbell of the Ward Line Company, of my reply and copy of letter I have just written to Dr. Campe, Cuban Under Secretary of State. All of these are self-explanatory. I am writing also today to Senor Ros and to Senor Urrutia. I enclose also copy of letters to them.

Ever sincerely,

Acting Secretary.

Mr. Langston Hughes
c/o Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
730 Fifth Avenue
New York City.

P.S. I find that I shall have to go to Boston Wednesday to attend a memorial service to our late President, Moorfield Storey. Can we make our dinner engagement for Thursday instead? Please let me know.

W.W.

WW:CTF

The N. A. A. C. P. Comes of Age!

Twenty-first Annual Conference - Springfield, Mass. - June 25 - July 1, 1930

ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU, 215 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

NEW YORK AND CUBA MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY
Ward Line

General Offices;
Foot of Wall Street

NEW YORK March 14, 1930.
File No. 84

PASSPORT VISA REQUIREMENTS TO ENTER CUBA

Mr. Walter White, Acting Secy:
N.A.A.C.P.
69 Fifth Avenue,
New York City.

Dear Mr. White:

In opening this letter may I thank you for the very pleasant interview of Wednesday and to express the hope that there is no doubt in your mind of our desire to at all times please all of the traveling public without exception.

As requested by you, I take pleasure in advising that we are in receipt of a letter from Havanas signed by Mr. J.M. Causse, our Passenger Representative, of date March 6th, which reads as follows:

"In connection with the matter of booking American negroes to Cuba, I have had a lengthy interview today with Dr. Sanchez del Portal, Commissioner of Immigration and was advised that, should you have occasion to sell passage to members of the colored race of the prominent class, or reputable standing, you may do so.

It is, of course, understood that they are not coming here because of contract to perform labor, but for a temporary stay.

This decision has been brought about owing to a vigorous protest made by Mr. Langston Hughes and Mr. Raymond P. Alexander and wife who had applied to the Ward Line as well as to other steamship companies for transportation to Havanas."

I have as per your suggestion written to Mr. Langston Hughes, and also Mrs. Irene Barksdale.

As I stated to you verbally Wednesday, I sincerely regretted no definite action was taken by the immigration authorities of Cuba regarding the admissibility of members of your race until such time as Mr. Hughes and Mrs. Barksdale and others were greatly embarrassed.

I sincerely hope that you will be successful in your endeavor to have Mr. Campo, the under-Secretary of State, of Cuba, inform, in writing, all steamship companies performing service to Cuba, that members of your race will be freely admitted if they endeavor to enter Cuba as tourists, for temporary stay only.

Again thanking you for courtesies extend, I am

WCC/CAS

20

69 Fifth Avenue - New York

March
15th
1970

Senor Gustavo H. Urrutia
Corrales, 95th &
Habana,
CUBA.

Dear Senor Urrutia:

At the request of our mutual friend, Mr. Langston
Hughes, I am writing to give you the subsequent
developments in the matter of the difficulty he ex-
perienced in purchasing passage to Cuba on a Ward Line
boat.

Following a vigorous protest filed by us with the
Ward Line I held this week a lengthy interview with Mr.
William C. Campbell, General Passenger Agent of the
Ward Line. Mr. Campbell informs me that verbal intima-
tions have been made to representatives of his and of
other steamship companies to the effect that American
Negroes might be barred from Cuba, but that the Cuban
Government has given no such information in writing. He
explains that the refusal of the Ward Line to sell
passage to Mr. Hughes and to other reputable American
Negroes was due to a desire to avoid subjecting these
individuals to embarrassment by being refused admission
at Habana.

As reported in the *Diario De La Marina* of March
5th, I sent a cable inquiry to the Secretary of State
of Cuba and on February 22nd received a cablegram in
reply, signed by Dr. Miguel A. Campa, Under-Secretary of
State, which reads:

"No Government ruling exists denying entry of
aliens under race or nationality. Prohibition only
deals against Chinese labourers enacted twenty-
eight years ago. Of course, passengers not comply-
ing with immigration provisions will not be allowed
to land."

Today I am in receipt of a letter from Mr. Campbell

#2 - Señor Gustavo E. Urrutia

3-15-30

confirming our conversation in which letter Mr. Campbell
quotes a letter dated March 6th from Mr. J. M. Causse,
Ward Line Passenger Representative at Habana. Mr. Causse
reports to Mr. Campbell that on March 6th he held a
lengthy interview with Dr. Sanchez del Portel, Commissioner
of Immigration, relative to the matter of booking American
Negroes to Cuba and was advised that should the Ward Line
have occasion "to sell passage to members of the colored
race of the prominent class, or reputable standing." it
may do so, with the understanding, of course, that these
individuals are visiting Cuba for a temporary stay and not
because of contract to perform labor. In brief, American
Negroes are to be permitted to visit Cuba on the same terms
and under the same restrictions, but only with the same
restrictions which are applicable to individuals of other
races.

We are today writing Dr. Campe to request that the
proper Cuban authorities advise in writing the Ward Line
and all other steamship companies touching Cuba of the facts
contained in Dr. Campe's cablegram, quoted above, to the end
that other reputable American Negroes may be saved the un-
pleasantness and embarrassment in future which Mr. Hughes
and others have suffered in the past.

Ever sincerely,

WW:GTF

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
69 Fifth Avenue - New York

March
15th
1970

Senor Primitivo Ramirez Ros
Jesus Rabí, 59
Habana,
CUBA.

Dear Senor Ros:

At the request of Mr. Langston Hughes I am writing to place before you developments in the matter of difficulties experienced by American Negroes of reputable standing in purchasing passage to Cuba. Mr. William C. Campbell, General Passenger Agent of the Ward Line, writes me today quoting a letter from Mr. J. M. Causee, Passenger Representative at Habana of the Ward Line, in which Mr. Causee advises that on March 6th a lengthy interview with Dr. Sanchez del Portal, Commissioner of Immigration of Cuba, relative to the matter of booking American Negroes to Cuba. Dr. Portal advised Mr. Causee that should the Ward Line have occasion to sell passage to "members of the colored race of the prominent class, or reputable standing," it may do so, it, of course, being understood that they are not coming to Cuba because of contract to perform labor, but for a temporary stay. This, of course, means that the very same restrictions shall be applied to American Negroes and only such restrictions as are applied to any other race so far as admission into Cuba is involved.

Mr. Campbell advises us that his Company had received intimations from certain officials of the Cuban Government that American Negroes would not be admitted, but that his Company had never received such statements in writing.

In reply to a cable which I sent the Secretary of State of Cuba on February 19th, Dr. Campe, Under-Secretary of State of Cuba, cabled me on February 22nd, "No Government ruling exists denying entry of aliens under race or nationality. Prohibition only deals against

2 - Senor Primitivo Remirez Ros

3-15-30.

Chinese labourers enacted twenty-eight years ago. Of course, passengers not complying with immigration provisions will not be allowed to land."

I have today addressed a communication to Dr. Campe requesting that the information contained in the quoted cablegram be supplied in writing to the proper officials of the various steamship companies which touch Cubo in order that unpleasant and embarrassing experiences, as Mr. Hughes experienced, may be prevented in future. I am taking the liberty of expressing the hope that you will do what you can to see that such an order is issued. I am making this request of you at the suggestion of Mr. Hughes.

I will also appreciate your writing me the developments in this matter.

WW:CTP

Postal Telegraph
(THE MACKAY SYSTEM)

ALL AMERICA
CABLES

COMMERCIAL
CABLES

RECEIVED AT

STANDARD TIME
INDICATED ON THIS MESSAGE

This is a full rate Telegram or Cablegram unless otherwise
indicated by signal in the check or in the address.

<table><thead><tr><td>BLUE</td><td>DAY LETTER</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>NL</td><td>NIGHT LETTER</td></tr><tr><td>NITE</td><td>NIGHT MESSAGE</td></tr><tr><td>LCO</td><td>DEFERRED CABLE</td></tr><tr><td>NLT</td><td>NIGHT CABLE LETTER</td></tr><tr><td>WLT</td><td>WEEK END CABLE LETTER</td></tr></tbody></table>

Form
16TP

9SD GT COLLECT NL

SD WASHINGTON DC FEB 20 1930

WALTER WHITE

65 ACTING SECY NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ADVANCEMENT COLORED
PEOPLE, 69 FIFTH AVE NEWYORK NY

MATTER OF ENTRY INTO FOREIGN COUNTRY OF ANY INDIVIDUAL NOT
A MATTER FOR REPRESENTATION BY THIS DEPARTMENT IT IS BELIEVED HOWEVER
THAT THERE HAS BEEN A MISUNDERSTANDING AND THAT IF LANGSTON HUGHES XX
INTENDS TO TRAVEL FIRST CLASS AND IS A TOURIST HE WILL BE ABLE TO
PURCHASE A TICKET THROUGH WARD LINE IN NEWYORK AND IT IS SUGGESTED
THAT YOU TAKE UP THE MATTER AGAIN MAKING IT CLEAR THAT MR HUGHES IS
FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE AND IS NOT GOING TO EMIGRATE TO CUBA

Rcd 2/21/30
Rfd. to 2000 R B SHIPLEY

CHIEF PASSPORT DIVN

Ack.

NO EX IN SIG

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

J. E. SPINGARN

VICE-PRESIDENTS

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

March 2nd
1931

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE.

ACTING SECRETARY

DR. W. E. B. DUBOIS.

EDITOR OF THE CRISIS

ROBERT W. BAGNALL.

DIRECTOR OF BRANCHES

WILLIAM PICKENS.

FIELD SECRETARY

DAISY E. LAMPKIN.

REGIONAL FIELD SECRETARY

HERBERT J. SELIGMANN

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chairman

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

New York

Baltimore

Carl Murphy

Boston

Joseph Prince Loud

Charleston, W. Va.

T. G. Nutter

Chicago

Jane Addams

Clarence Darrow

Cleveland

Hon. Harry E. Davis

Detroit

Hon. Ira W. Jayne

Hon. Frank Murphy

Indianapolis

F. B. Ransom

Los Angeles

Dr. H. Claude Hudson

Memphis

R. R. Church

New Haven

George W. Crawford

New Orleans

Dr. George W. Lucas

New York

Lillian A. Alexander

Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop

Dr. W. E. B. DuBois

Rev. John Haynes Holmes

James Weldon Johnson

Florence Kelley

Hon. Herbert H. Lehman

Ella Rush Murray

John E. Nail

Arthur B. Spingarn

J. E. Spingarn

Charles H. Studin

William English Walling

Dr. Louis T. Wright

Dr. Northampton, Mass.

Dr. William Allen Neilson

Philadelphia

Isadore Martin

Richmond

Maggie L. Walker

Springfield

Rev. G. R. Walker

Topeka

Hon. Arthur Capper

Washington

Nannie H. Burroughs

Hon. James A. Cobb

Prof. George William Cook

Charles Edward Russell

NATIONAL LEGAL
COMMITTEE

Chairman

Arthur B. Spingarn

Chicago

Clarence Darrow

Cambridge, Mass.

Felix Frankfurter

Charleston, W. Va.

T. G. Nutter

New York

James Marshall

Herbert K. Stockton

Charles H. Studin

WILLIAM T. ANDREWS

Special Legal Assistant

Dear Langston:

I have delayed answering your very amusing and exciting letter of February 22nd waiting to know whether or not you could be with us tonight to meet M. Bellegarde. Gladys and I are both much disappointed that you can't be with us.

I don't blame you for being excited about the West Indian tour. My only warning to you is that you will be going down in the rainy season and just when the terrifically hot weather begins. However, with the cold, foggy weather and steam-heated houses I don't suppose that prospect alarms you. When you come to New York on the 15th I will give you all the information I can, together with letters to Jacques Roumain, Dr. Price-Mars and all the others in Haiti.

Gladys and I divided our time between two hotels of the first class at Port au Prince, at three dollars a day, each, which included room and three meals. When I say first class, however, I don't mean the Biltmore or the Ritz. The hotels are, however, comfortable and clean and the food is quite good. On the latter score I don't think you will have to worry much for I am sure you won't be eating many meals at your hotel. Jacques Roumain and others will see to that.

Ernest Chauvet, the editor of *Le Nouvelliste*, who was our self-appointed cicerone in Port au Prince, urged us the next time we came to Haiti to take a house. You ought to be able to get one for about thirty or thirty-five dollars per month. Good wages for a servant are six dollars a month. Food is not expensive and wine and rum are quite reasonable. If you are going to stay a month or more in Haiti (and it is well worth it), I would suggest the latter arrangement.

Unfortunately, Chauvet won't be in Port au Prince when you reach there. I have a letter from him this morning saying that he will be in New York in April on a confidential mission. Perhaps he will reach New York before you leave.

I am awfully sorry about Jose Antonia. I am glad, however, he took it so beautifully. Gladys and I both must have been asleep that night for your telling us that you were going to write that week went completely over our heads. I

TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE—Pittsburgh Pa.—June 30 - July 5, 1931

#2 - Mr. Langston Hughes

3/2/31

am, however, writing Antonia a letter of apology today.

As soon as you know when you are going to reach Haiti
let me know so that I may write letters in advance of your
coming so that they can prepare for you. And, as soon as
you come to New York, come to the house for dinner.

By the way, the N.A.A.C.P. Dance is on Monday, March
16th. It's going to be at the Savoy and looks from this
angle as though it's going to be the swellest ever yet given.
Can't you come as our guest?

I return Antonia's letter herewith.

Mr. Langston Hughes
4800 Carnegie Avenue
Cleveland,
Ohio.

WW:CTF

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
J. E. SPINGARN

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

March 27th
1931

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE,
ACTING SECRETARY

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Baltimore
Carl Murphy

T. G. Nutter

Cleveland
Hon. Harry E. Davis

Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop
Dr. W. E. B. DuBois
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
James Weldon Johnson
Florence Kelley
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Ella Rush Murray
John E. Nall
Arthur B. Spingarn
J. E. Spingarn
Charles H. Studin
William English Walling
Dr. Louis T. Wright
Northampton, Mass.
Dr. William Allan Neilson
Philadelphia
Isadore Martin
Richmond
Maggie L. Walker
Springfield
Rev. G. R. Waller
Topeka
Hon. Arthur Capper
Washington
Nannie H. Burroughs
Hon. James A. Cobb
Prof. George William Cook
Charles Edward Russell

NATIONAL LEGAL
COMMITTEE

Chairman
Arthur B. Spingarn

Chicago
Clarence Darrow

Cambridge, Mass.
Felix Frankfurter

Charleston, W. Va.
T. G. Nutter

Dear M. Vincent:

I am taking the liberty of presenting to you by means of this note Mr. Langston Hughes, my very good personal friend, who is also the brilliant young American novelist and poet. Mr. Hughes is to be in Haiti for several weeks and I want him to have the opportunity and honor of meeting you, Mlle. Vincent and your brother, Mr. Charles Vincent.

Pray accept, dear M. Vincent, the cordial
greetings and high esteem of Mrs. White and myself.

Sincerely yours,
Walter White

M. Steneo Vincent
Port au Prince,
Haiti.

WW: CTF

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
J. E. SPINGARN

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Baltimore
Carl Murphy

Boston
Joseph Prince Lond

Chicago
Jane Addams

Clarence Darrow

Cleveland
Hon. Harry E. Davis

Indianapolis
F. B. Ransom

Los Angeles
Dr. H. Claude Hudson

Memphis
R. R. Church

New Haven
George W. Crawford

New Orleans
Dr. George W. Lucas

New York
Lillian A. Alexander

Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop

Dr. W. E. B. DuBois

Rev. John Haynes Holmes

James Weldon Johnson

Ella Rush Murray

John E. Nail

Arthur B. Spingarn

J. E. Spingarn

Charles H. Studin

Philadelphia
Isadore Martin

Richmond
Maggie L. Walker

Springfield
Rev. G. R. Waller

Topeka
Hon. Arthur Capper

NATIONAL LEGAL
COMMITTEE

Chairman
Arthur B. Spingarn

T. G. Nutter
New York

My dear Dr. Price-Mars:

This note will be presented to you by
Mr. Langston Hughes, the brilliant young novel-
ist and poet, with whose work you are familiar.
You will remember that we talked of Mr. Hughes
and his work when Mrs. White and I were enter-
tained so beautifully by you and Mrs. Price-Mars
at Petionville when we were in Haiti last
January.

Mr. Hughes is to be in Haiti for several
weeks and I want him to know you and my other good
friends in Haiti.

Pray accept, dear Dr. Price-Mars, the
salutations and friendly greetings of Mrs. White
and myself to you and Mrs. Price-Mars.

Dr. Price-Mars
Petionville,
HAITI.

WW:CTF

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
J. E. SPINGARN

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

March 27th
1931

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chairman

MARY WHITE OVINGTON
New York

Baltimore

Carl Murphy

Boston

T. G. Nutter

Chicago

Jane Addams
Clarence Darrow

Cleveland

Hon. Harry E. Davis

Detroit

Hon. Ira W. Jayne

Hon. Frank Murphy

Indianapolis

F. B. Ransom

Los Angeles

Dr. H. Claude Hudson

Memphis

R. R. Church

New Haven

George W. Crawford

New Orleans

Dr. George W. Lucas

New York

Dr. W. E. B. DuBois

Rev. John Haynes Holmes

James Weldon Johnson

Florence Kelley

Hon. Herbert H. Lehman

Ella Rush Murray

John E. Nail

Arthur B. Spingarn

J. E. Spingarn

Charles H. Studin

William English Walling

Dr. Louis T. Wright

Northampton, Mass.

Dr. William Allan Neilson

Philadelphia

Isadore Martin

Richmond

Maggie L. Walker

Springfield

Rev. G. R. Waller

Topeka

Hon. Arthur Capper

Washington

Nannie H. Burroughs

Hon. James A. Cobb

Prof. George William Cook

Charles Edward Russell

NATIONAL LEGAL
COMMITTEE

Chairman

Arthur B. Spingarn

Chicago

Clarence Darrow

Cambridge, Mass.

Felix Frankfurter

Charleston, W. Va.

T. G. Nutter

New York

James Marshall

Herbert K. Stockton

Charles H. Studin

M. Henri Rouzier
Port au Prince,
Haïti.

Dear M. Rouzier:

This note will be presented to you by my very good friend, Langston Hughes, the brilliant young novelist and poet. I have told him of the Hotel Bellevue and of how very courteous and cordial you and Mme. Rouzier were to Mrs. White and me when we were in Haiti.

I commend M. Hughes and his friend to you with the hope that he will find at the Bellview the same hospitality and comfort which Mrs. White and I found there.

With cordial greetings to you and Mme. Rouzier in which Mrs. White joins with me, I am

WW:CTF

33

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

J. E. SPINGARN

VICE-PRESIDENTS

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE,

ACTING SECRETARY

DR. W. E. B. DUBOIS,

EDITOR OF THE CRISIS

ROBERT W. BAGNALL,

DIRECTOR OF BRANCHES

WILLIAM PICKENS,

FIELD SECRETARY

DAISY E. LAMPKIN,

REGIONAL FIELD SECRETARY

HERBERT J. SELIGMANN

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY

March 28th
1931

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chairman

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

New York

Baltimore

Carl Murphy

Boston

Joseph Prince Loud

Charleston, W. Va.

T. G. Nutter

Chicago

Jane Addams

Clarence Darrow

Cleveland

Hon. Harry E. Davis

Detroit

Hon. Ira W. Jayne

Hon. Frank Murphy

Indianapolis

F. B. Ransom

Los Angeles

Dr. H. Claude Hudson

Memphis

R. R. Church

New Haven

George W. Crawford

New Orleans

Dr. George W. Lucas

New York

Lillian A. Alexander

Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop

Dr. W. E. B. DuBois

Rev. John Haynes Holmes

James Weldon Johnson

Florence Kelley

Hon. Herbert H. Lehman

Ella Rush Murray

John E. Nall

Arthur B. Spingarn

J. E. Spingarn

Charles H. Studin

William English Walling

Dr. Louis T. Wright

Northampton, Mass.

Dr. William Allan Neilson

Philadelphia

Isadore Martin

Richmond

Maggie L. Walker

Springfield

Rev. G. R. Waller

Topeka

Hon. Arthur Capper

Washington

Nannie H. Burroughs

Hon. James A. Cobb

Prof. George William Cook

Charles Edward Russell

NATIONAL LEGAL
COMMITTEE

Chairman

Arthur B. Spingarn

Chicago

Clarence Darrow

Cambridge, Mass.

Felix Frankfurter

Charleston, W. Va.

T. G. Nutter

New York

James Marshall

Herbert K. Stockton

Charles H. Studin

WILLIAM T. ANDREWS

Special Legal Assistant

My dear Mrs. Bethune:

This note will be presented to you by Mr. Langston Hughes whose work as a novelist and poet you are, of course, familiar with. Mr. Hughes is on his way to the West Indies and I knew you would enjoy having him stop by the school to meet you and the students. I, therefore, took the liberty of suggesting to him that since he is motoring through and Daytona Beach is on his way, that he stop in to see you.

Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune
President, Bethune-Cookman College
Daytona Beach,
Florida.

WW:CTF

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
J. E. SPINGARN

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE, SECRETARY
DR. W. E. B. DUBOIS,
EDITOR OF THE CRISIS

May 5, 1931

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

T. G. Nutter
Chicago
Jane Addams
Clarence Darrow
Cleveland
Hon. Harry E. Davis
Detroit
Hon. Ira W. Jayne
Hon. Frank Murphy
Indianapolis
F. B. Ransom
Los Angeles
Dr. H. Claude Hudson
Dr. J. A. Somerville

New York
Lillian A. Alexander
Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop
Dr. W. E. B. DuBois
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
James Weldon Johnson
Florence Kelley
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Elia Rush Murray
John E. Nail
Arthur B. Spingarn
J. E. Spingarn
Charles H. Studin
William English Walling
Dr. Louis T. Wright

NATIONAL LEGAL
COMMITTEE

Chairman
Arthur B. Spingarn

Dear Langston:

I am dictating this letter just as I am dashing off to the South in the interest of the nine colored boys who have been condemned to death on a charge of rape. Perhaps you have seen something of this case in the press.

Bill Seabrook sailed the other day and he asked me to send you the enclosed notes of introduction. Unfortunately Ernest Chauvet has sailed for Paris and so you will not be able to hand him Seabrook's note.

A few days ago Nathan W. Levin of the Rosenwald Fund was in to see me. I told him about what you are doing and he told me that the Rosenwald Fund would be much interested and he feels almost certain they would give you a fellowship if you want it. I pass this along to you for your consideration. It is not necessary, but if you want me to say a word to the Fund as to what I think of your work and of you personally, you have only to command me.

Ever sincerely,

Mr. Langston Hughes
C/O M. Jacques Roumain
Port-au-Prince
Haiti

WW/RR

TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE—Pittsburgh, Pa.—June 30 - July 5, 1931

Copy to Langston Hughes

August 5, 1931

Mr. Nathan W. Levin
900 South Homan Avenue
Chicago, Ill.

My dear Mr. Levin:

In accordance with our luncheon conversation when
you were last in New York, I mentioned to Langston Hughes
what you had said to me unofficially - namely, that the
Rosenwald Fund would be, in your opinion, interested in
considering an application from him for a fellowship.

I found Mr. Hughes, who by the way has just returned from a four month's trip through the Caribbean, most appreciative and receptive. He has what seems to me to be a grand scheme.

I am enclosing a copy of a letter from him which gives better than I can what he has in mind.

Before taking it up more formally with the Fund,
I would be most grateful if you would read this through
and suggest to me for transmission to Mr. Hughes the most
effective way of presenting this application.

I hope soon to see you again in New York. There
is a possibility that I shall be in Chicago in October.
If so, I shall certainly arrange to call at the office and
see all of my friends there.

Mrs. White joins me in cordial regards to you and
Mrs. Levin.

Sincerely yours,

WW:LB

Secretary

Copy to Mr. Hughes

August 4, 1931

Dr. Will Alexander
703 Standard Building
Atlanta, Ga.

Dear Will:

Yesterday Langston Hughes who has just returned
from a four months' trip through the Caribbean came in to
see me. He asked my advice on a plan he has in mind. I
can see a number of advantages from that plan but my infor-
mation on the places he should visit is not sufficient to
aid him materially. I am therefore asking your aid.

Mr. Hughes is planning a four or five months' trip
which will cover pretty much the whole South. He plans to
visit and lecture at Southern schools, particularly the ones
in isolated rural communities, lecturing (a) on Negro poetry
and reading the poems of various Negro poets, including his
own; (b) on Negro literature generally; (c) on Negro countries
he has visited, including Africa and Haiti.

It is his hope to stimulate creative work by Negroes,
a more adequate appreciation of the Negro's cultural contri-
bution and gifts, stimulation of interest in and purchasing
of books by and about Negroes, and finally gathering material
for a novel covering three generations of Negro life.

It is his plan to purchase a Ford. He will be
accompanied by another young man who will take charge of an
exhibit of Negro books. Mr. Hughes is planning to inquire
of the Rosenwald Fund if they would be interested in aiding
to finance his project.

Could you at your earliest convenience let me know
for transmission to Mr. Hughes your suggestions as to the
schools Mr. Hughes should visit. Would very many of them be
in a position to pay a modest fee to help finance the trip?
I am strongly convinced that one of Mr. Hughes' reputation
and personal charm can do an immense amount of good by such
a trip as he contemplates and I want to do everything I can to
help him.

WW:LB

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
J. E. SPINGARN

TREASURER
MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Baltimore
Carl Murphy
Boston
Joseph Prince Loud
Charleston, W.Va.
T. G. Nutter
Chicago
Jane Addams
Clarence Darrow
Cleveland
Hon. Harry E. Davis
Detroit
Hon. Ira W. Jayne
Hon. Frank Murphy
Emporia, Kas.
William Allen White
New York
Lillian A. Alexander
Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop
Marion Cuthbert
Hubert T. Delany
Rachel Davis Du Bois
Dr. W. E. B. DuBois
Lewis S. Gannett
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
James Weldon Johnson
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
James Marshall
Lucy R. Mason
Mary White Ongleton
Rev. A. Clayton Powell
Arthur B. Spingarn
J. E. Spingarn
Charles H. Studin
William English Walling
Dr. Louis T. Wright

Northampton, Mass.
Dr. William Allan Neilson
Orange, N.J.

Dr. Vernon F. Bunce
Philadelphia

Isadore Martin
Richmond

Maggie L. Walker
Topeka

Hon. Arthur Capper
Washington

Sterling A. Brown
Nannie H. Burroughs

Hon. James A. Cobb
Abram L. Harris

Charles Edward Russell

NATIONAL LEGAL
COMMITTEE

Chairman
Arthur B. Spingarn

Chicago
Clarence Darrow
Edward H. Morris

Cambridge, Mass.

T. G. Nutter
Columbia, S. C.

N. J. Frederick
New York

Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hays

Charles H. Studin
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Homer S. Brown
Toledo, Ohio

Jesse S. Healsup
Washington, D. C.

William H. Hastie
Charles H. Houston

Wilmington, Del.
Louis L. Redding

WW: CTF

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

Official Organ: The Crisis

September
22nd
1934 (Dictated September 20th)

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

ROY WILKINS
ASSISTANT SECRETARY

DR. W. E. B. DuBois
EDITOR OF THE CRISIS

WILLIAM PICKENS
FIELD SECRETARY

DAISY E. LAMPKIN
REGIONAL FIELD SECRETARY

Dear Langston:

Thank you very much indeed for sending Kenneth Spencer to me. Noel Sullivan had already written me about him and I was keen to meet and hear him. He has one of the finest voices I have ever heard and is, as an individual, a most charming person. I believe he will go far and I will, of course, be delighted to do whatever I can to help. We had a few friends in to meet him and I also was able to help him with a few contacts which I hope will be helpful.

I have had no direct word from Jacques Roumain. But Rayford Logan and his wife were in Haiti this summer. They saw Jacques there at a restaurant and chatted with him for a few minutes-- so that he isn't in jail-- or at least wasn't at the time they were in Haiti in July.

Logan tells me, however, that Jacques seemed very nervous. As Logan was with a number of Haitians he did not talk French with Jacques and all that Jacques said was to repeat several times "Walter White is one of my best friends".

Dantes Bellegarde is in New York now and I am trying to get in touch with him to see what I can learn from him. If I hear of anything I shall of course let you know.

I have been intending to write you for some time to tell you what a perfectly superb book THE WAYS OF WHITE FOLKS is. I have not done so earlier, first, because of the great deal of work here and also because our summer was a somewhat hectic one due to an operation Gladys had to undergo for a bi-lateral thyroid. Fortunately, she came through the operation beautifully and is now about normal again though she will have to be careful for some little while.

Not only is THE WAYS OF WHITE FOLKS a collection of grand and true stories but your writing technique has greatly improved. I do hope the book is going well.

Gladys, Jane and Pidge join me in warmest regards.

Mr. Langston Hughes
San Francisco, Cal.

How do your Senators and Congressmen stand on federal legislation against lynching?

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

J. E. SPINGARN

VICE-PRESIDENTS

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Baltimore

Carl Murphy

Boston

Joseph Prince Loud

Charleston, W.Va.

T. G. Nutter

Chicago

Jane Addams

Clarence Darrow

Cleveland

Hon. Harry E. Davis

Detroit

Hon. Ira W. Jayne

Hon. Frank Murphy

Emporia, Kas.

William Allen White

New York

Lillian A. Alexander

Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop

Marion Cuthbert

Hubert T. Delany

Rachel Davis Du Bois

Lewis S. Gannett

Rev. John Haynes Holmes

James Weldon Johnson

Hon. Herbert H. Lehman

James Marshall

Lucy R. Mason

Mary White Ovington

Rev. A. Clayton Powell

Arthur B. Spingarn

J. E. Spingarn

Charles H. Studin

William English Walling

Dr. Louis T. Wright

Northampton, Mass.

Dr. William Allan Nelson

Orange, N. J.

Dr. Vernon F. Bunce

Philadelphia

Isadore Martin

Richmond

Maggie L. Walker

Topeka

Hon. Arthur Capper

Washington

Sterling A. Brown

Nannie H. Burroughs

Hon. James A. Cobb

Abram L. Harris

Charles Edward Russell

NATIONAL LEGAL

COMMITTEE

Chairman

Arthur B. Spingarn

Chicago

Clarence Darrow

Edward H. Morris

Cambridge, Mass.

Felix Frankfurter

Charleston, W. Va.

T. G. Nutter

Columbia, S. C.

N. J. Frederick

New York

Morris L. Ernst

Arthur Garfield Hays

James Marshall

Herbert K. Stockton

Charles H. Studin

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Homer S. Brown

Toledo, Ohio

Jesse S. Healip

Washington, D. C.

William H. Hastie

Charles H. Houston

Wilmington, Del.

Louis L. Redding

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

January 7th
1935.

Dear Langston:

My warm thanks for sending me the issue of El Nacional with its cartoon, and prominent display of facts of the Neale lynching. We are using this in a story as further confirmation of the fact that lynching holds up Americans quite properly as a group of barbarians.

Under separate cover, I am mailing you ten copies
of the lynching report, which I hope you will approve.

Pickens is now in Haiti, having gone there at my urging, on a combined vacation -- he has not been well -- and to get the facts about Jacques Roumain and others who have been imprisoned by Vincent. A group of us have also drafted a letter of protest to Vincent, which we are going to make public as soon as we get the full details. You can count on us to go the limit in opposing the apparent Machado-like tactics of Vincent and his crowd.

Gladys' sister is Mrs. Madrenne Murray, and her
address is -

Cerrada de Dr. 2, Joublanc
Tacubaya
Mexico City, Mexico

It was grand hearing from you again. When are you
coming this way?

Mr. Langston Hughes
San Ildefonso 73
Mexico City, Mexico

WW/t-

How do your Senators and Congressmen stand on the Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill?

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

J. E. SPINGARN

VICE-PRESIDENTS

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Baltimore

Carl Murphy
Boston

T. G. Nutter

Chicago

Jane Addams
Clarence Darrow

Cleveland

Hon. Harry E. Davis
Detroit

Emporia, Kas.

William Allen White
New York

Rachel Davis Du Bois
Lewis S. Gannett

Lucy M. Marlow
Mary White Ovington

Northampton, Mass.
Orange, N. J.

Dr. William Allan Neillson
Dr. Vernon F. Bunce
Philadelphia

Isadore Martin
Richmond

Maggie L. Walker
Topeka

Hon. Arthur Capper
Washington

Chairman
Arthur B. Spingarn

Chicago
Clarence Darrow

T. G. Nutter
Columbia, S. C.

N. J. Frederick
New York

Homer S. Brown
Toledo, Ohio

Jesse S. Heslip
Washington, D. C.

William H. Hastie
William H. Houston

Louis L. Redding

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-6548

Official Organ: The Crisis

January
15th
1935

AIR MAIL

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE
SECRETARY

Dear Langston:

As a means of focusing attention of thoughtful Americans upon lynching we are planning an exhibition at the Seligmann Galleries, 3 East 51st Street, New York City, of black-and-whites dealing with the subject of lynching. We hope to have this exhibit ready on or near February first, and it will consist of paintings, cartoons, lithographs and sculpture dealing with the subject.

We have already secured, among others, the lithograph, "The Law Is Too Slow," by the late George Bellows; the original drawing of "This Is Her First Lynching," by Reginald Marsh, which appeared in the *New Yorker*; and the original of "Maryland, My Maryland," by Edmund Duffy of Baltimore, 1933 Pulitzer prize winner.

Also, Mrs. Amy Spingarn is offering three prizes as follows: $50. for the best original drawing; $25. for the best etching, or lithograph; and $10. for the best photograph. We are asking a small group of able critics to make the selection from the drawings submitted of the pictures which are to be hung. If a sufficiently large number of pictures are exhibited there is a likelihood that the exhibition will be sent on tour by the College Art Association which is cooperating with us in arranging the exhibit.

A number of distinguished Americans are being asked to serve as patrons of the exhibit and I am writing now to extend this invitation to you to be one of these. I want to say, however, that if you think to do so would be at all embarrassing to you, or that you may run the risk of being criticized by the Communists, I will understand perfectly if you choose not to serve.

This applies also to two other things in connection with the exhibition. I have written to Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, Siquieros, and de Mendez. If possible, I wish you would see each of these and try to get them, first, to do at least one drawing and, second, to rush it to us as soon as possible.

Third, I wish you would tell me how you put over the auction

ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU. 215 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

#2 - Jan. 15, 1935.

of manuscripts. Amy Spingarn has suggested that we get people
to contribute manuscripts. I wish you would write me somewhat
in detail the exact technique you used.

Do let me hear from you at once. Wire us collect if you
will serve as a patron of the exhibit.

P.S. - The reason I mentioned the matter of embarrassment to you is because of the somewhat peculiar slant which has been taken on the exhibit by the John Reed Club and the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. The very point of the exhibition is to focus attention on lynching and, of course, by implication, on all phases of the race question and to do so from a different angle and to enlist the attention of people who have hitherto been silent on the subject and through them of a great many other people. There are organizations with a total membership of some forty-two million whose support we have secured for the Costigan-Wagner bill. We are not asking any of them to serve as sponsors because it is not "an organizational" approach which we are making. I am sending you enclosed copy of reply I have written to the L.S.N.R. in which I have sought to make this clear.

W.

Mr. Langston Hughes
San Ildefonso 73
Mexico City,
Mexico.

WW:CTF

San Ildefonso 73,
Mexico, D. F. Mexico,

January 21, 1935.

Dear Walter,

You yourself give me so many reasons in your letter for not being a patron of your lynching exhibit, that I guess I had better not be one---although I would rather like to be as a personal gesture toward that united front against oppression and hunger of which I hope the N.A.A.C.P. will someday become a part. But certainly in recent years the public, and apparently official, utterances of most of your staff members, your publicity men, and THE CRISIS, have been most frequently and hopelessly conservative---in that amazing manner of the blind pre-tending not to see, if you get what I mean---because I am sure many of your workers are too intelligent to believe some of the things they themselves say against the left movements, and against those who prefer basic and radical changes in our social order, as opposed to merely ameliorative reforms....And for many months I have been wondering why you choose the nearest thing the Race has to a Hestrst newspaper, (as reactionary and opportunistic a sheet as any in America (as I'm sure you will agree)) for your weekly ally and co-worker? Why? As a matter of purely personal curiosity, I would like to know, if you will? If you want to tell me,

If I knew where to find any of the painters you mention, or had met any of them, I would be happy to look them up and back up your request for some of their work, but I have been living very quietly here and haven't yet met a single artist or writer. Thank God! And have been having such a restful time being unknown for the first time in three years, with nobody asking me to do anything, neither make a speech or drink tea or dress for dinner or read their manuscripts, that I wish it could go on forever. Being a "celebrity" from Havana to Moscow to Shanghai to Carmel has sort of worn me down. Like Mr. Pickens, I need a rest. And for that reason had rather not look up any big shots just now. I'm sorry to be of so little use in regard to your exhibit but if you are planning to use manuscripts, also, maybe this slight information will help, which you request about our action last year:

There was nothing very complicated about the way we did it. We merely wrote to about three hundred writers and the same number of painters, etc., and then wrote to all of them again a month later that hadn't answered, and most of them came through with contributions, in some cases very swell things like the first draft of STREET SCENE and the Jeffers poem and the Steichen and the Swinnerton manuscripts.

over

Then we got James Cagney for auctioneer and a few Junior KENNEDY Leagues for ushers, and pulled off a swell show. Still have quiet a few things left though, as the evening wasn't long enough to dispose of them all......I think for sheer looks, a show of paintings is much better, as manuscripts on exhibit don't show up so well, having to be in cases rather than on the wall, unless they are all framed, which is expensive.

For your show, it would be nice if you could get the Adolph Denn (or is it Adolph?) original of the lynching postcard so widely sold in Moscow, the Negro body swinging against the skyscrapers. KENNEDY The Soyuzfoto representative in New York might have reproductions of Soviet lynch drawings that you could use. They very often publish such drawings and cartoons there.

In case you are using manuscripts, I'm enclosing a copy of my KENNY lynching poem. Haven't anything new on the subject, or any original manuscripts at all here with me. But am happy to have you use this if it will be of any value to you, in case you decide to make use of manuscripts.

Thanks for sending me your sister-in-laws address. I shall look her up one day soon.....And whatever news you have of Romain, I hope you'll send me. Conditions in Haiti now illustrate a point I made in the last paragraph of my article on Haiti which the CRISIS published a couple of years ago--except that the CRISIS, quite without my permission or a by-your-leave, cut out the last paragraph, thereby banishing to utter silence the main point of the whole article which was, namely, that merely the withdrawal of the Marines would not solve the Haitian situation at all because the same selfish aristocracy that has exploited the peasants for the last century would still remain in power, and would still sell out to the National City Bank or who ever else paid them enough, and would still drink champane and go to Paris with the money earned by someone living on eight cents a day and doing the work. Of course such an aristocracy will put their best writers in jail if the writers dare recognize the true state of affairs. Look at Cuba! Look at Haiti! And note what Batista and Vincent do with the friends of the eight-cent a day people---yet they are both colored. But I'm sure you see and know all this. Why then does the N.A.A.C.P. show so infrequent a sense of the economics of things, and such half-awareness of their basic implications?.....This is a personal letter not intended for publication or controversy, and don't worry if you haven't time to answer it's questions. I know it's hard being the executive secretary of any big and complicated organization. It's much easier being an honorary president! (Like me.)

Sincerely,
Langston

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
J. E. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

TREASURER
MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BALTIMORE
Carl Murphy
BOSTON
Joseph Prince Loud
Cambridge, Mass.
Prof. Manley O. Hudson
Charleston, W. Va.
T. G. Nutter
Chicago
Jane Addams
Clarence Darrow
Cleveland
Hon. Harry E. Davis
Detroit
Hon. Ira W. Jayne
Hon. Frank Murphy
Emporia, Ks.
William Allen White
New York
Lillian A. Alexander
Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop
Marion Cuthbert
Hubert T. Delany
Rachel Davis Du Bois
Lewis S. Gannett
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
James B. Spingarn
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
James Marshall
Lucy R. Mason
Mary White Ovington
Rev. A. Clayton Powell
Arthur B. Spingarn
J. E. Spingarn
Charles H. Studin
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Frances Williams
William English Walling
Dr. Louis T. Wright
Northampton, Mass.
Dr. William Allan Neilson
Philadelphia
Isadore Martin
Topeka
Hon. Arthur Capper
Washington
Sterling A. Brown
Nannie H. Burroughs
Hon. James A. Cobb
Charles Edward Russell

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

CHAIRMAN
Arthur B. Spingarn
Chicago
Clarence Darrow
Edward H. Morris
Cambridge, Mass.
Felix Frankfurter
Charleston, W. Va.
T. G. Nutter
Columbia, S. C.
N. J. Frederick
New York
Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hays
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Herbert K. Stockton
Charles H. Studin
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Homer S. Brown
Toledo, Ohio
Jesse S. Heaslip
Washington, D. C.
William H. Hastie
Charles H. Houston
Wilmington, Del.
Louis L. Redding

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4 3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE
SECRETARY

CHARLES H. HOUSTON
SPECIAL COUNSEL

May 29, 1935.

AIR MAIL

Dear Langston:

I followed your suggestion and had a talk with Senor Bojorquez in the Mexican Consulate today. I ran into Malu Cabrera, who is the wife of Harry Block, and whose father was or is prominent in the Mexican Government. As Senor Bojorquez does not speak much English, and I no Spanish, I suggested to him that Malu serve as interpreter. As they know each other very well, this served as an excellent bond between us.

Senor Bojorquez was very frank and forthright. He asserted that he had issued the order that all restrictions against Negroes should be removed, and that they should be permitted to enter Mexico on precisely the same basis as anyone else. I asked him for a copy of his order and he has promised to mail me one as soon as he returns to Mexico City.

We are making public the interview this week so that colored people who may have been hesitating about going to Mexico may know that this order has been issued.

Incidentally, Malu and Harry Block are leaving on Saturday for two months in Mexico. They will get in touch with you.

Mr. Langston Hughes
Ildefonso 73
Mexico, D. F.

TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE — ST. LOUIS, MO., June 25–30, 1935

47

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
J. E. SPINGARN

VICE-PRESIDENTS
NANNIE H. BURROUGHS
HON. ARTHUR CAPPER
BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG
REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL
ARTHUR B. SPINGARN
OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD
WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING

TREASURER
MARY WHITE OVINGTON

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE ALGONQUIN 4 3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

WILLIAM PICKENS
DIRECTOR OF BRANCHES

DAISY E. LAMPKIN
FIELD SECRETARY

JUANITA E. JACKSON
SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE
SECRETARY

September 23, 1936

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Atlanta A. T. Walden
Baltimore Carl Murphy
Cambridge, Mass. Prof. Manley O. Hudson
Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter
Chicago Clarence Darrow
Rev. Joseph W. Nicholson
Cleveland Hon. Harry E. Davis
L. Pearl Mitchell
Denver L. H. Lightner
Detroit Hon. Ira W. Jayne
Hon. Frank Murphy
Emporia, Kas. William Allen White
Newark, N. J. Grace B. Fenderson
Lillian A. Alexander
Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop
Marlon Cuthbert
Hubert T. Delany
Rachel Davis Du Bois
Lewis S. Gannett
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
James Weldon Johnson
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Col. Arthur W. Little
James Marshall
Mary White Ovington
Arthur B. Spingarn
J. E. Spingarn
Charles H. Studin
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Frances Williams
Dr. Louis T. Wright
Northampton, Mass.
Dr. William Allan Nellson
Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunjee
Philadelphia Isadore Martin
St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond
Springfield, Mass. Rev. William N. DeBerry
Topeka, Kas. Hon. Arthur Capper
Waco, Texas R. D. Evans
Washington Sterling A. Brown
Charles Edward Russell

Dear Langston:

Gladys is planning to go to Mexico around October 10 to visit her sister who has had a number of difficulties. En route she will spend one day at Havana. Whom do you recommend in Havana that I get in touch with who can show her something of the city, since she does not speak Spanish; and who in Mexico would you be willing to give her letters to? She, of course, knows Miguel and Rose Covarubias and Harry and Malu Block, all four of whom are there.

I hope you won't mind my imposing on you in this fashion. If you have any suggestions as to places she should see or things she should do of interest in Mexico City or vicinity I know she will be grateful for them.

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

Chairman Arthur B. Spingarn
Chicago Clarence Darrow
Edward H. Morris
Cambridge, Mass. Felix Frankfurter
Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter
Columbia, S. C. N. J. Frederick
New York Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hays
Charles H. Houston
Karl N. Lewellyn
James Marshall
Herbert K. Stockton
Charles H. Studin
Pittsburgh, Pa. Homer S. Brown
Toledo, Ohio Jesse S. Heslip
Washington, D. C. William H. Hastle
Wilmington, Del. Louis L. Redding

Mr. Langston Hughes
2256 East 86th Street
Cleveland, Ohio

WW/RR

How do your Candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives stand on Federal Anti-Lynching Legislation?

Dear Walter:

It seems to me that any memorial of James Weldon Johnson ought
to be in terms of his own creative life---and especially since
various parts of the country propose to join in creating the
memorial, it ought to be something that the whole, or else a
large portion of the country, can enjoy. To that end, two
things come to mind in which, it might be, that various commu-
nities might be willing to join:

I. An annual JAMES WELDON JOHNSON PRIZE BOOK. Not a book already issued to be awarded the PRIZE, but rather some worthy manuscript by a Negro writer (or about Negro life by a writer of another race) that might have great difficulty finding a publisher. But such a PRIZE could guarantee the publication of one edition, perhaps through some arrangement with a publisher whereby if the sale of the book pays for itself, the money be refunded to the PRIZE FUND. The PRIZE not to be a direct award to an author, but rather to see that a worthy manuscript that might not otherwise see the light of day, be published, the royalties going as usual to the author, but the publishers risks being covered by the prize fund.

II. Since James Weldon Johnson spent a large part of his
time xxx speaking and lecturing: the establishment of a
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON LECTURER. Each season to send forth
to some twelve or fifteen cities and centers of Negro ed-
ucation, an outstanding speaker, Negro or white, on some
phase of Negro culture: art, the theatre, music, literature,
African arts, Latin-American Negro culture, etc. The lec-
tures to be made available to small schools free or at a
very minimum fee, to communities that might not otherwise
be able to have such lectures; and to larger and richer
communities at a fee commensurate with what they are able to
pay, any deficit to be covered by the FUND.

I hope these suggestions may be of some use to the groups who
wish to pay tribute to the memory of James Weldon. And thank
you for including me among those friends of his asked to help in
this. I shall be on the coast for several weeks yet, but if I
can be of further service, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Langston Hughes

1379 East Washington Blvd.,
Los Angeles, California,
January 4, 1939.

C O P Y :
LONG BEACH PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Continuation High School
Eighth Street and Locust Avenue
Long Beach, California

May 17, 1939

Mr. Walter White, Secretary N.A.A.C.P.
69 - 5th Avenue
New York City, New York

Dear Mr. White:

For some time we have desired to put before
the students in our school and the general public, the place
of the Negro in America.

Do you have photographs of contemporary
people- James Weldon Johnson - Marian Anderson - Sidat-Singh-
Langston Hughes, and the many others who have contributed
their talents and abilities to American life which we might
borrow for the purpose mentioned?

Perhaps it would be well to group the
pictures under such headings as appeared recently in the
Survey-Graphic- Negroes and Schools- Negroes and Jobs- Negroes
and Athletic Sports.

We shall be happy to attempt to bring out the
fact that the Negro people must be judged as individuals- not
as members of a race- and that the tabus which keep people
apart and ununderstanding must be abolished. It would seem an
excellent time when there is so much talk about democracy to
call to mind the case of Negroes here in America.

We appreciate that some aspects of the picture
are dark- that education is not yet equal, that all trades and
vocations are not by any estimate open to Negroes and that in
many instances the Negro is not yet permuted equal play,
equal accommodations, etcetera. However, it would seem best
to present the advances made- in other words, the constructive
side rather than that which is more discouraging.

The Long Beach schools close for the summer
months on June 16th. We shall be glad to use the material
requested between now and the closing date. However, if such
a presentation involves considerable time and correspondence
on your part, it might be well to wait until September and
thus have a better planned display. We will leave the decision
to you and your associates.

Please feel free to make any suggestions you
wish as to individuals you feel we ought to include, facts
and statistics we might bring out. There will, of course, be
available locally some biographical material and some
pictures of famous Negroes. Your office may have better
information and more desirable reference files and so I am
writing to you for assistance.

We have in our building several large locked
glass cases in which exhibit material is always carefully protected.

Sincerely (Mrs.) Avis M. Paxton

53

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON MEMORIAL COMMITTEE

SIXTY-NINE FIFTH AVENUE

NEW YORK, N. Y.

CHAIRMAN
THEODORE ROOSEVELT

HONORARY CHAIRMAN
HON. FIORELLO H. LA GUARDIA

TREASURER AND
CHAIRMAN OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
GENE BUCK

VICE-CHAIRMEN
STERLING A. BROWN
HARRY T. BURLEIGH
ELMER A. CARTER
W. C. HANDY
ROSAMOND JOHNSON
E. GEORGE PAYNE
ARTHUR B. SPINGARN
CARL VAN VECHTEN

SECRETARY
WALTER WHITE

January 26, 1940

Dear Langston:

Ever since James Weldon Johnson's death there has been a constant and increasing demand for some suitable tribute to his memory. So many plans have been suggested in various parts of the country that a group of his most intimate friends have been meeting for the purpose of devising one upon which all could unite. As a result of these discussions the persons whose names appear on this letterhead have formed the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Committee and have prepared a list of distinguished Americans who were associated with Mr. Johnson in one or more of his varied activities and whom we are now asking to serve on a National Sponsoring Committee.

It is proposed to erect a symbolic statue facing Central Park at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 110th Street in New York City. Mayor La Guardia has assured the Committee that the City of New York will supply the land without cost, which will reduce the cost of the memorial considerably.

The plan is for a figure and pedestal about thirty feet high. On one side of the pedestal will be a placque of Mr. Johnson's head and on the other side the first verse of his magnificent poem, O BLACK AND UNKNOWN BARDS. The symbolic figure atop the pedestal will be based upon the poem.

The statue will be designed by Richmond Barthe, the brilliant Negro sculptor who was a friend and protege of Mr. Johnson. It is estimated that the total cost will not exceed $20,000. The Committee feels that such a statue, the first to be erected in honor of a Negro in the City of New York and the first distinguished and important public monument created through Negro genius will serve the double purpose of being at once an inspiration to colored people and an education for whites.

It is hoped that as many different individuals as possible will contribute, including school children, so that each of those whose lives have been enriched by Mr. Johnson's work during his life may have a part in perpetuating his memory.

We sincerely hope that you will notify me that you will consent to serve. Should inquiry be made to you by those wishing to participate through contributions, checks may be made payable to Theodore Roosevelt, Chairman, or Gene Buck, Treasurer, and sent to 69 Fifth Avenue, New York.

Mr. Langston Hughes,
1379 E. Washington Blvd.,
Los Angeles, Calif.

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE
NANNIE H. BURROUGHS
GODFREY LOWELL CABOT
HON. ARTHUR CAPPER
DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP
BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG
REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
MANLEY O. HUDSON
HON. IRA W. JAYNE
HON. CAROLINE O'DAY
REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL
OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

**Atlanta**
Dr. N. C. McPherson
Eugene M. Martin

**Baltimore**
Carl Murphy

**Birmingham, Ala.**
Dr. E. W. Taggart

**Boston, Mass.**
Alfred Baker Lewis

**Charleston, W.Va.**
T. G. Nutter

**Chicago**
Prof. Paul H. Douglas

**Cleveland**
Hon. Harry E. Davis
L. Pearl Mitchell

**Detroit**
Louis C. Blount

**Emporia, Kans.**
William Allen White

**Ithaca, N. Y.**
Major Robert E. Treman

**Newark, N. J.**
Grace B. Fenderson

**New York**
Lillian A. Alexander
Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers
Marlon Cuthbert
Hubert T. Delany
Douglas P. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
Dr. John H. Johnson
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
William Allan Nellson
Mary White Ovington
Hon. Charles Poletti
A. Phillip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Col. Theodore Roosevelt
Amy E. Spingarn
Arthur B. Spingarn
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Frances Harriet Williams
Dr. Louis T. Wright

**Oklahoma City**
Roscoe Dunjee

**Philadelphia**
Isadore Martin

**Richmond, Va.**
Dr. W. L. Ransome

**St. Louis**
Sidney R. Redmond

**Talladega, Ala.**
Rev. Joseph W. Nicholson

**Topeka, Kans.**
Hon. Arthur Capper

**Washington**
William H. Hastie
Charles Edward Russell
Dr. Charles H. Thompson
Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

**William H. Hastie, Washington, Chairman**

**Atlanta**
A. T. Walden

**Berkeley, Calif.**
Walter A. Gordon

**Boston**
Irwin T. Dorch

**Chicago**
Irvin C. Mollison
Edward H. Morris

**Erie, Pa.**
William F. Illig

**Jacksonville**
S. D. McGill

**Los Angeles**
Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.

**Louisville**
Charles W. Anderson

**Madison, Wis.**
Lloyd Garrison

**Muskogee, Okla.**
Charles A. Chandler

**Nashville, Tenn.**
Z. Alexander Looby

**New York**
Hubert T. Delany
Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hays
Benjamin Kaplan
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Walter Mendelsohn
Charles H. Studin

**Philadelphia**
Francis Biddle

**Pittsburgh**
Homer S. Brown

**Toledo, Ohio**
Jesse C. Heslip
William T. McKnight

**Washington**
Charles H. Houston
Edward P. Lovett
James N. Nabrit, Jr.
Leon A. Ransom
Stephen J. Spingarn

**Wilmington, Del.**
Louis L. Redding

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

ROY WILKINS
ASSISTANT SECRETARY
EDITOR, THE CRISIS

CHARLES H. HOUSTON
THURGOOD MARSHALL
SPECIAL COUNSEL

E. FREDERIC MORROW
BRANCH COORDINATOR

GEORGE B. MURPHY, JR.
PUBLICITY AND PROMOTION

REV. JAMES H. ROBINSON
ACTING YOUTH DIRECTOR

April
16th
1940

Dear Langston:

When next you are in New York will
you telephone Colonel Theodore Roosevelt at
Doubleday, Doran, 14 West 49th Street,
CIrcle 6-1700, who wants to talk with you
about a book which he and I have discussed
several times?

And let me see you when next you
are here.

Mr. Langston Hughes
c/o Miss Frances Wills
370 Manhattan Avenue
New York City.

WW:CTF

357

ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU, 330 WEST 42ND STREET, NEW YORK
31st ANNUAL CONFERENCE, PHILADELPHIA, PA., JUNE 18-23, 1940

55

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY McLEOD BETHUNE

NANNIE H. BURROUGHS

GODFREY LOWELL CABOT

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

MANLEY O. HUDSON

HON. IRA W. JAYNE

HON. CAROLINE O'DAY

REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

**Baltimore**
Carl Murphy

**Charleston, W. Va.**
T. G. Nutter

**Detroit**
Louis C. Blount

**Newark, N. J.**
Grace B. Henderson

**New York**
Lillian A. Alexander
Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers
Marion Cuthbert
Hubert T. Delany
Douglas P. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
J.R. John H. Johnson
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
William Allan Nellson
Mary White Ovington
Hon. Charles Poletti
Philip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Col. Theodore Roosevelt
Arthur B. Spingarn
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Frances Harriet Williams
Dr. Louis T. Wright

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

**Atlanta**
A. T. Walden

**Boston**
Irwin T. Dorch

**Chicago**
Irvin C. Moilson
Edward H. Morris

**Jacksonville**
S. D. McGill

**New York**
Hubert T. Delany
Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hays
Benjamin Kaplan
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Walter Mendelssohn
Charles H. Studn

**Pittsburgh**
Homer S. Brown

**Toledo, Ohio**
Jesse S. Heslip
William T. McKnight

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

December 11, 1940

Dear Langston:

I never hated anything so much in my life as I did missing you while I was on the West Coast. I took with me your Carmel address and was planning to telephone you from San Francisco or Salinas. But just as I was leaving Los Angeles I ran into Loren who told me that you were in Los Angeles and would be there several weeks. Unhappily there wasn't even time for me to telephone you.

There is however a possibility that I shall be returning to the Coast in February. The University of California wants me to come back there for lectures and I plan to do some work in Hollywood. If I can make arrangements to park Pidge with my brother and sister-in-law, I hope to bring Gladys with me. I'll let you know.

I like "America's Young Black Joe" It's got swing and it also says something. Do write and tell me all about the review and all about yourself.

Did Knopf send you the "blurb" I wrote for "The Big Sea". You have done a superb book and I am working industriously to get as many people to buy and read it as possible.

All the best.

Mr. Langston Hughes
Hollow Hills Farm
Carmel Valley
Jamesburg Route
Monterey, Calif.

WW:amb

357

56

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY McLEOD BETHUNE
NANNIE H. BURROUGHS
GODFREY LOWELL CABOT
HON. ARTHUR CAPPER
DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP
BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG
REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
MANLEY O. HUDSON
HON. IRA W. JAYNE
HON. CAROLINE O'DAY
REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL
OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

<table><tr><td>Atlanta</td><td>Dr. N. C. McPherson<br/>Eugene M. Martin</td></tr><tr><td>Baltimore</td><td>Carl Murphy</td></tr><tr><td>Birmingham, Ala.</td><td>Dr. E. W. Taggart</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, W. Va.</td><td>T. G. Nutter</td></tr><tr><td>Chicago</td><td>Earl B. Dickerson</td></tr><tr><td>Cleveland</td><td>Hon. Harry E. Davis<br/>L. Pearl Mitchell</td></tr><tr><td>Des Moines, Ia.</td><td>S. Joe Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Detroit</td><td>Louis C. Blount</td></tr><tr><td>Falls Village, Conn.</td><td>Dr. William Allan Nellson</td></tr><tr><td>Ithaca, N. Y.</td><td>Major Robert E. Treman</td></tr><tr><td>Los Angeles</td><td>Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.</td></tr><tr><td>Newark, N. J.</td><td>Grace B. Fenderson</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Lillian A. Alexander<br/>Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers<br/>Marion Cuthbert<br/>Hubert T. Delany<br/>Douglas P. Falconer<br/>Lewis S. Gannett<br/>John Hammond<br/>Rev. John Haynes Holmes<br/>Dr. William Lloyd Imes<br/>Hon. Herbert H. Lehman<br/>Dr. O. Clay Maxwell<br/>Mary White Ovington<br/>Hon. Charles Poletti<br/>A. Phillip Randolph<br/>Rev. James H. Robinson<br/>Col. Theodore Roosevelt<br/>Arthur B. Spingarn<br/>Hon. Charles E. Toney<br/>Dr. Louis T. Wright</td></tr><tr><td>Oklahoma City</td><td>Roscoe Dunjee</td></tr><tr><td>Peekskill, N. Y.</td><td>Alfred Baker Lewis</td></tr><tr><td>Philadelphia</td><td>Isadore Martin</td></tr><tr><td>Pittsburgh, Pa.</td><td>Homer S. Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Richmond, Va.</td><td>Dr. W. L. Ransome</td></tr><tr><td>St. Louis</td><td>Sidney R. Redmond</td></tr><tr><td>Talladega, Ala.</td><td>Rev. Joseph W. Nicholson</td></tr><tr><td>Topeka, Kans.</td><td>Hon. Arthur Capper</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>William H. Hastie<br/>Charles Edward Russell<br/>Dr. Charles H. Thompson<br/>Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb</td></tr></table>

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

<table><tr><td>William H. Hastie, Washington, Chairman</td></tr><tr><td>Atlanta</td><td>A. T. Walden</td></tr><tr><td>Berkeley, Calif.</td><td>Walter A. Gordon</td></tr><tr><td>Boston</td><td>Irwin T. Dorch</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, W. Va.</td><td>T. G. Nutter</td></tr><tr><td>Chicago</td><td>Irvin C. Mollison<br/>Edward H. Morris<br/>William F. Illig</td></tr><tr><td>Erie, Pa.</td><td>S. D. McGill</td></tr><tr><td>Jacksonville</td><td>Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.</td></tr><tr><td>Los Angeles</td><td>Charles W. Anderson</td></tr><tr><td>Louisville</td><td>Lloyd Garrison</td></tr><tr><td>Madison, Wis.</td><td>Charles A. Chandler</td></tr><tr><td>Muskogee, Okla.</td><td>Z. Alexander Looby</td></tr><tr><td>Nashville, Tenn.</td><td>Hubert T. Delany</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Morris L. Ernst<br/>Arthur Garfield Hays<br/>Benjamin Kaplan<br/>Kari N. Llewellyn<br/>James Marshall<br/>Walter Mendelsohn<br/>Charles H. Studin</td></tr><tr><td>Philadelphia</td><td>Francis Biddle</td></tr><tr><td>Pittsburgh</td><td>Homer S. Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Toledo, Ohio</td><td>Jesse S. Heslip<br/>William T. McKnight</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>Charles H. Houston<br/>Edward P. Lovett<br/>W. Robert Ming, Jr.<br/>James N. Nabrit, Jr.<br/>Leon A. Ransom<br/>Stephen J. Spingarn</td></tr><tr><td>Wilmington, Del.</td><td>Louis L. Redding</td></tr></table>

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

MADISON S. JONES, JR.
YOUTH DIRECTOR

March 25, 1941

My dear Mr. Hughes:

Would you be willing to join with the others whose names are given on the enclosed list in signing this appeal for support of our membership campaign of 1941? We believe that such a statement signed by you and the others will be exceedingly helpful in calling attention to the desperate need of the Negro for an uncompromising, sustained and adequately financed organization to work in his behalf.

Ever sincerely,
Walter White

Secretary

Mr. Langston Hughes
Hollow Hills Farm,
Jamesburg Route,
Monterey, Calif.

WW/GS

32nd ANNUAL CONFERENCE, HOUSTON, TEXAS, June 24-29, 1941

57

N.A.A.C.P.

March 24, 1941

The following persons are being asked to sign the attached
statement regarding the N.A.A.C.P. Spring Membership Drive:

Representing Churches:

Bishop R. A. Carter - C. M. E. Church

Bishop John A. Gregg - A. M. E. Church

Rev. William Lloyd Imes - St. James Presbyterian Church,
New York City

Dr. O. Clay Maxwell, Sr. - Mount Olivet Baptist Church,
New York City

Bishop W. J. Walls - A. M. E. Zion Church

Dr. George E. Haynes - Federal Council of Churches

Labor:

A. Philip Randolph - Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
& Maids

Frank L. Crosswaith - International Ladies' Garment Workers
Union

Willard S. Townsend - United Transport Service Employees
of America

Official:

William H. Hastie - Civilian Aide to the Secretary of War

Ira DeA. Reid - United States Employment Service

Channing H. Tobias - Selective Service Administration

Robert C. Weaver - Administrative Assistant, Advisory
Commission to the Council of National
Defense.

Women:

Marian Anderson - Singer

Mary McLeod Bethune - Director, Division of Negro Affairs, NYA

Dorothy Maynor - Singer

Sports:

Henry Armstrong -

Joe Louis -

Writers:

Langston Hughes

Countee Cullen

Richard Wright

There has been no period in the history of the Negro since
the Civil War when his future hung more in the balance than it does
in 1941. Despite his loyalty to America for three centuries and more,
he is shut out of many phases of our national defense program despite
the fact that our country is in the gravest peril today that it has
ever known. Particularly acute are the problems of the Negro in
securing employment in the industries to which have been awarded con-
tracts for the national defense program for which the Negro is taxed
along with his white fellow Americans.

Our only hope as Negroes is in uncompromising insistence that
democracy to its fullest extent be extended to every American Negro.
The most effective organization towards achievement of this goal is
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as
its 31 years of service attest.

The N.A.A.C.P. is launching its annual membership drive. If we who are the beneficiaries of its efficient and uncompromising efforts will give it the support which the seriousness of our plight requires, it can achieve even more justice for the American Negro.

We, the undersigned, therefore urge the unstinted support of
every American Negro and of as many of our white fellow citizens as
possible to the end that this year's campaign shall reach and sur-
pass its modest goal of $250,000. Liberty, like everything else
worthwhile, must be paid for. We urge you, therefore, to join with us
in contributing as generously as possible of our means and efforts
and our unqualified support so that this goal may be reached.

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE

NANNIE H. BURROUGHS

GODFREY LOWELL CABOT

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

MANLEY O. HUDSON

HON. IRA W. JAYNE

HON. CAROLINE O'DAY

REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Atlanta Dr. N. C. McPherson
Eugene M. Martin

Baltimore Carl Murphy

Birmingham, Ala. Dr. E. W. Taggart

Chicago Earl B. Dickerson

Des Moines, Ia. S. Joe Brown

Detroit Louis C. Blount

Falls Village, Conn. Dr. William Allan Nellson

Ithaca, N. Y. Major Robert E. Treman

Los Angeles Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.

New York
Lillian A. Alexander
Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers
Marlon Cuthbert
Hubert T. Delany
Douglas P. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Dr. O. Clay Maxwell
Mary White Ovington
Hon. Charles Poletti
A. Philip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Col. Theodore Roosevelt
Arthur B. Spingarn
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Dr. Louis T. Wright

Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunjee

Peekskill, N. Y. Alfred Baker Lewis

Philadelphia Isadore Martin

Richmond, Va. Dr. W. L. Ransome

St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond

Talladega, Ala. Rev. Joseph W. Nicholson

Topeka, Kans. Hon. Arthur Capper

Washington
William H. Hastie
Dr. Charles H. Thompson
Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

Atlanta A. T. Walden

Berkeley, Calif. Walter A. Gordon

Boston Irwin T. Dorch

Chicago Irvin C. Mollison
Edward H. Morris

Erie, Pa. William F. Illeg

Jacksonville S. D. McGill

Louisville Charles W. Anderson

Madison, Wis. Lloyd Garrison

Muskogee, Okla. Charles A. Chandler

Nashville, Tenn. Z. Alexander Looby

New York
Hubert T. Delany
Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hayes
Benjamin Kaplan
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Walter Mendelsohn
Charles H. Studin
Francis Biddle
Homer S. Brown
Jesse S. Heslip
William T. McKnight
Charles H. Houston
Edward P. Lovett
W. Robert Ming, Jr.
James N. Nabrit, Jr.
Leon A. Ransom
Stephen J. Spingarn
Loulis L. Redding

Wilmington, Del.

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

CHARLOTTE B. CRUMP
PUBLICITY AND PROMOTION

August 13, 1941

Dear Langston and Dick:

Because I know you are swamped with requests to read and criticize manuscripts by people who don't know that this is a service for which literary advisers and agents charge fees, I want you to see the enclosed copy of the letter which I have written to G. W. Davis.

Ever sincerely,

Mr. Langston Hughes and
Mr. Richard Wright

Mr. Hughes
Hollow Hills Farm
Carmel Valley
Jamesburg Route
Monterey, Calif.

WV:amb

98

61

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY McLEOD BETHUNE
NANNIE H. BURROUGHS
GOOFREY LOWELL CABOT
HON. ARTHUR CAPPER
DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP
BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG
REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
MANLEY O. HUDSON
HON. IRA W. JAYNE
HON. CAROLINE O'DAY
REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL
OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

<table><tr><td>Atlanta</td><td>Dr. N. C. McPherson<br/>Eugene M. Martin</td></tr><tr><td>Baltimore</td><td>Carl Murphy</td></tr><tr><td>Birmingham, Ala.</td><td>Dr. E. W. Taggart</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, W. Va.</td><td>T. G. Nutter</td></tr><tr><td>Chicago</td><td>Earl B. Dickerson</td></tr><tr><td>Cleveland</td><td>Hon. Harry E. Davis<br/>L. Pearl Mitchell</td></tr><tr><td>Des Moines, Ia.</td><td>S. Joe Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Detroit</td><td>Louis C. Blount</td></tr><tr><td>Falls Village, Conn.</td><td>Dr. William Allan Neillson</td></tr><tr><td>Ithaca, N. Y.</td><td>Major Robert E. Treman</td></tr><tr><td>Los Angeles</td><td>Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.</td></tr><tr><td>Newark, N. J.</td><td>Grace B. Fenderson</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Lillian A. Alexander<br/>Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers<br/>Marlon Cuthbert<br/>Hubert T. Delany<br/>Douglas P. Falconer<br/>Lewis S. Gannett<br/>John Hammond<br/>Rev. John Haynes Holmes<br/>Dr. William Lloyd Imes<br/>Hon. Herbert H. Lehman<br/>Dr. O. Clay Maxwell<br/>Mary White Ovington<br/>Hon. Charles Poletti<br/>A. Philip Randolph<br/>Rev. James H. Robinson<br/>Col. Theodore Roosevelt<br/>Arthur B. Spingarn<br/>Hon. Charles E. Toney<br/>Dr. Louis T. Wright</td></tr><tr><td>Oklahoma City</td><td>Roscoe Dunjee</td></tr><tr><td>Peekskill, N. Y.</td><td>Alfred Baker Lewis</td></tr><tr><td>Philadelphia</td><td>Isadore Martin</td></tr><tr><td>Pittsburgh, Pa.</td><td>Homer S. Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Richmond, Va.</td><td>Dr. W. L. Ransome</td></tr><tr><td>St. Louis</td><td>Sidney R. Redmond</td></tr><tr><td>Talladega, Ala.</td><td>Rev. Joseph W. Nicholson</td></tr><tr><td>Topeka, Kans.</td><td>Hon. Arthur Capper</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>William H. Hastie<br/>Dr. Charles H. Thompson<br/>Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb</td></tr></table>

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

<table><tr><td>William H. Hastie, Washington, Chairman</td></tr><tr><td>Atlanta</td><td>A. T. Walden</td></tr><tr><td>Berkeley, Calif.</td><td>Walter A. Gordon</td></tr><tr><td>Boston</td><td>Irwin T. Dorch</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, W. Va.</td><td>T. G. Nutter</td></tr><tr><td>Chicago</td><td>Irvin C. Mollison<br/>Edward H. Morris<br/>William F. Illig</td></tr><tr><td>Erle, Pa.</td><td>S. D. McGill</td></tr><tr><td>Jacksonville</td><td>Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.</td></tr><tr><td>Los Angeles</td><td>Charles W. Anderson</td></tr><tr><td>Louisville</td><td>Lloyd Garrison</td></tr><tr><td>Madison, Wis.</td><td>Charles A. Chandler</td></tr><tr><td>Muskogee, Okla.</td><td>Z. Alexander Looby</td></tr><tr><td>Nashville, Tenn.</td><td>Hubert T. Delany</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Morris L. Ernst<br/>Arthur Garfield Hays<br/>Benjamin Kaplan<br/>Kari N. Llewellyn<br/>James Marshall<br/>Walter Mendelssohn<br/>Charles H. Studin</td></tr><tr><td>Philadelphia</td><td>Francis Biddle</td></tr><tr><td>Pittsburgh</td><td>Homer S. Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Toledo, Ohio</td><td>Jesse S. Heslip<br/>William T. McKnight</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>Charles H. Houston<br/>Edward P. Lovett<br/>W. Robert Ming, Jr.<br/>James N. Nabrit, Jr.<br/>Leon A. Ransom<br/>Stephen J. Spingarn</td></tr><tr><td>Wilmington, Del.</td><td>Louis L. Redding</td></tr></table>

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

October
15th
1941

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

Dear Langston:

Miss Anna M. Graves, whom you perhaps know as being deeply interested in the Negro both in Africa and the United States, has become deeply interested in the Negro school at Westminster, Maryland, where Miss Graves is now living. She offered a prize to the students of the Robert Moton High School for the three who had read the best selection of books from the library, according to the judgment of several persons.

Here is a collection of the lists read by forty-two students. Miss Graves is eager to have you indicate what you think are the first, second and third best lists submitted. Would you be willing to do this and send it to me, returning the list, so I can send your selection on to Miss Graves. She wanted your opinion along with mine and Jessie Fauset Harris's.

How go things with you?

Secretary.

Mr. Langston Hughes
Hollow Hills Farm
(Carmel Valley), Jamesburg Route
Monterey,
California.

WW:CTF

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

VICE-PRESIDENTS

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Baltimore Carl Murphy

Chicago Earl B. Dickerson

Cleveland Hon. Harry E. Davis
L. P. Pearl Mitchell

Des Moines, Ia. S. Joe Brown

Detroit Louis C. Blount

New York Lillian A. Alexander
Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers
Marion Cuthbert
Hubert T. Delany
Douglas P. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Dr. O. Clay Maxwell
Mary White Ovington
Hon. Charles Poletti
A. Philip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Col. Theodore Roosevelt
Arthur B. Spingarn
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Dr. Louis T. Wright

Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunfee
Peekskill, N. Y. Alfred Baker Lewis
Philadelphia Isadore Martin
Pittsburgh, Pa. Homer S. Brown
Richmond, Va. Dr. W. L. Ransome
St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond
Talladega, Ala. Rev. Joseph W. Nicholson
Topeka, Kans. Hon. Arthur Capper
Washington William H. Hastie
Dr. Charles H. Thompson
Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

Atlanta A. T. Walden
Berkeley, Calif. Walter A. Gordon
Boston Irwin T. Dorch
Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter
Chicago Irvin C. Mollison
Edward H. Morris
Erie, Pa. William F. ILLIG
Jacksonville S. D. McGill
Los Angeles Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.
Louisville Charles W. Anderson
Madison, Wis. Lloyd Garrison
Muskogee, Okla. Charles A. Chandler
Nashville, Tenn. Z. Alexander Looby
New York Hubert T. Delany
Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hays
Benjamin Kaplan
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Walter Mendelssohn
Charles H. Studin

Philadelphia Francis Biddle
Pittsburgh Homer S. Brown
Toledo, Ohio Jesse S. Heslip
William T. McKnight
Washington Charles H. Houston
Edward P. Lovett
W. Robert Ming, Jr.
James N. Nabrit, Jr.
Leon A. Ransom
Stephen J. Spingarn
Wilmington, Del. Louis L. Redding

93

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

October 22, 1941

Dear Langston:

Are you by any chance planning to be in New York any time soon? There are two reasons why I ask this. The first of them is that Elmer Carter and I want to talk with you about a plan we have been discussing for you, him and myself to initiate a kind of "Negro Every Other Month Book Club". We are going to discuss this Saturday and I will write you more details after that.

The other matter is an Association one. I have had for a long time the feeling that we are a little too formal and colorless in Association meetings. I have the feeling that if we had a little more color and emotional appeal we could add to the interest and stir legitimate emotion which will make our meetings more appealing. I don't mean in saying this that we plan to pull a Marcus Garvey. I had in mind a sort of litany with which the N.A.A.C.P. meetings could be opened. How does this strike you? If it interests you, would you be willing to try your hand at drafting it?

Mr. Langston Hughes
Hollow Hills Farm
Monterey, California

WW:RR

PRINCIPAL ARTISTS PRODUCTIONS

RKO PATHE STUDIOS, CULVER CITY

ASHLEY 4--2931

July 28, 1942

Colonel Darryl Zanuck,
20th Century Fox Film Corporation
BERELY HILLS.

Dear Darryl:

First let me thank you for the luncheon on Saturday to hear Wendell Willkie and Walter White, and then to acknowledge your letter of the 22nd.

I was deeply impressed with the sincerity of both Mr. Willkie and Mr. White, and you may be certain that I feel committed in every way possible to work for the result so splendidly expounded by the speakers on that occasion.

In the development of one of the stories that we now have under contemplation, there is an opportunity to serve this purpose, and I have already instructed the writers who in turn will carry out the high purposes of the program entrusted to our care.

With every assurance of my esteem, I am

SL:FR

NATIONAL OFFICERS

ACTING CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
HON. CHARLES E. TONEY

TREASURER
MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

<table><tr><td>Atlanta</td><td>Dr. N. C. McPherson<br/>Eugene M. Martin</td></tr><tr><td>Baltimore</td><td>Carl Murphy</td></tr><tr><td>Birmingham, Ala.</td><td>Dr. E. W. Taggart</td></tr><tr><td>Boston</td><td>Dr. John B. Hall</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, W. Va.</td><td>T. G. Nutter</td></tr><tr><td>Chicago</td><td>Earl B. Dickerson<br/>Bishop W. J. Walls</td></tr><tr><td>Cleveland</td><td>Hon. Harry E. Davis<br/>L. Pearl Mitchell</td></tr><tr><td>Des Moines, Ia.</td><td>S. Joe Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Detroit</td><td>Louis C. Blount</td></tr><tr><td>Falls Village, Conn.</td><td>Dr. William Allan Neilsen</td></tr><tr><td>Ithaca, N. Y.</td><td>Major Robert E. Treman</td></tr><tr><td>Los Angeles</td><td>Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.</td></tr><tr><td>Newark, N. J.</td><td>Grace B. Fenderson</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Lillian A. Alexander<br/>Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers<br/>Marion Cuthbert<br/>Hubert T. Delany<br/>Douglas P. Falconer<br/>Lewis S. Gannett<br/>John Hammond<br/>Rev. John Haynes Holmes<br/>Dr. William Lloyd Ives<br/>Hon. Herbert H. Lehman<br/>Dr. O. Clay Maxwell<br/>Mary White Ovington<br/>Hon. Charles Poletti<br/>A. Philip Randolph<br/>Rev. James H. Robinson<br/>Col. Theodore Roosevelt<br/>Amy E. Spingarn<br/>Arthur B. Spingarn<br/>Hon. Charles E. Toney<br/>Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb<br/>Dr. Louis T. Wright</td></tr><tr><td>Oklahoma City</td><td>Roscoe Dunjee</td></tr><tr><td>Peekskill, N. Y.</td><td>Alfred Baker Lewis</td></tr><tr><td>Philadelphia</td><td>Isadore Martin</td></tr><tr><td>Pittsburgh, Pa.</td><td>Homer S. Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Richmond, Va.</td><td>Dr. J. M. Tinsley</td></tr><tr><td>St. Louis</td><td>Sidney R. Redmond</td></tr><tr><td>Topeka, Kans.</td><td>Hon. Arthur Capper</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>William H. Hastie<br/>Dr. Charles H. Thompson<br/>Frances Harriet Williams</td></tr></table>

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

<table><tr><td>William H. Hastie, Chairman</td></tr><tr><td>Atlanta</td><td>A. T. Walden</td></tr><tr><td>Berkeley, Calif.</td><td>Walter A. Gordon</td></tr><tr><td>Boston</td><td>Irwin T. Dorch</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, W. Va.</td><td>T. G. Nutter</td></tr><tr><td>Chicago</td><td>Irwin C. Moilson<br/>Edward H. Morris<br/>Theodore M. Berry</td></tr><tr><td>Cincinnati</td><td>William T. McKnight</td></tr><tr><td>Cleveland</td><td>William F. Illig</td></tr><tr><td>Erie, Pa.</td><td>S. D. McGill</td></tr><tr><td>Jacksonville</td><td>Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.</td></tr><tr><td>Los Angeles</td><td>Charles W. Anderson</td></tr><tr><td>Louisville</td><td>Lloyd Garrison</td></tr><tr><td>Madison, Wis.</td><td>Charles A. Chandler</td></tr><tr><td>Muskogee, Okla.</td><td>Z. Alexander Looby</td></tr><tr><td>Nashville, Tenn.</td><td>Hubert T. Delany</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Morris L. Ernst<br/>Arthur Garfield Hays<br/>Benjamin Kaplan<br/>Karl N. Llewellyn<br/>James Marshall<br/>Walter Mendelsohn<br/>Charles H. Studin</td></tr><tr><td>Philadelphia</td><td>Francis Biddle</td></tr><tr><td>Pittsburgh</td><td>Homer S. Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Toledo, Ohio</td><td>Jesse S. Heslin</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>Charles H. Houston<br/>Edward P. Lovett<br/>W. Robert Ming, Jr.<br/>James N. Nabrit, Jr.<br/>Leon A. Ransom<br/>Stephen J. Spingarn<br/>Louis L. Redding</td></tr><tr><td>Wilmington, Del.</td><td></td></tr></table>

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

ELLA J. BAKER
E. FREDERIC MORROW
RANDALL L. TYUS
ASSISTANT FIELD SECRETARIES

FRANK D. REEVES
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT,
WASHINGTON BUREAU

September
24th
1942

Dear Langston:

My best thanks for your letters of the eleventh. Here is self-explanatory copy of a letter I have written to Sol Lesser today. He was at the luncheon at which Willkie and I spoke in Hollywood. Darryl Zanuck wrote to each of those present at the luncheon informing them that 20th Century-Fox had pledged itself unequivocally to the program Willkie and I urged. We received an extraordinary number of letters pledging other companies to do the same thing. One of them was from Lesser, and I enclose a copy of it. It sounds very sincere to me.

Incidentally, have you heard the latest gossip in connection with the Stage Door Canteen in Hollywood? Shortly after it opened, Merle Oberon was there one night and announced that because it was her birthday, she was going to kiss each one of the eight soldiers who at the moment happened to be on the stage. Everything was all right until she came to the eighth one who was very dark-skinned. Without a moment's hesitation, she bussed him as warmly--perhaps a trifle more warmly-than any of the seven palefaces ahead of him.

Jean Muir's husband, Henry Jaffe, told me last night, having just dropped in yesterday morning from Hollywood, that the place is divided into two camps, equally vocal, one prais-ing, and the other damning her for kissing the colored gentleman.

Now as to Hollywood advisors on Negro roles. I had already thought of Loren. I am afraid at the moment I cannot agree with your opinion about Almena Davis being urbane about things and not too narrow. She, at the moment, is engaged in a terrific campaign damning "Tales of Manhattan." It breaks none of the traditions of treatment of the Negro in the movies, but it is neither viciously conceived, nor is it the kind of thing that I believe a really effective and intelligent fight can be waged upon. She is alert and aggressive, but I am afraid her

98

Mr. Hughes

- 2 -

September 24, 1942

judgment is not too sound.

Do you know Mrs. Clarissa Matthews whose husband, Chuck Matthews, has been an assistant district attorney in Los Angeles for several years? She seems to be very well read, and quite intelligent. As a school teacher, she has had an opportunity to come in touch with Negro opinion. What do you think of her?

And what do you think of Norman Houston, of the Golden State Life Insurance Company? He is intelligent and aggressive, though I do not know how extensive his knowledge is of the theatre, literature, and the like.

And finally, what is your opinion of Paul Williams?

I don't want to recommend somebody who will use the position to try to get jobs for himself or others, push scripts or books, or plays, or otherwise capitalize on the position of advisor. At this delicate stage of the negotiations, we don't want to spill the beans by somebody trying to play favorites.

Jane told me before leaving for college last week that she saw you at the stage door canteen. When are you going to be back in New York? Let me know because I want to talk with you about this matter. I have been asked by Nelson Poynter, who is in charge of the OWI office in Hollywood, to suggest two or three persons to whom he can turn for advice.

All the best to you. I certainly envy your being in so grand a place.

Mr. Langston Hughes
Yaddo,
Saratoga Springs,
New York

WW:DW

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, 69 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK

September

24th

1942

My dear Mr. Lesser:

Both Wendell Willkie and I were tremendously pleased
with your letter to Darryl Zanuck, which he was good enough to
share with us following the luncheon. It means a very great
deal to have a producer of your importance in Hollywood to take
the unequivocal position that you will make every effort to pre-
sent the Negro in a normal and complete fashion.

I read with very considerable interest and gratifica-
tion that you are to do the film on the stage door canteen. I
hope you won't mind my making the suggestion that in that pic-
ture, you have an excellent chance to integrate Negroes. At
the New York stage door canteen, for example, not only are Ne-
gro soldiers, sailors and performers welcomed, but a number of
hostesses, waiters, bus boys, et al are Negroes. For example,
Langston Hughes has regularly given his services; my daughter,
during her summer vacation, served as a hostess faithfully every
Sunday night, and others have done the same.

Negro bands, singers, and performers entertain the
soldiers and sailors along with white bands, singers, and per-
formers.

With cordial, personal greetings, I am

Mr. Sol Lesser
Principal Artists Productions
RKO Pathe Studios
Culver City, California

WW:DW

MADISON
STATE

Mr. Langston Hughes
Fach
Saratoga Springs,
New York

good Shepherd Center
5120 South Parkway
Chicago
IL

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

ACTING CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

HON. CHARLES E. TONEY

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE

NANNIE H. BURROUGHS

GODFREY LOWELL CABOT

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

MANLEY O. HUDSON

HON. IRA W. JAYNE

HON. CAROLINE O'DAY

REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Atlanta Dr. N. C. McPherson

Baltimore Eugene M. Martin

Birmingham, Ala. Carl Murphy

Boston Dr. E. W. Taggart

Charleston, W. Va. Dr. John B. Hall

Chicago T. G. Nutter

Earl B. Dickerson

Bishop W. J. Walls

Cleveland Hon. Harry E. Davis

Des Moines, Ia. L. Pearl Mitchell

Detroit S. Joe Brown

Falls Village, Conn. Louis C. Blount

Ithaca, N. Y. Dr. William Allan Neilson

Los Angeles Major Robert E. Treman

Newark, N. J. Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.

New York Grace B. Fenderson

Lillian A. Alexander

Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers

Marion Cuthbert

Hubert I. Delany Douglas P. Falconer

Lewis S. Gannett John Hammond

Oklahoma City Rev. John Haynes Holmes

Peekskill, N. Y. Dr. William Lloyd Imes

Philadelphia Hon. Herbert H. Lehman

Pittsburgh, Pa. Dr. O. Clay Maxwell

Richmond, Va. Mary White Ovington

St. Louis Hon. Charles Poletti

Topeka, Kans. A. Philip Randolph

Washington Hon. James H. Robinson

Cincinnati Col. Theodore Roosevelt

Cleveland Hon. Charles E. Toney

Erie, Pa. Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb

Washington Dr. Louis T. Wright

Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunjee

Philadelphia Isadore Martin

Richmond, Va. Dr. J. M. Tinsley

St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond

Washington William H. Hastie

Washington Frances Harriet Williams

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

Atlanta A. T. Walden

Boston Irwin T. Dorch

Chicago Irvin C. Mollison

Cincinnati Edward H. Morris

Cleveland Theodore M. Berry

Erie, Pa. William T. McKnight

Jacksonville S. D. McGill

Madison, Wis. Lloyd Garrison

New York Hubert T. Delany

Philadelphia Morris L. Ernst

Pittsburgh Arthur Garfield Hays

Toledo, Ohio Benjamin Kaplan

Washington Edward P. Lovett

Wilmington, Del. W. Robert Ming, Jr.

Wilmington, Del. James N. Nabrit, Jr.

Wilmington, Del. Leon A. Ransom

Wilmington, Del. Stephen J. Spingarn

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

December 31, 1942

Dear Langston:

You have been nominated as a member
of the Spingarn Medal Award Committee to serve
for the term ending July 1, 1945. I hope you
will be willing to serve.

The duties of the Committee are not
onerous. It meets just once a year, usually in
January, to consider candidates for the award
of the Spingarn Medal.

Won't you let me hear from you as
soon as possible?

Ever sincerely,

Mr. Langston Hughes
Yaddo
Saratoga Springs
New York

WW:RR

98

SIXTY-NINE FIFTH AVENUE

NEW YORK, N. Y.

81

CHAIRMAN
THEODORE ROOSEVELT

SECRETARY
WALTER WHITE

March 27, 1942

TO MEMBERS OF THE
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON MEMORIAL COMMITTEE:

I have just learned, on my return to the city, that the Barthe figure for the memorial to James Weldon Johnson is now on exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 10 West 8th Street, New York. It is called "The Birth of the Spirituals". Carl Van Vechten tells me that a number of the papers have spoken highly of the figure, one of them saying that it is the best thing in the show.

May I suggest that those members in or near New York see the figure at the Whitney Museum since you can view it to greater advantage there than in a studio. It will be on exhibition through March 31st. And may I also suggest that you take with you, or urge that they see it, any persons who would be interested and who might out of their admiration for Mr. Johnson be willing to contribute towards the cost of erecting the statue.

I wish to report that we are still waiting a decision from Commissioner Moses of the Department of Parks, who has to give his approval before the Arts Commission and the City will give us permission to go ahead. Mr. Dawson, Mr. Moses's assistant, told me that Mr. Moses feared that there might be some adverse reaction on the part of Negroes because of the chains about the feet of the figure. When it was pointed out to Mr. Moses, through Mr. Dawson, that the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Committee had on it such persons as J. Rosamond Johnson, Elmer Carter, W. C. Handy and Harry Burleigh, who, being Negroes, should know the reaction of Negroes better than anyone else, Mr. Moses stated that they were intellectuals and he feared the unfavorable reaction would come from "the man in the street".

We therefore got Mr. A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Mr. Frank Crosswaith of the Harlem Labor Committee, who, Mr. Dawson agreed, were in touch with the man in the street and thus would know their reaction, to see the figure. An enthusiastic opinion by Mr. Randolph and one by Judge Charles Toney, who also has contacts with "the man in the street", were sent to Mr. Moses. As a concession to Mr. Moses's point it was agreed that the chain should be broken, which would emphasize the symbolism that when the Negro slave sang his body moved upwards out of chains into freedom,

If any member of the Committee cares to express an opinion to Mr. Moses which may help to expedite his decision it will be very helpful,

WW: CTF

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

ACTING-CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

HON. CHARLES E. TONEY

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY McLEOD BETHUNE

NANNIE H. BURROUGHS

GODFREY LOWELL CABOT

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

HON. IRA W. JAYNE

HON. CAROLINE O'DAY

REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL

GEN. THEODORE ROOSEFVIT

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Atlanta Eugene M. Martin

Baltimore Carl Murphv

Boston Dr. John B. Hall

Chicago Earl B. Dickerson
Bishop W. J. Walls

Des Moines, Ia. S. Joe Brown

Detroit Louis C. Blount

Falls Village, Conn. Dr. William Allan Nelson

Newark, N. J. Grace B. Henderson

Hon. Hubert T. Delany
Douglas P. Falconer

Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond

Dr. Channing H. Tobias
Hon. Charles E. Toney

Dr. Louis T. Wright

Northampton, Mass. Prof. S. Ralph Harlow

Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunjee

Philadelphia Isadore Martin

St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond

Tolladega, Ala. Dr. Buell Gallagher

Topeka, Kans. Hon. Arthur Copper

Washington William H. Hastie
Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb

Frances Harriet Williams

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

Atlanta A. T. Walden

Chicago Irvin C. Mollison

Cincinnati Theodore M. Berry

Cleveland William T. McKnight

Erie, Pa. William F. Illig

Jacksonville S. D. McGill

Madison, Wis. Lloyd Garrison

New York Donald Crichton

Pittsburgh Homer S. Brown

Toledo, Ohio Jesse S. Heslip

Tulsa, Okla. Amos T. Hall

Washington Charles H. Houston

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

PRENTICE THOMAS
ASSISTANT SPECIAL COUNSEL

ELLA J. BAKER
E. FREDERIC MORROW
(ON LEAVE IN ARMED SERVICES)
ASSISTANT FIELD SECRETARIES

ODETTE HARPER
PUBLICITY AND PROMOTION
MADISON S. JONES, JR.
YOUTH DIRECTOR

LESLIE S. PERRY
FRANK D. REEVES (ON LEAVE)
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS.
WASHINGTON BUREAU

January 8, 1943

Dear Langston:

Thank you for your note accepting
membership on the Spingarn Medal Award Committee.

Could you meet with the Committee
to consider the award for 1942, on Saturday
morning, January 30, at eleven o'clock, here at
the office. I am finding out also from the
other members of the Committee if this date is
satisfactory to them.

Ever sincerely,

Secretary

Mr. Langston Hughes

634 St. Nicholas Avenue

New York City

C/O Harper
Apt. 1-D

WW:RR

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

ACTING CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

HON. CHARLES E. TONEY

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY McLEOD BETHUNE

NANNIE H. BURROUGHS

GODFREY LOWELL CABOT

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

HON. IRA W. JAYNE

REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL

GEN. THEODORE ROOSEVELT

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Atlanta Eugene M. Martin

Baltimore Carl Murphy

Boston Dr. John B. Hall

Chicago Earl B. Dickerson
Bishop W. J. Wells

Des Moines, Ia. S. Joe Brown

Detroit Louis C. Blount

Falls Village, Conn. Dr. William Allan Neilson

New York
Lillian A. Alexander
D. Allan Knight Chalmers
Marion Cuthbert
Hon. Hubert T. Delany
Douglas F. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hommond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Dr. O. Clay Maxwell
Mary White Ovington
Hon. Charles Paletti
A. Philip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Amy E. Spingarn
Arthur B. Spingarn
Dr. Channing H. Tobias
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Dr. Louis T. Wright

Oklahoma City Roscoe Duniee

Philadelphia Isadore Martin

St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond

Talladega, Ala. Dr. Buell Gallagher

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

Atlanta A. T. Walden

Chicago Irvin C. Mollison

Chincinatti Theodore M. Berry

Cleveland William T. McKnight

Erie, Pa. William F. Illig

Jacksonville S. D. McGill

Madison, Wis. Lloyd Garrison

New York Donald Crichton

Morris L. Ernst

Arthur Garfield Hays

Karl N. Llewellyn

James Marshall

Walter Mendelssohn

Charles H. Studin

Pittsburgh Homer S. Brown

Toledo, Ohio Jesse S. Heslip

Tulsa, Okla. Amos T. Hall

Washington
Charles H. Houston

Edward P. Lovett

W. Robert Ming, Jr.

James N. Nabrit, Jr.

Leon A. Ransom

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

January
20th
1943

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

ELLA J. BAKER
E. FREDERIC MORROW
[ON LEAVE IN ARMED SERVICES]

ASSISTANT FIELD SECRETARIES

LESLIE S. PERRY
FRANK D. REEVES [ON LEAVE]

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS,
WASHINGTON BUREAU

MEMORANDUM TO THE SPINGARN MEDAL COMMITTEE:

I am attaching herewith for consideration before the meeting on January 30 a list of recommendations for the Spingarn Medal award.

Ever sincerely,

WW: DW

98

NEW YORK, N. Y.

JANUARY 20, 1943

SPINGARN MEDAL RECOMMENDATIONS

ALLEYNE, Mrs. Vivian Garth, Baltimore, Maryland

**Qualifications:** For her distinguished work in behalf of the Army and Navy Blood Donor Service of the Red Cross.

**Recommended by:** Gertrude B. Connolly, Publicity Director, Army and Navy Blood Donor Service, Baltimore, Maryland.

BARNETT, Claude A., Chicago, Illinois

**Qualifications:** He has consistently maintained for the last 24 years the Nation's most outstanding news service for the Negro press (his organization is by far the most effective Negro news gathering agency in America); he has been of valuable service to the Negro farmers of the Nation through his position as special assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture and through contacts which he has maintained in the Department of Agriculture for the last several years; he has been of service to the American Red Cross as a member of one of its important committees.

**Recommended by:** Sherman Briscoe, Assistant Agricultural Research Writer, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC

BATTLE, COMMISSIONER S.J., New York, N.Y.

**Qualifications:** (Not stated)

**Recommended by:** Ethel M. Millner, New York, N.Y.

BROWN, Willa B., Chicago, Illinois

**Qualifications:** Because of the designation of her school, The Coffey School of Aeronautics, the largest privately owned institution of its kind in the Negro race, by the War Department to train civilian pilots and the awarding to the school of an initial contract valued at $250,000. "The school owes its existence and its progress largely to Miss Brown's intelligence, her knowledge of the aviation field, her determination and ability to organize and carry out a planned program."

**Recommended by:** Enoc P. Waters, Chicago Defender, Illinois

Spingarn Medal Recommendations
- 2 -

CLARK, Dr. Joseph S., President Emeritus of Southern University, Baton
Rouge, La.

**Qualifications:** For building Southern University to the great institution it is today; for securing "A" rating for Southern University by the American Medical Association, and "A" rating by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and a listing as one of the three largest Negro Land-Grant Colleges in the South."

**Recommended by:** J. S. Jones, Secretary, Louisiana State Teachers Association.

ELLINGTON, Duke, New York, N.Y.

**Recommended by:** Walter White, New York, N.Y.
Roy Wilkins, New York, N.Y.

GILLIAM, C.W., Okolona, Mississippi

**Qualifications:** For maintaining a private business on Main Street in Okolona for fifty years. Life member of the National Negro Business League. Owns his store building and other property. Rated with Dun and Bradstreet Agency, New York.

**Recommended by:** Mrs. O.C. Thomas, Detroit, Michigan

GREGG, Bishop John A., Kansas City, Kansas

**Qualifications:** "A man of high qualities, one interested in his race, and its development, one who has achieved much and is willing to go the limit for race betterment."

**Recommended by:** "Friends of the NAACP", Baltimore, Maryland

JONES, Dr. David D., President Bennett College, Greensboro, N. C.

**Qualifications:** "The growth of Bennett under Dr. Jones' leadership in endowment, buildings, equipment, faculty and students has been truly marvelous." He has also been successful in having Negroes and whites work together with harmony and satisfaction.

**Recommended by:** Dr. B.W. Barnes, Greensboro, North Carolina
Dr. George C. Simkins, President, Greensboro Men's Club

JULIAN, Dr. Percy

Spingarn Medal Recommendations
- 3 -

LEE, Canada, New York, N.Y.

**Recommended by:** Carl Van Vechten, New York, N.Y.

LEWIS, Dr. Julian, University of Chicago, Illinois

LOCKE, Dr. Alain, Washington, D.C.

**Qualifications:** Twenty years of sustained effort in journalistic, literary, and academic interpretation of Negro life and culture, culminating in 1942 with the publication of "When Peoples Meet: A Study in Race and Culture Contacts" and the November issue of Survey Graphic:-- "Color: Unfinished Business of Democracy."

LOUIS, Joe

**Qualifications:** He has done more to build needed morale in America during the period of his boxing career than any other American citizen. His conduct outside the ring and his exploits within the ring have done more to cause straight thinking on the so-called race question during his career than anything else that has occurred.

**Recommended by:**
Elijah P. Marrs, Wood, Wisconsin
Carl Van Vechten, New York, N. Y.
Roy Wilkins, New York, N. Y.

MORGAN, Madeline, Chicago, Illinois

**Qualifications:** She has made distinguished achievement in the field of education. Her idea and subsequent study is making it possible for Negro achievements to be blended into the curriculum of the schools in Chicago. The plan provides that the history of the Negro shall be studied by school children, not as a separate course, but as it takes its chronological place in the general history of America.

**Recommended by:** National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa

MULZAC, Captain Hugh, Captain of the BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

**Qualifications:** Captain Mulzac merits the award because of his courage and perserverance in the face of great obstacles in training and thoroughly equipping himself to qualify

- 4 -

(Captain Mulzac Qualifications, cont'd)

as the first Negro shipmaster in our merchant marine.

**Recommended by:** William Harrison, Associate Editor Boston Chronicle.
C. Evans, New York, N.Y.
Odette Harper, New York, N.Y.

POWELL, Adam C., Jr., New York, N.Y.

**Qualifications:** For his great interest in the Negro race, and his paper (People's Voice) which has brought to light many injustices to the Negro.

**Recommended by:** Arcard Benson, Fort Belvoir, Virginia

ROBSON, Paul, Enfield, Conn.

RUSSELL, Bishop C.L., Washington, D.C.

**Qualifications:** For his book, "Light from the Talmud", which contains a number of ethical precepts taken from the Talmud, the famous collection of the writings of the Jewish sages, and is the first time that any of this material has been translated and published by a member of the colored race.

**Recommended by:** Solomon Kerstein, Bloch Publishing Company, New York, NY

WATERS, Ethel

**Recommended by:** Carl Van Vechten, New York, N. Y.

- 2 -

CLARK, Dr. Joseph S., (cont'd)

**Qualifications:**
Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and a listing as one of the three largest Negro Land-Grant colleges in the South."

BELLINGTON, Duke, New York, N. Y.

**Recommended by:** Walter White, New York, N.Y.
Roy Wilkins, New York, N. Y.

GILLIAM, C. W., Okolona, Mississippi

**Recommended by:** Mrs. O. C. Thomas, Detroit, Michigan

**Qualifications:** A man of high qualities, one interested in his race, and its development, one who has achieved much and is willing to go the limit for race betterment."

**Qualifications:** "The growth of Bennett under Dr. Jones' leadership in environment, buildings, equipment, faculty and students has been truly marvelous." He has also been successful in having Negroes and whites work together with harmony and satisfaction.

**Recommended by:**
Dr. B. W. Barnes, Greensboro, North Carolina
Dr. George C. Sinkins, President, Greensboro Men's Club
S. B. Simmons, Greensboro, North Carolina

JULIAN, Dr. Percy

**Recommended by:** Walter White, New York, New York

LEE, Canada, New York, N. Y.

---

3

**Recommended by:** Walter White, New York, N. Y.

LOCKE, Dr. Alain, Washington, D. C.

**Qualifications:** Twenty years of sustained effort in journalistic, literary, and academic interpretation of Negro life and culture, culminating in 1942 with the publication of "When Peoples Meet: A Study in Race and Culture Contacts" and the November issue of Survey Graphic:---"Color: Unfinished Business of Democracy."

LOUIS, Joe

**Recommended by:**
Elijah P. Marra, Wood, Wisconsin
Carl Van Vechten, New York, N. Y.
Roy Wilkins, New York, New York
Ella Baker, New York, New York

**Qualifications:** Captain Mulzac merits the award because of his courage and perserverance in the face of great obstacles in training an thoroughly equipping himself to qualify as the first Negro shipmaster in our merchant marine.

**Recommended by:**
William Harrison, Associate Editor Boston Chronicle.
C. Evans, New York, New York
Odette Harper, New York, N. Y.

- 4 -

POWELL, Adam C., Jr., New York, N. Y.

ROBSON, Paul, Enfield, Conn.

RUSSELL, Bishop C. L., Washington, D. C.

**Recommended by:** Solomon Kerstein, Bloch Publishing Company, New York, N.Y.

WATERS, Ethel

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

ACTING CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

HON. CHARLES E. TONEY

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE

NANNIE H. BURROUGHS

GODFREY LOWELL CABOT

HON. ARTHUR CAPPER

DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP

BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG

REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

HON. IRA W. JAYNE

REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL

GEN. THEODORE ROOSEVELT

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Atlanta Eugene M. Martin

Baltimore Carl Murphy

Boston Dr. John B. Hall

Chicago Earl B. Dickerson
Bishop W. J. Walls
Hon. Harry E. Davis
L. Pearl Mitchell

Des Moines, Ia. S. Ice Brown

Detroit Louis C. Blount

New York
Lillian A. Alexander
D. Allan Knight Chalmers
Marion Cuthbert
Hon. Hubert T. Delany
Douglas P. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Dr. O. Clay Maxwell
Mary White Ovington
Hon. Charles Poletti
A. Philip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Amy E. Spingarn
Arthur B. Spingarn
Dr. Channing H. Tobias
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Dr. Louis T. Wright

Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunjee

Philadelphia Isadore Martin

St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond

Talladega, Ala. Dr. Buell Galloher

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

Atlanta A. T. Walden
Berkeley, Calif. Walter A. Gordon
Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter
Chicago Irvin C. Mollison
Chincinati Theodore M. Berry
Cleveland William J. McKnight
Erie, Pa. William F. Illig
Jacksonville S. D. McGill
Los Angeles Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.
Louisville Charles W. Anderson
Madison, Wis. Lloyd Garrison
Nashville, Tenn. Z. Alexander Looby
New York Donald Crichton
Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hays
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Walter Mendelsohn
Charles H. Studin
Homer S. Brown
Pittsburgh Jesse S. Heslip
Toledo, Ohio Amos T. Hall
Tulsa, Okla. Charles H. Houston
Washington Edward P. Lovett
W. Robert Ming, Jr.
Wilmington, Del. James N. Nabrit, Jr.
Leon A. Ransom
Louis L. Redding

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

February
8th
1943

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

PRENCE THOMAS
ASSISTANT SPECIAL COUNSEL

(ON LEAVE IN ARMED SERVICES)

ASSISTANT FIELD SECRETARIES

LESLIE S. PERRY

FRANK D. REEVES (ON LEAVE)
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS,
WASHINGTON BUREAU

MEMORANDUM TO MEMBERS OF THE SPINGARN MEDAL COMMITTEE:

Only three members of the nine members of the award committee were able to attend the meeting on January 30th--Messrs. Buell Gallagher, Mordecai Johnson, and Langston Hughes. Three other members of the Committee who had written that they could be present--Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune, and Messrs. Charles Poletti and A. Philip Randolph--were prevented from attending by unavoidable circumstances.

Mr. Gallagher was chosen as Chairman of the meeting. The recommendations of Mrs. Bethune, and Messrs. Neilson, Holmes, and Randolph were read by the Secretary.

After discussion lasting several hours, the choice of those present was narrowed by elimination to the following: (1) William H. Hastie, (2) Paul Robeson, and (3) Alain Locke.

Because the Committee did not have on January 30th Judge Hastie's statement as to the reasons for his re-signation as Civilian Aide to the Secretary of War, and because less than a majority of the Committee was pre-sent, it was voted that the choice be deferred to a further meeting of the Committee to be held on Satur-day, March 20th, at 11 a.m. The hope was expressed that all members of the Committee would arrange to be pre-sent on that date.

Secretary.

WW:DW

09

THE COMMUNITY CHURCH
of New York

Minister
John Haynes Holmes

Study
Ten Park Avenue
New York City

February 9, 1943

Dear Walter:

I have your report this morning of the meeting
of the Spingarn Medal Committee on January 30 last. The
choice for the honor has been narrowed down to three admirable
men. I am heartily in favor of any one of them, and will join
with other members of the Committee in thus casting my vote.
But may I say that, in the light of Judge Hastie's superbly
gallant action in resigning his post at the War Department in
protest against the Department's policy toward Negroes, I would
love to see the Medal go to him this year. What could be more
appropriate, or more effective! So, I cast my vote for Judge
Hastie. Failing him, I would vote for Paul Robeson, and lastly
for Alain Locke.

As I do not expect to be able to attend the next
meeting of the Committee called for Saturday, March 20, will
you see to it that this letter is duly presented and read?

Very sincerely yours,

(Signed) John Haynes Holmes

Mr. Walter White,
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People,
69 Fifth Avenue,
New York City

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE
NANNIE H. BURROUGHS
GODFREY LOWELL CABOT
HON. ARTHUR CAPPER
DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP
BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG
REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
HON. IRA W. JAYNE
REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL
GEN. THEODORE ROOSEVELT
OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Atlanta Eugene M. Martin
Baltimore Carl Murphy
Birmingham, Ala. Dr. E. W. Taggart
Boston Dr. John B. Hall
Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter
Chicago Earl B. Dickerson
Bishop W. J. Walls
Cleveland Hon. Harry E. Davis
L. Pearl Mitchell
Des Moines, Ia. S. Joe Brown
Detroit Louis C. Blount
Falls Village, Conn. Dr. William Allan Neilson
Ithaca, N. Y. Major Robert E. Treman
Los Angeles Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.
Newark, N. J. Grace B. Fenderson
New York Lilian A. Alexander
Dr. John Knight Chalmers
Marion Cuthbert
Hon. Hubert T. Delany
Douglas P. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Dr. O. Clay Maxwell
Mary White Ovington
Hon. Charles Poletti
A. Philip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Amy E. Spingarn
Arthur B. Spingarn
Dr. Channing H. Tobias
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Dr. Louis T. Wright

Northampton, Mass. Prof. S. Ralph Harlow
Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunee
Peekskill, N. Y. Alfred Baker Lewis
Philadelphia Isadore Martin
Pittsburgh, Pa. Homer S. Brown
Richmond, Va. Dr. J. M. Tinsley
St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond
Talladega, Ala. Dr. Buell Gallagher
Topeka, Kans. Hon. Arthur Capper
Washington William H. Hostie
Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb
Frances Harriet Williams

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

William H. Hostie, Washington, Chairman

Atlanta A. T. Walden
Berkeley, Calif. Walter A. Gordon
Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter
Chicago Irvin C. Mollison
Chincinnati Theodore M. Berry
Cleveland William T. McKnight
Erie, Pa. William F. Illing
Jacksonville S. D. McGill
Los Angeles Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.
Louisville Charles W. Anderson
Madison, Wis. Lloyd Garrison
Nashville, Tenn. Z. Alexander Looby
New York Donald Crichton
Morris L. Ernst
Arthur Garfield Hays
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Walter Mendelsohn
Charles H. Studin
Homer S. Brown
Jesse S. Heslip
Amos T. Hall
Charles H. Houston
Edward P. Lovett
W. Robert Ming, Jr.
James N. Nabrit, Jr.
Leon A. Ransom
Louis L. Redding

Pittsburgh
Toledo, Ohio
Tulsa, Okla.
Washington

Wilmington, Del.

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3551

Official Organ: The Crisis

February

16th (Dictated February 15th)

1943

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Dear Langston:

Mr. George A. Hirliman, Executive Producer of the Hirliman Florida Productions, Inc., and Mr. Shapiro came to see me today regarding an idea they have for a motion picture about the Negro.

The idea is as yet very tentative, but as explained to me, it is briefly as follows: to do a story with the opening scene one of five or six men in a fox hole in Bataan who face almost certain death. In the camaraderie of such a situation, they begin to talk. The majority of the men are colored, the others are white. They then will cut back to the lives as told by the men to show what the Negro has contributed to American life and to civilization, the injustices which he has suffered, and how he is fighting for democracy as an ideal anyhow, even though he has had little of it. Messrs. Hirliman and Shapiro want to do a real story with guts in it and not a namby-pamby, evasive picture. They asked me to suggest someone to do the script of such a story, and I suggested you.

If you are interested, will you telephone Mr. George A. Hirliman, at Circle 6-6950? The address is 653 Eleventh Avenue, New York City.

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue, Apt. 1-D
care of Harper
New York, New York

WW: DW

BROTHERHOOD OF SLEEPING CAR PORTERS
AN INTERNATIONAL UNION

Chicago Division Headquarters
4231 So. Michigan Ave.,
Chicago, Ill.

February 11, 1943

Mr. Walter White
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People
69 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York

Dear Walter:

I note memorandum of February 8 on the award of the Spingarn Medal of 1942.

I will not be able to be present March 20 because of railroad conferences in the West.

But I wish to recommend Judge William H. Hastie for the Spingarn Medal. I consider him eminently deserving of this honor because of his long and splendid record of public service to our country and the Negro people and especially for his courageous position he has taken as Civilian Aide to the Secretary of War as shown in his resignation because of racial discrimination in the Air Corps and other departments.

The Negro people and the White people too who believe in democracy, equality and freedom are greatly indebted to Judge Hastie for this uncompromising challenge of the forces of Hitlerism in the Government and our country.

APR:fw

C O P Y :

TALLADEGA COLLEGE

Talladega, Alabama

Dear Walter:

I have your memorandum to the members of the
Spingarn Medal Award Committee, and it now appears
quite probable that I shall not be able to be present
on March 20th, so that all I am doing now is to say that
the things which I have received and read regarding
Hastie's decision and the bases on which he acted would
all tend to confirm my own judgment that he is the man
who ought to be given the award this year.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) BUELL W. GALLAGHER

Mr. Walter White
National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People
69 Fifth Avenue
New York City

NATIONAL OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

DR. LOUIS T. WRIGHT

ACTING CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

HON. CHARLES E. TONEY

VICE-PRESIDENTS

MARY McLEOD BETHUNE
NANNIE H. BURROUGHS
GODFREY LOWELL CABOT
HON. ARTHUR CAPPER
DR. WALTER GRAY CRUMP
BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG
REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
DR. WILLIAM LLOYD IMES
HON. IRA W. JAYNE
REV. A. CLAYTON POWELL
GEN. THEODORE ROOSEVELT
OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

TREASURER

MARY WHITE OVINGTON

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

<table><tr><td>Atlanta</td><td>Eugene M. Martin</td></tr><tr><td>Baltimore</td><td>Carl Murphy</td></tr><tr><td>Berkeley, Calif.</td><td>Dr. Bueil G. Gallagher</td></tr><tr><td>Birmingham, Ala.</td><td>Dr. E. W. Taggart</td></tr><tr><td>Boston</td><td>Dr. John B. Hall<br/>Julian D. Steele</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, W. Va.</td><td>T. G. Nutter</td></tr><tr><td>Chicago</td><td>Earl B. Dickerson<br/>Bishop W. J. Walls</td></tr><tr><td>Cleveland</td><td>Hon. Harry E. Davis<br/>L. Pearl Mitchell</td></tr><tr><td>Des Moines, Ia.</td><td>S. Joe Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Detroit</td><td>Louis C. Blount<br/>R. J. Thomas</td></tr><tr><td>Falls Village, Conn.</td><td>Dr. William Allan Neilson</td></tr><tr><td>Greenwich, Conn.</td><td>Alfred Baker Lewis</td></tr><tr><td>Hartford, Conn.</td><td>Dr. Allen F. Jackson</td></tr><tr><td>Ithaca, N. Y.</td><td>Major Robert E. Treman</td></tr><tr><td>Newark, N. J.</td><td>Grace B. Fenderson</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Lillian A. Alexander<br/>Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers<br/>Marion Cuthbert<br/>Hon. Hubert I. Delany<br/>Douglas P. Falconer<br/>Lewis S. Gannett<br/>John Hammond<br/>Rev. John Haynes Holmes<br/>Hon. Herbert H. Lehman<br/>Dr. O. Clay Maxwell<br/>Mary White Ovington<br/>Hon. Charles Foletti<br/>A. Phillip Randolph<br/>Rev. James H. Robinson<br/>Amy E. Spingarn<br/>Arthur B. Spingarn<br/>Dr. Channing H. Tobias<br/>Hon. Charles E. Toney<br/>Dr. Louis T. Wright</td></tr><tr><td>Northampton, Mass.</td><td>Prof. S. Ralph Harlow</td></tr><tr><td>Oklahoma City</td><td>Roscoe Dunjee</td></tr><tr><td>Philadelphia</td><td>Isadora Martin<br/>Theodore Spaulding</td></tr><tr><td>Richmond, Va.</td><td>Dr. J. M. Tinsley</td></tr><tr><td>St. Louis</td><td>Sidney R. Redmond</td></tr><tr><td>Topeka, Kans.</td><td>Hon. Arthur Copper</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>William H. Hastie<br/>Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb</td></tr></table>

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

<table><tr><td>William H. Hastie, Washington, Chairman</td></tr><tr><td>Atlanta</td><td>A. T. Walden</td></tr><tr><td>Berkeley, Calif.</td><td>Walter A. Gordon</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, W. Va.</td><td>T. G. Nutter</td></tr><tr><td>Chicago</td><td>Irvin C. Mollison</td></tr><tr><td>Cincinnati</td><td>Theodore M. Berry</td></tr><tr><td>Cleveland</td><td>William T. McKnight</td></tr><tr><td>Dallas, Texas</td><td>W. J. Durham</td></tr><tr><td>Erie, Pa.</td><td>William F. Ilia</td></tr><tr><td>Los Angeles</td><td>Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.</td></tr><tr><td>Louisville</td><td>Charles W. Anderson</td></tr><tr><td>Madison, Wis.</td><td>Lloyd Garrison</td></tr><tr><td>Nashville, Tenn.</td><td>Z. Alexander Looby</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Donald Crichton<br/>Morris L. Ernst<br/>Arthur Garfield Hays<br/>Karl N. Llewellyn<br/>James Marshall<br/>Charles H. Studin<br/>Andrew Weinberger</td></tr><tr><td>Pittsburgh</td><td>Homer S. Brown</td></tr><tr><td>Tulsa, Okla.</td><td>Amos T. Hall</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>Charles H. Houston<br/>Edward P. Lovett<br/>W. Robert Ming, Jr.<br/>Leon A. Ransom</td></tr><tr><td>Wilmington, Del.</td><td>Louis L. Redding</td></tr></table>

357

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, 3 N. Y.

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3550

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY

MILTON R. KONVITZ
EDWARD R. DUDLEY
ASSISTANT SPECIAL COUNSEL

ELLA J. BAKER
DIRECTOR OF BRANCHES

DONALD JONES
IRVENA MING
NOMA JENSEN
N. W. GRIFFIN
E. FREDERIC MORROW
(ON LEAVE IN ARMED SERVICES)
ASSISTANT FIELD SECRETARIES

RUBY H. HURLEY
YOUTH SECRETARY

LESLIE S. PERRY
FRANK D. REEVES (ON LEAVE)
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS,
WASHINGTON BUREAU

September 5, 1944

Dear Mr. Hughes:

For her sake, I hope you will treat this letter
as strictly confidential. But I have recently learned
from persons close to Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune that
her recent illness, from which she is far from recover-
ing, has about exhausted her meagre finances. The
fact that she has given unselfishly and without stint
for the cause to which she has devoted her life and
has never thought of self causes her to be ill at her
present age virtually without resources.

I am writing, therefore, to ask if you would be
willing to join me in contributing $50.00 (or a lesser
sum if you choose) to be presented to Mrs. Bethune as
a token of our gratitude and affection. Because of
her sensitiveness, it occurred to me that we would not
want to give it to her to help pay her heavy hospital
and doctor's bills. I thought that we might present
it to her as a birthday gift, if her birthday takes
place any time soon. If it does not, what suggestion
would you have of making the presentation without
hurting her pride?

Please let me know what your decision is. I
suggest that checks be made payable to Mary McLeod
Bethune and forwarded to this office.

Secretary,

C O P Y

September
Fourteen
1944

Mr. Walter White
69 Fifth Avenue
New York City, N. Y.

My dear Walter:

First I want to say that I have no friend whom I
consider truer to me and more thoroughly interested in
my personal welfare than yourself. I do not in any way
doubt the tenderly, brotherly intentions of your letter
to the intimate friends to whom you have written regard-
ing a personal gift to me and the purpose of the gift.
It must be stated, however, that during the years I have
been wise and thrifty enough to provide adequately for my
personal needs.

It is true that at this state of my life, in order
for me to continue my public service to the Race and Nation,
needs must be provided for travel, secretarial assistance
and the promotion of such programs as I shall endeavor to
help carry on. Contributions of friends for this purpose
are acceptable and wise, but the idea that I am now in need
of funds to pay my personal bills and provide for me per-
sonally after these years of standard lifting and leader-
ship is a mistake which I deeply regret and which I feel
must be corrected in some way as soon as possible. It may
be wise for you to retrace your communication with a state-
ment that you have been misinformed and that the personal
aspect is not the thing desired.

I bring this to your attention because of the "murmurings"
which are seeping thru from many recipients of this letter.
These murmurings have caused me great mental distress.

Again I am most grateful for the effort, and understand
me thoroughly Walter, that I realize the pain that both you
and myself must endure to secure this correction.

Lots of luck.

(signed) Mary

MMcB/r

N. A. A. C. P.
SIXTY-NINE FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK 3, N. Y.

119

NATIONAL OFFICERS

President
Arthur B. Spingarn

Chairman of the Board
Dr. Louis T. Wright

Acting Chairman of the Board
Hon. Charles E. Toney

Vice-Presidents
Mary McLeod Bethune
Nannie H. Burroughs
Godfrey Lowell Cabot
Hon. Arthur Copper
Hon. Harry E. Davis
Bishop John A. Gregg
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Dr. William Lloyd Imes
Hon. Ira W. Jayne
Isadore Martin
T. G. Nutter
Rev. A. Clayton Powell
Oswald Garrison Villard

Treasurer
Mary White Ovington

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

**Atlanta**
Eugene M. Martin
Carl Murphy
Dr. Buell G. Gallagher
**Baltimore**
Dr. E. W. Taggart
**Berkeley, Calif.**
Dr. John B. Hall
**Birmingham, Ala.**
Julian D. Steele
**Beston**
Earl B. Dickerson
Bishop W. J. Walls
**Chicago**
Theodore M. Berry
**Cincinnati**
S. Joe Brown
**Des Moines, Ia.**
Dr. James J. McClendon
**Detroit**
R. J. Thomas

**Falls Village, Conn.**
Dr. William Allan Neilson
**Greenwich, Conn.**
Alfred Baker Lewis
**Hartford, Conn.**
Dr. Allen F. Jackson
**Jamaica, N. Y.**
Dr. John A. Singleton
**Newark, N. J.**
Grace B. Fenderson
**New York**
Lillian A. Alexander
Hon. Jane M. Bolin
Elmer A. Carter
Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers
Marion Cuthbert
Russell W. Davenport
Hon. Hubert T. Delany
Douglas P. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Dr. O. Clay Maxwell
Mary White Ovington
A. Philip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Amy E. Spingarn
Arthur B. Spingarn
Dr. Channing H. Tobias
Hon. Charles E. Toney
Dr. Louis I. Wright

**Northampton, Mass.**
Roscoe Dunjee
**Oklahoma City**
Theodore Spaulding
**Philadelphia**
Dr. J. M. Tinsley
**Richmond, Va.**
Sidney R. Redmond
**St. Louis**
Hon. Arthur Copper
**Topeka, Kans.**
William H. Hastie
**Washington**
Charles H. Houston
Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

**Atlanta**
A. T. Walden
**Chicago**
I. G. Nutter
**Cincinnati**
Irvin C. Mallison
**Cleveland**
Theodore M. Berry
**Dallas, Texas**
William T. McKnight
**Erie, Pa.**
W. J. Durham
**Los Angeles**
William F. Illig
**Louisville**
Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.
**Madison, Wis.**
Loren Miller
**Nashville, Tenn.**
Charles W. Anderson
**New York**
Lloyd Garrison
Z. Alexander Looby
Donald Crichton
Morris L. Ernst
Osmond K. Fronknel
Arthur Garfield Hoys
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Shad Poller
Hope Stevens
Charles H. Studin
Andrew D. Weinberger
**Pittsburgh**
Homer S. Brown
**Richmond, Va.**
Spottswood W. Robinson, III
**San Francisco**
Bartley C. Crum
**Tulsa, Okla.**
Amos T. Hall
**Washington**
Charles H. Houston
Edward P. Lovett
Leon A. Ransom
Ruth Wayand
**Wilmington, Del.**
Louis L. Redding

69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 3, N. Y.

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3550

Official Organ: The Crisis

July 17, 1945

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Walter White Secretary

Roy Wilkins Assistant Secretary
Editor, The Crisis

Thurgood Marshall Special Counsel

Milton R. Konvitz [on leave]

Edward R. Dudley
Assistant Special Counsel

Leslie S. Perry
Administrative Assistant,
Washington Bureau

W. E. B. Du Bois
Director, Special Research

Daisy E. Lampkin Field Secretary

Ella J. Baker Director of Branches

Donald Jones

Irvena Ming

Noma Jensen

LeRoy E. Carter

[On leave in Armed Services]

Assistant Field Secretaries

N. W. Griffin
West Coast Regional Secretary

Lucille Black
Membership Secretary

Ruby Hurley Youth Secretary

Consuelo C. Young
Publicity and Promotion

Jesse O. Dedmon, Jr.
Secretary, Veterans' Affairs

Dear Langston:

I have been travelling a lot - as usual -
so that this is my first opportunity to thank you
for that excellent column you did in the **Defender**
recently about your simple-minded friend supporting
the N.A.A.C.P. May we have your permission to
reproduce it as a leaflet? I am also asking the
Defender's permission.

All the best to you. When are you going
to have a meal with us again? I hope soon.

Ever sincerely,

Secretary

WW:RR

357

PERSONAL

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
Apt. 1D, c/o Harper
New York 30, N. Y.

NATIONAL OFFICERS

President

Arthur B. Spingarn

Chairman of the Board

Dr. Louis T. Wright

Acting Chairman of the Board

Hon. Charles E. Toney

Vice-Presidents

Mary McLeod Bethune

Nannie H. Burroughs

Godfrey Lowell Cabot

Hon. Arthur Copper

Hon. Harry E. Davis

Bishop John A. Gregg

Rev. John Haynes Holmes

Dr. William Lloyd Imes

Hon. Ira W. Jayne

Isadoro Martin

T. G. Nutter

Rev. A. Clayton Powell

Oswald Garrison Villard

Treasurer

Mary White Ovington

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Atlanta Eugene M. Martin
Baltimore Carl Murphy
Berkeley, Calif. Dr. Buell G. Gallagher
Birmingham, Ala. Dr. E. W. Taggart
Boston Dr. John B. Hall
Julian D. Steele
Chicago Earl B. Dickerson
Bishop W. J. Walls
Theodore M. Berry
Des Moines, Ia. S. Joe Brown
Detroit Dr. James J. McClendon
R. J. Thomas
Falls Village, Conn. Dr. William Allan Neilson
Greenwich, Conn. Alfred Baker Lewis
Hartford, Conn. Dr. Allen F. Jackson
Jamaica, N. Y. Dr. John A. Singleton
Newark, N. J. Grace B. Fenderson
Lillian A. Alexander
Hon. Jane M. Bolin
Elmer A. Carter
New York Dr. Alligator Knight Chalmera
Marion Cuthbert
Russell W. Davenport
Hon. Hubert I. Deiany
Douglas P. Falconer
Lewis S. Gannett
John Hammond
Rev. John Haynes Holmes
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
Dr. O. Clay Maxwell
Mary White Ovington
A. Philip Randolph
Rev. James H. Robinson
Alton E. Spingarn
Arthur B. Spingarn
Dr. Channing H. Tobias
Hon. Charles E. Taney
Dr. Louis T. Wright
Northampton, Mass. Prof. S. Ralph Harlow
Oklahoma City Kaliace Dunioe
Philadelphia Theodore Spaulding
Richmond, Va. Dr. J. M. Tinsley
St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond
Topeka, Kans. Hon. Arthur Capper
Washington William H. Hastie
Charles H. Houston
Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb

Northampton, Mass.

Oklahoma City

Philadelphia

Richmond, Va.

St. Louis

Topeka, Kans.

Washington

NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE

Atlanta A. T. Walden

Chicago Irvin C. Mollison

Cincinnati Theodore M. Berry

Cleveland William I. McKnight

Dallas, Texas

Erie, Pa.

Los Angeles

Louisville Loren Miller
Madison, Wis. Charles W. Anderson

Nashville, Tenn. Lloyd Garrison

New York Z. Alexander Looby
Donald Crichton
Morris L. Ernst
Osmond K. Fraenkel
Arthur Garfield Hays
Karl N. Llewellyn
James Marshall
Shad Polier
Hope Stevens
Charles H. Studin

Pittsburgh Homer S. Brown
Richmond, Va. Spottswood W. Robinson, III
San Francisco Bartley C. Crum
Tulsa, Okla. Amos T. Hall
Washington Charles H. Houston
Edward P. Lovett
Leon A. Ransom
Ruth Weyand
Louis L. Redding

Wilmington, Del.

357

TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3550

Official Organ: The Crisis

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Walter White Secretary

Milton R. Konvitz [on leave]

Donald Jones

Irvena Ming

Noma Jensen

LeRoy E. Carter

[On leave in Armed Services]

Assistant Field Secretaries

Ruby Hurley Youth Secretary

September 28, 1945

Dear Langston:

The NAACP is considering the establishment
in Hollywood of a Bureau which would serve as a
source of information, particularly with respect
to treatment of Negroes in the films.

I am writing to inquire if you would be
willing and able to serve on an Advisory Com-
mittee to the Bureau and to inquire, also, if
you will be able to attend a luncheon which we
are calling on Thursday, October 17th, at the
Hotel Commodore, 12:45 p.m., in order to talk
over the plans for the Hollywood Bureau. Marshall
Field will be present to give us the benefit of
his recent visit to Hollywood.

Other members of the committee are: Arthur
Spingarn, chairman; William H. Hastie, Edwin R.
Embree, Walter Wanger, Bartley Crum, Lenore Marsh-
all, Andrew Weinberger, Better Davis, John Hammond,
Lena Horne, Helen Gahagan Douglas, Buell Gallagher,
Major Matty Fox, Colonel Jock Lawrence and Norman
Corwin.

I hope very much that you will be able to
accept membership on the committee and that you
will attend the luncheon on Thursday, October 17th.

Ever sincerely,

Secretary.

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue,
Apt. 1 D, c/o Harper
New York 30, New York

WW:DW

["127", "NATIONAL OFFICERS", "President", "Arthur B. Spingarn", "Chairman of the Board", "Dr. Louis T. Wright", "Acting Chairman of the Board", "Hon. Charles E. Toney", "Vice-Presidents", "Mary McLeod Bethune", "Nannie H. Burroughs", "Godfrey Lowell Cabot", "Hon. Arthur Capper", "Hon. Harry E. Davis", "Bishop John A. Gregg", "Rev. John Haynes Holmes", "Dr. William Lloyd Imes", "Hon. Ira W. Jayne", "Isadore Martin", "T. G. Nutter", "Rev. A. Clayton Powell", "Oswald Garrison Villard", "Treasurer", "Mary White Ovington", "BOARD OF DIRECTORS", "Atlanta Eugene M. Martin", "Baltimore Carl Murphy", "Berkeley, Calif. Dr. Buell G. Gallagher", "Birmingham, Ala. Dr. E. W. Taggart", "Boston Dr. John B. Hall", "Chicago", "Cincinnati Dr. William Allan Neilson", "Des Moines, la. Dr. James J. McClendon", "Detroit Dr. J. Thomas", "Falls Village, Conn. Dr. William Allan Neilson", "Greenwich, Conn. Alfred Baker Lewis", "Hartford, Conn. Dr. Allen F. Jackson", "Jamaica, N. Y. Dr. John A. Singleton", "Newark, N. J. Grace B. Fenderson", "New York Lillian A. Alexander", "Hon. Jane M. Bolin", "Elmer A. Carter", "Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers", "Marion Cuthbert", "Russell W. Davenport", "Hon. Hubert T. Delany", "Douglas P. Falconer", "Lewis S. Gannett", "John Hammond", "Rev. John Haynes Holmes", "Hon. Herbert H. Lehman", "Dr. O. Clay Maxwell", "Mary White Ovington", "A. Philip Kandolph", "Rev. James H. Robinson", "Amy E. Spingarn", "Arthur B. Spingarn", "Dr. Channing H. Tobias", "Hon. Charles E. Toney", "Louis I. Wright", "Northampton, Mass. Prof. S. Ralph Harlow", "Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunjee", "Philadelphia Theodore Spaulding\nRichmond, Va. Dr. J. M. Tinsley", "St. Louis Sidney R. Redmond", "Topeka, Kans. Hon. Arthur Capper", "Washington William H. Hastie", "Charles H. Houston", "Dr. Elizabeth Yates Webb", "NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE", "William H. Hastie, Washington, Chairman", "Atlanta A. T. Walden", "Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter", "Chicago Irvin C. Morrison", "Cincinnati Theodore M. Berry", "Cleveland William T. McKnight", "Dallas, Texas W. J. Durham", "Erie, Pa. William F. Iliig", "Los Angeles Thomas L. Griffith, Jr.", "Louisville Loren Miller", "Madison, Wis. Charles W. Anderson", "Nashville, Tenn. Z. Alexander Looby", "New York Donald Crichton", "Morris L. Ernst", "Osmond K. Fraenkel", "Arthur Garfield Hoys", "Kels. N. Llewellyn", "James Marshall", "Shad Poller", "Hope Stevens", "Charles H. Studin", "Andrew D. Weinberger", "Homer S. Brown", "San Francisco Robert W. Robinson, III", "Pittsburgh", "Richmond, Va.", "San Francisco", "Tulsa, Okla.", "Washington", "Bartley C. Crum", "Amos T. Hall", "Charles H. Houston", "Edward P. Lovett", "Lean A. Ransom", "Ruth Wayand", "Wilmington, Del.", "157", "NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE\nADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE", "69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 3, N. Y.", "TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-3550", "Official Organ: The Crisis", "EXECUTIVE OFFICERS", "Walter White Secretary", "Roy Wilkins Assistant Secretary\nEditor, The Crisis", "Thurgood Marshall Special Counsel", "Milton R. Konvitz [on leave]", "Edward R. Dudley Assistant Special Counsel", "Leslie S. Perry Administrative Assistant,\nWashington Bureau", "W. E. B. Du Bois Director, Special Research", "Daisy E. Lampkin Field Secretary", "Ella J. Baker Director of Branches", "Donald Jones", "Irven Ming", "Noma Jensen", "LeRoy E. Carter", "E. Frederic Morrow\n[On leave in Armed Services]\nAssistant Field Secretaries", "N. W. Griffin West Coast Regional Secretary", "Lucille Black Membership Secretary", "Ruby Hurley Youth Secretary", "Consuelo C. Young Publicity and Promotion", "Jesse O. Dedmon, Jr.\nSecretary, Veterans' Affairs", "October 4, 1945", "Dear Langston:", "Here is the list of branches. I know\nyou will do a swell job. We get world all of\nthe time of the nice things you say about the\nNAACP, and we are most grateful.", "I am delighted that you can come to\nthe luncheon at the Commodore on October 17th.\nMembership on the committee will not entail\nmuch work except in the initial stages in see-\ning that we proceed in the right manner and\ndirection. Whether you consent to serve on\nthe committee or not, we want your advice at\nthat initial meeting and I am glad that you can\ncome.", "I am most interested in what you say\nabout DEEP ARE THE ROOTS and

WESTERN
UNION

A. N. WILLIAMS
PRESIDENT

1220

(44)

<table><thead><tr><th>SYMBOLS</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>DL = Day Letter</td></tr><tr><td>NL = Night Letter</td></tr><tr><td>LC = Deferred Cable</td></tr><tr><td>NLT = Cable Night Letter</td></tr><tr><td>Ship Radiogram.</td></tr></tbody></table>

The filing time shown in the date line on telegrams and day letters is STANDARD TIME at point of origin. Time of receipt is STANDARD TIME at point of destination

N239 111 1 EXTRA=WUX NEWYORK NY 17 123P

LANGSTON HUGHES, CARE HARPER
=634 ST NICHOLAS AVE APT 1D=

1946 JUL 10 PM 1 46

WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO ATTEND A VERY PRIVATE SHOWING OF "MAN OF TWO WORLDS" WHICH THE PRODUCERS OF "HENRY THE FIFTH" HAVE JUST COMPLETED AFTER TWO YEARS FILMING IN EAST AFRICA. IT IS IN TECHNICOLOR, COST SEVERAL MILLION DOLLARS AND WILL PROBABLY HAVE GREAT SUCCESS AS ENTERTAINMENT WHEN IT IS PUBLICLY SHOWN NEXT WINTER BUT BECAUSE OF ITS EXTRAORDINARY SOCIOLITICAL CONTENT WE ARE ASKING A VERY SMALL GROUP TO SEE IT NEXT TUESDAY NIGHT, JULY 23RD, IN UNIVERSAL'S PRIVATE PROJECTION ROOM ON THE ELEVENTH FLOOR OF 1250 SIXTH AVENUE AT 8:30 P.M. PLEASE LET US KNOW AT 20 WEST 40TH STREET, LONGACRE 3-6890 IF YOU CAN BE PRESENT URGENTLY= MARC CONNELLY AND WALTER WHITE.

23 1250 SIXTH AVENUE 8:30 P.M. 20 40 3-6890

THE COMPANY WILL APPRECIATE SUGGESTIONS FROM ITS PATRONS CONCERNING ITS SERVICE

137

July 27, 1946

Dear Walter:

I think that picture was the biggest and most beautiful technicolor sin of omission that I have ever seen. In my opinion, The Witch Man, portrayed as a villain in the picture, is really the hero, and the only one who seems to understand what the British colonial system is all about. Since the picture does not indicate otherwise, and does not show any of the oppression existing in British colonial Africa, people who do not know would believe from that film that the English have only one aim in mind, namely, to help the African, which everybody knows is untrue. I think it is one of the most sublimely anti-Negro pictures that I have ever seen. It is regrettable that so beautiful a film, visually and musically, should be prostituted for dangerously anti-democratic ends. Arthur Spingarn expressed my own views quite well that evening.

Thank you and Marc Connelly for inviting me to see it.

I especially enjoyed seeing Gladys and the kids again. Jane has certainly become a most stunning looking young woman, and Gladys is as lovely as ever.

With all good wishes to you, I am

Sincerely yours,

Mr. Walter White
NAACP
20 West 40 Street
New York City 18

RE: MAN OF TWO WORLDS, private showing, July 23, 1946

(Universal)

July 27, 1946

Dear Walter:

I think that picture was the biggest and most beautiful technicolor sin of omission that I have ever seen. In my opinion, *The Witch Man*, portrayed as a villain in the picture, is really the hero, and the only one who seems to understand what the British colonial system is all about. Since the picture does not indicate otherwise, and does not show any of the oppression existing in British colonial Africa, people who do not know would believe from that film that the English have only one aim in mind, namely, to help the African, which everybody knows is untrue. I think it is one of the most subtly anti-Negro pictures that I have ever seen. It is regrettable that so beautiful a film, visually and musically, should be prostituted for dangerously anti-democratic ends. Arthur Spingarn expressed my own views quite well that evening.

Sincerely yours,

WESTERN
UNION

JOSEPH L. EGAN
PRESIDENT

1201

(42)

<table><thead><tr><th>SYMBOLS</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>DL=Day Letter</td></tr><tr><td>NL=Night Letter</td></tr><tr><td>LC=Deferred Cable</td></tr><tr><td>NLT=Cable Night Letter</td></tr><tr><td>Ship Radiogram</td></tr></tbody></table>

N137 68 11 EXTRA=AV NEWYORK NY 29 223P

LANGSTON HUGHES, CARE HAYES=

:APT 1D 634 ST NICHOLAS AVE=

1947 JAN 29 PM 2 44

:YOU ARE CORIDALLY INVITED TO RECEPTION FOR DR JEAN PRICE MARS, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF HAITI TUESDAY FEBRUARY FOURTH FROM 5 TO 7 PM. IN CONFERENCE ROOM WILL KIE MEMORIAL BUILDING 20 WEST FORTIETH STREET GIVEN BY NATIONAL

ASSOCIATION FOR ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF WE MAY HAVE THE HONOR OF YOUR PRESENCE=

WALTER WHITE SECRETARY 20 WEST FORTIETH STREET NEW YORK 18 NY TELEPHONE LONGACRE 3-6890

5 7 PM 20 18 3-6890. SUGGESTIONS FROM ITS PATRONS CONCERNING ITS SERVICE

LONGACRE 5-1476

HERMAN KOBBE

STUDIO 50
80 WEST 40TH STREET
NEW YORK

April 9th, 1947.

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Place
New York, N. Y.

Dear Mr. Hughes:

We are enclosing a letter of introduction
from Mr. Walter White regarding an education center
to be established at Lake Murray in South Carolina.

We feel certain that our plans will be of
interest to you, and we know that any comments or
suggestions which you might care to make will be of
great help to us in carrying out our program.

May we have an opportunity to discuss this
matter with you at your convenience?

WESTERN
UNION

JOSEPH L. EGAN
PRESIDENT

1201

<table><thead><tr><th colspan="2">SYMBOLS</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>DL</td><td>Day Letter</td></tr><tr><td>NL</td><td>Night Letter</td></tr><tr><td>LC</td><td>Deferred Cable</td></tr><tr><td>NLT</td><td>Cable Night Letter</td></tr><tr><td>Ship Radiogram</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

JNE STRAIGHT WIRE FEBRUARY 6, 1948

Frances Blaine Hurie
1732 Lowell Avenue
Springfield, Ill.

Simeon B. Osby, Vice Pres.
Springfield Branch NAACP
117 North 8th
Springfield, Ill.

HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF LANGSTON HUGHES' POLITICAL AFFILIATION BUT AM
PERSONALLY CONVINCED THAT HE IS A MAN OF INDEPENDENT JUDGMENT AND
INTEGRITY AND INSOFAR AS I KNOW NOT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY CONNECTED
WITH ANY POLITICAL PARTY.

Walter White

WW:RJW COPY

WESTERN
UNION

JOSEPH L. EGAN
PRESIDENT

1201

COPY Springfield, Ill. Feb 6 1:26 p.m.

AM CHURCH SECRETARY NAACP SPRINGFIELD BRANCH AM CHAIRMAN RACE RELATIONS
COMMITTEE SPRINGFIELD COUNCIL CHURCHES WE ARE WITH 15 OTHER GROUPS CO
SPONSORING LANGSTON HUGHES LECTURE ON MARCH 11. NATIONAL INTER VETERANS
COUNCIL HAS ORDERED LOCAL INTER VETERANS COUNCIL INVESTIGATE HUGHES AS
COMMUNIST AND LOCAL COUNCIL OPPOSES HUGHES ON THIS BASIS HAVE WIRED FEDERAL
COUNCIL OF CHURCHES FOR STATEMENT WOULD LIKE YOUR STATEMENT FOR USE WITH
VETERANS COUNCIL AND FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING IN COMMUNITY ESPECIALLY
IMPORTANT IN VIEW OF RECENT CITY ACTION ON ROBESON IN PEORIA ILLINOIS
VETERANS CALLING MEETING SUNDAY AFTERNOON WILL YOU AIR MAIL SPECIAL

153

September 16

1950

Dear Walter:

I know that very often you go down to Washington. If by any chance you are there on Tuesday, September 26, I would love to invite you — and your wife, if she is with you — to the opening of my new opera, THE BARRIER, at the Gayety Theater. As you have read probably, Murael Rahn and Lawrence Tibbett are starred, and both of them would love to have you present for the national première.

I am not sure yet just where I will be staying in Washington, but I am going down with the company on Sunday, September 24, and can be reached at the theater in case you come down any time during that week.

Lots of good wishes to you, as ever.

Mr. Walter White
441 West 21st Street
New York, New York

LH:HHS

160

WALTER WHITE

441 WEST 21ST STREET
NEW YORK 11, N. Y.

September 21, 1950

Dear Langston:

It is awfully nice of you to invite Poppy
and me to the opening of "The Barrier" in
Washington on September 26. But unhappily, the
annual meeting of the Nominating Committee, which
it is obligatory that I attend, comes on that
day. Also Poppy is starting a three-times-a-week
television show in October and is at present put-
ting in about twenty-six hours a day on the less
crowded days of her schedule.

But we both send you our warmest good wishes
for a tremendous success. Can't we take a rain
check for the New York opening?

Walter White

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

WW:erb

163

August 12, 1953

Dear Walter and Poppy,

If you're in town this summer, I'd be delighted if
you would drop by my house for cocktails and conver-
sation with Mary Elizabeth Vorman, who wrote "Bright
Road", Louise Bennett, compiler of Nancy tales from
Jamaica, and Arna Bontemps who will be in town a few
days from Fisk, on this Thursday coming, August 20th,
from 5 to 7. It will be very nice to see you all
again.

With best wishes,