23 West 26th St.
New York 10, N. Y.

February 15, 1952.

Dear Mr. Hughes:

The enclosed proposed petition concerns our
government's policy toward colonial and subject peoples,
especially in Africa, a matter which is in the forefront
of world politics today and upon which we as colored
Americans have a weighty moral obligation, I feel, to
make our views known at the present time.

I am writing to ask you to join with me as one
of the initiating signers of this petition.

It is my hope that after securing about fifty
or more initiating signers among Negro professional,
educational, religious and civic leaders throughout the
country, we may then send the petition far and wide among
our people, enlisting many hundreds of additional endorse-
ments, so that the final result will be a truly representative
and non-partisan expression of Negro opinion in the United
States.

I sincerely hope that you will give the petition
a careful reading and will consent to join me in this
undertaking.

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

16

May 22, 1956

Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois,
31 Grace Court,
Brooklyn 2, New York.

Dear Dr. Du Bois,

I have just read again your *The Souls of Black Folk*---for perhaps the tenth time---the first time having been some forty years ago when I was a child in Kansas. Its beauty and passion and power are as moving and as meaningful as ever.

My very best regards to Shirley and
continued good wishes to you both,