205 EAST SIXTY-NINTH STREET
NEW YORK

May 3, 1933.

Mr. James Weldon Johnson,
Fiske University,
Nashville, Tennessee.

Dear Mr. Johnson:

I feel that we should make a particular
effort not to let the Du Bois Prize lapse another year.
I think that it is really important for us to have an
award made this time.

I have been so busy, taken up with so
many different activities, that I have myself been somewhat
lax in regard to the necessary reading. I hope to get
after it now, but it would be a great help to me if you or
others could suggest to me which are the books on Dr. Du
Bois' list which are most worth consideration. Anything
that I can eliminate would be a comfort to me. I also
feel that the collection which Dr. Du Bois recommends is
hardly eligible. The virtue of the collection lies in the
material gathered, as much as in the work of the editor
and collector, so that it would hardly seem fair to give
the editor the prize, and yet it would become almost ridic-
ulous to divide the prize among everybody represented in
the book. Do you agree with me on this?

I hope that your academic life includes
sufficient leisure to be able to give your attention to
this. Anything of this kind gets done because some one
person pushes it. There never was a committee in the world
that didn't need to be prodded. We need to select some one
of ourselves to be the active conscience of the group and
to steer us all into action. I have a hope myself that you
may turn out to be this person. Dr. Du Bois is so constant-
ly on the move and so busy that I have almost given him up.
When you can catch him he is splendid, but oh, how hard he
is to catch. Mr. Braithwaite is so burdened by his own
troubles and his extreme poverty that I hate to ask any ef-
fort from him.

The
W. E. B. Du Bois Prize
for Negro Literature

December 21st

1933

Mr. James Weldon Johnson,
The Murray Hill Hotel,
Park Avenue and 46th Street,
New York, N. Y.

Dear Mr. Johnson:

The Donor and Nominating Committee of the W. E. B. Du Bois Prize for Negro Literature desire to make the formal presentation of the Prize for the best work in Prose Non-Fiction for the years 1930, 1931, and 1932 to you, for your most excellent book BLACK MANHATTAN, at a small reception to be held at the Shelton Hotel on Wednesday, December 27th, at 8:30 P. M. I have the pleasure, accordingly, of inviting you and Mrs. Johnson to be present at that reception, and most sincerely hope that you will be able to accept. The award of this prize, for the first time, to an esteemed friend for a work of unquestionable merit will make it for all of us a really delightful occasion.

With best wishes, and a Merry Christmas! I remain,

W. E. B. DU BOIS PRIZE FOR NEGRO LITERATURE

December 7th

1933

Dear Mr. Johnson:

I take great pleasure in informing you that the Judges have
awarded the Du Bois Prize for 1933 to you for BLACK MANHATTAN, as the
outstanding work of prose non-fiction published during the years
1930-1931-1932. The amount of the prize is $1,000.00.

Mrs. Mathews desires to have a small and very simple enter-
tainment, a few people, some food and drink, and almost no speeches,
for the actual presentation, and we are making plans accordingly.
Will you let me know as soon as possible when you and Mrs. Johnson
expect to be in New York? Mrs. Mathews will be here until January,
and I understand that Dr. Du Bois will also be in town around Christ-
mas.

With best regards from Mrs. La Farge and myself, and delighted
congratulations, I remain,

Copy to Dr. Du Bois.

Du Bois Prize

April 11, 1934.

Mr. James Weldon Johnson,
Fisk University,
Nashville, Tennessee.

Dear Mr. Johnson:

The time for a fresh set of nominations for the Du Bois Prize and selection of a new group of judges approaches appallingly soon. During the next month or so I shall be almost continuously on the move, oscillating between New York, Rhode Island, Colorado and New Mexico. I have a terrific amount of work on my hands, and all the additional complications which arise from a permanent change of residence. I therefore fear that I shall be incapacitated as a clearing house for the nominating committee, and accordingly I am writing to all the members of the Committee to find out if one of them cannot take on that work. It means receiving and sending out the titles suggested by the different members, securing copies of the necessary books from the publishers or having them sent directly from the publishers to the members of the Committee, and carrying on the correspondence involved in selecting and notifying the Board of Judges.

Our choice this year is supposed to be poetry of the past three years. I hope that enough good titles are available to allow us to present a prize. For the moment titles to be considered and suggestions for the judges may be sent to me at this address. By the end of this month, however, I shall have to turn the clearing house function over to some other volunteer. A small amount of money, not over $20.00, is available to defray the expenses of whomever takes this on.

With best wishes, I remain,

OLAF-H

April 14, 1934

My dear Oliver:

I have your letter of the eleventh. I shall
begin immediately canvassing the poetry that
has been written within the last three years.
I feel a little doubtful about the quantity;
I hope we will be able to find the quality.
If we find that poetry is too slack, maybe we
had better switch from poetry this year to fic-
tion. There have been several new books of fic-
tion written within the last three years. Two
novels have come out since the first of the year.
You might canvass the other members of the com-
mittee on this point.

I hope you are quite well and that you are going
to get some fun out of oscillating between New
York, Rhode Island, Colorado, and New Mexico.
By the way, I must send you back the copy of *Sparks*
Fly Upward. I have already told you how much I an-
joyed the book.

My kindest regards to Mandine and you, in which
Grace joins me.

JWJ:fmm