THE PAUL ROBESON ART GUILD

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

JERENE MACKLIN

549 Hauge, Detroit 2, Mich.
Trinity 2-4068

President NIMROD CARNEY

Vice-Pres. LESTER McFALL

Treasurer JENNIE PARTEE

RECORDING SECRETARY

RUTH CARNEY

541 Hauge, Detroit 2, Mich.

539 Hague

November 6, 1945

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York 30, New York

Dear Mr. Hughes:

The Paul Robeson Art Guild was first organized in 1938 under the young negro poet, Robert E. Hayden. We did several original plays and participated in the cultural activities of the community until the war interrupted our efforts. Six months ago, however, we reorganized and our ultimate aim is the establishment of a community theatre that will serve the purpose of the people. We intend to stage plays composed by young negro writers. This material will not only be valuable to us in our productions but will serve as a medium of publicity for the tender-foot playwright.

We are now confronted with the task of finding such scripts. We would sincerely appreciate your help in securing some. We feel that your experience in the field will enable you to give us helpful suggestions along with the suitable material.

November 23, 1945

Miss Ruth Carney
539 Hague Street
Detroit 2, Michigan

Dear Miss Carney:

I have just returned from a long Middle Western lecture tour which explains my tardiness in answering your letter. I am happy to hear that the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Art Guild has been reorganized and that you are trying to present the plays of Negro playwrights. I am enclosing for you a list of my plays. Mulatto is now available for amateur production in the original version which may be secured from my agent, Maxim Lieber. The Sun Do Move, a big production requiring a large cast and a chorus, may be secured from the IWO Office as indicated on the enclosed sheet.

I do not believe *Don't You Want To Be Free* was ever produced in Detroit, although it has been done by fifteen or twenty amateur college groups in the country and had a run of 125 performances in Harlem. I have now revised and brought it up to date and could send you a script if you think it would be of interest to your group.

One of the best sources about plays for the Negro theatre is Mrs. Rowena Smith, Karamu House, East 38th and Central, Cleveland, as they have been for many years our leading theatre group.

There are two good young Negro playwrights in Chicago to whom you might write also for scripts: Robert Lucas of the Chicago Defender, 3435 Indiana Avenue, Chicago 60, who recently won the Skyloft Players Contest there with an excellent long one-act play; and Frank Greenwood, 4529 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 15, who has a very good full-length play called "Cafe Panorama".

You have all my good wishes for your coming productions, and if I can be of any further use to you, kindly let me know.

Sincerely yours,

JOHN HOWARD LAWSON

Dear Friend:

I want to invite you to enter your pre-publication order for my book, *THE HIDDEN HERITAGE* -- the Limited "Autograph" Edition -- because I feel that the book is important at this time.

It is not unusual for an author to ask people to buy a new book. But this letter is written under unusual circumstances because the author, with his colleagues of the Hollywood Ten, has been found guilty of "contempt of Congress" and faces prison for asserting that the Bill of Rights means what it says in forbidding Congress to interfere with freedom of speech, press or association.

Nothing like this has happened in the U. S. for 150 years. And it has a vital bearing on my book, and on this appeal to you to order it in advance. Perhaps I can best explain my own sense of urgency and purpose in writing *THE HIDDEN HERITAGE* by quoting from the statement I made before the court when a federal judge sentenced me to a year in prison:

> "I have tried to live by an active principle of responsible citizenship. I have felt that patriotism demands moral energy, constant awareness of democratic values. I devoted myself to research in American history as a labor of love, but also in order to find a faith to live by . . .

> "It is ironic that, before the labor is completed, I find myself hailed before a committee of Congress on suspicion of Un-American activity, and called before the bar of justice because I apply what I have learned, and conduct myself according to the sacred obligation that I have received from the past and made my own."

I have finished the book. It is a large, crowded, loving and angry book. It is about the whole heritage of culture that is threatened by the knavish politicians and pettifogging lawyers, who want to rewrite history in the image of their own corruption.

It may be the book will be published while I am in prison. The enemies of the people think they can imprison ideas by putting people behind bars. The book is an answer -- an historical affirmation of the power and integrity of ideas.

Your pre-publication reservation now will bring you one or more copies of the specially printed and bound Autograph Edition of *THE HIDDEN HERITAGE* at $10. The sale of this fine limited edition will make possible the publication of a low-cost trade edition at approximately $3.00 so as to reach the widest audience.

I hope you can send your reservation today to Citadel Press, the publishers.

uopwa - 16

#50

PAUL ROBESON

23 WEST 26TH STREET
NEW YORK 10, N. Y.

September 18, 1950

Mr. Langston Hughes
20 E. 127th Street
New York, New York

Dear Langston:

Just a few lines about a very dear friend of mine --
and one to whom we are all indebted -- John Howard
Lawson. John is now in prison -- technically for
Contempt of Congress -- but in reality because of
his magnificent struggle in defense of our heritage
of Free Speech.

Just before his sentence, John completed a work of
the greatest importance -- a history of society called
"The Hidden Heritage".

Unfortunately, the initial printing costs bring the
price beyond the reach of the many people who would
want to read and own his book. If enough autographed
copies can be sold in a limited ten dollar (\$10.00)
edition, the Publishers will be able to put out a
regular edition at low cost.

I deeply feel that we have a double duty -- a duty to
John to get his book out as quickly as possible --
and a duty to the thousands who should read this book.

A brochure is enclosed with a handy coupon for placing
orders. Please send in one or more as soon as you can
-- preferably today.

All the best to you and many thanks.

264

c/o Louise Mally
210 West 17th St.
New York 11, N.Y.
September 25, 1951

Dear Mr. Hughes:

We invite you to meet with us, Wednesday, October 3rd, at 8:30 in the evening at 1 West 89th Street, Apartment 4W, to discuss a matter of urgent concern.

On June 20, 1951, the Department of Justice indicted Mr. V.J. Jerome and a number of other Communists on a charge of conspiring to teach and advocate the forcible overthrow of the United States Government. The "overt act" cited against Mr. Jerome is that he "did issue a directive and cause it to be circulated through *Political Affairs*." This "directive" was an essay, "Grasp the Weapon of Culture" which appeared in the February 1951 issue of *Political Affairs*, a monthly magazine edited by Mr. Jerome.

This indictment clearly proscribes V.J. Jerome's right to publish articles. It crowns an alarming series of events - the banning of books and magazines from libraries, the growth of the doctrine of "guilt by association," the assumption that to declare a man suspect is enough to condemn his works. Yet American culture, founded in the free exchange of ideas, is the real defendant in this case. The Department of Justice is trying to deprive the American people of their freedom to examine and pass judgment upon the ideas of V.J. Jerome and those of thousands of other men.

V.J. Jerome is an internationally known Marxist scholar, whose works on culture, such as *Intellectuals and the War, Culture in a Changing World, and The Negro in Hollywood Films*, have been widely discussed. Mr. Jerome's case is, in its political essence, no different than those of his colleagues. Yet, in a more specific sense, his case is of immediate concern to all of us who work in intellectual fields, since Mr. Jerome, as a Marxist scholar and critic, has for two decades been most influential in the shaping of radical American thought. His case is a test case for all of us who work in a field which requires experiment, invention, and creativity. For if Mr. Jerome can be indicted and sentenced for the publication of an article, there are few honest intellectuals in America who may not be subject to censorship for the expression, present or past, of non-conformist ideas.

We are inviting a number of people to a meeting; people of varying views who are concerned with freedom of conscience and expression in cultural creation in America today. We hope that this meeting will result in the formation of a committee to defend V.J. Jerome, for cultural and intellectual freedom.

Mrs. Florine Robinson has been kind enough to offer her apartment: 1 W. 89th Street, Apartment 4W, Wednesday, October 3rd, at 8:30. May we hope to see you there?

Howard Fast
Hugo Gellert
Shirley Graham
Rev. Elliott White

Alfred Kreymborg
John Howard Lawson
Paul Robeson